A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews! Please keep them coming! I will not be able to update at all for the next week, but, I put a preview at the end of this chapter! Hope you like it!
CHAPTER 8
Teal'c's watch began at 0300. As Daniel had the watch before Teal'c, Lo'jess waited until Daniel was settled in his rack and lightly snoring before he quietly got up and went to sit beside Teal'c on the floor.
"Will you teach me how to stand watch?"
"Indeed, I will."
Lo'jess stared into the fire for a time before speaking. "Life here in the mines is not that bad. Why is it so important for you and your friends to escape?"
Teal'c looked at the innocent young man and stated "Where we are from we are free. We do not serve false gods and our people do not enslave us."
Lo'jess nodded slowly. "I have never known what it is like to be free." He said softly.
"I did not know either until I met O'Neill."
"O'Neill freed you?" Lo'jess asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"I freed myself, with O'Neill's help. It is not easy, but you can do it as well."
"Will you take me with you when you escape this place?" Lo'jess pleaded.
"We will." Teal'c promised.
The two sat in silence for a time. "Teal,c, why does Sam call O'Neill 'Sir' and 'Colonel' and why does he call her 'Carter' and 'Major?
"They have a very difficult relationship. Because they are both warriors for the Tauri, they are not permitted to have feelings for each other."
"But, they do. I saw it in them the first day when we were to be sold. O'Neill would have done anything to prevent her from being sold to the brothels."
"Just because they are forbidden to express feelings does not mean that they do not have them. They care very deeply for each other, but until the Goa'uld are no longer a threat, they understand that their duty is to their world."
Lo'jess sat in silence trying to understand all that Teal'c had told him.
Finally Teal'c spoke again "It is time to awaken our team so that we may begin our search for a way to escape."
Teal'c walked over to the sleeping forms of Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. "O'Neill." He whispered. "O'Neill, you must awaken."
"Teal'c? What is it?" The Colonel rolled over and tried to get his eyes to focus on the Jaffa standing over him.
"It is time to begin our search for an escape route"
"Oh, yeah, ok. Carter!" He touched her shoulder "Carter, wake up"
"Uh,...Sir?"
"Time to get up Carter." Jack rolled out of the rack and put on his boots.
Daniel was standing near the fire rubbing his eyes with his left hand and holding his glasses in his right.
"What I wouldn't give for a cup of coffee right now!" he groused.
"We must maintain silence, Daniel Jackson."
"Considering what we have seen of the geography of the caves, I think we should begin our search near the underground springs where we get our drinking water." Sam said as she laced up her boots.
"Alright, lets head out then." Jack moved to the doorway and looked out from behind the curtain to see if anyone was in the passageway. The Colonel gave hand signals to indicate the passage was clear and SG1 slipped out from behind the curtains. Lo'jess grabbed the two water buckets and followed the group.
When they reached the spring, the group fanned out exploring all the rocky out-croppings and low lying areas. They looked over head, and followed every ridge and valley they could find in the area.
The spring bubbled up into a large, natural pool with what appeared to be a solid rock wall behind it. As Major Carter was examining the rock wall that was about 10 yards behind the pool, she found a narrow, natural passageway that ascended at a steep angle. She held her torch up for more visibility and carefully began to climb up the dark, narrow space. About 20 yards up the passage, the rock seemed to split and the passage grew narrower and continued at sharp angle to the left. The overhead was now just a few feet high and Sam had to bend over to continue climbing up the passageway. Suddenly she saw a faint sliver of grey light shining through the end of the passage.
She put her torch down and crawled on all fours to examine where the light was coming from. There was a small crack in the rock about two inches wide and 18 inches high. She put her eye up to the crack and peered out. Trees! Lush green foliage and trees! This had to be the back side of the rock formation they saw as they entered the cave. The village and Jaffa were on the other side of the cave. They could hide out in the woods, if they could tunnel out of there.
Excitedly, she grabbed her torch and worked her way down out of the tight cavern. "Sir!" She said in an urgent whisper "I found it! Only problem is, we are going to have to dig our way out."
"Show me." Commanded the Colonel and she led him back up the narrow, sloping rock channel. After Jack examined the crack in the rock wall they returned to where their friends waited by the spring.
"Ok, let's get back to our compartment. We'll figure it out there." Jack said.
