Where Destiny Leads
By Pagan Twylight
Chapter Ten
Let the Games Begin
Anise, Daniel, Sam, and Kathryn sorted
through the supplies. They couldn’t
bring MRE’s for fear that they would be seen and recognized as being
Tau’ri. So instead, the Tok’Ra had
suggested some things, and they went back to the bazaar and bought food for the
mission. It seemed odd to be off-world
without the chicken flavored military food.
Sam cut a piece of the meat, which was similar to jerky, but not quite
as hard, and tasted it. Looking up at
Kathryn she said, straight-faced, “Chicken.
Even off-world survival food tastes like chicken.”
Kathryn dissolved into giggles, and
Daniel grinned at them. Anise, Malek,
and Lantash looked at them with questions in their eyes until Lantash suddenly
smiled and said, “I remember now. Daniel
told us about the trip to
“I see,” Malek replied, although he
looked unconvinced.
“I’ll prove it to you when we
return. I’ll be sure you try chicken and
then some MRE’s from our packs. You’ll
see,” Kathryn told him solemnly.
“I will see to it that you do.” Smiling at one another, they finished their
light meal.
They had been in flight for several
hours and so far the ship was having no problems, which was good since they
were in hostile territory almost anywhere they went. Sam watched Lantash as he and Malek discussed
the options they would have once they reached their destination. The ship could be cloaked, so they would be
able to come in low and find a good place to land it, they hoped, close to the
Chaappa’ai.
Both men were tense and it radiated
from them in their posture and gestures as they stood and talked. That this undertaking was of immense
importance to them both was obvious, and their determination to succeed fairly
screamed at anyone who was even halfway observant. Kathryn and Sam sat watching them silently
and Anise and Daniel, realizing that Malek and Lantash were deeply occupied,
indicated to the two women that they were going into the back to begin going
over the data they had retrieved on the base planet prior to stepping through
the mirror.
“Okay, good-night, Daniel. Good-night,
Anise. Someone will wake you for your
shift,” Sam quietly.
Daniel nodded saying, “No problem. We’re only going to start to categorize some
of this for now, and then during our shift we can delve a little deeper.”
“We do not need as much sleep as you
do, so we will be fine, however, we will be certain that Daniel is well rested,
therefore, I will wish you both a good-night and pleasant dreams,” Anise
murmured as she turned toward the back of the ship. Daniel grinned at the two women, winked, and
turned to follow her. Sam and Kathryn
shook their heads and grinned. Daniel
was slowly changing Anise…for the better.
Turning back to their favorite pastime,
they continued to watch the two men silently, not willing to interrupt their
interaction. Although Malek, Devlin,
Martouf, and Lantash knew each other well, still they were not exactly the same
people the other had known, and this time together was good for both of
them. They needed this time to forge a new
and deeper bond. Just as she, Martouf,
and Lantash had needed time to discover the differences in each other and learn
to accept them and realize that they loved one another anyway.
Sam had discovered that there were
differences in this Martouf and Lantash.
Nothing major, and nothing jarring, yet it did remind her that they were
not the same men she had known before.
She found herself falling in love all over again, and it was a wonderful
feeling. She had long ago figured out
that her love of them was her own and owed nothing to Jolinar. Jolinar’s feelings deepened and enhanced her
own. They gave her memories of things
that she had never experienced except in her mind, but which, nonetheless,
added dimensions to her love of them.
Now, these new differences were adding
even more new dimensions to that love.
If it was possible she loved them more now than she had before. If something happened to them she would be
inconsolable. She was not sure she could
survive if it happened again. The pain
that ripped through her chest at just the thought of losing them stopped her
breath.
She felt Kathryn’s hand on her arm and
opened her eyes, not realizing she had closed them. She gave her a smile, saying, “Sorry, my mind
was wandering. Did I miss something?”
“No, they are still talking. You looked as if your world had just
ended. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I was just playing scenarios through my head
of things that could go wrong. Not the
type of positive thinking I should be doing.
I need to be going over our duties as lo’tars instead. That’s more important right now,” Sam replied
as she took herself firmly in hand and turned away from thoughts of the two men
in her life and back to the present situation.
“We’ve been practicing serving and all
of the other things that go along with being a lo’tar for the last few
days. I think we have most of it down
pretty good. I have to admit, though
that I have trouble saying “My Lord”
unless I pretend to be playing a game,” Kathryn giggled as she said the last
part.
Sam smiled back at her and laughed,
“Yeah, me too. I guess if it works it
won’t hurt to use it. I’ve been
pretending I’m playing a game or living a fantasy to be able to say it, too. That’s the only way I can do it without
laughing. Maybe we’ll actually get to
really act it out at some point.”
“Well, that might be exciting. Or, it
could be very embarrassing depending
on what game we are playing at the time,” Kathryn choked out, cheeks flaming,
showing exactly what her mind was thinking.
Sam laughed, and then gasped as she
realized that Lantash was looking at her.
As her cheeks reddened, his eyebrows rose as if asking what she was
embarrassed about.
