STARGATE SG-1 29 Hall of the Two Truths

by Susannah Parker Sinard

  A commotion interrupted NebtHet before she could reply. Shouts were accompanied by the rapid approach of running feet. Jack saw several Djedu scurry out of the way as someone hurled themselves into the Hall.

  Jack recognized him. It was Jenmar.

  “Colonel O’Neill!” The Tok’ra’s words came out in great, heaving gasps. “NebtHet!” he added looking around the room. “They will be here any minute — you must all leave at once!”

  “Jenmar?” NebtHet stepped toward him, confused. “What has happened?”

  He bowed low before her. “Forgive me, NebtHet. It is all my fault. But you must flee, or prepare to defend yourselves. It is the Goa’uld — they are about to attack!”

  As if on cue, there was an explosion and the entire chamber shook. Dust rained down from overhead.

  “Too late,” shouted Jack above the sudden eruption of cries and chaos. “Looks like they’re already here.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “PLEASE tell me there’s a Stargate on this planet.”

  Another explosion nearly pitched them off their feet. There was no mistaking the blast of a mothership. By the frequency of the hits, Jack figured there had to be at least two in orbit.

  “Yes,” shouted NebtHet over the din. “It is in the chamber behind this one. Aset will take you.”

  Aset, however, did not budge. She merely stood there, dust falling around her, looking insolent. Jack grasped the situation a heartbeat ahead of NebtHet.

  “Aset — no.” NebtHet stared at the woman, incredulous. “Why?”

  “Do you really have to ask?” Aset shot back. “You who are so wise, yet see nothing! We have been rotting here for thousands of years while our species — our kindred — have ruled this galaxy.” She smiled bitterly. “Once I believed you, when you said it was possible for our kind to ascend, and I followed you for thousands of years, NebtHet. But to what end? Only to decide that we should become like them?” Aset gestured toward SG-1, her face twisted in disdain. “I will not become something less than I am out of some pathetic hope of immortality. We have immortality right here, right now. And power, if we choose to use it. I will not waste another day on this planet when I can take my place beside our fellow Goa’uld and rule over the pitiful likes of these.” She spat toward Jack’s feet.

  Another blast rocked the Hall. Up on the dais the golden scale with its white feather toppled over, clanging against the marble floor. People were running about with no purpose that Jack could see. It was readily apparent that they’d never come under any kind of attack before. Everything was in utter chaos.

  NebtHet looked stricken. Jack almost felt sorry for her. But this wasn’t any of their business. Who did what to whom was entirely beside the point now. He just wanted to get his team home. They could blow each other to hell, for all he cared.

  “Hey, you!” He pointed at Jenmar. “Can you get us to the Stargate?”

  Jenmar seemed not to have heard him. The Tok’ra was pale as the proverbial ghost. He looked as if he would pass out, which was what Jack thought he was about to do when Jenmar sank to his knees. But in fact the Tok’ra was actually throwing himself at NebtHet’s feet.

  “This is all my fault, I am the one who has truly betrayed you, NebtHet. I am the one who brought the Goa’uld to Duat. I — I thought you would not share the secret of ascension with me. After everything I had done for you, I feared you would leave me behind. Forgive me.”

  Okay, Jack hadn’t seen that one coming. Apparently neither had NebtHet. She looked down at Jenmar, uncomprehending.

  “I do not understand. You did this? In league with Aset?”

  The Tok’ra nodded miserably. Another ground-rattling shot reverberated beneath their feet and dust began to rain down from the ceiling. NebtHet took no notice. She rounded on Aset, her face equal parts sorrow and rage.

  “What have you done?”

  There wasn’t time for this. Someone had to act, or they’d still be standing there when one of those motherships hit a bulls-eye.

  “Look,” he interrupted, stepping between the two women before Aset could speak. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but the four of us would like to get the hell out of here. The sooner the better.”

  “We’ve got a bigger problem, sir,” yelled Carter over yet another large explosion. “It’s the Ancient Technology. We can’t let it fall into the hands of the Goa’uld.”

