STARGATE SG-1 29 Hall of the Two Truths Read online

  Rings.

  “Well, that would explain why there appears to be no way in or out,” said Daniel, coming to look too.

  “I’m guessing there’s no panel around here that’s going to let us use them?” Jack figured there wasn’t, but he felt compelled to ask anyway.

  “If this is indeed a prison, then you are correct, O’Neill. We will find no means to activate the rings from within this cavern.”

  Jack automatically looked to Carter. It was almost Pavlovian, after all these years. About now was when she usually came up with some brilliant solution to get them out of here. She glanced up and caught him staring at her. Damn. He hadn’t meant for that to happen.

  “Sorry, sir. I’m afraid I don’t have any answers either.”

  “Didn’t expect you to, Major.” He’d meant to let her off the hook, but by the crestfallen look on Carter’s face, not to mention the glare he was getting from Daniel, apparently it hadn’t come across that way.

  Jack looked back down at the rings. “At least now we know where the front door is.”

  “Which gets us what, exactly?” Daniel frowned.

  “I don’t know, Daniel. Someplace to lay out the welcome mat.” He hated not knowing what was going on. It made him irritable. So did this damn headache.

  “Everybody just —” Jack waved them away from the rings. “Go see if you can find a panel somewhere.” He cut off Teal’c before he could speak. “I know. There probably isn’t one. But humor me.”

  Jack watched them scatter. The odds of success weren’t great. Zero, in fact. But it sure as hell beat sitting around waiting for the next damn shoe to drop — or his head to explode. Whichever came first.

  The others had regrouped in the center of the cavern by the time Sam joined them. She’d made one more pass around the perimeter, but hadn’t found a thing. Of course, without even so much as a flashlight it was possible she could have missed a well camouflaged panel. But she tended to agree with Teal’c. They were trapped in this place until someone decided to ring them out.

  “The good news is that they obviously didn’t put us in here with the intention of killing us,” Daniel pointed out. “They could have done that easily enough on the surface.”

  “Well, that certainly brightens my day.” The colonel was making no attempt to conceal his bad humor. Sam avoided looking at him. His earlier remark still stung — as if she really needed further proof that he’d lost confidence in her. It wasn’t as if she wasn’t trying to figure a way out.

  If only her head would stop pounding. It was hard to think around the pulsating, red mass of pain that made her brain feel like it was about to be split in half. She was usually pretty good at ignoring physical discomfort, but, as far as headaches went, this was off the scale.

  It didn’t help, knowing the rest of them were waiting for her to conjure up some kind of brilliant idea. Sam could feel herself tensing, defensively. What did they expect, after all? It wasn’t like she could make a control panel appear out of thin air.

  “I guess all we can do is wait,” she said finally, watching as their faces registered disappointment. Well, Daniel’s and Teal’c’s, anyway. She still wasn’t looking at the colonel.

  “So it would seem.” There was a hint of resignation in Teal’c’s voice. He adjusted his stance as if he intended to remain in that pose for quite some time.

  Out of the corner of her eye Sam saw the colonel shove his hands deep into his pockets and let out an exaggerated sigh.

  “Awww, Hammond’ll be looking for us by now. We’re way past due. I think.” His hand covered the empty place on his wrist where his watch had been.

  “Who’s to say we’re even on the same planet?” Daniel observed. “We were unconscious for a long time; at least it feels that way.” His brow furrowed in concentration. Or maybe it was pain. “Much too long for it to have been just a zat.”

  Sam hadn’t considered that before, but Daniel was right. And it would explain the headache. “You think we were drugged?”

  Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know, Sam. But I think we all felt pretty awful when we woke up. If it was only a zat, then it certainly wasn’t any ordinary one.”

  That was true. And it made sense. They’d all taken plenty of zat hits in their time and none had incapacitated them as long as this one obviously had. If whoever captured them had used the Stargate, or had a ship in orbit, who knew where they could be this many hours later?

  Her head throbbed all the more, just thinking about it. Sam couldn’t help herself — she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to make it stop.

