The ground trembled again.
“All right,” Daniel said. “This is bad.”
“That’s an understatement.” Jack ran up the steps and positioned himself behind the gate. With Teal’c on the other side, the two pushed against the inner ring, but to no avail.
Daniel climbed up and joined the others in pushing and pulling at the inner ring. In the distance, the tremors continued — a low constant rumble.
“This is going nowhere.” Jack wiped his brow. “Somehow, we’ve busted the thing.”
“It could be worse,” Daniel said.
“Oh, really?” Jack said with more than a bit of sarcasm.
“We could be surrounded by enemy troops,” Teal’c offered.
“The day’s not over yet.” Jack pointed over at the DHD. “What would happen if we popped the top off? That doesn’t need anything other than brute strength. Or Teal’c.”
“Sir, I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Sam said. “If we break the control crystal, it might prevent any wormhole from forming — outgoing or incoming.”
The platform started shaking. Daniel grabbed onto the gate. “We should find a safer place. Someone will report us missing.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Like who?”
The rumbling calmed and Daniel let go. “General Hammond — ”
“Hammond’s in D.C.” Jack crossed his arms. “Is there anything else you’re forgetting?”
“That wasn’t forgetting. That was habit. You’ve been General all of — ” Daniel tried to push aside the fog covering his recent memories. He remembered Jack’s first speech as general. Sam’s promotion to Lt. Colonel. The Atlantis expedition leaving for the Pegasus Galaxy.
The rumbling returned, strong enough to shake the platform. The chevrons’ glass and metal parts rattled against the Stargate’s stone surface.
“My God, I can’t remember.”
“Tell me about it,” Jack shouted. “I couldn’t even remember who I was when I got here.”
That piece of news alarmed Daniel, but he didn’t have time to ask Jack more. The tremors had intensified to an almost deafening rumble.
The platform surged sideways. Daniel stumbled to his knees. As he scrambled to his feet, Sam ran down the stairs toward the DHD. Jack raced to the platform’s edge.
“Carter, stop!”
An explosion of dirt sprayed up around the DHD. Jack dived off and knocked Sam out of the way as the ground surrounding the pedestal thrust upwards. The DHD toppled to its side.
A loud crack reverberated across the platform. Daniel watched in paralyzed horror as a fracture snaked open along the steps leading up to the gate.
Teal’c grabbed his arm and together, they jumped off the platform. Above the din of the tremors, a grinding noise started up. The gate began to sway back and forth.
“Run!” Following Jack’s lead, they raced down the hill. Daniel stumbled to keep up, tripping over micro-fissures erupting across the fern-covered terrain.
Dirt spewed up in front him. He stumbled backward. Another spout of earth exploded to his right and he lost his balance. Teal’c grabbed his shirt collar, yanking him back on to his feet.
Jack led the way as they raced down the hill. The overgrown ferns scratched at Daniel’s face, but he kept on running.
Finally, they reached the bottom of the hill, the tremors diminished. Another hundred yards and the quake stopped.
Jack raised a fist, signaling them to halt. “Everyone all right?”
Daniel opened his mouth to answer, but never got the chance. A thunderous boom erupted behind them. He spun toward the sound only to see the hill they’d just descended torn in two. For a moment, the gate swayed back and forth, perched precariously close to one edge of the forming crevasse. Another tremor hit. The tear in the ground widened, and the gate toppled into the chasm below.
The hill collapsed and the Stargate was buried.
Teal’c felt no small measure of ease when the world ceased to shake. True, the Stargate was inaccessible, but he had long come to believe that SG-1 could and would always succeed in finding a means of escape.
To believe otherwise would serve no purpose. He recognized this as he climbed to his feet. O’Neill stood up as well. Though he whispered a soft groan, the man showed no signs of injury. Colonel Carter crouched beside Daniel Jackson. She ripped a strip of cloth from her shirt and wiped his face clean of blood. Upon closer examination, Teal’c was gratified to find his friend had only suffered minor cuts.
