Chapter Three
The beach was empty. Well, not exactly. The shoreline now included a dock, with what looked like one fishing ship and a couple of maybe warships. A speck on the horizon indicating another ship of some sort on its way. Whether it was friend or foe was anyone's guess. There were also a couple of those stone towers flanking the dock, looking extremely forbidding. "Carter," said Jack, his voice suggesting something she didn't want to think about, "we're not back on that Keeper-planet?" He looked at where the Stargate had been. "Are we?" "No, sir," Carter answered, "The program has safeguards built in to prevent that sort of thing from happening. Unless we re-designate a planet or moon, like we did with P3X-972, each address should be a new, unique place." "Just . . . wondering," Jack said. His attention wandered over to Teal'c, who was standing by the DHD. "Whoa! Where'd that come from?" "It appears that whomever concealed the Stargate failed to do the same to the DHD," Teal'c said.
"Well, it couldn't have been the people here," said Daniel, "they're too involved in . . . whatever they're doing." He gestured back where the gate had been. "And why conceal the gate at all?" "Perhaps this is another planet of the Nox," Teal'c suggested. "I don't think so," said Carter. Jack heard the conversation remotely, distracted by the speck on the horizon. It had been joined by several other specks. They were moving quickly, growing larger, and definitely did not look friendly. As he watched, they refined themselves into ships, six of them. Four veered toward the dock and began firing upon it with arrows. One of the remaining ships headed toward a tower. It paused, then flames poured from it, directed at the tower. Whomever was in the tower responded with arrows, but it was obvious the tower was doomed. The final ship anchored away from the dock and towers. With his attention held by the battle at the dock, Jack hadn't noticed that this ship had unloaded troops until they began marching toward the village. "Let's get out of here!" he snapped.
They retreated to an odd-looking mound, taking up positions on either side, and watched as the incoming militia marched toward the village. It was a strange mix of soldiers carrying swords, pikes, and crossbows, accompanied by some horsemen, and a lumbering thing that looked like a shed on wheels. It followed the militia to the town center. He looked closer at the troops. These were the green guys, the same ones who had attacked the village earlier. A quick glance back to the dock confirmed that the attacking ships had green-trimmed sails on them. Teal'c had noted the same thing. "Should we not assist this village in defending itself?"
Jack shook his head. "We don't know for sure who is the enemy."
The blue troops had met and engaged the newcomers. Although there were more of the green guys, the blue ones seemed to have slight advantage in the style of weapons. The horsemen had avoided the foot soldiers all together, electing to attack various buildings within the village. Blue-robed villages hurried toward the affected buildings, apparently intending to repair them.
The shed-like thing had moved to the village center. Rhythmic thuds sounded, and cracks appeared in the wall of the building. Several more villagers headed toward it, and began hitting at the thing . . . with sticks? That didn't make sense. But why weren't their soldiers doing that? As if in answer, a half-dozen militiamen appeared, swinging at it with their swords. It collapsed in a heap of broken boards and ropes, revealing a large log in the middle of the rubble. The militia moved on to engage the remaining invaders. A new figure followed behind them. It looked like a caricature of a Middle Ages priest, carrying a book and something else. It paused by one of the enemy soldiers and began waving one of its arms. The soldier paid no attention to it-or rather, him- and continued his attack on one of the blue archers. Another green soldier came behind the priest and began attacking him. "Okay, that's not fair," muttered Jack. He took aim at the soldier.
The priest succumbed to the attack, and fell to the ground. The enemy soldier at whom he had been waving his arms, turned and began hacking at the other. His green tunic had changed to blue.
"What the hell?" said Jack. He looked at Carter and Teal'c. "Wasn't he a green guy before?" There was something else wrong with this scene, something that nagged at his subconscious. The skirmish had settled. A few blue troops waited on the battlefield, standing idly. As before, the bodies slowly disappeared, leaving nothing to mark their passage. Jack turned to check the attack on the dock, and was only mildly surprised to find the attacking ships had also vanished. The stone tower was partially collapsed, and villagers were repairing it as well as the dock. Several ships were lined up beside the dock, their blue-trimmed sails flapping impatiently.
