Somehow, Desmond wasn't expecting Ben to be telling the truth. He figured they'd be led to his people, who - like the psychopaths they were - would shoot on sight. At least that's how Desmond remembered them. Surely good men and women wouldn't follow a demon like Ben?
"We're here." Ben's statement caused Desmond to look up. Indeed, they were at the moss-covered, ancient stone walls that marked the boundary of the temple. Sam glanced at the device in her hand and shook her head at Mitchell. No light. "I told you."
Mitchell sighed and wandered up to the wall, brushing aside some vines so he could get a better look at the crude writing etched on it. They looked like hieroglyphs, but he couldn't translate them. When Sam stepped close, he whispered, "Starting to think we should've brought Jackson along."
"Not much we can do about it now. Our radio won't penetrate the field surrounding the island." Carter looked at the hieroglyphs and frowned. "But these don't look like Goa'uld. Not modern, anyway."
"How can you tell?" To Mitchell, all hieroglyphs looked the same.
Carter didn't want to dredge up old memories, but... "Jolinar."
"The tok'ra that... oh." When she gave him a look as if hoping he wouldn't say it, Mitchell quieted down. It wasn't the memories that disturbed her so much as the fact they'd find relevance again so many years later. A lot of things from those days were coming back to haunt SGC ever since Daniel started looking into these 'sons of Apsu'. "Can you read it?"
"I think so." Well, that was a let-down. "It looks like an older dialect than the one Jolinar used."
"Excuse me." They turned to see Ben standing there beside the wall, at the foot of a tower slightly resembling those seen in old Hindu temples marking where the wall split off in two directions. "We still have a long way to go."
Unfortunately, he wasn't kidding. Ben pushed the stone wall open like a doorway, ushering them through. Before they knew it, they were out wandering through thick foliage blanketing stone bricks and broken walls. It reminded Mitchell a little of Ramadi in those news reports a few years ago. So much of the city had been reduced to rubble.
Half a mile later, they'd finally see what amounted to an actual temple. A fairly small structure shaped like a stepped pyramid awaited them across a still pond. Like the pyramid on Abydos, this one had a large opening at its base. But whatever could be said about it, it definitely wasn't as impressive a sight-nor was it really a pyramid.
"Where are we?" Desmond, however, had never seen anything like it.
"I don't know." Strange to see the sociopath that was Benjamin Linus being honest and up front about anything. Desmond expected him to start talking in riddles again, as he usually did. "Whoever built this temple worshiped the light you're looking for."
"Correct me if I'm wrong-" Mitchell narrowed his eyes as he took all this in. "But this doesn't look very Egyptian."
"I know," Ben confirmed with a curt nod as he led the way around the pond, careful not to trip on any vines.
"Sooo," Mitchell intentionally slurred. "What's up with the hieroglyphs out front?"
"Don't ask me." Another attempt by Ben to evade the question. Or did he really not know? "All I know is this isn't your typical Egyptian structure. The man who used to live here, one of my people's leaders, said it belonged to his ancestors... Cambodian, I believe."
Although she only had a cursory knowledge of history, Carter knew a bit about famous monuments from high school. And with a memory like hers, it would be hard to forget. "I knew this looked familiar. Angkor Wat."
Unlike her, Mitchell barely paid attention in high school. Actually, he slept most of the time. "Angkor what?"
"Sir, the Egyptians stopped using hieroglyphs long before this type of structure was built."
"How can that be?" Desmond, always one to ask what was on everybody's minds, threw that question into the air, half-expecting Ben to be the one answering it. Instead, as they closed in on the front entrance to the temple, someone else would step in.
"Des!"
Sunlight shined on a familiar face as he emerged from the relative darkness in the temple. A smile crossed Desmond's lips. "Hugo?"
Before anyone could react, Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes swept Desmond up into his arms and gave him the biggest squeeze he'd ever experience. "Dude, it's been, like, forever!"
"I've missed you too, Hugo." Once Hurley let him get back on his feet, Desmond had to ask: "What are you still doin' here? I thought everyone got back to the mainland."
"Not me." For some reason Desmond didn't understand, given all the years he'd spent in this godforsaken hellhole, Hugo didn't sound particularly sad. A bit whistful, maybe. "I, uh..." Suddenly, that rather positive-sounding voice dimmed a little. "I'm the new Jacob."
Mitchell didn't want to bother asking who that was anymore. After asking questions and getting strange mouthfuls of answers all day, he just wanted to do something.
"Who's your friends?" When Hugo changed the subject, Desmond remembered the two he'd met earlier that morning. Without much fanfare, he introduced Colonel Mitchell and Samantha Carter. They didn't shake hands, but then again, Hugo looked afraid they'd bite if he tried.
"They're here to find the light," Benjamin so helpfully explained. "You can help them, can't you?"
Hugo warily glanced between them, unsure what to do. It was times like this he'd hope Ben could step in with his years of leadership experience, but not even Ben could help them this time. Though they both benefited from its power, only Hurley knew how and where to find it. He'd become connected to it, as though his life depended on it. Ben also felt a connection, but whether it was something on the island or his conscience, nothing he did could ever bring it out of hiding.
"Depends." That's all the answer Hugo would give. Not until he got some answers.
Though Mitchell wasn't happy at having to explain everything again, he swallowed his pride and did. Unlike Benjamin, whose expression had remained the same through much of their story, Hurley proved more animated. Excited, even. Again, the colonel couldn't compromise their non-disclosure agreement, but Landry gave them some leeway in this case. Besides, given that this island was out of phase with the rest of Earth, how would two simple guys like this end up getting that information out to others?
"Dude." Hugo was both enthused and terrified at their revelation. "So, like... you guys travel to other planets?"
Don't make me repeat myself for the hundredth time, Mitchell thought bitterly. "Yes."
"Woah." SG-1's story left Hugo speechless. Who wouldn't be? On the other hand, he had a hard time believing them. "You're not here to steal the light, are you?"
Sam shook her head. "We just want to analyze it." Like with Ben, she showed Hurley the scanner and explained how it worked. They'd need to get up close to find out what the light is, and if it was connected to Atlantis somehow.
"I can tell you what the light is." Hugo half-heartedly answered. Ben watched him anxiously but held his tongue. "It's like... heaven. Right?" He glanced at Ben, who looked down when he couldn't answer. "Like, some doorway between this life and the next."
Desmond believed him, or so his memories of that day made him. Even if what SG-1 had told him about the light was true, it didn't change the fact he'd met people who had died in that dream. Wouldn't that have made it an afterlife by any definition of the word? Purgatory?
"Look, we just need to confirm it." Cameron wasn't about to play twenty questions again. He nodded toward the temple. "Then we'll be on our way."
Hugo and Ben shared a look. Then, in a surprising twist in Desmond's mind, Ben silently led them into the temple. Knowing something they didn't, Hurley stayed back. Soon enough, Ben took them into a passage leading beneath the temple through some musty old halls.
