Previously 1 – The Resting Place

Disclaimer: any resemblance to actual people or locations is purely coincidental.

Earth, over a year before the events of Hidden Memories, Sleeping Serpent...

Doctor David Owen, host to the Tok'ra Ben'ak, arrived in the empty space a safe distance above Earth, several years after Anise/Freya had been scheduled to drop off Melinar/Kalana. His first act was to check whether the stars were in the right place. He felt untold relief that everything looked normal. After facing the destruction head on, he still felt a little ill, and it wasn't something Ben'ak could fix. The symbiote felt the same way, in fact. Some things simply weren't meant to happen.

Putting the future behind him, David began the descent through Earth's atmosphere, and the flight to the target zone. Within half an hour, he had located the place. At least, that's what the computer told him. While the coordinates matched, there was no visible sign of disturbance. He landed the ship on the closest piece of flat, clear ground. A deep scan showed him the location of the caverns, but a shield blocked the ring transporter.

He didn't bother trying the Asgard transporter, as the computer showed it had been rendered useless by the ravages of the energy the ship – and his body – had absorbed. He hoped that Anise had succeeded in retrieving Melinar before the same happened to her transporter. Unfortunately, that seemed likely, since the site was undisturbed.

The doorway into the side of the hill was easy enough to find. It was well hidden by underbrush and did not obviously look like a door, but David had been her before – albeit in the future. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a crystal – the key. The Tok'ra Council held the only other copy. Actually, it was the same copy, but younger, and not likely to vanish from reality in the near future.

David pressed the crystal into a small octagonal hole in the rock face. The lock released with a single click and the door silently opened inwards, leaving a gaping hole into the dark underground hallway. Now that the entrance was unsealed, the remainder of the hidden laboratory could be reached, given time. Time was something David and Ben'ak did not have in abundance. They would need to recruit someone else to finish the task.

Anticipating such a problem, David had planned ahead and determined the bearing to the nearest town. He'd also had Anise research who would be around and when. The flight took a mere five minutes, but he spent a further fifteen minutes ensuring the ship was well-concealed. He expected the cloak would fail at some point before the ship ceased to exist, and didn't want it spotted by the general public. While some changes to the timeline were definitely needed, he would rather avoid scaring random people.

With a silent word of farewell to his trusty ship, David abandoned the craft and set out through the bush to where he knew the town waited. It wasn't much of a place, but a few hundred people called it home. It had been a mining town, and it would be a mining town again in the future – albeit much too late for his purposes. In the meantime, a few stragglers held on to this dry corner of the planet they had become attached to, and the mining companies occasionally sent someone to poke around the rocks, in search of this mineral or that metal, whatever they thought would pay.

In fact, there was one now. Some sort of surveyor, checking that he gear in the back of his ute (i.e. utility vehicle) was properly tied down. Obviously the fellow was about to head out on a drive down one of the many bush tracks. Most likely the wrong one, unless David intervened. "G'day!" he called out, catching the man's attention with a local greeting.

"Morning, stranger!" He offered his hand, and David shook it. "Ken Lucas."

"David Owen. Doctor Owen, actually, but you can call me Dave."

"Doctor, huh? Same here, actually. Geology. You?"

"Astrophysics."

"Right, right," Ken answered, nodding. "Whatcha doing in a little place like this, dressed like that?" He eyed David's Tok'ra outfit.

"It's quiet, the sky is clear and dark, and there's hardly any electromagnetic interference. Perfect for receiving Deep Space Radar Telemetry." He intentionally borrowed the SGC cover story, knowing they would hear about it eventually.

"Deep Space Radar Telemetry. You don't say?" It wasn't Ken's field, so he didn't have much of an answer.

"Yep, but that's not why I need to talk to you. Who do you work for?" There wasn't any company logo or signage on the geologist's vehicle to reveal this, even though David already knew.

"Federal government. They want to know if there's any viable deposits left to the south of here."

"Federal, eh? Perfect. There's something you really need to see, west of here."

"Hang on, mate, I can't just drop everything and…"

"Trust me, this will be worth it, and it's not too far. You know Magpie Hill?"

"Yep, I went there a couple of years ago. It's half an hour from here, if the track's clear. What's all the fuss about? Surely not gold."

"Much more interesting than gold. You might call it buried treasure." He received a doubtful look from Ken. "Really, I'm not spoofing."

"Spoofing?"

Oops, wrong vernacular. "I'm not messing with you. It's fair dinkum. And we'd really better go now."

"It'll still be there in the arvo."

"True, but I won't be here in the afternoon. I have a deadline coming up. If you want to see this, it has to be now. And let me tell you, you seriously need to see this."

"If yer sure, I don't see the harm in a little side-trip. Hop in." He opened the passenger door – on the left – and motioned for the astrophysicist to take a seat.

David did so, and soon the pair – and Ken's dog who jumped in the ute's tray - were bouncing westward. The track was pretty rough, but it had been kept clear of trees, so they didn't lose any time. "Dry, isn't it?" the Tok'ra host commented.

