Heracles Rising part 2 of 2
Never had timed moved so slowly. Mary wondered if she might be losing her mind. Ever since she had come into contact with the earnest young worlder she’d had trouble concentrating on anything else. It wasn’t simply the fact that he was male. If that was the case she’d already been far more intimately acquainted with the acerbic colonel and all she wanted to do when he was around was throttle him. Her thoughts concerning Daniel leaned more toward soft lights and bare skin, a fact that was becoming harder and harder to conceal with sharp words and a bitter disposition.
Finding it impossible to concentrate, she finally found someone to cover the rest of her shift and made her way to her quarters to freshen up before going to see the object of her desire. She chastised herself contemptuously for the foolishness every step of the way. It frightened and bewildered her that she would allow her burgeoning feelings for the worlder to affect her job. Still, she couldn’t wait to see him and rushed inside when she reached her room, leaving the door unlocked as she headed for a quick shower.
***
“Carter, come in,” Sam’s radio sputtered to life.
“Yes, sir. I’m here,” she responded immediately. “You’re coming in loud and clear.”
“Hang on, I’m going to try the other one.” A brief pause and then more static.
Sam frowned and bit her lip. After another pause she clicked her radio again. “I’m not reading you, sir.”
“Sorry, I dropped one. Both radios work,” Jack’s tinny voice assured. “Good job. I’ll check in if I find anything. O’Neill out.”
“Out,” Sam echoed, feeling much better now that they had a means to communicate and deciding to deliver Teal’c’s modified radio at the first opportunity.
***
“This is incredible,” Daniel exclaimed as they roamed through the maze of large to very, very large equipment haphazardly stored in generally similar groupings in the isolated corners of the storage deck surrounding the death gliders. “How do you know this place so well?”
“Before I was reassigned to sanitation I used to work down here. I love this place.”
“Why’d they reassign you?” Daniel asked, noting that Thane seemed happy and well adjusted. He hoped something bad hadn’t happened to her like with Bethel.
“Non-
“So you can operate that crane?” Daniel asked, looking up at the mobile device attached to a grid far above them on the ceiling.
“Of course.”
“This way,” Daniel grinned, taking off in a new direction.
Thane followed merrily along, pointing out things of particular interest as they wandered around. “Do you know what that is?” she asked, gesturing to the huge oblong object that took up a large percentage of the floor space in the area they were exploring.
“I have no idea,” Daniel replied, craning his neck to see the unfamiliar scrollwork at least ten meters above his head. “What do you think it is?”
“I’m thinking it’s a storage bin maybe? Touch it,” she advised excitedly.
Daniel huffed lightly as he placed a hand on the cool metal surface and felt a tingle of energy. “Why hasn’t anyone tried to open it?”
“Everyone on Heracles has duties that take up all their time and all the real scientists are on Theseus anyway,” Thane reminded him as she followed suite and began to touch the enormous cylinder too.
“Oh. Hey, there’s the DHD,” Daniel exclaimed, catching a glance of the well-
“Can’t be,” Thane argued. “This is a really old area of storage. And all the stuff from this planet is still in the arrival bay.”
“Oh my God,” Daniel breathed softly, stopping so suddenly that Thane barreled into his back.
“What?” she asked, staring uncomprehendingly at the six mushroom shaped devices bunched together on the deck.
***
Jack sighed in relief when he finally found a matching set of symbols to the last set on printout in his hand. He’d been looking for almost an hour and knew that asshole VonDale had probably already left without him. The door slid open as he approached it and Jack took that as consent to enter so he went right in.
It didn’t take long to search the small, unadorned main room and he found no evidence that Daniel had ever been there. As he approached the door to the bathroom it slid open to reveal a very surprised, and very wet, Doctor Mary.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, wrapping her robe tighter around herself.
“Easy, Doc,” Jack cautioned raising his hands in front of himself slowly. “I’m just looking for Daniel.”
“I haven’t seen Doctor Jackson since he left the infirmary,” Mary lied, convinced of her apparent sincerity until Jack reached into his pocket and held up a black disk.
“That’s not what it says here. This says that you were Daniel’s appointment last night.”
“So,” Mary shrugged, trying to appear at ease but still holding tight to her robe. “He’s an attractive man. I arranged to have him for the cycle.”
“So he was here last night?” Jack questioned suspiciously, leaning in to check the tiny bathroom.
“Yes.”
“You had sex with him?” Jack asked, not hiding his disbelief.
“Of course. That’s what a service provider is for, is it not?”
Jack pursed his lips doubtfully. Aware how uncomfortable he was making the woman he pressed the advantage and moved further into her personal space. “Where is he now?”
“How should I know? He probably went straight to the commissary for breakfast. By now I’m sure he’s already received his next assignment…” Mary trailed off as Jack waved the disk under her nose again. “Where did you get that?” she asked, realizing she had forgotten to remove it from the door slot, if it was in fact Daniel’s.
“Let’s just say a friend gave it to me. Just so you know where we stand: I’m on to you, lady. If anything happens to Daniel, you’ll be the first one I come to see. Comprende?”
“What does that mean?”
“Do you understand?” Jack translated with a sigh.
“You have no right to threaten me,” Mary ranted. “Now I’m asking you to leave.”
Jack backed up slightly and took another glance around. “If you see him, please let him know I’m looking for him,” he requested with a forced politeness as he turned to leave.
Mary nodded reluctantly and held her breathe until the door closed after him. She ran to the door and activated the lock, tucking her shaking hands under her arms, completely unnerved by the dangerous side of the colonel.
***
Daniel laughed out loud and wiped at his eyes as he approached the mass of stargates stacked together neatly like pancakes next to the DHDs. He fondly ran his fingers over the edges. They fit together so precisely it was hard to tell where one ended and the next began. The top one had a thick metal cover wielded over it, effectively capping the lot.
“What’s wrong?” Thane asked worriedly. “What is that thing?”
“Not thing,” Daniel corrected holding up a finger, still grinning ear to ear. “Things. Plural. Since there are six DHDs, I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess there are also six stargates. The height’s about right,” he added measuring the stack against his own six foot frame.
“All this time, I thought this was one unit,” Thane declared, looking on in awe. “So what are they?”
“They are the answer to our problems. Thane, I really need to talk to Allena,” Daniel implored, turning very serious.
“I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not on the Council. She probably won’t listen to me. We should get back anyway,” Thane nodded her head back the way they had come. “Tell me what you have in mind.”
“Come on. We’ll talk on the way.”
***
Jack was pacing in the cargo bay, waiting for another shuttle to hitch a ride back to Theseus when he decided to hell with it and thumbed his radio. “Carter? Teal’c?” he fought the urge to add ‘have you got your ears on?’
“O’Neill,” came the immediate, deep reply, followed closely by a higher “I read you, sir.”
“Daniel really is missing,” Jack reported point blank. “But I think the doc knows more than she’s letting on. I’m gonna stay aboard Heracles until I find him.”
“What about your shift?” Carter asked worriedly.
“Screw it. If Lorna wants me she can damn well come over here and find me. It’s a big ship.”
“Indeed it is, O’Neill. How do you intend to find DanielJackson?”
Jack patted the extra radio in his pocket. “If everything goes right, I won’t have to.”
“Sir?”
“Let’s just say I think Daniel has made some friends. At least I hope so,” Jack added softly. “Out.”
***
Mary still felt like her heart was in her throat as she made her way to the cell. It shocked her how different Daniel was from his friend, how different he was from any man she’d ever known. But maybe that was part of the problem as she’d never actually known any other men. She’d never spoken one on one with a man, not the way she had with Daniel, like a real person, not a patient or a service provider. Daniel had treated her with respect. He had listened to her, seemed interested in what she had to say. And Daniel didn’t frighten her the way Colonel O’Neill did.
Arriving at the correct cell, Mary stopped to smooth her hair, once again feeling silly, but unable to stop herself. She deactivated the lock and the door opened to an empty room.
“Daniel?” she called, a tiny quiver in her voice as reality set in.
There hadn’t been a guard outside and that was a bad sign, but Daniel’s bag and jacket were still in the room. If he’d been disposed of, they had been sloppy or hadn’t yet had time to clean up. Mary fought back the rush of panic that told her she might not ever see him again. Hastening toward the bathroom she forced the door open to find it empty as well. Her anger grew with her fear. Surely Allena wouldn’t have disposed of him without calling the Council first.
Grabbing Daniel’s bag, Mary turned to go and confront her leader when the door swooshed open and a giddy Thane ushered an equally excited Daniel back into the cell.
“Mary!” Daniel exclaimed when he saw her, crossing the room to grab her by the shoulders. “We found a stargate! In fact, we found half a dozen of them!”
“I thought you were dead,” Mary breathed, dropping the bag in her hand and going weak in the knees, missing Daniel’s happy announcement altogether.
Strong arms steadied her and Mary found herself sitting on the edge of the bunk staring into deeply concerned blue eyes. She felt weak again, but for a different reason. “I thought they’d taken you,” she tried to explain.
“No. I’m sorry we scared you,” Daniel soothed, releasing her and backing away self consciously. “We just took a little sight seeing tour, that’s all.”
Tearing her eyes away from Daniel’s concerned gaze, Mary stared at Thane. She tried to dismiss the ugly feeling growing in her gut. Swallowing hard to fight back the burning sensation behind her eyes, she turned to Daniel. The door opened again before she could ask what they’d been up to.
A stocky woman leaned in without entering the already crowded space. “Oh good, Mary, you’re here. Allena was looking for you. The Council is meeting. Thane, I’m your relief.” With that she stepped back and let the door slide shut.
“That’s Patrice. She’s alright. I’ll tell her to look after our boy,” Thane told Mary, who turned a scornful glare back to her.
“Mary?” Daniel asked with a concerned frown.
“I have to go,” Mary said as she brushed by him.
“Wait a minute,” Daniel urged, slipping a hand around her arm to prevent her escape. “I need to talk to you.”
Mary crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the floor, aware how childish she looked but no longer caring.
“You know what to do?” Daniel asked. Mary looked up in confusion but realized he was talking to Thane.
“I can handle it,” Thane assured as she impulsively leaned in and kissed Daniel softly on the lips. “You worry too much,” she added with a grin before slipping out the door.
Daniel touched his lip absently with his free hand, seemingly a little shocked as he watched her go then turned his attention back to Mary. “We found a stargate,” he told her again.
“I don’t care,” Mary swore, fighting to break out of his grasp. She hated herself for the jealous surge she was showing, but couldn’t fight it as the tears finally broke free.
“I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”
“Let me go. I have to go to a meeting,” she spat out, still trying to free herself from the gentle but insistent grip of his hand. “They’re going to decide your fate so I should probably be there.”
“Just… just wait,” Daniel implored. “Don’t you see how important this is? This solves all our problems. There doesn’t have to be an uprising, and me and my friends can get out of your hair and go home.”
Mary stopped struggling abruptly. “Home?” she asked, stunned by the revelation. She was going to lose him anyway.
“Yes. Let me go with you. I need to talk to Allena.”
The door opened and Patrice took a step inside. “Mary, they’re waiting,” she said, eyes wide at the scene before her.
With one last jerk of her shoulder Mary freed herself and walked out without looking back.
“Mary!” she heard Daniel call as the door shut, his frustration and confusion clear in the simple word.
***
Jack was tired he realized as he haunted the public areas around the commissary. He had been to the other address on the printout, almost certain that the blonde and the brunette who had given him the disk were the couple Daniel had visited his first time out as a service provider. That had been a wasted trip as no one was home and the door was closed down tight. His special ops training hadn’t been much use either as he couldn’t exactly pick the lock.
Scanning the area again, he felt certain that he’d eventually run into a familiar face here. There were small shops and places to purchase food for preparation on the rest cycle, and even a hair salon. Except the only service they provided was a quick, utilitarian hair cut.
As the food stalls began to close down he bartered for some bread with the tiny sewing kit that was standard issue in each SGC pack. He thought the woman would probably have given him the bread for free, as thrilled as she was just to speak to him, but he didn’t want to take advantage. With his dinner in hand, he headed off to find a place to bunk down for awhile. Cliché as it was, Daniel was a small needle in Heracles’ very big haystack, and Jack knew he’d have to rest before he started looking again.
***
Stinging from Daniel’s apparent rejection of her, Mary sat numbly and listened as Iva raged on and on. Soon Mary simply tuned her out as she tried to sort her own confusing feelings. She had no claims on the man. It was forbidden. Still the thought of Daniel and Thane together made her temper flare and her heart ache. Realizing the room was quiet she looked up to find everyone staring at her expectantly.
“Mary? Do you have anything to say?” Allena asked her; judging by the tone, probably not for the first time.
“No,” Mary uttered to everyone’s surprise.
Allena looked alarmed. “Are you certain? You have spent the most time with the man. Have you formed no opinion?”
“No, I haven’t,” Mary denied quietly. “He’s just another pilot after all.”
“So we can vote now,” Iva declared.
“Very well,” Allena allowed. “Let those who would have the worlder destroyed signify by saying ‘yes’.”
A chorus of yeses sounded around the table. “Mary?” Iva asked expectantly.
“No!” Mary shouted coming to her senses. “You can’t kill him! He still might be of assistance.”
“The time for discussion has passed,” Iva reminded her with a smirk.
“It is so,” Allena agreed reluctantly. “The vote stands at six yes and four no. The sentence will be carried out on the new cycle.”
“But Allena,” Mary argued as the other members of the Council rose and whispered among themselves as they disbanded.
“Mary,” the leader spoke quietly in a disappointed tone. “I don’t want to see Doctor Jackson killed either. In fact I was counting on you to sway the vote. I was certain Marta and maybe even Killen could be influenced. You have spent the most time with him. If you say he is untrustworthy, then we have nothing else to base our opinions on.”
“I’m sorry,” Mary gasped. “What have I done?”
“By not speaking out, you have sealed his fate,” Allena declared with disappointment.
Mary bowed her head remorsefully but waited until the room was empty to cry.
***
“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked softly as Mary entered the cell. Even in the dim evening light he could see her eyes were red and puffy.
“They’re going to destroy you at the next cycle,” Mary confessed.
“I need to talk to Allena,” Daniel insisted as if he hadn’t heard her.
“It’s my fault. I didn’t defend you when I had the chance.”
Daniel swallowed and looked down at his hands. “Because you were jealous?” he asked.
“Was I that transparent?” Mary questioned contritely. “I’m sorry, I’m new at this. I’ve never felt this way before.”
“Nothing happened between Thane and I,” Daniel replied simply. “Just like nothing happened between us.”
“I just thought… I just thought that I was special. You sang to me. You made me the fire cake!”
“Birthday cake,” Daniel corrected automatically. “And you are special to me. You’re my friend.”
“If I were you’re friend, I would have begged for your life.”
Daniel sighed and leaned his head against the wall. “Yeah, well... What do you say we blow this Popsicle stand?”
“I don’t understand,” Mary pleaded.
“Let’s get out of here,” Daniel explained. “I really, really need to talk to Allena.”
“We can’t. Since the sentence was passed Iva has posted more guards and these are loyal to her. They can’t wait to see you put to death.”
“Oh,” Daniel responded, wrinkling his brow in thought. “So, uh, how are they going to do that exactly?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“No, actually I do,” Daniel persisted.
“Bodies are rich in nutrients,” Mary began.
“Oh, God,” Daniel grimaced. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
“They are ground into fertilizer.”
“Oh. Okay, that’s not so bad then,” Daniel sighed in relief that he wasn’t going to show up in anyone’s dinner, not directly anyway. “So they take me down to the gardens and dump me in the fertilizer bin? Alive?”
“I can drug you, if you’d like?” Mary offered shakily.
Daniel snorted. “How kind. No, um, I’m hoping we can avoid that eventuality all together.”
“I won’t be able to get you out of this cell.”
“That’s okay. I’m thinking of something else anyway. If you’re willing to help me escape, that is.”
