Chapter 13: Let the journey begin!
Angela heard him wake up, which aroused her from a deep, dreamless sleep. She had no desire to have her usual run that morning; she was exhausted: "to hell with sport!". The last few days had been trying for her. She got up, stretched and took her medication as regulated. She looked at her bed with desire. No, today she just could not resist the temptation to go back to sleep. She looked at the empty space and thought again about what had happened the day before. To be sure, nothing special had happened but, for the first time in a long time, she felt happy. Her attempt at piloting the ship had been very promising. Actually, the whole day had been promising from the moment she woke up. She had woken up again in the company of a man. She had finally had the pleasure of watching Daniel sleeping. She had spent a long time looking at him. She had missed this a great deal. She looked nostalgically over at the now-empty armchair that had been occupied just a little while ago. In its place was a travel bag. She had to take the bare minimum with her. But, she had quickly finished sorting out her things as she didn't want to leave anything behind. These possessions were her whole life. She had also spent a long while gazing at her dog as she knew that, sooner or later, she would have to leave him. Laying on the bed and looking up at the ceiling, she could sense his presence at her side, as usual. He must have been feeling the moment getting closer as he no longer looked away from her. She tried to search for arguments for Jack to allow her to take him with them, but could not find any as it was too dangerous for him. Her mind wandered as the seconds passed. Her accident the day before yesterday was now completely forgotten as if it was something normal for the people round here. Only Jack and John looked at her with mistrust. She was almost glad to be leaving as she could not spend another moment waiting and doing nothing. After half an hour, she decided to get up properly to finish packing her travel bag. She had been authorised to collect the things she brought with her which had not made it past the base controls. Nearly all of them were useless or were going with her because they were weapons and gadgets. She arranged these souvenirs in priority order and then, with a sigh, she got rid of them to make space for her personal weapons. She took her authorisation badge and went to search for the weapons in question. For his part, Mitchell had finished and had had no difficulty packing his bag. He had nothing of great importance to leave behind him except for his car. That was the only thing he would regret.
He decided to go and help Daniel, who was no doubt having problems trying to decide between such and such a book or object. As a precaution, O'Neill had told him he could only take one bag minimum, stressing the word minimum. He was therefore limited to one bag just like everyone else, which troubled him no end. Where was he supposed to put all his manuscripts.
Mitchell arrived in Daniel's office and thought he had arrived on a battlefield: books, paper, bits of objects were all strewn all over the place, seemingly at random, but with their own peculiar order.
"Who's winning?"
"What?"
"You or your antiquities?" Mitchell said, as he put down a book which caused a cloud of dust.
"I need to make sure I make the right choices; I can't make a mistake with the books I take with me and I can only take a few with me," Daniel said with regret.
"But you don't usually take any. I've never seen you go on a mission with a book in your hand."
"I know, but this is different."
"How?"
"We're going a long way and we won't just be able to go back every five minutes for a book I forgot. And we're going into the unknown. It'll be useful, believe me!"
"Like usual, we're always going off into the unknown and if it comes to it, we won't be looking in your books for the information we need, not unless it's something we've come across before, and then we wouldn't need all these books. Anyway, you pretty much know them all off by heart. I think all we need are the tablets you found with the address and a few inscriptions."
"Yeah, I packed those first," Daniel confirmed, "but I'd rather have some other books just in case."
"Just tell me, what is it you expect to find when we get there? Ancients?
"Maybe. On the tablets I managed to translate, there was a sort of plan talking about their lest settlement. It was a kind of refuge and they might still be there. It was an isolated place for people who were near to Ascension."
"A place to meditate? Some kind of monastery?"
"It's not the best comparison, because once you're there, you can't go back to a normal life."
"So you can go in but you never get out again. Swell! Why would anyone go there?"
"The whole point of the place is to prepare for Ascension, but it's also an important place for study because meditation opens up new horizons. People discover new things and the guardians keep their secrets in writing before they spread the word."
"And you think we'll find these writings?"
"Yes, it's definitely where the weapon is and maybe the person guarding it as well," Daniel said optimistically.
"Whoa, okay! Let's not get carried away. We're just looking for a weapons that's capable of destroying the Ori. Once we find it, we'll be able to save our universe from the threat of false gods. We're not going to be there forever and what with our two agents and Angela, we can't get pulled off course. We need to stay focussed on our goal."
"You're right and anyway, I don't think Jack's patient enough to wait. And Angela probably won't want to wait to come back."
"Okay, I'll help you choose your books," said Mitchell, "I can always stash a couple in my bag if you want?"
"Thanks, but I've got all this to take," he said, pointing to the corner of the room.
There were two piles of books, one with two or three books and another that looked like it was about to topple over.
"Well, I see you've solved your problem: you can definitely fit those three books in."
"It's the other pile," Daniel sighed.
"Aha, now I see your problem."