“Everyone all right?” O’Neill asked.
“Dandy,” said Daniel Jackson as he attempted to wipe dirt from his face.
“I am also well.” Teal’c permitted himself a brief smile at the young man’s adoption of O’Neill’s phrase.
“Carter?” O’Neill knelt down.
Colonel Carter nodded. “Fine, sir. Just a bit shook up.”
O’Neill rose and raised a hand to his brow, blocking the sunlight. “Let’s figure out what we have and then what we need to get out of here.”
“We’ll need a Stargate, for one thing,” said Daniel Jackson.
“You let me worry about that.”
Colonel Carter glanced at the field of rubble from which they’d escaped. “Daniel’s right, sir. We have no way of knowing how stable the ground above the gate will be and without the right tools to dig it out — ”
“I said, let me worry about that.” O’Neill spun on his heels and strode off in the opposite direction.
Teal’c scanned their very much-altered surroundings. Beyond the collapsed hill, a large grass-covered plain stretched out for several miles. Though his vision was not as it once had been while carrying a symbiote, he believed he could see an expanse of trees at the plain’s far end. Without closer inspection, he could not be certain.
To either side and behind them rose more hills, each no more than a hundred yards from their current position. O’Neill had reached the base of the hill to their rear and sat down. He bent and retied his shoelace.
Daniel Jackson stood up. “You don’t suppose he’s thinking of what happened on Edora, do you?”
“I do not,” Teal’c said. “The circumstances are sufficiently different.”
Colonel Carter also rose. “For one thing, he had us on the other side working to bring him home.”
Teal’c grimaced at the memory. More than four years ago, a meteor shower on Edora had buried the Stargate, stranding O’Neill beyond their reach. It had taken three months of little to no sleep for then Major Carter to devise a means to pierce through the hardened naquadah above the Edoran gate’s horizon. Teal’c had volunteered to go through and tunnel the remaining way to the surface. It was only when little oxygen remained that O’Neill had found him. In a certain sense, the rescue had been mutual.
Indeed, most of SG-1’s missions had been resolved by group efforts. This is why it disturbed Teal’c to see O’Neill withdraw at a time when they needed him most. Action was required and though O’Neill no longer led SG-1, he remained their de facto leader.
With a curt nod to Daniel Jackson and Colonel Carter, Teal’c jogged over to O’Neill’s location. The effort left him a bit more winded than it should have, but then the past hour had certainly taken its toll on all of them.
He slowed as he neared O’Neill, allowing his brother-in-arms a moment to collect himself. “Should we not search for a solution to our predicament?”
“And what predicament would that be?” O’Neill asked, pulling a small metal object from his pants’ pocket. With a flick of his wrist, the cap flipped back.
Teal’c raised an eyebrow upon seeing the lighter. He had searched his pockets shortly after their arrival and found nothing. “I do not believe any of us found similar items in our possession.”
O’Neill thumbed the wheel. When a flame sparked up from the lighter’s metal cage, a brief smile appeared on his face. Perhaps an indication that O’Neill had returned to good humor.
The smile fad
ed. “You know what? I’m not buying this so-called predicament we’ve gotten ourselves into.”
“And yet the Stargate is buried.”
“Hell, T, we couldn’t get it to work even when it wasn’t.” O’Neill snapped the lighter shut.
“Then what do you propose?”
“That we find a way off this rock.” O’Neill stood up and steadily met his gaze.
“Do you believe that to be possible?” Teal’c asked, inwardly pleased by his brother’s renewed optimism.
O’Neill glanced once more at his lighter and then returned it to his pocket. “It’s not like we have a choice, but yes, I do. Something’s not adding up here, and I’ve got a hunch I know what this is about. If I’m right, I’m gonna be pissed.”
“A hunch. Somewhat like Colonel Carter or Daniel Jackson’s estimations?”
“Possibly, but I don’t think we’re in any danger. Let’s move out.”
