Part 5
Disclaimers can be found in Part 0
***
Witashaun saw Daniel approaching with the bowls that she had taken over earlier for the stranger's breakfast. She hurried up and took them from him. Then turned to go, but Daniel caught her before she could leave.
"Witashaun, could you answer some questions for me?"
"Of course Daniel. That is what my father has asked me to do," she replied.
Both began walking to the center of the village where Witashaun handed the bowls to another woman. "What is it you wish to know Daniel?"
"Well yesterday, when you were showing us around ... well, you're preparing for a Ghost Dance aren't you?"
Witashaun stopped and for just a moment Daniel saw a hint of fear cross her features, but she recovered quickly and smiled.
"You know about the Ghost Dance?"
"A little. You see where we come from there are people such as yourselves and while your culture isn't one that I've studied, I've read some on it."
"There are Lacotia where you are from?"
"Well, they call themselves Lakota or Sioux, but they are basically the same. And your father's creation story was similar to the one that the Lakota have on my world."
"Are there many Lakota on your world?"
"Yes there are quite a few. More than here anyway."
"I wonder ..." Witashaun began but didn't finish.
"Witashaun, my friends and I believe that you originally came from our world a long time ago."
"That would make your world the under world. Is that where you are from Daniel?"
"No. Our world isn't the under world that's in your legends. It's really kind of difficult to explain and why and how we came here is even more difficult to explain, but I think we came here for a reason. I think we came here to help your people in some way. Why are you preparing for a Ghost Dance?"
Again Daniel spotted that hint of fear in Witashaun's face at the mention of the Ghost Dance. "What are you afraid of Witashaun? I want to help. My friends want to help."
"You must talk to my father for he is the one who should answer these questions. It isn't my place." She touched Daniel's arm gently. "I will take you to him."
***
Lunchtime found SG1 reunited again sharing a meal of MREs and information. Daniel's information was the most unnerving to the team.
"Jack, we're not the only ones having this dream. All of the adult men in the tribe have had the same dreams we have."
"No women?" asked Carter.
"No, no women and it's got them running scared."
"Were we in any of their dreams?"
"No, but that's the only difference. The men haven't told the women except to say that they are to prepare for a Ghost Dance. The women, understandably, are frightened because they don't know what is scaring their men."
"A Ghost Dance?"
"Yeah, from what I remember back on our world it started just before the Wounded Knee thing. Around 1890 things were so bad on the reservations that people were starving to death. A Paiute Indian named Wovoka came forth and claimed to be the messiah. He said he had come to earth to prepare the Indians for their salvation. What he did was to teach the different nations what's called the Ghost Dance and also several Ghost Dance Songs. According to the legend, the following spring the earth was going to renew itself. There would be a new layer of earth, grass, trees, buffalo ... well everything. And it would cover up all the old -- including the people.
Anyone who was dancing the Ghost Dance would be suspended above the earth while this was going on. When it was finished, they would be lowered back down along with all of their ancestors where they would live on. Only Indians would live in the new world.
Well these guys have a similar legend ... only it wasn't the white man they were trying to save themselves from. It was the minions of some evil spirits who appeared one day and started taking some of their people as slaves."
"Goa'uld?"
Daniel nodded. "One particularly nasty one named Wakiawakoua had eyes that glowed. Tatapesaah says that he was the leader of the evil spirits. They would come, grab the best warriors and prettiest woman and leave. No one ever saw any of the ones taken again. This went on for some time until a good spirit, Pawiyaki, arrived. The story is that bright lights appeared from the sky taking with them all of the evil spirits. Then Pawiyaki taught the people here the Ghost Dance and left them their spirit pipe with the instructions that if they were ever in need of her again, they should hold the pipe smoking ceremony and dance the Ghost Dance."
"Asgard?"
"It sounds like them, but I don't know."
"Colonel," Carter started, "if this is an Asgard protected planet, then there might be some Asgard technology here like on Crimmeria."
"So ... what ... our dreams are a premonition that the Goa'uld are coming back here and we need to help these people find out how to use the technology?"
Carter shook her head. "I don't know what the dreams are sir, but what if there is some Asgard technology here and it's malfunctioned someway. It could be the disaster all you men are dreaming about and for some reason, we're here to fix it."
Jack shook his head. "It's a long shot Carter."
"Jack, this whole thing is a long shot," stated Daniel.
