Chapter 2 - Differences and Similarities

P4C 237 was so similar to Earth it almost frightened Sam. Granted, there weren't the housing arrangements or skyscrapers in cities, or cars, but the resemblance to their everyday activities was incredible. Sam was working in a field with one hundred or so other women, picking fruits, some that looked remarkably like grapes. The women all wore wide- brimmed hats to shield their eyes from the burning suns as they worked. Large bamboo baskets on the ground were cases for the grapes once they were picked. When a basket was filled, it was taken to the outskirts of the field to the guards there. Sam was glad there was no overdone blue dresses here, like on P3X 593, but the clothes the women did wear certainly weren't made for style. The plain browns and beiges didn't do the women any justice, and the styles of the dresses weren't extravagant, but they had no choice in the matter. The women didn't have any meaning to the men of this planet. They were no more than the animals were. In fact, the animals probably received better treatment in comparison.

"Hey," Sam whispered across to the woman standing a few meters to her right. With fear in her eyes, the woman ignored Sam.

"Hey," Sam repeated, hoping for a response, but the woman continued with her work, pretending she couldn't hear. "C'mon," Sam begged, "if we whisper, they can't hear us."

"Please," the woman hissed, "do not speak to me anymore."

"Why not?"

"The guards will surely hear us."

"Not if we're quiet."

"They will hear us and they will beat us. Please, quiet now."

The woman was young. Her long brown hair was mattered and unclean, tied back in a brown ribbon. Her clothes were dirty with soil and blood. Her pale skin was smudged with dirt and decorated in dark bruises and abrasions. Her cheeks had cuts spattered on them, spoiling her pretty face. Sam shuffled further along the line of vines, toward the woman. "Has it always been like this here?" she asked the woman as she continued to work, pleading in her mind that Sam would not get them into trouble.

"No."

"What's your name?"

"Myra."

"Hey, Myra," Sam smiled. "I'm Sam."

"You were not here for the last Transition," Myra stated, taking her first look at Sam. Sam's skin was not quite as dirty as Myra's yet, nor did she have the cuts and bruises, but Myra could see that Sam was friendly, and wanted to help, just by her eyes.

"Transition?" Sam tried to guess what it could have been by saying it aloud, but Myra knew she would not be able to.

"You are new here," Myra told Sam.

Sam nodded. "Yeah," she smiled. "What is the Transition?"

"It is the changing of the tasks," Myra explained. "When all groups move to difference sections of work. You were not present when that took place. That is why you have been assigned here."

A guard appeared at the end of the row Sam and Myra were positioned. Myra's eyes caught the shining of the guards' sword and she quickly turned back to her work, motioning with her eyes to tell Sam what she could see. Sam understood and mirrored Myra's action. The guard took a long while to leave, but once gone they returned to talking. "Has it always been like this here?" Sam asked, although she had a fair idea that it hadn't been by what the women in the tent had told her.

"Most certainly not," Myra replied. "The day of the war was far too long ago for me to have been, but I know from the legends that Maldo was once far different to this."

"Maldo, that's your leader, isn't it?"

"Leader if you choose to name him so. His leadership has never been welcomed." "What happened in the war?"

Myra's eyes darted about quickly, surveying their surroundings. Talking about the war wasn't something the villagers made a habit of. "Maldo declared war on another peaceful planet, as the legend goes. This planet was never a threat, but he set war upon them and wiped them out entirely. Then he claimed their planet as his own. To this day, it belongs to him. No one knows why he wanted it or why he chose to invade them, but since that day, his people have resented him. That is why he has sent us into slavery. It was the only way he could make us remain, my sister tells me."

"So you all tried to overthrow him?"

"It is said that a small group were brave enough to face his power."

"And?"

"And for it they were all tortured and murdered."

"Oh."

"Why are you two not working?!" An angry voice hollered at them.

Myra's head lowered.