"The light was tied to a creature that lived on the island," Ben clarified as they warily made their way deeper into the bowels of the labyrinth. "One which I could summon."
"Summon?" Mitchell gripped his P90 more tightly. "The hell does that mean?"
Ben didn't answer. Instead, he kept walking until they found themselves in an open chamber. Four pillars held a high ceiling, and a bizarre mural with drawings and hieroglyphs stood dead center in the wall ahead. Beneath that was an equally curious series of holes bored into the floor.
"Where did you bring us?" Again, Desmond had to be the one to ask. Mitchell and Sam were too busy getting their bearings, and Hugo stayed close to the entrance.
"Where I made my first mistake." Nobody knew what Ben referred to, but Hugo at least had some idea. After having a long, stoic look around, he eyed SG-1. "What do you see?"
Sam scanned the room for a moment. Nothing. Mitchell sighed and started looking around.
"Wait!" As Sam wandered around, to see if the scanner might pick something up at the edge of its range, she stopped up near the mural. "I'm picking up some energy signatures behind this wall." Before Mitchell could ask, she looked up at him. "I've never seen this before."
"Well, it never hurts to be prepared." Mitchell reached into the pack he carried at his hip and removed a small stick of C4. Just as he moved to the wall with it, Benjamin realized what he planned to do and stepped in front of him.
"You can't do that."
"And why not?" Mitchell raised an eyebrow. He knew Daniel wouldn't approve, but for once, they were fortunate he wasn't here. Ben stared him down.
"Because if you do, you'll be desecrating this island."
Cameron backed up a tad and thought about what Ben said. Then he turned to Hugo and asked, "You agree with him?"
It took Hurley a while to think of an appropriate answer. He knew Ben had the most experience with the island, and he'd learned a lot from him. On the other hand, Hugo wasn't the Jacob of Ben's time. The only way they could move on from the Others was to leave the past behind. It was time to tell the truth. Not hide behind vague answers like that mural.
Hugo shook his head. Ben swallowed the growing lump in his throat. Why...? But then, it wasn't like he couldn't hear Hurley's thoughts. He knew why. But was it really the only way?
"Do it." Though Desmond hadn't been here before, he knew this was where the Others lived before they were wiped out. This is where it all began. Teeth grit, he added, "Blow this whole damn place to hell."
"Four against one. Majority rules." Mitchell smirked victoriously at Ben, who could only glare back for one last, long moment. When Ben reluctantly moved aside, the colonel approached the mural and fixed the C4 to its base, planting a detonator and suggesting everybody take cover. The pillars could provide some cover, but to avoid debris, they were better off in the tunnel where Hugo stood. Once he pulled the remote out of his vest pocket, he shouted, "Fire in the hole!"
The resulting explosion barely shook the building. Fortunately, it didn't all come down around them. Mitchell had made that assessment before planting the C4. He'd been wrong before though.
Warily, Cameron emerged first from the hall, P90 aimed straight ahead at the freshly-made hole in the wall. As he got closer, he started to notice thin lines of blue light running down through a metal stairwell. Unlike the chamber outside, though, this one looked far more smooth. Even downright advanced by comparison.
"My god." Ben blinked after he followed the two colonels out.
"The energy readings are coming from down there," Sam noted with a slight grimace. She had a bad feeling about this.
Desmond took the first step toward the stairwell, but Hugo stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Wait." Hugo's demand caught the others' attention. "I don't think we should go down there." When Mitchell asked why not, Hugo blurted out, "Because this place is cursed!"
Those words caught Ben in particular by surprise. He'd always known of Hugo's ordeal with the curse that drove him to this island. Probably the most inexplicable mystery ever endured by anyone who ended up on the island. But he didn't realize Hugo feared the curse would return - here, of all places. Perhaps he felt this is where it had originated?
"Hugo," Desmond tried to assuage his old friend, but Hugo wasn't having it.
"No! Listen to me!" Hugo stared down the stairwell. It led to a bright room with a soft, blue glow. Then he looked up at Sam and Mitchell. "I can't let you both go down there."
"You gonna stop us?" Mitchell grew tired of their investigation getting blocked by paranoia every time they made progress. But he thought he'd humor their newfound acquiantance.
Hugo found himself at a loss for words. He couldn't explain it. "If you do, I'll have to... I'll... use my Jacob powers on you!"
"'Jacob' powers?" Mitchell must've missed something. When it became clear Hugo wouldn't explain, the colonel nodded dismissively. "You were the one who gave us the go-ahead."
"That's because I didn't think you'd actually find anything!" Hurley sounded increasingly agitated. He was scared. Whenever people got involved with this island, their lives were cursed. That's why he wanted to keep people out. Convince them there was nothing to find so they would leave. "You'll die if you go down there!"
"Fine, then stay here." Mitchell side-stepped Hurley and glanced back over his shoulder before starting the long journey ahead. "Sam."
"No! Stop!" Hugo shouted, but the two went ahead anyway. Sam, at least, gave him an apologetic look before following. Desmond looked over at Hugo in confusion.
"Why'd you want to keep 'em from goin' down there?"
Hugo stared at where the two members of SG-1 had stood moments earlier. Quietly, he answered under his breath:
"Because some things are better left a mystery."
Minutes ago, Teal'c and his entourage had returned to the ha'tak commanded by Bal'kor. They'd evaded almost half a dozen death gliders while under cloak, and even flew past a battle raging in the heavens above what Salgor called Kona. The two fleets fought well. As Bra'tac said, the Jaffa had a slight advantage, but Cepheus was persistent. Teal'c learned long ago never to underestimate those fanatically devoted to their cause.
As the deck shook, Teal'c stumbled on to the bridge, Bra'tac and one of the soldiers still supporting him. Bal'kor grit his teeth as he glared at the viewscreen. They were performing very difficult manuevers to predict and avoid enemy fire, all the while firing back with their own staff cannons.
"How goes the battle?" Bra'tac opened with this question, just as he stepped ahead of Teal'c.
"They are determined." Bal'kor wordlessly sent a message to a nearby ship in the Jaffa fleet to come about and fire on their target from below. He did so via a simple comm unit installed to the armrest on his chair. Though not a tech often used by the System Lords, the Jaffa began implementing it on the advice of their Tau'ri allies. With a toothy grin, the old man added, "But so are we."
Countless fireballs rained down on one of Cepheus' ha'taks from two directions. They'd already weakened the shields, and this tactic would've led to a quick end for the ship.
Just as the enemy ha'tak's shields collapsed and the viewscreen filled with light from the resulting explosion, something happened.
"A vessel is emerging from hyperspace!"
"Not expecting company, are you?" Vala turned to Bra'tac. Before the old man could answer what they all feared, the viewscreen focused on the newcomer.
It was an Ancient warship.
