Back on the planet….
Several months had passed. John and his team remained prisoners. No harm had come to them, but they were not allowed to roam freely. Everyday John tried to talk to the leaders, to try to reason with them, to no avail. At times he thought Carter had given up. He knew months had passed by now. In those months he would hear the Stargate open, but it was never an SGC team. In the beginning his hopes were high, but as days and months progressed he soon lost hope. But what pained him most was Kaylia. He promised Carter he would let no harm come to her. And now he had no idea where she was or if she was hurt or being hurt. The guilt at times was overwhelming. He would ask about her daily as well, but that too fell to deaf ears.
Kaylia was kept separate from the rest of the team. They had her in a small room, in a house with a man and a young girl. No harm had to come to her. Kaylia realized these people had the capacity of blocking their thoughts. She had never seen anyone like them. In the beginning, the kept her secluded in fear that she would try to pry at someone's mind. But as time went on, they saw the girl was so frightened, she would do no harm. It was then they moved her to one of the homes of the men there. He had a young child. For several weeks Kaylia stayed to herself. She didn't speak or interact with anyone. She would eat alone, and look up at the sky for hours, with tears rolling down her face.
"Sam? Have you forgotten about us?" she thought to herself.
"Where are you Sam? I miss you so?"
"Kaylia" a voice from the distance suddenly breaking her train of thought.
It was the young girl. Her name was Elisa. She reminded Kaylia of one of the children she taught back at her home world.
"Kaylia….please don't cry" She said.
Kaylia wiped her tears off her face, not realizing the little girl must have been watching her for a time.
Kaylia smiled at her, and handed her a flower. Kaylia took it, and smelled it. It was beautiful and had a sweet smell.
"Come..come with me…we can pick them together?" the little girl said, with her hand out, hoping Kaylia would grab it.
Kaylia had not been allowed outside the confines of the home. At first she hesitated, but she quickly realized this could be her chance to learn about the area, how far the Stargate was, maybe find out where the team was. So she did just that, she grabbed the little girls hand and went along.
The father was busy tending to the home, and outside areas, he didn't even realize the two girls had left the home. Kaylia followed Elisa, making sure she took mental note of every part of her surroundings. They walked for what seemed like a distance, when suddenly before Kaylia's eyes, there stood the stargate. Her eyes lit up.
"If I could just get to it, maybe I can see how their gate works? Maybe I can figure out how to dial home?" she thought to herself.
"Elisa…Elisa…." A voice came from the distance.
It was Elisa's father. Kaylia suddenly realized she had to look totally disinterested in the Stargate. She ran towards Elisa and said, "tag your it". Elisa had no idea, what she was doing.
"You have to try to catch me?" Kaylia said, running away from the Stargate.
Elisa started to chase her, both girls started to laugh uncontrollably, when Kaylia ran right into Elisa's father, and Elisa was right behind her.
He grabbed Kaylia by the shoulders, but then quickly turned his attention to Elisa.
"Elisa, how many times have I told you not to run past the Station Tree." He said scolding her.
"Sorry Papa, we were having so much fun, I didn't realize how far we'd gone." She said, still giggling to herself.
Elisa's mother had died, several years ago, and Elisa was never quite the same. Seeing her laugh the way she was, made him smile.
"Papa, please don't upset, we were just having fun" Elisa said, giving him her puppy eyes.
He paused. "You can play together but not past the Station Tree? Understood" he said, as he looked at both girls.
Kaylia just looked at him. She realized that he meant her as well. Her head was down, but she lifted her eyes, and gave him a brief smile. They may know she can pry into minds, but they don't know how intelligent she is, and that she knows how to work a Stargate. There was Kaylia's advantage.
"C'mon Kaylia, let's go pick some more flowers" Elisa said pulling her arm as she passed her father. But before she left, she ran back to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you Papa" Elisa said.
He smiled while at the same time not wanting to look so soft to Kaylia, he stiffened his face again.
"I want you home before it gets dark?" he said. "Understood?"
"Yes papa, understood." Elisa said, while running towards a field full of more flowers and dragging Kaylia with her. She knew she had to play along. This might be her only chance of getting home. She just hoped and prayed Sam hadn't given up on her end.
Several weeks had passed. Kaylia took advantage every day to be out and about. She had gained Elisa's trust so, when they would venture away from the Station tree, Elisa thought it was fun, little did she know Kaylia's plan. One day while playing out in the fields, one of the guards had shown up. Elisa and Kaylia were picking flowers, only feet away from the stargate.
"Elisa..what are doing this far out?" the guard asked as he lifted her in his arms, and started walking towards the gate. Kaylia could finally see the DHD. She tried to keep her composure.
"Mr. Nin…please don't tell papa. The flowers here are so much prettier than they are by the Station tree. Kaylia and I were just picking some for home" she said.
The solider looked at Kaylia. She had her head down trying to look small and frail.
"Ah so this is Kaylia." Mr. Nin said as he lifted her chin.
"Well hello Kaylia. Nice to meet you" he said, and gave her a reassuring smile.