He picked up the first book: "Studies on the Mores and Customs of Mesopotamia", then another: "Studying and Deciphering Prophecies".
"Is this really necessary?" he asked, pointing to the book.
"Yes!" Daniel said, grabbing the book from Mitchell's hands, "the people who created the tablets said that some of the prophecies actually came true."
"Some?"
"Yes, some of them haven't happened yet. There's no indication of time."
"But these prophecies are for the planet where the tablets were found. That's got nothing to do with us," said Mitchell.
"Not necessarily. The people who created them say that some of them haven't happened but they happened somewhere else, it's just that those people weren't interested in them. One of the prophecies talks about the liberation of a whole people, but that liberation would only happen after a lot of deaths. It goes on a lot about there being few victories at the start, with a war that would go on forever and then there would be victory," Daniel quoted. "The march towards freedom could no longer be stopped and the final victory will be paid in blood and thanks to courage."
"Actually, I've already seen parts of this story. It's talking about the Jaffa."
"Or the Ori. But anyway, what's important is that the prophecy happened on another planet. They might not have known about it, but the prophecy was still there."
"It's coming true, then"
"Yes, but you always need to be suspicious of prophecies, because a lot of times they're vague and it depends on how you interpret them and to what extent they come true."
"Well, we've done fine without them until now. That's why you want to take this book?"
"I've only just translated the start. It speaks about an exceptional journey to save the universe from false gods and the fulfilment of a very old prophecy, something the whole world is waiting for and will give hope to all people."
"The first part is what we're interested in. So, how does it end?" Mitchell asked, curious
"I haven't finished translating yet. I've only just found this text, but it talks about suffering."
"Too bad for us. That's a shame; I would've liked to know how it ends so I can get ready. Does this book help you interpret the text?"
"Not really, because it would all be hazy anyway," Daniel sighed.
"What?"
"Prophecies generally aren't very precise. And, they can have several possible interpretations. The people who write them or translate them so they can be passed on from generation to generation miss certain information. They can embellish them or cut out passages that don't have any interest for them, even though they might be very useful."
"So, what you're saying is you don't need this book or that one?"
"I guess not," Daniel sighed.
"And so we've done it with less than two books!" Mitchell said triumphantly.
When O'Neill arrived, he had already finished packing. Sam was expecting the journey to take more than 3 days barring any problems that might come up. Also, the discovery of a stargate onboard the ship had changed things. Now they would not be totally cut off from the rest of the universe. According to Sam, they might have the chance to contact Earth, even if it was only brief. The different nations that wanted to take part in this mission had requested detailed follow-up reports on their operations. Jack could understand that, but he didn't want to be hassled during a mission. In the heat of the moment, they wouldn't necessarily have the time to give an update, but they could quench the representatives' thirst and keep them busy for a while. At the moment, the look he had was devoid of any expression. He thought about everything his team had gone through in the last ten years . They always knew more or less what they were doing, but this time they were heading into the unknown. He hoped the three new recruits had been trained well enough to deal with the unknown, because this mission was going to change their lives forever, the same way his life had been turned upside down ten years ago.
O'Neill then met with Landry. Whilst the others were getting ready, they discussed new instructions. Landry was amused by the situation, to see Jack once again concede his place to Landry. The Ori problem had forced Jack to come out of retirement once again, while Landry had taken his place in the new assembly in Ankara. He loved his new job, even if tension was the rule there, and the threat of this distinguished and fragile alliance breaking up was ever present. The situation over there was not at all stable. People were getting agitated in the face of the Ori threat. But, being back behind this desk in safety and calm was doing him a world of good.
Speaking of calm:
"Unauthorised offworld activation."
Jack sighed and got up, followed by Landry. They made their way to the control room.
"What's going on?"
"It's Vala's IDC."
"It's about time, I sent SG-4 to look for her."
A few minutes later.
"Be careful with those, they're fragile!" said a female voice, "you're a bunch of incompetents. These are priceless treasures!"
"Good to see you again, Vala," said Landry.
"You took your time responding to us," said Jack, annoyed.
"There were a few problems with one of my expeditions," Vala answered.
"Still stealing treasures, I see," said O'Neill as he watched the airmen carry the heavy cases.
"What do you think I am? How do you think I make a living? But, this time it's not what you think, they're my medical supplies," Vala whispered and then said, in a louder voice, "so, what's new?"
"Excuse me?"
"That is the correct Earth expression, isn't it? Okay, what's pretty? No? Okay, there are rumours going round about you.
"What kind of rumours?" Jack asked.
"Apparently, you've found yourselves a child prodigy," she said as the airmen carted off her things.
"Prodigy, you say?" Jack said, shooting a look of surprise at Landry, "what prodigy is this?"
"Oh, there's no need for secrets between us. We got past this stage a long time ago. Everyone's talking about it!"
"Everyone?" O'Neill said, not fully understanding what she meant.