  “Carter?”

  Apparently her gesture hadn’t gone unnoticed.

  “Sorry, sir.” She didn’t mean to wince, but just moving her eyes in the colonel’s direction sent waves of pain rippling through her head. “Still have a bit of a headache.”

  “You too?” He cocked one eyebrow at her, but his tone was surprisingly sympathetic.

  “Me three.” Daniel, raising a finger to be counted.

  “As have I.” This from Teal’c, who had never remarked on pain in the four and a half years Sam had known him.

  They all turned toward Jenmar, who was standing a little apart. He looked up, suddenly aware of their attention.

  “What?” He looked expectantly from one to the other.

  “Are you experiencing any physical discomfort in your head?” Teal’c asked.

  “You mean a headache?” He hesitated. “Well, maybe — just a little.”

  “Oh trust me,” the colonel snapped. “If you had one of these babies, there wouldn’t be anything ‘little’ about it.” He rubbed the heel of his hand against his own temple and grimaced. “Drugs, you say?” The colonel had directed the question at her.

  “It’s just a guess, sir.”

  “Oh, hello —”

  All eyes turned toward Daniel. He was examining something on his fingertips. Before Sam could ask, he reached his hand back behind his left ear and brought it out again. In the dim light she could see there was discoloration. It was blood.

  “Daniel, let me see.” She found the spot on his head easily. There was no wound per se, but a patch of reddened scalp and some blood-matted hair testified that something round had punctured the skin.

  Sam pushed her hair aside and probed behind her own left ear. Her fingers touched a tender spot and she winced as it shot more arrows of pain through her head. She felt dampness in her hair and when she pulled her hand away found the same faint traces of blood.

  “Sir —” But the colonel and Teal’c were way ahead of her, both of them displaying fingers smeared with drying blood from their scalps.

  “Well, that can’t be good,” Daniel observed dryly. He tensed suddenly. “And neither can that.”

  They all felt it now. A familiar hum was reverberating off the stone walls. Behind them, a sudden column of bright light pierced the darkness.

  The rings.

  Sam reached reflexively for her weapon and saw the colonel do the same. They both came up empty. She could practically see her own mental curse mirrored in the colonel’s dangerous, dark look.

  Within the hazy glow of the hovering rings, two humanoid females appeared. Both were dressed in long white robes adorned with only a single sash. Despite their understated wardrobe, there was an unmistakable air about them, even if Sam hadn’t already begun to sense the presence of their symbiotes.

  They were Goa’uld.

  As soon as the rings vanished, the chamber was plunged once more into twilight. But only for a moment. Before Sam’s eyes could readjust, the taller of the two women touched her bracelet and the anemic torchlight flared into a steady, high flame.

  With unconcerned casualness, both women stepped forward. There was no mistaking that the one with the bracelet was in charge. The shorter woman followed in her wake.

  Beside her, Sam felt the colonel tense. She was sure he’d been expecting something like this all along.

  The first woman surveyed
them with a self-satisfied smile.

  “SG-1.” The name rolled off her tongue with a slight accent, but to Sam’s surprise, her voice was normal. Maybe they were Tok’ra. “How nice to finally meet you. I feel as though I know each of you so very, very well.”

  Before anyone could reply, the woman stepped in front of Teal’c. She was tall enough to practically look him in the eye.

  “Teal’c, of Chulak. Father of Rya’c. Student of Bra’tac. Former First Prime of Apophis. Loyal now to the Tau’ri. Welcome.” She bowed slightly before moving on to Daniel.

  “Dr. Daniel Jackson. Husband of Sha’re of Abydos. Archeologist, linguist and foremost expert on Earth’s ancient past.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that,” Daniel muttered, half under his breath.

  The woman was bowing again. “Welcome.”

  Sam was next. She felt herself stiffen. In spite of the fact that this seemed to be proceeding in a congenial manner, appearances could be deceiving. She could sense the colonel’s unease mirroring hers. The woman, however, smiled pleasantly. Sam saw that there had once been a kind of beauty there, but it had faded long ago.

