Part 23 (2/2)

Daniel was on his feet and out the door in a flash. A dull boom still ricocheted around the mountains as smoke billowed from one side of the Amam s.h.i.+p.

”Sam,” he breathed. He wasn't sure whether to be pleased or terrified by the development, but at least something was happening.

”You think your people done that?” Hunter said, following him outside.

”I just hope they meant to.”

There was a beat of silence while they both watched the s.h.i.+p, waiting for the next explosion. But nothing else happened. ”You know,” Hunter mused, ”one day I'm gonna watch that whole darn thing burn.”

Daniel couldn't help smiling at the certainty in his voice. It was a young man's certainty, the kind that hadn't had its optimistic corners knocked off yet. He remembered when he'd felt like that himself. ”Listen,” he said, glancing at Hunter. ”I need to help my friends now. If they escaped the s.h.i.+p, they'll be heading down to the camp and I need to show them the way.”

Hunter turned his gaze from the smoking s.h.i.+p and back to Daniel. ”I'll take you out to the boundary,” he said, ”but we gotta hurry. It's dangerous outside after dark.”

Daniel glanced around at the other people who stood staring at the smoke drifting in the misty evening air. ”Because people might attack us for food?”

Hunter shook his head. ”Because at night the s.n.a.t.c.hers come to hunt.”

Daniel took that in, nodded, and then glanced past Hunter toward Faith who stood in the doorway to their home, watching her husband with a tense expression. He looked again at the Amam s.h.i.+p pouring smoke into the sky, at the steep mountainside down which they'd walked this morning and then back at Hunter. ”You stay here with Faith and your son,” he said. ”I'll go alone.”

”You won't find the way,” Hunter objected.

Daniel allowed himself a slight smile. ”You think I won't be able to see that Amam s.h.i.+p from anywhere in the camp?”

”And to find our home again?”

”Trust me. I have a good sense of direction.”

”But you -”

”Hunter,” Faith said from where she still stood in the doorway. ”Please.”

Daniel reached out and put his hand on Hunter's shoulder. ”You've done enough for us,” he said. ”And I can do this myself.”

Hunter looked torn for a moment, but then nodded. ”If you're not back by dawn, I'll come lookin'.”

”Okay,” Daniel agreed. ”Now go be with your family.”

The journey back out to the perimeter was much faster than the journey in, partly because Daniel was running and partly because no one was getting in his way. Everyone was hunkering down inside, a sense of anxious expectation pervading the whole camp. Daniel doubted the explosion on the s.h.i.+p had done much to steady anyone's nerves and there was certainly no sense of celebration in the camp. It made him wonder about the relations.h.i.+p these people had with the Amam - both the givers of life and the bringers of death.

As the feeding station grew closer, he slowed to a walk to catch his breath. Stealth, he thought, might be helpful too, although so far he'd seen no sign of the Amam and he'd heard no tell-tale rattle of gunfire. Both of which could either be good or bad news, but he didn't dare break radio silence to find out.

The feeding station was on his right now, the shacks thinning out the closer he got to it and to the edge of the camp. He tried to imagine what it must be like on the days when the Amam delivered rations - did the people fight for them, or had they organized a fair way of distribution? Perhaps this Dix character was involved in the running of the camp? Faith's story of going to see him, and of being given some kind of food after her husband was taken, seemed to indicate that a social structure existed, although - His train of thought was abruptly derailed by a flash of blue energy up on the mountainside, halfway down the slope. A moment later came the distant report of an MP5. His gut tightened: they were off the s.h.i.+p, they were fighting.

At least, some of them were.

He made his way beyond the last of the shacks and took cover behind a stub of something that might once have been a wall. It was full dark now and Daniel didn't dare risk his flashlight, but he ran his hand over the surface and it felt like old brickwork. Someone might have lived there once, he thought, before the war that had destroyed this city.

If there was a moon in orbit around the planet, the clouds hung too low to let it s.h.i.+ne. The only light came from the strange bioluminescent glow of the Amam s.h.i.+p and the s.n.a.t.c.hes of firelight escaping from the camp behind him. But his eyes were used to the dark and he could pick out the tree line that marked the edge of the mountainside's spa.r.s.e forest.

He checked his watch. Ten minutes since the brief firefight and no contact. Nothing. They could be dead. They could be somewhere in the trees. All he could do was wait.

Cold, a real mountain cold that was sharp and bitter, made his breath mist in front of his face. He thought with regret of his Parka back at the SGC, but his adrenaline was high, everything on full alert, and that was enough to keep him warm for now. Nevertheless, he was aware that he couldn't sit there all night. If they didn't come soon, he'd have to find shelter or succ.u.mb to hypothermia. He pulled his hands from his pockets, blew on them to warm them, and then froze.

There was movement in the trees, a flash of something. Slowly, Daniel reached down and pulled his Beretta free of its holster. His mouth was suddenly dry, too dry to swallow, as he rested his hands on the brickwork and trained the weapon on the trees. Blinking against the dark, he strained to see. Had he been mistaken? No, there it was again, movement in the trees along the ridge where he and Hunter had stood and first looked out across the camp.

SG-1 or Amam? Possibly both.

He could hear footfalls now, a skittering of rocks as if someone had slipped or stumbled coming down the slope. Daniel licked his dry lips, tightened his grip on the gun. And then there was a figure in the dark, emerging from the trees. Daniel flicked off the safety, the click sounding loud in the night.

Someone called out, ”Hold your fire!”

Heart hammering, it took a moment before the voice penetrated the sound of blood rus.h.i.+ng through his ears. But he didn't lower his weapon, peering through the darkness as two other silhouettes materialized from the trees.

”Daniel?”

”Oh thank G.o.d.” Relief washed through him at the sound of Jack's voice, his gun sagging against the rock and his finger slackening on the trigger. ”Over here,” he said, and climbed to his feet, holstering his Berretta.

Jack appeared from the darkness first, looking weary but unharmed. Sam and Teal'c were a step behind. ”Hey,” Jack said, laconic as ever, ”thanks for not shooting.”

”You're welcome.” Daniel glanced past them, up toward the s.h.i.+p. ”You didn't bring any friends?”

Jack shrugged. ”A couple tried to tag along. We changed their minds.”

”It is possible,” Teal'c said, ”that more will pursue us.”

”Likely, in fact,” Sam added with a wary glance over her shoulder. Her arm, Daniel noticed, was bandaged. ”We need to hide,” she said. ”And the colonel needs to rest.”

”We all need to rest,” Jack corrected.

Daniel smiled. ”Well, I know just the place.”

Daniel seemed to have a good idea where he was going, which was lucky, because Jack was too tired to do anything but follow him as they picked their way through the ramshackle camp. ”Hey,” he said, touching Daniel's shoulder. ”Check that out.”

He gestured off to their right, squinting through the crowding darkness to where he could just make out the distinctive shape of a Death Glider's wing that had been co-opted into the lean-to wall of a house.

”Interesting,” Daniel said. ”I guess Elspeth's stories about the 'old G.o.ds' had some truth in them after all.”

”Yeah. And maybe not-so-old-G.o.ds, if Hunter's right about this Dix character.”

Daniel nodded, mulling over the idea as they walked. ”He seems to think that Hecate would help us - that the Amam are her enemy.”

”Yeah, well, I'll believe that when I see it.”

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