The Barque of Heaven

by Stargate

Everyone pulled on extra socks, tees and shirts. Daniel tied his bandana on, well down over his ears, and pulled his boonie on top. His thick work gloves and space blanket completed the ensemble. He was still hunched over against the cold. Sam knew how he felt. She zipped and buttoned her jacket and snugged the collar up around her neck, but the silk lining lay cold against her throat. She pulled a compass from her pack; the small thermometer she had attached to it bore the bad news.

  "Minus seven degrees."

  "Great. Now I really feel cold," stuttered Daniel.

  "The compass is jerking all over the place." She looked at the little red needle which flitted randomly back and forth. "Must be some interesting magnetic forces at work here."

  "Which rules out splitting up to search for whatever it is we're supposed to find here," the colonel sighed. "Alright, line search then."

  He plucked a lightstick from the remaining survival gear, bent and shook it and placed it on top of the DHD. It shone like a beacon in the encompassing dark.

  "Daniel, you'll be the anchor, twenty paces out. Teal'c, twenty paces out from Daniel, then Carter, then me. Keep the lights on either side of you in view at all times and radios on. If anyone loses sight of a light, stop immediately and hail us. We'll go clockwise, walking pace." He handed out a lightstick to each of them and tucked one in his vest pocket. "Keep these on you for backup. Good to go?"

  They nodded and murmured acknowledgements, faces eerie in the puffs of condensing breath drifting over the green glow of the lightstick.

  "Let's do it."

  Colonel O'Neill took the lead, measuring twenty careful paces away from the DHD into the silent, dead forest. There he stopped, looking back to ensure a clear line of sight to the green beacon on the DHD. He nodded to Daniel and left him behind with a brief touch on the arm. Twenty paces further on, Teal'c took up position and the three of them glanced anxiously back to Daniel, his flashlight and pale uniform making him seem like a specter hovering among the trees.

  The colonel clapped Teal'c on the shoulder as he and Sam left, then did the same to her as he headed out alone on the final twenty paces-small touches that kept him connected with his team. Sam could see his light clearly, Teal'c's a paler glow. Daniel was completely swallowed up by the inky night.

  "Everyone got a sighting on their next-in-line?"

  "Five by five, Colonel."

  "Acknowledged, O'Neill."

  "Yeah," Daniel puffed, sounding as if he were jogging on the spot. "Need to move. Now!"

  "Okay. Clockwise, that's facing twelve o'clock away from the 'gate. Daniel, remember to walk slowly, we've all got more ground to cover. Okay... by the right... go."

  Slowly they paced through the darkness, following their flashlight beams in a circle around the Stargate. It was not easy; their progress hampered by the need to search around for anything other than a tree while keeping the light of the next person in line in clear view and not banging into or tripping over the close-packed trunks.

  A bundle of white sticks caught Sam's eye and she crouched next to them. "Think I have something," she managed over the chattering of her teeth.

  "Everyone hold," ordered the colonel.

  "Oh, it's a body. Skeleton, actually. Whoever it was, they've been here a long time."

  She gently picked over the bones, but found nothing of use. She grimaced and stood back. This was a very lonely place to die. A sudden, creeping sensation of something standing right behind her made her swing around, sending the flashlight's beam darting madly over stark tree limbs. Her lungs and brain seemed to seize up. For just a fraction of a second she was consumed by the certainty that evil was all around her-and then it was gone again. There were only shadows and trees, stars and the distant lights of her team. She shook her head and pulled herself together.

  "Nothing of use here, sir. Ready to continue."

  "Okay. Forward ho."

  For over an hour they searched the forest, the cold leeching into their bones, numbing feet and fingers, noses and cheeks. The silence of the place was just as chilling.

  "The lack of animal life is disturbing," Teal'c said quietly over the radio.

  "Not even any insects." Sam cast another look up through skeletal branches at the glorious night sky. "That we can see," she clarified. "Life on Earth has been found in the most inhospitable places. Could be there are animals in hibernation, insects under the ground waiting for the sun to return." She sighed. "These planets are amazing. I wish we had the time to study them properly, or at least find a way to break what's controlling the Stargates and come back some day."