Mary nodded without wavering this time. “Anything,” she answered breathily.
“Do you think Marlena and Bethel would be willing to help, too? I wouldn’t draw them into this, but it’s important. I think we can stop the rising. In fact I know I can offer your people a better way of life.”
“Yes, I’m sure they will help,” Mary managed a small smile. “They are as taken with you as I am. And then there’s Thane…”
“Thane’s kind of busy right now,” Daniel hedged. “Can you still get to the weapons Iva had stashed in the assembly hall?”
“Yes. But I don’t know how to use them. And I’ve never had to kill anyone.”
“No one but service providers?” Daniel asked, unhappy with his own cruelty.
“Yes,” Mary whispered guiltily.
“It’s okay, just listen. In that first big crate next to the podium, there’s a bunch of gray, hand held… uh, how do I explain a zat gun?” Daniel asked himself in frustration. “Frankly it looks like a big, bent penis.”
“Okay, I know what you’re talking about,” Mary answered immediately.
“Good,” Daniel muttered under his breath, happy not to have to elaborate. “Zat guns don’t kill, not with the first shot anyway. You’ll have to be careful not to shoot anyone twice, though. There’s a button on the handle, you press that to extend it and then you just pull the trigger. Get enough for all of us. Marlena can set up an ambush near the fertilizer maker. Then we’ll need a place to retreat to, someplace close to the cargo hold.”
“Why don’t we just take you from here if we have weapons?”
“Because we also need to capture Allena. That’s assuming of course she comes to watch my execution. When she wakes up, hopefully I’ll be able to reason with her. Can you arrange all that?”
Mary nodded.
“You should go,” Daniel urged softly, getting up to usher her to the door.
Reluctantly, Mary allowed herself to be propelled along. “How can you trust me?” she asked, dragging her feet.
“Because we’re friends,” Daniel assured, solemnly. “And I don’t think you’ll let me down again. Not when the fate of your people rests in the balance.”
***
Sam patiently waited for the group of expectant mothers-
“Samantha,” Lorna ground out, keeping her irritation in check. “What can I do for you now?”
“Daniel’s missing,” Sam declared point blank.
“And?”
“And?” Sam echoed in disbelief.
“I’m not even going to ask how you know that,” Lorna replied icily. “Your people don’t seem to grasp the concept of duty. Colonel O’Neill has disappeared in the middle of his shift as well.”
“He’s looking for Daniel,” Sam explained impatiently.
“So what do you want me to do?”
Sam bit her tongue to stop the first response that came to mind from popping out and tried to calm herself. “What do you usually do when someone is missing?”
“Aboard Heracles? Nothing. If Doctor Jackson is missing, they will handle it from there. Actually, service providers go missing all the time. Out of the fifty or so who should be working, only eighteen or twenty are still on the job.”
“What happened to the rest?”
Lorna leaned forward earnestly. “What happens on Heracles is none of our concern.”
“Speak for yourself,” Sam declared defiantly on her way out.
***
Bethel startled at the rapid knock on the door, looking up from the drawing she was making on the wall with the charcoal she had found in the dry refuse. Marlena patted her arm and disengaged the lock. “Mary,” she uttered in surprise as the other woman motioned her back inside.
“Lock it,” Mary whispered, moving to the table to deposit the woven bag in her hand with the distinctive thump of something solid. “The Council has ordered Daniel to be removed.”
“No!” Bethel whined. “They can’t!”
“We thought that might happen,” Marlena said unhappily.
“We can stop it. If you’ll help me,” Mary implored.
“Of course,” Marlena agreed immediately, pulling Bethel close and rubbing her back soothingly. “What can we do?”
“That’s beautiful,” Mary declared in shock, getting a good look at the large outline Bethel had been sketching on the wall. It looked amazingly like the image of Daniel and his friends on the planet where they lived.
Bethel shrugged. “I wish I had colors,” she said wistfully. “I would paint the sky blue.”
“Daniel has a plan. If everything works out, Bethel, you may get to see the real thing.”
***
Exhausted but happy with her accomplishments, Thane returned to the control room to power down the crane. There was still a lot of work to do, but she had completed the first necessary steps. She was sure Daniel would be pleased. And if Daniel was right, she’d have a lot of help when it came time to finish.
***
The cell was dark when Mary returned, but in the light spilling through the door she could easily see the form reclining on the bed. The guards had frisked her thoroughly before letting her pass, but Mary had anticipated that and left all of the weapons with Marlena.
“Mary,” Daniel said, raising up slightly, covering his eyes until the door shut and left them in darkness.
“Did I wake you?” Mary asked as felt her way along the wall when the light hadn’t come on automatically. She found the switch and adjusted it to twenty percent, just enough to see by.
“No. It’s not like I could sleep thinking about things,” Daniel explained, still shielding his eyes. “I was just resting.”
Mary inched closer, settling on the edge of the bed. As Daniel sat up to put on his glasses, she reached over and took them from his fingers, sitting them back on the bedside table.
“Everything is ready,” she told him. “When they bring you in to the grinding area Marlena and I will knock them out. We practiced with your weapons.”
“That’s good,” Daniel praised pushing himself up to rest against the wall.
“Then we’ll go to the service elevator that Bethel will be holding and on to the last place they’d ever think to look for us.”
“Which is… where?”
“The observation deck on top of the ship.”
“Ah, that’s not really near the cargo bay,” Daniel pointed out.
“No, it’s not. But if they search for us they won’t look there.”
“Why not?”
“That’s where anyone expelled from Theseus is boarded. They have their own little community up there. Anyone involved with the Sisterhood avoids it completely.”
“So they’re shunned by both ships? How sad. What does one have to do to get kicked off Theseus anyway?”
“Have radical ideas. Think for themselves.”
Daniel pursed his lips in disbelief. “So why does the Sisterhood avoid them? They could be valuable allies.”
“It’s a matter of trust.”
“Right,” Daniel sighed. “We’ll have to deal with that eventually. In the meantime, you should probably try to get some sleep.” He grabbed his blanket and moved to get off the bed.
“Wait,” Mary urged breathlessly, running a hand up Daniel’s arm to rest on his shoulder. “Stay.”
“Mary,” Daniel objected lightly. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Why not?” she asked, leaning forward to graze her lips across his jaw.
“That’s why,” Daniel replied as he pulled away reluctantly and rose to move to the opposite side of the tiny room. “I’m not a service provider.”
“I know that,” Mary insisted, following his movement with her eyes. “But you are a man. Are you not attracted to me at all?” she asked dejectedly.
“It’s not that,” Daniel denied fervently. “Believe me.”
“Then what is it? I want to be with you, Daniel,” Mary swore softly as she rose from the bed and cornered him. “I have feelings for you.”
“Okay,” Daniel sighed, placing his hands on her shoulders and flinching when she brought her hands up to his waist, “that’s another problem.”
“I’m not asking for any promises. Now is all I’m asking for. It’s more than I ever dreamed of.”
“I won’t take advantage of you,” Daniel insisted stubbornly. “And I can’t take the chance if we do this that you won’t do something to jeopardize the mission out of jealousy. I can’t waste time worrying what you’ll do if Thane or Bethel or God forbid, Allena gets too close to me.”
Mary dropped her hands as if stung. “I’m sorry,” she said as she sat down on the bed. “I’m so sorry. I thought you’d forgiven me.”
“I have,” Daniel insisted. “We just have to be rational about this. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.”
“No, you’re right,” Mary decried. “I’ve acted like a fool. You have no reason to trust me.”
“I do trust you. And it’s very, very hard to say no to you,” Daniel assured, leaning
against the wall and locking his arms around his chest in a self-
“I understand,” Mary said stiffly as she stood to leave. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
The door opened and she was gone. “I hope so,” Daniel muttered before settling back on the bed for the rest of a sleepless night.
***
As a cool breeze kicked in and woke him up, Jack remembered that he had literally slept in an air duct. Dropping back down into the hallway, he stretched his stiff muscles and made his way to the commissary. He was going to have breakfast and he dared anyone to make anything of it. Then he’d wait around until the little blonde came back. He didn’t know why, but he was sure she would lead him straight to Daniel.
***
Daniel realized it was morning when the lights slowly began to brighten. “Mary?” he asked quietly in surprise at the warm body cuddled up next to him.
“Sorry,” Mary said, as she sat up guiltily. “You were still asleep when I got here. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“No. It’s alright,” Daniel granted reluctantly. “I’m just gonna…” he thumbed towards the bathroom and coughed once.
The door opened and Iva glowered from the door.
“Don’t you people ever knock?” Daniel asked scornfully, climbing to his feet and straightening his clothes.
“It’s time to go,” Iva grunted.
“Well, I’m not ready,” Daniel shot back as he ventured into the bathroom and shut the door. “Forgive me if I’m not the perfect victim,” his raised voice said from behind the partition.
Iva glared at Mary, who ignored her and gathered Daniel’s things, putting them inside his pack.
“You can’t help him,” Iva taunted.
“And we can’t leave his belongings lying about,” Mary shot back. “Or haven’t you done this before?”
Daniel stepped out of the bathroom wiping his face dry with a towel. He tossed it to the bed and took his pack out of Mary’s hand. “Well?” he asked Iva who blocked the exit.
“Daniel?” Thane’s worried voice came from behind the larger woman.
“Can I have a moment with my friend?” Daniel requested.
“Don’t be long,” Iva warned as Thane brushed past her. Iva stood in the door for another few seconds before allowing it to close.
“What’s going on?” Thane asked desperately.
“They’re going to take me to the gardens…”
“No!”
“It’s okay. There’s an ambush already in place,” Daniel explained quickly. “Did you get one of the stargates set up?”
“Yes,” Thane answered, sounding uncharacteristically unnerved. “I got it wired to the controller and I even got the little robot in front of it like you said.”
“That’s great!” Daniel enthused. “We’re going to hide out for a little while, but we’ll meet you back in the cargo bay within a cycle. Okay?”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No. Stay out of sight for now. Mary will be with me.”
“Take care of him,” Thane told Mary ingenuously then hugged Daniel tightly before Iva opened the door again.
“Enough. Let’s go,” Iva barked.
“What? No last meal?” Daniel complained.
“That would be a waste of food, now wouldn’t it?” Iva replied nastily.
Thane growled and stepped forward, but Mary caught her arm and held her back. “Ignore her,” she advised quietly.
“Let’s get this over with,” Daniel said grumpily, leading the way out into the corridor where four more guards waited for him. They fell into step as he passed them and Mary followed along behind.
***
Iva grudgingly admired the pilot as they lead him down to his death. He walked with a purpose, his head held high. In Iva’s own experience, most condemned service providers had to be dragged down to the garden, crying and acting out all the way. Others had actually had to be restrained and carried. This one either didn’t know what was happening or he stupidly thought he’d get a last minute reprieve.
Mary seemed much more distressed than the worlder. Inwardly, Iva envied the doctor. She was little and cute and had obviously enjoyed the man physically, perhaps on more than one occasion. If Mary were not on the Council, Iva would definitely push for punishment on that offense. As it was, she’d just have to enjoy the other woman’s torment as she watched her lover die.
They entered the garden through the back entrance and made their way through rows and rows of climbing beans. In the background, they could hear the composting machine mixing wet recycle, used plant materials and new topsoil from the planet. As they grew closer they could smell the musky odor of decay.
A few workers lingered nearby, but all were of the Sisterhood and Iva was confident
they wouldn’t interfere. They never had before. Mary approached one of the workers
for a hushed conversation, both disappearing behind a shelving unit for a moment
before returning to the main floor. Not long after, Mary returned to the worlder
and hugged him awkwardly. Not exactly the tearful good-
Iva met the man’s even gaze over the top of the smaller woman’s head, but turned away as Allena entered with a small entourage from the opposite direction. Everyone bowed in a reticent greeting before Allena faced the man.
“Daniel, I’m sorry.”
“We can talk about it later,” the worlder responded without so much as a waver in his voice.
“There will be no later for you,” Iva declared spitefully.
“That’s what you think,” the man replied, pulling out one of the grey weapons he had refused to teach them about.
The pain was intense as the electrical current crawled around her body. Iva was aware her entire contingent had been taken out and the last thing she saw before she passed out completely was the worlder throwing Allena’s convulsing body over his shoulder.
***
Except for filling his stomach, breakfast was a bust. Jack had been certain he’d eventually run into one of the women again in the commissary. Even though he’d been one of the first in line and had stayed until the cafeteria ladies had reluctantly thrown him out, he hadn’t seen either of them.
After being kicked out of the commissary, it was a short trip to the infirmary where he was surprisingly welcomed and fussed over, even though he was certain he had been a worse patient than usual given the circumstances. Most of the staff were glad to talk to him and he couldn’t help but notice how they all used every opportunity to touch him.
Apparently Doctor Mary had left her shift early the day before and hadn’t been seen since. The sickbay was abuzz with rumors and speculations as to her whereabouts, but no one really knew. Jack submitted to a physical so he could hang out and listen, but he vowed to even the score with Daniel later. Other than getting felt up, but in a purely professional way, the infirmary was also unproductive.
Back in the main corridor Jack pulled out the printout and read it again. Except for the infirmary stay, Daniel had only been boarded two places. It was obvious Doctor Mary wasn’t going to help, not to mention the fact that she also seemed to be out of pocket at the moment, too convenient of a coincidence in Jack’s mind.
With a sigh, Jack headed for the elevator, deciding to camp out beside the first address on the short list. Sooner or later someone would either leave the apartment or come home to it.
***
Mary and Marlena ran ahead, wielding the zat guns like real pros while Daniel followed with the unconscious leader of the rebellion thrown unceremoniously over his shoulder. Up ahead, Bethel stood in the open elevator door anxiously motioning for them to hurry.
Once inside the car, Daniel lowered his burden gently while Mary punched a sequence of numbers into the keypad. “What are you doing?” Daniel asked breathlessly.
“Another benefit of rank,” Mary explained. “I’m locking out all the floors except the observation deck.”
“So now we’ve got an express elevator,” Daniel nodded approvingly as Bethel jumped into his now empty arms. “Hey, kid,” he muttered fondly, giving her a hug. “Thank you. Thank you, too, Marlena. You guys saved my life.”
With a little more reserve, Marlena moved in for a hug, too. “What can we say? We’re suckers for those big blue eyes.”
Daniel glanced cautiously at Mary who smiled at the group hug compassionately.
Allena moaned and Daniel released the girls to drop down next to her. “Just relax, the disorientation will pass. I promise, you’re safe. We’ll talk when you’re a little more alert.”
Mary knelt down as well and soothed the older woman’s brow with one hand while she took her pulse with the other. “I beg your forgiveness, Director. There was no other way.”
Allena blinked up at them and managed a nod before closing her eyes.
“Is she okay?” Marlena asked Daniel worriedly.
“Yeah. It’s not pleasant, though. I’ve been through it a couple times more than I care to remember myself. At least it’s not deadly.”
“We’re here,” Bethel announced, pulling out her own zat gun nervously as the doors opened.
Daniel scooped Allena up in his arms in a more dignified way since they weren’t actually running this time. “I’ve got you,” he murmured at her nonverbal protest.
Marlena and Bethel moved ahead and Mary brought up the rear as they headed down the narrow, deserted hallway. As quiet as they tried to be, their footfalls sounded ominously loud on the metal deck.
“Where to?” Daniel queried urgently as they rushed along.
“Almost there,” Marlena called back, trotting ahead to slip a pilfered disk into a slot. “Damn,” she muttered, “it’s not working.”
“We can’t stay out here in the open,” Mary complained.
“No kidding,” Marlena shot back, angrily thumping the door with her hand.
“Are you sure it’s the right door?”
“We’ve got company,” Daniel replied unhappily as an older woman stepped out of a door at the end of the hall and walked rapidly toward them. “What the hell?”
The woman motioned at them insistently, pointing toward the room she had just come out of. “Here! Come here!” she insisted in a harsh whisper.
