Chapter 17
Failed attempts
Thera felt her heart stop as Thoth pushed her toward the pool of acid. In mere seconds, she would feel her skin burn as the acid ate away at her. Nobody would know how she had died, what had happened, or anything! Closing her eyes, she braced herself for the impact. It never came. (Well, duh!) She cracked open her eyes a bit. There was the acid, and here she was, floating a few inches off of it. Wait, FLOATING?! Thera felt herself gently being brought back to the sturdy floor, being up righted, no injuries except for her toe, which had already begun to heal. Thoth had a look of horror on his face, as though he had seen a ghost! Maybe he had, because a sudden white light flashed and Thoth had fled from the room. Thera turned slowly around and saw the light change into the shape of a woman.
"W-wh-who a-are. . ." Thera stuttered, gaping.
"I am Oma Desalla." The woman replied, with a cool, strong voice. "I am the one Daniel Jackson joined when he died, and I am the one who brought him back."
"You ARE a ghost!" Thera cried.
"From a certain point of view, Thera." Oma answered.
"Why did you save me? Didn't Daniel get, uh, descended when he did something like that?"
"He was guilty of many more offenses than that. I felt that this was truly something worth taking the risk for. It is now too late to complete your mission, Thera. But, perhaps all is not lost."
"What?"
"You will soon understand." she said, turning again into a beam of light, and disappearing before Thera could say another word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thera returned to the summit, slightly dazed and awed, now even more aware of how important this mission truly was.
"Thera." Sam hissed, racing to her side. "Things have gone bad!"
"How bad?"
"Very bad! They just voted Thoth a system lord!"
"Didn't we have some kind of poison with us in case this thing happened?
"No. Not all the system lords were here, we couldn't risk it!"
Thera cursed mildly, and was simply scolded by N'kiri. Oma had been right!
"A-and, it's getting worse!"
"How could it possibly get worse?"
"They're getting suspicious!"
"That's worse!"
Thera's head bent down to her chest, and N'kiri took control as they entered the summit room. The goa'uld were waiting for them, and the looks on their faces did not signify pleasure.
"Hello, N'kiri!" Thoth said in a sickeningly pleasant voice.
~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Selmak glanced at the sky from the ground base. This wasn't going to work! How could he have trusted a teenager? A goa'uld teenager, at that!
Human teenagers are more capable than you think, Selmak! Sam proved that on many, many occasions.
And those occasions proved you displeasure, Jacob!
yes, but she proved herself!
Selmak sighed and shook his head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Run!" N'kiri screamed, holding up her advanced ribbon device. "Get back to the ship! The summit was a hoax! They've been onto us since day one!" One goa'uld Thera didn't recognize advanced, and the teenager shot, retreating backwards with Sam.
"Where do you think you're going?" Thera whirled around to see that the shrouded figure from before was none other than Osiris. Through her shock, she never once thought of the dangers of turning her back to a bunch of goa'ulds. Suddenly, a sharp pain seared through her back, causing her to scream out loud and double over. Sam automatically pulled some fancy moves Thera couldn't see on Osiris, then grabbed her wrist and almost dragged her through the corridors. All the while, Thera's mind raced. She didn't know what scared her most, the sharp pain in her back, Oma's prediction, or Osiris barring their way. There was something about that woman. . . .
Sam pushed her into an empty cargo vessel and shut the doors behind them, immediately taking off. Thera was down on all fours, gasping for breath.
N'kiri! C-can't you heal this!?
No. It's too deep, and there is poison as well!
Thera could sense that her simbeote was in just as much pain as she was. The fact that the ship shook and turned as Sam veered left and right, failing at her attempts to dodge every shot. This was it! Thera had something, probably a knife in her back, a poison in her bloodstream, and a ship full of goa'ulds that wanted her dead! If she even survived this, which she knew she couldn't, she was never going to be let back to the To'kra! Her mind suddenly flashed to her adoptive parents. It was her fault they'd died! What would they think now, if they knew what their dramatic adolescent was thinking on such technical terms, with a super- genius snake to keep her company? She missed them so much! Tears, hot and uncomfortable, yet oddly soothing, flowed freely down her heavily make- upped cheeks.
