Disclaimer – Nope don't own
Hi back again.
I had a few problems downloading the last chapters as it did not appear on the list???
I was wondering if someone, anyone, would just let me know the download was OK
Thank you
:o)
=============
"Well, here it is, mysterious planet," O'Neill said as he and Jonas exited the Stargate, "on your left, ladies and gentlemen, we have sand, to your right you can see even more sand and if you look ahead, yep, that's right, dunes upon dunes of sand."
The Colonel watched the younger man's animated face and shook his head; only Jonas and Daniel could get this worked up over bucketfuls of sand. "Come on Junior, help me with this case, the dig's a few clicks east of here."
Jonas bent down and gathered up the rope handle, his eyes darting around the landscape taking in as much as he could as he tried to match the Colonel's vast strides. Behind them, as the gate settled, a small drop of energy trickled out into the landscape and made soft footsteps that disappeared in the breeze.
==========
Jonas wandered around the excavation site without purpose. He watched the archaeology teams toil in the heat, reclaiming what the desert had seized and what man had try to hide under the rubble of buildings.
They had already exposed a paved, public, plaza surrounded by the foundations of various structures, including the base of an enormous temple complex. He studied this, letting his mind amble on the gentle wind, trying to connect with the secrets of the past like water filtering through the cracked soil of a drought.
He closed his eyes; there was something out there, just beyond the peripheral vision of his mind, something shadowy and blurred.
He reached further, beads of perspiration clouding his forehead in concentration, as he tried to cut through the thick mist that encircled the echoes of the past. A receptive tendril, drawn to his open mind, crossed the eddying void to meet his probing, shrouding him in its emotive veil.
It felt cold. The air was salty with wept tears. There was a murmur of animosity, a baleful undertone of contempt, a vortex of fear and despair all seething and threatening to overwhelm him in this one touch. He pushed it away, while he still had the strength to do so, before it consumed him with its intensity, letting it slip back into the sand and the sun-bleached lemon of the sky.
He inhaled deeply and messed his hair with his fingertips, trying to expel the ice of feeling that the entity had left on his body and in his mind.
He crouched down and ran his hand along the grey brickwork of a shallow ditch belonging to an irrigation system, focusing, trying to engage his mind elsewhere.
"It must have allowed them to farm the dry land," Daniel said joining him.
"Where did they get the water from?" The Kelownan asked, puzzled by the barren landscape.
Daniel pointed, "there's a dried out river bed to the south of the city, they must have created a system of aqueducts to provide the fresh water."
Jonas nodded and stood up, "glad to be out?" Daniel asked.
The young alien gave him his best 'you bet ya smile,' "I just wish you'd let me do more," he stated, watching the others work.
"You're still under doctor's orders to take it easy for a bit, let's not rush it okay?"
Jonas put his hands in his pockets and gave a small shrug of agreement; it was Daniel's turn to smile. He moved a critical eye over the dig, jotting down some small detail on the site plan he was carrying and then looked back at the Kelownan.
"Did you see the artefacts Doctor Lewis found yesterday?" He asked.
"The small bronze statuettes of Ptah, Khnum and Re?" Jonas nodded, his interest pricked.
"What did you make of them?" Daniel enquired, placing the pen back in his top pocket.
The alien thought for a moment, turning back to the activity before him, "altar pieces. Probably brought from Egypt by one of the craftsmen. Small enough to fit in your hand, to carry around..."
"And to conceal," Daniel offered, breaking through Jonas' train of thought. "When they were unearthed, yesterday, I thought they had just been discarded along with the debris from the site but the second team have just found some more. These were almost lovingly wrapped and seemed to have been hidden in a hand-dug crevice in the foundations of a dwelling," he explained.
"And so far you've found no Mesoamerican deities?" The Kelownan asked.
Daniel shook his head, "no, none at all, which seems rather odd," he drew a long breath, chewing on his theory, "seeing as this whole layout is Mesoamerican in origin."
Jonas waited and smiled receptively, "Okay, I, I think there was a religious clash here," Daniel began, letting his idea take shape with the young alien. "That, that the Goa'uld who brought the Egyptians from Earth expected them to convert, to worship only him but, but the links with their old gods were just too strong." He pushed his glasses back on his nose and waited for Jonas to respond.