Teal'c and the rest were stunned. Atlantis had sent back data regarding Ancient technology. The Tau'ri shared that data with their allies.
They just never expected to find it here... in an enemy's hands.
"Bring us about! Warn the others-" Bal'kor's order was too little, too late. Without warning, the Ancient vessel unleashed a horde of drones into the battle - each one targeting a Jaffa ship. Much as the Ori beam weapons, the drones passed right through the shields of those they targeted, exploding and tearing apart the enormous pyramids and their support structures. His eyes grew wide. "Impossible..."
An explosion rocked the deck, ingloriously throwing everyone across the room. Unfortunately, it also sent the helmsman forward, cracking his skull against the edge of the console before flinging him to the side like a rag doll. As the smoke began to clear, it was obvious they'd be sitting ducks if they remained here.
Rya'c was the first to sit up and notice. After a short but concerned look to his father, he stood and ran over to the helm. Laying his hands on the surface of the altar, Rya'c began to pilot the ship. Several more drones were heading straight for them. With hyperdrive down, it would take all of Rya'c's concentration and skill to evade them long enough for the others to escape.
"Go!" Rya'c shouted as one of the drones struck the hull despite his efforts. He knew the others had recovered by now, so they undoubtedly heard him. "I'll buy you time!"
Of course, Teal'c refused to hear him. He would stay by his son's side even if it meant his own death. Bra'tac, noticing that look in Teal'c's eye, touched his shoulder and grimly nodded.
Before they could get that far, however, they heard the unmistakable sound of a zat'nik'tel firing into someone. When they turned, they were met with a hand pointing the weapon at them, the body of the Jaffa soldier lying unconscious next to its owner.
"Aziru?" Vala couldn't believe her eyes. Aziru looked mortified holding the zat, as if he'd hoped not to use it again. Something told her that was true.
"Hail the lead ship!" Nobody moved. Aziru glowered. "Do it... NOW!"
Bal'kor, who had already stood up beside his seat, quietly gave Rya'c the order. Though Rya'c was concentrated on getting as far away from the battle as they could, he heard everything and reluctantly did as ordered. Meanwhile, Vala gave Aziru a confused glance.
"What are you doing?"
Aziru narrowed his eyes at Teal'c, refusing to even acknowledge anything more than Vala's question. "I intend to give myself over to Cepheus in exchange for your lives."
"Our lives...?" Vala felt her heart get caught in her throat. This was Aziru's sacrifice. "No!" She blurted without a second thought. "No, you can't be serious!"
"You know nothing about me." Aziru's brow creased more deeply as he spoke. "For a thousand years, I was Ba'al. It is a name everyone will forever associate with me."
The Tok'ra, the Tau'ri, the Jaffa, Cepheus... they were all using him for who he'd been as Ba'al. The Tok'ra feared he could relapse. The Tau'ri needed Ba'al's memories of the Trust. The Jaffa needed a face to punish for crimes done to them. Cepheus wanted a familiar face to boost his peoples' confidence. None of them cared about the man he was... about Aziru.
"The man you call Aziru is dead."
As if right on cue, Cepheus' face appeared on the viewscreen. "Are you ready to surrender?"
Before anyone else could speak, Aziru stepped forward. It wasn't what Cepheus expected to see when he received the hail. His own god aboard one of the Jaffa's ships? Without waiting to hear Aziru's proposal, Cepheus ordered his ships to stand down. They couldn't risk killing one of their own. Especially not one with the memories of a god.
"Cepheus." Aziru recalled the man's name from his time as Ba'al, even if only small details remained after the Tok'ra-Reoul therapy. "End this... and I will come with you."
"You will?" Cepheus could hardly believe it. He reacted like a child whose father was returning home from war with a promise never to leave his son's side ever again. Part of that childlike sense of hope made even Aziru feel a twinge of guilt. Whatever horrors Ba'al put him through as a boy, Cepheus remained as loyal as Aziru's own son had been to him.
"Whatever it takes," Aziru reiterated. At that, Cepheus grinned widely and quickly nodded to someone off-screen. Rya'c noticed on his console that Cepheus' ships were backing away. All except for one, which slowly approached on an intercept course.
When the screen finally returned to that view of the stars beyond, Aziru lowered the zat and dropped it to the floor in front of Teal'c. He looked the old Jaffa once in the eye... and left.
Vala, of course, wasn't about to let him leave without a fight. A verbal one, at least.
"What makes you think Cepheus won't try and turn you into Ba'al again?" Even she could see how uncomfortable that made him feel. After all, Aziru's entire argument leaned on the hope he'd one day be seen - not as Ba'al - but as himself.
"What choice do I have?" Aziru frowned as he continued his long walk to the ring room.
"You have every choice!" Although as soon as she said it, Vala realized that was easier said than done. "We can escape on the cargo ship! You, me, Teal'c-"
"Then you would condemn over a thousand Jaffa to their deaths." Indeed, the tel'tak couldn't fit every single Jaffa in the fleet; and even the death gliders weren't numerous enough. They could beam to the planet's surface and try to reach the stargate, but just getting close enough to orbit would be unlikely with Cepheus' ships in place. They'd be bombarded from orbit even if they did.
Finally, the door to the cargo room slid open, and the two stepped in without another word. Aziru took a deep breath and began programming the rings to deposit him on the nearest ship. All the while, Vala tried to think of some other plan- anything to keep Aziru from leaving. Nothing she considered could save the entire Jaffa fleet.
"Your effort is appreciated, Vala." Aziru tried to console her with those words. It didn't work. "But this is something I must do."
As Aziru wandered toward the ring platform, Vala looked at him with a mix of sorrow and anger in her eyes. Weakly, she said, "You're making a terrible mistake."
Aziru smiled softly. "Then, for once, it is my mistake to make."
With that, the rings activated, ascending out of the floor all around him until all Vala could see was Aziru's eyes. He looked back at her one last time with a flicker of regret before the beam dematerialized him.
Vala felt something tug at her heartstrings. It was as if she'd failed. She let down Teal'c, now Aziru... who else had to suffer before she could save them?
Then the rings returned to the floor, leaving behind something she didn't expect. A book. Tentatively, she approached, not sure if it wasn't just some sort of trap sent by Cepheus. She crouched down to pick it up, quickly touching it once before she did - half expecting it to explode or something. Seeing as it didn't, however, she got a better look at it.
It was bound in leather, framed with metal and engraved in the center of the cover with an odd squiggle made of gold. The metal frame holding the cover together locked on to a golden spine. Curious, albeit worried, Vala slowly opened it to the front page.
There, written in what she recognized as Goa'uld, were the words: "The truth is on our side." Beneath that, subtitled in Goa'uld: "An Account of Atlantis as given by Aziz- Aziru."
Vala's heart skipped a beat.
"The Shepherd's Journal."