Jack looked at Teal'c who had been patiently listening to his team mates. "Teal'c, do you remember any other planets besides Crimmeria that for some reason or another the Goa'uld avoid?"
Teal'c's head tilted to the left whenever he was thinking. "No O'Neill, I do not."
"Sir that doesn't mean that there aren't any."
"I know Carter."
"We've got to do something."
"We are Carter. We spent all morning looking in those foothills for something and Daniel has been learning all sorts of new and interesting things ... like this was a Goa'uld planet at one time and for some strange reason they stopped coming here."
"But sir ..."
"And we'll continue looking. Okay Carter?"
"Okay sir."
Jack turned to Daniel again. "Daniel, do you think you'll learn anything else if you spend some more time with Tatapesaah and his people?"
"Well. I don't know Jack. I might."
"Good enough for me. You go back. Carter, Teal'c and I'll go back to where we ended our search. Find out, if you can, if there are any caves that these guys know about. Maybe some caves that they aren't allowed to go into or something. What would they call it? Sacred places? If there is any Asgard technology lying around, it would probably be there."
"Right. Oh and Jack..."
"Yeah."
"We've all been invited to join in the ceremony. Which means we'll have to learn their dance and stuff."
"Just Peachy. I always wanted to learn how to Ghost Dance."
***
"Over here, Colonel."
O'Neill left the wall of bushes he was poking through to join Carter. He hoped she had found the cave they were looking for, but the look on her face as he approached wasn't very encouraging. She pointed.
"Well, bite me," he said.
Carter glanced quickly at him and he smiled. "Just something I heard when Teal'c was watching TV the other day. It just seemed to fit."
"Yes, sir," said Carter.
Teal'c who had noticed that both O'Neill and Carter had stopped looking for the cave entrance and were now talking together walked to where they were standing. Both O'Neill and Carter turned to look at him.
"Well Teal'c. It looks like Carter found our cave, but there is a small problem."
Teal'c looked. The cave entrance was covered in bushes, but not enough to hide the fact that the ceiling had collapsed and a solid wall of rock was now between them and whatever secrets the cave might hold.
O'Neill moved in for a closer look. The entrance to the cave was about 20 feet in height and about 10 feet at it's widest point. The collapsed part of the ceiling was not quite 10 feet in from the mouth of the cave. He bent down and picked up a small stone jiggling it in the palm of his hand while he looked around. Carter and Teal'c watched. He walked to the side of the cave, dropping the small stone, he ran his hand down the side of the wall.
"Carter, come here."
When she joined him, he pointed to the wall. "I'm no spelunker, but I don't think this cave is natural."
Carter put her hand on the wall. Instead of a rough, stony texture the cave's walls were smooth as glass. She turned on her flashlight and played it on the surface in front of her. The light did not bounce off of the wall, but seemed to be absorbed by it. Holding the light closer, she again put her hand on the surface.
"Sir, there are no marks on this wall at all. Nothing to indicate that it was dug out by any excavating machinery I've ever seen."
O'Neill reached down and pulled his knife. Moving to where Carter was still shining her flashlight, he tried to dig into the wall. His knife, the edge razor sharp, left no discernible mark on the surface.
"Well, it's certainly as hard as . . . rock."
Carter back stepped to the entrance of the cave, moving her flashlight along the cave wall as she did. Using her free hand, she felt along the edge of the cave mouth.
"Colonel. I don't believe this is rock. Feel here."
O'Neill did as he was told. His hand running up and down the edge of the cave. "It's rough here, but less than an inch in it turns into that smooth stuff. It almost feels like glass." He still had his knife out and he began to dig around the edge. He made a dent in the rock itself with the point of his knife, but as soon as his knife hit the smooth section it just slid across the surface. Putting his knife back in its sheath, he motioned for her to join him outside with Teal'c.
"It's getting late and I want to see if Daniel has made any progress in his information gathering. We'll come back here tomorrow and see if it's possible to clear that rock slide away."
As they began their trek back to the village, Carter began to talk.
"Sir, bear with me for a moment. The vent we found had air coming from it. That means that there must be some sort of circulation going on inside there somewhere. It might mean that the slide isn't very deep or very solid, and air is being pulled into the cave through the slide. Of course it could also mean that whatever is on the other side of that slide is creating the circulation."
"Like some big air conditioner," said O'Neill.