Sam turned around to see a stocky guard approaching them, brandishing his sword. "Oh dear," Sam breathed as the guard grabbed her by the hair at the very top of her head, pushing her to her knees. The ground was damp from past rain and her knees sunk into it slightly.

"You will be punished for your idleness!" the Guard shouted angrily and began to drag Sam away.

Myra closed her eyes in sympathy. She felt awful for not being honest with the guard and telling him she was talking too, but she'd been punished so often lately for no reason that she could take no more. She had warned Sam not to talk to her, in fear of punishment. Now Sam would discover how brutal a punishment on P4C 237 was, and regret ever speaking to Myra. Myra prayed they were lenient on her for it being her first time and one of her first days working. Unfortunately for Myra and even more so for Sam, they were not.

The whip lashed another unforgiving strike against her bleeding back. Sam had forgotten how many times they'd hit that whip against her back now, but it had been going on long enough as far as she was concerned. Her screams surely would have been heard on Earth, she was in such pain. Another lash from the whip ripped one more section of her clothing. Each time the whip struck her at its brutal velocity, it tore through more of her clothing and to her flesh to leave it exposed as the blood ran from the deep lesions left behind. For more than fifteen minutes, Sam's painful screams echoed through the torture chamber before she lost consciousness and the guards decided she'd had enough and left her there.

A few minutes later, Jack was sent to clean the torture chamber before the next victim's arrival. The darkness of the room shadowed Sam away from sight as Jack closed the door behind him and uncovered one window. The light streamed in as a bar through the small square window and following the bar's peak, Jack discovered a small shadow, recognizing it as the body of a human being. He frowned. "I thought I was cleaning the room," he muttered, approaching the motionless body. "Carter," he stated worriedly as she moved and groaned. Jack knelt beside Sam and put a hand to her forehead.

"Colonel?" Sam's distorted voice mumbled .

"You don't look so good," O'Neill commented as he helped Carter to sit. She whimpered quietly and leaned against the wall for support.

"Colonel," she said again and moved as pain stung her back from leaning on the wall, reminding her of her injuries.

Jack noticed Sam's pained expression and the way she moved her back away from the wall. "What'd they do to you?" he asked in concern.

Sam didn't have the strength to answer, but she indicated to her back. "Mind if I take a look?" O'Neill queried. Carter shook her head.

Jack certainly didn't need to look far to find the lesions through the ripped material. "What was this for?" he asked, his hate for this planet growing with each second that passed by.

"Talking."

"You got in trouble for that before me?"

This managed to bring a smile to the Major's lips briefly as she slipped to one side, leaning on her Colonel. Neither of them knew what to do from there. Jack didn't know whether to do his job before the guards came and he was punished, but he knew he didn't want to just leave his Second in Command this way. Sam didn't know whether to let her CO continue his work before he got into trouble, or stay the way she was, with him. She couldn't deny that although she was in terrible pain, being with the only person on this planet she knew, she felt secure. She couldn't bare the thought of going back to work like she'd been doing. Being with her Colonel now made her happy enough that her pain didn't seem so bad.

Jack had worried endlessly about where his 2IC had been for the days he'd been alone in that cell. Now finding her this way, made being away from her for so long much worse. They both knew that if they stayed much longer on this planet they would both end up with injuries like all of the other villagers. That they'd rarely see each other and slowly become, as all the other villagers were - subservient. Jack knew that when the guards came to see if he'd cleaned the chamber properly he would be in hot water, but now he had to worry about his Major, not his own punishment for neglecting his work. "Colonel," Sam said. "You better do your job."

"It can wait, Carter," Jack replied.

Sam bit at her lip, trying not to cry in pain. She could feel her CO's hand resting softly on her shoulder, doing his best to comfort her. She knew he'd be in a lot of trouble when the guards found them, but she needed some kind of comfort and his was the best kind as far as she was concerned.

"Sir," she persisted, "you've got to do your work."

"Anyone would think you wanted me to go," he smiled.