Daniel scanned the faces of the group that had turned instinctively to him for a decision. “Yeah, okay,” he decided. “Let’s go.”
The old woman’s face lit up when she realized they were actually coming with her. She led the way and held the door open as the small band piled into her apartment.
“Wow,” Daniel exclaimed, taking in the view. He’d been too busy to notice the translucent dome before.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” the old woman replied as she moved into the room. “Here. Place her here,” she offered the bed for Allena with a flourish of her hand.
“Thank you,” Daniel acknowledged gratefully as he lowered the Director gently. “Who are you?”
“I am Ahren. Under Director of Trade. Retired.”
“Exiled, you mean,” Mary corrected acidly.
“Okay, just stop,” Daniel insisted. “If this crazy plan is going to work, you people are going to have to break down all these artificial barriers you insist on building.”
“You’re right,” Mary agreed ashamedly. “I’m sorry. Ahren, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Mary. This is Daniel, Bethel, and Marlena. And that is High Director of Dispensation, Allena.”
“You kidnapped her?”
“Sort of,” Daniel admitted reluctantly. “But that’s better than what she was about to do to me.”
“You are the resistance. You are the Sisterhood,” Ahren guessed giddily. “You kidnapped the Director to start an insurrection.”
“Not exactly,” Daniel said, shaking his head.
“I can help you,” Ahren urged, her excitement evident.
“How?” Marlena asked suspiciously.
“I know things. I lived my life aboard Theseus until they retired me and dumped me over here. The boredom is insufferable. Please, let me help.”
“She’s got a point. I was only on Theseus for a matter of hours. She knows way more than I do,” Daniel declared. “Let’s sit down and discuss it.” He motioned to the four chairs around the table.
Marlena and Bethel shared a chair and Ahren pushed Mary aside to take the chair next to Daniel, scooting it as close as possible.
“You are a service provider?” Ahren asked Daniel with a gleam in her eye as she wrapped her hands possessively around his forearm.
“No, he’s not,” Mary cut in firmly, taking the last seat.
“I’m a worlder,” Daniel explained politely, getting used to the label.
“How do you know about the Sisterhood?” Marlena questioned, still wary of the old woman.
“I’ve heard rumors,” Ahren supplied. “I’ve always hoped they were true. Nothing exciting ever happens around here.”
“Well, Ahren, things are about to heat up,” Daniel explained. “We’re trying to stop an uprising.”
“Why?” Ahren protested. “The only way things will ever change is if Heracles breaks her dependence on Theseus.”
“Heracles is not dependent on Theseus,” Bethel insisted.
“It’s actually the other way around,” Marlena agreed.
“Is it?” Ahren challenged. “Even if Heracles could protect itself, without a means of procreation, the workers would die out in one generation.”
Daniel pursed his lips thoughtfully. “She’s got a pretty good grip on the situation,” he noted. “Actually, the original plan of the Sisterhood was to capture the genetics lab…”
“The genetics lab?” Ahren interrupted with a startled laugh. “There is no genetics lab. There hasn’t been one in generations. There were … problems, horrible accidents.”
“What!” Mary exclaimed.
“So how do they… how do they… where do the babies come from?” Daniel sputtered.
“They mate, of course. A fact that is not shared with Heracles,” Ahren explained. “I myself surrogated several times.”
“Surrogated?” Daniel asked inquisitively. “You have children?”
“No,” Ahren huffed. “When a woman becomes a surrogate she lives the life of leisure until she comes to term. The babies are taken into a nursery and soon isolated into groups to be raised as warriors, scientists and administrators, or workers. The workers aren’t sterilized until they are interned, just in case they have to be reeducated for a needed vocation aboard Theseus.”
“And in the meantime, the population of Heracles drops to nearly unsustainable levels,” Daniel surmised.
Allena gasped as she slowly sat up in the bed, having been listening intently to the entire conversation. “So if we destroy them, we are also destroying our own future.”
Daniel disengaged himself from Ahren’s grip and moved over to kneel by the bed. “Allena, the rifts between the ships have to be healed. That’s the only way your people will survive.”
“They will not give up Theseus to live aboard Heracles.”
“There’s another way,” Daniel implored. “We can move all of your people to a planet.”
“Daniel,” Allena said impatiently, “I’ve already explained, it will take a lifetime to find another planet.”
“Just hear me out,” Daniel insisted. “What if I said it wouldn’t? What if I could help you move all your people to a planet tomorrow?”
“To live? Forever?” Ahren asked in horror.
“What’s so wrong with that?” Daniel turned to ask.
“On a planet?” Allena echoed Ahren’s disgust.
“The sky is blue,” Bethel exclaimed. “It is beautiful. Where is the picture?” she asked Mary.
“Thane has it,” Mary explained offhandedly, still reeling from Ahren’s announcement. “Be quiet.”
“The pilots often speak of planets,” Ahren persisted. “There are wild creatures; tiny ones that crawl on your skin and sting and bite and large fierce ones that tear you apart and eat you!”
“Yes, there are insects, and they can be annoying, but they are manageable,” Daniel objected patiently. “And we wouldn’t pick a planet for you with large predators, so nobody’s going to get eaten. I’m not saying your worries aren’t valid, I’m just saying they’re not insurmountable.”
“I understand that water falls from the sky,” Allena intoned fearfully eliciting alarmed reactions from every woman in the room.
“Rain?” Daniel asked bewildered by the strickened faces all around him. “Rain is just… rain. It waters the plants and restores the water tables. I mean, sure there are storms, but rain is beautiful, it’s… it’s romantic.”
“Storms?” Mary asked worriedly.
“Sometimes. But after the storms there are rainbows. And flowers and… Bethel, there are colors in nature you’ve never even imagined,” Daniel provided reverently. “Why don’t we go have a look? I’ll take you somewhere uninhabited to start with. If you don’t like it, we’ll come right back.”
“We should probably find something to eat first,” Mary decided pragmatically.
“Yes, I’ll make you my weed casserole,” Ahren declared, moving into the kitchen.
“Yum,” Daniel deadpanned, following her. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Certainly,” Ahren glowed under the attention. “I’ll teach you.” She positioned Daniel in front of the counter to instruct him as she promptly dropped her hand to squeeze his round rump.
“Ah,” Daniel muttered, backing away. “Maybe another time. We don’t really have time for a cooking lesson right now.”
Marlena and Bethel burst out laughing and Allena shared a smile with Mary as Daniel promptly retreated to join them near the bed, nursing his bruised dignity. He glared at all of them before politely smiling as Ahren turned to beam at him brightly.
“Can I go home for a bit?” Bethel asked. “I don’t want to leave my charcoal.”
“That might be dangerous,” Daniel warned.
“No,” Marlena cut in, “I think she’ll be okay. They’re looking for me, not her. Maybe she can see what’s going on while she’s out there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Bethel is a member of the Sisterhood in good standing,” Allena objected. “No one would dare harm her.”
“Meet us in the cargo bay at the start of the rest cycle,” Marlena instructed, kissing Bethel on the brow.
“Be careful,” Daniel insisted worried.
“I will,” Bethel assured and slipped out the door.
“She’ll miss my casserole,” Ahren declared with a pout.
***
Jack tapped a beat on his knee as he sat slumped against the bulkhead outside the door that had been Daniel’s first appointment. He’d been there for hours and was growing more restless with each passing minute, but he didn’t have anything else to work with so he stuck it out.
“Carter,” he growled into his radio for the umpteenth time as a new thought occurred to him.
Several seconds passed before Sam’s breathless voice came back to him. “Sir?”
“Daniel hasn’t made any attempt to contact us on Theseus, has he?”
“Not that I’m aware of sir,” Sam answered shortly. “What’s your situation?”
“I’m still waiting. Talk to me, I’m bored.”
“Sir,” Sam protested quietly.
“What? Did I catch you at a bad time?” Jack asked acerbically.
“Actually…”
“Shower?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sorry. Out.” Jack dropped his hand from his radio and pounded his head against the wall. Teal’c was on training maneuvers and hadn’t been inclined to idle conversation either while he was flying so once again, Jack was left to his own devices.
Fortunately for Jack’s sanity, he didn’t have to wait long before the closest elevator opened and the young blonde girl stepped out. She only took a step or two before she noticed the man outside her door and froze.
“It’s okay,” Jack called to her, getting to his feet. “I’m Daniel’s friend. Remember?” He inched closer, certain by the fear in her eyes that she would bolt any second. “I know you want to help him,” he continued softly. “You gave me the disk that had your address on it.”
“I…” the girl stammered, bravely standing her ground although Jack could tell she was terrified. “Daniel…”
“Yeah, Daniel. Where is he?” Jack asked patiently. “Is he okay?”
She nodded, biting her lip.
“Can you take me to him?”
The girl blinked and seemed to be thinking hard. “Okay,” she agreed at last.
“Okay,” Jack smiled back at her. “I’m Jack.”
“Bethel,” the girl said, swallowing nervously. “I have to get something from my room. Then we can go.”
“Okay. Good. I’ll just wait at the door,” Jack said, not completely trusting that she wouldn’t disappear inside and lock him out.
She opened the door and Jack leaned into the apartment to glance around, surprised to find an excellent rendition of his own face smiling back at him from the wall as the lights came on.
“That’s pretty good,” he offered, eliciting a small, pleased smile from Bethel as she opened a drawer that was recessed into the wall and took out a bag and started to put some things in it. “Hey, I recognize that. It was at Cassie’s birthday last year. Daniel got a copy and I didn’t?” he complained.
Bethel stopped packing and stared at him apprehensively.
“It’s okay,” Jack soothed quickly. “Just a bit of favoritism is all. I’ll take care of both of ‘em when we get home.”
With a quick nod, Bethel ducked into the bathroom to grab a few more things before coming back out.
“Going somewhere?” Jack asked with a lift of his eyebrow toward the now full bag.
“Daniel’s taking us to a planet,” Bethel whispered conspiratorially.
“Oh, he is, is he?” Jack asked, taken aback. “How is he going to do that?”
“I don’t know,” Bethel admitted. “But we’re going to see blue… the blue sky and rain and rainbows and flowers…”
“Sounds nice,” Jack cut her off with a slice of his hand through the air. “Let’s go find him and figure out what he’s up to, okay?”
Bethel nodded but hesitated as Jack still stood in the door.
“Sorry,” Jack muttered, stepping back to give her plenty of room to pass.
“Men make me nervous,” Bethel confessed hesitantly as they walked toward the elevator.
“I noticed.”
“Not Daniel, though. He’s different.”
“Yeah. He’s different all right,” Jack agreed with a sarcastic grin just as the elevator opened and a group of angry women poured out, led by the Amazon from the commissary.
“Crap,” Jack muttered under his breath.
“Where is Marlena?” the big woman rounded on Bethel and to Jack’s surprise the formerly timid girl got right back in her face.
“I don’t know, Iva. But I’m sure you’ll never find her.”
“Iva?” Jack mouthed.
“Take them both.”
“You can’t detain me,” Bethel spat out fiercely.
“Until Allena can be found,” Iva informed her tersely, “the Council has put me in charge of the investigation. We’ll find Marlena, the traitor Mary, and that worlder you’re all so fond of. Then his sentence will be carried out and he will be put to death.”
Jack shook his head in resignation. “Death sentence? Why doesn’t that surprise me?” A guard grabbed his pack and patted him down for weapons, but no one bothered to check the innocent young girl.
“Shut up, pilot,” Iva grunted, taking the bag from Bethel and pushing her towards the elevator.
***
Trying hard to swallow without chewing, Daniel glanced at Marlena who was choking again after unsuccessfully using the same technique. Unwilling to spit it out and offend their host he gave up and valiantly chewed the bitter stalks. “Interesting texture,” he observed, his eyes watering. “Like spinach flavored Cheetoes, that have been under a couch cushion for about a year,” he added under his breath.
“Thank you,” Ahren said sweetly, draping herself over Daniel’s shoulder as he ate.
Mary stared at the food in front of her but at Daniel’s and Marlena’s reactions, she wasn’t eager to try it. She pushed it around with her utensil and made crusty little piles of it on her plate.
Allena kept her expression blank as she took a bite, chewed, swallowed then hastily followed with a drink of water. She completed the sequence once before stopping to cough into her napkin.
“I’m not feeling well,” Marlena announced, jumping up from the table and running to the bathroom.
“Oh, my,” Ahren exclaimed following her through the door.
“Quick,” Daniel muttered, jumping to his feet and raking the contents of his plate into the wet recycle. He traded plates with Mary and then with Allena, sitting down with the last empty one right before Ahren ushered a pale and shaky Marlena back to the bed.
Exchanging guilty glances, they got up from the table to circle around the side of the bed.
“Are you okay?” Daniel asked with concern.
“I can’t believe it made her sick,” Ahren declared worriedly.
“Maybe it’s just a stomach bug,” Daniel offered.
“A what?” Marlena asked in alarm.
“You know, a virus?”
“A what?” Mary echoed.
“I know you know, a tiny little… thing that gets in the bloodstream and makes people sick? Viruses? Bacteria?” Daniel explained. “Come on, you’re a doctor. You have to know about viruses. Maybe you call them something else?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mary insisted with a shake of her head.
Daniel licked his lip thoughtfully. “Your people never get sick?”
“Of course they do. When they do stupid stuff like eat foreign substances and smoke lithilar leaves and then drink four cups of stimulant.”
Marlena laughed in spite of herself and Daniel glared at both of them. “Never mind,” he sulked.
“Daniel,” Allena said. “I’m willing to look at a planet. I will suspend your sentence for now and grant you safe passage.”
“Okay,” Daniel agreed quickly. “Then we don’t need to wait for the rest cycle. We can go now.”
Marlena moaned as she tried to sit up. “Easy,” Mary instructed her, pushing her back down. “Why don’t you stay here and rest?”
“We can’t all go this trip anyway,” Daniel agreed. “Ahren? Can we count on you to look after Marlena for a little while?”
“Of course,” the older woman answered, happy for the company.
“If you don’t hear from us before the rest cycle…”
“I’ll bring Ahren to the cargo bay,” Marlena agreed solemnly.
***
Iva paced around the Council chambers while her guards went through Bethel’s fully loaded bag and Jack’s pack. The remaining Council members sat on one side of the table and Jack and Bethel on the other.
“Where is Marlena,” Iva asked again.
“I told you,” Bethel lied, “we had a fight. She betrayed the Sisterhood so I decided to leave. When I went to get my things, this… pilot accosted me.”
“Iva,” Killen came to a decision. “You have no cause to keep Bethel here. She has answered your questions adequately. I insist you let her go.”
“I am in charge of finding Allena,” Iva declared viciously. “And this woman demonstrated her affection for the worlder in front of everyone. She cannot be trusted!”
“Know your place,” Marta snapped peevishly. “You may be the military liaison, but you still take orders from this Council.”
The guards stopped what they were doing and stared, engrossed in the ongoing battle of their superiors.
“Forgive me,” Iva responded, bowing her head slightly. “I meant no disrespect. But you cannot seriously allow Bethel to go free.”
While the Council hashed out their differences, Bethel calmly reached into the deep side pocket of her work coveralls and without looking down slid a zat gun over to Jack. The girl’s expression never changed and Jack grinned inwardly, chastising himself for doubting Daniel. The boy always had good instincts when it came to choosing allies.
Jack brought up the zat gun as he stood. “You people are amateurs,” he declared, cutting the meeting short.
Iva’s eyes went wide right before he shot her. She dropped like a stone and shivered uncontrollably for several seconds before passing out. Snatching the nearest radio off the table Jack grabbed Bethel by the arm. She instinctively screamed and fought before he got a good grip and pulled her to him.
“Stay here or I’ll kill the girl,” he threatened, backing out with one arm clenching a struggling Bethel to his chest and the other pointing the zat at the distraught council members and guards.
Out in the hall he shot the keypad and released his ‘hostage’. “That was good. I think they believed us,” Jack praised, noting how easily the girl had followed his lead.