  Carter’s words got NebtHet’s attention. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at Aset.

  “This is what you promised them, isn’t it? The devices of the Ancients.”

  That insolent look was back. Jack had a sudden urge to wipe it off her face. He had the feeling NebtHet did too.

  “They were quite pleased with my initial gifts — a sample of the infinite treasure that is wasting away in our storehouse. And when they take possession of the rest, there will be no question as to their success. And mine,” Aset added, triumphantly.

  There was an all too familiar egomaniacal glint in her eyes. Jack half expected them to glow.

  “Yeah, well, I hate to break it to you, but I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in what those Goa’ulds promise,” he said, sarcastically. “Believe it or not, snake-heads can lie through their teeth. Go figure.”

  “I’m pretty sure she knows that, otherwise she would have turned everything over to them already,” Daniel jumped in. “The only thing that stopped you was because you knew once you did, they’d have no use for you.”

  “The only thing that stopped me, Dr. Jackson, was making sure the full value of what I had to offer was completely understood — and sufficiently rewarded.”

  “Oh, you’ll get your reward, all right. Trust me,” Jack sneered.

  “Indeed I shall, Colonel. Especially since the technology of the Ancients isn’t the only thing of value on this planet.”

  “Us,” Carter surmised. “We’re your insurance policy. If they want us, they have to take you too.”

  Aset’s smile confirmed Carter’s deduction. Gee, a Goa’uld not trusting another Goa’uld. He sure hadn’t seen that one coming.

  The room shook again with another nearby hit.

  “You do realize,” Jack felt it was worth pointing out, “that there are four of us and only one of you. You really can’t expect us to just come quietly.”

  Aset merely shrugged. “Feel free to take me into custody, then, Colonel. I assure you, it won’t be for long.”

  “If the Goa’uld have already activated the Stargate, O’Neill, we will not be able to escape,” Teal’c pointed out.

  The triumphant tilt of Aset’s chin pretty much confirmed that. Jack knew the drill. Thirty-eight minutes to hold the gate and then hope like hell they could dial out faster than whatever Goa’uld was behind this could dial back in.

  Of course, they actually needed to get to the gate first.

  “Jenmar, take them to the chaapa’ai — please.” NebtHet still looked stunned and slightly unfocused. For his part, the Tok’ra seemed surprised that she’d even spoken to him, let alone asked for his help. He glanced nervously at SG-1 as he got to his feet, and then back at NebtHet before beckoning Jack and the others to follow.

  “Sir.” It was Carter again. “We can’t just leave. The Ancient tech —”

  “We will not allow the Goa’uld to take it, I assure you,” NebtHet interrupted. “We will destroy it ourselves first.”

  Jack looked at Carter and saw his own doubts about NebtHet’s ability to make good on that promise written all over her face.

  He also saw the answer.

  Right.

  “Daniel, Teal’c — go with Jenmar and find the gate. The minute the damn thing shuts off, dial the Alpha Site and get your asses through.” Jack glanced at Carter who nodded in agreement.

  “Dial back when you get there and keep it open as long as you can,” she added. “By the time it shuts down, we should be done and good to go.”

  There were a hundred and one things that could go wrong with that pla
n, but at the moment it was the best they had. Plan B would have to come later — if they needed one.

  “Oh, and since she offered,” Jack pushed Aset in Teal’c’s direction. “Take this piece of garbage with you.” Teal’c wrapped Aset’s arms in his viselike grip and frog marched her ahead of him in Jenmar’s wake.

  “So.” Jack turned to NebtHet. “I’m presuming that in addition to all this wonderful technology you have something that can blow it to hell as well?”

  For a moment the Djedu looked distracted again. Maybe she didn’t have it in her to do this. After all, she’d just had quite the sucker-punch. Two, actually.

  “Yes — yes. I believe we have the very thing you will require.” She looked at Carter when she said it. “Hurry, though. I do not think we have much time.”