Tolm! Why was he in her head now? The last thing she'd said to him was, well, she'd screamed at him! Why did she care! She was dying and she was thinking of a stupid boy with no stupid emotions! Suddenly, she wished she'd done something, something important. . . .
"We're out!" Sam sighed, jumping out of her seat and rushing to Thera's side. By the sharp intake of breath, Thera guessed that her wound almost looked halfway as bad as it felt! All of a sudden, Thera felt Sam's hands underneath her belly, lifting her up and placing her on a bed that the goa'ulds had put there for long journeys. "Ok, Thera. This is going to hurt, a lot!" Sam gripped the thing and with a sharp yank, removed from Thera's back. Thera repressed a scream, so it only came out as a weak cry.
"There's poison." Thera said hoarsely, noticing that her throat was getting steadily sorer. "Somehow, N'kiri can sense poison, and can't do anything as long as it's present. It was the same story with that iv a few weeks ago!"
Sam sighed and tossed the knife haphazardly on the floor. Automatically, she began ripping off some strips off of her loose toga, and wrapped them painfully tight around Thera's back.
"AT least we should be able to keep some blood in. Just. . . try to last a few more hours, okay?"
Thera nodded weakly as black dots began to obscure her vision. She would last those few more hours, but she wouldn't stay awake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
She awoke in a room of the To'kra base, several layers of heavily gauzed bandages wrapped around her middle. Fervently, she tried to remember how she'd gotten there.
Sam had landed the vessel by the base, and To'kra had come out, aiming weapons, that much she knew. Sam had helped her up and assisted her in staggering and limping back to the entrance. Of course, the major was more carrying her than supporting her alone. A lot of people had gathered to watch. Some had seemed to regard her as a sort of hero, others looked down in disgust. Most looked down in disgust! Soon, another had taken her other arm and helped as well. She'd expected to see Teal'c or Daniel or Jack, or a member of some other SG team, but instead, it was the form of a boy about her age. By then, though, the poison had dulled her senses so dramatically, she couldn't have known it was Tolm if there were any other teenagers at the base. They'd rushed her to a room with a bed on it, and just before they'd put her on the bed, she'd passed out.
Gingerly, she tried to sit up, only to be greeted by a searing pain in her middle. The wound was hardly healed, but she was probably going to live.
Any poison left? she asked N'kiri.
Quite a bit, actually, but we are out of immediate danger for the time being.
Well, you're real cheerful!
As are you!
Thera propped herself up on her elbows as long as she could, before the pain almost blinded her and she had to lie down again. There was no one else nearby, so, she simply had to lay there and focus on the pain. After a few minutes of this, she tried to take her mind off of it, but that didn't work. A few more minutes passed. Then a few more. Nobody came. Thera was getting bored.
Finally, someone entered the room. But it was the last person she wanted to see.
Tell him how you feel! N'kiri urged.
And I'll tell him about YOUR feelings for Kajren!
You wouldn't dare!
Oh, I so would!
"Thera." Tolm said, politely. There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Hey Tolm." she rasped. Her throat began to ache heavily again.
"It was a miracle you survived, you know that." Another pause.
"Listen, Tolm, I'm sorry!"
"You shouldn't speak! And. . . it was not your fault. It was mine." This time, the quiet between them was suffocating.
"You know, Tolm. I-I really. . . you and Kajren are very different, you know that?"
Tolm inclined his head slightly, sitting down next to her on the bed, taking her hands in his, trying to rub the coldness out of them. Abruptly, Thera wrenched them from his grasp, and propped herself up again, ignoring the dizziness, gazing into his eyes.