"Why do I get the feeling we're being watched?"
Colonel Mitchell felt a chill run down his spine. He and Colonel Carter had been walking through the alien temple for a while. Greco-Roman statues, or whatever they were, towered over the two from the sidelines. Although Mitchell wasn't an expert on mythology, he thought he recognized a few from the pictures in Daniel's briefing. Juno, Jupiter, Minerva... and a whole host of others he didn't know- each looking down at them as they crept forward.
Carter, on the other hand, tried her best to ignore them. After the first look, she thought it best to keep her eyes on the scanner. She was probably right. At the end of the hall, down another long flight of stairs, they'd find a much darker room lit only by lines of gold running along the floor, the walls and a myriad of pillars. But the moment they set foot past the bottom step, the scanner turned itself off. Startled, Sam tried to reactivate it. No luck.
It wasn't until Mitchell checked his watch that they knew. An electromagnetic field.
"We're getting close." Samantha lowered the scanner to her side. "We should keep going. The scanner indicated it's in a room at the end of this corridor."
Mitchell took a deep breath and followed her in. He hoped she knew what she was doing.
"Oh my god." After Mitchell followed her around a pillar, he saw what had caught Carter so off-guard. In front of them was a much larger, open chamber... and hovering close to the domed ceiling high above was what reminded Mitchell of one myth in particular.
"Is that...?" He didn't have to say it. They both could see it just fine.
A flying saucer.
"Unbelievable." Unbeknownst to either of them, Desmond had followed them through the depths of the temple, lagging behind due to his own fear and wonder.
When Desmond tried to take a step toward it, Mitchell roughly grabbed him by the arm, stopping him from almost walking off a cliff. They were over a dark pit with tall, rectangular slabs of metal jutting out in a chaotic pattern throughout. A single, thin bridge led them toward some kind of quartz-like altar at the end. Almost right above it, in the center of the underbelly of the saucer-shaped craft, a golden light shined over two black obelisks with diamond-shaped impressions in the corners facing the console.
"Why do all these ancient races build their secret underground lairs over endless pits?"
Last time they encountered one like this, it was in a cave containing a dragon and a fake piece of the Sangraal. That didn't include the chamber of the Crystal Skull, the Asgard testing chamber on Cimmeria or any one of Ba'al's many lairs.
"You heard what Daniel said." Sam elucidated anyway: "These people took everything they knew from the Ancients. And then some..." The obelisks and the ship were new.
Without a moment to lose, Carter started toward the console, while Mitchell held back and looked over at Desmond. "Where's the other two?"
Mitchell's question caught Desmond's attention, if only for a moment. "They wanted to stay behind. They're convinced there's a curse." Looking up at the strange vessel, he admitted in a breathless tone, "Maybe they were right."
"We should go one at a time," Carter emphasized. Like before, they didn't want to risk nudging each other off the side. With that, she went first. Though the scanner didn't work, she held it in her hand as if her life depended on it. Walking into the unknown wasn't easy, even to this day, over a decade later. She had to know. What she didn't, she had to learn.
Once standing at the console, she did a quick visual analysis for any similarities with Ancient technology. Instead, it was identical to the kind used by the Tok'ra. After a quick wave to Mitchell, she got to work activating it. One colored crystal to a slot on the left, another to a slot third from the right. Soon enough, the crystals all glowed simultaneously, and a holographic screen filled with data in Ancient appeared before her.
"Any chance you can translate it?" Mitchell said once he stepped up behind her. Reluctantly, he turned and gestured for Desmond to cross. Out of all of them, Desmond would take the longest, both out of terror and confusion. He wasn't used to the unfamiliar as much as SG-1.
"A little bit," Carter answered jokingly. "I didn't get to be commander of Atlantis without knowing a thing or two about the language the Ancients used."
Shifting a few crystals out of alignment and touching a shard of glass embedded with the smooth side facing outward near the edge, Carter activated the obelisks on either side. Bolts of lightning shot out from the diamond-shaped indentations until they met just behind the holographic display, which faded to offer a complete, unobtrusive view of what it formed.
"Carter?"
"I think it's a gateway," Carter finished Mitchell's thought. She'd noticed it on the display earlier.
"A gateway to what?"
Carter shook her head. "... I don't know."
Though it appeared to be a mirror with a glowing, blue aura around it, it showed the light hovering in the center of a smooth, cell-shaped room of highly reflective metal. Somehow, they weren't being blinded by the sight. They could even see what appeared to be water flowing in from a hole in the ceiling, hitting some sort of shimmering forcefield which formed a bubble around the light. As the water trickled down, it clung to the shield until reaching the bottom center, where it fell away into an opening beneath it.
Neither of them knew what to make of it.
Meanwhile, at Stargate Command...
Daniel beamed down with Akharin a while ago. They both decided to keep the Apple locked away aboard the Odyssey with two passcodes- one known by Daniel, the other by Akharin. Both were required, and nobody else had access to it. For good reason, Daniel didn't trust that the device wouldn't compromise the security of the SGC. Akharin feared it would be confiscated and abused again if he carried it with him.
Landry wasn't happy to hear how one of the colonels he selected for command of the Odyssey betrayed them. Nor was he particularly happy meeting the one who presumably created whatever group that colonel worked for.
"So where do we start looking?" Landry glanced at Akharin but directed his question to Daniel. He didn't trust someone who would outlive him for thousands of years. "Where is this group of conspirators you mentioned?"
"Well..." Daniel had to mull it over a bit before answering. "We know the pyramids were built by the Goa'uld. We also know Thaddeus Thatch discovered a DHD in Mesopotamia." His enthusiasm for uncovering mysteries had died down over the years, echoed in the distressed way he presented those answers. "Asgard visited our planet and influenced the development of UFO culture. Earth's mythology is based on the actions of the Goa'uld."
"Your point, Dr. Jackson?" Landry interrupted, clearly impatient.
"My point is..." Daniel took a breath. What he was about to say would be as unbelievable to anyone as his pyramid theory. "If all those theories can be true, then maybe there's some truth to those conspiracy theories about- about a shadow organization operating in secret. The... Illuminati."
Landry, unconvinced, raised an eyebrow.
"I know how it sounds." Ridiculous. Crazy, more like it. Daniel pressed on regardless. "But think about it. These Isu... they left their technology behind, here- on Earth!"
"So did the Ancients," Landry added.
"But the Ancients only left us the stargate and the outpost in Antarctica."
"If I may." Akharin spoke suddenly, ending their back-and-forth for a moment. "The Ancients lived on Earth millions of years before either of us. My people's history on this world dates back tens of thousands. We never left willingly. We were destroyed. Had we left, we'd have taken our technology with us." A slight grimace crossed his lips. "The Altera were fortunate."