  “Major Samantha Carter,” the woman continued. “Daughter of Jacob Carter, host to Selmak. Air Force officer. Brilliant astrophysicist. Yourself once host to Jolinar of Malkshur.” She bowed once more. “Welcome.”

  Sam said nothing. It was obvious the woman had at least a little intel on each of them. She wondered if it was mostly for show, or if it ran deeper than that. She watched as the woman moved on to the colonel.

  He cocked his head at her, one eyebrow raised, expectantly. Her smile broadened.

  “Colonel Jack O’Neill. Formerly husband to Sara and father to Charlie.” The colonel’s face went stony at the mention of his son. “Air Force Special Forces. Conqueror of Ra. Destroyer of Apophis. Friend of the Asgard. Leader of SG-1. Welcome.”

  Sam cringed as the woman spoke. So maybe it was more than a little intel. She glanced worriedly at the colonel.

  “And you are —?” he asked icily and without preamble.

  The woman stepped back and surveyed all of them once more.

  “I am NebtHet a’Eshe. This is Aset a’Teneb. We have come to welcome you to Duat.”

  “Duat,” repeated Daniel. Sam could tell the name had some meaning for him.

  “Daniel?” The colonel beat her to the question.

  “Duat.” Sam could practically see Daniel processing the facts in his head in order to explain them coherently. “In Egyptian mythology, it was a place where the gods dwelt. Sort of like the Greek’s Olympus, except that the Egyptians believed that it was actually, physically located under the earth.” Sam saw him study NebtHet a moment before he continued, more slowly and thoughtfully. “Duat was also the underworld, a treacherous place that those who died had to journey through in order to reach the Hall of the Two Truths, where they would have their heart weighed to see if they were worthy of entering the Afterlife.”

  “I thought that was Ne’tu?” The colonel frowned.

  Daniel shook his head. “Ne’tu was eternal damnation. Duat was the place they had to survive long enough to reach final judgment.” Daniel pushed his glasses back up his nose. “The Egyptians believed that a spiritual representation of their physical body — what they called the Ka — remained behind in the tomb, while the Ba — which they considered to be like a soul — traversed through the perilous underworld on its way to the Final Judgment. Assuming it was successful, the Ka and the Ba would be reunited and become an Akh.”

  “A what?” The colonel’s brow furrowed even deeper.

  “An Akh. It —” Daniel sighed. “Never mind.” He turned back to NebtHet. “Duat is also the realm of Osiris, isn’t it? Is she — he, whatever — the one who’s behind this?”

  “You are indeed well versed in your mythology, Dr. Jackson,” replied NebtHet, her admiration, or at least some well-acted admiration, for Daniel quite obvious. “And no. Osiris has no place here. None of his kind do.”

  Sam couldn’t help but wonder what exactly NebtHet meant by that, especially given the edge of disdain in her voice.

  “But you were right about one thing,” NebtHet continued. “Duat is indeed the underworld. And you each have a journey to make here.”

  Something about the way she said it made Sam shiver. There was a look of keen anticipation on NebtHet’s face as she added, “It is time, now, for you to begin.”

  Her moves were smooth and swift. Sam didn’t even see the zat until its blast struck Teal’c full in the chest. Aset had drawn a zat as well and fired seconds after NebtHet. Teal’c dropped to his knees and sank to the floor.

  He was dead.

  Sam barely processed what was happening. It was devastatingly fast, yet excruciatingly slow. She heard the colonel roar in rage and lunge at the two women, but he seemed held back by something. Sam vaguely registered that Jenmar was restraining him.

  In horror, she watched NebtHet turn her zat on Daniel. Aset followed and Sam saw her friend fall, just as Teal’c had done. The colonel, still struggling to break free from Jenmar, swore violently. Something in Sam ignited. Fury. Grief. Fear. She dove for NebtHet herself.

  The first zat blast caught Sam in the midsection. The too familiar sensation of having touched a high voltage wire shuddered through her. She barely felt the second shot when it hit. For the briefest moment she thought she heard the colonel cry out in anguish.