"I just don't want you to get into trouble because of me."

"You shouldn't be here."

"But I am. Please, Colonel. Do your job before the guards come."

After a brief moment of silence, the guards came in to find Jack and Sam. "Insolence!" they cried and yanked Jack to his feet by his hair. Sam slid off his lap and sat up quickly. The comfort time she'd had with her CO, although short, had helped. The pain wasn't as bad. The guards dragged Jack from the chamber carelessly. Sam scrambled to catch them up but was hit in the face by the butt of a club and fell back to the ground clutching her head.

@

As the guards entered the throne room, Maldo instantly spotted his new prisoner being dragged by his first prime, Lopbell. "What is the meaning of this?" Maldo demanded as they dropped Jack by his feet.

"He was found with the other one," Lopbell explained. "His duties had been neglected."

"I see."

Maldo clicked his fingers twice and every person in the throne room departed. One young boy remained.

"Have I asked that you remain?" Maldo questioned sharply.

The young boy's eyes widened in fear. He shook his head quickly. "No master," he replied shakily, eyeing the medical supplies he'd left behind a large chair before moving to leave.

"Then why do you remain?"

The boy froze. He bit his tongue so hard it hurt and found his body shivering nervously.

"LEAVE!" Maldo shouted.

The boy jumped slightly backwards at Maldo's loudness and froze even more than before.

"Leave the poor kid alone," Jack broke the silence and stood up finally. Maldo's dark eyes rolled slowly towards O'Neill and narrowed.

The young boy ran from the room, terrified. Maldo's head joined his eyes in facing O'Neill. Jack wasn't afraid of Maldo. He had a loud voice and a snake in his head as Sam had told him, but otherwise he was just another power-hungry warmonger. Maldo's eyes gave Jack a once over, as if to see if he was stupid enough to challenge him - the mighty Maldo.

"I'm not like that boy," Jack said matter-of-factly, "or the rest of the people you think you can control."

"You are incorrect," Maldo contradicted him, "I do not think I can control them. I do control them."

"Where do you guys get off thinking you're so important?" Jack snapped.

"I do not think I am important," Maldo smiled evilly.

"No, of course you don't. You are."

"You are a fast learner."

"Years of experience," Jack retorted.

"Listen, as fun as this big party you have here is, I'm really not in the action, if you know what I mean. So, how about you let me and Carter just go back home and leave you and your servants to whatever it is you do. You can sit in here and be all-important and they can die out there being servants. Wadda ya say?"

Maldo's eerie smile indented itself as he slowly stood up and walked to stand a few inches in front of Jack. Maldo clicked his fingers once. Lopbell entered the room. He stood behind Jack with his swords' tip resting on the Colonel's neck. Maldo grabbed the hair at the back of Jack's head and wrenched his head backwards at a painful angle. Placing his face unnaturally close to Jack's, Maldo hissed: "You shall die on this planet before I will release you." Lopbell smiled with hatred as Maldo released his grip.

"Take him to the torture chamber and make him suffer," Maldo ordered his first prime with contempt and left.

Lopbell couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he called for two other guards and they dragged O'Neill back to the torture chamber.

Sam still sat in the corner of the room. No one had bothered to take her back to her work and Maldo had instructed the guards to leave her there to watch her friend's torture. Therefore, silently, Sam sat trying not to hear the cracking of the whip against her CO's back or the thump that was Lopbell's fist and club colliding with O'Neill's face and body. Unfortunately for Sam, her ears picked up on every sound she didn't want to hear. Carter dragged her knees up to meet her forehead, burying her face against her legs and covering her ears with her hands. Her breathing was loud, surrounding her. Sam gasped as her Colonel's body hit the ground with a loud thud. She squeezed her eyes shut as Lopbell dragged O'Neill back up with a creepy, satisfied laugh. It seemed to go on for hours. When Lopbell decided he'd had enough, he and the other guards left, without bothering to move Sam. When they were gone, Sam moved quickly to her CO's side.