"hello" was all Kaylia said, and she said it softly.
He paused. He looked at Kaylia, and honestly felt for the young girl. He wondered if she had a family back home. He may be a solider but he didn't have to agree with what his superiors had done. He smiled at Kaylia.
He had Elisa in his arms. "Kaylia" he said. "This is our Ring of Water" he said, pointing to the Stargate. We use it to trade with other planets, and travel back and forth as well." He said. He then started to get closer to the DHD. Kaylia's heart was pounding at this point. This was it, this is what she needed. She needed to see that DHD. But before she could get a full glance, a voice came from the distance. It was Elisa's father. The girls quickly looked at each other.
Mr. Nin could sense the fear in both girls.
"Over here..over here" Mr. Nin yelled out.
"Oh no..Mr. Nin father is going to be angry, please" Elisa tried to stop him from calling out.
"It's o.k. trust me" he said to her.
"Elisa…did I not tell you not to past the Station Tree?" Her father yelled as he drew nearer to them, Kaylia hiding behind Mr. Nin.
"Sir…it's my fault Sir. I found them playing in the fields, and wanted to show the Ring of Water. So I brought them along" he said.
Elisa's father paused. He looked at them both. Kaylia was still hiding behind Mr. Nin, at the same time glancing at the DHD. She was able to see some of the symbols.
"well…then..O.K. I just don't want them wondering off." He said.
"oh no Sir. They're keeping me company. Gets a little lonely out here sometimes" Mr. Nin said, bouncing Elisa in his arms. She squealed in laughter.
Elisa's father stared for a moment. Again, seeing how happy Elisa was, he glanced at her, gave her a smile, and said "fine".
"I'll bring them home personally, before night fall Sir" Mr. Nin said. "There in good hands"
"Very well" he said, and started to walk away.
Kaylia was holding her breathe and didn't even realize it. She slowly exhaled.
"Kaylia, Kaylia..look at the pretty flowers there" Elisa said squirming out of Mr. Nin's arms.
Low and behold the flowers Elisa was pointing to were right by the DHD.
"Please, please Mr. Nin can we go there." Elisa begged.
"All right, but no touching the Dialing Device". He said.
Kaylia kept her head down. She continued to play the small frail role. And it seemed to be working. They made their way to the DHD. There it was. Kaylia didn't realize it but at one point she just stopped and stared, taking in every symbol noticing there was one symbol she had never seen, and she made a mental note of it.
Before any can take notice, she knelt with Elisa, and started to pick flowers. She made her way closer to the stem of the DHD hoping she could see its components. But before she could, the gate activated. Seems a team was coming through.
"Sorry Ladies, we will have to cut this short..we have a team coming through. You'll need to head home now." Mr. Nin said, escorting the girls away from the gate. As he did Kaylia placed close attention to the symbols that were lighting up on the gate. She noticed that at one point one symbol lit up twice. She had never seen that before. As they walked away, Kaylia's mind was going a mile a minute.
"Maybe that's why Sam can't dial back in." She thought. "One symbol is used twice..that has to be it". She walked quietly back to her now home.
"Kaylia, are you all right?" Elisa asked. She could tell that she was pensive.
"I'm fine Elisa…" she didn't want to alarm the young girl. She smiled at her, and then started to run.
"See if you can catch me?" she said, hoping it would be an immediate distraction to Elisa. And it was. The girl started chasing Kaylia straight back to the house.
The both sat trying to catch their breathe as they sorted through the flowers they had picked. Kaylia sat hoping she wasn't drawing attention to herself, but she tried to remember back when she was saved from her world. If she could remember what the SGC team used to dial Atlantis, she might be able to dial home somehow some way. It was getting late. When she looked up she could see Elisa's father making his way back. She gave a "make believe" yawn.
"I'm quite tired, Elisa. I think I am going to go lie down" She told her.
"O.k. I wait for papa" she said.
"Good night Kaylia" Elisa said. "Good night Elisa" Kaylia responded with a smile. A part of her felt bad that she was using Elisa's friendship, as a means to get to the gate but, if it was the only possible way of getting home, then it had to be.
She made her way to her small room. She closed the door behind her. She immediately tore a piece of cloth she had. She had taken a small piece of coal she had found by the DHD, and hoped it could be of some type of writing tool. She began to write down what she could remember. She wrote out the symbols of the DHD as well as the extra symbol. She sat and thought hard to see if she could remember when the team rescued them. Nothing was coming to mind. She knew she had to remember those, for if not there was no way of her dialing that gate and somehow getting that extra symbol to Sam. She knew if she did, Sam would figure out how to dial in. It had to be the reason why no rescue team had come through in so long. They couldn't dial in. By this point Kaylia was tired. She knew she had to hide her writings. She found a loose floorboard under her bed, and placed them securely. She laid in bed looking out her small window, with tears rolling down her face. The possibility of getting home, becoming more real to her.
"Sam if you're out there, please don't give up on us. We are here…. I might have a way" She said softly to herself, as she looked out at the stars she just hoped and pray her plan could work.