"So they worshipped in secret," the Kelownan supported, letting his mind work on the suggestion, "until, until they had enough courage or, or manpower to rise up and defeat the false god," he looked at the Egyptologist.
Daniel sighed, "it's been done before and would explain the condition we found this site in; it hasn't just been destroyed, it's been totally obliterated."
Jonas thought back to the feeling of hatred that was lurking in the shadows, "like they wanted to eradicate everything to do with this Goa'uld, leave no trace," he offered, "that would make sense."
Daniel raised his eyebrows, Jonas looked to the ground, "I, I felt it early, before you came across."
"What?"
"An undercurrent of, of, terror and loathing, and, and despair."
Both men looked out towards the horizon, "it's all around us," Jonas continued, softly.
Daniel nodded, he'd felt something too, every since he'd arrived, like the site was waiting for them so it could give up its secrets and its dead.
Jonas looked back at him and said thoughtfully, "but where did all the people go? The ones who were left after the city was destroyed?"
Jackson shrugged, "there always seems to be more questions than answers," he enlightened, "but here's one you can help with. We're trying to come up with a name for the city. So far I've got two suggestions," he sighed, "O'Neill's Ville, and Jack's Town any 'other' ideas?" He almost pleaded.
Jonas stiffened, the Egyptologist's words echoed around him, biting into the air loudly before twisting in silence to the ground.
"Jonas?" Daniel's anxious tone sounded muffled as he reached out and touched the Kelownan arm, "my God, you're, you're freezing," he observed in alarm.
Jonas looked through him, hearing another voice in his head "Aztlan," he whispered in cool breath, from a time past.
Daniel's eyes narrowed, "sorry?"
The younger man blinked, as if he were awakening from sleep, "Aztlan," he repeated, his voice stronger.
"Jonas, that's, that's the name of the Mexican tribe's mythical homeland. It's where the word Aztec is derived from."
"I, I don't think it's a myth," the Kelownan indicated, shyly, looking around him and Daniel knew it was more than a suggestion.
"Doctor Jackson," an excited voice cut through the thick wedge of heat and thought that circled the two men.
Professor Ashton stood up, removing his hat to wipe the hard work from his forehead, unveiling his thinning head of feral, white, curls that made a spindly halo against the light. He gesticulated, as fervently as the conditions would allow, using his leather Fedora to make exaggerated half circles in the air.
"Doctor Jackson," he puffed again, his determination starting to wilt in the climate.
Daniel and Jonas moved quickly to the low stone platform, where the archaeologist was working, navigating past the other trenches in the newly unveiled plaza.
"You were right," Aston puffed, looking up at them from shade of the hand- dug ditch, "these platforms were bases for altars."
He moved back so they could get a better look, "we've just started to excavate this one," he tapped the stone, "and we've already found a mass of skull fragments."
One of the cadets, who was working with the professor, held up as sealed plastic back containing several pieces of cranium.
Ashton took a large gulp of water, "but that's not all," he said breathlessly, wiping his hand across his mouth, "I, I think this is only a top layer, that the skulls were 'displayed' intact and later damaged by the fall of rubble."
"You think it's a mass sacrificial burial, like the one at Teopanzolco in Mexico?" Daniel asked.
The professor nodded, "the fragments are getting larger the further we dig down," he replied, putting his hand to his back to massage it.
Daniel careful entered the trench, to examine the evidence for himself, while Jonas looked on feeling an unease grasp his throat with tightening fingers. He swallowed, suddenly feeling drawn to a section of the temple still covered by the desert. He left the others to their discovery and moved slowly forward to stand in his own shadow where he was bid.
"Jonas?" Daniel looked up to find the younger man gone.
Puzzled, he looked round and found him standing across from the trench, "Jonas?" He tried again but the Kelownan was engrossed by something else.
The potter stood before the alien just visible on rippling heat. He stretched out a transparent hand to touch Jonas' glove in an appeal for him to remove it; the Kelownan understood.
"Jonas," Daniel was at his side, "what is it?"
"The potter," the young man whispered, removing the glove.
Daniel looked before him and saw nothing but he felt a crispness in the air that seemed to invade his skin and roam along his spine.
