Chapter 6

Sam limped into the room, prodded by a Mantis guard. She took some pride in the fact that they had four of them accompanying her. They must think she was dangerous. She wasn't feeling very dangerous at the moment. A whack on the head by a Mantis claw hadn't helped the knock she had taken back in the hovercraft. And a gash on her left thigh was steadily oozing blood.

"Hi guys," she said in what she hoped was a jaunty fashion, seeing her team members sitting in the nets.

She saw Monty take in her condition and glare at the Mantises.

Sam had hoped the fact that they had tied her hands in front was a slip on their part, but as she saw the guard toss a rope over the beam she didn't think so. Oh, crap. They're going to string me up, she thought. A Mantis pushed her to the ground and held her while another tied her legs. Then they looped the rope around the bonds holding her hands and tied it off, but her arms were left laying in her lap. There was a little slack, but not enough to get closer to her friends. Interesting.

A smaller Mantis pointed at her, said "Shreee—ai, teer shoo!" in her direction (maybe "stay put?" she thought) and then the guards left the room.

"Colonel, what happened?" asked Monty.

"They tried questioning me but I couldn't understand. I tried explaining that we aren't hostile—not that they seemed to understand me either. I think they got frustrated and that's why they gashed my leg."

Julia grimaced as she remembered the sharp claw projections the Mantises used to slash up SGX- 3.

Sam began tearing at her already ripped pants leg as best she could with her hands bound to try to use it as a bandage. "I think there's some disagreement in the ranks."

"How can you tell, Ma'am?" Monty asked.

Hands and feet bound, but still standing, Sam was backed against the wall with three Mantises ringing her. She had been trying for some time to explain that she didn't understand what they were saying and that she and her team were peaceful explorers to no avail. She noticed the Mantis that seemed to be trying to question her turning from dark brown (which they had previously thought to be their only color) to a burnt orange. "Chick chick Shree!" it said. Before Sam realized what was happening it struck out, slashing into her leg.

She couldn't help but cry out and fell to her knees. "Chick chick shree!" it hissed at her. "I don't understand," she said as calmly as possible. The orange Mantis raised its claw as if to clobber her. Sam braced herself, but the blow didn't come. Instead, the smaller, lighter brown one stepped toward her, claws spread as if protecting her. Then the tall Mantis hissed something at the orange one. It turned rapidly from orange to a dark green and lowered its head and claw. Then it left the room.

The tall and short one seemed to confer. "Chick chick teer shoo sree!" said the short one. The tall one nodded.

"And then they brought me here," Sam finished.

"Interesting. Several species signal mating interest or aggression with color…" Julia began.

Monty rolled his eyes slightly. "I'd say it's a fair bet that orange is aggression."

"Yeah, and green may be a submissive color," Julia said. Sam nodded.

"So this could help us communicate?" Monty asked.

"Maybe," said Julia. "It's not as good as having Daniel here to try to translate, but—" She turned to Sam and lowered her voice further. "Do you think he and Teal'c are ok?"

"I hope so, but one way or the other, we need to find a way out," said Sam.

Monty and Julia looked to the doorway, but there was no sign of the Mantis guards.

"We've been working on that Colonel," Monty said with a sideways glance at Julia.

He held out a pocket knife for her to see. "Julia had this tucked away."

He slipped his hand out of a gap in netting he had cut and waggled his fingers.

"Unfortunately these fibers are a son of a – to cut through. You might have better luck with less to saw through. I'll try to swing over there."

"Sweet," said Sam. Things were looking up.