Jack regained consciousness slowly. His first realization was that the place on which he laid was uneven, like wood, with his legs dangling over empty space. Second, he realized that his hands were tied. Jack finally opened his eyes.
He was in a room of some sort, but everything looked to be about twice as big as it should have been. He looked over. The Doctor was still unconscious. They seemed to be lying on an enormous table of some sort. Jack wondered if the ground was near enough to jump down safely. He leaned upward to check.
"Aaaiieee!"
Jack jumped in surprise and curled his legs protectively toward himself as a giant woman standing near the end of the table saw his movement and screamed in horror. Jack felt like having much the same reaction, himself.
"Hello Central!" Doctor bounced awake at the noise, "Yes! I'm awake!"
"Get down!" Jack threw his body toward the Doctor as the Arnak woman now began throwing towels at them.
"Sheba!" The Arnak who had picked them up returned to restrain the terrified woman. "Sheba calm down!"
"Ooh! They're so tiny!" She screamed. "Get them out! Take them away!"
A heavy dishtowel landed across their faces, almost smothering the two men.
The screaming died down, and Jack began wondering if he should dare wriggle the towel off of them, or if there might be more trouble if he did that.
"D'you think they've gone?" The Doctor whispered to him.
In answer, the towel flew away from them, and they were brought face to face with the massive man who was their captor.
His face creased into a deep frown. His eyes gleamed as he squinted at them.
"Well?" he barked at last.
Jack and the Doctor exchanged glances. The latter replied first. "Well, what?" he stammered back.
The Arnak reached over and hauled him very near his face by his collar.
"What's so special about you? That's what I want to know. Who are you and why are you here?"
Jack held out his bound hands, "I can tell you one thing we're not, and that's enemies. Cut these ropes off, then we'll talk."
The Arnak folded his arms reservedly. Jack could not fathom what would motivate the huge man.
"Your wife's name is Sheba," The Doctor suddenly spoke up, "so you must be Jorem. You have a birthday soon, and you're looking forward to eating a dish called hayammas. Your favorite color is green, and you like to play with horses." Jorem dropped the Doctor in astonishment, but the man recovered his composure and kept going.
"Tonight your neighbor will come by, asking about a rumor he has heard concerning your lack of faith in your gods, which you will deny, but in reality it is true. You do not believe in the gods of your people."
Jorem collapsed onto a stool near the table. His eyes were wide with horror.
"How do you know all this about me? I don't even know you!"
The Doctor smiled, "I know, because I'm the Doctor. I've traveled back in time to your world because this neighbor of yours will listen to what you have to say about other worlds, and he will take a special device to create a bridge to our world, and there he will encounter a foolish young boy who thinks he is here to kill humans. This boy will kill the Arnak and use the bridge to return here and steal treasures from your people.
"For killing an Arnak and stealing, your gods will sanction a war against our world which will enslave them and move many Arnakim to our world as our masters." The Doctor looked straight into Jorem's eyes and held his gaze. "I am here to stop that from happening." He held our his hands. "Now untie us, please."
Jorem proved only too willing. He jumped up and simply pulled the ropes of the two men's wrists.
"Sorry about that," he said, " I didn't know why you were running about, or what you were up to, so I figured the safest thing to do would be tie you up. When I saw you in the fortress loose, I knew there was going to be trouble because the Leaders were rounding up the Tau'ri and caging them for the Goa'uld Lords."
Jack rubbed his wrist to remove the sting of his bonds. "You know about the Goa'uld?"
Jorem glanced toward the door. Sheba was standing there, wide-eyed.
"Jorem," she gasped in a quivering voice, "Why are you talking to the little men?"
"Sheba," Jorem gently embraced his wife and guided her into the room. "They are harmless. I think they can be our friends. Do not be afraid. See?"
Tentatively, Sheba reached forward and jabbed Jack in the shoulder with her finger.
"Ow!" he muttered.
She gave a little cry and clutched her husband's arm. Jorem patted her soothingly.
"Here, Sheba; why don't you go to the kitchen and cook us something nice. We'll stay in here and talk; does that sound all right?"
Sheba refused to take her eyes off of the two strange little men until she was so far into the kitchen that she could no longer see them. Jorem sighed and pulled up two stools for Jack and the Doctor to sit on.
When they were all settled, Jorem began, "You knew I didn't believe they were gods. Of course I know what they really are. Lord Nimrod and Lord Canaan are not as powerful as they want us to believe. They have power beyond our own, but they are not gods." He shook his head. "Anyway, now that we are friends, what are your names?"
"You can call me Doctor," the lively British man offered.
"Doctor what?" Jorem asked.
The Doctor hesitated at this. "You know, I haven't gotten that one before."
Jorem pointed to Jack. "And you?"
"Colonel Jack O'Neill," Jack said, "but you can call me Jack. Say, Jorem," he continued, "why are the Arnakim Leaders so anxious to capture the Tau'ri?"
Jorem sighed. "It's because they are afraid. We have been perfectly happy living on our own, since no other beings ever came here. Then the Goa'uld cane and set themselves up as our gods. The Leaders think that if we give them their greatest enemies as a present, they will leave us to ourselves again."
"Um, excuse me," the Doctor interjected, "What's a Tory?"
Jack smirked, "It's what these other Stargate systems—like the Goa'uld—call people from Earth."
"The Goa'uld have never been able to defeat the Tau'ri, but they were no match for us. When the Lords heard that we had captured the three Tau'ri, they made the Leaders swear to hold them until they came."
"When were they planning on showing up?" Jack wondered.
"Three day's time," Jorem stated.
"That gives us three days to rescue the others," The Doctor murmured.
"Others?" Jorem frowned, "Wait, weren't there four others? With you two, that makes six—which ones are the three Tau'ri whom the Goa'uld want?"
Jack raised his hand, "Me, and the two new prisoners. I wonder how the Leaders are going to explain having four."
Jorem shrugged. "Isn't there one of you fluent in the Goa'uld tongue?"
Jack nodded, "There is that." Slowly he realized the Arnak's logic. "You really think they would—"
"Oh, more than likely," Jorem nodded as Sheba emerged from the kitchen with dishes, utensils, and a pot of stew. By the glances from Jorem, Jack guessed the kind of stew was called hayammas. "They might excuse having four prisoners by trying to pass the fourth one off as the Jaffa."
Jack accepted the bowl and did his best to eat with the enormous spoon. He glanced at the Doctor, who was examining the soup with his silver wand. Its effect seemed to satisfy him and he dug in with a relish.
"I guess you were right," Jack admitted to him. "We really have to rescue them now-preferrably before Daniel is executed as a Jaffa traitor."