Mara sat quietly next to Lucy near the fire. Her hands were tied tightly behind her back and her pack had been taken away and searched. All of her precious instruments had been dumped unceremoniously onto the unforgiving stone floor. She could have sworn that she heard one break, but at the moment she had bigger problems than a broken gadget. She looked up and forced herself to meet the colonel's hard gaze.

"We'll start off simple. What were you doing lurking behind those rocks?"

Mara's voice was so small when she answered that she almost couldn't hear it. She wondered if the colonel could.

"We weren't lurking and we didn't mean any harm."

"It looked suspiciously like lurking to me." He jerked his thumb in Sam's general direction, "What did you do to her."

"We didn't do anything to her! I already told you that! It was the water. It's contaminated!"

"Perhaps they are telling the truth O'Neill."

"Perhaps, but then we are still left with them lurking. And those," he pointed to the pile on the floor, "look like stuff for scientific research. So that brings us back to the beginning. What were you doing?"

Mara shifted uncomfortably under the man's intense gaze. She felt the ropes around her wrists tighten with the slight movement. She saw no reason for them to be tied; there was no way they could escape or fight. A guard stood on either side of them, weapons at the ready. Did she and Lucy really look all that threatening to these people? How much danger could two unarmed female scientists possible pose? She glanced briefly at her stuff and then at Lucy before continuing.

"We just saw and opportunity and we took it."

"What sort of opportunity?"

Mara could tell that the man was getting more and more impatient by the minute. She drew in a shuddering breath and decided to take her chances with the truth this time.

"Like I said, the water is contaminated, our people are becoming sick and dying…we had hoped that your people would provide some sort of… medical miracle for ours. If your female was able to develop antibodies to the virus in the water we could use that knowledge to synthesize an antidote to save our people." She looked at the colonel to make sure that he was following. "We sabotaged the roof of the cave; we knew that it would fall when she stepped on it. We've been watching her ever since. Please, we didn't mean any harm!"

"Didn't mean any harm?"

O'Neill crossed to where Mara sat in two long strides. He yanked her up by her elbow and drug her over to where Sam, and now Daniel, lay unconscious by the fire.

"Does this look like no harm to you?"

"Please," said Mara, close to tears, "this wasn't supposed to happen! I'm so sorry! Please…"

"No, you're not sorry! You don't care about her. I've meet people like you before, you're all the same! All you care about is finding a cure for your own people. It doesn't matter who else might get hurt in the process."

He pushed her over until she was inches away from their faces.

"Take a good long look. You caused this. Two innocent people are dying and it's your fault."

"No, please. I'm sorry!"

"You think your sorry now, wait until they die."

"O'Neill, stop."

"Teal'c now is not the time," said Jack with a warning in his voice.

The big Jaffa ignored the warning as he strode forward and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, "O'Neill you mustn't do this. Perhaps she may be of use to us. Major Carter and Daniel Jackson are strong warriors. I feel confident that they will overcome this, but we must keep our heads cool in order to help them."

Maybe it was the fact that Teal'c was right, or maybe it was just the fact that it was Teal'c who said something that made him stop. He released Mara and walked away. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her crumple to the ground in tears. He kept walking, towards the entrance to the cave. He saw Lucy draw away from him in fear as he passed. He wouldn't have hurt her, either of them when it came down to it, but they didn't know that.

>>>>>>>

Lucy watched the man named O'Neill stalk past her and flinched in spite of herself. She could tell that he wasn't a bad man, just an upset one. He reminded her of her father. He had a temper too. When he got upset is was best just to stay out of his way. It was a lesson that she had learned hard way and had no interest in learning it again. She turned to watch her sister, Mara, crying on the floor. The man hadn't hurt her, merely scared her. Lucy turned her attention to the big black man that had stopped the colonel and decided that he would be the most reasonable man to talk to. He was imposing but time was running out. She gathered her courage and called out to him, hoping all the while that she was doing the right thing.

>>>>>>>

Jacob woke up and rolled over, temporarily blinded by a bright light that hung over his head. The events of the night before rolled through his head in slow motion like ending movie credits. The last image and the bright light cause him to jump to a huge conclusion.

"I've died and gone to heaven." He mumbled to the light overhead and was surprised when he got two answers, one from inside his mind and one from outside his mind.

Well if this is heaven then I want my money back. It's way too bright here.

"You haven't died and this isn't heaven."

Oh no, thought Jacob, what did I do to deserve to go this way?

"You are still in the cave, the colony to be exact. How are you feeling?"

"The colony? Where's Sam? Who are you?"

"Relax," said the voice. "Everything is going to be alright. Just go back to sleep while we finish healing your injuries."

Jacob felt something sharp prick his arm. He tried to sit up but everything went all hazy and he fell backwards onto a soft pillow. It felt so welcoming that he stopped trying to resist. The voice was still talking but he couldn't make out the words and it was getting fainter and fainter until finally he couldn't hear it at all.

>>>>>>>

Teal'c finished telling O'Neill what Lucy had said and O'Neill nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, and I think I know someone else that can help us too. I'll take SG-6 back through the gate to get them."

>>>>>>>

Lucy and Mara sat closer to the fire now. Their hands had been untied and they had been given food. At least that was what the man who gave it to them had called it. It was hard and tasteless but very welcome after the long interrogation. She sat as close to Mara as she could as they talked through their plan. Occasionally she glanced up to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation and she smiled as she watched the colonel leave. Yes, everything was going according to her plan.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N The next chapter should be better than this one and with any luck it will be up within the next day or two. As always please read and review... :-)