Chapter 16
"Jack, I nearly forgot. How could I forget?" Daniel was agitated and nearly frantic.
"Forget what?"
"We have to go back to the temple."
"Need to fulfill that vow?" Jack smirked.
"There's something I didn't tell you, Hathor was here."
"What? She knows us, we'll get killed. Wait a minute I killed her. Can't be her, she's dead."
"She was here and left. And what she left was a tub fill of symbiotes. We can destroy them. They're at the temple." Daniel said breathlessly
"They'll kill us. Anyway, what's the point?" Jack was thinking of the consequences of destroying the symbiotes.
"What do you mean?"
"These people and Jaffa, they don't go anywhere. No one comes here. So what's the point."
"And how long is that going to last?" Daniel feared for the future.
"I don't know. Maybe Teal'c will have an idea."
"Teal'c?"
O'Neill sighed. Yeah that was a stretch.
"Next spring they'll need the donkeys and the 2 laborers back at the temple. Maybe then we could…" Daniel said.
"Construction accident? Religious terrorists? I don't know, I'll think about it." Jack threw out a few ideas.
"Will we be here that long?"
Jack hunched his shoulders, how could he know for sure.
"Jack, you don't think we're ever getting out of here?"
"I honestly don't know but I'll be damned if…" Jack shook his head in frustration. Then he asked "Hey do you have any idea where she is now?"
"Hathor?"
"Yeah."
"Behind the idols was, you know, some writing and pictograms. Stars were drawn - you could make out Orion, it was obvious. But that didn't make any sense since it looks like that from Earth but not from here. And to the right and above Orion was a star cluster - right above the head of Hathor's statue."
"The Pleiades?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. I think that's the direction she went."
"Big haystack."
Tab'ba's second wife was near the end of her eighth month of pregnancy and the women of the village had involved Sam in the preparations for the new arrival.
Jack's projects were completed and he was looking for something to use up his excess energy. Daniel was feeling antsy as well.
"Are we getting too comfortable here?" Daniel asked.
"Comfortable." O'Neill replied with some irritation.
"Shouldn't we be looking for a way home?"
"So what do we do? I don't know which direction to go. Do you? North, South, East, West? If you know - tell me." Jack forced himself to calm down, knowing none of this was Daniel's fault and they all suffered from the same frustration. "The way over here they shoved me in the back of the ship and closed the doors, couldn't see a thing. When we got here they kicked my ass out."
"Same here." Daniel said, discouraged. "I've been thinking about Teal'c."
"Yeah, me too." Jack responded. "He must know where we are."
"Ya think?" Daniel sounded more hopeful.
"We've gotta wait on him. He's a smart guy. He's got a plan."
"What if they don't trust him? What if they found him out and put him back in prison?"
"Aah! What other choice do we have? Have some confidence in him." Jack wished he was as confident as he sounded.
Her mother, Tab'ba second wife, called for her daughter D'jat. She was about to deliver her third child and her last birth was difficult. D'jat took her things and fled to the village chieftain's compound.
O'Neill wished her family the best yet was greatly relieved to see her go. He turned to Sam and said "Alone at last." His smile faded when he saw her reaction.
That night when he spread the sleeping bag on the ground Sam said from her perch on the bed "You'll be more comfortable up here."
Jack fought his desire and said "You know we are getting home. Maybe not tonight but soon."
"I don't know. I'm close to giving up hope."
"We're MIA, they're looking for us."
"Are they?"
"Your dad would never stop."
"If he knows" Sam said. Her emotions a mix of desperation and anger.
"And there's Teal'c"
A tear escaped and ran down her cheek. Jack raised a hand to wipe it away.
"Sorry Sir." She said, "You're right, we'll be fine." She lay down with her back to him. He wanted nothing more than to lay down beside her and gather her up in his arms but chose the hard ground instead.
When they moved into this hut it was a tolerable situation. With the arrival of D'jat it was uncomfortable. Now alone again it might prove to be untenable.
She turned over and reached her hand down and took his hand in hers. "How long do we wait?"
He had no answer.
