Chapter 6

This happened in the last chapter: Sam & Jack arrived at Hadrian's domain and met the occupants of their new home.

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At dawn, a middle aged women bearing a torch silently walked the slaves quarters on her bare feet and entered each cell, shaking the slaves' shoulders to wake them up before she walked to the next cell.

"Atalante, Jason, it is dawn, you have to wake up. Hephaestus is waiting for you in the vestibule"

Used to life in the field, the two officers stood up at once and followed her, Sam trying to comb her hair with her fingers, followed by Jack scratching his hitiching 3-days beard.

A couple of slaves were leaving Hephaestus with their instructions for the morning when the group reached the vestibule. Daphne left the two officers to attend to her own duties.

"Jason, Atalante. This is your first day, it is important that you learn to behave and fulfill your duties in a way that pleases our dominus. You will be paired with more experienced servants who will teach you how thing are done. Jason,you will accompany Horatius to the stable, he will tell you what to do. You will find him already on his way, follow the path directly to your left, you will soon find him. Atalante, you will help Dona Ophelia to bath and dress this morning. You will knock twice on this door and wait for an answer before you enter. Salute our dona and join Tiresia. She will show you what to do"

"Er..." Jack hesitated. "No breakfast? How about freshening up?"

"What is breakfast?"

"Breakfast? Some food in the morning?"

"We don't eat this early. You'll have some fruits, nuts and wine when Polydeus is half-way to the zenith"

"Polydeus?" Jack asked. Sam nudged his shoulder and whispered:

"The first sun Sir"

"Oh yeah, Polydeus..." Jack smiled at Hephaestus who was looking at him like he was half stupid "Yeah well, and about freshening up? You know I could do with a shave..." Jack continued, scratching his jaw. Hephaestus frowned.

"I can see that Jason. This looks very uncivilized indeed, you will take this up with Horatius, he will provide you with a razor at the stable"

"They have razors in the stables here?"

"Some slaves use to sleep there to watch the horses and prevent thefts. They will have anything you need"

"Fine. I'll go and find Horatius then" he said as he passed the heavy door.

"Er.. Excuse me Hephaestus, I would also like to freshen up if that's OK?"

"OK?" Hephaestus frowned.

"Er... If that's not a problem"

"How would you freshen up? You don't have to shave"

"No of cause" Sam smiled. "But I could do with a comb though. I wish to be presentable before I enter the dona's chamber"

"Naturally" Hephaestus approved. He showed her to a little shelf in a room siding the kitchen, where she found everything she needed, did a quick wash-up and hasted to Dona Ophelia's chamber where she knocked twice as instructed.

"Enter" the deep voice of Dona Ophelia ordered. Sam opened the door, bowed discreetly and closed the door.

"Good morning Dona Ophelia"

"Good morning Atalante" Ophelia smiled from her bed. "Tiresia is in the bathroom already" she waved toward a door on Sam's right. Entering said room, Sam recognized one of the young slaves from the day before at dinner. She had clear eyes, long dark wavy hair and a fair skin but a resolute face. Her wild beauty reminded Sam of the Wonder Woman TV-show she was watching as a teen.

"Atalante?" the young woman asked.

"Yes, you must be Tiresia" Sam answered, reaching to shake her hand before she remembered only Earth people were introducing themselves this way. She was therefore surprised when Tiresia extended both her hands toward her. She took them in hers and smiled.

"I'm afraid you'll have to teach me many things today Tiresia. I've never washed nor dressed anyone before"

"Really? Isn't is something every girl learns to do where you come from?"

"Er.. no.. not exactly. So, what should I do?" Sam answered, not wanting to start a long explanation about school, science and the Air Force.

"First we have to fill Dona Ophelia's bath with water. One bucket with warm water for three of cold. While you do that, I will prepare her dress and massage her"

Sam didn't really enjoy the idea of bearing all those heavy buckets but she didn't have a clue about massages so she had no choice. Maybe Tiresia would teach her later on, it sounded much more fun. It became soon obvious that the young woman was blind, although she seemed to know the rooms so well that she was able to work swiftly. She showed Sam a passageway behind a curtain, that was a shortcut to the kitchen where the water was already boiling. Sam filled a bucket and carefully carried it back. She could hear Dona Ophelia chatting agreeably with Tiresia and acknowledged once again how lucky they had been to be bought by this family.

Meanwhile, Jack had shaved and felt human once more, then Horatius had showed him how to clean the stables. Jack had never had a thing for horses, they were too big and nervous, which made them unreliable, in his opinion. Maybe it had something to do with that time his dad had put him on a huge horse and taken him for a calm walk in a field, he had said. The dogs running along in the high grass had scared the horse, who had swerved and reared, knocking him down and nearly trampled on him in the process... And here he was now, cleaning each stall with the horse still in, watching him as he was scooping soiled straw and manure out. Horatius was limping around on his crutch, dragging fresh straw bundles to the stalls Jack had cleaned, and spreading it in. Hadrian's horses were renowned and he wanted the best for them, expecting his slaves to treat them as well as the members of his family. Jack spent most of his day cleaning, feeding, currying and bathing the magnificent animals, but was happily exempted from training them since he had no experience and it was a task for experts.

