Chapter 37

Father Constasis personally led them into the catacombs beneath the monastery, a battered copper lantern in hand despite the powerful flashlights the treasure hunters carried. As they descended deeper underground, Daniel began to wonder if maybe the temple hadn't been built atop a hill, but was the hill. Perhaps earth had been packed around the walls of the old tunnels until all that remained exposed was what was now the ground floor. It actually made the most sense, really, as they had chosen to deliberately build the monastery above the Goa'uld's old stomping grounds.

His archaeologist's instincts told him they were perhaps seventy or eighty feet below the top of the hill now, and near the same elevation as the town. As though confirming his guess, they finally reached the bottom of the stairwell.

"I will await you at the top of the stairs," the abbot announced. "I carry three spare candles with me. When I have placed the last in my lantern, I will be forced to return without you."

"We understand," Daniel answered. "It shouldn't take us long to find out what we need to find, but I can't guarantee we'll have the necessary tools with us to, uh, remove the Auris. We may have to just settle for deactivating or neutralizing it and coming back for the remnants later."

"That is acceptable," Father Constasis agreed. "I wish you both the best of luck. The door to the Garden is just at the end of this hall."

"Thank you for all your help," he replied.

"You've been great," Vala added, offering a cheeky smile of her own.

They made their way down the hall, flashlights reflecting off the gold-plated door ahead of them. It was perfectly hexagonal in shape, perhaps ten feet in diameter. To either side of it were dark stone walls, as though the stone masonry corridor had been built right up to an existing building. When Daniel's light picked up dust gathered in the corners, he realized that was exactly what had happened. Over the years, dirt had sifted between the join between the disparate wall types.

"So," Vala began, sweeping her light around the end of the hall. "Step one: announce ourselves." At his go-ahead gesture, she tapped the crystal on her necklace. "Tal'mac Lillia!"

"Ego sum Adamus!"

They waited expectantly, but nothing happened. Just as Daniel opened his mouth to suggest Vala try the name "Lilith", the hexagon split down the middle and retracted into the wall on either side.

"Excellent," she grinned, switching off her voice modulator. "So, blood's next, right?"

"Yep," he agreed, digging into his coat pocket for the wrapped dagger one of the monks had given him. They stepped cautiously into the new room, noting another set of six-sided doors and a receptacle beside it.

"What if it requires the specific genetic make-up of the original Lillia and Adamus?" Vala asked.

Daniel shrugged. "Then all this is for nothing. I would think that Lillia wouldn't have been so quick to be that exclusive, though, especially knowing that it could be possible she may have to take another host. Besides, if she never recovered her, uh, ex-husband, she'd never be able to get back in then either."

"Good point." She held out her left hand, thumb pointed upward so that he could carefully draw a dark red bead of blood. He did the same to his own thumb, then they held their hands over the receptacle and squeezed out a few drops each. Again, the door was slow to respond, but soon groaned out of the way, opening their way to the third and final door.

"Oooh, my favorite part," she smiled. "How will the door know when we've 'exchanged affection'?"

"I have no idea," Daniel replied. "Actually, I take that back... it might have heat sensors, detecting an increased blood-flow which is a sure sign of... um..."

"Excitement?"

He coughed. "Excellent word for it."

"So we could actually just get mad at one another and it would still open."

"Or maybe it has some way to detect an increase in endorphins... I don't know!"

She draped her arms around his shoulders. "I'm ready if you are."

Daniel swallowed heavily, hands resting carefully on her hips as they drew closer. If he was right on either count, then he and Vala were going to be getting pretty involved in this kiss to make the door open for them. He could feel his own pulse begin to accelerate, licking his lips as he realized that merely being this intimately close to the beautiful thief was enough to increase his endorphin level.

Just before their lips touched, the door shifted and began to slide open, the treasure hunters whipping their heads around to stare in surprise. "I guess it's the thought that counts," Daniel quipped, surprised that it had been that easy.

Vala turned his head back to face her, stormy gray eyes flashing. "Not to me, it doesn't."

He was suddenly reeled into a searing kiss, the dark-haired woman's arms once more around his neck so that he could hardly pull away from her. Not that he really wanted to, if he were honest with himself. His own hands crept up to her nape, fingers threading through the waves of raven locks spilling over her shoulders and holding on for all he was worth. Then he told his brain to just shut up and enjoy.

Finally, they had to pull away to catch their breaths. Daniel panted, staring at her with wide eyes while she looked back at him with equal shock. "That was..." he began.