Drawing a deep breath she turned her
back to him and said to Kathryn, “I think Lantash and Malek are having more
trouble treating us as lo’tars than we are having being lo’tars, don’t you?”
Behind her Lantash caressed her
shoulder. Not having heard him come up
behind her, she jumped as he asked, “Is this what the two of you have been
discussing? Yes, I suppose we do have a
problem seeing you as lo’tars. We love
you too much to see you as such.”
Turning to him, Sam chided Lantash
gently, “Forget I’m your mate. I’m not
your wife during this mission. If you
have to get into the role and stay there for it to work, I understand, but we
have to do something so that you two are more comfortable with us acting as
your lo’tars.”
“I do not believe that will be
necessary, Samantha. I believe that we
will be more comfortable when we are in a position where we must immerse
ourselves into the roles we are playing.
You do not realize it, but we dislike acting the part of System Lords,
or their satellites even though acting as Goa’uld is what we must do. The attitude and thinking is contrary to our
beliefs, but we have enough of the Goa’uld traits that we can do it and do it
very naturally. I believe the fact that
we can do it so easily is what we find the most disturbing about it,” Malek
said quietly, in his rather thoughtful way.
“Yes, I’m sure it is, Malek, and I can
understand where it would be disturbing, but, you know, if you were going to be
corrupted and suddenly turn, I think it would have happened long before
now. And that is really what you are
afraid of, isn’t it?” Sam asked quietly.
He gazed at her for long moments before
stating, just as quietly, “Yes, I believe that you are correct. Perhaps that is a fear we all have deep
down.”
“The fact that you have those feelings
should tell you that you won’t be subverted by them. You are much too aware of them to allow that
to happen. One of the things I admire
the most about the Tok’Ra is your ability to be so very focused and dedicated
to your cause. It takes a great deal of
determination to fight a war for two thousand years. You have earned the respect you are given...
unlike the Goa’uld who simply demand it and therefore get no true respect.”
“I agree, Malek. I was impressed by your dedication and your
single-minded determination to defeat the Goa’uld before I noticed your ah,”
Kathryn cleared her throat, “other assets.” She smiled at him as she let her eyes roam
his form. “Now, I admire them as
well.” She stopped teasing him, and
stated, “Seriously, Malek, I meant what I said.
I did admire you before anything else ever entered my mind. I want you to know that. I liked you and was drawn to you for who and
what you are before anything else.”
“Thank you, both of you. It is pleasant to be told such things, and it
is encouraging to know that you trust us.”
“You’re welcome, Malek. You deserve to be told that who you are and
what you do is worthwhile and appreciated.”
Sam stood and winked at them. “Well,
I think, since we have first shift, I’ll go with “My Lord and Master” to keep
him company. Maybe I’ll sit at his feet
and worship him. Or maybe, I’ll find an
even better place to sit.”
“Well, Major, er, Samantha, you could
always kneel in front of him and worship
him from there. That way you could look
up worshipfully into his eyes,”
Kathryn said, as she batted her own lashes.
Sam laughed at her as she turned to
head towards the controls with Lantash.
“I’ll consider your advice, - Kathryn.”
She frowned, and stopping to look back at them, she asked, “Didn’t we
talk about changing our names? What was
decided about that, or did we ever come to a conclusion?”
“It was decided that it would be
difficult enough without the added stress of having to use false names. As it is you are having trouble using names
instead of your military rank when speaking to one another. You paused before you said Kathryn and
Kathryn keeps calling you Major before she changes it. You should use each others names as often as
you can until it becomes natural, just as using My Lord for us must become
natural.”
Sam nodded, “I agree. That seems to be one of our weak points. We’ll need to be more careful.”
After she left, Malek turned to
Kathryn, “Come to me, my lo’tar, and show me your passion. Come and pleasure your Lord.”
“Yes, My Lord. It will be my pleasure,” she responded lightly. Then sobering, she laid her hand on his arm
and looked into his face. “I’m very glad
we learned to love one another last night, Malek. Now I can be your love slave and you will
know it is because I want to.” She
smiled at him and added, “Because I am looking forward to that, please believe
me.”
“I do, Kathryn. I, too, am happy that we made love to one
another before this mission. Now that I
know your words for mating, I will say that making love is truly what we did, and
the Tau’ri expression is a better description than that of the Tok’Ra.” Drawing her into his arms, he breathed, “And
now, I am commanding you to show me your passion, my love.”
She watched as his lips neared
hers. Her heartbeat quickened and she
breathed very softly, “It will be as you wish and desire, My Lord. I will be most pleased to make love to
you.”
Sam watched Daniel as he frowned down
at the papers that were spread around him.
Malek and Kathryn were in the front at the controls. Anise was napping. She and Lantash had recently finished another
stint at the controls and Lantash had decided to go ahead and take a
shower. Sam had already taken hers and
was waiting for him to finish his, but the puzzled look on Daniel’s face was
intriguing her. She got up, walked over
to where he was sitting, and took a seat beside him.