The old Egyptian cast his sightless eyes down at the ground and spread his hands out, "tonalli", his ancient voice croaked.
"Tonalli," Jonas repeated, methodically, following the old man's gaze.
"Animating spirit," Daniel whispered, translating the word.
The Aztec's had believed that the tonalli was located in the blood and that it collects in the heart when a person becomes frightened. They also believed that the continual offering of this spirit, through sacrifice, would ensure the perpetuation of the universe for without an ample supply the sun would halt in its orbit and all life would die.
He turned back towards Jonas and noticed a soft breeze part the sand at the alien's feet, revealing an aperture in the stonework of the foundations. He crouched down to examine the opening, "there's, there's a chamber under here," he said looking up.
Jonas remained fixed and Daniel could see the alien was shivering, "tonalli," he said again.
Daniel suddenly noticed the sand around him become discoloured as something surged from under the surface. He got up and took a few steps back as the shadow grew, surrounding both men to converge on the breach in the foundations. A viscous, rust like liquid vomited out of the gap, spilling onto the ground, collecting sand in its swell.
Daniel swallowed and looked at Jonas, "blood," he whispered, the word scraping his throat as it began to pool around his feet.
Jonas looked down, barely breathing, watching the crimson tide lap over his boots, feeling the pitch of emotion that clung to the film of its skin.
The potter's gauzy presence began to fade with exhaustion as he walked through the Kelownan. Daniel saw Jonas gasp and move his hand to his chest before falling to his knees in pain.
The younger man looked down to where he clasped his uniform in anguish, seeing a large gash materialise over his heart. Daniel went to his aid, his boots sloshing heavy through the advancing mixture of blood and sand, his eyes fixed on the empty, heartless, slash.
Jonas tried to stem the blood that was pumping from the open cavity but he was weakening with the effort. Chaotic voices blazed around his mind, their terror, their eternal suffering numbing his soul.
Daniel fell to his knees, ready to cap the blood loss with his own hand, calling across the site for help. Their hands touched and the flicker of the past shattered, leaving them unharmed, kneeling on the golden sand.
==============
Thanks for stopping by.
Hi back again.
I had a few problems downloading the last chapters as it did not appear on the list???
I was wondering if someone, anyone, would just let me know the download was OK
Thank you
:o)
=============
"Well, here it is, mysterious planet," O'Neill said as he and Jonas exited the Stargate, "on your left, ladies and gentlemen, we have sand, to your right you can see even more sand and if you look ahead, yep, that's right, dunes upon dunes of sand."
The Colonel watched the younger man's animated face and shook his head; only Jonas and Daniel could get this worked up over bucketfuls of sand. "Come on Junior, help me with this case, the dig's a few clicks east of here."
Jonas bent down and gathered up the rope handle, his eyes darting around the landscape taking in as much as he could as he tried to match the Colonel's vast strides. Behind them, as the gate settled, a small drop of energy trickled out into the landscape and made soft footsteps that disappeared in the breeze.
==========
Jonas wandered around the excavation site without purpose. He watched the archaeology teams toil in the heat, reclaiming what the desert had seized and what man had try to hide under the rubble of buildings.
They had already exposed a paved, public, plaza surrounded by the foundations of various structures, including the base of an enormous temple complex. He studied this, letting his mind amble on the gentle wind, trying to connect with the secrets of the past like water filtering through the cracked soil of a drought.
He closed his eyes; there was something out there, just beyond the peripheral vision of his mind, something shadowy and blurred.
He reached further, beads of perspiration clouding his forehead in concentration, as he tried to cut through the thick mist that encircled the echoes of the past. A receptive tendril, drawn to his open mind, crossed the eddying void to meet his probing, shrouding him in its emotive veil.
It felt cold. The air was salty with wept tears. There was a murmur of animosity, a baleful undertone of contempt, a vortex of fear and despair all seething and threatening to overwhelm him in this one touch. He pushed it away, while he still had the strength to do so, before it consumed him with its intensity, letting it slip back into the sand and the sun-bleached lemon of the sky.
He inhaled deeply and messed his hair with his fingertips, trying to expel the ice of feeling that the entity had left on his body and in his mind.