"Yes, sir. But whatever it is, with the evidence of the walls of that cave we can assume that there was an advanced civilization at work here at some time."
"Ya think."
"Yes, sir. I do."
Teal'c, who had the lead, suddenly stopped and motioned for his team mates to be quiet.
"What?" whispered O'Neill.
"Listen."
They were not that far from the village and the wind was blowing in their direction. All could smell smoke from something burning and over that they could hear screams and yelling.
All of O'Neill's instincts turned on at once and he began running towards the village knowing that Teal'c and Carter would follow. Reaching the tree line, he knelt and put up a hand to indicate that the other two should do the same.
"Damn," he whispered as Teal'c and Carter joined him. "Snake heads."
Three Jaffa sporting the symbol of Heru'ur were herding Lacotia into the center of the village where a fourth waited. There was no sign of Daniel in the prisoners and O'Neill hoped that he had made it out of the village before the Goa'uld had arrived.
"What are we going to do, sir?" asked Carter.
"Wait a minute. See what they're up to and how many there are. I spot four. And I don't see Daniel anywhere."
"I see four as well, O'Neill. Daniel Jackson is there O'Neill. He is standing by Tatapesaah."
Jack looked. Daniel had one of the brightly patterned blankets draped around him and over his head. He was trying to blend in with the rest of the tribesmen. So far it seemed to be working. The Jaffa had not singled him out.
"Teal'c, could this just be a scouting party? Would they just send four through the Gate to explore?"
"It is possible O'Neill. This planet has not been visited by any Goa'uld in a great deal of time. Heru'ur may be trying to find new worlds to harvest."
"Okay then. Tell me what happens if a scouting party doesn't return."
"Apophis would send another group of Jaffa through. The second group would contain more Jaffa. If the second group did not return, he would send ships."
"Sweet," sighed Jack. "If we took out those four there, how long do you think we have before Heru'ur would send a second bunch through the Gate?"
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "I do not know, O'Neill. It could be days, weeks, or even months. It will depend on how much Heru'ur wants this world and what he wants it for."
Jack took the safety off of his MP-9, pulled the clip, and put it back in. "Well kids it looks like whatever timetable we're working on here has just been accelerated. All right, here's the plan."
***
Continued in Part 6
Disclaimers can be found in Part 0
***
Witashaun saw Daniel approaching with the bowls that she had taken over earlier for the stranger's breakfast. She hurried up and took them from him. Then turned to go, but Daniel caught her before she could leave.
"Witashaun, could you answer some questions for me?"
"Of course Daniel. That is what my father has asked me to do," she replied.
Both began walking to the center of the village where Witashaun handed the bowls to another woman. "What is it you wish to know Daniel?"
"Well yesterday, when you were showing us around ... well, you're preparing for a Ghost Dance aren't you?"
Witashaun stopped and for just a moment Daniel saw a hint of fear cross her features, but she recovered quickly and smiled.
"You know about the Ghost Dance?"
"A little. You see where we come from there are people such as yourselves and while your culture isn't one that I've studied, I've read some on it."
"There are Lacotia where you are from?"
"Well, they call themselves Lakota or Sioux, but they are basically the same. And your father's creation story was similar to the one that the Lakota have on my world."
"Are there many Lakota on your world?"
"Yes there are quite a few. More than here anyway."
"I wonder ..." Witashaun began but didn't finish.
"Witashaun, my friends and I believe that you originally came from our world a long time ago."
"That would make your world the under world. Is that where you are from Daniel?"
"No. Our world isn't the under world that's in your legends. It's really kind of difficult to explain and why and how we came here is even more difficult to explain, but I think we came here for a reason. I think we came here to help your people in some way. Why are you preparing for a Ghost Dance?"
Again Daniel spotted that hint of fear in Witashaun's face at the mention of the Ghost Dance. "What are you afraid of Witashaun? I want to help. My friends want to help."
"You must talk to my father for he is the one who should answer these questions. It isn't my place." She touched Daniel's arm gently. "I will take you to him."
***
Lunchtime found SG1 reunited again sharing a meal of MREs and information. Daniel's information was the most unnerving to the team.
"Jack, we're not the only ones having this dream. All of the adult men in the tribe have had the same dreams we have."
"No women?" asked Carter.
"No, no women and it's got them running scared."
"Were we in any of their dreams?"
"No, but that's the only difference. The men haven't told the women except to say that they are to prepare for a Ghost Dance. The women, understandably, are frightened because they don't know what is scaring their men."