Though none of them had watches with which to measure time, O’Neill sent each member of SG-1 in a different direction with orders to return within what ‘felt like’ thirty minutes. Teal’c volunteered to survey the plains beyond the flattened hill.
As he cautiously made his way past the scattered remains of broken rock and debris, he searched for any sign that the Stargate might be easily unburied. The possibility of retrieval became less and less likely as he walked by boulders as large as O’Neill’s truck scattered across the area. Though he regretted admitting it, even he would not be strong enough to move them out of the way.
He walked beyond the destruction, stepping over smaller rocks that littered the landscape. Many of them seemed smoother, as if worn away by the action of water. Perhaps Colonel Carter could explain how the hill’s collapse could cause such a phenomenon.
Upon reaching safer terrain, Teal’c picked up his pace. He jogged across more even ground and long-bladed grasses, heading toward the tree line at the field’s end. As he reached the woods’ outer edge, a glint of silver flashed from between the deeply fissured tree trunks that populated the woods. Teal’c dropped to his knees. A Jaffa’s armor reflecting against the sparse sunlight may have been the cause. Another flash prompted him to creep inwards, remaining low to avoid detection.
He heard no sound of birds or wildlife. There were no footsteps save his own soft tread. Often, low hanging branches studded with red conical-shaped flowers impeded his momentum. He knew he should turn back, having far exceeded O’Neill’s thirty-minute window, but what he could discern from the flashes might be critical to SG-1’s survival. He proceeded forward until he came to the edge of a cliff and looked out.
In the canyon below, a multi-spired citadel sprawled for many miles. At its center stood a single oblong tower, built of metal and glass, undoubtedly a good half-mile high. Sunlight glistened off its windows. Though Teal’c was too far away to be certain, he believed he saw movement along the citadel’s outer stone wall, a ten-foot high ring of white stone polished to such a sheen that the neighboring lake shimmered against its sides. He counted six terraces around the city’s outer buildings, each formed of colored glass panels cross-braced with steel beams.
Be they friend or foe, whoever had accomplished such an engineering feat would certainly have the means to assist SG-1. Teal’c hurried back to his friends, hopeful that O’Neill’s hunch was right and that such assistance would come freely and not at a price too high to pay.
“A penny for your thoughts, Carter.”
Sam suppressed a grin. Whatever had troubled General O’Neill earlier seemed to have flown out the proverbial window. He was practically jovial, squatting down beside her, chewing innocuously on a blade of grass.
They’d taken up position behind a bush some fifty yards back from an archway carved into the wall surrounding the city Teal’c had discovered. From what she could see so far, the people living there had to be extremely advanced. There was no other way to explain the slender, graceful buildings or the cable-less cars sliding up their sides. What she wouldn’t do for a —
“Carter?”
Sam rocked back on her heels and sighed. “To be honest, sir, I just wish I had some of my equipment.” She glanced up at the sun. It hadn’t really changed altitude since they’d arrived on the planet. “A spectrometer would be nice. The light’s — ”
“A P90 might be useful.” He plucked another blade of grass.
“Sir, you probably shouldn’t sample the local vegetation. We’ve no way of knowing if it’s poisonous or not.”
“Oh, I don’t think we’re in any trouble from that quarter.” He waved the blade toward the archway. “We’ve got company.”
Two men dressed in belted beige-colored tunics, off-white trousers and matching shirts took up guard on either side of the arch. “It’s tough to see this far off, but I think they’re wearing side-arms, sir.”
“You think we should waltz up to them and ask for help?”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t see any other choice.”
“Certainly our appearances do not seem threatening,” Teal’c said, crouched on her other side.
Behind her, Daniel handed his watch cap to Teal’c. “It wouldn’t hurt to be a bit less conspicuous.”
“So what’s your plan?” the general asked as Teal’c positioned the hat over his gold serpent tattoo.
Sam faced the general, surprised. “My plan, sir?”
“At the moment, Colonel,” he pointed at her, “you’re SG-1’s commanding officer. I’m just a lowly general in your keeping.”