"You know more than you've let on." Landry glowered at Akharin, trying to maintain the status quo. As far as he was concerned, Akharin deserved his guilt; and the former Goa'uld needed to be reminded that he wasn't in control here. No matter how good his intentions appeared to be. Akharin tried to ignore it. "Tell us who we're looking for."
"Those you're looking for are-"
Akharin's voice caught in his throat. His eyes widened. Both Landry and Daniel noticed.
"Uh-" Daniel leaned forward and tried to get the man's attention. "What's wrong?"
Alarmingly, Akharin's eyes began to glow and simmer. The guards standing at the end of the room gripped their P90s anxiously. He'd grown quiet. And then...
"They found it."
Back on the island...
While Carter worked on the console, trying to determine what they were seeing, Desmond braved the long walk to the platform beneath the enormous ship. Part of him couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. All this time...
"This- this can't be real." As he said that, Desmond lowered his gaze from the ship to the portal, eyes squinting slightly. Was it the same light he saw before?
"Hate to break it to ya," Mitchell quipped, unable to look away either. "Sam?"
"Give me a minute." Carter was a quick study. She figured out how to operate the console based on her understanding of Goa'uld crystal technology. They shared many similarities. Information on the screen above could be read in some sort of dialect of Ancient.
What she read troubled her. It may have rendered their whole journey a waste.
"This isn't it." Before Mitchell could even give her that annoyed look, Carter added, "It's definitely radiating some sort of EM energy. There's a sub-atomic particle in the center forming a complex matrix. Whoever built this place calls it... omega?"
Although neither of them had heard of it before, Mitchell felt a deep pit growing in his stomach as he faced the light. Alpha and omega... "Beginning and end."
"If this thing gets too unstable-"
"Yeah, I get the idea." Mitchell turned back to Desmond. "Any idea how to shut it down?"
"Shut-" Desmond seemed unwilling to even humor the notion, just as Ben had been in 'defiling' the temple. "No, no you can't!"
"Desmond, with that much energy-"
"We're looking at a ticking time bomb," Mitchell finished Carter's thought. "One that could destroy the whole damn world if something goes wrong."
Desmond looked putrified. Kelvin was right... but wrong at the same time. Either way, his newfound acquaintances outnumbered him two to one. But at least he had one reasonable argument on his side.
"Tampering with it could make things worse." Desmond shook his head and stared up at the portal. "Whoever built this place... don't you think they knew what they were doing?"
Neither colonel had an answer for him. Mitchell simply peered back at Carter, who went to work sorting through the alien database for answers. If there were any, she'd find them.
"It's not right to mess with fate, brotha." Desmond's gaze caught on to Mitchell's.
Somehow, hearing those words didn't make Mitchell feel any better.
"According to this, a kinetically-charged forcefield is containing it." Sam read from notes in the monitoring program. The water which flowed down from the cave above continuously struck the field, keeping it active. Gravity distortions within the ship carried the stream into a pipe in the outer hull, depositing the water into a small cave upstream. "The way it is now, some of the energy it's emitting is keeping this island out of phase with normal matter. If more of the water were to impact the shield, it would bring the island into phase."
"... and if the water stopped?" Mitchell feared he knew the answer before she even said it.
Carter sighed and looked back at him. "Nothing good. If the particle isn't stabilized first, it could rupture the fabric of space-time. Earth and any systems for several light years would be engulfed in a massive black hole."
"No." Surprisingly, Desmond stepped forward. "No, it isn't what you think it is. I've seen it." Again, his eyes fixed on the light through the portal. "It's no bomb. It's-"
"Heaven on Earth, right." At least Mitchell hadn't forgotten that part. Desmond description of some kind of heavenly realm didn't go unnoticed. Nor did Carter's suggestion that it might partially ascend organic matter in close proximity. "What's the computer say?"
Carter shook her head. While they were talking, she used the time to delve deeper into the mage's lair. She found more descriptions of the light: how the shield gave way numerous times since the 1970s due to sediment build-up in part of the underground path the water followed; or that each time, pockets of energy 'reflected' off the omega were created- each one being formed further and further into the past, like tachyons.
"Trust me, brotha. You're not gonna find answers." When it became clear they wouldn't get any real answers out of the device, Desmond gave Mitchell a look. "You gotta take a leap of faith."
No more words had to be said. Mitchell could see the determination in Desmond's eyes. He knew what he planned to do. But as soon as Desmond stepped away, Mitchell grit his teeth and prayed he wasn't about to do something stupid.
He nudged Desmond out of the way and approached the portal, the golden glow reflected in his eyes. Carter noticed and called out, but he didn't hear. This close to the portal, he heard only a deep thrumming that reverberated down his spine.
"This better be worth it."
He stepped through... and, almost as suddenly, the portal disappeared in a flash.
Again. Carter saw it happen first to O'Neill and now to Mitchell. Her face paled. Desperately, she tried to reactivate the portal, but it wouldn't open. The system had the portal's code dialed in when she first activated it. After Mitchell passed through, the code was erased.
As she struggled to find it, Desmond stared at where Mitchell had disappeared. He glanced over to where the other man's friend now worked feverishly, fearing the worst. But he knew that Mitchell would be safe. Whatever the light was, it wasn't cruel.
It would send him wherever he needed to be.
"Incoming wormhole!"
Landry missed seeing the wormhole forming by the time he left his office and reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the briefing room. He thought the iris blocking the portal made it far less interesting. Still, can't argue with success, he thought.
"Receiving SG-1's I.D.C."
Must be Teal'c and Vala. "Open the iris."
After the iris hissed open, they were taking a big risk. Landry wanted to start double-checking by making radio contact, but Teal'c and Vala both left in such a hurry, he didn't have the chance to assign them any. He made a mental note not to let them get away without one again.
Then two familiar faces stepped through. Teal'c at least partly relied on Vala to help him walk despite his injuries. Vala, on the other hand, looked no worse for wear. When the wormhole disengaged behind them, Landry knew they weren't followed. A small comfort, at least.
"What happened?" Landry decided to probe them for answers while a medical team arrived to ferry Teal'c to the infirmary. Vala looked none too eager to provide any answers.
"Long story."
Eventually, she and Landry sat at the briefing room table. Vala took her usual spot out of habit, though it put her a ways off from the general. Probably for the best.
She'd already finished telling him about her mission to the Reol homeworld and subsequent visit to Chulak. Everything from what Teal'c told her about the Anunnaki Nibirans and their Drengin slaves to their rescue of Rya'c and other captive Jaffa, how the Jaffa caught Cepheus' fleet off-guard and bought them time to reach the surface...
Everything except Aziru.
Vala was torn. If she told Landry the truth, he'd surely put Aziru on the SGC blacklist. Treason wasn't something any military organization took lightly, even from their allies. But if she lied, what did that say about her? Not that she'd have a difficult time lying- that she did on a regular basis. But after nearly three years of being a part of them, of everything they'd gone through, of the sacrifices she was willing to make for them, how could she not trust them?