"A Ghost Dance?"
"Yeah, from what I remember back on our world it started just before the Wounded Knee thing. Around 1890 things were so bad on the reservations that people were starving to death. A Paiute Indian named Wovoka came forth and claimed to be the messiah. He said he had come to earth to prepare the Indians for their salvation. What he did was to teach the different nations what's called the Ghost Dance and also several Ghost Dance Songs. According to the legend, the following spring the earth was going to renew itself. There would be a new layer of earth, grass, trees, buffalo ... well everything. And it would cover up all the old -- including the people.
Anyone who was dancing the Ghost Dance would be suspended above the earth while this was going on. When it was finished, they would be lowered back down along with all of their ancestors where they would live on. Only Indians would live in the new world.
Well these guys have a similar legend ... only it wasn't the white man they were trying to save themselves from. It was the minions of some evil spirits who appeared one day and started taking some of their people as slaves."
"Goa'uld?"
Daniel nodded. "One particularly nasty one named Wakiawakoua had eyes that glowed. Tatapesaah says that he was the leader of the evil spirits. They would come, grab the best warriors and prettiest woman and leave. No one ever saw any of the ones taken again. This went on for some time until a good spirit, Pawiyaki, arrived. The story is that bright lights appeared from the sky taking with them all of the evil spirits. Then Pawiyaki taught the people here the Ghost Dance and left them their spirit pipe with the instructions that if they were ever in need of her again, they should hold the pipe smoking ceremony and dance the Ghost Dance."
"Asgard?"
"It sounds like them, but I don't know."
"Colonel," Carter started, "if this is an Asgard protected planet, then there might be some Asgard technology here like on Crimmeria."
"So ... what ... our dreams are a premonition that the Goa'uld are coming back here and we need to help these people find out how to use the technology?"
Carter shook her head. "I don't know what the dreams are sir, but what if there is some Asgard technology here and it's malfunctioned someway. It could be the disaster all you men are dreaming about and for some reason, we're here to fix it."
Jack shook his head. "It's a long shot Carter."
"Jack, this whole thing is a long shot," stated Daniel.
Jack looked at Teal'c who had been patiently listening to his team mates. "Teal'c, do you remember any other planets besides Crimmeria that for some reason or another the Goa'uld avoid?"
Teal'c's head tilted to the left whenever he was thinking. "No O'Neill, I do not."
"Sir that doesn't mean that there aren't any."
"I know Carter."
"We've got to do something."
"We are Carter. We spent all morning looking in those foothills for something and Daniel has been learning all sorts of new and interesting things ... like this was a Goa'uld planet at one time and for some strange reason they stopped coming here."
"But sir ..."
"And we'll continue looking. Okay Carter?"
"Okay sir."
Jack turned to Daniel again. "Daniel, do you think you'll learn anything else if you spend some more time with Tatapesaah and his people?"
"Well. I don't know Jack. I might."
"Good enough for me. You go back. Carter, Teal'c and I'll go back to where we ended our search. Find out, if you can, if there are any caves that these guys know about. Maybe some caves that they aren't allowed to go into or something. What would they call it? Sacred places? If there is any Asgard technology lying around, it would probably be there."
"Right. Oh and Jack..."
"Yeah."
"We've all been invited to join in the ceremony. Which means we'll have to learn their dance and stuff."
"Just Peachy. I always wanted to learn how to Ghost Dance."
***
"Over here, Colonel."
O'Neill left the wall of bushes he was poking through to join Carter. He hoped she had found the cave they were looking for, but the look on her face as he approached wasn't very encouraging. She pointed.
"Well, bite me," he said.
Carter glanced quickly at him and he smiled. "Just something I heard when Teal'c was watching TV the other day. It just seemed to fit."
"Yes, sir," said Carter.
Teal'c who had noticed that both O'Neill and Carter had stopped looking for the cave entrance and were now talking together walked to where they were standing. Both O'Neill and Carter turned to look at him.
"Well Teal'c. It looks like Carter found our cave, but there is a small problem."
Teal'c looked. The cave entrance was covered in bushes, but not enough to hide the fact that the ceiling had collapsed and a solid wall of rock was now between them and whatever secrets the cave might hold.