“Hey, Daniel.”
“Hey, Sam.”
“What’s causing that furrow between
your brows, Daniel? You know, the one
that sometimes leads to my stomach tying itself into knots while letting little
balls of acid do a tap dance? Something
not as it should be?”
“No, it’s not. In fact, it isn’t making sense to me at all.”
Realizing that Daniel was truly puzzled
about whatever he was looking at, she offered, “Anything I can do to help?”
“Maybe, Sam. Yeah, actually, there is. I know you went to Pangara and saw where they
found Egeria. It was near to the
Stargate, right? I haven’t made a
mistake in where she was found?”
“Yeah, it was. Not far from it at all. What are you thinking?”
“Well, we’ve assumed that she was
buried under his palace, but there was no palace there. Not only that, but in this reality, on the
world we are going to, from what Lantash and Martouf have told us, the palace
is a good half day’s walk from the gate.
So, it doesn’t add up. I hope the
person that sent the message is still there.
Otherwise we may look all over the palace for nothing. She may be buried at a completely separate
place. This is not good.”
Sam sighed as she realized that Daniel
was right, but at least this was not exactly stomach churning news, so it could
relax now, no knots, no dancing. Nodding
her head in agreement, she said, “Okay, we know that he buried her before he
abandoned the planet, but - he hadn’t yet abandoned it in this reality, so the
chances lean toward her still being somewhere in the palace, right?”
Daniel grimaced. “Well, we’d better hope so, because we didn’t
bring any shovels, and besides that, it would look distinctly odd and
suspicious for guests of the “Lord of the Manor” to order their slaves to dig
up the dirt around the Chaappa’ai, the front lawn, the formal gardens, or
anywhere else on the planet.”
Catching the last part of Daniel’s
comment as he came back into their section of the ship, Lantash asked, “Why
would we want our slaves to dig in the dirt, Daniel?”
“Sam and I were discussing where we
might find Egeria. On Pangara in our
reality, she was found in an underground area, but there was no palace there
and it was near the Stargate. From what you’ve
told us, Ra’s palace is quite far away from it.
I’m just thinking that if he did already entomb her, then we might have
to figure out a way to find the place and get into it. Hopefully, she will still be in the palace.”
“You say it was near the Chaappa’ai?”
“Yes, quite near to it.”
“There is the possibility that he put
her into a section of an escape tunnel.
Many palaces have them and they often have rooms and sections that are
used for other things. Would it be
possible that is what she was in?”
Sam and Daniel looked at each other as
they both tried to remember exactly what the area had looked like. Finally, Sam said, “I’m not sure but it seems
to me that there were other rooms and passages in the area. You were there at a later time, Daniel. Do you remember?”
Daniel nodded, saying, “Yes, I remember
that, too. I was only there for a short
time. I took them some texts that I
thought might prove useful after I read the report and realized what they
needed. They gave me a quick tour of part
of the area they were excavating and there were numerous passageways as well as
chambers of various sizes.”
“If he did put her into a room in the
escape tunnels, we should be able to access them from the palace. I am hoping our informant is still there,
although I think it is doubtful after all this time. I believe that he would have waited for us to
come and after a few days he would have left assuming we could not manage
it. No doubt he heard the news that the
Tok’Ra had all been killed as well. Once
Ra was defeated, and then the news of our deaths reached him, he probably left
to return to his home, and who can blame him?”
“I wouldn’t,” Daniel agreed. Still thinking about the upcoming search, he
asked Lantash, “Do you have any idea at all where he might have put her? What she would be in? An unexplainable, inexplicable feeling?
Anything at all?”
Lantash shook his head, saying, “Not
really, Daniel, I am sorry. She could be
on display or hidden deep in the bowels of the palace. She might be buried, or she might just be
sitting around on a shelf. There is no
telling where she could be.”
Daniel sighed, nodding his
understanding. “It’s too bad the Goa’uld
don’t have a recognizable pattern when it comes to doing away with others of
their kind, but their methods seem to be numerous and varied.”
“A very true observation, Daniel. Unfortunately, we will not have any type of
lead with which to start our search, and we will have to be somewhat
circumspect, since word could be sent to Apophis of our arrival if we arouse
the servant’s suspicions about anything.”
“Was the information your informant
sent in code, or did it just say things straight out?”
“He always sent it in a form of prose
or poetry. That way if it fell into the
wrong hands, it would make no sense even if the person told what it said. That is how we understood that Egeria was
there and alive, although it never said her name.”
“Really. Now that’s interesting.” Daniel leaned forward as the information
caught his attention. “Do you have any
of the messages here, Lantash? This
might be important.”
“I have it memorized. We did not write it down for fear of someone
finding it. However, as I said, we
probably could have, for no one was likely to understand it.”
“How did it go? I want to write it down to see if there might
be some clues in it.”
“It was in the form of a poem. It was entitled One Day I Met Your Mother. I
shall recite it for you.”
Nestled in her chamber,
She’s waiting here for thee.
