STARGATE SG-1 ATLANTIS: Homeworlds : Volume three of the Travelers' Tales (SGX Book 5)

by Sally Malcolm

  “Major Carter feels we should take the most direct route back to the gate. If we guide you, are you capable of running?”

  “Lead on.”

  It was terrifying, running blind with only Daniel to guide him, but thirty minutes later, O’Neill felt the sunlight on his face as they emerged onto the windswept bluff overlooking the grassland. He could feel the bare rock beneath his boots and could imagine the totem pole still standing watch over the Stargate below. Or maybe it was a warning. ‘Watch out for spitting gerbils.’

  Daniel pulled him to a halt. “Hold up a second.” He took a couple of deep breaths, then O’Neill heard him swing his pack off his back.

  “What’s the matter, Daniel? That little jog tire you out?”

  “That ‘little jog’ was a good four miles,” Daniel retorted. “Besides, something in my pack is digging into my kidneys. Let me fix it.”

  “Ok everyone, take five.” O’Neill heard two sets of footsteps — Sam and Teal’c — head in different directions. He gave them a minute to reconnoiter, then called out, “See anything?”

  Teal’c responded first. “Major Carter, I believe there —”

  “Hey!” Though he couldn’t see anything — a temporary condition, he assured himself — he was still in command of the expedition. “Who’s in charge around here, Teal’c?”

  Teal’c sounded faintly abashed. “My apologies, Colonel. You are in charge.”

  “That’s right. So what were you saying?”

  “I believe there is something here you need to see.”

  Walked right into that one. “Carter, check out what Teal’c found.” He squatted next to Daniel who, by the sounds of it, was busy sorting through his pack. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Teal’c did that on purpose.”

  “Huh?” Occupied with his backpack, Daniel had missed the byplay. “What did you say?”

  “I said —”

  A fist-sized rock whizzed by Daniel’s head. Startled, he looked up, then lunged at Jack, barely managing to knock him out of the path of another incoming missile. “Sam! Teal’c!” He swept his gaze through the trees and caught a flicker of motion to one side. “Incoming! Two o’clock!”

  “I see it.” For a big man, Teal’c was surprisingly fast. Crouching, he ran to the base of the tree Daniel had indicated and fired his zat upward. Something screeched. Branches swayed and leaves fluttered down as whatever it was fled.

  “Get off me!” Jack pushed at Daniel who was lying across his legs. “What the hell is going on? Teal’c?”

  “I believe it was one of the creatures we heard earlier. They seem to correspond to what you call ‘monkeys’.” As if in response to Teal’c’s voice, they heard several more screeches, then a chorus of answering hoots from deeper in the forest.

  “Uh oh,” Daniel said.

  “Uh oh?” Jack rolled to his feet and instinctively reached for his gun, then lowered it with a grimace. “Uh oh, what?”

  Daniel knew he sounded worried. “I think our little monkey friend is calling for reinforcements.”

  “Reinforcements for what?”

  “I think they’re going to attack.”

  Jack’s jaw clenched. “Why? Do we look like bananas?”

  Three years ago, such a question would have thrown Daniel for a loop but now he could follow it without losing a beat. “Monkeys eat meat whenever they can. It’s good protein. In fact, chimpanzees have been known to attack —”

  Sam cut him off. “Colonel, I’m afraid we have another problem. The hy-afs have left the lake area and are heading in this direction. And they’re closer to the gate than we are.”

  “They’re probably just heading for the pass. We’ll give them a few minutes to go through.”

  “I don’t think so, Colonel. They’re heading for the road leading up here, not the pass.”

  “Today just keeps getting better and better.” Jack patted his MP-5. “But this will take care of them.”

  “That is unlikely,” Teal’c said as he rejoined the group. “They are small and very fast.”

