The mid afternoon sun was making the heat inside the cell blocks barely tolerable, and as Jack left to check on Sam and Teal'c, he donned his shades for good measure. Across the small courtyard, he could see the rest of his team walking back from their tour of the gully, no doubt checking out the Otakai defense perimeter. Although not overly tall, the Otakai were a powerfully built race, and Jack had taken their measure from the first moment he set eyes on them several months ago. Broad-shouldered, heavily muscled, and with ears that leant themselves towards exceptional hearing, Jack was only too aware of how big a threat these people could pose if angered or challenged. The Otakai were also hard to tell apart with everyone having long black manes of hair pinned to the back their heads and very similar facial structures. He wasn't sure if it was a social custom, but only the men seemed to be present on both occasions they'd visited these people, although he'd heard distinctly feminine voices coming from several houses, along with children's laughter.

Taking a moment to survey this part of the village, he made a mental map of every building in the vicinity of the cell block, as well as the distance to the Stargate and the gully beyond. Every possible escape route was laid out in his mind.

Jack let his gaze linger on Daniel's cell block before he caught up to Teal'c and Carter. "News?"

"We'd need to get a geology team to confirm things, but it looks like the gully has been subjected to some severe flooding in the last few years. Teal'c has a theory that the gully may be man-made."

"Carter, didn't I send you off to talk to the head honcho?"

Sam winced tightly. "Yes, sir, but Asmun didn't want to talk to me. In fact, he dismissed me without so much as a word."

"What did you say to him?"

"Nothing. Not for a lack of trying, but he simply wasn't interested." Sam stared over Jack's shoulder to the village elders hut and shrugged. "A distinct turn around from the last time we were here. What about Daniel?"

"Cooling his heels in detention with some neural toxin bomb in his wrist."

"They implanted him with something?" Sam said incredulously.

"In his right wrist. He actually let me see the stitches this time!"

"What possible reason could they have?"

"Oh, you know how it works, Carter: Daniel makes good with the locals who in turn believe he's their all-knowing god."

Teal'c cocked his head to the side and frowned. "Elder Asmun did question Daniel Jackson about his resemblance to their god Arra during our initial contact."

"Yeah," Jack said with a wave of dismissal, "but I thought we cleared that up."

"I'm not so sure, sir," Carter chimed in. "Asmun and some of the other elders seemed rather put out by Daniel's flat denial of even a passing familiarity to their god. Perhaps something transpired while we were gone that pushed Asmun into reacting like this."

Jack looked taken back. "So this is what? A set up?"

"Maybe. They did request SG-1 be present for the final stage of negotiations."

"A set up."

"Sir, the Otakai need this treaty."

"And?"

"And I get the feeling from watching Asmun interact with several of the other clan elders, that he was likely forced into this situation. They need supplies and farming assistance for their own survival and yet there seems to be some unresolved issue with them concerning Daniel's identity."

"You saw the image they showed him last time. Do you think he looks like this all seeing all, knowing god of theirs?"

Sam tipped her head from side to side, seemingly undecided. "There was some genuine resemblance."

"Very damn general if you ask me."

"The return of one's god is a powerful motivation for irrational devotion, O'Neill."

Jack stared hard at Teal'c. "You mean blind devotion."

"The level of personal appreciation and respect is irrelevant. There are still many worlds whose populations practice reverence to long dead gods through fear of their return."

"So you think that's what's happened here?"

"I am uncertain," Teal'c said with a solemn nod. "However, I believe the gully the Otakai have chosen to make their home in may in fact be artificial, and that the Goa'uld who once ruled this world had it created by slaves as a means to transport various minerals through the Stargate."

"Fascinating as hell, but doesn't do Daniel a whole heap of good." Jack thrummed the stock of his P90 in frustration and let his gaze wander across the mouth of the gully behind Teal'c and Carter. Off in the distance he could see Otakai warriors moving about the area, watching them keenly but apparently making no attempt to hide their presence from the team. "They want to test him… or so Daniel said."

"A test? Did he say what kind?"

"No, Carter. I doubt the conversation got much further than that before they sliced him open and implanted that damn neurotoxin. I'm guessing failure comes at a price."

"A swift acting one," Carter confirmed. "Asmun must control the device remotely somehow."

"Bah!" Jack snatched the cap off his head and beat it against his left leg in frustration. "This is getting us nowhere fast. Teal'c, you think this gully is artificial, right?"

"I believe so."

"But neither of you sense a Goa'uld presence?"

"Not in the general vicinity of this village. It is unlikely the Goa'uld have visited this world in many generations."

"So they abandoned this place despite the presence of naquadah deposits in the ground? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

"Abandoned is perhaps the wrong word. The System Lords have been engaged in territorial wars for many millennia and the slaves of this world, like so many others, would have been left to fend for themselves while the ruling minor Goa'uld relocated his forces to the battle front. It would have been their intent to return at some later point in time."

"And yet here they are not." Jack slipped his cap back on and crimped the brim. "Suggestions?"

"Until we find out exactly what this test is the Otakai have planned for Daniel, I'm not sure there's a whole lot we can do, sir."

"What about Fraiser?"

"If they let us contact Earth. It really depends on how fast acting the neurotoxin is and whether Asmun is determined to use it."

"You think he might be bluffing?"

Sam shrugged. "I think there's a distinct possibility he's being pressured by the other village elders into a course of action he might not agree with. Hard to be sure when we know nothing about the Otakai other than what we've seen first hand."

"Okay, Carter, take Teal'c and head to the 'gate. If they let you dial home, I want you to apprise Hammond of the situation and see if you can get Fraiser here."

"What about you, sir?"

"I'm going to appeal to Asmun's better nature."

"Perhaps it would be best if you were to meet with him unarmed, O'Neill?" Teal'c nodded at Jack's hand and the tight grip he had on his weapon. "Your negotiations may prove more fruitful."