Anyone could see her,
But few eyes look to see.
The mother of the new ones.
A tapestry fills your eyes.
Gone, but not forgotten,
She rests, she sleeps, near by.
For you, she will awaken,
She calls her children home.
To see the purple of the skies,
And waters white with foam.
Do not tarry longer.
Do not fail to come.
Do not deny her love of you.
Do not refuse as some.
Look into the mirror,
the mirror of her soul,
and there is where you’ll find her,
waiting to come home.”
“The title was the first thing we
received and as each section was given to us we were also told where to go for
the next one. We received the last one,
as I have mentioned, on the planet we were caught on. And that courier was able to tell us
more. He was one that had seen her as
well. So we know that she was there and
in stasis.”
“Unfortunately, that is all he could
tell us. He had only seen her by
accident. At least, he saw her stasis
chamber. At the time he first saw it, he
did not know what it was. It was not
until our informant found out and questioned him that he realized what he had
seen. And he had no idea where she was
by then. When he saw her, she was moved
out of the room she had been in as they redecorated some rooms. Where she went after that he did not know.”
“Well, I can’t say for sure until I see
the palace, but there could be a hidden meaning in the words,” Daniel stated.
“We, too, thought there was more to the
poem than it appeared. He had never sent
such a long piece before, nor had he dwelled on a single topic as much as he
did in this one. However, we never found
any real meaning to it.”
Daniel pushed his glasses up the bridge
of his nose. “I think there is something
there. Not that it comes out and tells
you in specifics, but it gives us clues.
It mentions water, mirrors, eyes, sleep, purple skies, children, a
house, and a chamber. It could be all or
part of those words. We’ll know that
when we find her. I’m thinking that
sleep and chamber mean she is in stasis, but that the others mean something
more. If we are very, very lucky, there
will be a room somewhere that will make that all make sense. We should be on the look-out for it at any
rate.”
Yawning, Daniel closed his notebook, stood,
and stretched. “I think I’m going to go
join Anise and take a nap. You guys
probably should, too. Malek and Kathryn
have a few hours of their shift to go yet.”
Sam smiled at him and stood as
well. “You’re right, as usual,
Daniel. I think I’ll go lie down as
well. Maybe I can convince My Lord and
Master to join me.”
Daniel laughed as he headed toward the
area that Anise was in. “In that case,
you won’t get any rest, Sam. But then, I
may not either.”
Sam shook her head at him, saying, “I
assure you that I’ll get some rest, Daniel.
We all need to be fresh for this mission. We know we could be in for some very long
hours if we don’t find her right away.”
“She is correct, Daniel. I will personally see to it that she is well
rested and sleeps,” Lantash commented.
Taking her in his arms he kissed her softly as Daniel continued on his
way toward Anise. “I love you, Samantha,
my mate. Come, lie with me and we will
rest…after we chase the stars.”
Jacob took a deep breath and giving his
group the once over one last time, he turned, stepped into the shimmering blue
of the event horizon, and gave control to Selmak. The mission had begun. It had been almost two days since the rest of
the team had left in the Tel’tak. Their
entire complement had returned to the staging planet from Earth a couple of
hours ago. The soldiers that would be
remaining behind, as well as the archeological team, had returned with the team
going on the mission. Now, they would
find out if the team in the Tel’tak had made it to Pangara. They were also about to find out if Apophis,
or any of his henchmen, were there.
Stepping out on the other side, they
realized there was nothing but a field, a few distant hills, and farm land as
far as the eye could see. A path led off
to the left, and they assumed that was the way to the palace as it was the more
traveled. The other two that converged
at the gate were obviously not well used.
Standing on the dais of the Stargate
they waited to see if the Tel’tak would appear.
It had not been a full two days.
Selmak frowned, wondering if they had arrived before the Tel’tak. The thought that they might have had trouble
on the way he pushed out of his mind. A
few moments later a Tel’tac lifted above one of the hills and headed for the
gate. The group walked forward and
waited as it hovered above and in front of them for a moment before lowering
its rings.
Once the rings swept back upwards,
Malek stepped forward, saying, “We just arrived a few hours ago. We did a little reconnaissance and nothing
much seems to be moving around the palace.
The village is moderately busy, but the gardens and the palace seem
almost deserted, at least from the air.
It appears to be around the middle of the day here, though I do not know
how that corresponds to the time at the staging base. We did not want to ring down for a closer
look, preferring to wait so that we would all arrive together on the Tel’tak.”
Selmak nodded, “Very good. We will ring
aboard now and go to the palace now. The
sooner we arrive, the sooner we can start our search.”
They moved together and the rings
descended. Two trips later and they and their equipment were all in the
Tel’tak. Lantash was at the controls,
and Daniel was waiting with his information.
It would take almost no time to arrive at the palace and he wanted to
let them know what they thought they might have figured out during their
flight.
“We talked on our way here and Lantash
was able to remember the poem their informant sent to tell them about
Egeria. He also told us that this poem
was much longer than normal and that they had felt that it might be trying to
tell them more details about where she was hidden.” He handed out copies of the poem that they
had written up before he proceeded.