  “And there’s more of them,” Sam added. “Some must have been hidden in the grass. There’s thirty, thirty-five, of them heading this way.” Two more tennis-ball-sized rocks came hurtling at them — Sam blocked one with her pack and Teal’c stepped backwards and let the other sail harmlessly over the cliff. “But we can’t stay here.” A chorus of angry chattering answered her and she responded by firing her zat at the nearest tree.

  “C’mon.” Daniel grabbed the colonel and hustled him toward the alien totem pole. “Stay here.”

  “Daniel, I’m not cowering behind some old pole while my team fights off deranged monkeys.” He pulled his arm free. “Blind or not, I give the orders around here. Carter, Teal’c — take them out.”

  Dutifully, they opened fire. But it was hopeless. “Sir, we can’t see them.”

  Sam’s anxiety was obvious. Firing blindly was worse than useless and the clamor of hoots was coming closer. It sounded like a whole tribe of monkey-creatures. “Jack, we can’t stay here,” Daniel said. “They’re going to brain one of us eventually and then we’ll really be in trouble.”

  Jack rubbed at his blind eyes in obvious frustration. “Teal’c, if we meet the hy-afs on the road, they’ll be bunched together. Can we take them then?”

  “Given their numbers, it is possible but unlikely.” Teal’c kept a wary eye on the trees, alert for signs of movement. “The odds would be against us.”

  “The odds would be a lot better if I wasn’t —”

  “Colonel?” Sam said as Daniel dodged another rock and both she and Teal’c opened fire again. “We might have another problem.”

  “Could you be more specific?”

  “I think the hy-afs might be poisonous.”

  Jack cursed, flinching as a rock thumped against the totem pole just above his head.

  “Sir, get down!”

  He hit the ground, Daniel following suit as several more rocks struck the dirt around them. They’d crack a head as easily as a soft-boiled egg, he thought grimly.

  “Carter, why do you think they’re poisonous?” Jack called. “And keep it short.”

  “Their size. Teal’c noticed the same thing — they seem too small to take down the buffalo, even as a pack. And the horns — the buffalo’s horns — seem defensive, not offensive.”

  Daniel caught her train of thought. “Designed to protect the face.” He turned to Jack. “So they might be like the gerbils. If they blind the buffalo first, they can kill it easily.”

  He left unsaid what he knew Jack would already be thinking — that predators go after the weakest target. And that, right now, was him.

  “Okay,” Jack said, “let’s say they’re poisonous. What are our options?”

  In the end, they had only one.

  They went over the cliff.

  It wasn’t a bad plan. It should have worked. But it didn’t.

  O’Neill was deeply unhappy. His shoulder ached from where he’d banged it against a protruding rock and he’d wrenched his knee — my good knee, dammit! — when Teal’c had pushed him onto the ledge. On the other hand, he supposed he should be grateful — if the ledge hadn’t been within reach, they’d be in trouble. More trouble, anyways. “Carter. Report.”

  She took a deep breath. “We’re about fifteen feet up from the base of the cliff. The ledge we’re on is roughly three feet deep and ten feet long. It falls off about two feet to your left.”

  “So don’t step sideways,” Daniel murmured.

  Carter continued, “The gate’s about three hundred meters below and to our right, but there’s a pack of hy-afs waiting at the bottom of the cliff.”

  “I thought you said they were coming up the road?”

 
“I did. This is a different pack. They must have come from the other end of the pass. I’m sorry, I should have seen them coming.”

  “It is not your fault,” Teal’c said. “I should have been watching —”

  “Actually,” Daniel interrupted, “I’m the one who —”

  “Ok, stop it.” O’Neill already knew what his team refused to admit — that if they hadn’t been so focused on getting him down the cliff safely, they would have seen the new hy-afs sooner. Not that it would have done much good. “It’s no one’s fault so forget about it. What’s our situation now?”

  Between a rock and a hard place. The devil, and the deep blue sea. Fire and frying —

  “As I said, we’re about fifteen feet up from flat ground,” Carter said. “The cliff slopes forward a bit below us, we could almost slide down.”