"Vala? VALA!" Landry raised his voice to a shout, throwing off Vala's concentration on her thoughts. Times like this, he still wondered if she was right for the job. "You were about to tell me what happened to Ba'al's host."
"I-is that all he was to you?" Vala's voice shook. She knew she'd be risking her good standing with the Tau'ri after this, no matter what she chose to say. But Aziru's words clung to her heart. "Just... another host? Another Goa'uld?"
"If I had, I wouldn't have given him over to the Tok'ra." Landry narrowed his eyes. He thought he'd figured her out, but clearly, he was wrong. Perhaps in more ways than one. "Now-"
"He is gone." Teal'c appeared in the doorway, weak but still standing. He shared a look with Vala, whose gaze silently pleaded with him. She hoped he wouldn't say what happened. Not all of it. Moving slowly and carefully, Teal'c carried himself to a seat near Landry and sat down. He didn't even look either of them in the eye as he considered his options.
Landry, for once, waited patiently for him to continue.
"He disappeared into the forest. It is reasonable to assume he has been captured or killed by the Nibirans or their allies." Cepheus' soldiers. Half-truth, half-lie. Somehow, Vala didn't expect a man like Teal'c to be capable of such brilliant wordplay. Regardless, she shot Teal'c a look as if to say 'thank you'. He didn't return the look. "We must assume Cepheus is planning an attack on both Earth and Chulak. It would be wise to make preparations immediately."
"I've already contacted Daedalus and our new commander aboard the Odyssey. They'll be in orbit in a few days." Two ships. Two against dozens. Sure, the Tau'ri inherited Asgard technology, but unlike the Ori, Cepheus must've planned for that. Vala mentioned him using a repurposed Ancient warship, after all. "Trouble is, we can't get any more ships in the air. The whole country's in a recession, and our allies aren't any better off."
"Wait, what are you saying?" Vala tilted her head. She still didn't fully understand Earth's economy. "That your governments are running out of money?"
"The IOA's been saying our war with the Ori cost hundreds of billions of dollars to fund." Landry frowned and looked away. "Not that I would put a dollar to a man's life, but that money doesn't spawn out of thin air. We've run this well dry."
"Our battle with Cepheus severely weakened our fleet." Teal'c wasn't too happy with what he was about to say next. "I fear we cannot spare the ships to defend your planet."
"What about the Tok'ra?"
"Unscheduled offworld activation!"
As soon as Landry asked, the stargate activated. Startled to action, Landry followed Teal'c and Vala to the control room, where one of the monitors showed the concerned face of Bra'tac- surrounded on all sides by Tok'ra. Last Teal'c recalled, Bra'tac had returned to Chulak with the others. So what were the Tok'ra doing there?
"Teal'c." Bra'tac exclaimed with some trepidation after hearing his pupil's voice. "A situation has developed. The Tok'ra have blockaded Chulak. They're demanding the release of Ba'al's host." Hearing that again, this time from the Jaffa, made Vala flinch inside. Aziru was right after all. "They say that if neither we nor the Tau'ri return him, they will abrogate the alliance and withdraw their support."
"Which neither of us can afford," Landry noted with a hint of displeasure. Both the Jaffa and the Tau'ri were at a clear disadvantage. They needed the Tok'ra more than the other way around. "Tell their leader we-"
"General Landry." Teal'c interrupted him, much to his chagrin. "Allow me to return to Chulak and speak to them personally."
Landry had no reason to disapprove, but Teal'c's request still sounded a bit strange. "Should I send a security detail to accompany you?"
"That will not be necessary." Teal'c thanked him for the offer though. "Tell them I will be there shortly with a message regarding Aziru's disappearance."
Bra'tac nodded sagely before disconnecting the link and shutting down the wormhole.
As Teal'c got ready to disembark, Vala stopped Landry at the stairs. "Where's Daniel?"
"He took off about an hour ago with our new 'friend'." Landry used that word loosely, continuing up the stairs while Vala followed. "Said it had something to do with that other Atlantis."
Vala broke out into a grin. "Well, wouldn't you know it, buuut-" Reaching under her BDU vest, she produced the book that started it all. The Shepherd's Journal. "Looks like he's gonna owe me something. And it better be something big, for all the trouble we went through getting it." Again, she avoided mentioning Aziru's betrayal... or her subsequent guilt.
But Landry looked nonplussed. It had been a long day. At this point, he just wanted to go home, curl up with a good book and go to sleep. Maybe go bird watching before the sun set. "Last I heard, the Odyssey beamed them to a secure location in southern Iraq. Sounds like they're investigating some ruins Akharin found."
"Ruins?" Vala sounded positively digusted at the very notion. Who would want to investigate some musty old ruins anyway? The prospect of visiting him out there in the desert didn't appeal to her. She abstentmindedly thumped the book against her hand while thinking of what else she could do. Then, an idea struck her. "Okay, how about this?"
While they walked to Landry's office, Vala flipped open the book and started perusing the pages. Cepheus kindly translated the odd script into Goa'uld. Having long used that language, as did much of the known galaxy, Vala could read it fluently.
"This thing says Atlantis is below the ocean." No, duh. Okay, what else? "The author-" She avoided saying Aziru's name. "He followed a path underwater and found the city in a cave. It's got exact directions and everything!" Technically, an exaggeration. But Thatch had collected enough notes that even Vala felt confident she could find it. "I can photo-copy the pages, leave the book here, and reach Atlantis before Daniel!"
"And why would you want to do that?" Landry sat down at looked up at her with a small grin. He knew the answer, in a manner of speaking. He just wanted to hear it from her.
"What, you think I'm going to see what treasures I can dig up before-" Vala froze mid-speech. General Landry simply raised his brow and watched her expectantly. He got her just where he wanted. "Well," she started to defend herself. "It's not like I was planning on damaging any of the priceless, historical artifacts we'd undoubtedly find."
"Tell you what," Landry started with a tired sigh. "If you find out anything that'll help us fight Cepheus, I'll let you hold on to a few of those priceless, historical artifacts."
"Really?" Vala's eyes lit up in anticipation.
"No." Landry's answer deflated her ego, for a little while at least. "But Dr. Jackson and Akharin are already on their way. So you better get going if you want to get there first."
"Fine." Vala tried to muster up the same sort of enthusiasm as before, but it wasn't as strong as it might've been. Besides, she could probably sneak a pretty bauble or two once she was there. She turned around to leave but stopped at the door and looked back. "Oh, one last thing." Just as Landry was about to start on some paperwork, he stopped and gave her his divided attention. "Would you mind if we contact Atlantis first?" Quickly, she added, "The first one." Landry watched her stumble over her words, bemused. "You know, the one in... the Pegasus galaxy. I need to borrow something."
So much for his day off.
