The plan springs into action just after lights out. I make sure I'm last in the bathroom and on my way to back I slink into the men's sleeping hall. Everyone is already in bed, their snores echoing from wall to wall. I sneak on silent feet between the beds until I find Mr. Gar. He's a despicable being – that's how I justify giving him the blame for what I am about to do.
I search the pockets in his jacket and find the access card just where I knew it would be. We trust each other in the Fuge, and tonight I will exploit that fact. I dig under the clothes and find the gun as well. I've never held a weapon before. It is heavier than I expected, and it sends a chill up my spine. In a flash I realize I don't want to know how it feels to fire it. I bring it anyways.
I don't return to the children's sleeping hall. I've already brought the few belongings I want to keep. The other children will just assume I'll go to bed late – I do it often enough – and until the lights come on in the morning no one will know that I am gone.
My next stop is the suit room. The visitors may be immune to the scourge but I'm gonna need protection if I am to survive the trip outside. I just hope I won't have to wear it for the rest of my days on their planet. The room is empty and I quickly find a suit roughly in my size. I bundle it up and head for the meeting place not far from the exit passage.
While I did my fetching, the visitors have done theirs. They meet me in full battle gear, with small odd looking weapons in their hands. Perhaps I will not have to use my gun. I wriggle into the protective suit. It's a little too big but it'll do.
"Ready?" whispers O'Neill.
"Ready," I and the other visitors reply.
He sets us into action with a hand gesture that's barely visible in the gloom. I wanted to lead the way, but O'Neill didn't like that idea. I told him they'd get lost in no time in the darkness, but he just smiled. I understand now. All of them carry a small lamp in their free hand. I guide from the rear instead, telling him to go left or right.
At the last corner before the air lock we slow down. O'Neill and Teal'c peek around the corner and fire their weapons in unison. Two flashes of blue fire arch through the air and connect with the peacekeepers at the door. Without a sound they collapse. In a whisper Daniel assures me they are not hurt but merely rendered unconscious.
On O'Neill's signal I rush to the door and swipe the access card. A green light blinks and the door opens with a hiss. We are past the first door. I adjust my suit before we proceed to the next one. Despite everything, this is where it starts to get really dangerous.
In a synchronized, almost fluid series of motions we proceed and soon we stand before the last door. I am already well into unknown territory, but outside this door lies a world I have spent my life dreaming of. I swipe the card and a last hiss fills the air. Drunk on victory we rush into the open. I follow the visitors, curbing my enthusiasm for having the actual sky above my head and that nothing but a suit separates me from the open air. Nonetheless a silly grin takes up residence on my face.
Halfway to the first corner a sharp pop sounds behind us. Carter grabs for my arm and yanks me sideways, and then we are running as the air is filled with bangs and the whizz of bullets. We turn around the corner and O'Neill fires his lightning gun blindly behind us. He urges us on and we are running again.
"Which way?" Carter asks, and I try to gather my senses.
"Right, I think."
We keep running until it is silent behind us. O'Neill tells us to 'take five', which turns out to mean resting. After I catch my breath I find it easier to think. I start to look around for landmarks. It's difficult to recognize from a ground perspective what I have spent years watching from above, but I manage. I turn to my fellow escapees victoriously.
"I'm pretty sure I know the way to the Great Ring."
Their reactions are somewhat underwhelming, their faces sad and grim. Daniel gets to his feet and approaches me. The air about him reminds me of when my grandmother died and everyone was walking on eggshells around me for a week.
"What's wrong?"
He clears his throat, uncomfortably, then he points at my arm. I follow his gaze to the orange airtight fabric enclosing every inch of me. Protecting me. There's a tear in it.
The breath catches in my throat. It is as if I can feel the sickness working in me already. In my mind I run through everything I know about the scourge. It was airborne, so I've definitely got it. I wonder if I can remember the symptoms. It doesn't matter – I'll be experiencing them soon enough.
A loud rip yanks me back from the edge of panic. Carter is by my side with a roll of bandage in her hands. She wraps it tightly around my arm, covering the tear. It's too late, I want to tell her, but the words won't come out. All that escapes me is a whimper that I suck back at once. I am not going to cry. Carter grabs my shoulders. Makes me look her in the eye.
"Dila," she says. "What do you know of this sickness? How long do we have?"
I blink the tears away and think again.
"It is slow acting. I will live a couple of more days."
"Good." She smiles. "Then we'll go home and our doctor – she's the best – she'll fix you up."
I swallow back my protests. If she wants to believe that I will live I can't take that away from her. It's just me who has to come to terms with it. Our forefather's doctors tried for years to find a cure for the scourge, but they were forced to give up and hide away from it instead. I let Carter help me to my feet and give her the directions to the Great Ring.
It's marvelous up close, just as I dreamed it would be. Carter tells me to step back as Daniel steps up to a pillar console and pushes a series of buttons. Each push sends the Ring spinning and lights up one of the red beacons along its rim. Upon the seventh symbol the blue light appears, like a huge sideways water splash that settles into a gravity defying puddle. I climb the stairs. No one stops me so I assume it is safe. Lifting my hand to touch the rippling surface I wish I wasn't wearing the suit. I wonder how the blue feels to touch. Daniel appears by my side. He's smiling.
"It's easy."
He takes my hand and leads me into the puddle. It is nothing like falling into water. More like blinking when you step through a door, a transition that takes just a fraction of a moment too long.
The sight that meets me on the other side is strangely familiar. Gray concrete walls reach up and up to dizzying heights. I spin around in awe. Right behind me is the Great Ring – or perhaps another one just like it. Daniel pulls me down a metal ramp toward a group of armed men.
"She's a friend," I hear him tell them. "And she needs a doctor."
I am still staring at my surroundings. In the wall facing the Ring there is a huge window with more people milling behind it. A commanding voice echoes through a PA system.
"Med team to the 'gate room. Dr Fraiser to the 'gate room."
The rest of the visitors have come through the Ring now and the blue disappears. Somehow I can feel it cutting off the frail connection to my home world, almost certainly forever. But then again, forever isn't so long when you are soon to die. Tears fill my eyes and this time I can't fight them. My vision blurs and with a gasp of pain I sink to my knees. A multitude of hands grab me but the world is fading fast. The last sound I hear is the voice of a woman shouting commands with more authority than I have heard in any man.