  Teal’c’s low rumble came from his right. “But it is too steep for the hy-afs to climb up. And the rock bulges out a few inches above us. Enough to deflect any rocks from the monkeys,” he added, anticipating O’Neill’s next question.

  “So we’re safe here, at least for the next few minutes.”

  “It appears so.”

  Jack called a brief rest while they reassessed their situation, and handed his canteen to Daniel. “Drink up.”

  “Thanks.” Even though the water was tepid and metallic-tasting, at least it was wet. Daniel took several deep swallows, then capped the canteen and handed it back.

  “On our next day off,” Jack said, “what say we all go to the zoo and throw rocks at the monkeys?”

  Daniel grinned. “Sounds good to me. I never liked the monkeys anyway. I usually just ignore their section.”

  “I wish these monkeys had ignored us.”

  Ignored us.... Of course!

  Daniel mentally slapped himself on the forehead. Idiot! “Jack, take off your clothes.” It was only when he saw Teal’c’s eyebrow shoot skyward that he realized what he’d said. “Your jacket anyway. Take off your shirt and jacket. That’s why they’re after us.”

  “You are referring to the odor from the liquid on Colonel O’Neill’s clothes?” Teal’c said after a second’s pause, the inflection in his voice changing the statement into a question.

  Daniel nodded. “The monkeys ignored us earlier. So did the hy-afs. The only thing that’s changed is Jack getting sprayed.”

  “They have learned that the odor will lead them to something helpless,” Teal’c said. “Easy prey.”

  Sam came to join them. “I think Daniel’s right. Maybe we can distract them using your clothes as bait.”

  “If we tie them to a rock, I can throw them some distance from us,” Teal’c offered.

  “And that should lure them away,” Daniel concluded triumphantly.

  “But wait a minute,” Sam said, a thoughtful look on her face. “Let’s think about this.”

  Jack paused, his jacket part-way off. “What is it, Carter? You think I need to take all my clothes off?”

  She didn’t dignify his quip with a response. “Colonel, I didn’t want to say anything earlier —”

  “I hate it when you say that.”

  “ — but we need to get you back as fast as possible.” Daniel suspected she’d purposefully avoided talking about his medical situation in any detail, but he guessed now she didn’t have a choice. “The way I see it, the venom will do one of three things. One, it can gradually wear off by itself after a few hours or days. Two, it —”

  “Days! I can’t wait that —”

  “Colonel, that’s the best option.” Though he was her commanding officer, Sam had never had a problem standing her ground when necessary. Confident she had his undivided attention, she continued. “Two, it could destroy or permanently affect the muscles, leaving you effectively blind. Three” — she paused — “it could spread.”

  “Well, that sounds bad.”

  “Yes, sir. You might end up dead. Or paralyzed.” She was being deliberately blunt and Daniel admired that. They both knew that the possibility of living blind and helpless, forever trapped in his own thoughts, was something the colonel wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy. But he deserved to know the truth. More importantly, he needed to realize the importance of getting back as quickly as possible. “Janet might be able to come up with an anti-toxin,” Sam went on, “but she’ll need a sample to use as a starting point. Like the liquid on your clothes.”

  The deep rumble of Teal’c’s voice broke the silence. “Then we must get the colonel to Dr. Frasier as quickly as possible, along with his clothes.”

  “Agreed.”

  Jack was silent, but beneath the bandages covering his eyes, shielding his expression from the others, Daniel saw him hide a flinch. After a moment Jack said, “So no strip show today. Any suggestions for Plan B?” The insouciance in his voice only sounded a little forced.

  Daniel carefully leaned forward and looked down the cliff face. “We could just slide down. Go in fast, surprise the hy-afs. Maybe we could get through.”

  Teal’c shook his head. “It would be extremely risky and the odds would not favor all of us getting through. On the other hand, a single person has a better chance.” He straightened to attention. “Colonel, I am the fastest runner. I could lure the hy-afs northward while the three of you proceed to the gate.”