"Well, okay, a few people. So, where is this child, then? I adore children," she said. On seeing the doubtful look on Landry's face, she said: "oh, okay, I hate children, but this one intrigues me and who can't love the person who's going to save us all!"
"There is no child," Landry cut in.
"Oh, pity! Too bad for you. But, why did you call me? You said you'd found something and then there's that prophecy."
"What prophecy?" Jack asked, now completely lost.
"Didn't Daniel tell you about it?"
"Ah...no."
"Really? Maybe he just hasn't had the chance to study it yet," she pulled a relic out of her pocket the size of her hand with a red diamond at its centre.
"I think that might be because you stole that from Daniel," Jack said, smiling as he saw the look of outrage on Daniel's face.
"Borrowed. I borrowed it. Yes, that might well be the reason. He would never have known how to use it anyway. He thought it was some old medallion. So did I at first but, thanks to my powers of observation and keenly trained eyes, I discovered it was a decryption key. But anyway, lovely as all this chatting is, shall we get down to what's going on here?"
"We'll explain everything in good time, but to cut a long story short, we're going tomorrow morning, so
"Ooh, where are we going?" Vala asked with curiosity.
"In the Pegasus galaxy."
"That's quite far away. But, I suppose that with the gate, we'll be there in no time. Why the rush?"
"The trip will take three days," Landry informed her as they were walking down a corridor.
"We're not using the gate, then? Or is there no gate where we're going?"
"Yes, there is."
"So...?"
"We can't use it," Jack said simply.
"We're going there by ship but wait...a trip like that would take more than a week, even in an Asgard ship, so how...?"
"We have something a little faster," Jack explained, not wanting to waste time.
"Oh, is this the famous Ancient ship? You've finally managed to get it to work? Great! Sam's a genius," said Vala, her head already filling with ideas.
"Actually, Carter's not completely responsible for that," on seeing the pensive look on Vala's face, Jack added, "and don't even think about stealing it, because you won't be able to, unlike the Goa'uld ship."
"It was in very bad shape. Useless in fact. I did you a favour by taking it off your hands and I couldn't even get rid of it; they sold it back to me for a pittance. Anyway, why couldn't I pilot it, I'm good at that?"
"The Ancient gene," Landry explained.
"Well, I could just kidnap you, steal the ship and take advantage of you," Vala joked.
"That won't work either," Jack sighed, again reminding him that on this mission he would serve no purpose. "The ship won't react to my presence."
"Okay, so how?"
"we've found another solution," Landry said.
"Someone else with a much more dominant Ancient gene than mine and a lot more present in her DNA," said Jack.
"So, you... became an Ancient, or a library anyway."
"Yeah, but it wasn't enough."
"Tell me," Vala said, stopping, "wouldn't this person be a child?"
"We'd never make a child a pilot," said Jack.
"Even if that child was a reincarnated Ancient? So, what's happened? Has an Ancient finally decided to help us?"
"You're getting away from the point," said Landry, "are you really that bored?" he said as they arrived in front of a door.
"To be honest, yes. I've missed all this," pointing to the base, "well, not all of it," she said as he opened the door.
the room was dark and cold and full of dust. For a few moments, she contemplated the room she had just left behind, filled with gold and dresses in her wardrobe. That might have been a slight exaggeration, but her room was at least filled with more riches. But it was better than...what was this exactly? A bedroom? A prison?
She sighed and stepped inside, leaving Jack and Landry behind her.
Mitchell joined Daniel again in his office to see how far he was getting with his packing. Daniel had just finished and was looking sadly at the books he had been forced to leave behind for the trip. Now he was focussing on a photo.
"Hey, has the battle been won?"
"Hmm," he said, still deep in thought.
"Vala's here."
"Is she?" Daniel said, surprised.
"She also brought a few things back with her, according to O'Neill."
"The amulet?"
"Yeah. Actually it turns out it's not an amulet," said Mitchell.
"Am I missing something?" Daniel asked.
"Apparently so."
"What's she doing?"
"She's gone for a walk around, to get to know the new recruits."
"Angela?"
"I'm a little afraid of what she'll do; she's gonna go ballistic. Anyway, it'll be good for the two of them to meet."
"Yeah, but better later than sooner."
"Luckily, Angela's in her room, so we might be in luck and they might not see one another," said Mitchell.
Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case. Angela had come back to her room with several weapons.
There was a kit case with two Baretta 92s and their ammunition. This ammunition was unique as she made it herself. She took out a series of hunting knives and a medium-sized case containing a recurve bow that could be used in several ways such as a cluster or even to launch a tracer without it being damaged. There were also a range of other weapons, some more and some less sophisticated. She then stuffed a small grey case full of explosives and ammunition.