  For the briefest moment Sam envied her dad. Selmak would have had these ribs healed by now. But it was only for a moment. All she had to do was look around to remember why the experience with Jolinar had been more than enough. She’d take unhealed ribs jabbing her in the side any day.

  Still, they were hard to ignore, especially while running. But she didn’t have the luxury of coddling them now. They were on the clock.

  NebtHet guided them through a maze of corridors until they found themselves outdoors on what otherwise might have been a lovely day. The flowering, manicured garden surrounding them belied the congealing cloud of smoke behind them. The air was acrid and filled with cries of grief and loss.

  Sam did her best to ignore them. If they didn’t destroy the technology the Djedu had collected, a whole lot more people than those on Duat would suffer. Whichever System Lord this was, and neither Jenmar nor Aset had mentioned a name, putting this much Ancient technology in their hands could make them too powerful for even the Asgard to handle. The Protected Planets Treaty would be worthless and Earth would be right in the crosshairs.

  Whatever it took, that couldn’t be allowed to happen.

  NebtHet led them away from the worst of the bombardment, moving swiftly through a series of narrow alleys until they came to a small, insignificant-looking building. Hardly the vast storehouse Sam had expected, especially when, once inside, there was only enough space for the three of them to move comfortably around. She shot the colonel a puzzled look, but he was staring at a bank of video monitors that took up one entire wall of the room.

  There were about two dozen of them, each with a feed from a different location. The colonel seemed fixated on one showing a raging waterfall. It didn’t look familiar, but the scene on the monitor next to it did. It was the Pit of Mutu — empty now, of course. Beside it was a view of a vast sun-baked desert, and the one beneath it showed several abandoned tents in the midst of a windswept plain.

  Sam couldn’t suppress a shudder. So this was how they’d been watched. Every action, every word, manipulated and studied like lab rats. Just as the colonel had said.

  “Carter.”

  Sam looked up. The colonel had moved to what she’d taken for a darkened window at the back of the room. Only it wasn’t dark now. NebtHet waved her hand over a spot on the wall and illuminated what was behind.

  Or more precisely, what was below. The window overlooked a vast underground bunker. It was huge, at least several thousand square feet. But that wasn’t the most impressive thing.

  From their vantage point Sam could see dozens, maybe even hundreds, of artifacts in various sizes and shapes. Things she had never seen before and couldn’t comprehend just from looking at them. Thousands of years of collecting, from all across the galaxy, assembled in one location. It was incredible.

  “Wow.” If she only had time to study even one of them…

  But no. They had a job to do.

  NebtHet moved her hand again and a doorway slid open beside the window, revealing a long flight of steps down to the storeroom.

  The technology was even more impressive from below. Sam wished Daniel were with them, just so he could translate some of the writings. It would be nice to know what it was they were about to blow up.

  “Carter…” The colonel nodded at an enormous golden box.

  “A sarcophagus.” Sam couldn’t suppress a shudder.

  “Well, that explains a lot.” He glanced ahead to see if NebtHet was out of earshot and lowered his voice. “I want you to know this is breaking my heart, Carter.”

  Sam nodded, sympathetically. In all their years of exploration they hadn’t even scratched the surface of discovering usable technology, compared with what this room held. The potential benefits to science, medicine, defense, and their overall knowledge of the universe… It was mind-boggling.

  Maybe there was another way. Maybe they could hide it. Or set up a defensive perimeter.

  “Forget it, Carter.”

  The colonel was shaking his head, as if he’d been reading her thoughts. He was right, though. There would be plenty of time later to regret what they’d done. She had to keep the bigger picture in mind. Preventing the Goa’uld from getting their hands on this was their first and only priority. Whatever NebtHet had planned, Sam hoped it would be powerful enough.

  As soon as she saw it, she knew it was — or would be, if rigged the right way. And rigging it was something Sam knew how to do.

  Next to her, the colonel pulled up short. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Yes, sir.” Sam looked at NebtHet. “Where did you get it?”

  For once the Djedu looked abashed. “We have become experts at salvaging what others leave behind, Major. As to which planet, or when, I really couldn’t tell you. Am I correct in assuming that it will be sufficient?”