  “Absolutely not.” O’Neill’s tone brooked no argument. “We stay together.”

  “But, sir,” Sam said, “I think Teal’c might —”

  O’Neill held up his hand to cut her off. “Can you see the UAV from here, Carter? Does it look undamaged?”

  Sam squinted down at the gate. “Yes, sir. It looks fine.”

  “And didn’t you once say something about the UAVs having a secondary power source?”

  “Sargent Siler and I were talking about replacing it with infrared sensors. I didn’t think you were listening.”

  “Major, I listen to everything you say.” Which was true — Jack might feign indifference but Daniel knew he listened. Most of the time, anyway. “Is there enough power to get it flying again?”

  “Not for long. Maybe ten minutes or so. Why?”

  “And it has a couple of missiles, right?”

  “Small ones, yes.”

  “Perfect.”

  While Carter fiddled with the UAV’s remote controls, the rest of them double-checked their equipment — laces tied, packs secure, safeties on. Daniel helped O’Neill perch on the edge of the ledge, and then sat down next to him. “Nothing to worry about, Jack. We’ll just slide down like kids at a playground.”

  “Kids on a slide, huh?”

  “A steep slide,” Teal’c added as he took his position to his right. “With rocks.”

  “We’ll be fine.” Daniel patted O’Neill on the shoulder. “No need to worry. We’ll get you to the gate.”

  He wasn’t worried. He’d long ago learned not to worry about circumstances he couldn’t change. He was concerned, maybe — concerned that his team would risk themselves trying to keep him safe. But he knew better than to say anything to Daniel; he was too idealistic, too determined to only see the best in any situation. It drove him crazy sometimes, but he wouldn’t change it. “Just try not to hold us up,” he said. “My legs are fine; it’s my eyes that are the problem.”

  “But it’s different if you can’t see where you’re going,” Daniel said. “Teal’c is a better shot so he’s taking your right side. I’ll take the left.”

  The colonel reached out to pat Daniel’s shoulder but hit his neck instead. “Give yourself some credit. You’ve become a much better shot since we first met.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” Daniel muttered. “Anyway, once the hy-afs are gone, we’ll slide down, then run for the gate. Teal’c and I will guide you while Sam watches our ba
ck.”

  O’Neill nodded his understanding, and then leaned toward Teal’c. “If anything happens,” he whispered, “make sure the others get back.” He didn’t need to say more — Teal’c was a warrior and would accept the order in the spirit it was meant.

  Teal’c’s voice was low and reassuring. “Many years ago, Master Bratac taught me there are times a warrior must accept help so that he may rise and fight another day. We will not fail you.”

  O’Neill was saved from answering by Carter’s announcement. “Ready,” she said. “Everyone set?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  O’Neill couldn’t hear anything from this distance, but suddenly Daniel let out a breath. “It’s away! Out of the tall grass, sailing upward.”

  “Okay,” Carter said. “Banking left, heading toward the lake and the buffalo.”

  “Don’t spook them,” O’Neill warned. “Just gather them up slowly. Work from one side to the other. Don’t worry if one or two get away. Bunch them together. Tell me when they’re ready.”

  Daniel leaned toward him, pressing against his shoulder. “So where did you learn so much about herding animals?”

  “Didn’t you ever watch old westerns on TV?”

  Daniel sounded vaguely affronted. “Uh, no.”

  “See what you missed? But,” O’Neill raised a cautionary finger, “don’t try herding goats. They’ll knock you flat on your ass.”

  “Personal experience?”

  “Several. I wasn’t always such a quick study.”

  “Colonel?” Carter’s voice was tense. “I think we’re as ready as we’re going to be. They’re getting a bit uneasy.”

  “Good.” O’Neill faced the lake, wishing he could see through the bandages covering his eyes. “Shoot the first missile directly behind them. We want them to head this way, along the base of the cliff. Let them take care of the hy-afs.”