"Chevron 7 locked." Walter said loudly, and the Stargate began to surge forward and suddenly pull back. It calmed into a shimmering lake of blue lights. SG-1 stood in the gate room, prepped and ready to go. General Hammond came into the gate room.
"At ease. Remember your mission, try to find out where the energy signature we detected is coming from." Hammond said.
"Yes sir, but if you don't mind my asking, how are we supposed to search a planet that's completely covered in water?" Colonel Jack O'Neill asked.
"We have SCUBA gear on the cart, and we have put your weapons in a protective layer that should keep them dry just in case. You should be good to go."
"Yes sir." Jack said.
"What is SCUBA?" Teal'c asked looking down upon the supplies.
"It's an acronym for self contained underwater breathing apparatus." Major Samantha Carter said.
"What is an acronym?" Teal'c asked.
"Just never mind about it buddy, sufficed to say it helps you breath underwater." Jack said. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow in question. "All right kids let's go! Where's Daniel?"
"Here I am, yeah sorry put contacts in, don't think glasses and water really work well together." Daniel said jogging to the gate room.
"Ok. Let's move out!" Jack said, he then drove their supplies by remote through the Stargate, the team following close after it. Once they stepped onto the planet surface, Jack felt the weight of Daniel completely fall on him.
"Whoa!" Jack said, as they both fell down with a splash. They water was about knee deep while standing, but when Jack and Daniel fell on their backs they were completely submerged.
"Yeah sorry, slipped." Daniel said after they both resurfaced, and were retrieved by Sam and Teal'c.
"Slipped?" Jack said a little annoyed, "Well I was going to have to get completely wet eventually, why not start the second after I step through the gate?"
"Sir, we should get geared up if we are going to dive down to the source of this energy reading." Sam said.
"Alright, let's see what we got here." They each began to put SCUBA gear on; Jack was helping Teal'c get set up. Daniel looked off into the huge surface of the water.
"How did the gate end up here?" Daniel asked, looking out over the waves. "What use is the gate to a planet completely covered in water?"
"Well maybe we'll be able to find the answers after we find the energy source." Sam said standing next to him. She looked up at the three moons in the sky. Although a sun shone brightly she could still clearly see the moons.
"Did you see that?" Daniel asked suddenly, shocked.
"What?" Sam asked looking out in the direction of where he was pointing.
"I could have sworn I saw a person." Daniel said.
"Seeing mermaids already are we?" Jack said looking back at Daniel.
"Could it be possible though, I mean if the Gua'uld took people to this world, could a civilization survive with nothing but this water?" Daniel asked looking around trying to find the person again.
"Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said, looking out, "I believe I see the person to whom you were referring." He was looking to the left, and the others came next to him and saw something incredible. A woman stepped up from the water. She wore a dark blue suit that clung tightly to her body showing her perfect hour glass figure very clearly. She had dark hair but had bright blue eyes, and water seemed to glisten off of her in rays of light. She walked forward calmly, unafraid of the travelers.
"Right, mermaid." Jack said, looking her over.
"Hello, I am Mara." She said looking at them, obviously curious.
"Hello, I am Dr. Daniel Jackson, this is Major Samantha Carter, Colonel Jack O'Neill, and Teal'c." Daniel said.
"Teal'c" Mara said looking straight at him, "You bear the symbol of the serpent."
"I am a Jaffa who was once forced to serve the false god Apophis, I do so no longer."
"Why would anyone serve a false god? If he is false, what is he other than deception itself?" Mara asked.
"As you say, he is deception. He used deception to enslave millions." Teal'c said looking at the woman.
"I see a great pain in your eyes Teal'c. You have witnessed atrocities no one should have to witness. I hope you one day find peace." Mara said while looking Teal'c straight into the eyes. "Why did you come through the shinning puddle?" Mara asked turning to face them all.
"Well ma'am, we are explorers." Jack said. She came over to him and looked him dead in the eyes. "We came to search…your…uh…world." Jack said backing up a little uncomfortable with her unblinking stare.
"You're eyes are honest, but I see much pain inside you, that you try desperately to hide. Yet you are of great integrity and morality. I also see much self-sacrificing love within you. Such a trait is something worth great praise." Mara said. Jack shifted uncomfortably and then looked down. "What interest does Mew have to you?"
"I'm sorry, Mew?" Daniel asked looking for an explanation.
"Mew is the name of this place." Mara said, now turning to him.
"Mew is ancient Egyptian for water." Daniel said, looking at her.
"You are correct, it is its name and what is one's name but the meaning of what one is?" Mara said now turning to look Daniel into the eyes. "You're eyes are kind and clear. You are someone full of hope. I also see a desire to learn. There is also pain hidden deep within your eyes as well." Mara took a step closer searching his eyes.
"Yes Mara, I do have a desire to learn. I would like to learn about your culture." Daniel said, looking back into her eyes, trying to discover something about her through those deep crystals that stared undaunted straight back into his.
"And what kind of energy and technology you use." Sam said. Mara then turned to her, and looked into her eyes. Sam shifted about, a bit uncomfortable.
