(BabyBop, thanks.

Scottiedog, thank you.

MuseUrania, I proofread this one better, hopefully. I usually write in past tense, so it slips through at times when I'm writing present tense.)

Part 6, The Device

--Amb--

Ever since the argument with Mark, the whole place has been quieter. Malek is offended by what Mark had to say. Jacob feels guilty about his son's capture. Mark feels betrayed. I understand that. One of my brother's betrayed me once. Malek never forgave him, even if it happened before I ever met Malek.

I approach Mark. "Hello."

Mark looks surprised. "Hi."

"I am Amb."

His eyebrows rise, though I am not sure what he means by it. "Hi Amb."

"I'm nervous too," I say.

"I can tell."

"I mean about someone else, like you are with your wife."

Mark turns back to me. "You're married?"

"No, but in love."

"What's her name...or is it their names?"

I smile. The first one was entirely wrong. "Their names are Gete and Aldwin."

Mark looks confused. "Aldwin is male."

"Gete is the host, and yes, he is male." I'll leave it to someone else to explain the symbiote's sex another time.

He looks confused for another second before his eyebrows rise in realization. "Oh."

"They started working with Dorwel, and now Dorwel might have realized they were Tok'ra."

"The Tok'ra called them back though."

"You are assuming they received the order before any possible danger could have come to them."

Mark frowns. "I had... I... He took a risk when he was trying to buy me."

"They did."

Mark is quiet for a moment. "Does Martouf know what I said?"

"He heard some of it...when you yelled."

Mark winces slightly.

"He does not know your reaction to the death of his mate."

Mark looks a little relieved about that.

I lean against the wall and close my eyes. "They believe you do not fully trust the Tok'ra," I add.

It's quiet, and at first I don't think Mark is going to respond, but then he speaks. "I trust Martouf." His tone is quiet, but defensive.

I open my eyes and look at him. "But not Lantash."

"I don't know Lantash," he defends.

"You do not know Martouf any better."

"I met Martouf before."

"You also met Lantash before. You just didn't know there was two of them at the time."

Mark frowns. "That's supposed to make me feel better. That I thought Lantash was human?"

"It's rare for a Tok'ra to be on the surface of Earth. When meeting you, Lantash was forced hide who and what he was because of the of your government's secrecy. He acted as Martouf with Martouf's permission. Though I doubt he did much to act like Martouf. He probably simply hid his voice and glowing eyes. He would have still been his serious self."

Mark's eyebrows raise, and he has a look of realization. "Oh."

"You noticed."

"I thought Martouf just suddenly got very serious...and arrogant."

I smile a bit. "Selmak has never acted as your father around you. Neither Jacob or Selmak would have liked that."

Speaking of him, Jacob moves center of the room to make an announcement. "It's getting to be night soon."

--Mark--

How can he tell? The cave isn't any darker. Amb stands up. I guess our conversation is over.

"I'll take the first shift," Lantash says as he walks into the room. It's the first time he's been in here since we first got down here.

Dad looks to him. "Are you sure?"

"Martouf and I have been asleep much of the day."

Amb's eyes glow. Malek is back. "I'll take the second."

"Then I'll take the third," Dad says.

Sam frowns. "I can take a shift."

"They are taken," my dad says firmly.

Sam is still frowning, but doesn't say anything.

I realize Malek is picking something up. Something he was working on earlier. He's passing it around. I wonder what that is. When he gets to me he shoves it roughly into my hands. The look he gives make my blood freeze.

Daniel moves closer to me afterwards. "It's dinner."

I look at what I realize is berries wrapped in leaves. "Do I just eat it?"

"Yeah."

I eat a berry. It's hard and sour. Just what I need on an empty stomach. "How long do you think Malek will be angry?"

"I don't know. When he's angry, he tends to stay angry." Daniel eats a berry and frowns.

That doesn't make me feel any better.

I tear off some leaf and eat it. It's bitter. I look around. The Tok'ra and Teal'c don't seem to have a problem with the food. Sam and Daniel don't seem to like it. They eat fairly quickly. I watch as people are settling down after their meals. I still haven't finished mine. Dad sets up a place for me. Sam is rolling out her bed. The Tok'ra beds don't look very comfortable. They seem to be thin mats the Tok'ra unfold and set on the floor. The mats puffs up a bit. A small pillow and a thin blanket are added.

Sam approaches me after she has set up her bed. "Do you prefer a sleeping bag or one of the Tok'ra beds?"

I don't want to take away my sister's bed. "You can have the sleeping bag."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." I smile at her.

She nods briefly. "I'll continue setting it up."

I watch her briefly and look at my food. After some experiments, I find a method of eating. I force down as many of the berries I can before the acidic feel in my chest is unbearable. Then I follow up with a leaf. The sourness seems to die down, but I still have to wait a few minutes before doing that again. Water would be very nice right now.

Other than Lantash, I'm the last to settle in. The bed is as uncomfortable as it looks. I settle as much as I can and look around. Lantash seems to do nothing for a while, but then he goes near Sam and watches her. He's either playing with her hair or rubbing one of her hands. After a moment I realize she's still awake, but I think she's drifting off to sleep. He has an expression I've never seen before on him. He looks peaceful.

Time passes by slowly. I think about family, wondering what they are doing. Are they asleep? What time is it on Earth? I wish I could somehow tell them I'm all right. My back is hurting, and now I have to use the bathroom. I ease out of bed. I look over at Lantash, who's looking at me. "I just have to...uh..." I say quietly as I point to the direction of what leads to the Tok'ra version of a restroom.