"I really like you, Tolm. I like you, a lot more than I probably should. And I really need to stop liking you, before I start liking you even more than that! I mean, this is the last thing I expected, and-and. . ."
Throughout all this, Thera's body seemed to ache even more, and yet she didn't care, because hers and Tolm's heads had inched slowly closer, until their lips were close. Too close! This couldn't be right, she couldn't like him, she really shouldn't! They were so different, and. . . .
Thera's mind had cleared when their lips touched. All her technically two years of true life, she'd thought the sweetest thing in he galaxy was jolly ranchers, and the softest thing was an expensive, $60 pillow from JC Penny's! Now, she knew she had been wrong! Tolm! Tolm was all that mattered now! Tolm's kiss was the greatest prize she could ever have hoped for!
Thera wouldn't have wrenched her lips away from his for the opportunity to go back to her old life, but a sudden sharp pain caused her to break away with an agonizing cry. Her forehead seemed to have been split in half for all the searing torture! Her blood pumped in her ears, which rang shrilly. Off in the distance, she heard Tolm crying for assistance. Footsteps thundered in, increasing her headache.
"She's reached a critical state! We're losing her!"
"Thera!" Tolm aid softly into her ear. "Please stay with us! Fight the poison, you are strong enough!"
"Tolm." she whispered so softly she doubted he'd heard. He squeezed her hand more tightly, and the room dimmed more than it had previously been, and Thera felt as though she was holding onto a thread of life. That thread was Tolm.
"Stay with us, Thera! N'kiri! Stay with me!"
Thera struggled to grip his hand as firmly as he gripped hers, but she didn't have the strength. The last thing she remembered was a single tear falling onto her finally clean cheek, and passing through her lips. A final gift from the one she loved, before her air flow was cut off, and the poison overtook her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
R&R! Press the tiny red, erm, blue, button and review!
don't worry, that's not the very end of the story!-talon
I promise! And, as you already know, we love evil cliffies!-Raven
Failed attempts
Thera felt her heart stop as Thoth pushed her toward the pool of acid. In mere seconds, she would feel her skin burn as the acid ate away at her. Nobody would know how she had died, what had happened, or anything! Closing her eyes, she braced herself for the impact. It never came. (Well, duh!) She cracked open her eyes a bit. There was the acid, and here she was, floating a few inches off of it. Wait, FLOATING?! Thera felt herself gently being brought back to the sturdy floor, being up righted, no injuries except for her toe, which had already begun to heal. Thoth had a look of horror on his face, as though he had seen a ghost! Maybe he had, because a sudden white light flashed and Thoth had fled from the room. Thera turned slowly around and saw the light change into the shape of a woman.
"W-wh-who a-are. . ." Thera stuttered, gaping.
"I am Oma Desalla." The woman replied, with a cool, strong voice. "I am the one Daniel Jackson joined when he died, and I am the one who brought him back."
"You ARE a ghost!" Thera cried.
"From a certain point of view, Thera." Oma answered.
"Why did you save me? Didn't Daniel get, uh, descended when he did something like that?"
"He was guilty of many more offenses than that. I felt that this was truly something worth taking the risk for. It is now too late to complete your mission, Thera. But, perhaps all is not lost."
"What?"
"You will soon understand." she said, turning again into a beam of light, and disappearing before Thera could say another word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thera returned to the summit, slightly dazed and awed, now even more aware of how important this mission truly was.
"Thera." Sam hissed, racing to her side. "Things have gone bad!"
"How bad?"
"Very bad! They just voted Thoth a system lord!"
"Didn't we have some kind of poison with us in case this thing happened?
"No. Not all the system lords were here, we couldn't risk it!"
Thera cursed mildly, and was simply scolded by N'kiri. Oma had been right!
"A-and, it's getting worse!"
"How could it possibly get worse?"
"They're getting suspicious!"
"That's worse!"