"Colonel?" she whispered. For a moment, he didn't move and Sam feared for him.

"Sir?" she persisted, desperation becoming evident by her tone as she searched for a pulse.

A slight groan and some movement told her that he was alive at least. An emphatic sigh of relief released itself from Sam's half open mouth. Resting her hand on Jack's forehead as he gradually turned over, Sam discovered nothing unusual and was glad.

Jack brushed her hand away and Sam put her hand softly but firmly on his shoulder as he struggled to sit up. "I don't think you should move just yet, Sir."

"Why?" he asked, his voice quieter than usual.

"I just think it would be better for you to lie down. Please, Colonel."

Ignoring the advice, with a frown of pain, Jack - with Sam's help - moved to lean against a wall for Sam to give him a once over. Sam didn't like what she found. His back was in no better condition than her own and Lopbell's club work had produced a few broken ribs, along with a dislocated knee. Overall, Sam's worry had increased, tenfold. "How long have you been in here?" Jack asked, trying to find a comfortable position where pain was minimal.

"I haven't left," Sam replied. "They left me in here while they." Words seemed to die in her throat.

"Oh," Jack saved her the trouble of trying to say what he already knew she meant. Sam thanked him with half-smile.

He understood. Sam and Jack had always had a silence between them. It seemed they could tell each other so many things without saying a word. It was an appreciation, and neither of them really understood it. Somehow, they could see what the other meant without needing an explanation or apology. Gratitude was never spoken between them, but was always there. A complete understanding of one another was present in each their own mind, but never said aloud. Somehow, they were connected. It wasn't something either of them had anticipated happening, but it had and they both knew it was special. Neither of them questioned it, or wondered about it. It was just there.

"Carter," Jack broke the long silence . Sam's eyes met his. Even in the dark room, she could see something strong burning in his eyes. Something serious. Somehow, Sam thought, I don't think I'm going to like this.

"Yes, Sir?"

"I want you to get out of here."

"I like that idea, Sir," Sam agreed, without a thought to Jack's meaning.

"No, Carter," Jack said, almost lowly, "I want you to get out of here."

Sam frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I want you to leave me here and go."

"No, Sir," Sam snapped back quickly. There was no way she was going anywhere without her CO. Whatever happens, no one gets left behind.

"Anyway, Sir, with all due respect, I really don't think it's possible to get out of here. There are too many guards."

"Not out in the village."

"They're everywhere."

"Not out there. Trust me, I've looked."

"Ok," Sam played along for a moment, "even if there are no guards in the village, surely there's a guard outside this door. And if there's not, it would be impossible to get completely out of the village without at least one of them seeing us."

Normally, Jack would have agreed with Sam - but this was different. He'd looked around a lot. Talked to people. In his few days of work, he'd learned a lot. He knew Sam could get out of the village without being seen, and he knew it for sure. "Actually, you're wrong about that."

Jack was beginning to feel bad about asking his 2IC to do this. He knew she wouldn't want to go, and he understood that, but it just wasn't fair to keep her here when it was going to be fairly easy for her to get away. She didn't deserve to stay and die. This was an opportunity that probably wouldn't arise again.

"Sir?" Sam queried the statement. What was he getting at? "There's no guard outside the door," Jack clarified, his voice gradually lowering.

"There're barely any guards in the village at all today. It should be easy to get away."

"Then we can both go," Sam said eagerly.

Jack shook his head slowly. "No," he disputed, "no, we can't."

"Why not, Sir?" Sam was getting more confused and scared as her CO went on with his proposal. Why was he making her leave? Would he make her? Why was he doing this?

"Because you'll need to run to the Gate, to make sure that the guards can't catch up with you when they realise you're gone."

"The Gate's over a two hour walk."

"That's why I found out about a shorter route."

"Sir, how long have you been planning this?" Jack looked up from the ground.