"I see that you are a great intellectual. You try to understand everything. You too have pain, but not as severe as the others." Mara said.
"Well as much as we'd love to have our personalities and pasts analyzed by our eye balls, do you think you could take us to where you live?" Jack asked her.
"I will take you to my village." Mara said, "There you will meet with the elders and you may learn from us." She then began to walk straight back into the deep of the water.
"Hey wait!" Daniel called back, "Where exactly is your villiage?"
"Below the surface." Mara said.
"What now?" Jack asked. "You people live underwater. How do you breathe?"
"Do you wish to see the method by which we are capable of taking oxygen from the water?" Mara asked.
"Well, yeah." Jack said. Mara then turned to her side, and unzipped a section of her suit. She revealed a pair of gills on her side.
"Whoa," Jack said, squinting.
"Do they disturb you?" Mara asked, zipping her suit back up again.
"Not at all ma'am, it's just not what I was expecting." Jack said.
"Can you not breathe underwater?" Mara asked.
"We can but only with this equipment. Tell me, how long will it take to go to your village? We only have enough oxygen for three hours." Sam asked, while the others resumed gearing up.
"It will not take long. My village is on the shallower areas of Mew." Mara said, "Are you all ready? Then come, follow me." She then dived down into the water, she swam down a bit, and then looked back. The team dived down and swam down to her, and they all paused where she waited. She then said, "Ready? We shall continue." To the amazement of everyone, they heard her voice just as clearly as they had above the water. They swam for about ten minutes, and then they came into the outskirts of Mara's village. SG-1 all stared in amazement. It was a town with structures, houses, buildings, it even had a kind of street. But each building was a round bubble. With layers of solids built inside it. The streets were made of coral, and were not so much streets to walk on, but ways to swim over. Each lane had a different color of coral, which was the way the people could tell the difference between the roads.
Mara continued to lead the way, but many of the villagers stopped to look at the strangers. Mothers were ushering their children back into houses. Others whispered to each other as they noticed the SCUBA gear each had. Mara stopped at a fairly large building, pushed a button, and waited as a door slowly filled with water and opened.
"Please come in." Mara said, allowing the team to float their way into the door way. They stopped just outside another door. Mara then entered, and she then pressed a button on the inside to close the door. She pressed another one and the water began to vent out of the room. "You may want to take hold of the sides and place your feet upon the ground." She directed. SG-1 did as she instructed, and within a few seconds all the water was vented from the small room. Mara then pushed a third button and the inner door opened. SG-1 stepped forward into one of the buildings.
"It is safe to remove your equipment, this room is filled with oxygen." Mara said. They all removed their tanks.
"It's incredible!" Daniel said looking around. "How did your people do this?"
"We created what needed to be created to survive. This room is built out of a special element that exists in the depths of the ocean. Mew abounds with this element. Once we create the structure we vent all the water from it. We then place a generator that connects the outside to the inside. This splits water molecules putting oxygen in, and letting hydrogen out. It also decreases the carbon dioxide within the room as well." Mara explained as she led them through the complex and up a flight of stairs. She then opened a door to the right of the stairs into a large business looking room. Here two men and two women sat at the end of the table.
"Mara, thank goodness you have returned unharmed." One of the men said.
"I was in no danger; these people wish only to learn from us." Mara said.
"Did you see the ring from legend?" One of the women asked with great excitement.
"Yes, it was beautiful! These people stepped out from it, and then these two named Dr. Daniel Jackson and Colonel Jack O'Neill fell straight into the waters!" She laughed with the other woman for a minute.
"Don't blame me!" Jack said, "It was Daniel here who slipped!" He began to glare at Daniel, and Daniel just shrugged his shoulders.
"Well it is a wonderful delight to meet you." The woman said, "I am Thera, a member of the council. This is Jalo, Faron, and Sharell. We four make up the council for the village of Zellus. You are most welcome here."
"Well thank you ma'am, I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, this is Daniel, Carter and Teal'c." Jack said motioning at each member as he said their name.
"Well it is an honor to have people from the ring of legend come to us." Sharell said, "Please sit." The team sat on the opposite side of the table from them, and Mara sat next to Daniel. "I am glad you made it here safely, when we saw that the ring had been activated with our sensors, we sent Mara to go and investigate."
"Just Mara?" Sam said, "Weren't you worried for her possible safety?"
"Well we did not want to make our presence known in case there was a threat, and so we only sent Mara." Jalo, the first man who had spoken to Mara said. "Mara has her ways. She knows how to make herself invisible."
Jack raised his eyebrows, "Invisible you say?"
"It is true I can hide with great skill, but it is not the same as absolute invisibility. I can make myself invisible to the eye looking." Mara said.
"Mara also has a gift of seeing into a person's heart, and discerning the good from the bad." Jalo continued.
"That is why I revealed myself to you, when I saw the face of Dr. Daniel Jackson looking out to the waters; I rose from the waters to get a better look. His face was full of kindness." Mara said, looking silently at him again.
Jalo suddenly became very annoyed and changed the subject quickly. "Tell us, where did you come from?"