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As Khastor, the second sun, was reaching its zenith, the heat became unbearable. Jack and Horatius went back inside the domus. Hephaestus sent Horatius to Dominus Orion to fan him during the mid-day's nap.

"Jason, you will wash the floor in the vestibule and the triclinium. Warm water and rags are in the kitchen"

"Yes Sir" Jack obediently answered, although not thrilled by the task. "It's better than the mines though" he thought. At the kitchen door, he was met with a view that stopped him on the spot. A buttock barely covered by a short tunic was the first thing he saw. A woman was on her four, leaning deep in a cauldron she was energitically scrubbing. When he realized who's six this was, his heart beat suddenly accelerated and cold sweat ran down his spine. After the first shock, he managed to compose himself enough to find his voice again.

"Er.. Carter... Whatcha doing?"

"Sir! Hi!" she said, straightening up and sweeping hair away from her sweaty forehead, unaware of the image still burning in her CO's mind. "I am scrubbing a cauldron Sir"

"I can see that..." That and other things... The top of her tunic had slipped down on one side, revealing more than it was supposed to. He gulped.

"They don't have dish washing liquid nor wire wool, so this takes ages and a bit of elbow grease"

"What are you using then?"

"Ah... At first, I removed the worst of the sauce with a handful of straw. Now I'm attacking the bottom with brick powder and a piece of wood..." she waved the item at him. "I miss my dish washer Sir" she sighed. Jack winced in sympathy, checking another cauldron hanging over the fire.

"I'll take some of that if you don't need it, I'm washing the floors"

"Of course. Buckets over there, just refill the cauldron with cold water so it's always full. I saw a kind of hard-brush broom over there, you could certainly wrap a mop around it"

"Thanks Carter" She acknowledged him with a smile and dove back inside her cauldron. Jack fetched a bucket and proceeded to fill it with warm water. He nearly burned himself in the process, his eyes not really focused on their task. He had seen her naked yesterday and manged to keep his cool, but this...! So hot! Coming to his senses at last, he closed his mouth, tore his eyes from her and carefully grabbing his bucket, he left.

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Polydeus had disappeared behind the horizon and the temperature was suddenly much nicer, a breeze was rising and Khastor provided its dimmer light. Hephaestus was satisfied with everyone's work and had given the slaves some free time before they would be called in again to prepare for the evening meal. Several of them had taken the opportunity to go and bath in the river, both Jack and Sam joined them to get rid of the dirt and sweat of a hard day's work. Once again, they had been taken aback by the lack of modesty, everyone just dropping their clothes on the bank to jump stark naked into the water. They agreed that they would attract more attention to themselves if they made a fuss out of it rather than joining in some naturism for the time being. His mind still filled with the image of her energetic scrubbing of the cauldron a few hours ago, there was no way Jack could avoid noticing how gorgeous his Major was and he hurried to the water, appreciating the coolness of the river before he embarrassed both himself and her.

After their bath, they were lying on the grass, letting Khastor gently dry their backs.

"Carter? Have you noticed any kind of technology in the house?"

"Yes Sir, plenty. In the kitchen for starters, they have a device that stirs the food so it won't burn and scorch the bottom of the pan. They also have current water and a clever faucet system that you've probably noticed. Maybe not real technology, but I'm sure the Ancient Greek didn't have that. In Dona Ophelia's room I saw a communication device and some other things I didn't have a chance to identify. The slave master, what's his name again? Hepha-something.. have you had the chance to get a proper look at his prosthesis? It's actually a device, I don't know how advanced but it is more than a wooden leg, the ankle is articulated and if you look closely you'll see small lights blinking sometimes. And then, we have the white sticks and those lovely rings" she said, turning the bluish circle around her ankle.

"Yep... In the stables, Horatius showed me a racing cart Hadrian has. It's pulled by a horse, but it has no wheels, it levitates on air cushion or some electromagnetic field like those trains in Japan. I'm sure it's partly made of naquadah. I bet you Teal'c could refer to an episode of Star Wars having something similar. I also noticed that the doors of the house are thieves-proof with recognition devices. Probably recognizes our rings when we are in range. Don't you find it's odd, all those primitive ways and things side by side with ultra advanced technology?"

"I agree Sir, this is strange. I wish we could talk with Teal'c and Daniel. They could certainly enlighten us there"

"Yeah... I hope you'll have a chance to visit the temple soon and learn some more about that technology. We really have to find a way to remove those rings soon, and after all, you are supposedly bought in the name of the good goddess so you should be at the temple. Not that I'm complaining about the company or anything" he smirked. She smiled back, and was about to answer when the other slaves called for them to walk back to the domus.