Chapter 7

It was like a nightmare: One moment, they'd all been safe and sound in the SGC, and then in the next instant phantom whirlwinds had swept them up and carried them through the event horizon and into the wormhole. The next thing any of SGC knew, they were in the middle of a storm: white, sweet-smelling mist pummeled them, shocking them speechless. When Jack realized they had just been "misted" in a decontamination unit, he felt insulted. They hadn't done that to Ahntas, after all, and they certainly didn't seem to have left any germs here the first time! Where did they get off?

That was when he saw what was carrying him, and for one moment he wondered if the Ghenta had an equivalent to the black ops. These guys were all fitted out in the same gear, and they radiated danger and deadly confidence: the same feelings he'd radiated in the black ops. Creepy. What was even more creepy was that they'd been able to make themselves invisible while in the SGC. What were they, some kind of military chameleons? Camo was good, but this stuff was infinitely better, so much better that it was scary. He kept himself very still and waited to see what would happen. Carter and Teal'c were doing the same, Daniel seemed unconscious, and Skarra was raising unholy hell with the two Ghenta who had hold of him. He was hurling all sorts of Abydonian curses at their heads (according to Daniel, there were a great many—especially since Ra's downfall—and most of those called blights down upon your family, insulted your forefathers, or declared you progeny of Ra) and doing his best to kick, punch, or bite his guards. The guards were looking increasingly harassed and O'Neill felt it would be best to calm the kid down.

"Stand down, Skarra!" Jack shouted, attracting the young man's attention. "Cool it!"

"These kidnappers—these rapists! These sons and daughters of Ra!"

"I SAID STAND DOWN!" Jack bellowed, and silence fell in the temple. That silence was shortly broken by a loud grating noise, which was a large metal cover being rolled into place in front of the Stargate. At first, he wasn't worried, but then he realized that none of them had a zat to disintegrate the thing with. Oooh, boy.

Someone O'Neill didn't recognize started shouting orders, and for a second, for one insane second, O'Neill thought that Harry Maybourne had come along for the ride. Then, Ghenta words registered, and he realized that it was a Ghenta using Harry's unctuous tone. How about that? And here he'd thought that Harry had had a copyright on that.

He was a little slap-happy right now. Carter liked to refer to it as emotional shock, but O'Neill knew he was slap-happy. Why else would so much be tickling his funny bone right now?

They were carried outside the temple and down the stairs toward a vehicle. In the back of it was a riding area, and it kind of reminded O'Neill of a prisoner transport. How funny. Their guards placed them in the back and closed the doors, leaving them all rather quiet.

"Okay, who feels really zoned out? Very far out?"

"The slap-happiness?" O'Neill said from where he half-sat, half-lay on the floor.

"This should not be," Teal'c said, leaning against the side of the van. "My symbiote should protect me from this."

"Carter, are you saying they hit us with sedative?"

"Oohh, yeah," she drawled, trying hard to focus her eyes.

"Why am I affected?" Teal'c asked.

"Probably because Junior got a whiff of that and liked it," Jack commented. "Skarra, are you okay?"

Skarra was also leaning against one of the van walls and he looked dazed. "O'Neill, we have been drugged. We have been given something to make us dream."

"Yup," Jack said, making his way carefully to Skarra's side. "Just try to keep awake, there. Carter, how the hell could they drug us? I thought they used their hands for that!"

"Well, if what I know about scientific procedure holds true for them as well as us, then they probably took blood samples and used them to test what kind of sedative would be effective."

"You mean other than that hand thing?" Jack asked.

Carter nodded, still fighting to focus her eyes. "Yep. How's Daniel?"

Teal'c, who had moved to Daniel's side, rolled the archeologist over to look at him. "Unconscious. I do not know why."

"Shock, most likely," Carter said, her words slurring the slightest bit. "He's been through a lot."

"One of us must keep awake, if only to guard Dan-yel," Skarra said, his accent a little thicker due to sleepiness. "We must not allow them to harm him."

"We don't intend to, Skarra," Jack told him. "We're not gonna let them get their paws on Daniel."

Those should have been his famous last words, because in the next moment, the sedative he'd breathed in finally accomplished sending him to sleep.

What followed that was another nightmare. He dreamed of bright lights, tall forms bending over him, strange sounds and words, odd sensations, and pain hovering somewhere on the edge of feeling. When he finally woke up, he found himself in bed in his old room in the Ghenta research station, and he was staring at the ceiling, feeling perplexed.

"What the hell was that?" he said, sitting up. He looked around, but there was no one in the room with him. It was an eerie sense of déjà vu. In fact, he was getting more creeped out by the moment. What had happened to everyone else?

He looked for the door out and headed through it into the lounge. There was no one there. He started looking in other rooms, and he found Skarra, Carter, Teal'c, and (thanks be to the God who watched over overly-confident idiot colonels) Daniel. Worried, all of them headed straight to his bed and tried to wake him up. One shake and he was conscious, staring at all of them. "What happened? Jack? Sam? Where are we?"