Turning to the panic-
Pulling herself together, Bethel wiped her eyes and nodded her head. “This way,” she instructed and ran to the nearest emergency access hatch.
Jack helped her open it and followed her into the narrow space.
“Ah…” Jack muttered, looking up the long, dark ladder, “We can’t climb all the way to the top.”
Bethel shot him a look and started up. “We can climb a deck or two and then get on an elevator from there.”
“Right,” Jack agreed and pulled the hatch closed behind him. “Ladies first.”
***
The crane was in motion when they entered the bay so they had to wait behind the safety line per Mary’s instructions. Daniel looked up and smiled as he caught sight of Thane high above them waving excitedly.
“What is she doing?” Allena queried nervously.
“You’ll see,” Daniel grinned. The crane docked and the all clear signal sounded.
“It’s safe now,” Thane’s voice echoed around them from the intercom.
“Follow me,” Daniel instructed, taking off for the farthest corner of the bay.
Mary shrugged and urged Allena forward. “I don’t know either,” she confessed on the way.
Keeping up with an excited Daniel proved to be no easy feat and the Director was hot, tired and thirsty by the time they reached a huge cylinder where their guide waited for them with a mischievous expression on his face. “Allena, Mary,” he said motioning for them to join him, “This is a stargate.”
As they rounded the curve of the big machine they stopped to stare at the large metal ring held upright by two enormous clamps. Off to the side was a group of smaller devices, one of which was linked to the ring with cables and what appeared to be a robot of some kind.
“Way to go, Thane!” Daniel enthused, noting she had also cleared a wide area around the ‘gate like he had asked her to do. She had even fashioned a makeshift platform from which to step into the wormhole out of a big, flat piece of metal that looked suspiciously like the covers on the enormous air ducts around the storage bay.
“You’re early,” Thane called, running towards them from the control room elevator.
“Allena has agreed to visit a planet,” Daniel explained. “In the meantime, she’s delayed my execution.”
“Daniel,” Allena objected defensively. “It wasn’t my idea. There was a vote.”
“I know,” Daniel agreed. “I’m just stating facts, not making a judgment. Let’s see, where should we go?”
“I need to rest for a minute,” Allena admitted sheepishly. “And I’d really like a drink of water.”
“Oh, uh, I could go back up to the booth,” Thane offered.
“No, that’s okay,” Daniel decided. “We’ll just go to Earth. I suppose I should really check in anyway.” He moved over to the DHD and tested the first symbol. When it lit up he began dialing the rest.
“Let me get the Director some water. It’ll just take a few minutes.”
Daniel grinned evilly. “Earth is closer,” he teased as he hit the last symbol.
“How?” Mary challenged doubtfully, awestruck as a blue spout erupted from the ring before Daniel could answer. The blue pooled inside of the ring and shimmered as they stood mesmerized by its beauty.
“That’s how,” Daniel replied smugly, turning to the robot and adjusting something on the side. “Hello? This is Doctor Jackson. Do you read me?”
“Doctor Jackson?” A stunned voice sounded from the robot. “Someone get the general! It’s Doctor Jackson!”
“Hi Sergeant Davis,” Daniel said, as if speaking to someone in the room. “Tell General Hammond I don’t have a GDO on me.”
“He’s here.”
“Doctor Jackson?” another voice asked excitedly. “Where is the rest of your team?”
“Uh, they’re on another ship, General. It’s a long story. I have some delegates with me. Can we come through?”
“Get some more security forces down here,” the voice muttered. “Open the iris. Doctor Jackson, the iris is open, come on home.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll be right there,” Daniel answered happily as he climbed up on the platform. “Director?” he offered his hand.
Allena hoisted her gown and with as much dignity as possible took Daniel’s hand to pull herself up before cautiously approaching the blue light pool. “Is it safe,” she asked still clutching his hand tightly.
“I do it all the time,” Daniel assured. “Mary?”
Mary climbed up and took his other hand and they all turned to look at Thane. “Come on, Thane. You deserve to see this, too.”
Thane lowered her eyes from the wormhole to Daniel’s face and broke out into a huge grin. “I can come?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” Daniel smiled back at her. Thane jumped up and grasped the back of Daniel’s shirt firmly in both of her hands before nodding that she was ready. “Oh, uh, there will probably be a lot of guns on the other side…” he began as he stepped into the blue circle, pulling them along with him.
When they suddenly clattered onto a metal ramp in another place altogether all three women grabbed tighter onto their guide. “It’s okay,” Daniel soothed both the frightened women and the mass of warriors pointing a myriad of weapons at them.
“Stand down,” Hammond order from the control room.
“Sir?” Daniel called out to him. “Do you think we could get some water for my friend here?”
Hammond spoke to someone as he rapidly made his way to the stairs.
“Its okay, Allena,” Daniel repeated. “You can open your eyes.”
“Wow,” Thane breathed in awe. “Look at all those men.”
“That’s a woman,” Mary added pointing to one of the heavily armed guards.
“Yes, it is,” Daniel agreed. “We have lots of women warriors.”
“Welcome home, Doctor Jackson,” the general greeted as he came through the door.
“We thought we’d lost SG-
“No,” Daniel assured as he freed up his hands. “We just had a little detour. In fact, we’re just stopping in to get a cup of water and then we’d like to go planet shopping.”
Sergeant Siler appeared next to the general with a paper cup full of water. “Thank you,” Daniel said graciously, taking the cup and handing it to Allena, who gulped it with shaky hands.
“That was faster,” Thane told Mary. Both of them held firm to Daniel’s shirt.
Daniel began the introductions. “General, this is Allena, Grand Director of… uh, something, and more importantly, leader of the rebel faction on board the space ship Heracles. And this is Mary and uh, behind me is Thane. General Hammond is the leader of our facility.”
“Hello,” Thane said, releasing Daniel and stepping out from behind him.
“Welcome to Earth,” Hammond said with a gentle smile. “If you’ll step this way, I’d like you to report to the infirmary while Doctor Jackson gives me a quick report.”
“Oh, we weren’t really planning on staying,” Daniel explained. “I just wanted to check in.”
The look on the general’s face told Daniel all he needed to know. “Right. Uh, that’s okay. The infirmary’s good. Then maybe we can get some real food?”
“Ladies?” Hammond said patiently ushering them out of the gateroom.
“Sorry,” Daniel muttered to his guests. “Standard procedure. We should go.”
***
“Uh uh,” Jack protested when the elevator door opened. “I can’t go down there. It’s too dangerous.”
“That’s where Daniel is,” Bethel called over her shoulder as she headed straight down the corridor.
“I am so gonna get him for this,” Jack muttered sotto voce as he hefted his zat gun and followed.
Bethel moved quickly and as Jack neared the end of the hall the door he remembered well slid open and she ducked inside. “I’m armed,” Jack announced when he followed.
“Colonel O’Neill,” Ahren sighed dreamily, greeting him at the door. Ignoring the zat gun she pulled him in for a hug. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”
Jack endured the embrace for a few seconds before gently but firmly pushing her away. “Where’s Daniel?” he asked.
“They’ve already gone,” Marlena said, sitting up on the bed and taking Bethel into her arms.
“Gone where?” Jack asked in mild exasperation.
“He took the Grand Director to see a planet,” Ahren explained.
“Did he happen to mention how he was gonna do that?”
“The young man seemed quite confident he could do so, but I have no idea how.”
“They went to the cargo hold near the bottom of the ship,” Marlena said, getting to her feet, holding Bethel by the hand. “We’ll take you.”
“I’m coming, too.” Ahren declared quickly.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Jack warned. “You just stay here… where it’s… ah, safe.”
“If you don’t take me with you, I’ll turn you in,” Ahren warned. “They’ve been calling
for your capture over the ship-
Jack gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the zat gun. Ahren smiled at him hopefully and he couldn’t bring himself to squeeze the trigger. “Okay, I’ll just tie you up,” he decided, lowering the weapon reluctantly.
“Later,” Ahren chided and led the way out of the room.
Bethel and Marlena exchanged amused looks as they followed.
“That is SO not what I meant,” Jack yelled after them. “Daniel is a dead man.”
***
General Hammond squeezed the bridge of his nose as he listened to the harrowing story
of running from the savage blue beam for days and the subsequent rescue. Only SG-
“I haven’t actually seen Teal’c since they separated us, but I’ve seen Sam and Jack and they were both fine, uh, relatively fine anyway. Jack had a little incident but now he’s…”
“Fine?” Hammond guessed with a glimmer of amusement in his eye.
“Yes. Fine,” Daniel agreed. “At least he was the last time I saw him.”
The general nodded, hating the team had been split up but knowing each member was capable of taking care of themselves. Knowing however did not mean he wouldn’t worry. “So what is it your doing with these delegates from the ship?”
“Actually, I’m trying to convince them to give up their nomadic lives in space and settle on a planet,” Daniel explained.
“Haven’t they done okay for centuries living the way they do?”
“No, they haven’t,” Daniel denied vehemently. “Maybe they were okay at first, when they actually had some sort of goal, but now they exist only to exist. There is no quality of life for the laborers on board Heracles. That’s thousands of workers, General. And as a people, they’ve narrowly avoided one disaster of their own making after another.
“I realize now that we have a way home, it might not be our business anymore, but I’d hate to walk out on them. The rebellion they are planning will effectively doom all of them to extinction.”
“And you think moving them to a planet will solve things?” Hammond asked doubtfully.
“I’m not saying it will be easy, sir. I’m just saying it would be well worth the
trouble to save this race of people. And they really don’t need anything from us
except a little guidance. With the proper resources, they’ve been completely self-
“What did you have in mind?”
“Well, we’ve been logging planets for future research sites all along.”
“That’s true. But we haven’t got the budget to set up any more long term facilities at the moment.”
Daniel shrugged expansively. “So we relocate these people to one of those planets and we’ve got an instant colony.”
“As usual,” the general approved, “I see you’ve thought this out. But how will moving them to a planet stop the rebellion?”
“Well, the main problem with them has always been the physical separation. They depend on each other, but they don’t really know each other. I mean, how could they? They live totally separate lives. Unfortunately, they’re also secretive and they lie to each other constantly. But if we take away the division, they’ll have to learn to live with each other.”
“And you think they might be willing to take a chance?”
“We’ll have to overcome some of their fears first,” Daniel said thoughtfully, “but Allena has a great amount of influence over the laborers. I believe if we convince her, the people of Heracles will follow.”
“What about the other ship?” Sergeant Siler spoke for the first time, still unsure why Doctor Jackson had insisted he join the briefing.
“Simple. They’ll follow too, or they’ll go hungry.”
Stunned by the seeming callous remark from the usually overly humanitarian linguist, Hammond’s mouth dropped open. “That seems a little harsh.”
“Sir,” Daniel explained, “for whatever reason, these people no longer have the means to sustain a large enough population to keep Heracles viable. After taking a census of sorts from Thane, I did a few calculations. If things remain as they are now, they will perish within two generations. Without the manpower needed to maintain their environment and grow food, they’ll simply starve. I think relocation to a planet is the best bet.”
“It’ll be a long row to hoe,” Hammond advised.
“Yes, it will. But it will be worth it in the long run. And there may be a benefit to us as well.”
“How’s that?”
“Technology. Not just their own either. They’ve got a treasure trove of stuff down in the hold that they don’t even know what it is. I’m sure if we help them relocate, they’ll be grateful enough to allow us access. Provided we can get Allena’s approval, I’m thinking we can get the people of Heracles moved in less than a week.”
“But Doctor Jackson,” Siler objected. “I don’t think that’s possible if your estimate of four to five thousand people on the big ship is accurate. Then you’ve got supplies and equipment. I’m thinking more like two to three weeks.”
“That’s why I asked you to be here, Sergeant. I have some questions. What if we had five working stargates?”
“At the same location?”
“Yes. I’m assuming they would all activate at once when dialed in to, since they essentially have the same address?”
“Probably,” Siler agreed. “The wormhole would most likely split five ways.”
“So what would happen to a traveler who came out that end?”
“I’m not sure, Doctor Jackson. We really need Major Carter to figure that out.”
“But could you dial out to five different addresses from that end?”
“I think so, but I’d have to get a look at the setup before making a judgment like that.”
“There are five gates aboard Heracles. Well six if you count the one with a permanent iris. But if we could dial out to five different locations, we could evacuate the ship of people, equipment, and supplies in no time. Then we could reassemble them at the new home world at our leisure. General Hammond? What do you say?”
Hammond nodded firmly and smacked a hand against the table top. “Alright. And he can get a look at some of that technology while he’s there. Sergeant, you have a go.”
“Me?” Siler balked. “Me? Sir?”
“Don’t worry, son. I’ll send SG-
“And Thane would probably be a big help, too,” Daniel suggested. “She’s an engineer… of sorts.”
“Very well,” Hammond agreed. “In the meantime, why don’t you take our other guests up to the surface to have a look around?”
***
“Holy moly,” Jack exclaimed, taking in the neat rows of death gliders as the rag tag group entered the storage bay. “Not what I expected to find down here, that’s for sure.”
“Which way now?” Marlena asked, obviously not feeling well as she helped Ahren to sit on a crate near the door and then joined her.
Jack glanced around before coming to a decision. “Look, I don’t know what Daniel has planned, but if he’s down here, I’ll find him. I want you to all get out of sight and wait. If anyone comes in, shoot them. Okay?”
“I’m coming with you,” Bethel announced.
“Fine, whatever,” Jack gave in easily. The young woman had already proved herself and it seemed like a good idea to have someone watch his back.
“Be careful,” Marlena advised, pulling the older woman to her feet to find a hiding place near the door. “We’ll wait for you here.”
“Which way?” Jack asked.
Bethel shrugged and started off to the left.
“Carter?” Jack followed as he thumbed his radio and waited for a response. “Teal’c?” he tried again, but got nothing but static. “Damn. Something’s wrong with this radio. It must be the one I dropped yesterday.”
Before they got a hundred yards, Jack heard a faint but unmistakable sound. “Beth,” he called. “This way.”
“What was that?” she asked fearfully.
“That,” Jack declared happily as he took off in the opposite direction, “is how Daniel was going to take you to visit a planet.” He cut across the middle of the deck, weaving in and out of the old attack vessels, Bethel hot on his heels. When they ran out of death gliders, they kept low taking shelter from one large piece of space junk to the next.
Hearing voices, he pulled Bethel behind what looked like part of an old space station. She flinched hard but didn’t otherwise resist and Jack quickly released her. He hand signaled that they should advance and the girl nodded once and followed orders without question, far better than a certain linguist Jack could name.
Quietly, they made their way closer to the rather technical sounding conversation between a man and a woman. The deep male voice was familiar, but definitely not Daniel.
“Siler?” Jack asked in stunned recognition, rising up and confronting the last person he ever thought he’d run into aboard Heracles.
“Colonel O’Neill?”
“Hi, Bethel,” the rail-
“Him who?” Jack asked warily, looking over his shoulder.
“You! You’re the other guy in the picture,” the girl explained, pulling something out of her pocket and handing it over.
“Huh,” Jack said almost taking possession of the photo before Bethel snatched it away.
“I almost got it right,” she murmured, staring intensely at the picture. “Thane, this is Jack,” she added absently without tearing her eyes away from the prized possession in her hand.
Jack nodded his head briefly to Siler’s new friend. “Where’s Daniel?” he asked.
“He was headed for the infirmary the last time I saw him, sir.”
“On Earth?”
“Yes, sir,” Siler acknowledged. “He briefed General Hammond and then he was going to get checked over by Doctor Fraiser.”
“Colonel?” another familiar voice called out.
“Ferretti,” Jack greeted with a relieved grin as the leader of SG-
“Yes, sir. Daniel briefed us on the situation,” Ferretti confirmed as he moved away to hand signal to his nearest man.
“Good. I’m going to check in with the General and see if someone can’t fix this damn radio.”
