The land of the Giants

'Once, when the universe was young and small enough to fit on a map, there was a race of giants who grew big and strong on their abundant planet. My ancestors found their huge planet through the Gate of Tears, many galaxies from here.' The Last Spinner of Maere pauses for dramatic effect and to check her audience are still listening. 'Their planet was once a rich and fertile place, full of forests and waters and bathed in the warm, green light of its distant sun.'

'Green light?' Daniel questions her.

'Yes, green. The great size of the planet and the distance from their sun combined to make the light to look green...like a prism.'

'It would explain why the planet was so forested, all that food for the plant chlorophyll.' Daniel muses, almost to himself.

'The Giants soon realised their size was an advantage and used it to exploit us and then enslave whole galaxies with their chariots and weapons of silversilk. All the while their greed for power knowing no end, destroying all they touched. They are gone now. Defeated and the last of them cast down.'

The last of them?' Jack picks up on the Spinners turn of phrase.

'A giantess. She tried to enslave Celestia. I spun for her, my family spun for her. But it was never enough. Always she wanted more. I had almost forgotten. So few visit me here...'

'Does she have a name, Spinner?' Gail prompts her.

'Yes, her name was...Theia.' The Spinner carefully whispers the name after searching her memory for it, as though finding a treasure that had been buried for a long, long time. 'Theia. Her chariot crashed and she was defeated, a long time ago.'

'And this planet of the Giants, do you have the coordinates of how to get there, through the Gate?'

The Last Spinner of Maere sighs, these headstrong Celestians and their Magus guide are not heeding her story. 'The Land of the Giants is best left forgotten, Magus. You should know that.'

She shifts on her throne and the droplets of water run into a new position on her web and, as Daniel stares at it, he suddenly sees, not silver threads and tears but star maps and galaxies. 'Your web, it's a map of the universe!'

Spinner nods. 'An old, old map. Now the universe spins out of my control but once upon a time, I held the threads and the keys to the gate.'

'Our gates open with tokens, but the Gate of Tears?'

'Opens only at my will.'

'And will you open it so we can travel to the Land of the Giants...' But Aelix gets no further.

'I am tired of you all. I have heard enough. Celestians are always trouble. Go away and leave me alone.' The Spinner shrinks her self up into a small ball and shuts her eyes and as she does so her web starts to shake and change, new droplets running into new star maps until it suddenly looks very familiar to Daniel. He points to a portion of a web, 'This is our galaxy. Quick, has anyone got a camera?' Gail nods and pulls on her sunglasses. 'Built in camera feed, it'll film what I'm looking at.' She quickly scans the whole of the throne room while the Gate of Tears suddenly starts to form ripples on its inky surface.

'I think she has opened the Gate for us to leave by.' Teal'c shouts over the noise of the rising vortex forming in its centre.

'Yes but to where?' Jack shouts back, keeping an eye and a gun trained on the Spinner. But the Last Spinner of Maere is lost in a deep sleep.

'I think it's to Earth. Look! The web has put our galaxy over the Gate!' Daniel grabs Gail's arm. 'Have you finished filming the web?'

'Yes!' Gail nods and tucks the glasses inside her jacket. 'Time to go!'

The vortex reaches up and fills the space above Gate of Tears, blocking any exit back out the way they came. The team have no choice but to step through to wherever the Spinner has chosen as their destination, the water engulfs them as they all step into the pool then falls away, leaving the throne room empty and silent.

The Spinner opens one eye to check the Celestians have gone then sets to spinning muttering to herself about them. If they are foolish enough to wake a giant, they will need all the silversilk she can make.