"The Ghenta sent some kind of command force through the Gate to get Ahntas and us," Jack said, sounding a little ticked. "They brought Skarra along for the ride, too. Right now, we're back on Ghenta."

"Why would they bring us back if they came to get Ahntas?" Daniel asked, sitting up. "That doesn't make sense."

"Well, they're scientists," Carter said thoughtfully. "Perhaps they weren't done studying us?"

"Well, they'll have to learn to live with disappointment," Jack said at his grouchiest. "We're gettin' outta here!"

"I do not think the Ghenta will allow us to leave the same way as before," Teal'c observed. "We shall have to formulate a new plan."

That was when two Ghenta arrived. It was Ahntas, as well as someone they hadn't met before. Who was this, and why did none of them feel safe in this guy's presence?

"Ahntas, you better explain!" Jack snapped while Sam translated.

"I'll explain, but please, for your own safety, Jack, remain calm. We are no longer in charge here."

That stopped Jack cold. "Huh?"

Ahntas nodded toward the other Ghenta with him. "This is Korh. He is now in charge of this facility and of you according the Ghenta Council."

"Korh?" Jack said, trying to place the name. "You mean that Korh who used that machine on Daniel?" Seeing Skarra's worried look he added, "He's the one who set the demon on Daniel."

"Yes," Ahntas said, nodding while Skarra started cursing under his breath. "The same. Please, for your own sake, obey him. He is not a kind person."

Worried, Sam looked over to Daniel, who seemed to have sunk into some kind of catatonia. Why the heck had that happened? She sat down beside him and started whispering to him, trying to get him out of it, and Skarra did the same, but he wasn't really responding. Damn! Sam wondered why Ahntas was being so candid in front of Korh, but in that moment she realized that Korh did not care what Ahntas was saying about him just as long as he was getting what he wanted. Besides, it was likely that Korh got some kind of sick pleasure out of being thought of as unkind.

"So Korh ordered the group that came through the Gate to Tau'ri," Teal'c said.

"Yes, he did. Korh is not part of the Researcher's Guild. He is part of the Scientific Guild."

"There's a difference?" Jack wanted to know.

"The Researcher's Guild is bogged down with petty sentiment," Korh said, speaking at last. "The Scientific Guild is focused more on results."

"You…son of RA!" Skarra shouted, his worry over Daniel overcoming his restraint. He had heard Jack say that Korh was the one who had sent the demon to Daniel through a machine, and he wanted nothing more than to avenge his brother-in-law. "You are the one who harmed Dan-yel! How dare you do such a thing!"

Korh looked at Skarra, shifting colors. He was amused, although Jack was certain that if he could understand what the kid was saying, he would be most unamused. "What is he saying, Ahntas?"

"I…do not know those words of Tau'ri," Ahntas said, surprised at the angry tone of Skarra's voice. "He is not one we worked with before, and his words are different."

"Then one of the Tau'ri shall tell me," Korh said, looking to SG-1 for answers while Skarra ranted on. "Where is the one called Dannul?"

At the sound of Daniel's name, Skarra stopped berating Korh and shot to a spot between Korh and his brother-in-law, protecting Daniel with all of the might that existed in his body. "You do not touch Dan-yel!" Skarra shouted. "I will kill you if you do!"

"Jack? Tilk? Sam?" Korh prompted, still amused.

"I don't think I wanna talk to a rapist," Jack said nastily, allowing his disgust to show while Sam translated for him. It was not as easy as Daniel made it seem. The best she could come to 'rapist' was 'one who harmed another in body and mind with a forbidden intimate act.'

Korh stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"I told you," Ahntas said angrily. "Dannul remembers it happening to him. He felt everything his body went through. You told me when we arrived from Tau'ri that I wasn't to worry, he'd felt nothing and would remember nothing and that there was nothing to worry about!" He pointed at Daniel. "Does that look like 'nothing' to you, Korh?"

"It is nothing," Korh said. "In fact…"

"Look, pal, rape is a very serious crime where we come from. It's forbidden, and it's devastating to the person it happens to," Jack snarled. "It doesn't matter if it's a person, people, or a machine that's used to make it happen, it's still the same crime, so you'd BETTER be thinkin' of a pretty damn good apology to Daniel! Hell, you better be ready to be brought up on charges!"

That time Teal'c translated since Major Carter was too busy taking care of Daniel to bother. It looked like he had gone back to sleep or had passed out.

"I repeat, it is nothing," Korh said. "He will be better soon from what happened, you'll see. I'm willing to make a deal with you."

"You don't have any right to ask for a deal!" Jack snarled, looking ready to kill.

"Right now, I am the one in charge of you," Korh said, ignoring Jack. "According to the Ghenta Council, I am your legal guardian. I can make your existence very comfortable or I can make it very uncomfortable. It all depends on what you tell us."