It must have been getting late as the number of soldiers in the corridors had gone down. Even her own guards were nowhere to be seen. She began to get her weapons together; she strapped a dagger to her right ankle. She placed one of her cases next to her bag; she would take care of that later, as it was a little big. She made her way over to the case she had set near the wall. This one was much smaller, around the size of a makeup or jewellery box and was quite discrete. She turned off the light and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before she opened it. At the centre of the case was a green, fluorescent liquid which shone a slight light on the rest of the case's contents. There were light-sensitive tubes inside. She checked to make sure there was no sound of anyone approaching her room and couldn't hear any for the moment. She picked up a gas canister and did her best to make sure it wouldn't destabilise. There was a red triangle stuck to the canister, indicating it as dangerous. In fact, the contents were actually radioactive. A small dose of it was enough to track a person and a large dose was enough to kill someone without leaving any trace. With a complex chemical process, she could transform it so that it could be inserted into a molecule in the same way as an antibody and would be specific to an individual. She could therefore kill anyone on the planet and would need nothing more than their DNA or a blood sample. This gas was highly resistant and could spread at great speed. She had picked it up on a mission in Russia; she had hidden it all this time after she took out irs creator. She had hidden it out of sight but also out of reach of the population as, in its untransformed state, it would be capable of killing a large population in a matter of hours and the quantity held prisoner by the canister was highly concentrated. She hid it as she waited for a way to destroy it, but so far had not found the means to do so, or in any case any definite means. The tube was safe inside the armoured case, which would contain the gas if the canister should break. This was, however, just provisional. She thought this might be the right time to disperse it on some uninhabited planet. On this mission, she would no doubt have the opportunity to hide her samples. Her attention was suddenly drawn to the sound of footsteps approaching down the corridor. She broke off what she was doing as the footsteps were coming towards her room. Judging by the lightness of the sound, there was only one person it could have been. Angela gently closed the case and then waited. She didn't recognise the person's approach and so took out her blade as a precaution.
For her part, Vala had not stayed quietly in her room. She had decided to pay a visit to her new teammates. To her great joy, she came across Jack Croft and John Smith in the weights room. When she saw them, her mouth started to water. They were training intensely, their muscles glistening in the light because of the sweat. She spent a few moments admiring the view before she started the conversation. Unfortunately, their interests didn't quite match up with hers; they were focussed on talking about the third new team member. She decided to go and look for the person in question, the famous pilot with the genes needed for the mission. She had plenty of theories of her own about this person. She needed to talk to Daniel about them and quickly. It was late when she left them and the corridors were beginning to empty, with the lights having dimmed to night mode. According to what John had said, the third team member went to bed late and she hoped that was true, as she had no desire to spend another night alone, nor did she want to go to bed just yet. She approached the door, head still daydreaming. She found the new recruits to be quite good-looking men and she hoped the third would not only be to her liking but would also be interested in the same things as her. Vala stopped in front of the door, hesitating to knock for fear of waking up the occupant. Then she started to have reservations. She tried to make out the slightest sound from the other side of the door. She put her ear against the door to hear better, but couldn't hear anything in particular. She knew this was the right room, so she decided it wouldn't do any harm to open the door and have a look around. She opened it up and moved her head around gently. The room was pitch black. She glanced all around it and her eyes ended up focussing on the bed. She made out a form laid out on the bed. The person must have been asleep. Shame. But, her curiosity spurred her on, so Vala decided to go in. She wanted to see the face of the unknown teammate. She quietly closed the door behind her and silently approached the bed. She fixed her gaze on the bed, trying to get used to the darkness. Little by little, she could make out the shape more clearly: The person seemed small. She went a bit closer, putting her hand out. But, someone behind her put a knife to her throat. Vala was afraid for her life. The stranger had pinned her arms behind her back with a swift movement. Whoever this person was, they were strong.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a feminine voice, much to Vala's surprise.
The stranger turned on the light while keeping the knife pressed against Vala's throat. What Vala had thought was a person turned out to be a dog, a badly-behaved dog from what she could tell. Indeed, it was now on all four and bearing its teeth. How had she not seen such large teeth?
"I couldn't agree with you more," Vala said, as she quickly pulled back the hand that had been getting closer to the dog's mouth.
"Oh, don't worry about him. His bark's worse than his bite. He's a big softie, really."
"You'd never know," said Vala, still sounding worried, with the knife against her throat, "not that I'm uncomfortable, but if you could just..."
"Who are you?"
"Vala. Haven't Daniel or O'Neill talked to you about me?"
"No."
"Oh, really?"
"I'd remember if Daniel had mentioned a woman to me," said Angela, pressing against her arm.
"Oh, I'm sure you'd remember, but I am a friend of Daniel's. I'm here for the expedition. I'm authorised, look at my card."
"Already have."
"But I haven't taken anything out," said Vala as the pressure against her neck lessened.
The blade gradually moved away from her fragile neck. It was a sacred dagger and when Vala turned round to look at the other woman, she was struck by how young she was. She instantly thought back to the child prodigy.
"How old are you?" Vala asked, as she massaged her painful neck.
