Chapter Twenty-three
Jack was leaning back in a chair throwing a stone sphere about the size of a tennis ball up in the air and catching it. He had grown used to boredom over the past few months, but it didn't mean he enjoyed it anymore than before. Catching the sphere again he inspected it a little more closely and discovered that it had veins of gold running through it.
Jack still wasn't exactly sure what it was that Tai did for a living, but clearly he did it well. He was actually starting to wonder if Tai even worked anymore. The fire dragon had the air of someone who just quietly enjoyed a state of independent wealth. Sam had mentioned that he'd spent hours upon hours at the zoo just watching them. So if he had a job, he didn't go there very often.
As Jack started to the throw the sphere in the air again Sam made a noise of exasperation. She was sitting on the other side of a large wooden desk that was covered in books. After Sam had shown so much excitement over the pyramids Tai had collected all the book about 'Ketch' that he had and given her his study to go through them. They'd been combing through the pictures in the massive tombs for two full days.
"Are you going to help me or not?"
"I've already helped you," Jack replied calmly "there is nothing here, Carter."
"There has to be, there are too many similarity between this 'Ketch' place and Egypt."
"Yeah, well you could leaf through every book in the Library of Congress on Egypt and not find a single mention of the Stargate."
Sam gave Jack a 'don't bring logic into this' glare.
"Carter, the only way we are ever going to know is to just go there. You've drawing a dozen diagrams of the Gate and it's obvious that Tai has no idea what you're talking about. And if the Gate was in one of these books I'm willing to bet a large sum of money that Tai would know about it."
"We can't just traipse out to this place and start looking around without knowing where to start, without at least one strong piece of evidence that the Gate is there. It wouldn't be fair to Tai or Ser'in and it's dangerous for us. In case you haven't noticed we don't exactly blend and this place seems to be a popular tourist destination."
"Are we having our first spat?" Jack teased.
"We argue all the time, it's just I used to have to be respectful about it."
"Ah, right. Of course."
When Sam continued to glare at him Jack rolled his eyes and picked up one of the books that he'd already gone through. They'd both been through all the books several times so he really didn't see the point, but he felt it best to humor her at the moment. Sam went back to her own book, clearly frustrated that she couldn't read the text that went along with it.
Jack stared at a large picture of a display in some museum type place. They had taken some of the carved stones from the temples and set them up. There were other artifacts strewn about the room and in glass cases, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary or Goa'uldish. It looked like any showcase of normal Ancient Egyptian stuff that Jack had ever seen. Sam said that in and of itself was a sign that the Goa'uld probably had been there because it was just too much of a coincidence that both cultures would have evolved on two different planets independently.
However she wanted more proof before they tried to convince their hosts to risk their freedom and possibly their lives going there. Sam argued that leaving the safety of Tai's estate was extremely risky and if Tai and Ser'in came along there was a good chance they'd be caught with 'stolen property'. She had a point, which Jack hated.
Jack continued to stare at the same picture. One thing they couldn't determine was if the artifacts at Ketch were made by humans or dragons. There were no visuals of what the people of Ketch looked like. Sam's best guess was that any evidence of intelligent humans had been destroyed long ago in the same way that most of the evidence of intelligent alien life on Earth had been destroyed by governments and religious groups hundreds of years ago.
Jack had no doubt in his mind that the Goa'uld were responsible for Ketch and that it was worth every risk to get home. As much as he was enjoying his time with Sam at Tai's home it was still just another kind of prison. There was no way either one of them could truly have a life here. Before they were an exhibit and now they were basically pets. It was an improvement, but only marginally.
"Whoa...wait a minute..." Jack muttered.
"Jack?"
"There's something wrong with this table..." Jack said as he handed Sam the book.
"I don't see it."
"It's not a table at all. The legs, look what they're made of."
"Pain sticks..."
"Yup, I'd recognize them anywhere."
"This is it, this means that these pyramids are Goa'uld." Sam smiled brightly. "There could be a Stargate there, buried in the dirt or even just overgrown by the jungle. Although if it hasn't been found that probably means it's fallen over and is buried."