"Yeah, I heard it hasn't rained out here in a couple of months. They're forecasting it might sprinkle this week, but the blokes at the pub sounded downright doubtful."

"Two days from now. You can bet on it," David told him.

"What, you've been talking to the man upstairs?"

David grinned. "Something like that. How'd you get into geology?"

"I always had an eye for rocks, and I heard there was money in it. Didn't expect to end up in places like this, but it's nice to get a change of scenery."

"It sure is." David had seen far more varied scenery than the geologist, but there was no point in bringing it up. It would be best to let Ken find out for himself. "Made many finds?"

"Hidden copper vein earlier this year. Good stuff too." Ken had been watching the 'road' ahead, but something caught his eye to his left. He turned, and saw his passenger light up with flashes of blue energy. Behind them, the dog howled woefully. "Well paint me yellow and call me a taxi! What in bleedin' heck is that?"

David tried to shake the pain out of his head, with little success. "Just an… unfortunate side effect," he answered breathlessly. "It can't hurt you or your truck, I guarantee."

"Side effect of what? Eating batteries for breakfast?"

"Close encounter with an extreme energy field, combined with space-time warping. Nasty stuff."

"Uh, if you say so."

"Try to ignore it. It'll go away." And so would David and Ben'ak, but he kept that to himself. There was no need to waste his limited remaining breath explaining things which would later be obvious.

"Yeah… this better be worth it." Ken didn't sound so certain about this side-trip now.

"It will be. No worries. Ouch!" The ute had hit another bump at an uncomfortably high speed.

"Sorry 'bout that. The suspension can only do so much."

David nodded, and daydreamed of inertial dampeners.

-

"This the place?" Ken questioned, stopping the ute in the same clearing David had landed his ship.

"Sure is." He pointed at the rock face. "Over there." He climbed out of the vehicle, feeling rather unsteady. The ride had been rough, and periodic energy pulses hadn't helped.

"You alright, mate?"

"Been better. I've been worse too. I think I can walk."

"I'd better give you a hand." Ken stepped beside the odd stranger and allowed him to lean on his shoulder. "Sure you don't need a hospital?"

"Wouldn't be any use," David answered as he hobbled to the entrance. "Here we are."

Ken followed David inside, looking closely at the smooth, square-cut walls of the tunnel. "What is this place?" He clicked on his torch (aka flashlight) for a better view.

"The entrance to an ancient laboratory."

"A lab? Whose lab?"

"Cha'lal."

"Means nothing to me, mate. That an Aboriginal name?"

"No. Does this look like something they'd do?" He indicated the walls.

"You're right, that looks a bit like Egyptian writing. What was an Egyptian doing here?" Ken asked as they walked deeper into the hill. The tunnel sloped slightly upward.

"Not exactly an Egyptian, but related, in a way."

Ken found the end of the tunnel: a blank wall. "This is it?" David didn't answer right away, as he was distracted by the need to roll on the floor in pain. "Dave?"

"Sorry, it's getting worse. Uh… there's a hidden lock which activates a mechanism to lower the slab," he explained once he felt able. Ken began to feel the end wall. "No, it's on the left wall. There's six buttons which you need to press simultaneously."

"Which symbols?"

"They're unique." David stood to help Ken find them, but quickly collapsed again. "I don't have much time left. Promise me you'll get the government in on this. But you can't tell the public, not yet."

"I don't have any idea what I'm dealing with! How can I tell anyone what I don't know?" Ken protested.

"Do you know any… archaeologists?" David asked painfully.

"Sure, I know a guy. He's really into Egypt and all that. Owes me a favour."

"Good, get him in here. He'll know what to do, if you can…" He fell silent and grimaced in pain. After the episode had passed, he continued, "If you can get him to accept there's Egyptian writing here in Australia."

"And this is important?"

"Vital. I'm… dead serious. Promise me you won't just forget about this. The future of the universe… aaaaaaaaaarrgh!" A really bad pulse hit. Ben'ak was dead, and David wouldn't last much longer.

"Alright, I won't let you down. I swear it." He meant it too. Despite the weirdness of the situation, and everything that went unexplained, he could read the urgency in Dave's face.

"Good," David replied with utter relief. "You must… vital… Cha'lal." The name was carried on his last breath.

"Dave? Dave? No, you can't just die on me in the middle of nowhere!" Ken protested. He hesitated, and reached for David's neck, hoping to find a pulse. He had almost touched the skin when the fizzling blue energy made him recoil. "Ahh!" He jumped away and covered his eyes. The glow in the room diminished, and he looked in time to see the last of the energy dissipate. Dave's body had gone.

Ken's jaw dropped, and his brain stalled at the task of finding a strong enough curse. The only thing he understood was that nothing was going to stop him from finding out what kind of crazy stuff was hidden away in the alleged laboratory. Whatever it was, it had to be seriously major for a guy like Dave to give his life to uncover it.

-

Next Chapter – we return to Jack's place!