“Our radios don’t work either, sir,” Siler began to explain.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Carter jury-
“I want to come with you,” Bethel said, correctly interpreting Jack’s intent.
“No.”
“Why not? I want to see Daniel.”
“Just… just because,” Jack began, stopping at the crestfallen face. “Believe me, I’ll take care of Daniel. Look, I need you to take Ferretti’s men to find Marlena and Gypsy Rose Lee, Senior,” he fudged.
Bethel’s eyes grew wide and she began to back away in dread, already unnerved by the number of men in the area.
“Okay, bad idea,” Jack admitted.
“I’ll go with you,” Thane volunteered, quickly catching on. “I’ll tell you about Earth.”
“Did you see the sky?” Bethel asked as Thane pulled her along, Ferretti sending a sloppy salute as he followed at a distance.
“Not yet, but Daniel promised…”
Jack sighed and turned back to Siler. “Where’s the ‘gate?” he asked.
“Not ‘gate, sir,” Siler corrected, coming as close to smiling as Jack had ever seen. “Gates.”
***
“Did you save some for me?” Daniel asked, dropping back into the infirmary after
seeing Thane, Siler and SG-
“Daniel,” Janet lectured with amusement. “That’s no way to treat guests.”
“Hungry,” Daniel explained, shoving half the sandwich into his mouth. “The last thing we had to eat was ‘weed casserole’.”
“I’ll get you a tray, Doctor Jackson,” one of the nurses volunteered while eyeing up the competition.
“Sorry, no time,” Daniel exclaimed, pulling Mary up by the hand. “Director, if you’ll come this way, General Hammond has given us permission to go up to the surface.”
“What about your physical?” Janet objected, having already noted the bruises on his face and abrasions around his wrists.
“No time. The sun’s going to be setting soon and I want them to look around before dark.” He crammed the rest of the sandwich into his mouth and headed for the door dragging the two visitors with him.
“You come right back here afterward,” Janet ordered firmly.
“I will,” Daniel promised, already out the door and halfway down the hall.
***
Carter set her radio down calmly. What she wanted to do was throw it against the wall. She assumed that Teal’c still had his radio turned off, but she hadn’t been able to contact the Colonel in several hours. That meant either both the radios he carried were broken, or more likely that he was simply unable for some reason to respond to her hails. None of the reasons she could think of for that contingency were good.
She decided she would go to Heracles herself and damn the consequences. In fact, she’d take Teal’c with her. Since the maneuvers would be over soon, she thought she might head up to the fighter deck to wait for him. But first she wanted to make sure the garbage shuttles were running on schedule.
***
“Whoa,” Jack exclaimed at his third big surprise in the last hour. He ran a hand up the stack of ‘gates but couldn’t accurately count them. “How many?”
“Six altogether, sir, but one of them has an iris permanently attached which is keeping the ones under it from forming wormholes whenever we activate this one. Since the current follows the path of least resistance…
“Siler,” Jack muttered, rubbing his head.
“Yes, sir,” Siler stopped his lecture before remembering one more thing. “Oh, and the stargate from the planet is out there somewhere nearby. We’re hoping it has drifted far enough away that the address isn’t valid anymore. The action of the ship jettisoning it should have had enough force to push it out of orbit and into space.”
“So?”
Siler looked confused for a second. “So no one pops out of a wormhole out into space,” he explained as if it were obvious.
“Right. So you think this set up is safe?”
“We got here okay.”
“So you think it’s safe?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Dial me up then,” Jack requested as he handed over his zat gun. “Here. You may need this.”
***
“Here we are, watch your step,” Daniel cautioned as he stepped out into the waning sunlight. He took another several steps before he realized he was alone. “Mary? Allena?” Looking back, he saw them peering tentatively out of the door. “It’s perfectly safe,” Daniel assured with a reassuring smile.
“No,” Allena refused softly.
“Come on.” Reaching back, Daniel grabbed each woman by a wrist and insistently dragged them out onto terra firma.
“Daniel,” Mary muttered, sounding horrified as a dragonfly darted past them.
“It’s okay,” Daniel soothed. “I’m not going to let anything hurt you. The sun’s going to start setting any minute. If we hurry we can get a good seat.”
“The ground is uneven,” Allena complained. She seemed near tears and as ruffled as Daniel had ever seen her.
“I’m going over there and the guards are coming with me. You have your choice,” Daniel advised determinedly. “You can come with us or you can stay here by yourselves. With the spiders… and snakes… and BUGS.”
The male SF tried to hide a smirk, but the female guard started to protest. Daniel furtively shook his head and placed a finger on his lip before turning on his heel and walking away. The guards followed without a word.
In a flash Mary was at Daniel’s side burrowing under his arm. Allena hobbled along the rough path behind them quickly catching up and latching on to the back of Daniel’s shirt a’la Thane.
“We’ll be okay,” Daniel told the guards as he pried Mary’s fingers off his arm and seated her on the large, relatively smooth bolder with a clear western view. Allena refused to release his shirt and since he couldn’t really reach her, he stood by Mary and let Allena huddled miserably behind his back.
“Is the star burning out?” Mary stared in breathless horror as the sun streaked the horizon with orange and red.
“No,” Daniel sighed, finally realizing the magnitude of his task. “Just… please, both of you, relax!”
“The planet orbits a star,” Allena muttered as she finally peeked around Daniel’s shoulder at the magnificent sun set.
“That’s right. And the planet rotates on it’s axis as well. We’re entering our rest cycle. We call it night. It happens at the end of every day. When we find a planet for you, the same thing will happen. Only the day there will probably have a different amount of hours.”
“Your world will be plunged into darkness?” Mary asked wrapping her arms around herself.
“Only part of it. As the sun sets here, it’s rising somewhere else. It’s a real, continuous cycle, not an artificial one like aboard Heracles.”
“The temperature is plummeting,” Allena noted, huddling a little closer to Daniel.
“Yes, it usually gets a little cooler at night. I’d hardly call it a plummet.”
“The ship’s temperature never changes,” Mary harrumphed.
Daniel sighed in defeat. “I guess I just expected you to step outside and fall in love with Earth. Look, it’s gonna get a lot darker out here so let’s go back inside.”
“What’s that?” Mary asked, pointing towards a nearby valley where the street lights were starting to twinkle to life.
“That’s part of a town, well a small city actually.”
“It’s beautiful,” Allena allowed, finally relaxing enough to release Daniel’s shirt. “It’s like watching a star field from the observation deck. Can we sit for a few minutes?”
“As long as you want,” Daniel agreed taking a seat next to Mary. She huddled next to him, presumably for warmth. Allena sat on his other side and huddled close, too.
***
“Teal’c,” Sam called as she spotted the big warrior coming down from the fighter deck. He had already seen her and was rapidly moving her way.
“Major Carter,” he greeted. “Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. Well, I don’t know if there is. I haven’t been able to reach Colonel O’Neill.”
Teal’c nodded solemnly, turning his own radio on and speaking one word. “O’Neill.” Sam’s radio echoed with his voice.
“So it’s not mine,” Sam grimaced.
“It is time for action,” Teal’c declared adamantly.
“I agree. I went to the shuttle bay but Lorna has apparently revoked our ship hopping rights. Do you think you can fly a shuttle?”
“I can,” Teal’c stated with a touch of offended dignity.
“Of course you can,” Sam amended apologetically.
***
“Jack!” Daniel greeted in surprise as he entered the infirmary as per his much delayed promise to Janet.
“Daniel,” Jack returned affectionately, glad to see his teammate alive and in one piece. “Where’s your contingent?”
“Oh, uh, I set them up in the briefing room to view some MALP tapes of possible sites for relocation. I have to admit, they’re not real big on the idea. How did you get here?”
“The same way you did,” Jack explained. “Duh.”
“Oh, right. You must have been looking for me.”
“Yes, Daniel, I was. In fact, I’ve been looking for you for… cycles.”
“Sorry.”
“I supposed it never occurred to you to check in?”
“Come on, Jack, when I wasn’t being held prisoner I was busy running for my life. And it’s not like I could just pick up a phone.”
“True,” Jack allowed as Fraiser peeked around the curtain.
“There you are,” she admonished Daniel in an ‘it’s about time’ tone.
“Check him out good, Doc,” Jack advised with the air of a man about to tell a secret. “He did tell you he overdosed on caffeine and spent two days in the infirmary didn’t he?”
“Jack!”
“No,” Janet grumbled, eyeing Daniel with displeasure. “He neglected to mention that little piece of information.”
“Jack crashed a space ship and hit his head,” Daniel retaliated, crossing his arms over his chest obstinately.
Janet turned back to Jack with a lifted eyebrow and pulled out her pen light.
“Daniel got stoned,” Jack quickly tattled. “And poisoned. Did I mention poisoned?”
A slow, evil smile replaced the glare on Daniel’s face.
“Don’t do it,” Jack warned seriously, pointing a finger in Daniel’s direction.
“Jack injured his neither regions.”
“Aurgh! You are SO gonna pay.”
“Enough,” Fraiser growled. “Both of you, down to your shorts right now,” she ordered flicking the curtain shut with one hand behind her. “We need full workups on Doctor Jackson and Colonel O’Neill after all,” she advised her staff. “In fact, from now on that will be SOP for these two.”
“Thanks, Jack,” Daniel muttered in irritation as he began to unbutton his shirt.
“Don’t mention it. I promised Bethel I’d take care of you.”
“You talked to Bethel?” Daniel asked in astonishment. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. We had a few tense moments but she bounced right back.”
“What about Marlena? And Ahren?”
“Everybody is fine, Daniel. Quit worrying. Just how many girlfriends did you make over there anyway?”
“Not girlfriends,” Daniel objected with a pout.
“Oh? Not friends? Or not girls?”
“Just… shut up.”
***
“There it is again,” Siler paused with a worried frown. “Feel that?”
“Yeah,” Ferretti agreed reluctantly. “I feel it whenever I’m not moving around. It’s almost like a deep metallic groan.”
“Yes, sir, and it reverberates right up through the ship.”
Thane shook her head. “That’s just the harvesting beams,” she insisted for the third time.
“Do they always do that?” Siler asked, not convinced the subtle, sub vocal creak was harmless at all.
“Yes. They have ever since we turned them on two quad cycles ago.”
“But did they do it before? The last time you used them?” Siler questioned persistently.
“I… I don’t know. They’ve never been turned on before in my lifetime,” Thane explained.
“Is there any way for me to examine the outer hull of the ship? I mean without actually going out there?” Siler added sheepishly.
Thane nodded, getting excited. “We have a camera drone. I’ve just never had the time to use it.”
“Sir?” Siler requested permission.
“Sure, whatever you want to do Sergeant,” Ferretti granted. “Let me know if you need anything.”
***
“Sorry,” the shuttle pilot replied without looking up as he finished up the pre-
“Yeah, I know,” Sam replied derisively as she stepped into the forward compartment.
“You again,” the pilot sneered. “What has you so hot to go to Heracles anyway? You got a girlfriend over there or something?”
“Not exactly,” Sam muttered lightly. “Look, we’ll let you off the hook and just
take the shuttle ourselves,” she informed the pilot as she took the co-
“What? Are you nuts?”
“Do you require assistance exiting this craft?” Teal’c asked threateningly.
“I can’t just let you take this shuttle,” the pilot exclaimed, cautiously reaching toward the intercom. “I’ll have to report this.”
Sam slapped his hand and waved a finger under his nose. “Uh uh,” she admonished seriously before producing a roll of something similar to duct tape. “Last chance, leave and keep you mouth shut or else.”
The pilot made a desperate lunge for the control panel.
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Sam replied as Teal’c grabbed him from behind. She taped his mouth first and then his hands and feet.
Pulling the futilely struggling man over his shoulder, Teal’c deposited him with a thud into one of the passenger seats and buckled him in.
“We must secure you so as not to reveal our deception,” Teal’c warned the man. “Any further resistance will be met with force.”
The man nodded his understanding and settled down immediately.
“A wise choice,” Teal’c intoned with an amused twinkle in his eye.
***
“Daniel, please,” Allena said wearily. “You’re asking us to change our entire way of life.”
“Allena,” Daniel persisted as he paced the briefing room in exasperation at the leader’s unwillingness to bend even a little. “I’m just asking you to consider it.”
“Doctor Jackson,” General Hammond interjected with a kindly tone. “I understand how you feel, but ultimately, it is their decision. We can’t force them to move to a planet.”
“Yes, sir, I know that, but…”
“Daniel,” Jack cut in. “I’m in total agreement with you here, but what’s the hurry? Why don’t we let them go back to Heracles and talk it over with their people before making a snap decision?”
“If they’re not convinced,” Daniel replied taking in Allena and Mary with a swoop of his hand, “then what’s the point?”
“So we give it a few days and try again. There’s no rush here, now that we’ve got a working stargate, we’ve got all the time in the world.”
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to rush anyone,” Daniel sighed and took a chair. “Frankly, it’s Iva. Or rather what she represents.”
“Iva?” Allena questioned. “I don’t understand.”
“Look, it’s obvious that in your society even the factions have factions. You’ve got the Assembly on board Theseus, and then you’ve got the Sisterhood’s Council on Heracles, and then you’ve got Iva’s little band of warriors…”
“Warriorettes,” Jack corrected, earning a glare from Mary.
“Well Iva is bloodthirsty and unfortunately, I think she has a lot more power than you give her credit for. They will rise up against the Assembly soon whether the Council orders it or not.”
“I think he’s right about that,” Jack agreed reluctantly, “And they won’t be any match for the pilots. They couldn’t even figure out the zat guns, for cryin’ out loud.”
“They didn’t have a lot of time,” Mary protested indignantly. “We have never used weapons of any kind before. We only thought of them when we learned that the new Service Provider on board was a worlder.”
“Service Provider?” Hammond asked.
“Uh, that would be me. Don’t… ask,” Daniel waved his hand expressively as if to remove that particular memory. He got up to pace again.
The klaxon sounded and the general glanced around the table. “Carry on,” he advised as headed for the stairs. “I’ll be right back.”
Sergeant Davis met him halfway down to the control room. “It’s a message from SG-
“Very well,” Hammond allowed. “Send him on up to the briefing room when he gets here.”
“Yes, sir.” Davis acknowledged as he turned and trotted back down the steps.
The general took a minute to clear his head before returning. Doctor Jackson was in rare form and Colonel O’Neill was guardedly backing him up. One of the stubborn men was a force to be reckoned with. Together they were virtually unstoppable. He almost felt sorry for Allena.
The argument was still in full swing as the general took his position at the head of the table. “Sergeant Siler’s is on his way back,” he informed Jack, who was the only person not talking at the moment.
“What’s up?”
“Look’s like we’re about to find out,” Hammond said with a nod toward the stairs.
Siler hurried into the room with an obviously upset Thane in his wake.
“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked with dread as Thane rushed past Siler and unexpectedly into his arms. He let out a little ‘oof’ of air as she collided with him. Jack watched, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise at yet another Daniel groupie, catching Mary’s flinch as she turned away.
“Heracles is failing,” Thane explained shakily. “We used the drone to look at the hull!”
“Sergeant Siler?” Hammond prodded as Daniel helped Thane to a seat. Jack poured a glass of water and handed it over to her.
“The structural integrity of the hull is failing, sir,” Siler replied, picking up a marker and moving over to the white board where Daniel had been listing possible sites for the people of Heracles to colonize. “The storage deck is here,” he explained drawing a rough approximation of Heracles on the board. “Beneath it is the…” he paused and looked at Thane for the right word.
“The sorters,” she supplied. “The harvesting beams transport the raw materials from the planet there to be broken down into their core components. Then they are distributed to the proper sections of the ship to be further processed and used for manufacturing or food production or any number of things.”
“The initial processing, along with the beams themselves cause a lot of heat to build up in this lower section,” Siler picked up the explanation. “The outer hull is actually buckling from the extreme temperate.”
“But the ship is at least two thousand years old,” Daniel objected. “They’ve been doing the same thing for generations. Why would it fail now?”