  "Never say never, Carter."

  "Ah, guys? I think we're back where we started."

  Sam peered through the darkness in Daniel's direction but he remained invisible to her.

  "Damn. Nothing nearby even remotely snaky." Colonel O'Neill changed direction and headed toward her. They collected Teal'c and returned to Daniel.

  "Well, at least we seem secure here; we've made enough noise and light to wake up a platoon of Jaffa." The darkness pressed closer around their lights and Jack could see the effect the cold was having on them all, Teal'c included.

  "Daniel, break out the stove. We could do with something hot. You've all got your thermal blankets? I'm going to get a fire going." Jack moved a little way into the forest seeking fallen timber.

  Daniel shared a puzzled look with Carter, but they trailed after their fearless leader who already had an inquisitive Teal'c on his heels. "You're not going to use C4 again, are you?" Daniel asked with trepidation. "You've been itching to blow something up for days now. I'm just hoping it's not us..." He trailed off as Jack found a likely log, isolated from any others, and shot a glare back at him.

  Jack picked up a handful of twigs and planted them in a hollow half-way along the tree's length. He pulled out his ancient lighter and set fire to the wood. Within minutes the dried-out tree was well ablaze and the four were clustered around it, well upwind of the smoke, like cats seeking the warmest spot in the house.

  Two cups of hot soup later, Jack sighed and repositioned his feet by the glowing tree. The flames had subsided into cheery red coals and they were all feeling much more alive.

  "Nice fire, Jack." Daniel was huddled as close as he could get to the warmth, trying to judge if his boots were smoking too much.

  "Which reminds me, where did you pick up the idea to use C4 like that, Colonel?"

  "On a little trip to Central America a few years back, Carter." Jack and Teal'c sat with their backs to the fire on opposite sides of the log, keeping watch, quietly discussing how they would find the next address and password in this consuming darkness.

  "It doesn't get that cold in Central America does it, sir?"

  "Nope. It wasn't cold. Just needed to start a fire." Jack shelved that particular memory and looked up into the jeweled sky. The stars had wheeled on in their journey, the nebula was higher in the sky and impossibly, more beautiful. He tilted back further. The light gravity made him feel tenuously connected to the earth, as if it would take only one push to float upward and soar amongst the stars.

  "On nights like this, one often gets the impression that others are looking down at you, as you look up at them," said Teal'c softly, likewise gazing into the heavens.

  "I read a quote once," Carter said. "`What we have learned is like a handful of earth; what we have yet to learn is like the whole world'."

  Daniel dropped his head back and let his eyes roam the sparkling velvet sky. "There's so much to explore. Even knowing there is life beyond Earth now, I still wonder what kind of people are out there; what they're like, what their histories are, if they'd like us."

  "If they'll shoot us before they eat us."

  "Nice one, Jack." Daniel threw his soup packet at him.

  "Hey, call me Mr. Practical. And I do believe our moon is on the rise."

  He pointed to a brightening in the sky behind the Stargate, as an orange glow suddenly defined the horizon. It rose majestically, taking ju
st five minutes to become a full spherical shape, easily four times the size of one of Earth's full moons. Its color was not the expected gentle white, but rather a violent, angry orange.

  "It's on fire."

  "Holy buckets."

  They came to their feet, craning for a better view between the trees.

  "Actually, I think it's volcanic." Carter dragged out her binoculars. "Oh, wow, is it ever volcanic. The entire surface is covered in eruptions and lava flows."

  The closeness of the erupting moon brought an eerie amber light to the dead forest.

  "At least we might be able to see further now." Jack abandoned a half-assed plan to set a stretch of the forest on fire and took the binoculars from Carter. Suitably impressed, he held them out for Teal'c. When they were not taken, he looked around. Teal'c was facing into the darkness, body tense, hand clenched on his staff weapon.

  "T? What is it?"

  "I caught a glimmer of light, some distance away."

  "Here." Jack handed him the binoculars.

  Teal'c pressed his right eye to the glasses and stared intently. His night vision had always been better than Jack's.

