Chapter 9

"Is this necessary?" Ningal asked.

Sam tightened the restraints around Ningal's wrists, securing them behind her back. She pushed the woman against the wall and stood over her. She was aware of Teal'c standing behind her, despite his diminishing strength. And while she appreciated his support, she knew that he needed to rest.

"Teal'c, I want you to find a quiet spot on the ship to kel'no'reem."

Teal'c did not move. "I will not leave you, Major Carter."

"Colonel O'Neill is still partly lucid," Sam said. "I don't know how long that will last. I need you to feel rested."

He inclined his head as she placed a hand on his arm. "I will return," he said.

"I know you will." She rubbed his arm affectionately. "I'll be okay."

Teal'c nodded once, lifting his staff weapon. He searched her, and then Daniel and O'Neill before he gave Ningal a hard, intense glare. When satisfied, he walked toward the back of the ship and disappeared from view.

Silently, Sam wished him luck before she glanced over to Colonel O'Neill and Daniel. O'Neill was watching everything, sitting on the floor a few feet away from the console. While Sam could tell he was trying to his best to stay alert and on track, she could see his eyes were beginning to glaze over. Daniel had moved to sit beside him, knees drawn up to his chest, his head buried in his crossed arms. Every so often Sam could hear soft, muffled moans coming from him.

"He will not last long," Ningal said, her gaze on Daniel. "The gistukal has taken to him quickly."

That statement along brought fresh anger into Sam, and she glared at Ningal with indignation. "I want some answers," Sam said. She held up the vial. "And I want to know what this is."

Ningal sighed, having the nerve to appear inconvenienced. "It's to neutralize the gistukal."

"I don't think so," O'Neill said, glaring at her. "No more…anything in my body."

"Gistukal." Sam remembered that word from Daniel. "That's what you give the men on your planet."

"No," Ningal said. She held her head up high. "Siduri."

Sam set her jaw, struggling not to laugh. "You expect me to believe that coming from you?

"The barragal – the blessing – is nothing more than crushed salamander remains mixed with our sacred metals," Ningal explained. "It does nothing but enhance what is already there."

"It's a catalyst," Sam said, understanding. The abrupt onslaught of their symptoms suddenly made sense. "They were poisoned from the start. You just helped it along." The idea that all of this could have been avoided, that her team had at least had a fighting chance before Ningal's intervention just made matters worse. Holding back her angry tears, Sam bore down on Ningal with her icy glare. "Why?" she asked.

Ningal bowed her head. "I did not know that they had been given so much gistukal. If I had known, I would not have insisted on the blessing. I meant only to impair you."

"It doesn't matter. You poisoned us," O'Neill muttered, waving his hand between himself and Daniel. "Our government isn't going to take kindly to this."

"I understand," Ningal said.

"You poisoned your own people," O'Neill continued. "Why would you do that?"

"It is the way of the goddess," Ningal replied defiantly. "Men are unclean and do not deserve the dignity—"

"Oh, stop," O'Neill said with a scowl. "No one is buying that story."

Ningal narrowed her eyes at O'Neill before turning her head away. Sam was left to stare at the woman, not knowing exactly what to say.

Colonel O'Neill and Daniel were going to die. Teal'c might not make it. And all because of the rules of their goddess? Sam was not gullible enough to buy that as the full reason.

"It's all about power." Sam let out a bitter laugh. "You and Siduri keep Anu in check through her daughter. You keep the truth hidden."

Ningal didn't answer.

"Did you really think you could keep this charade on forever? You or your predecessors?" Sam asked. "You know that someone would figure out someday. And Anu?"

Ningal shrugged. "She is misguided, as many have been before her."

"She doesn't buy into your twisted ideals, is what you mean," O'Neill said. "Conveniently took out the husband, eh?"

"My intent was not to kill. Siduri is the one that has knowledge of the poisons. I only know of the blessing."

Sam scoffed at her. "You only work together because you need each other. Given the chance, either one of you would gladly take the other out." Sam shook her head. "We were just pawns, weren't we? Just what did you expect?"

Again, Ningal fell silent.

"What am I to expect? What will happen to them?" Sam demanded.

"It begins with weakness and fatigue," she said. "They then lose coordination and memory. Finally, they will become disoriented, confused, and unconscious. Death will follow quickly after."

Sam set her jaw, thoroughly disgusted. She turned her back on the bound woman and approached the console. Once again, she started flipping through the star charts, searching for any coordinates that would look familiar.

If she were to believe this woman, then her team had been given a lethal dose of a slow working poison, one that had been triggered to its maximum potential by a catalyst. Her friends' bodies would continue to shut down until they died. It was imperative for her to find a nearby planet that held a Stargate.

"Carter?" She felt O'Neill behind her.

"I'm okay, sir," she said, struggling to keep her voice steady. She remained focused on her task, refusing to look back. "I'm just narrowing the search to a few possibilities."

"Daniel's making less sense than he normal does," O'Neill told her, the words cutting her like a knife.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes. She didn't need this right now. Sensing that Colonel O'Neill wasn't finished, she finally opened her eyes and turned to him.

She wished she hadn't. The circles under his eyes had deepened, and she was sure she saw a tremble to his hands.

"And I'm not—" He vaguely waved at his head.

"I know, sir." She forced a smile, hoping to ease some of his anxiety. "Why don't you go sit with Daniel? I'll take care of everything."

He nodded, slowly, almost as if he were a little confused by the request, but didn't protest. She watched him walk back toward the spot where Daniel remained huddled against the wall.

Sam shook away the pain at seeing them in such a helpless state and concentrated on the console. So far, she found two viable options. She knew that P2A-501 was a possibility; SG-15 had a done a standard recon of the planet not long ago. The other possibility was P30-255, a planet she and the rest of her team had explored last year.

She couldn't recall any problem on the latter planet. The place had been a wonderland for Daniel who had left with tablets filled with ancient writing. The former world visited by SG-15 seemed fuzzier to her. She felt going somewhere where she knew the lay of the land would work to her advantage.

P30-255 was it.