CHAPTER 7
About 15 minutes after the guard led the men of SG1 to the mines he returned for Sam. He directed her down yet another passageway that opened up on the laundry area. The laundry was similar to the public baths. There were 4 'tubs' build out of rock, each 10 feet square with walls 3 feet high. Two of the vats had soapy water and 2 of them had clear water. A Roman aqueduct type system appeared to provide the water for the vats and the entire back of the area was open to the outdoors!
A large woman in a blue, floor length dress wearing a long white apron came over to Sam. "What is your name?" She demanded.
"Sam"
"I am in charge of the laundry. You may call me Ledra. Let me explain to you what to do. Each compartment in the complex sends their laundry on a specific day of the week. The laundry is sent in a canvas bag with the owner's name on it. You will dump the laundry and the canvas bag into one of the soapy pools and stir it with this"
She showed Sam what looked like a row boat oar.
"Next, you will take the clothes out of the soapy pool with the pole and put them in the rinse pool. When the items are rinsed you will fish them out with your stick and crank them through this machine."
She indicated an old fashioned ringer with a hand crank.
"When the excess water is removed, you will put the clothes in one of these baskets" Ledra pointed to a stack of wicker baskets "then take the clothes outside and put them on one of the clothes lines to dry. Hang the canvas bag where each family's clothes begin so that you do not get them confused. When all the bags of clothes have been washed we drain the pools and refill them with clean water for tomorrow's laundry. You may then go home to fix lunch for your family. After lunch you return and take the clothes that you washed off the line, fold them and put them back in the canvas bag and place them in this area for the owners to pick up after work. Do you have any questions?"
The only question Sam had was 'what is preventing me from going outside and running away?' but she figured she could find that one out on her own. "No." she said.
"Good." The stout woman said. "Here." She handed Sam a wooden oar then indicated where the canvas bags full of dirty clothes were piled up on the floor "Get to work!"
There were about 8 women working in the laundry area. Sam went right to work and tried to carry on light conversations with the other workers. By the end of the day she knew that the large outdoor area, where the clotheslines were, was completely encircled with a force field and the controls for the force field were in Dra'coe's quarters.
Toward the end of the day a young woman with dark black hair spoke to Sam. "One of the best things about working in the laundry is that at the end of the day, after we drain the washing pools, we may take showers here before we re-fill the pools for tomorrow."
The young woman indicated the overhead, gravity flow piping that was used to fill the pools. "This way we do not have to cleanse ourselves in the dirty water in the public baths and we do not have to wait in long lines either, as there are just a few of us who work here"
Sam was actually quite happy to be able to take a shower as she hadn't had one since they left earth; four days ago. The water was only lukewarm but Sam didn't care. One of the other laundry workers loaned her some soap, and while she didn't have a towel, Sam still felt immensely better after her shower.
Finally, she was paid her wages for the day, 2 tokens, and sent 'home'.
Carter had been in her team's quarters for about half an hour when the rest of SG1 and Lo'jess returned. Sam thought that Brenita, the neighbor from across the passageway, must have been watching for SG1 to return because before they could do anything but sit down on their racks, Brenita was there.
"Good evening." She said cheerily. "I thought I would take Sam shopping while you all go to the public baths."
The men looked wearily from one to the other, but no one said anything. Finally, Brenita spoke again. "You did earn tokens did you not?"
"Yeah." Jack said. "Daniel, Lo'jess and I earned 5 tokens each and Teal'c earned 7. How much did you get paid, Carter?"
"I only got 2 tokens." Sam said, clearly disgruntled by the disparity.
"Well," offered Brenita, "you do have a job that requires no skill."
Sam really hated this place.
"Ok, fine." Jack jumped in before Sam could say anything "let's all give our tokens to Carter and go find those baths."
On the way to the concession area Sam asked Brenita "So, is 24 tokens a lot for a day's work?"
"For a group new to the community it is very good. Over time you will be able to earn more."
Soon the two women arrived at an area where vendors had set up booths selling their various wares. "It is Khatana's day to work late at the vending area." Brenita stated as she waved at her daughter. "You will not need to buy anything from her today as you have the bowls and mugs I gave you. Your first stop must be at the food stand."
Brenita led Sam to the largest of the booths where fresh food was laid out on tables. It reminded Sam of a Farmer's Market. "Where does all this come from?" She asked Brenita.
"There are farms a distance from the mines. They send meat and produce to the mines everyday."
Brenita had brought a small wicker basket in which to put her purchases. She walked up to the vendor with authority. "My friend needs 1 pound of the cubed meat, 5 potatoes, 5 carrots, 1 onion, 5 pounds of rice and 2 loaves of bread."
Sam just stared at the woman as she rattled off the list of items. The man behind the table nodded, wrapped the meat in paper, pulled out a cloth bag of rice and counted out the carrots, potatoes and one onion. "That will be 9 tokens."
Sam counted out the tokens and handed them over as Brenita put the items in her basket. "Next you will need a knife to cut your vegetables and your bread." She pulled Sam by the arm and led her to another table that held cooking pots and cutlery.
"They allow the slaves to own knives?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Were you present yesterday for the punishment?" Brenita asked, her light mood darkening.
"Yes..." Sam said warily.
"Then you should know that the punishment for using a knife as a weapon is death."
Sam swallowed hard. She had considered carrying the knife around as protection from Dra'coe.
Brenita picked out a small knife with a serrated edge and Sam handed over 4 tokens.
"Come." Brenita ordered and Carter followed her to a booth where fire chondrite was sold. "We need a 10 pound bag of fire chondrite." Brenita stated to the clerk who hefted the bag on to the table. Sam handed over 5 tokens and Brenita drug her off to the booth where blankets, towels and pillows were sold.
"How many tokens do you have remaining, Sam?"
"Four."
"Then you will need to buy one of these towels. They are only four tokens. Your family will have to share until you can buy more."
With all of Sam's tokens spent, the two women returned to their compartments. Sam thanked Brenita for helping her and then set about making a stew with the ingredients Brenita had insisted Sam purchase. By the time the men returned from the baths, the stew was actually beginning to smell quite good. As SG1 and their adopted member, Lo'jess, ate their stew, Sam told them about the outdoor area in the laundry and force field.
"The force field is obviously Goa'uld technology, Sir. Since the controls are in Dra'coe's private quarters I could pretend to be interested in him and have him take me to his quarters..."
Jack cut her off before she could say another word "Absolutely not Major and that is an order! Don't even think about it! You wouldn't come out of there alive"
She knew he was right and felt completely frustrated and useless with the restraints and expectations that were put on her as a woman in this society. She looked down at her boots for awhile before she spoke again. "I need to warn you, all of you" she looked at each member of the group, "Brenita told me when we purchased this paring knife that the use of a knife as a weapon here is an offense that is punishable by death"
"Ah, well, that's good to know." Said Daniel as he adjusted his glasses.
"I suspected as much." Teal'c stated. "They told us the same thing about the tools used to mine the naquada. We are forbidden to remove them from the mining area and using them as weapons is punishable by death."
"Ok, ok, enough of the pleasantries, when can we go exploring and looking for another way out of this place?" O'Neill asked, eager to change the subject.
"As I have last watch, O'Neill, I could awaken everyone an hour early and we could explore then." Teal'c offered.
"Alright, let's do it. Same watches as last night." Jack said and everyone got ready for bed except for Sam who sat on the floor, staring into the burning rocks and occasionally poking them with the stick.