  "There is something reflecting the moon's light. I am unable to gauge the distance in this darkness, however."

  "Alright, well, it's better than nothing. Pack it up. We'll leave the lightsticks as markers."

  Reluctantly, they extinguished the fire and followed Teal'c away into the cold night, their warmed skin quickly chilling. As they went, they left a trail of lightsticks, their green glow marking the way back to the safety of the Stargate.

  What loomed out of the blackness was unexpected. In place of stone-monumental or otherwise-SG-1 found a domeshaped structure, entirely made of a clear, crystalline material.

  Daniel tapped the surface experimentally as the others prowled warily around it. A faint harmonic chime reverber ated along the wall. The whole thing gleamed, reflecting the violent light emanating from the moon. "Looks like a mineral of some kind."

  "Looks like a gazebo to me," Jack decided. "And if anybody starts singing `Sixteen Going On Seventeen', so help me.... There's only one way in."

  "This does not resemble any Goa'uld architecture I have previously encountered." Teal'c lapped Jack on another circuit around the structure.

  Daniel's silver-shrouded figure followed him, looking instead at the detail of the construction. "There's no decoration, no name to indicate ownership. I can barely even see any joins in the surface. I don't think the Goa'uld made this. Ra probably just appropriated it, like everything else the Goa'uld use."

  "Is there anything to show that Ra did use it?" Sam asked, joining them as they stopped before the single narrow doorway.

  Four flashlight beams danced inside, illuminating a pedestal in the center of an otherwise empty room. Upon it stood a golden statue, three feet tall, in human form with a sharpbeaked bird's head. One outstretched arm supported a star, one foot rested on an Eye of Ra symbol. Apart from the statue and pedestal, the structure was empty, the orange light casting eerie reflections through the crystal walls.

  "I'd say that's a yes, Carter." Jack stepped forward but was stopped by Teal'c's arm across his chest.

  "O'Neill, perhaps we should reduce the illumination we use in this place." Teal'c indicated the outer walls of the `gazebo', now brightly reflecting their flashlights, a sure announcement of their presence. Three beams clicked off and they followed Jack and his light into the chamber.

  "Daniel." Jack motioned him forward, switching off his own light as Daniel turned his on and circled the pedestal.

  "Well, this is different." Daniel stared up at the statue. "The ibis was used to represent Thoth, or Djehuti, and he's stand ing on the Eye, which would indicate a close association with Ra."

  "Do we know this guy?" Jack asked Teal'c, who frowned and shook his head.

  "He was one of the oldest creation gods, god of the moon, creator of everything, the original Scribe." Daniel's eyes shone with anticipation. He discarded the thermal blanket and pulled out his camera. He knelt and focused on the writing carved into the pedestal. "In early times he was sometimes known as Seshat-goddess of libraries-before the mythology split into two separate identities and genders."

  "Librarians have a god?" Jack's lips twitched.

  "Well, libraries actually. More specifically writing, time, knowledge, that kind of thing."

  Jack shook his head and wandered out the door for a quick recce.

  "Anyway, the writing here talks about the Books of Djehuti. Djehuti-the Goa'uld, that is-seems to have been something like Ra's personal historian: `The Voice of Ra'." He traced the raised script with his fingers as he read.

  "There's something else here." Daniel backtracked around the pedestal. "Ah, got it. It says, 'By proclaiming these words, will the supplicant show his', I think it's `readiness, to hold the Books of Djehuti and will reveal', something like that, `all that is hidden in the stars, see the sun and moon in their true form, perceive the birds of the air and the beasts of the land, behold the true face of the god and receive the keys to the Trial of Moons'." An excited thrill ran through him at the thought of what they could be about to discover. He straightened and looked up at the others as Jack returned.

  "I think we just say the phrase here and we get not only the next address but the Books of Djehuti as well. This is incredible! The Books of Thoth were said to contain the secrets of the gods themselves. Think of the knowledge we can gain of Ra's history."

  "Why would Ra give out information like that?" Sam frowned.

