The train hurtled onward. The storm grew darker and heavier, and the whole sky took on a greenish cast. Ahead, thick bands of black clouds arced over the horizon, looming ominously like the mouth of Hell.
"Now there's an ugly sight," said Andrews.
Henderson asked, "What's going on up there?"
No one could answer. Then something hard hit the top of the train with a loud bang. The men all jumped and looked up nervously. Another bang rattled the cabin. And another.
After that last hit, there was a moment of quiet, while SG-3 watched the transparent ceiling. Then the sky opened up. Thousands of white spheres the size of softballs pounded the train and the surrounding landscape. The cabin reverberated with deafening bangs. The men instinctively covered their ears and hunkered down, but it soon became clear that the walls and ceiling were strong enough to withstand the onslaught. Although the train shook with the force of the impacts, it kept moving forward without even slowing down.
"It's hail," Makepeace shouted over the noise.
The storm abruptly ceased. Shaken, the men unlimbered themselves from their protective crouches. Outside, everything was covered in hailstones. The balls of ice reflected the greenish-black color of the clouds, making the barren desert look even more alien and forbidding.
"Shit," said Andrews.
"Jesus, look at that," said Johnson, pointing forward.
In the long distance they could make out the black form of an enormous funnel cloud that stretched from the clouds to the horizon. A gray haze rose from the ground, surrounding the tornado. Bolts of lightning flared, blue-white against the churning sky, highlighting the ominous tableau. In the quiet cabin, the scene was all too eerie.
"That's big," said Henderson.
"Big? Shit, Tommy, it's the great granddaddy of all tornados," Andrews breathed.
Henderson shook his head. "Ten to one it's over the Stargate."
"And we're heading straight into it."
Makepeace said, "Calm down. It's dissipating already."
It was the strangest sight. As they watched, the tornado seemed to lose cohesion and just evaporate into fuzzy mist. In a few minutes it was entirely gone.
"I doubt any Jaffa survived that," Makepeace said smugly.
Johnson gave him another of those funny looks, but Andrews said, "Hell, yeah. Goa'uld Armageddon. Vara rocks."
A short time later they arrived at the dome. The train's door stood open, waiting patiently for them to exit, but no one could make themselves move. They only stared out, not sure what to make of what they saw.
All was silent and very, very still. Not even the tiniest breeze ruffled their hair, though black clouds still loomed low. After the wild storms, the men had been expecting devastation and gore. They'd prepared themselves for smoking wreckage, broken bodies, and buckets of blood. Instead, they saw very little evidence that the Goa'uld had ever been anywhere near the Stargate. A number of the giant hailstones littered the area. Strange, wide paths gouged in the earth gave evidence of the monster tornado that had scoured the area. Some twisted scraps of metal lay in a few places, but not enough to account for even one death glider.
Wordlessly, SG-3 walked down the ramp. Nothing else stirred.
"This is creepy," said Johnson, nervously clutching his rifle.
Makepeace nodded. It reminded him of when they'd first arrived on this world, when everything had felt dead to him. Only the occasional bit of Goa'uld metal gave any hint that there had been a living presence here just a little while ago. Now he was glad Varayimshaeta had not used any tornados back at the city; such a heavy-handed weapon might have killed them all.
"There's the dildo," said Andrews, pointing to a spot between the two yellow roads. "It's toast." Incredibly, it hadn't budged, despite the tornado. The object looked like it had exploded from within, its innards blackened and melted slag.
Makepeace became aware of a faint trembling beneath his feet. He looked down. "You guys feel that?"
Henderson said, "The ground's shaking."
"We'd better get off this planet, ASAP."
Johnson asked, "What's going to happen?"
Varayimshaeta's commiting suicide, something screamed in Makepeace's head. He said, "Something really bad. I don't think we should be here when the planet blows up."
"Amen," said Andrews fervently.
They hurried toward the dome's entrance. There they found one more indication of the former Jaffa presence. On the right side of the great, open doorway was a greasy, charcoal blot. It was vaguely man-shaped, although smudged. A few trickles of thin red liquid had run from it and were now drying on the curved wall.
Henderson grimaced and said, "Ew."
"Yeah, that pretty much covers it," Makepeace said, swallowing.
Andrews said, "I really don't get it. If Vara could do all this, why didn't it just wipe out the Goa'uld the first time they came here?"
With a sidelong look at Makepeace, Johnson said, "I figure, back then, Vara probably didn't know how to do this."
"No," said Makepeace, somberly. "It didn't."
All those eons ago, Varayimshaeta had only applied the crudest methods, sterilizing its own planet after all its People had died. Doing anything on that scale sooner would have resulted in unacceptable levels of collateral damage. It didn't possess much imagination, and hadn't had a seasoned Recon Marine's knowledge, creativity, or skill at killing available to it.
But now it did. Everything Makepeace knew, Varayimshaeta knew. Makepeace briefly shut his eyes, wondering what else Varayimshaeta had learned from him, what use it might put his own memories to. His knowledge and experience, even his emotions, combined with an insane, near-omnipotent computer's inhuman rage. It didn't bear thinking about.
"The sooner we're gone from here, the better," he said. "Vara won't wait forever."
Gold flashed on the horizon.
"That's Sitala's pyramid ship," said Andrews. "It's coming this way."
The gold object rapidly grew larger. Johnson shielded his eyes with a hand and peered into the distance. "She sure don't give up easy."
Unlike the other three, Henderson was staring down. He swallowed and said, "I think the ground's shaking harder."
They all felt the trembling increase steadily, a more ominous sensation than a full-blown earthquake would have been. Hailstones and pebbles jittered ever so slightly. In the sky, Sitala's ship was close enough now to look like a golden triangle. As they watched, it abruptly veered up, rising and disappearing into the clouds.
"What the hell?" said Andrews, gawking.
"That's it," declared Makepeace, "we're bugging out. Everyone into the dome. Johnson, dial the Stargate. Come on, move your asses!"
They bolted through the open door. Near the Stargate, the other Goa'uld spy device had also been destroyed, exploded from within just like its twin outside. The trembling underfoot turned to outright shaking. A faint rumbling could now be heard. Johnson clutched at the DHD for balance while he punched in the address for Earth. The Stargate flared into existence. Henderson sent the GDO code, and all gathered around, watching for the little indicator light to signal that the way home was clear.
Only a few seconds passed, but the time seemed to last forever while the shaking grew stronger and stronger, and the rumbling became louder. Then the light turned green.
"Go!" Makepeace shouted, but the team was already moving. Almost as one, the four Marines dived through the event horizon.
On the other side, they tumbled onto the SGC's ramp. Behind them, the wormhole just...disengaged. No fanfare, no disasters—it just shut down.
They all stood up and turned back to the Stargate. All around them were klaxons, flashing lights, and SFs. Up in the control room, Hammond was at the window, urgently demanding explanations over the loudspeakers. The four men of SG-3 just let it all wash over them as they stared stupidly at the inactive Stargate.
"Is it over?" Henderson asked, very quietly.
"Yeah, I think it is," Makepeace said, but he wasn't entirely truthful. It was over for his team, perhaps, but Varayimshaeta's memories and rage still lurked at the base of his thoughts, guaranteeing that, for him, it would last forever.