Thera's head bent down to her chest, and N'kiri took control as they entered the summit room. The goa'uld were waiting for them, and the looks on their faces did not signify pleasure.
"Hello, N'kiri!" Thoth said in a sickeningly pleasant voice.
~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Selmak glanced at the sky from the ground base. This wasn't going to work! How could he have trusted a teenager? A goa'uld teenager, at that!
Human teenagers are more capable than you think, Selmak! Sam proved that on many, many occasions.
And those occasions proved you displeasure, Jacob!
yes, but she proved herself!
Selmak sighed and shook his head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Run!" N'kiri screamed, holding up her advanced ribbon device. "Get back to the ship! The summit was a hoax! They've been onto us since day one!" One goa'uld Thera didn't recognize advanced, and the teenager shot, retreating backwards with Sam.
"Where do you think you're going?" Thera whirled around to see that the shrouded figure from before was none other than Osiris. Through her shock, she never once thought of the dangers of turning her back to a bunch of goa'ulds. Suddenly, a sharp pain seared through her back, causing her to scream out loud and double over. Sam automatically pulled some fancy moves Thera couldn't see on Osiris, then grabbed her wrist and almost dragged her through the corridors. All the while, Thera's mind raced. She didn't know what scared her most, the sharp pain in her back, Oma's prediction, or Osiris barring their way. There was something about that woman. . . .
Sam pushed her into an empty cargo vessel and shut the doors behind them, immediately taking off. Thera was down on all fours, gasping for breath.
N'kiri! C-can't you heal this!?
No. It's too deep, and there is poison as well!
Thera could sense that her simbeote was in just as much pain as she was. The fact that the ship shook and turned as Sam veered left and right, failing at her attempts to dodge every shot. This was it! Thera had something, probably a knife in her back, a poison in her bloodstream, and a ship full of goa'ulds that wanted her dead! If she even survived this, which she knew she couldn't, she was never going to be let back to the To'kra! Her mind suddenly flashed to her adoptive parents. It was her fault they'd died! What would they think now, if they knew what their dramatic adolescent was thinking on such technical terms, with a super- genius snake to keep her company? She missed them so much! Tears, hot and uncomfortable, yet oddly soothing, flowed freely down her heavily make- upped cheeks.
Tolm! Why was he in her head now? The last thing she'd said to him was, well, she'd screamed at him! Why did she care! She was dying and she was thinking of a stupid boy with no stupid emotions! Suddenly, she wished she'd done something, something important. . . .
"We're out!" Sam sighed, jumping out of her seat and rushing to Thera's side. By the sharp intake of breath, Thera guessed that her wound almost looked halfway as bad as it felt! All of a sudden, Thera felt Sam's hands underneath her belly, lifting her up and placing her on a bed that the goa'ulds had put there for long journeys. "Ok, Thera. This is going to hurt, a lot!" Sam gripped the thing and with a sharp yank, removed from Thera's back. Thera repressed a scream, so it only came out as a weak cry.
"There's poison." Thera said hoarsely, noticing that her throat was getting steadily sorer. "Somehow, N'kiri can sense poison, and can't do anything as long as it's present. It was the same story with that iv a few weeks ago!"
Sam sighed and tossed the knife haphazardly on the floor. Automatically, she began ripping off some strips off of her loose toga, and wrapped them painfully tight around Thera's back.
"AT least we should be able to keep some blood in. Just. . . try to last a few more hours, okay?"
Thera nodded weakly as black dots began to obscure her vision. She would last those few more hours, but she wouldn't stay awake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
She awoke in a room of the To'kra base, several layers of heavily gauzed bandages wrapped around her middle. Fervently, she tried to remember how she'd gotten there.
