On Maere

'Nothing treads as noisily as a Celestian. Tell me, Avalonian, why do you keep the company of these creatures and who is the tall one. I do not remember the echo of his footfall.' The spider shifts her position on a throne made of web and a thousand lines of silvery thread, all radiating from the throne start to tremble. In turn, a thousand drops of water fall, running across the floor of the throne room into the canal, a silent cascade of silver marbles.

'Oh wise and gracious Spinner. I am Aelixor the Magus and these are my travelling companions. You are right, they are Celestians. We have travelled here to seek your counsel..'

'Yes, yes...and the tall one?'

'The tall? Oh, Teal'c?' Aelix is nonplussed by her disinterest in their quest. Teal'c steps forward and bows politely. 'Madam, I am Teal'c of Chulak, we are here to ask you about a chariot made for a Giant.'

'I made a good many things for Giants once. Now they were very tall. Step closer Teal'c of Chulak, let me get a good look at you.'

'I would advise against it.' Aelix whispers but he is too late and Teal'c steps towards the throne. All the spider's eyes are on Teal'c now and before anyone can react, a fine meshed web is pulled up around him from where it had lain, invisible, on the floor. The lines holding the mesh seem to move at the spider's will and, within seconds, Teal'c hangs over the pool trying to break free from the trap. Jack and Daniel try to grab him but the pool is too wide and he is suspended too high.

'Now, Celestians, if you free him from my web with your weapons, he will fall into the Gate of Tears and you will never find him. I have the combination for a thousand galaxies and you will grow old and wither long before you find your prized warrior again. If you hurt or kill me, as your kind are so keen to do, he will still fall through the gate. Put away your weapons and tell me what you want from the last Spinner of Maere? Isn't it enough your kind have persecuted my children for millennia?'

Daniel stops trying to free Teal'c and asks the Spinner a question. 'Your children? Do you mean spiders on Earth... I mean Celestia?'

The Spinner peers at Daniel. 'Yes, yes. All arachnids across the galaxies are descended from the original Great Spinners of Maere. We used the Gate of Tears not only to trade our goods but also to spread our species far and wide. We offer host planets our services in return for safe haven. But your planet is different, your species cruel. You stopped prizing our skilled craftsmanship long ago, you have bought hatred and fear to our kind. You have made my kind hide from your sight, diminished us to little more than pests, made us stoop to poison...' The Spinner stops to take a deep breath shifting again on her throne, sending another storm of droplets into the pool and making Teal'c, trapped in the web, drop a little closer to the inky water.

'Wait!' Jack tries to think of a way to placate the Spinner's outrage. 'We are here to apologise for these dreadful crimes against...spiders. You are right, we are a cruel and... and thoughtless species but it is time we made amends for our forefathers and... and find a way to move forward with an amnesty for all spinning kind.'

'An amnesty?' The Spinner asks sarcastically.

'Yes.' Jack nods.

'Hmm...Why are they really here Aelixor the Magus?' The Spinner shakes her head at Jack and turns one of her eyes on Aelix.

'We are here because a chariot wheel has broken loose from its burial site deep underground. I think it is made by one of your ancestors for a Giantess but the legend is lost, I was hoping you might remember who it was made for.'

'A chariot wheel you say? For a Giantess. I probably might have a memory somewhere of it. I don't like Celestians but the Giants were worse. Made my ancestors spin to their death with their appetite for our silversilk. This planet was once beautiful and full of life, carpeted with forests and flowers until the Giants arrived and enslaved us. Laid it all to waste. You do not know what that is like Celestians.'

'I think we might.' Jack replies under his breath.

'I know what it is like, great Lady.' Teal'c talks over Jack's reply. 'My people were enslaved by the Goa'uld. We thought them Gods. They were not.'

'I hear honesty in your voice Teal'c of Chulak. I have done you a disservice.' Spinner reaches our with an arm and tugs at a nearby thread of silversilk. The trap swings over the pool and drops to the floor in front of her. The threads seem to untie themselves and the mesh of web melt away and Teal'c stands free of the trap.

'The Giants thought they could be Gods. They asked for chariots to ride the galaxies with and for shields and weapons to galvanise themselves with... and we spun and spun until they were invincible.' The Spinner pauses, her eyes looking into the distance as though peering back through time.

'What happened to them?' Daniel asks, carefully jumping over the canal to stand by Teal'c.

'All my family gone...So long ago. I barely remember them.'

Aelix, Jack and Gail join Daniel and Teal'c in front of the throne of The Spinner as she starts to recall a story from a long, long time ago.