Then it hit him. There was no smell of battle. No blood, no smoke, no rotting-corpse stench at all. It wasn't right, just like the disappearing corpses and the unmarked soldier who had attacked the team weren't right. And the buildings that went up too quickly, the villagers and soldiers who appeared out of nowhere. He made a mental tally through his memory, recalling no children whatsoever in this village. No elders either. He slumped down to a seated position, back against the mound, and looked at the others. "There is definitely something wrong with this place," he said, "Any ideas?" Carter watched the villagers thoughtfully before replying. "It isn't exactly wrong, sir," she said, "In a way, it is like Argos. It's as if time has been speeded up. They seem to be evolving, advancing in technology, but at a much quicker pace than normal." "Evolving?" "Of course," said Daniel, "When we got here, the village was smaller. The soldiers were armed with spiked clubs, and there were no horsemen or archers." He gestured back at the dock. "That wasn't even here. Now they've got battering rams, swords and shields. That one ship was throwing fire at the tower somehow." He paused again, worrying the idea. "It's consistent evolution, just on a much faster time line. This sort of advancement should take decades, if not centuries."
"What about the Stargate?" interrupted Jack.
Carter and Daniel looked at each other, obviously at a loss. "I can't explain that," Carter admitted, "It doesn't seem to have any relation to the village." She sighed. "And I can't think of any reason someone would hide the Stargate and leave the DHD visible." "Someone approaches," warned Teal'c. Footsteps, hoof beats, and the rumble of wheels increased in volume. They watched as more blue troops marched-and Jack used that term loosely, as their movement looked more like a Charlie Foxtrot than a disciplined fighting force-past, heading for the dock. The foot soldiers were followed by horsemen, who were followed by a couple of battering rams and two catapult-like things. "Where are they going?" asked Jack, "There aren't any more green guys left."
"It appears they are headed toward the ships," said Teal'c, "Perhaps they are intending to attack their enemy at his base." "Could be," Carter said. One of those priest-guys followed a straggling soldier, waving his arms and making indistinguishable sounds at the guy. The rest of the troops were indeed loading onto transport ships, while several warships waited, anchored away from the dock. It was difficult to see exactly how the troops were being loaded. It was almost as if they just disappeared from the shoreline, and were magically transported aboard the ships. Once the troops were loaded, the ships seemed to hesitate, as if waiting for something. The creak of wheels warned him that one more of those catapult-things was rolling by. A lone archer accompanied it. "You're late for formation, guys," Jack told them.
The tardy units vanished near the ships. The fleet turned as one, and sailed away, heading . . . eastward? He checked the sun's position. Yeah, that's east.
"Jack." Daniel's voice held a warning. Teal'c's staff weapon buzzed softly. Another of those priest-guys had walked up behind the team, so quietly that none of the three had heard him. He began waving his arm at Carter-the nearest to him-and making sounds that were incomprehensible. "Hey!" said Jack, "What do you think you're doing?" Carter stepped back, and the priest followed, maintaining a distance about twice the length of Teal'c's staff weapon from her. She retreated again, and Teal'c stepped in front of her, blocking the man's path. The priest attempted to move around the Jaffa, and was again blocked. He tried twice more, and each time Teal'c moved to block the priest's progress. The priest paused. His arm dropped to his side, and he seemed to be contemplating something. Then the arm raised again, the waving and chanting directed at Teal'c. Jack hesitated. After all, the guy was a priest of sorts, and unarmed. Remembering the effect of the other priest on the soldier, he said, "All right, that's enough of this." His P-90 chattered, and the priest toppled to the ground. "I like him just the way he is." Carter's look told him that she had the same doubts. "I wasn't gonna let him turn Teal'c green," he said defensively, then added, "Or you." "Blue," said Daniel. "Huh?" Daniel gestured at the blue stole around the priest's white tunic. "He's blue." "Whatever. Teal'c stays gre. . . " his voice trailed off, remembering that the team was wearing the desert camouflage uniforms, ". . . the color he is." The priest's body faded away as quickly as the soldiers had. Jack looked around at the village, which seemed to have grown again during this encounter. Something big was being built just beyond the church-like building, and another building was going up in front of it. More towers were under construction along the shoreline, and another fleet of ships was anchored just past the dock. The militia seemed to be building up near the barracks again, and he wouldn't be surprised if some more of those battering rams and catapult-things were on the way. Some of the warships turned, and sailed eastward. More specks-uh, make that ships--had appeared on the horizon, and ones in the harbor were probably headed to intercept them. However it was happening, the village seemed to be concentrating suddenly on military strength. Another squad of soldiers marched by, heading for what Jack thought of as "military row." Their archers held much larger crossbows than Jack had seen before, and the swords the others carried were heavy and longer, requiring two hands to manipulate them. Their tunics were yellow. As the opposing sides converged, a familiar feeling swept over Jack. He glanced at the others, their reactions confirming what he'd already guessed. Then the air began to thicken, and the buildings and villages shimmered.
"Oh, crap," muttered Jack, "Here we go again."