  "Well, presumably he'd want people, if they succeed in the Trial, to have a comprehensive knowledge of his accomplishments when they take up his service. If they don't succeed then the knowledge dies with them."

  "I am uncomfortable with this situation, Daniel Jackson. I do not believe we have all the information we require."

  "Well, take a look yourself, Teal'c. That's all there is."

  "Sounds way too easy to me, Daniel." Jack peered at the characters engraved on the pedestal.

  "What form do these Books take?" Sam asked.

  "It doesn't say." Daniel stepped back as the three others inspected the statue and pedestal. He shivered-cold again-and bit back a sigh of frustration that his teammates couldn't share the excitement he felt. Even an edited history of Ra would be invaluable to the understanding of the System Lords.

  "How about I just say the phrase and we find out?"

  "Not so fast there, Daniel." Jack didn't even glance back at him. "Teal'c, you got any idea what these `Books' are?"

  "I doubt they would take the form of your paper books, O'Neill. Most likely they would be in some kind of data storage unit. Perhaps it is merely a holographic display."

  "Well, we won't know unless we activate it," Daniel persisted.

  Sam looked at him, an odd expression on her face. "We do need to be as prepared as we can, though, Daniel. You of all people should realize the danger of using unknown technology; Machello's readers looked harmless enough. Have a little care for yourself"

  "I do, I...." he trailed off, stung by her words.

  "Can we find a way to see what these Book things look like before we activate them?" Jack frowned at Sam.

  "Yes, sir."

  Twenty minutes of Teal'c and Sam poking and prodding at the pedestal got them nowhere, while Daniel, wrapped once more in his blanket, scowled at them.

  "There is no way to access the inner compartments of the pedestal, O'Neill, if indeed there are any."

  "Great. Now can I activate it?" Daniel asked, trying only a little to temper his impatience.

  Before Jack could answer, Sam jumped in with both boots. "Well, why should it be you who activates it?"

  "Because you and Jack don't read Goa'uld script. Teal'c's not an archaeologist. I am. What's the problem?"

  "The problem is it could be dangerous. If it is Goa'u1d technology of some kind then I think Teal'c should be the one to deal with it, so we don't have to deal with you
losing your mind again." Sam's eyes widened and she clamped her lips shut in a useless attempt to take back the words as her brain registered what she had said.

  "Carter!" Jack barked at her, anger and astonishment in his voice.

  Daniel blinked at her, offense and betrayal spearing through him.

  "Daniel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to come out that way."

  "No, I'm sorry, Sam, if my apparent instability was inconvenient to you." He folded his arms and frowned at the crystal floor.

  "That's not... I'm just concerned. I have this feeling... I don't know where it's coming from. Maybe it's Jolinar, I'm...."

  "Oh, yes. Here we go." Daniel's head came up, irritation flaring up to replace the hurt.

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "It means you keep coming up with these odd little bits of information from Jolinar, but they're really nothing special are they? Nothing that Teal'c doesn't already know. Why don't you try for something a bit more meaningful for once?"

  He could see Teal'c shifting uneasily behind her and Jack was getting ready to shut them down. Daniel knew his words were hitting way too close to something she had been skirting around for months, but she wasn't yet ready to admit it.

  "Like what?" Sam bristled.

  "Oh, I don't know. How about something simple? Like where my wife is?" He bit the words out, voice brittle and contained, a store of anguish bottled behind carefully constructed walls.

  "How could I possibly... I don't...." He saw her remember, even as he spelled it out for her.

  "In the brig, Jolinar said she knew where Sha're was. Why can't you remember, why can't you tell me, when it means my whole life?" His voice caught and he had to look away.

  "I don't know, Daniel. God, if I did... I'm...." Afraid. The word hung unspoken in the chill air between them.

  "Enough." Jack's voice was harsh. "Carter, head out and do a recce will you?"

  "Sir."

  She spun and walked out into the darkness.

  Teal'c stood uncomfortably in the strained silence that settled over the three men.

  "Sorry." Daniel Jackson heaved out a big sigh. "Tired. Cold."

  The colonel patted him on the arm. "Let's just get this done, shall we?"