  Sam looked at the naquadah reactor and frowned. “Actually, there’s a slight problem, sir.”

  “Of course there is.” He sighed. “What now?”

  She studied the device. “I can hotwire it to overload, but the timing mechanism is missing. There’s no way I can set it on a delay to give us enough time to get back to the Stargate. Once the overload starts, we’ll have about five minutes to get as far away as we can. But it won’t be enough.”

  “Five minutes ought to give all of us enough time to get out of here.”

  Sam shook her head. “If we were only blowing up the generator, then yes. But given all the unknown technology in here, there’s likely to be a number of secondary explosions, possibly even more powerful than the first. The shock waves may even reach the gate. I can’t say for sure.”

  The colonel furrowed his brow, thinking. She knew what was going through his mind, because the same thing was going through hers. Someone was going to have to stay.

  “Show me what to do,” NebtHet said.

  They both turned and looked at her.

  “I have lived for over three thousand years,” she said calmly. “And I have spent my entire life seeking enlightenment in the hope that someday I might achieve an immortality that did not depend on the use of technology.” NebtHet closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. “This day, I have come as close to understanding ascension as I have in the past three millennia and I see now that it is something neither I, nor any of my kind, will ever be able to achieve.” She looked between them, earnestly. “Please. Allow me to do this. Allow me to give you the opportunity to try to accomplish what I cannot. For what I have put you through to enable me to come to this understanding, let me pay this debt.”

  It was the last thing Sam had expected to hear, the colonel either, going by his expression. Maybe there was more to NebtHet than they’d given her credit for. It didn’t excuse what she had done to them, but Sam could certainly see why the Djedu had followed her for all these years.

  “Show her, Carter.”

  Sam knew him too well not to recognize the unspoken regret in the colonel’s tone. NebtHet might have literally put them through Hell, but even in the colonel’s eyes she didn’t deserve this. There had to be another way.

  “Sir, maybe I could —”

  “We’re out of time, Major. Just prep the damn thing and let
’s go.”

  Sam wanted to argue, but she had no other option to offer. Pushing aside the part of her that already mourned this woman, she gave her attention to the reactor.

  Sam’s heart sank when she opened the casing. The timing mechanism wasn’t the only thing missing. Someone had attempted to modify the device since it had left the possession of the SGC. Whatever it was they’d been trying to do, most likely hadn’t worked. The alterations were jumbled and confused. Nothing was at all where it should be.

  “Oh boy,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Something wrong, Carter?”

  Sam looked up and met the colonel’s eyes. She’d been going to explain the problem, but changed her mind. “Nothing I can’t handle, sir,” she said instead, giving her attention back to the device.

  Rewiring the reactor back to specs would take longer than they had. But she didn’t have to completely rewire it. She just had to fix it enough to blow it up.

  Visualizing the wiring diagram in her mind, it only took Sam a few minutes to reroute what was needed to activate the overload. She left one wire unattached.

  “Give us a ten minute start,” she told NebtHet as she passed her the lone wire. “It should be enough.” At least, she hoped so.

  NebtHet looked at the wire in her hand and then up at the two of them.

  “I have one favor,” she said, her eyes boring into the colonel. “When you see Jenmar — Jenmar a’Keyleb,” she amended. “Tell him… I forgive him.” Her look softened slightly. “And tell him that, someday, I hope he can forgive me as well.”

  The colonel held NebtHet’s gaze for several seconds before he nodded. “I will.” For just a moment Sam thought she glimpsed a look of grudging admiration on his face before his standard, brusque detachment dropped into place. “Come on, Carter. Let’s go.”

  They had only taken a few steps when the colonel stopped short and turned. “You know, NebtHet, this whole ascension thing…” The colonel paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “I’d say you’re a lot closer than you think.”

  Before the Djedu could respond, he’d wheeled around and was striding toward the stairs, not looking back. Sam hurried to catch up, but not before she glimpsed the gratitude on NebtHet’s face. She wished the colonel had seen it.