"You're the alien!" young Bil's expression was a complicated collage of shock and disappointment. "But - but - you're supposed to have fangs! - and tentacles!"
"Sorry," Kevin ginned.
"You're just like a regular human being," the boy practically wailed.
"I am a regular human being, except I was born on Tauri not Nisir," Kevin shrugged.
"And for the symbiote," said Ashptim.
"Oh, right. Now Lantash, he's a real alien. A sort of eel-like creature about yeh long -" Kevin measured with his hands "- wrapped around my spinal cord and brain stem."
"Yech!" said Bil, brightening visibly.
Thank you very much!
'Shush' "And he bleeds blue and has this weird element in his blood," Kevin continued with gusto. "And look what he can do," 'Cue special effects.'
What? Oh. Kevin's eyes flashed.
"Oh, wow! That is so cool!" Bil exclaimed happily.
"And he is three thousand years old," Ashptim put in, clearly intrigued. "There are a few questions I'd like to ask -"
"And Lantash will be glad to answer them once we've got this business settled." Kevin said firmly.
Ashptim's face fell. "Yes. I apologize for my people, Kevin. I am ashamed of us."
"Don't be. Mine would be no different, I promise, " Kevin said reassuringly. "I want to reopen communications with your leaders, Ashptim, but not as their prisoner. Will you be my go-between?"
"Of course!"
Kevin raised a warning hand. "It could be dangerous."
"I realize that," old Ashptim said with dignity.
"Sorry, of course you do." Kevin thought. "Like I said before all I want is access to the gate so I can contact my people. Deputy Mordek's security concerns are legitimate and I what I said about an alliance stands -"
"Excuse me, Kevin, but do you really have the authority to commit your people in such a way?" Ashptim interrupted.
"Yes I do," he answered matter-of-factly. "I may be pretty junior but I am a member of an accredited SG-Team and so fully authorized to negotiate alliances and trade deals." He grinned. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true."
---
"I have good news for you, Colonel O'Neill," General Hammond said as SG-1 and SG-13 settled into their places around the briefing table.
"I could use some, sir."
"We've managed to clear four hours of gate use for your project."
Jack brightened. Continuing the search from base meant they could use the MALP meaning -
"No more getting in over your head, Jack." Sheftu - no, Liorin - said grinning.
Jack glared across the table. "Finally dared to show your snaky butt eh?"
"If I am not safe from retaliation in General Hammond's presence I am safe nowhere."
Said general gave a long suffering sigh. "Gentlemen."
Even Jack knew better than to say anything but "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir," in meek chorus with Liorin.
A couple of techs set up a monitor on the briefing table. People got themselves coffee or whatever and all settled in for several hours of viewing pleasure. Only it wasn't - a pleasure that is.
Watery reflections danced over the ceiling from the embarkation room below as the gate engaged the first set of coordinates. The MALP rolled forward into the puddle and the screen disolved into static - then went black.
The general just beat Jack to the button. "Control, we've lost picture up here."
"Sir, I think we've lost the MALP," the com answered. "One moment, sir." clicking sounds like somebody was trying his buttons and switches, then: "Sorry, sir, destruction of MALP confirmed. It must have hit something just beyond the even horizon, like our iris."
"Thank you, control. Proceed to next address." As the monitor screen fizzed back to life Hammond finished quietly; "Let us hope Lieutenant Elliot did not pick that particular destination."
Jack hoped he didn't look as sick as some of the others did.
---
"What do we do now?" Bil asked eagerly as they left the University.
"Well, what do you say you show me around Erech?" Kevin suggested.
"Sure!"
Their first stop was a white marble ziggerut surrounded by formal gardens. It was a long climb to the little pillared temple at the top and inside was the stylized, columnar stature of a bearded man. The most lifelike thing about him was the deep, sad eyes that seemed to look right into you. Its presence and the aura of the place struck Kevin as familiar.
'It's like the Lincoln memorial at home.'
Lincoln? Is he one of your gods?
'Not hardly. He was a president, one of our great leaders. His monument is a lot like this one only not so many stairs.' "Mind if we step outside, Bil? I don't feel I can sit down in front of him." Kevin motioned towards the statue.
"I know what you mean." They went out onto the terrace and found a bench with a great view over the city. Young Bil seemed to be thinking hard. "So, what you're saying is that the Tradition is all true; Ziusudra really did defy a false god and fight him with magical fire weapons and bring us to Nisir through a portal?"
