Part 15 (2/2)
”I was kinda hoping you could tell me,” Jack said, struggling against his bonds with a stubborn, if futile, determination that was all Jack O'Neill.
Daniel tried to look further down the corridor, but his vision was obscured by whatever it was that bound him in place. ”Where are the others?”
”I am here.” Teal'c's voice came from further down the corridor to Daniel's right, but he couldn't turn his head far enough to see him. ”I am glad that you are well, Daniel Jackson.”
”Me too - you know, aside from being stuck in some kind of giant spider web.”
”And Carter's right next to you,” Jack said, his gaze fixing somewhere left of Daniel's shoulder. ”She's still out cold.”
Flexing his muscles, Daniel tested the bonds. They weren't budging so he decided not to waste his energy and concentrated instead on trying to figure out where they were. He could hear sounds in the distance, mechanical noises and a faint, but unmistakable, hum of technology. ”Are we on a s.h.i.+p, do you think?”
With a grunt, Jack stopped struggling and let out an angry sigh. ”Maybe,” he said. ”But if we are, we're not moving. And I don't think we're even in orbit.”
”No,” Daniel agreed. It was a subtle sensation, but you could always tell when you were dealing with artificial gravity. ”So perhaps we're still on the planet?”
”You're right about that.”
The voice, young and male, startled Daniel and it took a moment to locate the speaker. Then he saw movement on the same side of the corridor as Jack, but further down, closer to Teal'c. ”Oh, h.e.l.lo,” Daniel said. ”I'm Daniel Jackson.”
”Name's Hunter.” The man strained forward in his bonds, far enough that Daniel could make out his face. Like all the inhabitants of this world he looked spare and hungry, although unlike Aedan's people his hair was cropped short. And as he brought his face into the dim light, Daniel sucked in a breath of surprise. Further down the corridor Teal'c did the same.
”What?” Jack said, struggling in vain to see. ”What's going on?”
”Um,” Daniel said, ”he's Jaffa.”
”He is not,” Teal'c said firmly.
Daniel looked again at the symbol tattooed on the man's forehead. Teal'c must have a better view, but even from this distance Daniel realized that the symbol - not one he immediately recognized - was crudely drawn.
”You are not Jaffa,” Teal'c said. ”Why do you bear the emblem of their slavery?”
”I wear no such thing,” the young man retorted. ”Dix himself marked me with the symbol of the G.o.ddess, Hecate.”
Dix? Now that was interesting.
The man - Hunter - nodded his head in the direction of Teal'c. ”And you bear your own mark, friend.”
”It is the mark of a false G.o.d.”
”Apophis,” Hunter nodded. ”Ain't no one but Dix wears his mark no more.”
”Daniel?” Jack's voice, pitched low, drew his attention. He threw a significant look in the direction of the stranger. ”Any ideas?”
”Well, I've never heard of Hecate,” Daniel admitted, frowning. ”That is, obviously I've heard of Hecate within the h.e.l.lenistic tradition - uh, interestingly sometimes considered a G.o.ddess of gateways - but I've never heard of her in the, um, Goa'uld tradition.”
Jack gave a curt nod, brow drawing down into a thoughtful frown. ”What did he mean, just then, that no one but -” He broke off abruptly. ”Carter?”
”Colonel... ?”
Daniel couldn't see her, but he could hear the woozy disorientation in her voice as she woke up. ”Sam, I'm here,” he said. ”We're in some kind of... Actually, I have no idea what this place is.”
He heard her trying to move, then ”Urgh! What the... ?”
”Yep,” he agreed. ”It's gross.”
”What is it?”
”Alien goo,” Jack said from across the corridor. ”Technical term.” He let a beat fall. ”You okay, Carter?”
There was a pause while she considered. ”I think so, sir. Where's Teal'c?”
Jack nodded along the corridor. ”Over there. Talking to a fake Jaffa.”
”A fake Jaffa?”
”Oh, it's just getting weirder and weirder, Carter.”
Daniel smiled, which was odd given the circ.u.mstances. Yet things suddenly felt more normal than they had in weeks and he couldn't quite put his finger on why, although no longer being half-dead and in excruciating pain certainly helped lift his mood.
”Sir,” Sam said after a moment, ”I think we were beamed up by that fighter. Did you see it?”
”Not exactly,” he said, ”but I figured.”
”I saw it take you all. It just kind of swept us up.”
”The question is,” Daniel said, ”now what?”
A dark laugh drifted along the corridor, a cynical sound from such a young man. ”Don't you know what happens here?” Hunter asked, incredulous.
”Actually, no,” Daniel said. ”We're, um, new around here.”
”That ain't possible.”
”Apparently it is.” He wished he were closer to the man and could meet his eye; it was difficult to understand the subtext from this distance and in the dark. ”Look, Hunter, it would really help us if you could tell us what you know about this place.”
”Ain't nothing that can help you here,” he said, ”'cept the grace of the G.o.ddess.”
Daniel tried a different tack. ”It was the Amam,” he said, ”the 'Devourers' who brought us here, right?”
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