Daniel couldn't remember the last time he went on an actual archaeological expedition into the desert. Sure, he and Akharin weren't in Egypt, but everything reminded him of it. Eridu, Mesopotamia- now known as Iraq and eastern Syria. Once a great city, possibly the earliest in recorded history, all that remained now were piles of sand and scattered remains of mudbrick walls. So little of it survived. A whisper easily forgotten amid the voice of later civilizations: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece...
Despite having seen it a million times before, it tore at Akharin's heart to see his beloved first city gone. Here, he and Anu overthrew their tyrannical father, Abzu. Here, Enki joined with Nintu, sister of Alalu and his rock amid the ever-shifting tides of war. 3000 BCE, Eridu sat at the mouth of what is now the Persian Gulf. Over the years, the sea withdrew, abandoning Akharin from the very same day he abandoned it to travel the world.
"Stand here." Indicating a place beside him, Akharin waited for Daniel to step up before closing his eyes. He concetrated as best he could, focused on one thing.
Suddenly, a series of transport rings raised out of the ground around them. Daniel felt a wave of nausea wash over him as the beam swept them up. Deep beneath the earth, deeper than even the SGC, the rings lowered from a dark ceiling and deposited their cargo on the floor of a large, open room. Lines of gold weaved along the floor, winding their way up the pillars and walls. A subtle, golden light followed each line and cut through the darkness.
Reacting to their presence, the room came alive. Holographic stars appeared in the air, all formed around their galaxy, the Milky Way. Though unsurprised, Akharin matched Daniel's expression earlier in the ruins. They were both nostalgic for the past. Catching a glimpse of Daniel wandering through the room in wonder, Akharin remembered why he chose to take the young archaeologist under his wing so many years ago. Daniel's enthusiasm had been encouraged by Dr. Jordan... a wonderful pupil of Akharin's from another life.
"What is this place?" Daniel watched in awe as the stars grew in size until they were left with a holographic representation of the solar system.
"It is... a memory." Akharin sounded less interested in expounding on that than Daniel may have hoped. Instead, he waved the holographic images away as he passed through them, heading for a crystaline control panel at the other end of the room. Silently, he worked the console until a golden light flashed to life in the center of the room.
Where the center of the holographic image once stood, Daniel saw a small, round table surrounding what appeared to be a metal pole with a blue, pulsating orb encased in glass marked with several thick, black lines. Akharin moved to work on the new device, leaving Daniel to wonder some more-not that he could stomp out human curiosity.
"Enki, what's going on?" Daniel used his former, Goa'uld name, causing Akharin to flinch momentarily. "At least explain to me what you're doing."
"Patience is a virtue." Akharin finished what he was doing and gave Daniel a concerned look. "You'll have your answers, Dr. Jackson. In time."
At that, a bolt of electricity shot out of the orb and struck one of the pillars, followed by another. Each coalesced into a single phenomenon: a tall, rectangular doorway, displaying a giant chamber with Colonel Samantha Carter and Desmond standing at a similar console to the one Akharin just used, both staring back in surprise. Uncertain, Daniel raised his hand to wave to Carter, who reluctantly returned the gesture.
"Follow closely." Before Daniel could ask where, Akharin walked through the portal until he stood on the other side, facing Carter and her acquaintance. Tentatively, Daniel followed, being reminded of his experience with the quantum mirror. When his hand touched the portal, he heard and felt the odd blast of energy engulfing him without transporting him away. Suddenly, without any warning, something pulled him through and tossed him out the other side until he lied face-flat on the floor.
"Daniel!" Carter ran up to him and helped him up. When they looked back at the portal, it had already closed. Carter felt relieved, but also distraught by something. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." Daniel turned to look at Akharin, expecting some kind of answer. Instead, he got a weak nod from Akharin, who went to work at the same console Carter had been working on. He blinked and tried to get a bearing on his surroundings. "Where's Mitchell?"
The answer caught in her throat. After all, if she hadn't activated the portal...
"He's gone." Daniel asked what she meant by 'gone'. "I mean he got caught in one of those portals and ended up in that ship." When she pointed to the strange vessel hovering overhead, Daniel stared up at it as though he'd missed it in his first examination of the place. "I can't find a way inside. And once the portal deactivated, I couldn't get it back."
"Nor should you." Akharin finished checking the most obvious data first before answering Carter in person. "That portal was not meant to be used in such a manner."
Samantha glanced with confusion between Akharin and Daniel.
"Sam... this is Akharin," Daniel explained as he caught his breath and stood up straight. "He, uh... he's the last of the people who used the Ancients as hosts."
Carter narrowed her eyes as she hesitantly stared at Akharin. "I don't sense a symbiote."
"I abandoned it long ago." Another long story made short, Akharin summarized by repeating something familiar. Eerily familiar. Daniel corroborated his story, albeit uncomfortably.
"Wait... so you're responsible?" At first, Akharin thought she meant for the temple they now stood in, but then she continued for Daniel's benefit. "Mitchell and I spoke to Malcolm about finding this place. Malcolm found out about some sort of project headed by an organization called the Hanso Foundation-" Now she looked accusingly at Akharin. "They were using the neural patterns of a Goa'uld symbiote to possess new hosts."
Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing. Then again, he'd heard a lot over these past twelve hours. More than he'd ever thought possible, to be honest.
"Alvar Hanso learned of my research, yes." Akharin's ability to shed the symbiote and live as part of the host's mind ended up in the hands of a former pupil. At least Daniel could see why he'd been so hesitant to trust him. "But he isn't the one you should be looking for."
Hanso disappeared years ago under mysterious circumstances. Those people after Malcolm and the people in charge of the Foundation now were likely connected.
"You." It was Desmond who spoke next, stepping past Daniel and Carter until he could see Akharin more clearly. "You know what this island is, don't you?"
"... yes." Another answer Akharin didn't want to provide. How many more would learn what he knew and abuse it before he realized he needed to keep it all to himself? "You could call it a small part of Atlantis. One island among many."
Over two thousand years before Enki reincarnated on Earth in the Euphrates, the System Lords tried to locate and exterminate a race of humans living in the middle of the Atlantic. Few believed they existed, since Atlantis hid in a transphasic state. "Just like this island." Akharin continued, explaining how the three System Lords aware of its existence sent a ship laced with a naquadah bomb toward the city-after determining the time and place the city would appear next. The Atlanteans set it off, burying the city in a great tidal wave.
"That is the last I heard of the city." Akharin tried to keep his story light to keep his audience unaware of certain facts. It was for their own good... or so he convinced himself. "I learned of its existence and went to search for it. One day, while sailing across a distant ocean with a fleet of galleys, we were caught in a storm. We washed up on these shores."
Akharin explored the island. He sensed something familiar about it. That's when he found the ship half-buried in the jungle on the second island, deep within a cave. "Let's just say Apsu never found Earth by luck." Looking up overhead at it, Akharin reminisced, "We uncovered it on Una long ago. Whatever creatures possessed it were engaged in a great experiment with your people... you and the Ancients."
