The Barque of Heaven

by Stargate

  "Oh, yeah. I hear the band is really good."

  She chuckled and they clung together for a moment until their focus returned. They turned to face the next leap and found the colonel and Teal'c standing on bare earth, impatiently waiting for them.

  "Oh, thank heavens." Sam urged Daniel on. Her heart seized as he stumbled on landing and would have been sliced to pieces if Teal'c and the colonel hadn't lunged and pulled him to safety.

  She threw herself across the last obstacle and landed on shaking legs. "We did it," she gasped.

  "That's my team!" Colonel O'Neill beamed proudly at them. He turned toward the temple.

  "Aw, crap."

  The temple stood, dark and sinister, not two hundred meters away, and in front of it lay a five meter wide trench, filled with oily-looking water. Like the flint, it stretched from one side of the rocky walls to the other.

  The four stood for a moment, breathing hard. Mechanically, they undid the belts, reattached them and walked toward their next hurdle. A few feet from the moat they stopped, daunted by what should have been an easy task.

  Jack straightened up, objective fixed in his mind. "Just do it. No thinking, no talking. Get in, swim, get out."

  He turned to Daniel and pulled the glasses off his friend's pale face. He secured them in a pocket and steered him to the water's edge while Daniel was still mustering an objection.

  "I'll go first, sir."

  Carter sat on the edge of the trench and dipped her legs in the water. She gasped at the chill of it. It looked thick and sludgy and stank ferociously. Taking a deep breath, she slid in and pushed off, her face screwed up and held high to avoid contact with the muck. It wasn't far but getting out was more difficult than expected. She rolled onto the ground like a landed trout and turned to help the men.

  Jack and Teal'c eased into the water with Daniel between them and slowly but surely towed him to the other side. They boosted him up and Carter caught him under the arms, helping him roll onto dry land, where he lay, breath catching in painfilled gasps. As Teal'c and Jack slithered out and clambered to their feet, water sluicing off their bodies, Carter stiffened and pointed to the Stargate side of the moat.

  "Sir, look. That's the thing we saw."

  Jack's eyebrows rose at the ghostly figure staring back at them. A chill of deep, instinctive fear crawled over him and suddenly he felt as vulnerable as those first primitive humans must have felt, sheltering from the dark in a cave, hoping for the dawn's return.

  "We're out of here."

  He bent carefully to help Teal'c get Daniel up. Fear, controlled but insistent, chewed through his gut. They had taken an hour and twenty minutes to get this far, more than half their allotment. How were they going to complete the final task and get back to the Stargate before it locked them out? Daniel was in no condition to move quickly, the rest of them weren't much better off.

  And even if-when-they did make it, Ra's Barque of Heaven would no doubt present some new hell for them to face.

  Teal'c took most of Daniel's weight and they staggered after Carter as she limped to the temple entrance.

  As they neared the building, the wind finally chased the clouds away and the moonlight gave them their first clear view. What had previously seemed to be black stone was now revealed to be a beautiful deep blue with flecks of gold and silver flashing in the moonlight. A central doorway of enormous proportions was flanked by two equally massive statues of Ra, each standing proudly, arms outstretched to welcome their visitors. The statues' faces seemed monstrous in the uncertain light, despite the copious gold decorations surrounding them.

  "Still looks sheepish to me," Jack muttered as they passed through the open doorway.

  Daniel pulled Teal'c off-course by leaning to run his hand over the sparkling blue stone. "Lapis! The whole thing is covered in lapis lazuli." He craned his head up, mouth falling open in awe until Teal'c pulled him inside. "The wealth he must have had to create a structure like this in such an isolated... oh. Wow."

  Daniel trailed off as they all slowed, stunned by the beauty of the interior. In a courtyard, easily a hundred meters long, six rows of pillars stood in imposing majesty, each nearly thirty meters tall, slender and gleaming brilliantly in the moonlight. Painted in bright white, each was decorated with images of life along a river bank; water lapped at the bases, flowering papyrus floated in clumps, populated with clouds of butterflies, dragonflies and dozens of species of birds. These took flight, drawing the eye up to the crown of each pillar, which was carved and painted in the shape of palm trees, their fronds stirring in an imaginary breeze.

