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

by Sally Malcolm

  “Chatelaine? Are you ok?” That was Dr. Keller, wiping her hands on a strip of tablecloth, and Gemmion straightened.

  “I’m well. Surely you’re needed?” Needed elsewhere, she meant, though she managed not to say it. Ice would not thank her if she were openly ungracious to Alabaster’s protégé.

  “No, it looks like everyone’s going to be all right.” Keller glanced over her shoulder anyway, and shook her head. “That guy, Devor, he’s just lucky some of the servers decided to taste things ahead of time. I don’t think your queen would have been happy if any of her people had gotten sick.”

  “She would not have been pleased,” Gemmion said. And probably Devor had counted on just that, to force Coyt’s hand without actually injuring any of the Wraith. The Elders had always been a twisty group, and she doubted that had changed any over the years. To her relief, someone called Keller’s name, and the doctor turned away, leaning over the Marine who had tasted the wine.

  “You have not forgiven them.”

  For an instant, she thought it was Ice’s voice, and then realized that it was Teyla.

  “I have not. Why should I? What they did after — they sent me to die, and just because they felt guilty afterward doesn’t change anything. I thought — I loved them both, they were my dearest friends, and I thought they loved me.” Gemmion drew a shuddering breath — this was nothing the Lanteans needed to know — but to her horror, she couldn’t seem to stop. “I hope they felt guilty all the rest of their lives, I hope thinking about me made their dreams hideous, I hope —” She stopped then, the anger draining out of her. “And they are dead, long dead, and I live. It doesn’t matter what I feel.”

  “No,” Teyla said, but her voice was gentle.

  “And we’ve saved the treaty.”

  “We have,” Teyla said. “That is no small thing.”

  It was not. Gemmion took a deep breath, feeling herself steady at last. There would be other tests, other dangers, but this time, peace had held. She bent her head in answer, as though to a queen, and turned back to her people.

  Stargate SG-1

  Blinded by the Light

  Barbara Ellisor

  This story takes place in season three of Stargate SG-1.

  The UAV burst through the gate and immediately banked hard right. Following its pre-programmed search pattern, it climbed to a safe cruising altitude and soared through the morning sky, sweeping the ground below with cameras and transmitting the results back through the gate.

  Back at Stargate Command, the monitors showed a single sun shining down on an expansive plain. Bounded to the south and west by a large lake, it was separated into two roughly equal halves by a line of tree-covered hills running east to west. A single cliff-lined pass joined the two halves and a range of snow-topped mountains was visible to the far north.

  Several thousand large animals roamed the flatland, feeding on the waist-high grass or resting under the occasional shade tree. Similar in size to American bison, their most striking attribute was a pair of long tusks that jutted from their snout and curved backwards over their heads. Flocks of small, feathered creatures darted through the air in search of insects and the temperature was warm and balmy. A veritable paradise.

  Twenty minutes later, its mission complete, the UAV guided itself to a soft landing near the gate and waited to be retrieved.

  “I have a funny feeling about this place.”

  Major Sam Carter scanned the immediate area, her senses shifting to high alert. She knew better than to discount the colonel when he had a ‘funny feeling’. “I don’t see anything, sir.”

  “Nor do I,” said Teal’c from his position guarding their six. “The area appears quiet.”

  “That’s what worries me.” Colonel O’Neill surveyed the forest, its gloom broken only by intermittent shafts of sunlight forcing their way through the dense canopy. The quiet was absolute. In fact, other than a few distant hoots, they’d neither seen nor heard any signs of life since they’d entered the woods. “It’s creepy.”

  “It’s just trees, Jack. Trees aren’t creepy.” Daniel took advantage of the pause to kneel down and brush away the leaves and twigs littering the surface of the road. “Just look at these cobblestones! See how the stones are cut to fit together precisely? The Romans themselves couldn’t have built a better road.”

  “Bet the Romans wouldn’t have left that lying around.” With a jerk of his chin, O’Neill indicated a tree limb blocking half the road. He turned to Sam. “Are you sure the UAV didn’t see any sign of civilization? Lights? Cars? Smoke signals?”

  “No, sir.” She could tell he was uneasy. Though he stood at ease, his shoulders were tense and his eyes never stopped moving, constantly searching the underbrush for danger. “But in all fairness, the UAV can’t see through trees. There could be buildings hidden in here and we’d never know.”

  “But no radio waves, nothing like that, right?”

  Sam shook her head. “No, sir.”

  “What about the totem?” Daniel said. “That’s clearly the work of civilization.”

  The ‘totem’ Daniel referred to was a tall pole mounted at the top of the cliffs overlooking the Stargate. Other than the road and the gate itself, it was the only artificial artifact detected by the UAV. Obviously old, it had weathered to a dark greenish-black color and was covered in angular writing that reminded Sam of a toddler’s scribblings. Daniel had gone into raptures at the sight of it, claiming that the writings were similar to ancient Babylonian or Mesopotamian or something equally obscure, but Sam knew the colonel wouldn’t care. The planet appeared deserted and he’d be ready to leave the surveying to a follow-up team.