Sam's eyes penetrated deep. She needed to understand. Jack needed for her to go. The longer she stayed, the harder he knew it would be to watch her go.

"Between the last house and the forest there's a track. It leads to the gate and cuts the time almost in half. If you take that and run, you'll be there in less than an hour," Jack ignored Sam's question. He couldn't answer her.

"Colonel, I won't leave you here," Sam repeated firmly.

O'Neill swallowed hard. "Don't make me order you to go, Carter," he pleaded.

"I will not go without you, Colonel," she didn't let up. There was no way Sam was going to leave without her CO. There was just no way.

"I'll order you to go, Carter."

"Colonel, why are you doing this? We can both make it out of here. With a short-cut, it'll be easy, we'll just."

"You're not gonna talk me out of this," Jack stopped Sam short.

She fixed her eyes onto him, trying to make him relent, but she saw he was right. He wasn't going to let up. He was set on his decision. Why had he made it, though? "It's not that far, Colonel, we can make it."

"No, we can't. I can't run, Carter. This is going to be one of very few chances you'll get to do this. I'm not gonna slow you down. You've got to go alone."

"Why?" Sam persisted. "Sir, if we both go and take it slowly, I can help you, we can both go."

"You can barely run on your own," Jack reminded her.

"We'll take it slow. We'll help each other. I won't go, Colonel."

"You can't afford to lose time by taking it slow. When they notice you're gone and ask me about it, I can stall them. Buy you some time. I can't go, Carter. You know I can't."

Sam's eyes buried themselves in the darkness. She heard Jack coughing and saw him wipe blood from his hand. She knew what that meant. Knew it wasn't good. Sam bent her head low and shadowed her face. She knew. It didn't hurt to know, but it hurt that she knew he wanted her to go. She knew he wasn't thinking of himself, he was thinking of her, and she wished he wouldn't always do that. She also knew it would be harder for them both to go when they were both injured. Sam knew she was going to have trouble making it. She was weak and still in pain, and she knew Jack was worse.

"I don't want to go, Colonel," Sam whispered, so quietly even she barely heard her own voice.

"It's better if you do," Jack told her, keeping his voice soft and even.

Sam sniffed. She felt like she could cry. Her back was still stinging from the whipping. The cuts and lesions seemed to burn more while she was so upset. "Don't make me go," she almost begged, looking up from the ground with tears glistening in her eyes.

Jack tried to find something comforting to say. Something that would make it seem like a good idea. Something maybe even he would believe.

"It'll probably only be for a little while anyway," he tried to believe his own words as he spoke them. "When you get back and tell Hammond about the slavery happening here, who knows? He'll probably send a team in to try to negotiate with these people. Free them all. That'll include me."

Sam watched her CO trying to smile - trying to give her hope with his words. Something about it made her know he didn't believe what he was telling her. That he was just trying to make her believe.

"What if the General doesn't do that?" she asked the obvious. "What if he says it's too dangerous and that you'll have to find your own way out or stay here? What if that happens?"

"Then I'll just have to get out myself, later. Hopefully, it won't be that hard."

They sat in silence for a brief moment. Sam was still trying to find faults in his plan. Jack was still trying to find ways to reassure her he'd be ok. For both of them, their attempts were failing. At least for a little while.

"I can't go, Sir," Sam said suddenly.

"Yes, you can," Jack dismissed her claim without an explanation.

"No, I can't; I haven't got a GDO." With this one, Sam smiled on the inside. She was right; Maldo had taken their GDO's from them when they were stripped of their weapons.

When Jack reached into his pocket, Sam's heart sank.

"I managed to get one," he said and handed it to her.

O'Neill watched Carter take the GDO from him with hesitation and then look up to him with desperation written on her face. He knew she didn't want to go, but there was no way he was going to allow her to stay. Sam saw pain give her CO a reminder as his face expressed it.

"Please, Colonel," Sam begged, "please."

"Don't make me order you to go, Carter."