Sacrifice of Humanity
By S.A
Sam sighed, watching as Daniel pilled out yet another notebook from his pack, quickly opening it and writing out more translations.
Two days, they have been there for two days, but it had taken her less than three hours to realise that there was no technology, no interesting plants or animals to sample. Just ruins, lots and lots of writing covered walls to keep Daniel happy and the rest of them bored.
She tilted her head slightly as footsteps approached, rolling from her back to her side to give her a better view. Jack strolled into view, whistling to himself as he completed yet another trek around the local area, already familiar with the terrain but finding it to be the only way to pass the time without resorting to helping Daniel.
He raised his eyebrow as he spotted Sam, lying on her side on one of the grassy embankments surrounding the temple ruins. Her jacket and T-shirt had been carefully folded and placed under her head as a makeshift pillow.
"Sunbathing Carter?"
She smiled, stretching as she sat up, her tank top raising slightly as she did. "There wasn't much else to do Sir."
He sat down next to her, unclipping his P90 and placing it beside his feet. He looked at he, noticing how ruffled her hair had become, trying to resist the urge to run his fingers through it.
Seeming to read his mind she lifted her own hands to her hair, quickly running through them before flattening it down.
He nodded, satisfied. "Where's Teal'c?" He asked, realising that the Jaffa was not sat anywhere near them
"Helping Daniel."
He looked at her, shocked, trying to work out if she was joking or not. She tilted her head towards the ruin, biting her lip to stop herself laughing. Teal'c had walked down there a few minutes after Jack had left to 'patrol'. Sam had watched in confusion, slowly realising what he was doing as he knelt down beside Daniel, the surprise on the archaeologist's face evident as Teal'c explained why he was there. She had been slightly amazed when Daniel nodded as what Teal'c had said, handing him a notebook and pointing to a wall.
"I don't believe it."
Coming back to the present she looked towards the voice, the lopsided grin on his face as he watched the Jaffa attempting to copy down lines of text off a highly decorated wall appearing rather cute to her.
"I can't believe Teal'c gave in before me."
She laughed, "I don't think Daniel can either, he owes me twenty dollars now."
"You placed bets on us?" He looked annoyed but was barely trying to hide the amusement in his voice.
She shrugged. "It's no worse than when you and Teal'c placed bets on which of us would figure out the device on our last mission."
"Yes, who'd have thought a food mixer could need that many buttons."
"Actually it's fascinating, they were a very effective society, combining all their food processors into one that could do what ever they needed, rather than having a whole kitchen full of devices like on Earth."
He rolled his eyes, collapsing back onto the grass, the expected frown of disapproval appearing on her face moments later. She leaned back onto her elbows, angling her head so that she was staring down at him.
"Why didn't you get bored first?"
"You won the bet, you obviously had a reason not to expect me to."
"True, but I thought you would have been so annoying that Teal'c would have no choice but to go help Daniel to get away from you."
He placed a hand on his heart. "You wound me Carter, am I really that annoying?"
She moved her arms, falling onto her back. "Only when bored."
"You'd better keep me occupied then."
She froze, her head whipping to face his equally surprised expression. He hadn't even thought about the words, the flirty sentence leaving his mouth before he had a chance to stop it. He waited for her to say something, maybe even storm off but when she hadn't moved in five minutes he relaxed, a slight smile appearing on his face as she moved to match his position.
"How about a game, I spy?"
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, her expression blank, eyes staring up into the cloudless sky. "Sure, I spy with my little eye something beginning with T."
She laughed, shaking her head in amusement before appearing to ponder it for a few seconds. "Trees?"
"Got it in one." He grinned as she started the next one, feeling like he was in a dream, a very nice one, where he was playing I spy with a beautiful astrophysicist wearing only a tank top.
They were still playing the game an hour later when Daniel scrambled up the hill, pack flung over his back, Teal'c following behind, his large graceful strides easily keeping up with the younger mans rushed running and falling. "Jack, Sam, I've found something."
They both sat up, sharing a look as he finally reached them, waiting patiently for him to catch his breath.
"What you find spacemonkey?"
"Yesterday I translated a piece of wall that mentioned a ritual however it didn't give specifics. Teal'c managed to translate another bit of text that also referenced the ritual. We've been working on translating the surrounding text for the past few hours and I think I may have worked out what they temple was built for. "
"This is all fascinating Daniel but lets simplify it shall we. In the shortest amount of words possible answer me these, first, are we in danger? Second, why? And third, can we leave yet?" Jack almost whined the last one, and if it hadn't been for the seriousness of the situation Daniel would have pointed it out.
"Yes, the temple is for rituals of human sacrifice, and leaving would be a good idea if it weren't for the fact that according to the dates listed on the wall, a sacrifice is due sometime today."
"Today? Well I for one say we get out of here before we get to find out just what kind of sacrifice they are after."
"It's actually a rather basic sacrifice. They do it to honour their gods…"
Teal'c interrupted, sensing that while Major Cater was interested, O'Neill was getting ready for battle. "O'Neill, I believe leaving would be unwise. It is already late in the day so there is a large possibility that the group is already on their way. If we were to take the path we would most likely encounter them."
"We can't go back any other route Sir, the only other choices would be the forest, which is too dense or the lake, and we have no way of knowing what is in there or how deep it is."
"So what options do we have left?"
"We need to find cover, away from the temple."
"I agree we need cover, but Jack this is something too good to miss, this culture is nothing like anything I've seen on Earth, it references a few obscure cultures but most of it must have been learnt from a large number of different people they met. They're nomads Jack, and it'll be twenty years before they return here."
"Whatever the decision it must be made soon O'Neill, people approach."
They all turned to look at the path seeing a group slowly moving into view. Hoping that they were too busy to look up, Jack signalled for them to quickly move over the hill, Sam just having time to grab her clothes before being pulled over. She silently dressed as Teal'c crawled up to the edge, peering over to view what was happening.
A small group of six or seven, clothed in blood red robes, hoods covering their faces, was slowly walking towards the temple. They were followed by a horse and carriage, the white paint of the carriage and covering of its contents contrasting with the black skin of the horse.
Jack moved alongside Teal'c, Sam taking position on his other side, gasping slightly as the carriage wheel hit a stone on the road, the white cloth moving to reveal a body underneath.
"The sacrifice" jack whispered.
"Isn't a sacrifice meant to be alive before it's…sacrificed?" Sam asked, aiming her question more at Daniel than Jack.
"Traditionally maybe, but in a nomadic society sacrifice would most likely have been used as a way to dispose of those too weak to continue travelling, maybe even those who broke the laws. Using religious significance would have made it easier on the families of those sacrificed. However if no one was ill or breaking the laws then it may have fallen out of practise, there would be no need to sacrifice anyone. In fact killing a healthy person would have been a waste. But their religious beliefs would insist on a sacrifice, so they obviously felt that the bodies of their dead would appease their gods as an emotional sacrifice rather than a physical one."
She nodded, glad it meant the danger may be less than they initially feared.
Teal'c moved suddenly, turning to look at the gear they had thrown behind them. "O'Neill, I believe we may have left some of Daniel Jackson's notes within the temple."
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