O'Neill moved in for a closer look. The entrance to the cave was about 20 feet in height and about 10 feet at it's widest point. The collapsed part of the ceiling was not quite 10 feet in from the mouth of the cave. He bent down and picked up a small stone jiggling it in the palm of his hand while he looked around. Carter and Teal'c watched. He walked to the side of the cave, dropping the small stone, he ran his hand down the side of the wall.
"Carter, come here."
When she joined him, he pointed to the wall. "I'm no spelunker, but I don't think this cave is natural."
Carter put her hand on the wall. Instead of a rough, stony texture the cave's walls were smooth as glass. She turned on her flashlight and played it on the surface in front of her. The light did not bounce off of the wall, but seemed to be absorbed by it. Holding the light closer, she again put her hand on the surface.
"Sir, there are no marks on this wall at all. Nothing to indicate that it was dug out by any excavating machinery I've ever seen."
O'Neill reached down and pulled his knife. Moving to where Carter was still shining her flashlight, he tried to dig into the wall. His knife, the edge razor sharp, left no discernible mark on the surface.
"Well, it's certainly as hard as . . . rock."
Carter back stepped to the entrance of the cave, moving her flashlight along the cave wall as she did. Using her free hand, she felt along the edge of the cave mouth.
"Colonel. I don't believe this is rock. Feel here."
O'Neill did as he was told. His hand running up and down the edge of the cave. "It's rough here, but less than an inch in it turns into that smooth stuff. It almost feels like glass." He still had his knife out and he began to dig around the edge. He made a dent in the rock itself with the point of his knife, but as soon as his knife hit the smooth section it just slid across the surface. Putting his knife back in its sheath, he motioned for her to join him outside with Teal'c.
"It's getting late and I want to see if Daniel has made any progress in his information gathering. We'll come back here tomorrow and see if it's possible to clear that rock slide away."
As they began their trek back to the village, Carter began to talk.
"Sir, bear with me for a moment. The vent we found had air coming from it. That means that there must be some sort of circulation going on inside there somewhere. It might mean that the slide isn't very deep or very solid, and air is being pulled into the cave through the slide. Of course it could also mean that whatever is on the other side of that slide is creating the circulation."
"Like some big air conditioner," said O'Neill.
"Yes, sir. But whatever it is, with the evidence of the walls of that cave we can assume that there was an advanced civilization at work here at some time."
"Ya think."
"Yes, sir. I do."
Teal'c, who had the lead, suddenly stopped and motioned for his team mates to be quiet.
"What?" whispered O'Neill.
"Listen."
They were not that far from the village and the wind was blowing in their direction. All could smell smoke from something burning and over that they could hear screams and yelling.
All of O'Neill's instincts turned on at once and he began running towards the village knowing that Teal'c and Carter would follow. Reaching the tree line, he knelt and put up a hand to indicate that the other two should do the same.
"Damn," he whispered as Teal'c and Carter joined him. "Snake heads."
Three Jaffa sporting the symbol of Heru'ur were herding Lacotia into the center of the village where a fourth waited. There was no sign of Daniel in the prisoners and O'Neill hoped that he had made it out of the village before the Goa'uld had arrived.
"What are we going to do, sir?" asked Carter.
"Wait a minute. See what they're up to and how many there are. I spot four. And I don't see Daniel anywhere."
"I see four as well, O'Neill. Daniel Jackson is there O'Neill. He is standing by Tatapesaah."
Jack looked. Daniel had one of the brightly patterned blankets draped around him and over his head. He was trying to blend in with the rest of the tribesmen. So far it seemed to be working. The Jaffa had not singled him out.
"Teal'c, could this just be a scouting party? Would they just send four through the Gate to explore?"
"It is possible O'Neill. This planet has not been visited by any Goa'uld in a great deal of time. Heru'ur may be trying to find new worlds to harvest."
"Okay then. Tell me what happens if a scouting party doesn't return."
"Apophis would send another group of Jaffa through. The second group would contain more Jaffa. If the second group did not return, he would send ships."
"Sweet," sighed Jack. "If we took out those four there, how long do you think we have before Heru'ur would send a second bunch through the Gate?"
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "I do not know, O'Neill. It could be days, weeks, or even months. It will depend on how much Heru'ur wants this world and what he wants it for."
Jack took the safety off of his MP-9, pulled the clip, and put it back in. "Well kids it looks like whatever timetable we're working on here has just been accelerated. All right, here's the plan."
***
Continued in Part 6