  Jack's chrono beeped loudly in the stillness. "Damn. One hour, people. Let's move."

  Teal'c flashed Jack a look of concern, clearly realizing that they were running out of time. They pulled Daniel forward, both limping and pushing the limits of their strength. Daniel's breath whistled distressingly in their ears. Carter paused at the bottom of a steep flight of steps.

  "Go ahead, Carter. We're right behind you."

  Teal'c faltered, and Jack took a firmer grip on Daniel's left arm, hooked a hand in his belt and helped them both up the steps. Daniel's face was ashen and bathed in sweat. Just as alarming, Teal'c was gray and perspiring. A cold feeling of doom tried to settle in Jack's gut, but he shoved it aside. They would do this, and he would get his team home -no way were they going to fail so close to the end.

  The steps led out into a much smaller room, roofed and in near darkness. Daniel pulled the pen light from his pocket but the little light shorted and failed, damaged by the moat water. Carter fumbled with something in her pocket and produced a box of matches, wrapped in a baggie and only a little damp around the edges. On the third try a match flared to life and illuminated a number of pedestals circling the room.

  She counted them quickly before the flame reached her fingers. "Twelve. Coincidence, do you think?"

  "Nothing's been coincidental with this setup," Jack muttered. "Shine a light in the center, Carter."

  Another match flared up and she followed him to a small sphinx crouched on the floor, a plaque held between its paws.

  The light died again.

  "Daniel, Teal'c, come take a look at this."

  As Carter struck a third match and knelt next to the statue, Daniel slithered out of Teal'c's grasp and sagged into a crumpled heap on his knees. Teal'c knelt beside them with a heavy sigh.

  The light went out again and Jack swore. Even their cloth ing was too wet to use as a torch.

  "Can you read this?" She lit a new match and held it close.

  "Uh, 's blurred. Can't see." Daniel fumbled in his BDU pockets for his glasses while Teal'c leaned over and began to read.

  "By the name of the heralds who guard the Gateway'..." Teal'c paused as Carter lit yet another match. "`Give voice to them and behold the majesty of your god, Ra'."

  "Herald-that's what the passwords were called way back on the first planet, wasn't it?" Jack asked. He grimaced as pain tingled up his back.

  "Yes," grunted Daniel from the floor.

  Jack thought for a moment. His notebook was still secured in his jacket-on another planet. "Tell me someone still has their notebook."

  "I do." Daniel weakly flapped a hand at Carter. "Sam, it's in my left side pocket."

  She groped along his leg and found the notebook, neatly secured and sealed in plastic.

  "Got it." She pushed the notebook into his hands and struck another match. Daniel flipped through the slightly damp pages to the first entry. As the light died again, he raised his head and spoke the first password they had found.

  "Sahu. "

  To their left, they heard a click and a fizz and suddenly a flame sprang up in the darkness. On the pedestal closest to the stairway, a bowl containing some kind of oil now sported a flame flickering in its center.

  "Good. Keep going," Jack urged.

  Instead, Daniel let out a grunt of pain and slowly folded over. Carter caught him and cradled his head in her lap.

&nb
sp; Bleakly, Jack bent and pulled the notebook from Daniel's lax hand. "Stay there, Teal'c." He patted Teal'c's shoulder and shuffled to the first pedestal. In the wavering light he could make out the passwords written in Daniel's flowing scrawl, and Jack gave silent thanks that Daniel had added the vowels in his transcriptions.

  "Semetu. " His accent might be off but it got the job done. The second light popped into being.

  "Ashebu."

  "Sabes. "

  "Tent Bayou. "

  The fifth flame refused to light.

  "I believe it is pronounced 'Ba-ow', O'Neill," Teal'c said.

  "Ali. Tent Bay-ow." The flame lit. Squinting tiredly in the uncertain light, he continued on.

  "Ah Kheru. "

  "Uaau. " That one hurt his throat.

  "Maa Nefert Ra. "

  "Ankh em Fentu. "

  "Aken Tau-k Ha Kheru. " He felt particularly pleased when that one lit up.

  "Teb her kehaat. "

  "AnHra."