Sam had landed the vessel by the base, and To'kra had come out, aiming weapons, that much she knew. Sam had helped her up and assisted her in staggering and limping back to the entrance. Of course, the major was more carrying her than supporting her alone. A lot of people had gathered to watch. Some had seemed to regard her as a sort of hero, others looked down in disgust. Most looked down in disgust! Soon, another had taken her other arm and helped as well. She'd expected to see Teal'c or Daniel or Jack, or a member of some other SG team, but instead, it was the form of a boy about her age. By then, though, the poison had dulled her senses so dramatically, she couldn't have known it was Tolm if there were any other teenagers at the base. They'd rushed her to a room with a bed on it, and just before they'd put her on the bed, she'd passed out.
Gingerly, she tried to sit up, only to be greeted by a searing pain in her middle. The wound was hardly healed, but she was probably going to live.
Any poison left? she asked N'kiri.
Quite a bit, actually, but we are out of immediate danger for the time being.
Well, you're real cheerful!
As are you!
Thera propped herself up on her elbows as long as she could, before the pain almost blinded her and she had to lie down again. There was no one else nearby, so, she simply had to lay there and focus on the pain. After a few minutes of this, she tried to take her mind off of it, but that didn't work. A few more minutes passed. Then a few more. Nobody came. Thera was getting bored.
Finally, someone entered the room. But it was the last person she wanted to see.
Tell him how you feel! N'kiri urged.
And I'll tell him about YOUR feelings for Kajren!
You wouldn't dare!
Oh, I so would!
"Thera." Tolm said, politely. There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Hey Tolm." she rasped. Her throat began to ache heavily again.
"It was a miracle you survived, you know that." Another pause.
"Listen, Tolm, I'm sorry!"
"You shouldn't speak! And. . . it was not your fault. It was mine." This time, the quiet between them was suffocating.
"You know, Tolm. I-I really. . . you and Kajren are very different, you know that?"
Tolm inclined his head slightly, sitting down next to her on the bed, taking her hands in his, trying to rub the coldness out of them. Abruptly, Thera wrenched them from his grasp, and propped herself up again, ignoring the dizziness, gazing into his eyes.
"I really like you, Tolm. I like you, a lot more than I probably should. And I really need to stop liking you, before I start liking you even more than that! I mean, this is the last thing I expected, and-and. . ."
Throughout all this, Thera's body seemed to ache even more, and yet she didn't care, because hers and Tolm's heads had inched slowly closer, until their lips were close. Too close! This couldn't be right, she couldn't like him, she really shouldn't! They were so different, and. . . .
Thera's mind had cleared when their lips touched. All her technically two years of true life, she'd thought the sweetest thing in he galaxy was jolly ranchers, and the softest thing was an expensive, $60 pillow from JC Penny's! Now, she knew she had been wrong! Tolm! Tolm was all that mattered now! Tolm's kiss was the greatest prize she could ever have hoped for!
Thera wouldn't have wrenched her lips away from his for the opportunity to go back to her old life, but a sudden sharp pain caused her to break away with an agonizing cry. Her forehead seemed to have been split in half for all the searing torture! Her blood pumped in her ears, which rang shrilly. Off in the distance, she heard Tolm crying for assistance. Footsteps thundered in, increasing her headache.
"She's reached a critical state! We're losing her!"
"Thera!" Tolm aid softly into her ear. "Please stay with us! Fight the poison, you are strong enough!"
"Tolm." she whispered so softly she doubted he'd heard. He squeezed her hand more tightly, and the room dimmed more than it had previously been, and Thera felt as though she was holding onto a thread of life. That thread was Tolm.
"Stay with us, Thera! N'kiri! Stay with me!"
Thera struggled to grip his hand as firmly as he gripped hers, but she didn't have the strength. The last thing she remembered was a single tear falling onto her finally clean cheek, and passing through her lips. A final gift from the one she loved, before her air flow was cut off, and the poison overtook her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
R&R! Press the tiny red, erm, blue, button and review!
don't worry, that's not the very end of the story!-talon
I promise! And, as you already know, we love evil cliffies!-Raven