“Yes, sir.” She squared her shoulders. “Well, since this is a first contact — ”
Daniel tapped her on the shoulder. “Your resident archaeologist-slash-linguist should take lead.”
The general snorted. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Daniel’s right, sir. We’ve no way of knowing if they’re friendlies or not, and he’s better at playing ambassador than — ”
“I get it, Carter. You don’t need to explain.” The general glanced back at Daniel. “At least, not yet.”
Thankful for General O’Neill’s support, Sam studied the city guards. They were armed, SG-1 wasn’t, and unless she wanted to wait until dark and sneak in, there really wasn’t anything they could do to change the situation. Realizing she was putting off the inevitable, she gestured forward with two fingers. “Daniel, you’re up. Teal’c, take our six. General O’Neill?”
“Yes, ma’am?” The general tossed aside his blade of grass.
“You’re with me.”
At Daniel’s suggestion, they rose slowly from their position behind the bushes, arms raised.
The guards didn’t move.
“Hello!” Daniel strolled ahead. “We’re from Earth. And to be honest, we could use your help.”
Eyes forward, arms resting at their sides, the guards remained motionless. Sam held her breath as they closed the distance to ten yards. She smiled to show they were friendly.
Daniel held up his hand, signaling an all-stop. With a nod from Sam, the general and Teal’c came to a halt. Daniel continued on, walking up to the guard on the left. “My name is Daniel. This is Samantha Carter, Teal’c, and Colonel O’Neill.”
The general coughed none too subtly into his hand.
“Sorry,” Daniel said. “I mean General… General O’Neill.”
Neither guard moved a muscle.
“Why do they not respond?” Teal’c asked.
Daniel narrowed his brow. “Maybe they’re trained that way. As long as we don’t present a threat, they’ll ignore us.”
Sam stepped up to the other guard. “We’d like to talk to your leaders, if — ”
“Forget it.” The general strode up and snapped his fingers in the guard’s face twice. No response. The man didn’t blink. “These guys would put Buckingham Palace’s guards to shame.”
Teal’c cocked his head. “Buckingham Palace?”
“It’s in England,” Daniel explained. “The Queen’s guard isn’t allowed to r
eact to the tourists unless there are extraordinary circumstances.”
The general waved a hand in front of the guard. “I guess we’re not that extraordinary.”
“Indeed.” Teal’c leaned into the archway. “There are many people within the city. Perhaps they will consider us more — ”
“Extraordinary?” Sam gestured for the general and Teal’c to close ranks. “Guards may be one thing, but there’s no way to know how the city’s inhabitants will react. I recommend proceeding with caution.”
Daniel took the lead again and they passed through the archway. They came out onto a wide avenue running parallel with a series of meter-high granite obelisks. Rows of purple flowers — reminiscent of lilacs — lined each side of the street. Though there wasn’t anyone in the immediate area, a glance upwards revealed locals walking across various bridges leading in and out of the central tower. Some were dressed in pale flowing robes. Others wore outfits similar to the guards by the arch.
Sam inspected the tower’s base. Unlike the broad top levels, the narrow bottom was made of brownish stone. One end appeared to be open with a pulsating light emanating from inside. She clenched and unclenched her hands, wishing yet again for the proper equipment.
“Here’s someone,” Daniel said.
A white-haired woman dressed in long robes headed their way. Sam guessed she was in her late sixties. She carried a metal case, about the size of a shoebox, and as she neared, Sam noticed floral garlands wrapped around her wrists. The woman strode with a grace that belied her apparent age, her robes flapping behind her.
Daniel hurried over. “Hello, I’m Doctor — ”
The woman walked on by, ignoring all of them.
“I guess you’re not her type,” the general jerked his head in Teal’c’s direction. “Here come two more. Be nice, Daniel.” A man and woman, both dressed in the same military garb, marched toward them. As they neared, Sam stepped off to stand by one of the obelisks, careful to not step on the flowers lining the walkway. They really did remind her of lilacs though they didn’t carry the same heavy scent.
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