"What does that have to do with you?"
"Just making conversation."
"25."
"You really don't look it," said Vala, disappointed as she saw her vision of a child prodigy disappearing. "You look a lot younger without those...are those scars?"
"No need to be so formal. After all, we are on this mission together and you're older than me," said Angela.
"Well, not that much older," Vala lied.
Angela turned around quickly, piercing Vala with her eyes.
"Okay, maybe not so much."
"What do you want? Other than to talk?" Angela asked, wanting to be alone and still a little wary.
"Well, nothing in particular. I just wanted to get to know you...but I wasn't expecting to see a woman."
"And why not? Does that bother you?" said Angela.
"No," said Vala without hesitation, "I've always said that women are more talented than men and that we should have a bigger part to play in the big positions."
"Really?"
"Don't you agree?"
"No. As far as I'm concerned, we're equal."
They spent 30 minutes talking. Vala learned that she was always kept a weapon on her, which was good to know when coming up on her by surprise. Unlike the two agents, the two women had a lot in common such as beautiful wardrobes. Angela explained to Vala that it was getting late and she would have to get to bed. The following morning, Vala made her way to Daniel's office, a place she was very familiar with.
"We have to talk."
"Good morning. I'm fine thanks, you?" said Daniel.
"It's unacceptable."
"I agree and I'm glad you can see that. But, it'd be easier if you told me what you were talking about."
"What were you talking about?" Vala asked, uncertain.
"The amulet. What else would you be talking about after not seeing each other for all this time?"
"The girl!"
"What girl?"
"Come on, you can do better than that."
"Oh, you're talking about Angela, you've met her. Don't you like her?"
"Yes, I do, she's lovely."
"So, what's the problem?"
"She's too young and she has very bad manners."
"What do you mean?"
"She's a pickpocket!"
"Ah yes, because you've never stolen from people close to you."
"If you're talking about the amulet, I was just borrowing it and you knew about it anyway!"
"Yes, she stole Jack's blue card and he had no idea. She's pretty talented."
"And you just let her do it? I didn't notice either," Vala admitted.
"Did she steal something from you? Is that why you're worked up?" Daniel joked.
"Yes, my access card, but that's not the problem. She's not..."
"What is it really? The fact that she's more talented than you?"
"No," she said, reacting strongly, "she nearly killed me. She threatened me with a dagger."
"Really? For no reason?"
"Yes...," said Vala, hesitating, "well, okay, I went into her room without knocking...I was curious and..."
"There it is! We always end up having the same conversation. You just can't help yourself."
"I don't trust her."
"Well I do, completely," said Daniel, surprised at his reaction and this revelation.
"And what exactly are you basing that on?" said Vala. Seeing that he was ignoring her, she asked again, "ah, you know her, don't you?"
Silence descended.
"Hi, Daniel, you ready? Oh, hi Vala," Mitchell said.
"Hey!" Daniel said, happy to escape Vala's interrogation.
"I was just complaining to Daniel."
"About what?" Mitchell said, looking at Daniel who had an embarrassed look.
"About Angela. I don't trust her. She's nice enough. She has a slight tendency to threaten the people she's talking to, but..."
"She's complaining because Angela stole her badge," Daniel explained in brief.
"She was just in a good mood," Mitchell said.
"And that's the best part. You trust her just like that."
"We've known her for a while," said Mitchell, going back to the conversation that Daniel had just escaped.
"Oh yes. Under what circumstances?"
"Uhh..."
"Oh, she's your hidden daughter," said Vala, "she's the child prodigy."
"No!" Daniel said, defending himself, "she's not my daughter, she's 25!"
"What child prodigy?" asked Mitchell.
"Oh, and you even know how old she is!"
"What are you talking about?" Mitchell asked again.
"The amulet. I brought it back to him, and he discovers it's not some trinket or an ornament."
"What do you mean?" asked Mitchell.
"The object revealed an ancient text, which is what I was trying to say last time. I've seen this mechanism before."
"Oh yeah?"
"When I was a grand master."
"And?" Daniel asked, impatiently.
"The amulet actually requires a receptacle to read it."
"Why didn't you tell me that before? What took you so long?" said Daniel.
"I tried to get one, but it took time. The one I had wasn't powerful enough; the artefact needed one with more power, so I borrowed one from..."
"Borrowed?" said Mitchell.
"In a manner of speaking," said Daniel.
"So, I managed to get what I wanted in an old base of Anubis," Vala ignored him.
"Anubis?"
"Yes. I read in one of your reports that Anubis had access to advanced technologies. So, I told myself that since I was borrowing it from a dead man, it meant I wasn't obliged to give it back. So, to cut a long story short, from what I was told, the text recorded on the artefact is a sort of prophecy, but there were there were also a number of items created that were more or less useful. The man who helped me told me it might be the key to fighting the Ori."
"And you let him translate it?" asked Daniel, exasperated.