“You’ll notice that I’ve highlighted
words that we felt could be clues at to where she was. If we’re lucky, we’ll find a room with all of
these things in it. If not, then we’ll
have to go on instinct. It’ll no doubt be a room by room search. It seems logical that she would be in a room
somewhere unless he has already buried her, and this doesn’t sound as if he
had. We wanted you all to have this so
you could be letting it sink in and maybe start to mull it over. Later we’ll discuss what it could mean, but
not right now.”
“I agree, Daniel, this does seem as if
it is trying to tell us something. I
definitely think we should try to figure out if there is a room somewhere that
has all of these things in it.” Selmak
agreed as he looked over the words that were highlighted.
“We have arrived,” Lantash
announced. “I am going to land and leave
the ship here. Is everyone ready to
begin?”
The group agreed and picked up the
supplies piled up earlier in expectation of leaving the ship. They had been staying in character most of
the time so it seemed much more natural to them now. They fell into their appointed places as
Teal’c opened the door.
Lantash took some controls for the
Tel’tak and hid them in a group of stones.
If something went wrong, and they needed to escape, their opponents
would not get the control to open the Tel’tak’s doors. They could still get into it, but it would
take them longer. At any rate, they
would no doubt leave it there for some time and if they could manage to escape,
they would be able to access it themselves again.
After he returned to the group, they
strolled in the direction of the palace which was now no more than a few
hundred yards away.
They walked in leisurely silence toward
the main entry. As they neared it,
Teal’c broke into speech as if he was answering an inquiry. “I believe so, My Lord Selmak. Now that we are at the palace, we can find
out what accommodations there are. I am
sorry that we have never been here before, but we have heard that it is
magnificent. My Lord Apophis,” Teal’c
continued as he walked up the steps to the door that had opened, “wished me to
make a preliminary check of the palace and as he wished you to be entertained
in his absence, he hoped this would suffice until he could arrive.”
Selmak gazed at the open foyer, large
marble statues, and the huge stairways reaching upward to the second and third
stories, with disdain. “Yes, well, that
is yet to be seen. Hopefully, we will
find enough to occupy us in the meantime.”
Teal’c bowed and turned to the servant
holding the door open who was looking at the group in astonishment, “My Lord’s
guests require apartments. Are they
ready?” Teal’c asked with a hint of
steel in his voice, which told the boy the answer had better be yes.
The young servant seemed to shrink back
against the wall, “I am sorry, but your message said you would not be here for
at least seven days. It is only one and
a half days, my Lord, so we were not expecting you to arrive for several more
days. Nor did you mention a group of
guests. All you mentioned were some
servants and slave girls that would be coming to redo the rooms for Lord
Apophis.” His voice shook.
“They will be arriving later. Lord Apophis was called away from his guests
and suggested they might like to come here until he returned. No further message was deemed necessary, nor
should it have been. See that each of
his Lordship’s guests have suites as well as rooms for their lo’tars.”
“Yes, my Lord. At once, my Lord,” he bowed toward Selmak and
almost ran from the room. The group
exchanged glances. None had missed the
information. Teal’c, this reality’s
Teal’c, was on his way here. They only
had a few days at most.
Another young man appeared almost
immediately and introduced himself, “I am Peris, and if you wish for anything,
I will see that you have it. Looking at
the group, he then calmly requested, “If you will please follow me? There are always several suites and adjoining
rooms that are ready in case they are needed.
Lord Ra often had unexpected guests to stay, and it was expected that
the rooms be habitable immediately. The
young man who answered the door is fairly new and was not aware of that. I apologize for the misunderstanding, and I
will see to it that he is made aware of his error.”
He made his explanation as he led them
up one of the large staircases and then down a hall. He began opening doors and then turned to
them. “You may choose which ever rooms
you please in this hall and on this floor.
If none of them are suitable, there are others that could be made ready
at once. Please let us know your
choices, or if you would prefer to see other rooms from which to choose. If these are acceptable, and we know who is
in each room, we will be able to deliver any thing you may want or need more
quickly.” He turned to Teal’c and said,
“The Jaffa’s quarters are down another hall.
I will take you there.”
“No,” Selmak said abruptly. “I wish him to be closer than that. He will take a room here among us. I do not like to be kept waiting. Ever.”
He sent a look to the young man that said ‘and you better remember that’,” before turning to look at the
rooms. Turning back around, he asked,
“There is a sarcophagus?”
“Yes, My Lord. There are two. One in the room at the end of this hall and
one downstairs in the third ante-chamber off the grand entrance hall. Ah, and there is also one in Lord Ra’s
personal chambers. I had forgotten it as
no one used it except for him. It is
also available for use if you wish. It
is in the central wing, as his entire suite of chambers were there, and it is
in the chamber of the third door on the left.”