  In the light of the twelfth flame Jack let out a huge sigh of relief as the combined fires brought to life a passage of Goa'uld script embossed in gold on the wall opposite the stairway.

  "The thirteenth password." Carter sounded suitably impressed.

  "Teal'c, you got this?"

  Teal'c shoved himself up to stand on his obviously aching feet. "I do."

  Jack's relief died aborning when Carter suddenly twisted around, searching the other walls, floor and ceiling. "Wait, there's no 'gate address."

  "Did we miss something? Was there anything else on that statue?" Jack bent to examine the little sphinx. "There's nothing else here."

  Teal'c peered over his shoulder and retranslated the passage. "There are no other instructions."

  Jack glared at the thing. They were so close....

  Daniel turned in Carter's lap, tugged on her pants and whispered something indistinct.

  "Daniel? What did you say?" She bent over him to catch the faint words.

  "Password. Say it-out loud."

  She looked up and nearly bumped noses with Jack, his face an inch from hers. His eyes widened.

  "Teal'c-say the password. Now!"

  Teal'c turned to the center of the room and in a clear, deep voice announced, "KhesefHra Khemiu. "

  Instantly, a deep grinding noise filled the room and the middle section of the back wall rose up to reveal another set of stairs rising up into the darkness.

  "Yes!" Jack leaned on the sphinx and summoned a last dreg of energy. "C'mon, kids. We're nearly there."

  Teal'c felt each second ticking down with more and more finality. O'Neill helped Major Carter pull Daniel up and between them they steered his unresisting body toward the stairway. Thirteen difficult and slow steps took them up into another, even smaller chamber. In each of the four corners stood an alabaster bowl, so fine they glowed with light from the flames already flickering inside them. In the center was a tall pillar, also made of alabaster, a golden Eye of Ra at its crown. Teal'c, the last to step inside the room, had barely moved through the doorway when the stone panel ground down, sealing them within the chamber.

  There was a beat of silence. SG-1 halted, staring at the only other object in the room-a carved, wooden life-size statue of Ra. This one stood at the far end of the chamber, side-on to them, one hand outstretched to the now closed door, the other toward the back wall.

  "Now what?" O'Neill demanded. "We've run out of passwords." He adjusted his grip on Daniel's waist.

  Major Carter turned to look at them all, her eyes huge. "We don't have enough time to get back to the Stargate. We're stuck here."

  Teal'c hobbled slowly around the statue, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him. "Major Carter is correct," he said softly. "We have failed."

  "Lighten up, Teal'c," O'Neill snapped. "We're not finished yet. There has to be something... oh, tell me I'm seeing things?"

  Teal'c followed his stare over Daniel Jackson's bowed head. Behind the alabaster bowl to their right a white shimmer began to coalesce. In a blink it was gone, then it was back again, gaining substance and resolving into a near skeletal figure. Its empty eyes seemed to track each one of the four and its mere presence filled the room with death and cold, cold malevolence. It raised one hand and, seemingly from nowhere, dropped a half-dozen objects to the floor: O'Neill's detonators, lost from his pack half-way through the Trial.

  "Oh, no."

  Major Carter and O'Neill both stumbled back, eliciting a moan from Daniel as he was dragged with them. He squinted blearily at the specter as it advanced toward them.

  "That can't be real."

  "It is indeed quite real, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c stepped closer to the apparition.

  "Teal'c, get away from that thing."

  Teal'c looked at O'Neill, then was drawn back to the specter. Now that he could see it clearly, he knew this creature for what it was. His skin shivered in horror but at the same time he was captivated by it. Evil, ancient as the beginning of time, emanated from it, filling the chamber with a stink of something long dead, yet still-somehow-living. This was no mindless entity. It exuded intelligence and a purpose that had kept its mortal body alive for millennia. Teal'c felt a thrill of recognition. The place where the Books of Djehuti resided opened inside him, as if to embrace that which they now faced.

  "Can you not see?" he whispered, spellbound as it moved toward him.

  "All we see is Casper's creepy cousin."

  "You are wrong, O'Neill. This is Ra."

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "Rather, it is the spirit of Ra, the essence of the being who ruled as Ra."

  "Is that you or these Books talking, T?"

  "The knowledge does come from the Books. Remember-they give the bearer the power to see the true face of the gods."