"Yes, I trusted him, but I only gave him a part of the text."
"And what if he was a spy?" said Mitchell.
"Well, in that case, we're in quite a bit of danger," said Vala with a serious tone.
"Danger?"
"Don't you hear the rumours anymore," said Vala, "don't you think people are very welcoming towards you even in spite of the Ori's threats and their suspicions?"
"Uhh, no," said Mitchell.
"Now that you mention it, you're right. People were acting strangely toward us, but why?"
"Because of the child."
"Oh here we go again, back to the child," said Daniel, "do I have to remind you that the only child we know about is the Orisi, the one you brought into the world?"
"It's not her, but the problem is that everyone thinks you have this child."
"How is that possible," Mitchell asked.
"Well, someone must have spread the word," said Vala.
"And that someone isn't you," said Daniel reproachfully.
"It's not my fault. The messages you sent me weren't given directly to me. There were intermediaries and I guess they drew their own conclusions. Your messages said you'd found a way to destroy the Ori, so they must have assumed the prophecy was coming true."
"People know about this prophecy? Everyone knows about it except us!" said Daniel.
"You really need to stop that. You can't blame me for wanting to give hope to people," Vala defended herself.
"No, but it wouldn't have killed you to use a little more discretion," Daniel said.
"So, they think this child prodigy is one of the new members of the team, just like I did," Vala said.
"Angela," Daniel sighed as he began to understand the danger the young woman was facing.
"Angela's not a child," Mitchell pointed out.
"Yes, but when I saw her, I thought she could be the one and who's to say she isn't lying about her age? From what I've seen, she's had a whole host of different identities and she is the youngest out of the three new team members, so I think people are going to come to the same conclusion I did," said Vala.
"She's an adult anyway," said Daniel, hoping that was true.
Vala noticed his hesitation.
"Is she in danger?" Mitchell asked.
"No immediate danger. As long as the Ori aren't aware of her existence anyway."
"Well, she's dead then," Mitchell said.
"Don't underestimate primitive people. They know she's their only hope at protecting their freedom," Vala remarked.
"She's right, it wouldn't be in their interest unless they wanted to use her as some sort of exchange currency."
"Yeah, but they're everywhere and they have spies everywhere," said Mitchell, "and as we all know, they have ways of pressuring people."
"Well it's a good thing we're leaving today because the longer she stays here, …..." said Vala.
"Yeah, but I would've liked more time to study the amulet first. Where is it, anyway?" Daniel said to Vala in a reproachful tone.
"Somewhere safe. In any case, you didn't know it contained a hidden text."
"I could've found out about it and that could've helped us."
"They're just a bunch of vague prophecies and instructions," said Vala.
"Instructions?" Daniel exclaimed.
"Well, that's what they looked like anyway. I can't read Ancient, but it looked like some kind of plan," said Vala.
"Okay, stop your arguing," Mitchell intervened, "we're going to step up our departure just in case and let's just keep our fingers crossed that we won't come across anyone who wants to take us out. Vala, you should go talk to O'Neill and I'll help Daniel finish getting ready."
The journey was brought forward. They left two hours later at 10am. Several hours thereafter, they were all ready and listening to Vala in the briefing room. Jack Croft was arguing with Mitchell. He was asking him for advice. Angela was speaking to General Landry, who had suggested looking after her dog. She was giving him instructions.
"Don't worry, General Calling, he'll be in safe hands. I've had plenty of pets," said Landry, "we'll get on like a house on fire."
"I hope so."
"Jack, I wanted to say it was good to be back here and like I told you already, you can sleep soundly knowing I've got everything covered. All I've got left to do now is wish you bon voyage."
"I'm sure you still remember your way around," Jack joked.
"Yes, I feel like I'm home again. I prepared a speech for when you leave, but since we don't have the time and you don't like goodbye ceremonies, I won't bother, but just so you know, the whole world's behind you," said Landry.
"That's reassuring," Mitchell commented.
"I also want to wish you good luck," Landry continued, ignoring Mitchell's remark,
"Yeah, we'll need it," Jack finished before starting to make his way towards the stargate.
They travelled to the ship in silence. Even Vala wasn't speaking because of the pressure. They were all asking questions about their future and the outcome of the mission. Jack C. and John Smith watched as the vessel grew gradually before them through the brume like children with a new toy at Christmas. Jack O tried to see the bottom of the lake, but couldn't make out anything. He saw a shadow he thought he had seen before. He looked at the others, who had said nothing. The shadow must have been in his mind. When Angela approached it, the ship reacted instantly.
"Rod's finished helping us. He wished us a safe journey. We now have access to a third of the systems," said Sam, breaking the silence.
"That's better than nothing," said O'Neill, "I just hope it's enough. At least we have the vital systems, right Colonel?"
"Yes. We also have access to some of the weapons systems, but I think Angela may have full access. Of course, we have hyperdrive but the communications systems aren't fully functional. I'm hoping to get them back online during the trip."
