Author's Note: I am sorry for the huge lapse between chapters. My real life became a mess, with divorce and such. I hope I can start adding weekly if not twice a week to this story now that things are calming down.

It wasn't raining anymore.

The pod, or whatever it had been, and the hideous alien-like humanoid soldier were now just so much ash after the woman, was it Sitka or Raylana, had vaporized one, then another.

A slow trek through the forest towards the road didn't clear his mind but had, in the least, gotten hi body itself slightly out of shock. But he was tired. So damned tired. It was like Gravity was a hundred times stronger then usual, trying to pull him down and smother him against the mud-ridden forest floor.

The woman watched the human carefully as they made their way past trees that had not burned away from the falling 'meteors'. Inside her dual mind a conversation between the host and it's partnered symbiote was going on, unheard in the real world.

/This is not a good idea/, Raylana told Sitka again for the, /We're at too much risk of being exposed if we stay around this human any longer. We saved his life. That is enough. We owe him no more then that./

The young human host mentally shook her head at her partner. /He's harmless, Sitka. He can't do anything to hurt us. Besides, what do you suggest we do? Kill him?

The symbiote replied with a mentally generated raspberry, something she had learned from her young friend. /Don't be crass, girl. Of course not. But if we leave him now, we no longer risk our exposure or his own safety. You forget, my friend, that The Tauri don't make known the existence of the Chappa'ai or the universe beyond their own world to their citizens. At this moment we could be scarring his very psyche./

/Oh please, Raylana. I know you are actually fond of humans, more so then your fellow symbiotes but sometimes I believe you underestimate the resilience of the human mind. Besides, look at him. He comes from a race that hasn't known direct Goa'uld rulers for many millennia. That speaks something about how strong willed his ancestors were to throw off their shackles and rise up as no other human world ever has./

/Sitka, dear, I love you as a friend and almost as my own child but really, just look at the boy. His mind is obviously overloaded by the mere fact that his worldviews have been altered irrevocably. If we leave now, the next time he sleeps and wakes up he'll probably just put it off as a dream born of the terrible incident Anubis inflicted on his world./

Now it was Sitka's turn to make a rude sound at her 'secret friend'. /Ray, please. We don't have much choice in this matter. He knows what we are, to a point at least. He knows the area. He knows how to fit in. We don't. So we need him or else the surviving agents of Anubis may find us. Do you think we're the only survivors from the fleet/

Both Host and Symbiote took a moment to look at their ward, both noticing he hadn't so much as looked towards them or notice their silence. He was just trudging listlessly along, like a man lost and tired.

Raylana sighed deeply within her host's head. A mental sound of defeat. /Fine, Sitka. You win. But don't say I didn't warn you. So. What is our strategy? Just follow him? I doubt he even knows where he is going./

/Have faith, Raylana./

And so again they walked in silence with their human guide. Within another 10 minutes they stood on the edge of a paved road. There were scorch marks and a crater from a nearby strike, no longer smoldering after the rain. Even with the sky mainly dark with black clouds and smoke, the temperature was getting hotter and sticky.

Lawson looked slowly down the road. One way, then another. Finally he pointed to a vehicle that was on the side, half on and off the curb. Apparently unoccupied. "There." He said dully. "We can use that. I live not too far away."

The vehicle, which the human called a Charger, was an odd one to the blended Tok'ra. It was heavy and sort of boxy, yet curved, and painted a deep black. It's ends were made of some shiny metal and it sat on rubber wheels. Raylana had to fight the urge to raise Sitka's eyebrow in a quizzical way.

The doors, it seemed, were locked. It looked to Raylana they needed a key or opening device of sorts to unlock it for their use. Before she could produce a tool to help with that, Lawson reared up and kicked the Driver's side window as hard as he could.

Both human and symbiote winced as the glass imploded in pebbles. Using his sleeve to protect his hand, Lawson whipped the remaining glass in the doorframe away, pulled on the locking mechanism, then opened the door and wiped the glass as best off the seat before sliding in.

He reached across and unlocked the passenger side door.

The Tok'ra slipped into the seat and was immediately surprised by the strange luxury of the vehicle. Two seats, like buckets in the front and a bench in the back. All covered in what she swore was the cured and shiny leather of some creature that must have been black color.

She studied the dashboard. Her own side was pretty much blank. In the middle was a console with some sort of device that had a digital display and, at odds with the almost modern facing, a series of Knobs, sliders and vents above it. In front of Lawson and the steering device that looked strangely like a wheel there were.. Indicator meters? It was odd, the mixed levels of technology in this strange human vehicle.

She saw that the post on which the wheel was mounted was a slit much like the one on the door. Another Key? Maybe to start it? She was about to Ask when Lawson pulled some wires from a panel beneath the column and started rubbing a few together. There were a few clicks.. a few sparks.. and suddenly the vehicle ROARED to life.. Like some powerful monster.

Neither Sitka nor Raylana had ever been in such a contrivance. The rumbling was enough to rattle her to her teeth. Lawson sat back, a hand on the wheel and one on a stick between their seats.

"Hold on." He told her, not mentioning anything about restraining devices to protect them. Sitka blinked and was about to say something again when he floored one of the petals, shifted a few times on the stick, and floored the other pedal.

Gravity pushed her deep into the cushioned leather seat and she let out a yelp, Raylana laughing at her host within Sitka's head.

And they were off.