“Very well. Bring food to our lo’tars for our evening
meal.” Selmak said bluntly and then
turned back to looking at the rooms. He
sighed as he turned around. “They will
do. Not what we are accustomed to, but
we knew that without a host we would be on our own and things would not be at
their best. Send the food. You may leave.”
Bowing,
The group quickly sorted out the
rooms.
“I will take this largest room since it
would be expected,” Selmak decided as he looked around it. Sam you and Lantash will stay together, of
course. The rest of you should sort out
your sleeping arrangements. My lo’tars
need to stay in the rooms on either side of me.
The same goes for the rest of you.
Put your lo’tars into a room near you unless they are staying in the
room with you.”
Malek nodded, “Kathryn will be staying
with us, Selmak.”
Selmak was not surprised, so he just
sent a small smile in their direction.
“I’ll be staying with Anise,” Daniel
added. Again, no one was surprised. It didn’t take long for every one to know
where they would be staying. The two female
Lo’tars could share a room as could the two men. All of the rooms connected so it worked out
that they could all be near their respective Lords.
They went to their rooms to clean up
and put their things away. It had been around midday when they arrived so they
would have enough time to arrange their belongings, have a meal, make plans,
and discuss what they did and did not know so far.
They agreed to meet in Selmak’s room. They would eat there and discuss where to
start on their project. With only five
days, at most, they would have to work very quickly. Of course, if they were lucky, the mission
would be completed long before their five days were up. However, everyone knew that Lady Luck was
both fickle and undependable. It would
be better to depend on their wits and abilities. If luck came their way that
would be well and good, but they would count it a bonus.
Sam looked thoughtful as they sat
around and discussed the project.
“What’s the matter, Sam? You’ve
been pondering something for quite a while.” Daniel had become aware of Sam’s
preoccupation during the meal and it was continuing.
“I was thinking about Teal’c and the
servants arriving in five days. I just
feel like he may turn up sooner than they expect him. And none of us can afford to be seen by
him. He thinks we are all dead including
Daniel and me. Only a few of us could
afford to be seen. I doubt if this reality’s
Teal’c kept track of all the Tau’ri that were killed. But even that is a moot point because the
servants will tell him that the others were with him and blow their cover story
wide open. So in reality even they can’t
be caught.”
“We can not take a chance on either
Apophis or Teal’c seeing Malek, Jacob, myself, Daniel, or you, Samantha,”
Lantash pointed out. “Particularly not
you. He would keep you forever, my
Samantha and that I could not bear.”
“I’d take my own life before I let that
happen, Lantash, I promise you. If you
cannot have me then no one will.” Sam
smiled her reassurance to him.
“We will do our best to see that they
do not find us, and please believe that I would never leave you in his
possession, Major Carter.” Teal’c was his stoic best. What went on behind those enigmatic dark eyes
no one knew.
“Thanks, Teal’c. I’ll do my best not to be seen. And really, nothing has changed except that
we know without a doubt that this Teal’c will be here soon, so I don’t know why
I was even thinking about it. There’s no
point in it. We need to do what you guys
are doing, not what I was doing. So…where
were we?”
Lantash nodded, accepting her statement
and returned to the subject at hand, “I would say we could just lay low and
come back after he leaves, but once we disappear before our supposed host
arrives, it would appear odd if we suddenly returned after he departed.” He reminded them.
“I think we should focus our thinking
on finding her. If we get down to the
wire, and still have not found her, then we will have to cross that
bridge. Let us see how things go
first. I think we have a good chance of
finding her,” Selmak pointed out.
“I agree, Selmak. We will have to find her. We have no other choice. Knowing that, we should set our plans in
motion and aim to have accomplished our mission within five days, less if we
can do it.” Lantash brooded somberly as
old memories were brought forward.
“Does anyone have any ideas on how or
where to start our search?”
“I am not sure, Selmak, but do you
think that he might have kept her in his private rooms? It would not surprise me if he did,” Lantash
spoke up.
“That is true. From what we knew of our Ra, that would fit
his personality. But, he also might have
her on display downstairs and even labeled.
That is what I fear. That he has
put her someplace on display to show off that he captured her. In that case, if Apophis comes, and we do not
find her, he very well could.” Malek’s voice was its usual quiet and solemn
tones, but they were laced with unease.
“I agree, Malek. I, too, fear this. It is the reason that we tried to get to her
when we should have stayed out of sight and waited for Apophis to leave. We might have succeeded if we had,” Lantash
pointed out their reasoning, which matched his.
“What you are saying is true, so we
need to start a search of every room in this place, including Ra’s rooms. We can start with the rooms we are sleeping
in. It seems unlikely that she would be
here, but one never knows, and there is no reason we can not look them over
well tonight. Tomorrow we start on the
other rooms. His throne room, his
personal suites, the suite where his sarcophagus is, all would be prime places
for him to display her. We need to check
them all. Chambers where petitioners or
visitors would wait to be allowed into his presence would also be a logical
place to put her.” Selmak frowned as he
contemplated all the places she could be.
“Lantash did you notice the informant
that sent the messages? Is he still
here?” Anise wanted to know as she suddenly remembered that they had inside
information that had led them here.