"Must have." Kevin glanced over his shoulder at the still carven face with its deep eyes, just visible through the pillars screening the front of the monument. "Let me tell you I'm impressed. It would have taken one hell of a guy to pull all that off. I wish he was still around, he'd have made us quite an ally."
Bil was still struggling with a major paradigm shift. "They always told us the Tradition was all symbolic and allegorical."
'Well it has been two thousand years." Kevin nodded back towards the statue. "Who knows, maybe that's the way he'd have wanted it."
The great Erech National Cemetary lay in the shadow of Ziusudra's ziggurat, innumerable curving lines of low, white stone tables on green grass, inscribed with names and dates, some decorated with flowers.
"So this Nineveh is where Mrs. Unat thinks I - the alien that is - came from?" Kevin said to Bil as they walked the rows.
The boy nodded. "Or one of the other Cities of the Hills. "We're not exactly at war, at the moment anyway, but they're always spying on us or trying to make trouble for the Plains Cities."
Kevin nodded grimly. "Cold War. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt."
What?
"What?"
"I mean my people have had the same kind of problem," Kevin explained. He grinned wryly. "Major Mansfield used to say the reason we Tauri are so good at solving other people's problems is because we've done it all ourselves."
Wise from experience?
'At least we learned from our mistakes.'
"Here," Bil stopped at one of the tables. "This is where my Dad is buried. He was killed in the last war."
Kevin put a hand on his shoulder. "We've got a place like this too. We call it Arlington. My mom is buried there."
Bil gaped up at him. "Your mom was killed in a war?"
Kevin nodded. "She was a pilot."
"Your mom was a soldier?" Bil repeated incredulously.
Kevin grinned a little. "Oh yeah. You people haven't had women's lib yet have you?"
"Women's what?"
"Lib, short for 'liberation'," Kevin explained. "Twenty or so years before I was born the women on my planet decided they were tired of watching us men run things and insisted on taking their turn."
Bil looked rattled. "That's weird!"
"Well, they had a point," Kevin shrugged. "It took some getting used to but we men have pretty much adjusted to it by now."
Young Bil was clearly unconvinced. "Mom had to get a job after Dad died. If she marries Mr. Lugal she'll be able to stay home and we can have our own house again."
"What does she do?" Kevin asked, interested.
"I'll show you!"
Kevin had no trouble recognizing a movie theater lobby when Bil dragged him inside but the stuff they were selling instead of popcorn was more difficult to identify. 'Some kind of trail-mix I think,' he said silently to his other half after a cautious taste of the roast grain and dried fruit filling the paper cup Bil shoved into his hand.
Ridiculously high sodium level, Lantash said disapprovingly.
'Well of course. Healthy munchies is a contradiction in terms!'
"C'mon!" Bil led the way through a heavily curtained entrance to the darkened theater, they found seats near the back. Black and white images of city and countryside and marching men were projected on the big screen while a voice talked about troop movements and borders and political tensions.
"I get it, a sort of newreel," Kevin said. "Your mom's a reporter?"
"No, a news writer. That's how she met Mr. Lugal, he's a cameraman."
"Cool." Kevin watched the news with growing concern. 'Damn. We seem to have destabilized the whole planet!"
Our arrival has certainly contributed to an already tense international situation. Lantash agreed grimly.
Suddenly the scene changed, becoming the familiar view of the park and the cordon around the stargate. Light glowed above the fence showing the gate was engaged. Kevin sat forward, watching tensely as a familiar angular metallic shape appeared in the opening, then winced as it vanished in a flash and boom as the tanks opened fire.
"Oh wow!" Young Bil was clearly impressed.
'Hell and Damn!' "I think we'd better be getting home, kid. I really got to talk to Scholar Ashptim."
----
The MALP rolled into the puddle for the third time. Jack watched, almost uninterested, already planning a return to Revanna. The monitor screen cleared showing the MALP had emerged into some kind of fenced enclosure with a gap directly opposite the gate. It rolled forward, jolting slightly over uneven ground . Jack leaned forward tensely; those looked like armed men, and maybe some kind of artillery - then the screen whited out.
"Sir! MALP destroyed!" said control.
"Bingo," said Jack.