"Are the weapons...?"
"Not enough against the Ori, Sir, but they'll get the job done against a normal ship. The shields are at 50% capacity, but again I'm hoping to increase that."
"We'll make do, like we always do," said Jack. "General Calling, if you'd like to do the honours?" he said as they arrived at the entrance to the vessel, which was located on the side.
Angela shot a look at him, but went ahead of him, as much to hide the excitement that was clear on her face. She knew instinctively where she needed to go, taking the corridor leading straight ahead. Without waiting for Sam to agree, she sat herself down. The room was quite large, even with all those machines. There was however still room to move about freely without the risk of bumping into one's teammates. It could easily fit 15 people inside. There were five large consoles in total: three at the back of the room, facing the wall between each corridor. There were four corridors which granted access to this room. The left-hand corridor was the one they had just used and only the one on the right had been used by Sam's team. Two other consoles were located in the middle of the room, opposite an enormous window which Angela hoped was solid. The window gave a panoramic view. The smallest console was the navigation console. On the same level as the empty space behind the second console, before the corridors and on the ground, was a type of circle with signs which had been engraved into stone. The symbols were slightly luminous and has an Ancient feel to them. They were the same colour as the pale blue lights seen in the rest of the room. Sam had sat down near the laptops set up on the second central console in the room. Angela started up the system and the different programmes as Sam awaited a response from her computers. Bluish lights lit up more brightly around the floor.
"That´s good, the ship´s online, it´s all okay," said Sam, "I´ve still got it for a few moments."
"Good, let's get settled then, shall we?" said Jack, not knowing which corridor to take, "and if Angela doesn't mind showing us around, I'd be up for a stroll."
"I've never 'strolled' in my life. Besides, I only know about this room, the machinery and the bedrooms."
"Bedrooms. I should've thought about that," Jack said, looking at Daniel.
"Yeah, we haven't seen everything," Sam explained, "we just saw the surveillance cameras, an embarkation room, different corridors and rooms that didn't look very interesting, like a library."
"A library!" said Daniel, suddenly interested.
"Well, we think that's what it was. We didn't have access to all the controls," Sam explained as she was hunched over her computer.
"In any case, girls should get the priority for choosing their rooms and we suggest taking the ones closest to the control room," said Vala.
She took one of her cases and headed off down one of the closer corridors to the left of the one they had come through.
"Uhh, it's not down there," Angela said.
"I knew that," said Vala as she took the next corridor.
"Ah, yeah, I can see that," Angela sighed as she picked up her bag and went off down the corridor situated on the far right.
"There are enough single rooms for all of us anyway," Sam added to what Vala had said.
Angela smiled at that remark and went down the corridor, followed by the others. The light intensified at her approach.
"The first two rooms have bunkbeds, if you want them," said Angela.
"That must be for shift changes," said Jack.
"But, all along the corridor, there are bedrooms and other rooms that we still don't know what they're for. If you're looking for a bedroom, watch out for a sign above the door like this one," she said as she pointed out a door.
The corridor seemed long compared with the exterior of the ship. Daniel mused that it must have been some kind of optical illusion or a process used by the Ancients to increase the amount of usable area without taking up more space. When seen from the outside, the ship looked a lot smaller. Another Ancient illusion. This peculiarity troubled John; he had vertigo because, until yesterday, everything he had thought he knew about the universe had proven to be just a small part of it. Angela and Jack C ignored this anomaly and went off to choose their rooms. Vala was already in front of her future bedroom. She was looking at rooms according to the distance between them, trying to find the biggest. Angela picked a room by accident, leaving the first one, which was the closest, for Sam, in case there was an emergency. Mitchell took the one just next to it. Automatic doors welcomed them They opened because of a movement sensor. Vala was disappointed at the size of her room; it was small and there were no windows. The door closed automatically behind her and. The room's décor was simple with mauve colours predominating. She didn't mind the colour, but it did get to her eyes a little. Her gaze was drawn by a painting on the wall, not the portrait itself, but rather the frame, which was made out of gold. Her eyes then fell on the painting. It was of a woman sitting on a throne. Vala couldn't make out exactly what the woman's face looked like, but she imagined her to be beautiful, a plastic kind of beauty with a strict air to her eyes. The natural light of the painting was actually obscuring the details. She could only see the white hair and eyes, as if the painter had never finished the painting or he didn't know which colour to use. Only a gold band held back her hair. That was the only jewellery. Well, almost, because she was wearing a night-coloured dress which for Vala was a work of art. Her dress seemed to be made of liquid, as it shimmered in the light like a surface of water reflecting the light of the stars. The dress molded perfectly to her body, hinting at generous curves. There were tattoos covering a part of her bare arms just up until the forearms, at which point they ended at random. It was as if there had not been enough time to finish off the tattoos. The tattoos shone brightly in a bluish light on the young woman's pale skin, just like the lights in the control room. Vala could not take her eyes off the net, which seemed to be looking at her with an inquisitive stare. An idea had crossed her mind several minutes before. For a moment, she actually felt the desire to steal the painting. She felt guilty about it, but not for very long. She looked behind the painting and dismounted it. She placed it just next to her case and then she heard the others outside. She went out and headed for Mitchell's and Angela's rooms. Teal'c and Mitchell were already waiting and deep in discussion. She joined them and, at that moment, Angela came out of her room. Before the door could close, Vala caught a glimpse of the inside. It was a lot bigger than hers and Vala got the distinct impression that Angela had been in the bedrooms before.