  And then — nothing.

  When the second zat turned toward him, Jack felt only relief. Teal’c. Daniel. Carter. Hell. He was already dead. Dying would just be a technicality.

  Aset fired.

  He hardly felt a thing.

  Chapter Three

  “YOU MEAN to tell me, the Tok’ra are not the ones responsible for our people being on that planet?” Hammond looked back and forth between the two individuals who sat across from each other at the conference table. Both wore the same schooled expression that every Tok’ra he had ever encountered, save for Jacob Carter, seemed to have perfected. It made it hard to get a read on them, which perhaps explained why Jack never trusted them much.

  “I assure you, General, we are not.” Anise’s tone was defensive, as usual.

  “The planet of which you speak would never have been considered for a Tok’ra base, as it is inhabited,” Aldwin clarified.

  Hammond’s message to the Tok’ra that Jenmar had gone missing on P4C-679, along with SG-1, had resulted in the swift arrival of Aldwin and Anise. He wished Jacob had been available, but apparently Major Carter’s father was deeply embedded in Goa’uld territory and unreachable.

  So he was left with these two. Anise he was only too familiar with, although he had not seen her since the tragic events surrounding the death of Martouf. Aldwin, he knew only by reputation. ‘Rigid’ was the word he believe Teal’c had used to describe him in a report. They were quite the pair.

  For the moment, however, they were the only pair he had. Hammond resisted the urge to sigh, but he did clasp his hands even more tightly on the table in front of him.

  “And what about the Ancient technology that’s there?” he asked. The two of them shared puzzled glances, which, as far as Hammond could tell, seemed genuine. It was Anise who finally made the connection.

  “Perhaps you are referring to the Dome of Anu?”

  The look of confusion resolved on Aldwin’s face too.

  “The Dome of Anu?” repeated Hammond.

  “On Teranu — what you designate P4C-679 — there are ruins of what once was a planetary mapping station,” Aldwin explained. “It contained a device of the Ancients that no longer functions. Years ago our scientists speculated that it perhaps was designed to chart the stellar drift as part of the mechanism for updating the coordinates of the Stargates. It was deemed insignificant and no further attention was given to it. Perhaps it is of this which you speak?”

  It certainly sounded like it, based on Jack’s report. But the rest of the story did not matc
h what Jenmar had told them. Hammond told them as much.

  “Jenmar would most certainly have had access to our records about Teranu. But why he would think the device or the ruins worth further exploration, I cannot begin to say,” Anise replied.

  “Did you not think to question his motive?” Aldwin asked, disingenuously. Hammond stifled a harrumph and refrained from pointing out that when it came to the Tok’ra, their motives were always in question. Somehow he did not think such a response would benefit the present discussion.

  “As he was your liaison, we had no reason to,” he replied instead. “We took a recommendation from the Tok’ra at face value. Something which, in retrospect, was ill-advised.” He didn’t get the sense that either of them had gotten his subtle jibe. Jack was right. They did have an innate arrogance that allowed them to shed responsibility like a duck did rain.

  “We regret that yet another Tok’ra life has been lost.” Anise’s accusatory tone matched her glare. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them her face softened. “And we offer our condolences on the loss of your people, General. I, for one, was very fond of the members of SG-1.” Freya spoke this time. She sounded sincere.

  “That’s jumping the gun a little, I think.” Hammond didn’t bother to hide his irritation. “We still haven’t drawn any final conclusions as to what might have happened on that planet. That’s why you’re here. We need your help.”

  “I’m not sure how we can assist you,” Aldwin glanced at Anise. “At the moment our resources are extremely limited. All of our efforts are committed to establishing the base at Revanna as quickly as possible.”

  “Then how about just some good, old-fashioned intel on this ‘Dome of Anu’. Do you have any idea why the Goa’uld might be seeking it? Or want to destroy it?” There was always a possibility that what had happened to SG-1 simply might have been an instance of bad luck and bad timing. Deep in his gut, though, Hammond didn’t think so.