“If he is still here, I have not seen
him. My guess is that if he could escape
without the few
Selmak nodded, and his voice was
sympathetic as he said, “I agree, Lantash.
If I had the chance to escape this type of place, knowing Ra’s weakness
for young boys and men, I would take the chance to escape before the next one
could get a hold of me, too.”
“I still think the poem has some
meaning that we are missing. I’m hoping
it will come to us when we see it, but that’s a long shot. I wish he could have been more specific. I mean, there just isn’t a lot to go on
here.” Frustration colored his voice,
for Daniel was obviously feeling that they were missing something.
“We really have not had a lot of time
to look at it, Daniel, but maybe we should take more time to do so now. We should probably memorize it and then burn
the written copies. Although, they are
in English, so I doubt if anyone here could read them,” Selmak noted. “Jacob and I both agree on that.”
“That’s why I wrote them in
English. I figured that if anyone found
them and eventually got them translated, we’d be long gone.” Daniel commented
absently as he continued to stare at the written words. “Let’s go over them now then. Okay, first off, the title was “One Day I Met Your Mother.” Looking up and grinning at everyone, adding a
little humor to try to lift the weight they all carried, he continued, “I
believe that we can all agree that unless you have the IQ of a rock, a stump,
or an amoeba, the title is pretty self explanatory. After that, however, there may be some
differences of opinion on how to interpret some of the lines and words, so I’m
going to tell you what I think and then ask for your ideas, and we’ll go from
there.”
Pushing his glasses up on the bridge of
his nose for the thousandth plus time, Daniel began, “I believe we can all
agree that in the first verse the word chamber is referring to her stasis
container. Unfortunately, it doesn’t
describe it, so all we know is that she’s in something. The other thing it tells us is that it is out
where anyone that looks can see it.
That, at least, is helpful in that we know it’s not in a closet, chest,
trunk, or anyplace else that could be considered “hidden”. Does everyone agree
with that, or does anyone have any other ideas, maybe something to add?”
“I think it means that the chamber
isn’t large. He used the word
nestled. That word makes me think of
being curled up in a small cozy place.
Not cramped but not a lot of space either,” Stephara suggested.
Daniel nodded thoughtfully. “You’re probably right. I doubt if Ra would have put her in something
large.”
“I would suspect something neither
large nor small, Daniel,” Malek added his thoughts. “Ra would not have wanted to seem to honor
her in any way, but neither would he have wanted her in something so
inconspicuous as to be overlooked. Her
capture and imprisonment was an accomplishment of which he was proud. Keeping that in mind, the description of
nestled that Stephara gave is probably accurate.”
“Okay, so from the first verse we know
that she is in a stasis chamber that is medium in size and that is in plain
view. Correct?” Daniel asked, though he didn’t expect any opposing
answers.
“So, using the same type of reasoning,
then the second verse tells us that there should be a large tapestry near
her. Perhaps depicting a new mother and
her child? Or someone sleeping? A funeral procession?” Lantash asked, thinking of all the things that
the verse could indicate would be in the tapestry.
“I don’t think so, Lantash. I think all it is telling us is that there is
a large tapestry near the stasis chamber she is sleeping in and that although
she’s been gone from sight for a while, Ra has not forgotten about her, nor
have the other System Lords forgotten her.” Kathryn looked at the Tok’Ra before
adding, “I also think he is reminding you that she needs to be able to breed
new children to carry on the fight. It
could even mean both what you are saying, that is, the mother and child or
children in the tapestry, as well as conveying the thoughts that I am
suggesting. Doing double duty, so to
speak.”
Anise nodded in agreement, murmuring,
“I believe you may be correct Kathryn. I
think that the next verse is telling us more about the second verse. They may all actually be intertwined from the
second verse on and we may have to look on them as a whole to see how they
interact with each other.”
“Okay then, verse three. So, if we go on the premise that verse three
is referring to the tapestry in verse two, then the tapestry would contain a
purple sky and white capped water?
Perhaps some children and a house?
Does this sound right?”
“It could be Daniel. I think you may be right about the purple sky
and the water. I’m not so sure about the
children and the house, but they could be part of it. Then again, that could just be referring
again to the fact that Egeria is needed to give birth to the new generation of
Tok’Ra. We won’t really know until we
find the tapestry in question. At any
rate, I think we need to keep every idea in at least one column so we end up
with all variations. We are pretty sure about the purple sky and the water and
the house and children are both quite possible.
So they would be listed in a category.
That way we have several scenarios to choose from and we won’t overlook
something that we shouldn’t,” Sam suggested as she looked over Daniel’s
shoulder at his lists and notes.
“That’s a good idea, Sam. If we have all of the possible combinations
to choose from we can check each tapestry against them all,” Kathryn agreed.
“I don’t think the next verse has any
special meaning. Does anyone else? Other than he was saying to come as soon as
they could?” Daniel asked the group. Getting the affirmations he expected, he
continued to the next and last verse.