“Nothing lasts forever, Doctor Jackson,” Siler replied with a shrug. “The hull probably weakened a little bit each time the processing was done. Apparently the engineers of the later generations were not as meticulous as they should have been or they would have noticed the defect and tried to fix it a long time ago.”
“Can we not reinforce the hull now?” Allena asked anxiously.
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that, Ma’am,” Siler informed her gravely. “The compromised portion is much too big for any kind of patch.”
“When will it go?” Jack asked with a sympathetic wince.
“There’s no way to tell for sure, sir. It could be next week or thirty years from now, but the structure will fail. I think its stable enough to evacuate the ship in an orderly fashion, but that’s only if we turn off those beams right now.”
“We can’t,” Mary objected. “Without the materials from the harvest, our people will have no resources.”
“Mary,” Daniel said gently. “If the hull goes, lack of resources will be the least of your worries.”
Allena covered her face and sighed deeply. “Thane?” she asked. “Do you agree with this man’s assessment?”
“Yes, Director,” Thane answered sadly. “I do. I operated the drone myself. I saw the damage with my own eyes. The hull is failing.”
“Very well,” Allena gave in. “Thane, return to Heracles and shut off the harvester. Also see to it that the shuttle bay is closed and communications with Theseus are suspended.”
“Why?” Daniel asked, not hiding his concern.
“Daniel, I can only speak for the Heracles. We have a lot to digest and I don’t want to deal with the Supreme Director of Theseus until we have a better understanding of what must happen.”
“But you realize this is their future we’re dealing with, too,” Hammond cautioned.
“I do. But believe me, you’d much rather deal with me than with Roshand.”
Hammond accepted the explanation. “Colonel, I want you and Sergeant Siler to go back and see what we can do to help.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Mary, go with them and arrange a meeting of the Council. I’ll stay here with Doctor Jackson and try to find us a… planet,” Allena instructed unhappily.
“You know,” Jack grumbled under his breath to the general. “These women think Daniel’s the only man on Earth.”
“Actually,” Daniel said, ignoring Jack and raising a finger. “We have people better qualified for that sort of thing. They can determine the best three or four sites for your needs and let you chose from those?”
“That sounds fair,” Hammond encouraged. “Then we can come up with some type of plan for evacuation.”
Allena nodded resolutely and patted the general’s hand as Jack ushered the group going back to Heracles toward the stairs.
“General, since you really don’t need me here anymore,” Daniel requested, thumbing over his shoulder towards the stargate even as he backed out of the room.
“Granted,” the general agreed genially. “He likes to be in the middle of things,” he explained to the one remaining guest.
“I noticed that,” Allena answered with a sigh.
***
Sam reached for the intercom to respond to the hail from Heracles’ shuttle bay but Teal’c gently intercepted her hand.
“Right,” Sam muttered. “I guess a woman answering the landing beacon would look a little suspicious.”
“Shuttle Hermes acknowledges final approach,” Teal’c replied and waited for the all clear signal before expertly maneuvering between the outer bay doors as they opened. He powered the shuttle down to auxiliary and waited for the doors to close behind them. “Where do you wish to begin the search for O’Neill and Daniel Jackson,” he asked his partner in crime.
“I’m not sure,” Sam replied with a sigh as the shuttle passed easily into the inner bay and settled onto the deck with a soft thump. “Like the Colonel said, it’s a big ship.”
“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed. “But now we are moving in the correct direction.”
***
Daniel followed Jack through the wormhole and stepped out into the butt-
“Easy!” Jack yelled from the spot on the floor where he, Siler, SG-
Siler looked pale as he took in the mass of bodies surrounding them. “I knew there was a reason I never wanted to be on an SG team,” he mumbled to himself.
“Where is Allena?” Iva demanded as Daniel joined his friends on the ground. “And what trick is this?” she gasped as the wormhole disintegrated into nothing.
“I was trying to explain the stargate when you guys came back,” Ferretti reported to Jack, ignoring the rampaging woman.
“They got the jump on you?” Jack asked derisively.
“No, sir,” Ferretti denied. “Well, sort of. They outflanked us.”
“Oh, well that’s alright then,” Jack rolled his eyes.
“Sorry, sir. They outnumbered us ten to one and they came from every direction at once,” Ferretti explained running his eyes around the crowd that roughly circled them and the stargate.
“Allena is safe,” Daniel said to Iva, cutting his eyes at Jack and Lou to shut them up. “She’s on our planet, Earth.”
“Silence,” Iva growled.
“I was just answering your question,” Daniel sniffed indignantly. The blood dripping down his chin began to slow and he wiped it with his sleeve.
“The Sisterhood is now in full control of Heracles,” she baited. “However it appears that your people still need a demonstration of our resolve.”
The big woman moved closer and stuck the back end of the staff weapon threateningly into Daniel’s face. A group gasp sounded from the nervous crowd and Mary moved protectively closer to him.
“You’re holding it backwards,” Jack replied helpfully. “If you fire it now you’ll take out your own people standing behind you.”
“Jack!” Daniel protested.
“So much for your bloodless coup,” Jack quipped as he took in the restless, uncertain mob.
“Yeah, but why does it always have to be my blood to get things started?”
“Iva,” Mary challenged as she defiantly leaned over to help Daniel hold pressure on the bridge of his nose. “They speak the truth.”
“Yes, we do,” Jack insisted. “You are holding it backwards.”
Iva snorted and glared to hide her embarrassment as she quickly turned the weapon around. Fortunately, she still didn’t understand the firing mechanism.
Jack shook his head affably as he climbed stiffly to his feet muttering all the while about his bad knees. In one swift surprise move he snatched the weapon out of Iva’s hand and abruptly knocked her on ass.
“You people aren’t soldiers,” he told her dangerously as he activated the staff and sent a bolt of energy to destroy a nearby piece of junk. The group closest to the little explosion jumped away and a nervous murmur echoed through the crowd.
“We are trying to help you,” Daniel implored passionately, holding Mary’s crimson stained hand up for everyone to see. “No more blood has to be shed if you’ll just hear us out.”
“Please listen to them,” Thane called out. “Or we are all going to die.”
“Iva, maybe you should listen them,” someone urged from the crowd.
“No! I will not listen to pilots,” Iva raged until Jack pointed the staff weapon at her and casually flicked the switch sending a small charge cascading around the tip of it. “Never,” she reiterated, lifting her chin mulishly. “I’ll die first.”
“Jack, stop scaring her,” Daniel admonished, pushing Mary’s insist hands away from his face as he clamored to his feet. “No one is going to die. If you won’t listen to us, then maybe you’ll listen to Allena.”
“Allena isn’t here,” Iva pointed out, trying in vain to hide the shiver of fear running through her.
“She’s a lot closer than you think,” Daniel replied, moving to the DHD.
***
“This ship feels different,” Sam decried as they walked through the busy common area. “It’s got almost a… shimmy to it.”
“It does,” Teal’c agreed returning the startled glances around him with an aura of calm as he walked with his hands behind his back. “Perhaps this vessel is older.”
“I don’t know about older, but I do think it’s been worked much harder through the years than Theseus. The people who’ve lived here all their lives probably don’t even notice it,” she extrapolated. “But as big as Heracles is, I’m surprised we feel it either.”
“There is a sense of urgency here,” Teal’c announced, stopping to take in the mood of the crowd. The shops were being closed and everyone seemed to be clearing out.
“You’re right,” Sam agreed, suddenly feeling the loss of the very shimmy they had been discussing. “What should we do?”
“We must follow them,” Teal’c decided, once again moving along with the streaming crowd.
Sam nodded and hurried to catch up. “Yeah, if something is out of the ordinary around here I’ll bet even money that Daniel and the Colonel are right smack in the middle of it.”
***
“Lorna,” Supreme Director Roshand greeted as she entered Theseus’ executive sauna. “I’ve been meaning to speak to you. How are the worlders doing?”
“Hello, Director,” Lorna bowed respectfully. “I’m afraid they’re more trouble than they’re worth.”
“How so?” the Director questioned with concern as she sat down with her subordinate.
“For one thing, they come and go as they please. They fail to finish shifts and disappear frequently. Except for the large warrior, I’d say we’d be better off without them. Just last cycle the woman burst into my office yet again to demand I do something about the service provider. It seems they don’t like being split up.”
The Director thought for a minute before smiling deviously. “Why don’t you bring him back? We could set him up for the Directors. It’s not like the pilots are responsive to our needs. No one would have to know.”
“Director!” Lorna gasped. “The man was filthy! Not only was he unkempt, he also wore these ridiculous dirty round circles on his face. I dare say he’s more at home with the laborers. Besides, I’m afraid he might have already met an unfortunate fate.”
“Pity,” the Director sighed. “It was just a thought.”
“However,” Lorna began thoughtfully, “the Colonel doesn’t seem to be doing well as a shuttle pilot, and he is attractive and relatively clean.”
“I’ll make the arrangements,” the Director decided.
“Supreme Director!” a hesitant voice called urgently from outside the door.
“Never a moment for myself,” the leader complained bitterly to Lorna. “What is it?” she snapped at her assistant.
“The Heracles has stopped harvesting!”
“What!?” both Directors shouted at the same time.
“Are there mechanical difficulties?”
“We don’t know! They won’t answer our hails. And they are no longer allowing the refuse shuttles access to the bay.”
“It’s a rising,” Lorna managed past the lump in her throat.
“It’s not a rising,” the Director hissed in agitation.
“How do you know?” Lorna persisted fearfully.
“Simple. They have everything they need. What do they have to be unhappy about?”
***
“Hey. You okay?” Jack asked when he finally located Daniel near the door of the storage bay rooting around in his stashed backpack.
“Yeah, I just wanted to clean up a little,” Daniel explained as he shrugged out of his bloodstained tee shirt and scrubbed at his face and neck with it.
“Right, so the little disappearing act wouldn’t have anything to do with that pushy doctor hovering over you like you have three seconds left to live then, huh.”
With a non-
“The actual turning off was no problem,” Jack agreed, allowing the change of subject. “That was a good idea to send Iva the Terrible to Earth to help Allena.”
Daniel nodded as he pulled out a semi-
Jack picked up Daniel’s dirty shirt and wet the corner of it out of his own canteen. “Lemme see.”
Feeling tired, guilty for ditching Mary’s overzealous attempts to look after him, and crusty with dried blood, for once Daniel didn’t object to Jack’s mothering. He obediently raised his chin and allowed Jack to wash his face and neck.
“That’s the second time she’s hit me. If she does it again I’m gonna…”
“Hit her back?” Jack questioned doubtfully, using another corner of the shirt to pat Daniel’s skin dry.
“Well, no. But I’ll do something. I’ll… I’ll…” Daniel stopped for a second to ponder just what he would do. “I’ll tell Sam,” he finally decided.
Jack cracked up. “Right. Poor Carter’ll have to take a number.”
“What do you mean?” Daniel asked warily as he rolled up the wet shirt and stuck it into an outside pocket of his pack.
“I mean she’ll have to deal with Brunhilda first.”
“Her name is Mary,” Daniel corrected defensively as he pulled the tee over his head.
“And the Tomboy…”
“Thane.”
“And the cute little blonde and her, uh, significant other…”
“Bethel and Marlena.”
“That would be a cat fight,” Jack laughed. “Not to mention the fact that Allena would probably take Iva out at the knees, metaphorically of course.”
“Of course. At least you got one name right.”
“And then there’s the old bat.”
“Jack.”
“She might not take on Iva, but I’m sure she’d kiss all your boo-
“What are you getting at?” Daniel queried apprehensively, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Nothing,” Jack assured. “I’m just saying if it was anybody else, I’d be worried.”
“About what?” Daniel asked, pulling his jacket on and finding it still gooey with blood. He shrugged it off again and draped it over a crate to dry.
“I just think a lesser man might take advantage, that’s all,” Jack replied honestly,
“Well, you’re here and SG-
“Yeah, but we haven’t connected the way you have. Just… just be careful. It would be awful easy to break some hearts around here.”
Daniel snorted softly and shook his head at the well-
“What’s her story?” Jack asked, jutting a chin towards the shy but fiercely protective young woman.
“Who? Bethel?” Daniel asked as he undid his belt and top button to tuck in his tee shirt. As several small gasps of approval sounded Daniel realized why the crowd had gathered so close. He hurriedly finished tucking and buttoned back up.
“Yeah. Please don’t tell me she was the victim of one of the Service Providers.”
“Okay. I won’t tell you,” Daniel answered softly.
“Son of a bitch,” Jack swore, finally getting the picture. “Dammit. She’s just a kid.”
“Yeah, and it was a while back, too. I don’t know that she’ll ever really be comfortable around men.”
“She likes you,” Jack pointed out.
“Hey, what can I say?” Daniel mocked self-
“Yeah. Come on, Allena is coming back for the big conference. Let’s go meet her at the ‘gate. We’ve got to protect your interests.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?”
“It means George may just take that one away from you,” Jack teased.
Daniel sighed in exasperation and followed. “If it’s any consolation,” he called out spitefully. “I think Ahren prefers you.”
***
“Holy Hanna,” Sam declared as they reached the overflow area of the large assembly hall. “There must be a couple thousand people in here already.”
“At least,” Teal’c agreed.
“We need to get in there,” Sam said as she ignored the irritated glances and began to edge her way through the crowd into the main area.
Teal’c’s head shot up and his eyes grew wide as they squeezed in through one of the side doors and made their way down an already over crowded aisle. He looked behind them crossly as he rubbed his left buttock with his hand but couldn’t decide who the culprit might have been.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked worriedly, looking over her shoulder as she led them closer to the little stage.
“Nothing,” Teal’c replied stoically, covering his butt with his hands as he followed.
A hush fell over the crowd as a stately middle aged woman took the stage. “Sisters,”
she said, her voice amplified enough that everyone could hear. “We are in grave
danger. The hull of our much-
A panicked cry rang out above the audible gasps of shock.
“That’s not good,” Sam muttered to Teal’c.
“Fear not!” the woman urged. “We have made new friends who are willing to help us in our time of need. Please welcome them…”
“There’s the colonel,” Sam exclaimed as they spotted a shock of grey hair moving onto the stage. They both renewed their efforts to get down the standing room only aisle and closer to the podium.
“When did you have time to put together a Power-
Stopping in front of the stage now close enough to see, Sam couldn’t help but grin at the long suffering glare Daniel leveled at the Colonel as he stepped forward. Another man leaned over a woman who was busily working on some type of device in the middle of the stage.
“That guy looks just like Sergeant Siler,” Sam muttered in disbelief, exchanging a bewildered glance with Teal’c.
“That man is Sergeant Siler,” Teal’c corrected leaning forward to get a better look.
“Hello,” Daniel began. “Do you remember me?”
A small, nervous laugh ran through the audience. “I’m Daniel Jackson and this is Colonel O’Neill and Sergeant Siler. First let me just say that we are not pilots and we are not representatives from Theseus. We are worlders from a planet called Earth.”
“It is so,” Allena confirmed, raising a hand to silence any protests.
“You’re all set, Doctor Jackson,” Siler advised as he rose and retreated to the back of the stage with the girl.
“Thank you,” Daniel replied as he picked up a remote and pointed it at the device that Siler had plugged his laptop into. “As Allena has already told you, Heracles’ hull is failing.” A picture of the worst part of the damage filled the screens all around and the crowd lapsed into dead silence.
“As someone told me earlier, nothing lasts forever,” Daniel said sadly. “I’m also told that there is no immediate danger as long as the hull is allowed to cool. That means the harvesting beams have had to be turned off, but there’s no need to panic.”
“How will we survive?” a small voice asked. The sentiments echoed numerous times around the room.
Daniel clicked the remote again to show a beautiful pastoral view of a planet. “This
is PX4-
***
“One down, one to go,” Jack congratulated at full volume at the end of the long town-
“Heracles was easy,” Daniel shouted back succinctly as he plucked the tiny wire that connected his laptop to the alien device. “These people trust Allena completely, and she knows they have no other choice. Theseus will be another matter all together… Teal’c!” he interrupted himself as he glanced down at the people still standing around the stage.