  "Well, swell. Ask it how we get out of here."

  Teal'c blinked at him in surprise. "I cannot. It has passed beyond the mortal realm."

  "Ka. " Daniel Jackson suddenly spoke up.

  "Car? What do you mean, Daniel?" Major Carter stared at him.

  "Ka-K. A.-Ka, the shadow soul. It was said to live on after the death of the body." He shivered and panted for air. "We must have set it free when Ra died."

  "Indeed."

  "And now it's haunting us?" At his words, the specter turned toward them, paused, then in a white blur, flew through the air straight at O'Neill.

  O'Neill dropped Daniel's arm and dodged sideways, but not fast enough. It passed right through him in a sickening distortion of time and gravity. He fell, uttering a choked moan as if his very soul had shriveled and frozen. In slow motion the specter tracked Daniel Jackson and absorbed right into him, then emerged and reformed as Daniel cried out and collapsed.

  Major Carter stumbled away, terror and revulsion twisting her features. "Teal'c, there has to be something you can do!" She ducked, but the thing was on her in a flash. She yelped as the shimmering specter seemed to consume her and she sagged into a corner behind an alabaster bowl.

  Teal'c lunged forward, his momentary paralysis broken and yelled to attract the spirit's attention away from his fallen comrades. It floated toward the statue, then hovered and seemed unsure what to do.

  Teal'c sensed a wave of anger and vengeance spilling from the Ka, and a longing to -rejoin? Was that correct? But how could a spirit join that which was now dust?

  "Teal'c." Daniel Jackson's soft whisper drew his attention to where his teammate lay huddled on the floor. "Oil... water... offerings. Return it," he trailed off as a fit of coughing consumed him, but one hand pointed toward the statue of Ra.

  Teal'c nodded his understanding and desperately cast about him. The bowls were full of aromatic oil, but there was no water in sight.

  The specter turned away from the statue and drifted toward O'Neill once more, malevolence radiating from its very core. In two steps, Teal'c was at one of the bowls. He scooped up two handfuls of the oil, turned and flung it over the statue. The Ka halted in its advance as if pulled by invi
sible hands. It turned and snarled soundlessly at Teal'c.

  Teal'c flung out his arms. "I need water!" he roared in frustration.

  In unison, from opposite corners, two worn voices replied, "T-shirt!"

  Berating his short-sightedness, he pulled his still-wet shirt over his head and leaped to the statue. He twisted it tightly, carefully wringing a few drops of stagnant water onto the head of Ra's image.

  The spirit suddenly pulsed with brilliant light. It opened its mouth and issued a soundless shriek that he felt in his bones. With a blur too fast to comprehend, it was sucked into the statue.

  Within the sculpture, they could see the shade clearly, glowing hotly white and thrashing with fury. The statue began to rock from the force within. Teal'c staggered back, alarmed that the figure might topple and shatter. Would the spirit then be released once again? He turned, scooped more oil from the brazier and flung it over the statue. Carefully, he plucked the burning wick from the bowl. The enraged Ka writhed fero ciously as Teal'c leaned forward and touched the flame to the oil-soaked wood.

  It ignited with a surging whump of heat, sweeping up to engulf the entire sculpture in seconds. For a moment there was a sheath of flame, then with a soundless, agonized scream of fury and despair that seemed to echo from centuries long gone, the statue collapsed into a crumbling tower of ash. It sank in on itself and cascaded to the floor. The Ka within faded away until only a faint, lingering reverberation of its last cry remained. Silence settled around the four teammates.

  "And it's good night from him."

  O'Neill staggered to his feet, as Teal'c blinked at him in bemusement. "Master Teal'c, Ghost Buster extraordinaire! How we're gonna write this report up, I have no idea. Everyone alright?"

  Before they could answer, his chronometer beeped-a few small sounds that effectively sealed their fate.

  "We're stuck here," Major Carter whispered from her corner.

  The four of them stared at each other. Teal'c opened his mouth, but there was nothing left to say.

  The sound of deep grinding filled the air. They looked up to see all four walls slide out and down, disappearing completely to leave them standing under a roof held up by four corner pillars. Fresh air flooded in around them.