The city was beautiful, a jewel partially encased in a bowl of high mountains which were streaked with cascading streams, flowing gradually together in the wide plain surrounding the gem. On it's highest point an acropolis of ancient temples stood to long forgotten gods. Below this the stately homes of the nobility grace the broad avenues. Official and commercial buildings filled the seaward quarter while winding paths led to the homes of the average citizens and eventually to the rich farmlands of the plains. The hills sides provided pasture for grazing flocks. Most of the mountain streams joined to form a wide deep river which cut through the southern most part of the metropolis. The silt that the river deposited on its delta moved the site of the city from directly on the shore to half a mile inland. On a promontory over the river was a broad plaza and from it an equally broad and impressive bridge spanned the river. Here, on the plaza facing the vast ocean and the rising sun, was the Stargate.
The city was the home of the nobles, the wealthy, the famous and the just tolerated middle class. But to the south of the great river, away from delicate eyes and sensitive noses, the slums sprang up. One of the mountain streams, the most sluggish of the lot, flowed through the shanties providing drink water and latrines, water to bathe in and a place to dump refuse. In the rainy season it inundated the slum with fetid mud and in the summer it spawned parasites. Here the peasants were allowed to exist but only if they must and only if they managed to keep their existence far from the consciousness of the city dwellers. And here was the only place unexpected visitors through the Stargate were allowed – live if they must but face down in the stream was preferred.
0o0o0o0o0
His hands were filthy and he stunk.
"Look what I found."
He held out the bags.
"Do I want to?"
"I think some guy got dumped or was the dumpee, anyway he cleared out all of her stuff, toiletries, clothes...I got what I could."
"You were at the garbage dump today?"
"How could you tell?"
"Wiseass"
"I couldn't find any work. I thought I'd see if I could find something to sell but maybe we could use some of this. Look through this stuff, I want to go back. I found a few boxes of broken tiles. If they're still there I'm going to bring them back and make us a decent floor."
The shack they were living in was slapped together with cardboard and wood and sheet metal, whatever O'Neill could scrounge from the dump. It kept the sun and most of the rain off of them. They baked on hot days, froze on cold ones. When the rains came they considered themselves lucky when the sewage in the culverts didn't run in the front door.
Sam sorted out the booty, there was soap and shampoo, pills which she was hoping were analgesics and not aphrodisiacs, tampons and makeup. The clothes were about the right size but way too stylish for their present situation. Sam decided to keep some of the underwear and sell the rest. There seemed to be some men's things as well. It was funny the Jack had a whole scenario for this find. Sam wondered if it had happened to him.
On his return Jack set down two heavy cartons and said
"I found some of his things, too. I think she may have given it to him or they reminded him of her, any way they're clean. I hope there are enough tiles here to raise the floor above flood stage. I'll start to lay it out when I get back.
So if you give me some soap I'm going to the river and don't boot me out if I come back smelling too girly."
She smiled and said "I'm next."