"Uh-huh," she gasped, looking just as stunned as he felt. "You mean..."

"Do you?"

"You too?"

"Yeah." Testing his theory, Daniel pulled her in for another, thankfully-shorter kiss, though it was no-less sweet than the first. When they drew apart this time, he looped his arms around her waist and held her close. "I thought you were just teasing me like you do everyone else."

Vala gave a throaty laugh. "I was beginning to think you weren't interested in girls."

He chuckled. "I was married, that should have been a clue."

"Yes, but it was 'Jack' this and 'Jack' that... and I seriously began to wonder."

"Mmm." He gave her another kiss on her temple, feeling so deliriously happy his toes wanted to curl up inside his boots. "We could probably stay here all day, but why don't we go check out the Garden then..."

"Discuss the terms of our partnership further?"

"Yeah."

Reluctantly, they disentangled their arms from one another and stepped into the darkened room beyond. Right away, Daniel realized that the only thing that had ever grown in this "garden" were scientific theories. It was a laboratory, complete with scopes, diagnostic tools, and computers.

Vala whistled appreciatively. "Someone was a busy little bee."

"But I know what the pride of the garden was," Daniel replied, shining his light on the back wall. It was nearly black and covered in the familiar blocks of Ancient text. In the very center was a rounded object, beveled and extended out from the wall only a few inches. "It's an Ancient repository of knowledge."

"Really? What's it do?"

Daniel leaped forward, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her back just as the device extended out further in response to her proximity. "Oh, nothing much. Just grabs your head, scrambles your brains, and eventually kills you."

"Doesn't seem very useful to me," she remarked, eyes wide. "Good thing you caught me in time. I take it you've seen one of these before?"

He nodded. "Jack had a close encounter that--"

"Oh. Jack again."

"Funny. Anyway, since we don't have a means to contact the Asguard, it'd probably be best if we just leave this alone for a while."

Vala nodded. "What about everything else?"

He shrugged. "We pull all the data crystals and hope there's some decent information on them. Hopefully, at least one of them will contain something on whatever genetic sabotage Lillia conducted on the population, and we can get somebody--the Jayans, maybe--to devise a cure."

She tapped the end of his nose with a forefinger. "How incredibly noble of you."

"It's in the job description," he quipped.

They "exchanged affection" briefly again before turning to the various pieces of lab equipment and stripping all the data crystals out of the computers. Within an hour, they'd scoured the entire room and collected everything that looked like it might be of importance. Daniel was reluctant to leave the repository out in the open, but realized that there wasn't anything he could do about it now. Shouldering their packs, they left the lab, closing the doors behind them once more.

"Want to go open the last one again... just for fun?" Vala joked as they activated the final door and stepped back into the old catacombs.

"Not now, but maybe we can practice when we get back to the apartment."

She stroked a hand down his arm and linked her elbow with his. "Darling, I love the way you think."

Father Constasis was still waiting for them at the top of the stairs, having obviously been in the midst of prayers. "Were you unsuccessful?"

"We got in," Daniel answered. "It was a crystal garden, and we took most of what we could. There are still a few things we'll need to retrieve later, but we got a lot of it."

The abbot looked relieved. "And Lillia's Curse?"

Vala hefted her pack slightly. "With a little help from some of our friends on other worlds, we may be able to lift it."

The priest bowed deeply. "Then you will have our eternal gratitude! Will you stay awhile and share the evening meal?"

"We should really get back," Daniel replied. "I imagine you'll want these crystals gone as quickly as possible."

"Oh, of course," he agreed, bowing again.

Daniel grinned and squeezed Vala's hand. He knew why he was in a hurry to leave, anyway, and crystals had nothing to do with it. Her answering chuckle clearly replied, "Message received."

Once back on the top level, they endured the thanks and congratulations of the monks gathered to greet them, gritting their teeth in embarassment because they really hadn't done anything yet. At last, they were outside and walking back down the hill, arm-in-arm. They didn't say anything, just enjoyed the clear air and each other's company, the thrill of excitement and anticipation making their steps quicker.

In their haste, they didn't notice the ambush until it was too late to react. Daniel had time to see only the brilliant blue flash of a zat's energy before darkness fell.

Author's Notes:
See? I gave you advanced warning yesterday... I told you I was evil!

Author's Notes:See? I gave you advanced warning yesterday... I you I was evil!

Enjoy your weekend...