"We come from a planet called Earth." Daniel said, "We are explorers, we travel through the ring of legend to different planets."
"What is the meaning of the name 'Earth'" Mara asked.
"Earth means soil, or dirt. You see unlike this world, our planet has a surface where people live." Daniel explained.
"Is this true?" Mara said, an expression of shock on her face, "That your world has a surface. We have heard only legends of a surface world!"
"Excuse me, what legends?" Daniel asked looking at Mara.
"We can explain our culture and history to you later, right now we have other matters." Faron said. "We would like to know what interest this world is to you."
"Well, we detected a small energy reading on this world and we came to see if we could reverse engineer it and use it on Earth." Sam said. "If it is not too much trouble for you, that is."
"If we show you our methods of procuring energy and oxygen, what will you show us in return?" Faron asked.
"We can offer one of your people a trip back to Earth with us, so that they can learn. Also we can offer information about the Stargate and how to operate it." Jack said.
"Give us a moment to consider your proposal." Sharell said, and the council stood and went out a separate door. Mara stood and bowed a bit as they left. The team stood up as well.
"I believe they will agree to your request at trade." Mara said looking at the team. "I hope for the chance to show you more of my village."
Jalo then came out and said, "We have accepted your request, and have appointed Mara as the individual you will take through the gate. She is a foremost intellectual and would be able to learn much from your world. But if she is harmed in any way while she is gone, all diplomatic relations will end." He said the last part as a direct threat.
"But first Jalo, we should show the visitors our world. I am prepared to teach them about our culture. Perhaps we could have an engineer show them our power sources." Mara said.
"Very well, I will summon Tetrina. She will show you our ways." Jalo said.
"I'll go with Mara," Daniel said, "I am the one that's really interested in your culture and history."
"I'm sure one of the others are more suited to go with Mara." Jalo said with a twinge of annoyance.
"Well, with all due respect, I am the member of this team that specializes in history and culture." Daniel said looking at Jalo.
"It will be fine Jalo," Mara said, "We can trust this man."
"All right Daniel, you go with Mara, me, Teal'c and Carter will go on this engineering tour thing." Jack said.
"I would like to discuss the 'Stargate' as you call it with someone as well." Jalo said.
"Sure," Jack said, "Me and Teal'c will stay with you then, and Carter can go with Tetrina."
"Please follow me Dr. Jackson." Mara said motioning toward the door.
"Daniel," Daniel said, "You can call me Daniel."
"All right Daniel, come this way."
Mara led Daniel back toward the door, he began to put his SCUBA gear back on, but Mara put her hand in between his mouth and the mouth piece. Daniel put it down and looked at her for an explanation.
"We have a better way." Mara said, she went to a storage box and opened it up; she grabbed a small rectangular device, and handed it to him.
"What is this?" Daniel asked, holding it between his two fingers.
"Place your mouth here, and put the strap behind your head."
"Why?"
"Just trust me." She said, and they exited through the door. Daniel took a deep breath and swam after her, he tried to hold in his breath as he swam after Mara, but he eventually exhaled and inhaled, and found he could breathe normally. He was amazed, and continued to follow Mara, all the way to the library, once they entered, he removed the breathing device.
"What is this thing?" Daniel asked looking at it, "Why do you have a way to breathe in the water if your people have gills?"
"My people are not born with gills." Mara said, "Each of us inherits a virus from our parents, the virus remains dormant within us until we reach the age of 12 or 13. We then experience a type of sickness that lasts for about 4 days. Once the sickness is over our gills are fully formed. Before that time, the children use these devices."
"That's interesting, so the gills are not a natural part of your evolution."
"No they are not," Mara said, "We call the sickness the scar of the gods."
"'The scar of the gods?'" Daniel said raising his eyebrows and looking for an explanation.
"Well, let us just start from the beginning. Mew once had surface. There was a legend that the god Sobek took our forefathers from another world and brought them here. Here the god enslaved them, and did experiments on them."
"Sobek?" Daniel said, "That is the Egyptian god of the Nile."
"It was said Sobek had unlimited control over the water. He did experiments on our people in order to attempt to make us be able to live below the surface, and mine the mineral that was below the surface. He succeeded in creating the virus that is now a permanent part of us. However there was a rebellion, this damaged a part of Sobek's triangle. He was evidently performing another experiment, the damage done created a great flood. The surface was washed away, we do not know if Sobek was washed away as well or flew away in his triangle."
"Oh wow, that is incredibly interesting." Daniel said. "So Sobek was doing kinda the same thing Nirrti was doing, only apparently he succeeded."
"Who is Nirrti?" Mara asked.
"She was a being like Sobek, a parasite. A being that invades a person and takes control of their body. These beings are called Gua'ulds."
"I have heard that term." She said, turning about looking at the book shelf, "I am sure I have seen that term before…yes here. There was an inscription on an artifact found in a cave not far from here. It read, 'Here rests the Gua'uld…' and then the other letters have been washed away."
"Wait, what? Do you have any pictures?" Daniel said grabbing the book, he looked at it and then just dropped it, and said, "We have a problem."