He crouched down and ran his hand along the grey brickwork of a shallow ditch belonging to an irrigation system, focusing, trying to engage his mind elsewhere.
"It must have allowed them to farm the dry land," Daniel said joining him.
"Where did they get the water from?" The Kelownan asked, puzzled by the barren landscape.
Daniel pointed, "there's a dried out river bed to the south of the city, they must have created a system of aqueducts to provide the fresh water."
Jonas nodded and stood up, "glad to be out?" Daniel asked.
The young alien gave him his best 'you bet ya smile,' "I just wish you'd let me do more," he stated, watching the others work.
"You're still under doctor's orders to take it easy for a bit, let's not rush it okay?"
Jonas put his hands in his pockets and gave a small shrug of agreement; it was Daniel's turn to smile. He moved a critical eye over the dig, jotting down some small detail on the site plan he was carrying and then looked back at the Kelownan.
"Did you see the artefacts Doctor Lewis found yesterday?" He asked.
"The small bronze statuettes of Ptah, Khnum and Re?" Jonas nodded, his interest pricked.
"What did you make of them?" Daniel enquired, placing the pen back in his top pocket.
The alien thought for a moment, turning back to the activity before him, "altar pieces. Probably brought from Egypt by one of the craftsmen. Small enough to fit in your hand, to carry around..."
"And to conceal," Daniel offered, breaking through Jonas' train of thought. "When they were unearthed, yesterday, I thought they had just been discarded along with the debris from the site but the second team have just found some more. These were almost lovingly wrapped and seemed to have been hidden in a hand-dug crevice in the foundations of a dwelling," he explained.
"And so far you've found no Mesoamerican deities?" The Kelownan asked.
Daniel shook his head, "no, none at all, which seems rather odd," he drew a long breath, chewing on his theory, "seeing as this whole layout is Mesoamerican in origin."
Jonas waited and smiled receptively, "Okay, I, I think there was a religious clash here," Daniel began, letting his idea take shape with the young alien. "That, that the Goa'uld who brought the Egyptians from Earth expected them to convert, to worship only him but, but the links with their old gods were just too strong." He pushed his glasses back on his nose and waited for Jonas to respond.
"So they worshipped in secret," the Kelownan supported, letting his mind work on the suggestion, "until, until they had enough courage or, or manpower to rise up and defeat the false god," he looked at the Egyptologist.
Daniel sighed, "it's been done before and would explain the condition we found this site in; it hasn't just been destroyed, it's been totally obliterated."
Jonas thought back to the feeling of hatred that was lurking in the shadows, "like they wanted to eradicate everything to do with this Goa'uld, leave no trace," he offered, "that would make sense."
Daniel raised his eyebrows, Jonas looked to the ground, "I, I felt it early, before you came across."
"What?"
"An undercurrent of, of, terror and loathing, and, and despair."
Both men looked out towards the horizon, "it's all around us," Jonas continued, softly.
Daniel nodded, he'd felt something too, every since he'd arrived, like the site was waiting for them so it could give up its secrets and its dead.
Jonas looked back at him and said thoughtfully, "but where did all the people go? The ones who were left after the city was destroyed?"
Jackson shrugged, "there always seems to be more questions than answers," he enlightened, "but here's one you can help with. We're trying to come up with a name for the city. So far I've got two suggestions," he sighed, "O'Neill's Ville, and Jack's Town any 'other' ideas?" He almost pleaded.
Jonas stiffened, the Egyptologist's words echoed around him, biting into the air loudly before twisting in silence to the ground.
"Jonas?" Daniel's anxious tone sounded muffled as he reached out and touched the Kelownan arm, "my God, you're, you're freezing," he observed in alarm.
Jonas looked through him, hearing another voice in his head "Aztlan," he whispered in cool breath, from a time past.
Daniel's eyes narrowed, "sorry?"
The younger man blinked, as if he were awakening from sleep, "Aztlan," he repeated, his voice stronger.
"Jonas, that's, that's the name of the Mexican tribe's mythical homeland. It's where the word Aztec is derived from."
"I, I don't think it's a myth," the Kelownan indicated, shyly, looking around him and Daniel knew it was more than a suggestion.
"Doctor Jackson," an excited voice cut through the thick wedge of heat and thought that circled the two men.
