Young at Heart

The Stargate rotated noisily as each of the seven chevrons locked into place. SG1 stood ready at the base of the metal ramp that would take them to P3X-781 once the shimmering wormhole was established. With a blast of energy the gateway connected and the four travellers were on their way, Colonel Jack O'Neill in command.

They arrived at their destination with a jolt, almost as if the corridor had pushed them through. Dr Daniel Jackson, the team's archaeologist and language expert, came off worse landing heavily on his right side, a trickle of blood cascading down his right temple. Insisting that he could continue with the mission, the four of them moved onwards to investigate the local area and endeavour to establish the existence of life.

The general surroundings bore a lush and fertile environment. "It appears to be a relatively rural planet. Not much evidence of technology, sir" stated Major Samantha Carter.

"Mmmm," agreed Jack glancing around, a strange intenseness on the immediate vicinity, his hands poised on his weapon. Teal'c, the only non-human member of the team and former first prime of Apophis, also sensed that they were being observed.

Jack held up his hand and everyone came to a halt, each now aware that something was amiss. Again Jack used definitive hand signals to communicate to his team that the subtle movement in the shrubs to the left was someone hiding amongst them. Advancing cautiously, Jack and Teal'c moved around the vegetation in a pincer movement whilst Sam and Daniel made distracting comments.

"Hey Daniel, is this a type of poison ivy?"

"Atchoo…Y-yes, so don't touch it or you'll be coming out in bright red itchy sores! Atchoo!"

"Bless you," smirked Sam.

"Come on out," instructed Jack when he was in position.

Both he and Teal'c lowered their weapons when they saw the figure that had been hiding behind the bushes. It was a boy! The young lad could have only been about nine or ten years old, yet he exuded the air of someone much older.

"Greetings," announced the stranger suddenly. "Please forgive me for not showing myself sooner, but I needed to make sure…"

"Make sure of what?" queried Jack defensively.

"That you are not Luminopti."

"Luminopti? What is that, some sort of disease?" he asked, looking to Daniel for some evidence of comprehension.

"Lumin opti…glowing eyes, he means the Goa'uld! He wanted to make sure we were not Goa'uld!"

"You carry the beast within," the stranger's comments were directed at Teal'c. "Yet, I sense that there is no evil in your 'kantoth'."

"I think that must be like your aura or soul," chipped in Daniel.

Sam approached from behind Teal'c after maintaining a discrete distance.

"You, too, have experienced the Luminopti…"

Taken aback by the stranger's apparent knowledge of her past, it took a moment for Sam to respond. "Y-yes. I became a host for a short time, but it was a Tok'ra, not a Goa'uld symbiote."

"I do not understand, surely they are the same."

"Well actually, no. They are very different, a Goa'uld takes a host whereas the Tok'ra…"

"Major!" snapped the colonel.

"Sorry, sir."

"So, who are you?" asked Jack.

"My name is Yasram. Come, I shall take you to my village. It is not far."

The team followed Yasram. After nearly ten minutes hiking Jack piped up "I thought you said it wasn't far! You know, this yellow brick road could almost take us all the way back to Kansas, Dorothy, and my knees are getting to the stage…"

"We are here. This is Rekhyt. Welcome." Yasram held his arm outstretched and swept it in an arc across the Scandinavian style wooden houses in the valley below.

"Wow!" exclaimed Sam as she took in the captivating view.

It was only moments later that the team realised that the entire village consisted of children. None of the inhabitants appeared to be above the age of twelve.

"Sir, these people…they are all…"

"Children!" finished Teal'c.

"Yasram, where are all the adults?" asked Daniel.

"There are none. I will explain further once you have rested. Come." Yasram lead the team towards a small, but beautifully constructed wooden cottage. "Here. You may rest here."

"Thanks," replied O'Neill as he removed his sunglasses and gazed around the property.

Without another word, Yasram nodded his goodbyes and wandered towards another of the wooden houses.

"C'mon mom - let's get the kids inside," smirked O'Neill to Carter.

The interior was as charming as the outside. Small furniture and decorations made the place seem like a miniature version of home on Earth. It was difficult to remember that children had made all of this.

That evening Yasram returned to invite SG1 to a feast.

"What is the feast in aid of?" queried Daniel.

"It is for Horus. We ask that he protect you whilst you are here with us."

"Protect us? Protect us from what or whom?" asked Jack intrigued.

"From the Dark Serpent - Typhon."

Jack turned to Daniel for his analysis of this latest information.

"Typhon was the God of the Night. A serpent god and enemy of Ra…Of course," Daniel slapped his forehead as he realised what had been staring him in the face. "Rekhyt means 'Lower Egypt' and it was given to Horus by Ra as compensation for the injury to his eye!"

Jack turned to face Carter, blinked and shrugged his shoulders, totally oblivious to the whole archaeological relevance. "If you ask me, I think Daniel must have landed harder on his head than he thought when we came through the Stargate!"

The feast was impressive, with a whole carcass of what resembled a deer gently rotating over an open fire. Fruits and vegetables abound platters, small roasted birds were served cold with hunks of bread, and the clear liquid being passed around tasted of peaches, but had a kick like a mule on the back of the throat!

In the middle of the festivities, one of the girls stood up and an intense silence fell over the entire group. She raised an untouched plate of food together with a goblet of 'wine' and offered them to the ornately carved statue of Horus, which stood prominent at the eastern end of the village. As the girl laid the offering at the falcon-headed monument's feet, she could be heard to say something in, what Daniel identified as a derivative of sanscript.

"What's she saying Daniel?" asked Jack in a hoarse whisper.

"She's reciting a passage from the 'Book of the Dead'."