"Now then, how to find it?"
"With something as big as the Stargate I could rig a kind of metal detector with a couple of electromagnets and a few other parts."
"I knew I brought you along for a reason." Jack chuckled.
"Of course just finding where it is doesn't really mean we can get up and runn..."
"One step at a time, Carter."
Jack put down the stone sphere and got up. Rounding the desk he leaned in for a kiss. Sam chuckled and put her arms around his neck to pull him down further. When she released him she scooped up the book and they made their way back into the main level of the house. Ser'in and Tai were no where to be seen.
"I wonder where our little love lizards wandered off to."
"Love lizards?"
"Oh yeah, Tai's got it bad for Ser'in." Jack chuckled.
Sam smiled and shook her head at the cheesy grin on his face. They decided to wander out into the backyard and found the dragon pair sitting on the edge of the stream getting their feet wet. Sam took a breath to greet them but Jack stopped her. He sat down on the back step and encouraged Sam to do the same.
With their backs to Sam and Jack the dragons didn't notice the interruption. Tai said something in a deep purr that caused Ser'in to chirp in a shy chuckle. Tai turned his attention to the stream and scanned the waters with his keen eyes. Leaning forward he pulled a blue polished stone out from among the dull gray and black ones.
Tai offered his prize to Ser'in and she accepted it with a soft word of thanks. She looked over the stones beauty. While she was distracted Tai leaned in and whispered something to her. Ser'in tensed slightly and stared at him with her eyes that mimicked the stones colour wide in shock. She started to say something but when words started fail her she decided to simply lean over and bite down on Tai's lower lip.
Tai's emerald eyes dilated to slits and he careful pressed her upper lip between his pointed teeth. He took a hold of her shoulders and pulled her against his chest. When Ser'in took her teeth away from Tai's lip he instantly released her. Sitting back Ser'in blinked rapidly at him with her eyes slited like his. Tai purred and bushed her cheek with his fingertips.
"Re'is kak histuri." Tai chuckled.
"Quel?" Ser'in asked in shock.
Tai casually looked over his shoulder at Sam and Jack and waved at them. Jack guessed that Tai had told Ser'in that they were being watched. Looking at the humans Ser'in made a cry of surprise and hid her face in her hands in embarrassment. Jack chuckled and got to his feet and helped Sam do the same. Together they walked down to the stream.
"So it's okay for you to watch us, but not the other way around?" Jack teased.
Tai laughed and got to his feet and helped Ser'in up. Tai looked at the book in Sam's hand with interest. Before she could try and explain he started to herd them back inside. Once seated at the table inside he took the book from her and looked over the picture of the pyramid set in the lush jungle. Sam pointed at the impressive stone monument and then to herself and Jack.
"Tai, we need to go there."
"Quel?" What? Tai asked in surprise. "Ketch?"
"Dak," Yes. Sam replied. "Ketch, we need to go to Ketch."
Tai and Ser'in exchanged a few words and then he got up from the table. He came back with a small globe made of stone with an inlain surface.
"Ja'ck, Saman'tha." Tai said and pointed at a place on the globe before turning it almost all the way around and pointing at another spot on the other side of the planet. "Ketch."
"Tai," Jack said "it doesn't matter how far away it is. We have to go to Ketch."
"Kak." No. Tai said simply.
"Tai, far'is." Please. Sam said. "We might be able to get home."
"Kak." Tai repeated and then drew his finger across his throat. "Est jarang'ie."
"We know it's dangerous. Dak jarang'ie." Jack said firmly. "With or without your help we're going."
"Jack," Sam interrupted "we can't do this on our own, there is an ocean between here and there."
"I'm not going to be this guy's pet." Jack growled.
Ser'in and Tai both recoiled at Jack's tone.
"Hasta?" Tai asked. "Hasta Ketch?"
"He must be asking why." Sam translated. "How do we tell him that we want to go home?"
"I don't know. Home is a difficult concept to explain without words."