Again, either Akharin didn't have all the details or he chose not to share. But at least he told Sam what she needed to know. "We call the light which powers it 'Adar'." A fanciful name for a fallen star, later interpreted by the Sumerians as the month of March and, theoretically, early Semitic-speaking peoples as meaning 'strength'. Akharin spoke of it reverently, as if he worshiped it as dearly as the people who built this temple. "It is... more than we could ever understand."
As if realizing that wouldn't fully satisfy the humans beside him, Akharin eventually averted his eyes from the sight and peered back at Sam in particular. "To you, it is merely a power source. To the peoples of Atlantis, it is their protector... their god." His eyes wandered over the entirety of the cavern. "Just as it once was to those who found this place."
Fascinating as Akharin's explanation could be, Carter had just about heard enough. "Okay, look." She was growing frustrated. "Colonel Mitchell walked through one of your portals to get a closer look at that light. You know these systems better than any of us. So how do we get to him?"
"Wait." Daniel took one tentative step forward, eyes fixated on the obelisks. Something about the way they were carved, particularly in the diamond-shaped impressions, looked familiar. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those impressions similar to the ones we found on the gateway on P5X-777?" The planet where Jack and Maybourne passed through a portal.
A strange sense of deja vu passed over Carter, along with that same sense of dread she felt the day Jack went missing. Even though they eventually recovered him, she remembered feeling so... helpless. Unable to save the life of someone who really mattered to her.
"They were built by a species we knew as the I'konia," Akharin explained without even touching the control console. "They taught many races how to build the por-"
"You've got to be joking." This time, it was Desmond who blurted out, interrupting the immortal's plodding speech. He smiled in disbelief, staring at Akharin like someone who made a bad pun. "You're sayin' all this-the light, the island, everything-is the result of- of aliens?" He vigorously shook his head. "No, none of that explains what I saw. What I experienced. When I went into that light, when Charles nearly KILLED me with that damned machine of his... very briefly, I was in another world. As close to heaven on Earth as can be.
"How can that be anythin' but supernatural?"
Daniel blinked and looked back at Desmond with a lopsided frown. Then he glanced at Carter. "Mitchell didn't clue him in, did he?" But he could tell Carter was too busy thinking of a way to reach Mitchell to answer him properly, so he assumed that was a 'no'. "See, there's this race called the Ancients. They ascended to a-"
"Higher plane of existence, I know." Desmond recalled everything Sam and Mitchell told him about that. "Your Colonel Mitchell told me enough. From what I understand, those Ancients created the light I saw." He turned to Akharin. "Was he right?"
"Yes," Akharin bitterly answered. Again, he hated being in this position, answering questions he'd rather leave a mystery to the insatiable curiosity and greed of the human spirit.
Finally, Desmond asked the question which had been burning in his heart since the day he returned from the island:
"Why?"
To that, Akharin grimaced and looked away. "I don't know."
"You're lying!" Desmond shouted in a sudden outburst of anger. "You know what this island is! You know what that light is! You put that monster on this island!"
The Black Smoke. For once, Akharin was at a loss for words. How could he answer without throwing fuel on the fire? He'd already done some awful things toward humanity. It was only in the last two-thousand years that he tried to make amends. Tried.
"Is that true?"
Another voice joined Desmond's. It belonged to the man called Benjamin Linus, who wandered in while Hugo remained at the entrance, too afraid to cross the long path over the bottomless Valley of Death below. Both arrived just in time for Akharin's arrival, or possibly in response to it. If the light surely recognized him, they would too- if only subconsciously. But Akharin knew them both the moment they became immortal.
Because this is where he became immortal too.
"You're the one who created that-that thing which haunted our island since the day I arrived?" Ben also looked angry, but in his eyes, Akharin saw confusion. "Why?"
"Security." After centuries of it terrorizing the island, the Black Smoke finally stood to be explained. Even if no one truly wanted the answer. Akharin continued: "I knew this island, my temple, would be discovered one day. Your kind are... stubborn. Persistent. Short of killing your entire species, I knew I couldn't protect this secret forever.
"My studies into ascension led me to use one of my people's devices to capture an ascendant. One you know as Isfet." Akharin glimpsed at Daniel, who recognized the name immediately. Isfet meant 'discord' or 'chaos' to the ancient Egyptians. It was often conflated with Set, whom SG-1 knew as Setesh or Seth. But it couldn't be the same Goa'uld. "Isfet lived long before Ra and Anubis. The people who built the temple above mistook him for Apophis and tried to fight back as all you humans do. With weapons, with swords...
"Nothing they did could stop him. I gave him the ability to copy their memories, emotions and personalities. He could be anyone they knew." Akharin frowned, still unable to look any of them in the eye. He felt guilt for what he'd done. But it was too late for guilt. "He used their own fear and mistrust to turn them against one another. He embodied the darkest aspects of their psyche." Slowly, he shook his head.
"They never stopped to realize their true enemy lived inside them."
Though entranced by his explanation, neither Ben nor Desmond felt it explained everything. "Why?" Desmond pleaded for an answer. "Why did you do this?"
"Because you realized we couldn't be trusted with power." Daniel recalled everything Akharin had told him up to this point. The former Isu's trust in humanity caused Colonel Jensen, the Trust- any of the groups pulling society's strings. "You wanted to find someone you could trust. Someone who could break free of their past. Learn from their mistakes."
"Then why did it want to leave the island?" Ben questioned.
"He. Why did he want to leave the island," Akharin reluctantly corrected Ben's error. "Once you've lived over a century, you'll know first-hand." Considering without the Black Smoke, the only 'security system' left was Ben and Hurley. They'd have to take its place. "I never envied his job. Your job. To stay here and experience the worst in humanity's hearts. Hopes and dreams can only carry you so far. Eventually, you'll want out. I did."
The Black Smoke wasn't created from the heart of one man. It was forged by the fear and greed of hundreds or thousands of people. Then it met that one person who wanted to leave as much as he did. Isfet found him. And soon after, he opened a pocket in the Earth where he'd find an echo of the light. "The rest, as you say," Akharin began. "Is history."
None of that mattered right now. Not to Carter. She needed to find a way to reactivate the portal. To save Mitchell's life. Just as she'd done for Jack so long ago.
"What about Cameron? What about the portal?" Carter shook her head. "You've told us everything except what matters the most." She pointed at the ship. "How do we get in there? How are we going to get to him?!"
Anything Desmond said wouldn't calm her down, no matter how much faith he had that Mitchell would be alright. Daniel, for once, didn't know enough to say one way or another. And Akharin, afraid he'd already said too much, kept silent in spite of her piercing glare.
Help would come from an unexpected source.
"I think I know how to get your friend back." Benjamin Linus stared back at her.