“Carter,” Jack exclaimed as the Major finally caught his attention by waving her arms furiously. He offered her a hand up onto the stage and Teal’c followed quickly, glad to be out of the amorous crowd.
“You guys okay?”
“Yes, sir,” Sam reported in a half-
“Major Carter!” a familiar but totally out of place voice called out. “I’m glad you’re here, ma’am. Can you come to the storage bay with me? I’ve got a couple of logistical problems with the stargates.”
“Sergeant Siler? Stargates? Will somebody please tell me what’s going on,” Sam insisted loudly.
“Later,” Jack cut in. “Right now we’ve got work to do. Go with Siler. He can fill you in some place where you might actually hear him.”
“Yes, sir,” Sam sighed, following orders even though the suspense was killing her. “Daniel,” she greeted with a confused smile.
“Hi, Sam,” Daniel said as they passed each other in the chaos of the deafening crowd. “Teal’c, we need to make a trip to Theseus. Do you think we can requisition a shuttle?”
“That will be unnecessary, Daniel Jackson. I am currently in possession of a service
vessel,” Teal’c replied smugly, his voice not noticeably raised but none-
“You guys stole a shuttle?” Daniel questioned, looking back at Sam’s disappearing form.
“Borrowed perhaps?” Jack offered wryly.
“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed with a slight bow. “We borrowed one.”
“Cool. I’ll fly,” Jack enthused.
Teal’c lifted an expressive eyebrow and all but frowned.
“Or you can,” Jack amended, “and I’ll co-
“You may assist,” Teal’c granted generously. “If you swear on your honor not touch the controls.”
“So basically I just get to sit up front?” Jack clarified.
“Take it, Jack,” Daniel advised sagely.
“Deal,” Jack accepted glumly. “We can get out faster this way,” he indicated the stage door and ushered the gathered Council members out.
The group gathered in the relatively deserted and much quieter back corridor outside of the main assembly hall. Allena continued to give directions to the Council members surrounding her and Jack pulled Daniel and Teal’c off to the side.
“Daniel, go advise the general Heracles is a done deal,” Jack ordered as he checked
his watch. “Then we’ll see you in the shuttle bay with the Director in thirty minutes.
That’ll give us time to pre-
“Right,” Daniel quickly agreed with a nod as he moved over to the group of women. “Director, if you would like to sit and rest for a few minutes, I’ll pick you up on my way back and escort you to the shuttle.”
“Thank you, Daniel,” Allena acknowledged absently, her attention obviously on other matters. “We’ll be in the Council chambers.”
Daniel nodded to the rest of the group and turned back to Jack who pointed as his watch face. “Thirty minutes,” he reminded.
“Thirty minutes,” Daniel parroted and made his way to the end of the hall to begin pushing his way through the bottlenecked crowd waiting for the elevator.
***
The fleet of death gliders had been a shock, but nothing compared to the five stargates
all lined up side by side in a row about a hundred yards apart. An extra, sealed
one lay off to the side flat on the deck. “Whoa,” was all Sam could get out. Several
well-
“Impressive, aren’t they?” Siler asked with a touch of awe in his voice. “I can’t wait to see them all lit up at once.”
“How?” Sam managed at last.
“They’ve been collecting them for hundreds of years according to Doctor Jackson.”
“Yeah, but I mean, why set up all of them? What could we possibly… oh, I get it,” Sam smiled as she caught on. “An incoming wormhole would split apart, but with five DHDs we can dial out to five different addresses at the same time.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Siler confirmed. “The plan is to send most of the people to the abandoned
Jaffa barracks on PC7-
“Herculaneum?”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s sort of what we designated PX4-
“Okay, Sergeant, why don’t you give me a quick run down?”
“The SGC has already started shipping cleaning supplies and a couple of generators to the barracks and the Director is organizing fifty or so volunteers for a little housekeeping detail to make the place livable for a few weeks. They should be arriving shortly for transport.
“There are pre-
“We’ll send supplies and equipment through the fourth ‘gate to C3-
“And the last ‘gate will be free for a line of communications with Earth to help coordinate things. So it’ll be one way trips to start with.”
“Right. I couldn’t guess what would happen to a traveler in a five-
“Yes, ma’am. And General Hammond’s not willing to risk another MALP after losing three to space. When the bulk of the evacuation is complete, we can pull down the extra ‘gates and cap ‘em back off. In the meantime, SGC personnel can gate directly to each of the sites as needed, they just can’t come back here.”
“We could send a table,” Sam muttered thoughtfully.
“No time to experiment, Major,” Siler replied shaking his head. “With five gates, we’ll have Heracles cleaned out in no time.”
***
“Teal’c?” Jack asked as they entered the shuttle and spotted the bound pilot on the floor struggling inch by inch towards the door.
“Yes, O’Neill?” Teal’c answered ingenuously as he hefted the man up and returned him to a seat.
“Nothing,” Jack muttered as he moved to the forward compartment.
***
When Daniel got back to the Council chambers after a quick check-
“Ready?” Daniel asked the Director expectantly.
Allena looked up with a tired smile. “Our work has just begun,” she offered cryptically.
“Yes,” Daniel agreed. “And I’m afraid your future as a people rests on what happens now on board Theseus.”
“No,” Mary muttered.
Daniel’s eyebrows shot up as he turned to her. “No?”
“We will soon have a protective force in place for our new planet, thanks to you. Then we will have all we need.”
“For one generation,” Daniel argued quickly. “You have what? Eighteen men and four thousand sterile females?”
“No,” Mary said again, shaking her head and looking almost guilty. “The youngest women among us have not had their eggs removed.”
“But you said they do that to all the workers.”
“As I was telling the Council, Bethel became pregnant during her… service,” Mary explained reticently.
“What?” Daniel gasped.
“I thought it was a fluke at first,” Mary rushed on. “She didn’t know what was happening to her. She came to the infirmary bleeding and in pain. There had been so much damage the first time… we thought she had been hurt again. But then the baby came. It was far, far too early. It never took a breath.”
“Does she know?” Daniel asked, mortified.
“No. I kept her drugged for the whole ordeal. Only a few of the medical staff were aware. But we started keeping records. Many of the younger women have no scars on their abdomens. When we questioned them about it, they reported that they remember going to sleep and waking up, but nothing of the procedure itself.”
“And no one else ever came up pregnant?”
“We made it our priority to keep them off of the Service Provider list.”
“How many?” Daniel asked worriedly, glancing around to try and read the faces of the Council members.
“Perhaps thirty. Fifty at the most.”
“That’s not a lot,” Daniel replied tersely, knowing what was coming next.
“It’s enough,” Mary insisted, turning to Allena. “Forgive me, Director for not telling you sooner.”
“You’re still looking at a pretty small gene pool,” Daniel argued. “Any flaw in DNA will be amplified within a few hundred years.”
“Daniel,” Allena replied. “Apparently procreation was still handled in the genetics lab until the last few generations. No flaws were ever permitted in the lab and there hasn’t been much time since it closed for many natural mutations to occur.”
“Well that might explain your excellent health, but you can’t be genetically perfect,” Daniel insisted.
“Not perfect, but close,” Mary said.
Allena rose and turned to Daniel. “I have much work to do,” she advised him and started to move away.
“What about Theseus?” Daniel asked bitingly.
“I do not believe that they will be receptive to our plan. But you may offer them a place with us if you wish. We will turn no one away.”
“You don’t need them anymore,” Daniel accused.
“No,” Allena said softly, almost regretfully. “We do not.”
The Council broke the impromptu meeting and scattered in different directions until only Mary remained.
“Mary? Why didn’t you mention this before?”
“Up until now, none of this seemed real,” Mary replied shamefully as she looked down at her hands. “And I had other foolishness on my mind.”
“Aw, Mary,” Daniel sighed, reaching for her shoulder.
“Don’t let me keep you,” she said, shrugging away from his hand.
***
“Jack!” Daniel exclaimed as he boarded the shuttle and saw the elaborately taped-
“What? I didn’t do it,” Jack proclaimed his innocence as he pointed in Teal’c’s direction.
“It was a necessary precaution, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c declared unrepentantly.
“Sorry,” Daniel winced as he ripped the tape off of the man’s mouth. “They get a little carried away sometimes.”
The man heaved a sigh as Daniel pulled out his knife and carved away the web of duct tape securing him to the seat.
“Where’s Allena?” Jack asked.
“She’s not coming,” Daniel informed him sourly without looking up from his task.
“Uh… why not? I thought that was the whole purpose of this little field trip.”
“Get out of here,” Daniel told the pilot. “If you have any sense, you won’t come back.”
“I can’t give up my shuttle!” the man exclaimed.
“Do you want to get taped up again?”
With a frustrated harrumph, the man bolted from the cabin and out the door.
“There’s been a new development,” Daniel put away his knife and dropped into a seat unhappily. “It seems Heracles no longer needs Theseus.”
“How is that possible?” Teal’c asked.
“Bethel got pregnant from her… encounter with the service provider.”
“Christ,” Jack swore.
“She lost the baby. In fact, she never even knew she was expecting.”
“Okay, that sucks. But how does it fit into the scheme of things?” Jack asked.
“Well, we were working on the assumption all the females on Heracles were sterile. But as it turns out, when Theseus shut down the genetics lab, they didn’t need to collect the ovum anymore, even though they kept sterilizing the workers. Sometime within the last generation they stopped doing that.”
“Why?”
“Who knows. Maybe they forgot. Maybe Lorna didn’t think it was necessary anymore.”
“Maybe someone got lazy?”
“For whatever reason, they kept up the illusion so nobody started to ask questions. But the bottom line is; the women from Heracles can make babies.”
“So they’re just going to abandon their own people?”
“Without Heracles,” Teal’c put in, “the people of Theseus will perish.”
“There’s not a lot of sympathy for Theseus,” Daniel agreed. “But Allena says if we can convince them to come along, they’ll let them join the colony. She’s just not going to waste her time with them.”
“Shut it down, T,” Jack ordered.
“We have to at least try,” Daniel insisted. “This was our idea… okay, it was my idea. I have to offer them a chance.”
“Daniel, if three worlder-
“If we don’t convince them, they will die.”
“Let’s just eat one shit sandwich at a time, shall we? Our first priority is to
evacuate Heracles,” Jack decided. “Once things are underway, we’ll drop an invite
for the top dogs of Theseus to join us over here for a little pow-
“What good will that do?”
“We can show them the damage to Heracles, we can show them the stargates,” Jack counted off, “and they’ll be on our turf. Since it looks like we’re actually gonna get out of this in one piece, I don’t want to give them another shot at separating us.”
“Okay. But what’s to keep them from attacking Heracles in the meantime?” Daniel queried seriously. “I mean, it must be pretty obvious to them by now that something is amiss.”
“I didn’t say it was a perfect plan,” Jack groused as he led the way out of the shuttle. Once they hit the deck, Jack studied his battered and weary friend closely. “Look, Daniel, why don’t you find a place to bunk down for a while?”
“There’s an awful lot of work to do,” Daniel countered reluctantly.
“I know, but when we do have to deal with Theseus, I think you’re our best hope. I’d rather you be fresh for that.”
Daniel nodded and thumbed over his shoulder. “There are some cells right above the assembly hall. I’ll be there if you need me.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jack agreed turning back to the shuttle. “Teal’c? Is there anyway to secure this thing? I understand they’re easy to steal.”
***
Daniel wasn’t sure how long he’d slept, but he certainly felt rested. Someone had taken his pack and cleaned his clothes and left them neatly folded next to the door, but since he’d been so out of it, he could only guess who it might have been. After a shower and shave, he felt pretty good as he dressed.
“Come in,” he called at the timid knock on the door. “Thane? What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he caught sight of the girl’s long face.
“I came to say good-
“That was quick,” Daniel replied. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’m going to be a pilot,” Thane informed him, perking up a bit.
“That’s great, if that’s really what you want to do. But please be careful.”
“I will. Iva’s going to be one too, but she’s settled down now that she’s got something else to focus her attention on besides the rebellion. And she seems to be really impressed with your friend Teal’c.”
“Well, Teal’c is pretty impressive,” Daniel agreed.
“I think Sergeant Siler’s kind of nice, myself.”
“Oh you do?” Daniel teased with a grin just as the door slid open again on a surprised Sam Carter.
“Damn, I wish these things wouldn’t do that,” she complained.
“If you stand to the side, they don’t,” Thane explained as if it should have been obvious.
“Oh,” Sam replied, eyeing the pair suspiciously. “Daniel, we’re going to have a team meeting over lunch. The Colonel wanted me to come get you.”
“I’m ready,” Daniel said, grabbing his now clean jacket. “Take care of yourself,” he told Thane as he gave her a quick squeeze.
“Bye,” Thane called out, as she heading down the hall before turning back to shout “I love you!”
“I… what?” Daniel managed, staring after Thane with his mouth open. Finally shrugging at Sam he murmured, “It’s just an expression.”
***
The ship was abuzz with activity. A conveyer belt of sorts had been rigged from the door of the cargo hold across the now open span of floor all the way to the second stargate. A steady stream of the interchangeable sections of Jack’s office cubicles hummed along.
Overhead, Siler worked the crane, carefully lifting a death glider and maneuvering it toward ‘gate number one. A line of workers, with a couple of service providers in tow, waited to step through the fourth gate to the barracks where they would be housed until Herculaneum was ready for them.
Several hard-
“Well look who finally crawled out of bed,” Jack joked when Daniel followed Sam over to the crate where he was unpacking a box of food.
“Sorry,” Daniel replied, picking up a sandwich and sniffing it. “I guess I was more tired than I thought. Is there any coffee?”
Jack grunted and picked up a carafe to pour a cup. “Go easy on this stuff,” he warned.
Daniel rolled his eyes as he accepted the cup and took a good long drink. “How’s the evacuation coming?”
“Well,” Sam replied with a smile, “except for a few small problems planet side, I’d say it’s going remarkably well.”
“Yeah, I understand there was a particularly ugly incident with a butterfly,” Jack interrupted. “But whadda ya do? This is it for the fresh food, by the way. The kitchen is officially closed.”
“As each group finishes their assigned tasks, they file in to relocate to the barracks,” Sam continued to explain. “I’d say we’re already a third of the way done.”
“Really?”
“Indeed,” Teal’c assured. “The structures on the observation deck have already been disassembled and removed.”
“Yeah, if you get a chance go up there and have a look around,” Jack agreed. “You won’t believe it’s the same place.”
“I can’t believe how quickly these people adjusted to the idea of moving,” Sam said thoughtfully.
“If I were to guess,” Daniel replied unhappily, “I’d say unquestioning obedience had been programmed into their DNA.”
“But they were getting ready to revolt,” Jack reminded him.
“Yes, after hundreds of years of abuse. And no one alive now was actually conceived in the genetics lab.”
“So their natural feistiness is finally coming back or what?” Jack asked.
Daniel shrugged. “Have the gardens already gone through?”
“Yeah, all of the plants went straight to Herculaneum so as not to stress them with two climate changes,” Sam replied. “But most of the equipment was so worn out they decided to just leave it. They’ll start building greenhouses for some of the plants, but others can go straight into the ground. With any luck at least some of the crops will respond well.”
“Looking for anyone in particular?” Jack asked.
“Not really,” Daniel said with a small smile. “I just wanted to see Bethel’s reaction to the sky. Where’s Allena now?”
“Sorry, Daniel, she’s already jumped ship, got the hell out of Dodge, made like a tree and … leafed?”
“Damn. I was hoping she’d changed her mind and was willing to talk to Theseus.”
“Nope, she’s officially planet side. She left Brunhilda in charge. You can probably find her up on the observation deck. Apparently Theseus is coming in for a closer look.”