"Tai, home." Sam said and pointed to Tai and then around to the house. She pointed to herself and Jack and then at the picture. "Jack, Samantha, Ketch. Home."
Tai thought about this for a moment before turning to Ser'in. He started asking her questions which she answered with a few shrugged shoulders. Jack figured that he was asking where Ser'in's zoo had picked the two of them up, which of course was no where near Ketch.
Sam suddenly had an idea and disappeared into the study. She came back with the blank book that Tai had given her and the stylus pen. She took the small globe away from Tai and drew a rough sketch of his planet at the lower left hand corner of the paper. Drawing another circle in the upper right she drew out the Western hemisphere of Earth on it. In between she drew a small Stargate.
"Tai." Sam tapped on the drawing of his world. "Ketch." She pointed to the Stargate. "Home." She tapped on her picture of the Earth.
Taking the book Tai studied it for a moment. Jack could see the realization in Tai's eyes. The dragon flipped a few pages back and looked more carefully at the detailed drawing of the Stargate. He went back to the last drawing. He pointed at the drawing of Earth and then up at the ceiling or rather the sky and on to space.
"Dak, yes." Sam replied. "We're not the humans on your planet...we're aliens."
"Al' e'inns. Yesss, dak." Tai nodded in the dragon's odd way.
"I think he gets it." Sam smiled.
"So what about Ketch?" Jack asked.
"Kak, no." Tai repeated. "Kak, no Ketch."
"We want to go home, Tai." Jack sighed. "Can't you understand?"
"Tai un'dur'stand. Dali, soorry. Kak...no, jarang'ie. No dangrr'ous." Tai replied in broken English. "No Ketch."
Jack ground his teeth together and Tai took instant notice of his elevated agression.
"Dali, dali. Soorry, soorry, Ja'ck." Tai said with his head bowed.
"You said we could leave whenever we wanted to." Jack hissed.
"He's not keeping us here, Jack, he's just not willing to risk helping us go half way around the world for something he probably doesn't believe in."
"Then we should just go."
"We'd never get there."
"I don't care." Jack snapped angrily. "I'd rather die trying to get home than just sitting around."
"Die? Do you think that's what would happen to us? Jack, we'd more likely end up back in a zoo and I can't go back. I'm not leaving here without Tai's help."
"Then I'll go and come back with help."
"No, please. Don't leave me here alone, you know that if you leave here that you'll never make it back."
Jack still looked undecided about it. Sam could see the caged lion look in his eyes again. The illusion of freedom hadn't lasted long now that he knew there was a chance at getting to a Stargate out there. He looked like he was ready to blindly bolt out the door at any second.
Sam went over to Jack and hooked her finger into his shirt collar to pull out the dog tags he wore. She had seen that he'd folded up a page from her journal and tied it to the necklace. The plastic like paper was waterproof and was still intact.
"I know what page this is...read it again. Then make your decision."
"Carter, we have to try."
"Read it."
"I don't have to read it, I have it memorized."
"I mean what I said, I would give up my freedom to be with you." Sam said sincerely. "We don't have to give up hope just yet, but we can't do this on our own. Give me more time to get Tai to help us."
"Fine." Jack sighed in defeat.
"You'll stay until we can get their help?"
"Yes."
"Promise?"
"Promise." Jack rolled his eyes. "Now then, what do you suggest we do to get that help?"
"First of all, learn Tai and Ser'in's language."
"Then what?"
"One step at a time, Sir."
"Samantha, if you're not going to follow my orders, which clearly you aren't, then don't call me 'Sir'."
"Jack, I would follow you to certain death without you saying a word. I just wanted to make sure that you saw the alternative routes first."
"So if I had decided to leave..."
"I was bluffing, of course I would have gone with you."
"Perfect, then I change my mind. Let's go!"
"Ah-ah." Sam admonished. "You promised you'd stay."
"Damn it, I did. You trick me into it." Jack grumbled. "I'm never going to win any of these games, am I?"
"Probably not."