  After three years, Daniel knew the colonel too. “C’mon Jack, we can’t turn back already. This road was made by someone.”

  “But that ‘someone’ doesn’t seem to be here.” The colonel made a pointed show of checking his watch. “We’ve been tromping through these woods for exactly fifty-three minutes and haven’t found a thing.”

  “This place can’t have been abandoned for long.” Daniel patted the exposed cobblestones gently, almost reverently. “I’d guess no more than five, ten years. The road is still in good repair. The people must have gone somewhere and we can’t find out what happened unless we keep going. This has to lead to something.”

  O’Neill couldn’t deny Daniel’s logic but solving the mystery of where the people had gone wasn’t his concern. “I still don’t like it. Teal’c, any thoughts?”

  “I sense no danger but it is impossible to see for any distance. The grasslands around the gate are more defensible.”

  “Carter?”

  Sam shrugged, unwilling to be caught in the middle. “Whatever you say, sir.”

  The colonel came to a decision. “Okay Daniel, fifteen minutes, not a second more. We don’t find anything by then, we head back and let one of the survey teams take over.”

  According to his watch, they’d been on P23-796 for less than an hour but O’Neill couldn’t shake his sense of unease. The feeling wasn’t rational. The trip through the gate had been uneventful and the area as peaceful as the UAV had reported. The buffalo creatures had continued to graze quietly, seemingly undisturbed by either the whoosh of the gate activation or their presence. But he did see something the UAV had missed — a group of predators haunting the edge of one of the herds. Heavy in the forefront and sloping down to weak hindquarters, they looked like under-sized hyenas from the neck down. From the neck up was another story: a thick, two-foot-long hairless neck topped by a narrow head that reminded O’Neill of a snake. And he hated snakes. Daniel had nicknamed them ‘hy-afs’ — a combination of ‘hyena’ and ‘giraffe’ — but O’Neill simply called them butt-ugly.

  Maybe it was just the closeness of the trees through which they walked as they circled around and up to r
each the bluff where the totem stood — like Teal’c, he preferred being able to see what was coming. Long experience had taught him that something was always coming and he wanted as much advance notice as possible. He surveyed the area again, paying special attention to the interplay of light and shadow, alert to any movement. Still nothing. “Carter, you and Teal’c drop back a bit.”

  Daniel glanced around but everything looked peaceful. “Jack?”

  He wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve. He couldn’t explain his unease but experience had taught him to pay attention to it. “Remember our bounty hunter friend on… on…?”

  “Aris Boch? On PJ6-877?”

  How does he remember those planets like that? “Yeah, him. Things seemed peaceful there until he showed up.”

  Daniel raised his eyebrows. “That was two hundred light years from here.”

  “And your point is...?” He jerked his head and Carter and Teal’c obediently dropped back twenty feet. “If we walk into something unexpected, I’d rather we weren’t all bunched together.” He sneaked another look at his watch. Just another five minutes.

  “O’Neill.”

  The colonel froze. “Teal’c?”

  “There.” Teal’c pointed into the forest. “I saw a flash from that tree.”

  Daniel immediately started forward, only to have Jack block his way. “Wait.” He edged forward, MP-5 at the ready, his gaze sweeping in all directions. “Where was it, Teal’c?”

  “Left side, chest-height.”

  Jack approached the tree and carefully peered around the trunk. After a few seconds, he relaxed and waved Daniel forward. “Congratulations, Teal’c,” he called out. “You found a gerbil.”

  Daniel joined him at the tree. Approximately the size of a chipmunk, the creature was pressed flat against the tree bark, obviously hoping that its fur, irregularly splotched in shades of brown and black, would serve as camouflage. It had erect, bat-like ears, over-sized eyes, and a long tail that curled up and forward over its body. The tip of it flashed at irregular intervals with a yellowish-white light. “Aw, isn’t it cute?” he said. “I bet it eats insects and uses the light on its tail as a lure. There’s a fish on earth that does the same thing.”

  “A fish?” Apparently interested despite himself, Jack leaned in for a closer look. “An Earth fish? Where?”

  “It lives in the deep —”

  “Gaahh!” Jack stumbled backwards, one hand still holding his gun, the other rubbing furiously at his face. His boot caught on a tree root and he stumbled. Daniel grabbed for him but was pulled off-balance by Jack’s momentum. They both crashed to the ground.

  Sam rushed forward while Teal’c snapped to attention but remained in place, guarding their rear from any danger. “Colonel? Daniel?”

  Daniel rolled to his knees and waved her toward Jack. “I’m fine. Check on Jack. The gerbil thing spat at us. I think it got in his eyes.”

  “Colonel?” He had pushed himself upright but remained sitting on the ground, his hands covering his eyes.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Give me a minute.” Jack blew out a breath and slowly lowered his hands, keeping his eyes closed. The skin around them looked a bit reddened but there were no obvious signs of damage. “I can’t see anything.”

  If he’s joking around, Daniel thought, I’m going to kill him. “It would help if you opened your eyes.”