To wash my hands they have a sink of water that is somehow self cleaning. Sam explained it. I didn't understand it. All I know is we have different sources of water for different purposes. The Tok'ra seem to like having water around. As I head back down the hall, I find Lantash is waiting. "Hi?" Not sure why he's standing here. Shouldn't he be guarding or something?

"I have always treated your sister with respect and kindness."

"What?"

"When we first met, I allowed Martouf to be in control more because I thought she would be more comfortable around him. He always treated with her with respect and kindness as well."

"Lan-"

"I'm not finished." He pauses for a moment. "Though it's not her relationship with him you are questioning. It's with me. Is it because of what I'm capable of, but would never do, or simply because I'm not human?"

I find myself looking at the wall behind him. "I don't know."

"I would never hurt her."

"I don't mean to offend you, but I just learned you existed. I just learned your species existed. You can't expect me to accept this so quickly."

"Jacob did."

That angers me. I hate being compared to my father. It's part of my first memories, and they have continued to this day. "He'll grow up and join the Air Force like you, Jacob." "You need to get your grades up if you plan to join the Air Force like your father." "Jacob, I heard the Air Force got a new Carter today. You must be proud of your boy...Oh, that was Sam. You must be proud of her then." "How come you never joined the Air Force, Mark?" I look to Lantash. "You might notice I'm nothing like my father."

"That is unfortunate."

That makes me feel as if he just twisted my heart. I move around him to head back to bed. Then I turn back to him. "Why do you care about what I think? She likes you. Dad approves. That's all you need."

"It is important to Martouf."

I feel guilty whenever Martouf is mentioned. I want to say he needs to live with the disappointment or he needs to get over it, but I can't bring myself to say it. Instead I just walk away. I get back to bed and try to go to sleep. I end up tossing and turning. I feel like I'm never going to get any sleep.

--

A sound of crashing scares me. I notice two things right away. One is that I actually fell asleep. The other is that my back hurts a great deal. I don't want to get up. I want to go back to sleep and make everything go away. I hear the others getting up though, and I really should know what that crashing noise was. By the time I get to my feet, everyone else is up and ready. "What's going on?"

I get my answer when another room collapses on itself. Some crystals in our own room fall from the ceiling and hit the floor with loudness. I'm suddenly much more awake than I was a few second ago. Dad is the one to actually answer me. "We have to evacuate." He points to the direction we ringed in from.

I follow his quick pace. "Won't we be captured?" I look behind and see Martouf is behind everyone else, doing something that makes what is left of the tunnels start disappearing.

"If we stay we die." Dad stops in the first room. "We may not be ringing up to anything either."

"Which means?"

Malek stops near where I am. "We'll rematerialized in the ground. A quick death, but I imagine it'll be very painful."

That makes me cringe. Not more death. I know he was just being honest, but part of me wishes he hadn't been that honest. "I don't want to die." I don't want to die painfully.

Dad looks to Malek. "You have the device?"

"Of course."

I frown. "What device?"

Dad looks to me. "I'm sorry, Mark, but we can't risk being captured. Dorwel has been able to get information before. He may be able to do it again."

That didn't at all ease me. "What's the device?"

Dad looks a bit pained. "It'll kill us if Malek activates it." He looks into my eyes, very serious. "Mark, if Dorwel captures us, he'll do far worse." Then he keeps looking between me and Sam, and I realize he's not just anticipating us all dying, he's expecting it.

I really don't want to die.

Sam touches his arm. "We'll be fine."

I'm not fine with this.

Martouf returns to us, and Dad actives some remote he used to get the brings to bring us down. Thinking of what Malek said, I find myself wincing right before he activates. We are surrounded by white.

I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I won't want to die.

We return to the first crystal cave. Yea! I'm alive! Martouf goes to do whatever he did with the first one. Teal'c and Malek go up towards where the mouth of the cave was. Malek somehow reopens it. I look to dad. "What happened in the place below."

"Dorwel was persistent, and his weapons caused the tunnels to start collapsing."

I look around and notice this cave isn't as well kept as it was. A lot of crystals are on the floor. Suddenly I hear firing, and I move backward. Martouf grabs my arm and points behind me. It's a white blob of lightness, and it's moving closer to us. What is that?! Martouf speaks. "You don't want to touch that. It'll kill you." He and the others go to the mouth of the cave to fight. I hear a lot of strange firing noises. I'm between them and the blob.

Cold sweat is pouring from me. If I move closer to them I might get in the way, or I might get shot, or something else really bad that I couldn't anticipate. But, the farther I'm from them, the closer I am to the blob that Martouf said not to touch. My heart feels like it's pounding in my throat, and my stomach feels like someone poured hot acid into it.

I see my family and the others retreat. They are losing, and it pushes me back closer to the blob. We're losing. We're losing, and we're going to die. This isn't right. I don't die. I have a wife and two children. I have a good life ahead of me. There are so many things I still wanted to do. Why did we delay that vacation to next year? Why couldn't I visit my uncle when he asked. Why can't I see my wife and kids one last time. Why can't I hold them again?

The odd guards have entered the tunnels. We are back where we were, and the blob is right next to us. I feel hot tears run down my cheeks as I see Malek take out a device. "Will it hurt?"

"Painless," he answers. He taps at it and throws it towards the Jaffa. "It'll take a moment to reach us."

I wonder if it's some type of poison. The Jaffa who are firing as us seem to slow down before collapsing. Others take their place.

I start feeling lightheaded. I feel a hug from my father. I see Lantash or Martouf, whichever one is in control, move closer to Sam. I start feeling tired.

To be continued...