Lo'jess filled the buckets with fresh water and the group quietly eased their way back to their compartment.
"We will need tools to chisel the rock away in order to get out of here." Jack said when they were safely back in their compartment.
"Er, but Jack, we can't take tools out of the mine and I suspect the punishment is severe for just having tools." Daniel stated.
"I know! I know!" He said in frustration. "What I wouldn't give for some C-4!"
"Wait, perhaps there is something we could get from the cutlery vendor that we could modify for our use. Also, in the laundry we use very heavy wooden oars which could be used as handles for the tools. I'm sure I would have no problem stealing an oar."
"Uh, Sam, did you forget what happened to that guy who got caught stealing when we first arrived here?" Daniel asked.
"Oh, yeah." She replied dejectedly.
"Ok, ok, lets not give up so easily. We have found the way out, now we just have to build the tools to get us out of here." Jack began.
"Sam, they seem to sell all kinds of stuff in the concession area so you will just have to buy whatever you can that we can modify for our use." Daniel said.
"Ah, first she needs to buy us all some new socks and underwear!" Jack grimaced. "We've been wearing this stuff for 5 days now and I want some clean underwear!"
The conversation was interrupted by the rapid ringing of the bell that indicated it was time for everyone to arise.
Lo'jess rolled up the privacy curtain, they all ate some bread and then headed off to work.
At the end of the day Jack and Lo'jess had each earned 6 tokens, Teal'c had earned 8 and Daniel had earned 5. There was no quota for the laundry, Sam's salary was always just 2 tokens.
As the men headed off for the public baths, Sam took her 28 tokens and went across the hall to see if Brenita wanted to go shopping with her.
When Sam called into her neighbor's compartment Khatana came forward. "It is my mother's turn to work in the concession area tonight, however, I will be glad to accompany you there."
Khatana grabbed the wicker basket and the two women started out toward the concession area.
"Tell me about Daniel Jackson." Khatana sounded like a 16 year old high school girl and in fact, Sam figured she wasn't much older than that.
"Daniel's wife was very beautiful," she began "her name was Shar'ae"
"How did she die?"
"She was taken by the Goa'uld." Sam stated simply.
"But they are gods. Why would they kill her?"
"They aren't gods Khatana, they just scare people into believing that they are."
The young girl looked perplexed but, to Sam's relief, said nothing more until they arrived at the concession area.
"Do you have coffee?" Sam asked the food vendor.
He looked confused. "What is coffee?"
"Well, it is a hard bean that we grind up and use to make a hot beverage." 'God, I sound just like Teal'c!' she thought.
"No, we do not have ground up beans, but we have leaves that we use to make hot drinks."
"Fine. I'll take some of those."
Again she purchased 1 pound of cubed meat, 5 potatoes, 1 onion and 5 apples instead of carrots. She thought they could have them for dessert. She got 2 loaves of a hearty multi-grain bread this time and paid 8 tokens for her purchases.
Sam turned to Khatana. "Take me to your mother's booth." she said.
When they arrived at Brenita's booth, Sam told her that she needed to purchase socks and underwear for her entire team. The boxer type shorts Brenita showed Sam did not have elastic, but were held up by a drawstring. Brenita chose the sizes for all four men and picked out some women's undergarments for Sam. The socks also did not have elastic, as it was technology that these people did not possess. At this point Sam didn't care and told Brenita she needed 5 pairs. Sam paid 15 tokens for the items and then asked Brenita if one of vendors sold soap.
The woman selling soap had various soaps, oils, candles and fragrances. Most of the soap was simple lye soap, but the woman's expensive line included a glycerine based soap that Sam thought smelled like lemons. It was 3 tokens for a small bar, but Sam bought it anyway.
Again, her tokens spent, Sam and Khantana returned to their respective compartments.
After the evening meal, Sam gave everyone their new underwear and informed the team that in the morning she would need their t-shirts, old socks and underwear and their one towel so that she could wash them.
Here's a preview for Chapter 9:
"Sam, this isn't about your career at all! It's about your life!"
"Oh, yeah, like we can just go back to the SGC and say, 'Oh, by the way General Hammond, Jack and I became lovers on P3X-071!"
"Sam, its not like that and you know it! General Hammond would authorize whatever it takes to keep you alive!"