“Does anyone have any ideas on this
one?”
“I do not know. Do you think there might be a mirror on the
stasis chamber? Or perhaps a mirror on
the wall next to it? That does not make
sense though if there is a tapestry next to her.” Malek stated.
“It sounds as if it would be on the
chamber itself. I’m not sure
though. This may be one we will just
have to wait and hope it jumps out at us.
For right now though we’ll go on the assumption it is on the chamber
itself.” Daniel answered. “Even though it doesn’t sound right. I think I’ll list it only as a possible along
with the possibility that it could also be somewhere near it on the wall. Perhaps the tapestry is on one side and the
mirror on the other or something.”
“You’re right, Daniel, it doesn’t seem
right. But, I don’t know what does. Your idea of one on each side makes more
sense though,” Sam agreed. “It mentions
her soul. Do you suppose she is in some
niche somewhere in an urn or statue type thing that would be worshiped but with
Ra’s symbols rather than her own? She
would be worshiped and yet not be?”
Malek frowned, “Possibly Samantha, but
I would doubt that. The system lords go
for large gaudy idols and altars at which to worship them.”
She nodded her acceptance of that. “Of course, some of this may just be lines
that are added in to keep the cadence right and the tone of the poem about the
same in case someone did get a hold of it.
We should remember that, too.”
“You are correct, Samantha, and we
should keep that in mind. Furthermore, I
think we have done as much as we can for tonight on this part of the
search. We all need to go over our own rooms
and then spread out and search the rest of this corridor. Keep in mind what we just talked about as you
search. Daniel will get the information
to you as soon as he can get it organized, so that you can memorize it and know
the signals that will alert you to look more closely at the item that triggered
the alert. Be careful and do not get
caught,” Selmak instructed them quietly.
Anise nodded her agreement with Selmak
but continued on to another thought, “Even though the message they received told
them that Teal’c would be here in seven days that does not mean he will not
turn up early. I expect him to be here
before the seven days are up, which makes it imperative that we accomplish as
much as possible as quickly as possible and yet do a complete and thorough
search. It is possible we may want to
put in a system of checks on ourselves.
Perhaps a second screening of a room by a different person, at least on
the rooms that we feel are most likely to have her in them.”
“That is an excellent idea, Anise. I will give it some thought and discuss it
with all of you tomorrow morning. As for
the other, I, too, believe they will arrive earlier than expected,” Selmak
agreed. “I am also hoping that the
servants do not become suspicious of us because we are looking so closely at
the artwork and urns.”
“I believe that I may be of assistance
in this matter, Selmak. I will go find
Peris before going to bed. I believe
that a few well chosen words will warn him not to interfere with My Lord
Apophis’s guests. I will leave the
impression that you are collectors of fine art and it would be unwise for them
to interrupt you when you are studying the many paintings and sculptures that
seem to abound here.”
“That is a good idea, Teal’c. Most servants tend to want to stay out of a
System Lord’s way anyway, so with your added caution, we should not be
disturbed during our hunt.” Selmak stood
as he finished his remark. “Since we all
need to get an early start tomorrow, we should get our first search finished
and then retire for the night.”
“We’ll clean up these things first
while you all start searching. What do
we do with them after we gather them, Teal’c?”
“Normally you would return them to the
kitchen area, Samantha, but since you do not yet know your way around, I will
have Peris send someone to retrieve them.
Leave them outside in the hall.”
“Thanks, Teal’c. We’ll start learning where things are
tomorrow.” Sam turned back to Kathryn
and Daniel, “I suppose we should check the unused rooms up here as well.”
Daniel nodded, “Once the servants here
come and get this stuff they probably won’t bother us again tonight. It should be perfectly safe to have a look
around then. And it’s not really very
late here even though it is dark. We
have a couple of hours before it starts getting late.”
“I will go in search of Peris now, so
that they will remove the remains of our meal right away and leave us for the
rest of the night. If you will excuse
me, My Lord.” Teal’c bowed towards
Selmak, keeping up the charade. As he
left the room his lips curved up in a smile.
He would be sure that they stayed away from the System Lord he was
accompanying. It had been a long time
since he had acted the part of a First Prime, but he could certainly do it with
little trouble. He would put the fear of
their new God and his guests in the servants, and then the team could get on
with their search.
“We may as well get started on our
rooms, and as Daniel said, after the servants have left this wing for the
night, we can extend the search outward to include the unoccupied rooms. When we finish, we should probably attempt to
sleep some even though it may be difficult this first night.”
“I agree, Lantash.” Selmak watched as the lo’tars returned from
removing the dishes. “Let us get started
group. We have a lot of territory to
cover and very little time.”
The group dispersed to their respective
rooms to begin their search. The sands
of the hour glass were running and they all felt the need to move quickly. Lantash and Martouf knew that they must
succeed in this quest. They had been
given a second chance at both their lives with Samantha, and this mission;
there would be no more chances at either.
They had to find their Queen.
They would find her. Failure was
not an option.
TBC
Chapter
Nine
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