  “They’re closed?” Jack let out a quick breath of relief. “I thought I was blind.” Then a note of tension re-entered his voice. “Are they still closed?” He pressed several fingers carefully against his eyelids. “I can’t feel anything.”

  Damn. He’s not joking. Everything Daniel knew about eye injuries flashed through his mind. It didn’t take long. About all you could do in the field was rinse and cover — anything more needed a doctor. Sam apparently concurred.

  “Colonel, we have to wash out your eyes. Daniel, give me your canteen.”

  Uncharacteristically cooperative, Jack let Daniel tilt his head back. Though he flinched when Sam pulled his eyelids apart, he didn’t move as she carefully poured water over his eyes, then released them and blotted the area dry with a clean handkerchief. “Any better?”

  He gently touched his eyelids. “I still can’t open them.”

  “Do they hurt?”

  “Not anymore. They did for a second but now I don’t feel anything.” He waggled his fingers for emphasis. “I don’t even feel my fingers touching them.”

  “Ok, Colonel, I’m going to lift the eyelid and you tell me what you can see. Just relax.” Sam braced the side of her hand against his face and used her thumb and forefinger to gently raise his left eyelid. His pupil was hugely dilated, turning his dark-brown eye almost black. “Look to your right, then to your left.” Whatever she saw made her smile, giving Daniel a small thrill of relief. “What do you see, sir?”

  “Just a blur.” Jack pulled away and his eyelid drooped shut. “A very bright blur. It’s almost painful.”

  Sam nodded to herself in confirmation. “Your pupils are enlarged. That’s why it seems so blurry and bright to you. In the human eye, pupils enlarge and constrict depending on the amount —”

  “Carter!” Clearly, Jack wasn’t interested in how or why, he just wanted answers. “Ten words or fewer.”

  “I think your eye muscles are paralyzed.” When he didn’t immediately respond, she continued, “I think the liquid from the —”

  “It’s spit, Carter. Gerbil spit. Go on, you can say it.”

  “Yes sir. I’m guessing that the, uh, gerbil spit contains a neuromuscular toxin that was absorbed through the mucous membranes of your eye and eyelid. That’s why you can’t keep your eyelids open and the pupil won’t constrict properly.” Before he could interrupt her with questions, she hurriedly continued. “On the bright side, it just seems to be affecting what it actually touched. The muscles further back, the ones that control the eye’s movements, seem fine and the fact that you see light indicates that the optic nerve is working normally.”

  Jack had only one concern. “Can you fix it?”

  “Sorry, sir. We need to get you back home.” She glanced at Daniel, her expression at odds with the confidence in her voice. “Janet will get you all fixed up.”

  Jack’s bullshit detector was probably working overtime; they all knew that Sam had no idea whether the doctors could help or not, she was just trying to keep his spirits up. But whatever Jack thought about it, he just nodded and turned his head toward Teal’c. “Everything all right, Teal’c?”

  “Everything appears normal, O’Neill. But I am detecting an odor that was not apparent previously.”

  Daniel took an exploratory sniff. “I smell it too. Smells sort of like apples.” He leaned forward and sniffed Jack’s shoulder. “It’s coming from your jacket.”

  “It must be from the gerbil,” Sam said, more concerned with the immediate problem. “Sir, we need to get back to the gate. And” — she hesitated — “we need to bandage your eyes.”

  He reacted just as Daniel expected. “I don’t need a bandage.”

  “Colonel, a bandage will keep your eyes from drying out and causing permanent damage.”

  “So you don’t think the current problem is permanent?”

  She chewed her lip. “Sir, I honestly don’t know. There’s a good possibility it might just wear off in a few hours.”

  “Or...what?”

  Daniel caught her look. “We’ll worry about that later,” he said. “Jack, we need to protect your eyes and get you back to Dr. Frasier. Sam, why don’t you and Teal’c work out the details while I wrap up Jack’s eyes?”

  Sam flashed him a brief, grateful smile, patted Jack on the shoulder and left to explain the situation to Teal’c.

  While Daniel wrapped O’Nei
ll’s eyes in several layers of gauze bandages, he kept up a steady stream of light conversation. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think the gerbil meant to hurt you,” he said, tying off the last knot. “Judging by its teeth and size, its primary food source is insects. I think you just scared it. In fact, I’d bet a lot —”

  “Daniel, you’re not helping.”

  “I just thought you’d feel better knowing —”

  “Daniel!” He knew Daniel was trying to help but right now he needed to remain focused. “I feel like a lamb being led to the slaughter,” he grumbled, hoping Daniel would accept his statement as the apology it was. He hated feeling helpless. He didn’t even have someone to blame for the situation, other than the gerbil who, if Daniel was correct, was probably just trying to defend its nest.

  Of all the stupid —

  “O’Neill?” Teal’c’s voice came from slightly to his left.

  Grateful for the interruption, O’Neill responded, deliberately keeping his voice matter-of-fact, as if being blind and helpless on an alien planet was an everyday occurrence. “What is it Teal’c?”