"Book of the Dead!" repeated Jack in a voice that was louder than he had intended. "Book of the Dead - what do you mean? Is she bringing back some long lost ancestor with this voodoo mumbo-jumbo or has she got something in mind for us that I really don't want to know about?" his voice returning to an impatient whisper.

"No, no. The book of the dead has over 200 magic spells and incantations that are designed to help a dead person's soul on their journey through the underworld. I'm assuming that she has either lost someone recently, or, she is asking Horus for his protection of those still alive, and it's not voodoo mumbo-jumbo. Voodoo originated in the Caribbean…"

"Yeah? Well so long as it's not our souls she is helping to the underworld." Jack took another bite out of the pear-like fruit he was holding and scowled suspiciously at the proceedings.

Sam had to look away from her two bickering friends, fearful that the giggle she was suppressing might escape.

Daniel just ignored Jack's comments, now used to his friend's reluctance to embrace culture.

Next morning bore a cloudless sky and a fresh clean smell in the air.

"Ahh, Horus is pleased," began Yasram when he saw SG1 emerge from the cottage. "He has given you his blessing by making the day such a pleasant one."

"O-kay Yasram," Jack said sarcastically, his head a little tender after the previous nights merriment.

"We are honoured," Daniel offered trying to breeze over Jack's remarks. "Tell me Yasram, do you have any writings? Either hieroglyphics or parchments, scrolls maybe?"

"Of course. We have a small library of scrolls and there is some pictorial writing in a cavern nearby."

"Can we see them, please?"

"Certainly. Follow me," Yasram lead the group towards a slender opening in the mountainside where an obelisk with a carved Wedjat eye depicting Horus, stood guard outside.

Daniel was in his element. With a small video camera he filmed as much as he could. Inside the cave, the room was filled with cartouches and hieroglyphs telling the story of how Horus had removed his brother Seth from the Throne of Egypt, losing his left eye, the moon, in the struggle. It also showed how he had later gone on to 'merge' with Ra to become the God of the Sky.

"This is amazing! It can tell us so much about our own history in Ancient Egypt." Daniel said in awe.

Jack O'Neill on the other hand, didn't seem to share in Dr Jackson's excitement and began to stray from the inscribed room. Teal'c followed closely behind.

"Hey Teal'c, what do you say we have a bit of a wander around the rest of this place?"

"I am in agreement, O'Neill."

"I'll take that as a yes!" Jack motioned for the friendly Jaffa to follow him.

Back outside, the pair skirted around the busy village and concentrated their inquisitiveness on a series of buildings that had been constructed in the nearby woods. The crude camouflage was typical of a children's play den, hidden by broken sticks and wilting greenery. To an ordinary visitor it would probably have been adequate, but to the keen eyes of a colonel in the USAF and the tracking instincts of the former first prime of Apophis, it stood out like a sore thumb!

A feint jingling sound grew more pronounced as they approached. With weapons raised, both O'Neill and Teal'c entered the first hut. Inside were a number of birds of prey tethered to the perch upon which they sat, silent and still, occasionally moving merely to adjust their position. This movement alone was the cause of the ringing, making the bells strapped to the birds' anklets jangle.

"O'Neill, what is the purpose of these birds being imprisoned?"

"I think they are falconry birds, used for hunting."

"Would it not be easier to just shoot their prey?"

"I guess, but so far I haven't seen any evidence of weaponry at all, have you?"

Teal'c simply raised a single eyebrow, as had become habit and continued to investigate their surroundings.

Within seconds, the door to the hut opened and a young boy stood in the doorway, uncertain of what to do next. Jack and Teal'c had instinctively raised and armed their weapons. The boy, who looked only seven or eight years old, went pale and turned to run, clearly afraid for his life.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you," Jack called, ashamed by his actions.

The boy had only gone a few yards and was now hiding behind one of the large tree trunks. He peered out tentatively, obviously nervous and afraid of the two strangers he had happened upon.

"What's your name? I'm Jack and this is Teal'c." Teal'c bowed his greeting and lowered his staff weapon.

"I-I am Nirak."

"Hi there Nirak. Erm, do you look after these birds?"

"Yes. I care for our family's birds, it is part of my duties in our house. We use them to hunt. It has been our way for generations."

"O'Neill," began Teal'c. "Did your ancestors not use this method of hunting many years ago?"

"Yeah, but nowadays it is considered more of a sport."

"You kill animals for sport?" Teal'c's question caused Jack to look at him in a manner that meant 'let's stop this conversation before it gets out of hand'.

Returning his questions to Nirak, "what about the other huts out here, do they have birds in too?"

"Yes, but each belongs to a different family house in the village. I am only responsible for this one and the one to it's right. Now please forgive me, but I must attend to the birds."

"Sure," O'Neill waved and left Nirak to prepare the birds for flying.

Halfway back to the village they met up with Daniel and Sam.

"Where did you two disappear to? Do you realise the importance of the hieroglyphs recorded in Horus' cave? Although they are a different dialect…"

"Danny boy! Did you find out what happened to all the adults around here?"

"Yes. It appears that they are here."

Jack looked around him incase they were hiding in the shadows or something. When he saw nothing he asked "What do you mean, they have ascended or something?"

"No. These children are actually the adults!"

"O-kay…so where are the children if these are the adults? C'mon, none of these kids are more that about twelve years old."

"Physically, yes sir" interrupted Sam. "Genetics isn't my field, but…"

"Hold it Carter! Before this all gets too technical and I just end up having to smile at you like I understand everything you've said. We need to make sure that the Goa'uld don't find this planet, otherwise we shall have a load of mini snake-heads roaming the galaxy!"

Just as he spoke, the Stargate began to rotate…