Professor Ashton stood up, removing his hat to wipe the hard work from his forehead, unveiling his thinning head of feral, white, curls that made a spindly halo against the light. He gesticulated, as fervently as the conditions would allow, using his leather Fedora to make exaggerated half circles in the air.
"Doctor Jackson," he puffed again, his determination starting to wilt in the climate.
Daniel and Jonas moved quickly to the low stone platform, where the archaeologist was working, navigating past the other trenches in the newly unveiled plaza.
"You were right," Aston puffed, looking up at them from shade of the hand- dug ditch, "these platforms were bases for altars."
He moved back so they could get a better look, "we've just started to excavate this one," he tapped the stone, "and we've already found a mass of skull fragments."
One of the cadets, who was working with the professor, held up as sealed plastic back containing several pieces of cranium.
Ashton took a large gulp of water, "but that's not all," he said breathlessly, wiping his hand across his mouth, "I, I think this is only a top layer, that the skulls were 'displayed' intact and later damaged by the fall of rubble."
"You think it's a mass sacrificial burial, like the one at Teopanzolco in Mexico?" Daniel asked.
The professor nodded, "the fragments are getting larger the further we dig down," he replied, putting his hand to his back to massage it.
Daniel careful entered the trench, to examine the evidence for himself, while Jonas looked on feeling an unease grasp his throat with tightening fingers. He swallowed, suddenly feeling drawn to a section of the temple still covered by the desert. He left the others to their discovery and moved slowly forward to stand in his own shadow where he was bid.
"Jonas?" Daniel looked up to find the younger man gone.
Puzzled, he looked round and found him standing across from the trench, "Jonas?" He tried again but the Kelownan was engrossed by something else.
The potter stood before the alien just visible on rippling heat. He stretched out a transparent hand to touch Jonas' glove in an appeal for him to remove it; the Kelownan understood.
"Jonas," Daniel was at his side, "what is it?"
"The potter," the young man whispered, removing the glove.
Daniel looked before him and saw nothing but he felt a crispness in the air that seemed to invade his skin and roam along his spine.
The old Egyptian cast his sightless eyes down at the ground and spread his hands out, "tonalli", his ancient voice croaked.
"Tonalli," Jonas repeated, methodically, following the old man's gaze.
"Animating spirit," Daniel whispered, translating the word.
The Aztec's had believed that the tonalli was located in the blood and that it collects in the heart when a person becomes frightened. They also believed that the continual offering of this spirit, through sacrifice, would ensure the perpetuation of the universe for without an ample supply the sun would halt in its orbit and all life would die.
He turned back towards Jonas and noticed a soft breeze part the sand at the alien's feet, revealing an aperture in the stonework of the foundations. He crouched down to examine the opening, "there's, there's a chamber under here," he said looking up.
Jonas remained fixed and Daniel could see the alien was shivering, "tonalli," he said again.
Daniel suddenly noticed the sand around him become discoloured as something surged from under the surface. He got up and took a few steps back as the shadow grew, surrounding both men to converge on the breach in the foundations. A viscous, rust like liquid vomited out of the gap, spilling onto the ground, collecting sand in its swell.
Daniel swallowed and looked at Jonas, "blood," he whispered, the word scraping his throat as it began to pool around his feet.
Jonas looked down, barely breathing, watching the crimson tide lap over his boots, feeling the pitch of emotion that clung to the film of its skin.
The potter's gauzy presence began to fade with exhaustion as he walked through the Kelownan. Daniel saw Jonas gasp and move his hand to his chest before falling to his knees in pain.
The younger man looked down to where he clasped his uniform in anguish, seeing a large gash materialise over his heart. Daniel went to his aid, his boots sloshing heavy through the advancing mixture of blood and sand, his eyes fixed on the empty, heartless, slash.
Jonas tried to stem the blood that was pumping from the open cavity but he was weakening with the effort. Chaotic voices blazed around his mind, their terror, their eternal suffering numbing his soul.
Daniel fell to his knees, ready to cap the blood loss with his own hand, calling across the site for help. Their hands touched and the flicker of the past shattered, leaving them unharmed, kneeling on the golden sand.
==============
Thanks for stopping by.