“Yeah,” Sam put in worriedly, “this is as close as the two ships have been to each other in decades, maybe even hundreds of years according to the locals.”
“So it’s time we open a line of communications with them,” Daniel insisted.
“Hey, I just work here. Take it up with the boss,” Jack declared, holding his hands up in supplication. “Don’t worry, Ahren’s already planet side, too. It’s safe.”
“That’s what you think,” Daniel gritted his teeth and finished his coffee. “If I’m not back in an hour, check the compost bin for me,” he muttered cryptically as he wandered towards the exit.
***
Luckily, Daniel found Mary near the elevators. Not that she had anywhere to hide, the huge observation bay was now clear of cubicles. Only a few discarded personal items and scattered trash marred the immense deck. He walked past her to stare out at the planet. Theseus hovered on the horizon, steadily growing closer.
“Don’t you think it’s time we talk to them?” Daniel asked quietly. When Mary didn’t answer, he turned to look at her.
Mary wiped her face and sighed. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Mary insisted.
“No, I mean about everything. I’m sorry you’re losing your way of life. I’m sorry the rising didn’t go off the way you all hoped it would.”
“The results will be the same. We’ll be free of the tyranny of Theseus.”
“You’ll still have a lot to overcome,” Daniel pointed out. “Don’t think it’s going to be easy to build a civilization from the ground up.”
“We have friends who are willing to help,” Mary whispered.
“Yes you do. Come on, let’s get this over with,” he said, holding out his hand.
Mary accepted it gratefully and allowed him to lead her to the elevators. She stopped at the doors and took one last look up at the ship in the distance. “They’re going to be difficult,” she observed.
“Oh, yeah,” Daniel agreed. “I have no doubt about that.”
***
The group gathering around the intercom was somber. As soon as the technician flipped the switch the room was filled with an anxious voice.
“…please, if anyone can hear me respond… Theseus to Heracles. Is anyone there?”
“This is Heracles,” Mary began. “We wish to speak to the Supreme Director.”
“Who is this?” the other voice asked in a relieved tone.
“I am speaking for the High Director of Dispensation, Allena. We request a meeting with the Supreme Director.”
“I will let her know you’re coming…”
“No,” Jack cut in. “The meeting takes place aboard Heracles or not at all.”
“What? Who is this?” the voice asked again, shocked to hear a male voice coming from Heracles’ control room.
“This is Colonel Jack O’Neill. Go tell your boss to bring her butt to the radio now,” Jack insisted. “We’ll wait.”
***
Time passed slowly for the next hour and a half. “How freaking long does it take to get to the radio?” Jack groused, not for the first time.
“It’s a power play,” Daniel surmised as he chewed on his thumb nail. “The Supreme Director is letting us know how far down on her list of priorities we are.”
“Heracles, come in,” the radio crackled.
“This is Heracles, go ahead,” Mary answered.
“Colonel O’Neill?” Lorna’s voice asked icily. “What have you done?”
“Lorna,” Jack purred. “I wasn’t aware you had been promoted. Congratulations.”
“The Supreme Director is extremely busy. What do you want?”
“We want to talk to your leader, face to face.”
“Impossible,” Lorna scoffed.
“Yeah? Well when you’re ass deep in trash and haven’t got anything for supper, maybe you’ll change your mind,” Jack shot back.
“Lorna, this is Doctor Jackson,” Daniel cut in. “There’s been a rising. The Assembly is no longer in control of Heracles.”
“What?” Lorna gasped. “What have you done?”
“We haven’t done anything,” Jack insisted. “Do we sound like members of the Sisterhood?”
“Jack,” Daniel objected lightly.
“Oh, that’s right,” Jack remembered mischievously. “You are one of the girls.”
“Lorna,” Daniel said into the microphone, trying to ignore Jack’s abrasive comments. “We can work this out. Heracles is damaged beyond repair, but I think we have a workable solution. It would be helpful to meet. Lorna?”
“Theseus?” the radio operator adjusted the controls and tried again. “Theseus, come in. They’re no longer transmitting,” she advised.
“We’re going to have to go over there,” Daniel said solemnly.
Jack shook his head. “They’ll call back when they get hungry,” he insisted.
***
“We have visual confirmation of the damage to Heracles,” the fighter pilot’s voice reported through the communications console. “If we fire on her, we might very well compromise the hull.”
“What do we do now, Director?” Lorna asked quietly.
Roshand harrumphed and turned away without a word.
“Hold your fire,” Lorna advised the pilot in the Supreme Director’s stead. “Just… just keep an eye on them for now.”
***
All but one of the ‘gates were back in their stack and the SGC now had a stash of backup dial home devices.
“This is the best we can do, Daniel,” Jack assured as he tugged on the younger man’s elbow and pulled him over to the one remaining DHD.
Daniel looked around the enormous and all but empty storage bay. Only the items too large to pass through a stargate remained. “I feel like we’re abandoning them.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, they’re not taking our calls,” Jack pointed out. “Look, they’ll make it over here eventually, right?”
“I guess,” Daniel agreed unhappily. “Let’s just hope they do it before the hull collapses. Siler says it’s already venting atmosphere out into space.”
“Look, they probably have stores of reserve food, but you said yourself they won’t just jettison the trash.”
“No, they won’t,” Daniel muttered. “They are really into recycling. They have to be.”
“Trust me when I tell you this; those people are trashy. Another week and they’ll be drowning in their own garbage. They’ll come.”
“Are you sure my directions are clear enough?” Daniel asked, picking up the instructions Mary had transcribed for him onto a legal pad.
“Would you stop worrying and dial us out,” Jack replied.
Daniel replaced the writing tablet and faced the DHD “Where to?” he asked with a sigh.
“Where else?” Jack shrugged as he grabbed his pack. “Herculaneum.”
***
The pilot glanced around nervously as he made his way to the shuttle bay. He’d been hiding out on a deserted deck for three cycles and had finally found the nerve to make his way back to his shuttle. The control room was empty and he hurriedly opened the outer bay doors before making a break for his ship.
Almost as soon as the doors were released fighters began pouring into the airlock.
“Yes!” the pilot proclaimed as he made his way to the docking area.
***
“Bethel, leave the bugs alone,” Jack scolded gently as they stood in front of the gate, ready for the last group to head back to the SGC.
“They’re just so cute,” Bethel exclaimed, crawling around after a particularly viscous looking beetle.
“I told you she was weird,” Daniel teased, glancing at Mary who stood gloomily nearby.
“Bethel,” Sam warned. “Some of those things bite.”
“You might be better off admiring them from afar,” Jack agreed. “Maybe put some of that artistic talent of yours to good use and just draw them instead of trying to pet them.”
“I’m almost out of charcoal,” Bethel replied offhandedly.
“Yeah, I heard you’ve been drawing on the walls again. That’s why I got you this,” Jack said, reaching into a box that Ferretti had sent through for him a few minutes before. He produced a large pad of paper with a flourish.
“Jack!” Bethel exclaimed happily taking the gift. “What is it?” she added, a little confused as she thumbed through the blank art paper.
“You draw on them instead of the wall,” Sam explained earnestly.
“With these,” Jack beamed as he handed over the sixty-
Bethel opened the box in awe. “Daniel! Look!”
“Yeah, some men give flowers. Jack gives crayons,” Daniel observed with a wry smile, suddenly finding himself with an armful of an ecstatic Bethel.
“I bring the goodies and Daniel gets the hugs,” Jack complained to Marlena and Sam. “Hey, kiddo? What about me?” he asked, holding his arms wide open.
Bethel clutched Daniel a little tighter and glanced uncertainly from Marlena’s face to Jack’s.
“Go on,” Daniel urged. “Make an old man happy.”
“Hey!” Jack growled in mock outrage. “I can still kick your young butt.”
“It’s okay, Bethel,” Marlena encouraged, hugging Jack profusely. “See?”
“That’s more like it,” Jack approved cheerfully. “What do ya say?” he asked, keeping one arm around Marlena and holding the other out to Bethel.
“His bark is worse than his bite,” Sam insisted.
“No it’s not,” Daniel argued. “But he won’t bite you. He usually saves that for people he doesn’t like and… me.”
Holding Daniel’s hand, Bethel inched forward and touched fingertips with Jack. Slowly, bit by bit, she released Daniel and stepped into Jack’s embrace.
“That’s my girl,” Jack cooed, giving her a brief, fatherly bus on the forehead.
Daniel’s grin faded as he looked around for Mary, who seemed to have disappeared.
***
“What do you mean they’re all gone?” Roshand shrieked. “Gone where? If they were on the planet we would read them on the scanners.”
“Forgive me, Supreme Director,” the shaky pilot replied. “But Heracles is empty.”
Roshand turned to Lorna who shook her head in disbelief as well.
“However they did leave a message…”
***
“There you are,” Daniel said softly when he finally found Mary lying in the meadow behind the impromptu hospital staring resolutely at the wispy white clouds overhead. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Given your fear of insects, I can’t believe I found you in the grass,” he replied dryly.
“I thought you’d gone,” Mary muttered, sitting up quickly and wiping the tell-
“I wouldn’t leave without saying good-
Mary tried to smile as Daniel dropped down beside her in tall grass. He pulled a tiny wildflower and tickled her nose with it. “Stop,” she ordered without any real heat behind it.
“Mary,” Daniel started, flicking the flower away. “I feel the need to apologize.”
“For what?”
Daniel sighed and plucked unhappily at the grass. “I’m not really sure, exactly. I just… I hope I didn’t do anything to give you the wrong idea.”
“No, Daniel, you were honest with me all along. You have nothing to apologize for. But if you’re ever back this way,” Mary offered with a teasing leer, trying to hide her broken heart but failing miserably.
Daniel played along and forced a laugh as he got to his feet. “I’ll miss you,” he said sincerely before turning to go.
Mary watched him walk away before picking up the flower he had discarded. She tucked it into her pocket with a tattered photograph and lay back to contemplate the clouds that decorated the sky of her new world.
***
The final debriefing was crowded and seemed to last forever as one by one each team
leader who had helped relocate the ‘ship people’ as they had come to be known, much
to Daniel’s secret amusement, reported. At long last General Hammond stood and nodded
his approval. “Good work, everyone. And of I haven’t mentioned it officially, welcome
home SG-
“Thank you, Sir,” Sam spoke for the group with a smile. “It’s good to be home.”
“I’ll second that,” Jack agreed.
Teal’c bowed his head slightly and Daniel muttered a distracted “me, too,” while he dug through his papers looking for something.
The room cleared slowly and Jack remained seated as he waited for Daniel so they could go to lunch. “What are you looking for?” he asked impatiently.
“There was a memo that declared us missing in action.”
“And you want to keep it?” Jack asked incredulously.
“I always do.”
“That’s morbid. Do you keep your obits, too?”
“Just the one,” Daniel admitted.
“Just one because now we always wait three days before we officially declare you dead.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
“Missing in action,” Ferretti said slowly from the doorway, having stopped to listen to the conversation. He turned to Daniel conspiratorially and grinned. “I know we’ve all heard the official version, but now give us the real scoop.”
“What do you mean?” Daniel asked, tilting his head to look at his friend quizzically.
“He means he thinks we were more in action than missing. Isn’t that right?” Jack queried with a smirk. “Sorry, Lou, our story stands.”
“So let me get this straight,” Ferretti teased insistently as he wandered back over to lean against the table next to Daniel. “All that time you were stuck on a space ship, surrounded by nothing but beautiful women…”
“Okay that’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Jack objected, raising a finger.
“…and your jobs were basically to show ‘em a good time…”
“Basically,” Daniel agreed with a disinterested nod.
“… and neither one of you managed to get laid?” Lou finished with mock disgust. “Now
if that had been SG-
“You guys were there,” Jack pointed out. “And I noticed that none of you were missing in action.”
“Yeah, but we weren’t sex providers.”
“Service providers,” Daniel corrected haughtily.
“Unlike you and your fellow SG-
“Now, Colonel,” Ferretti persisted, “You didn’t see the good Doctor Jackson when he came traipsing through the stargate with ladies hanging all over him. Come on and admit it, Daniel, you got some.”
“I don’t kiss and tell,” Daniel replied, mischievously batting his eyelashes.
Ferretti laughed good naturedly and slapped Daniel on the back as he walked away. “You’re one in a million, Daniel,” he quipped on his way out the door.
“Don’t kiss and tell,” Jack snickered. “Good one, Daniel. That shut him up.”
Daniel smirked as he began to straighten his papers and place them in a folder.
Jack gradually stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the linguist. “You’re not kidding, are you?”
“What?” Daniel asked innocently without looking up.
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
“I don’t think so,” Daniel said, his brows drawing together in mock contemplation. He made a show of adjusting his glasses as the klaxons began to blare.
Within a minute General Hammond stepped out of his office. “Doctor Jackson,” he began, “It appears you have a ‘gate call. The Supreme Director of Theseus is asking for you.”
“I knew it,” Jack crowed as he followed Daniel down the stairs. “Defeated by their own garbage.”
***
Epilogue
“Is this seat taken?” Janet asked as she approached the last seat at the table, and unfortunately the one closest to Daniel. Sam hid a grin as she continued to eat.
“That depends,” Daniel replied cagily. “Are you two going to discuss my body parts?”
“Not me,” Sam swore.
“Ew,” Jack muttered, looking up from stabbing his pie with a fork.
Janet sighed and sat her tray down. “I’ll be good,” she promised. “What’s going on?”
“We’re still trying to figure out just who rang Daniel’s bell on board Heracles,” Jack smirked.
“I really think it was Thane,” Sam insisted.
Daniel ignored them and went back to his lunch. “Oh, Janet?” he asked. “Can I get another copy of the picture from Cass’ birthday last year?”
“That reminds me,” Jack complained, lifting a finger for Sam to hold that thought. “How does Daniel rate a picture and I don’t?”
“You mean the picture that you dropped into your inbox when I gave it to you? The one that’s probably still there drifting in oblivion between half written reports?” Janet asked with aggravation. “That picture?”
“Oh,” Jack uttered contritely and turned back to Sam. “Thane was too young,” he insisted.
“I don’t think so, Sir. I mean she was attractive, smart, funny… and she did say that she loved him. Plus, they had plenty of opportunity.”
“Too young,” Jack dismissed. “Right, Daniel? Please say too young.”
“Too young,” Daniel echoed absently as he opened a file and started writing in it.
“How about that big gal that came to Earth?” Janet asked with a twinkle in her eye, glad to get in on the discussion even if it put her back in the doghouse with Daniel.
“Iva?” Jack laughed. “Nah, that’s Teal’c’s woman. Although she and Daniel did have some major sparkage.”
“Teal’c?” Janet sputtered.
“Sure. That’s why he’s there with her now,” Jack declared.
“He’s there to help Braytac teach them to fly the death gliders,” Sam corrected.
“That’s the cover story, anyway,” Jack persisted with a knowing leer before turning his attention back to the much maligned archeologist. “At least we know it wasn’t Marlena or Bethel. It had better not have been Bethel,” Jack repeated threateningly. “Daniel!”
“What?” Daniel asked, looking up in confusion, having completely tuned the annoying conversation out.
“Tell me it wasn’t Bethel.”
“It wasn’t Bethel,” Daniel answered defensively. “How could you even think that?”
“Aw ha!” Jack proclaimed triumphantly. “You admit it!”
“Admit what?”
“That it was somebody.”
Daniel sighed and closed the folder. “Can’t we just talk about my body parts?” he asked plaintively.
“No!” Sam and Janet both exclaimed at the same time.
“We are not going there,” Sam declared firmly.
“It couldn’t have been Brunhilda,” Jack reasoned. “She didn’t like men.”
“No, Jack,” Daniel replied as he stood and gathered his things. “Mary likes men. She just didn’t like you.”
“So it could have been Brunhilda…” Jack started before stopping with a pout. “Hey, wait a minute. Why didn’t she like me?”
“I don’t know,” Daniel remarked as he walked away. “She said something about shrinkage…”
The End