"Okay...what?" Jack said, confused. "Tell you...what? What do you want to know?"

"The Scientific Guild is very interested in the Shabbah," Korh said. "We want to know how to work it, the locations of all the places it is capable of reaching, and we wish to know of the peoples you have met. We wish to open trade and diplomatic relations with your people, and you are going to help us do that. You and the rest of your team are to submit to examinations whenever requested and you are to work with the team of professionals we have assembled. There is a psychologist, an educational expert, a physician, and a linguist. You are to fulfill any request they give you. In exchange, you shall live in a secure community of your own. You'll have your own homes, pleasant surroundings, the best food, and the best care."

"Hello, Harry," Jack muttered, hearing Harry Maybourne in every word. Feeling sick, he remembered the Tollans. Harry had had the same arrangement for them, except that they hadn't been interested in the Tollans beyond their technology and their brains. Now, SG-1 was in the same predicament, except this time, it appeared there was no way out for them. They didn't have a little flash box to contact the Nox with. They were stuck.

At this point, Sam was thinking very hard. Now she understood why Ahntas and his team had never really asked about the Stargate. They were part of the Resarcher's Guild while the Scientific Guild was the one researching the Stargate. It appeared the Researcher's Guild was one more interested in talking to other people and learning about them--or at least, she thought so--than finding out about technology. Okay, so humanity over profits. That...made sense, somehow. She shook her head, feeling muddled. They were in a situation that so many others had been in before when they'd come to the SGC, but now, they were in it. According to the government that existed on Ghenta, they were now assets. They were living, breathing, thinking, feeling assets, but they were assets all the same.

"I can't make that decision for my entire team," O'Neill said, every inch the colonel. "I'd like...for us to have some privacy while we discuss the situation." Daniel wasn't the only one who could be diplomatic!

"Take all the time you need," Korh said, sounding very smug. "Ahntas and I will return."

Ahntas, swirling every color of worry and anxiety, followed Korh, who was bright and confident.

Once they were gone, SG-1 and Skarra started to work on waking Daniel up. After a few minutes, his eyes opened, and he looked terrible. He looked like a man living in a nightmare. "Did I pass out again?"

"Yeah, but who wouldn't want to pass out with that Korh character in the room?" Jack said, trying to cheer him up. "I mean, ten to one he's never had a shower in his life. Phew!"

That won a wan smile from Daniel. "Reminds me of Maybourne."

"I concur," Teal'c said, sitting down on the floor. "O'Neill, I received a very strange impression while Korh was here."

O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What was it?"

"I think he knows something about us that we do not," Teal'c told him. "Do you remember Ahntas' and the others' reactions to finding out we were from Tau'ri? Korh must know that by now. What is the significance of Tau'ri? Further, what is the significance of us?"

"What are you gettin' at, Teal'c?" O'Neill asked, confused.

"Wait, I get it," Daniel said, sitting up. "You're wondering how they knew the name Tau'ri? You think that they might have some sort of information about us? That's why they're so interested in us and why they brought us back?"

Teal'c nodded once. "Exactly, Daniel Jackson."

Daniel enlightened the rest of SG-1 and Skarra. "They might have writings--ancient writings about Earth. Remember our theory of there being the remains of a human culture here? Well, they might think that we hold the key to finding out what happened to that culture or where that culture came from. There may have been stories about Gate travel, stories about Ga'ould technology, all sorts of stories about Earth..."

"So you're saying that the Ghenta Council might think that we could tell them all about that stuff?" Jack asked, surprised.

"The Gate, yeah, we could tell them, and a bit about the Ga'ould technology, but..." Sam trailed off, uncertain. "How do we tell them that we won't take being locked up?"

"We fight!" Skarra said, contributing his views to the conversation. "We will not be slaves or prisoners!"

"You tell 'em, Skarra," O'Neill said, giving Skarra a grin. "God, now I know how Omoc must have felt. And I thought the Ghenta were peaceful! What gets me, is how were they invisible, and how did they make it through the iris? Where'd that stuff come from?"

No one could come up with an answer.

"Okay, so we have a couple of mysteries to solve," Daniel said, looking thoughtful. "Why they brought us back, and where they got that technology."

Jack groaned. "What are we? Scooby-Doo and the gang?"

"What is Scooby-Doo?" Skarra asked, interested.

"We'll show you when we get back to Earth," Jack promised. "For now, what should we do?"

Carter looked as if she had an idea or two forming in her mind. "Well, we can always pretend to go along with this whole thing while we find out things, and in the meantime, we can use what we learn to make a plan to get away."

"Beats my suggestion of having a temper tantrum," Jack joked. "Everyone in agreement? All right, let's get Korh back in here so we can pull the wool over his eyes, and let's hope to God he isn't as smart as Maybourne can be when he isn't trying to act like an idiot."