"Hey, your room's bigger!"
"Ha! I didn't know that, I just picked it by accident. I only knew about the two rooms with the bunkbeds," Angela said, trying to dredge up her memories.
She looked discretely at Daniel and she saw that he too remembered. He looked at her. Vala was surprised by their knowing glance.
"Well, let's get on with that tour," Jack interrupted, "we're going to be here for a few days, so we'd better get to know this ship," he said as everyone followed.
They ran into Sam on the way as they passed by the navigation room. She was still hunched over her computer. She pointed out to them that she was going to need more time as she still didn't understand the modifications and improvements Rod had made before he left. She swore but O'Neill wasn't listening, having already gone down one of the two central corridors.
"Wait, don't go so fast," said Vala as she followed him.
Angela sighed. This trip was going to be interesting. John and Jack C were in wonder as they looked at everything around them. The corridor went on at least ten metres as far as the eye could see. Angela stopped, she wanted to stay with Sam but, on seeing the insistant look in Daniel's and Mitchell's eyes, she couldn't resist. She also knew they could very easily get lost and it would be easier for them to have access to certain rooms.
"It's crazy how this ship doesn't look as big from the outside," said Jack.
"Indeed," said Teal'c, sounding impressed.
"Yes, it certainly is very Ancient," said Vala, "practical yet complicated."
"Yeah, they loved their well-structured buildings and gigantesque architecture," Daniel added.
Vala instantly thought of Atlantis.
"Yeah, but they could've at least changed their decorators. These paintings are pretty strange and frightening," she said as she thought back to the picture in her room.
They passed by a painting which showed an immense city. There were nine cities surrounding a larger central city. The one in the middle must have been some kind of capital and certainly the most important, the administrative and political centre. The larger city was set atop an enormous volcanic crater, filled with molten lava or boiling hot water. The lava flows werebreaking through the caldera of the volcano. All the city's towers were being lit up by a bluish aura. Funny birds were flying around these towers, with some of them landing and others circling. Daniel couldn't look at the birds very closely as the others were further away and Jack's head was blocking them. They were now in the centre of the vessel but they were blocked at the end of the corridor. The door was closed and wouldn't open automatically, unlike the bedroom doors.
"What, are you waiting for it to open?" Jack said to Angela.
Daniel sighed and placed his hand on a sort of control unit. The door slid open, giving way to a funny kind of corridor. It was a bit like a plot of land, but in the middle of nowhere.
"The doors can be opened just by movement or recognition and some of the doors can only be opened with the Ancient gene," Daniel explained.
"And I know the door should be opened just by Angela coming near it," Jack said.
Jack went in first, followed by the others as they passed in front of Daniel.
"Thank you," Angela whispered as he had once again avoided drawing the attention of the group to her gifts.
The corridor was pitch black. Fences cordoned off the plot from every side. The ceiling of the corridor was open, at least it seemed to be open to the sky. To the side, on the wall, stars could be made out. Vala supported herself on the guardrail and looked down, but she still couldn't see the bottom for all the stars.
"Strange phenomenon," said John.
"It could be a kind of mapping system, so they can find where they are," Daniel suggested.
"How would such a system function?" asked Teal'c.
"I don't know, it would have to..."
Then the screen to his right changed, which was where O'Neill was hunched.
"What are you doing, Jack?" Daniel said with a reproachful tone.
"Me? Nothing...I just thought it'd be a good idea to see where we're going."
"You didn't touch anything?"
"No, I didn't touch anything," Jack repeated, "but for crying out loud, Daniel, nothing's changed. It's still just a bunch of stars."
"I'm sure this looks different than it did a little while ago. You said you were thinking about the place we wanted to go?"
"Yeah, so? We know where we're going and this isn't giving us any more specific information, so it's a waste of time. Shall we get on with the visit?"
He approached the next door and, this time, it opened on its own.
"What do you think it is?" Vala asked Daniel, who looked worried.
"I think it's a planisphere but on a universal scale, a bit like an observatory. I think from here they could keep an eye on all their bases and communicate with their planets as well," Daniel mused.
"Can we communicate with any planet we want?"
"I don't actually know, but it would be good. It would mean we'd avoid going somewhere for no reason," he said before the door ahead of them could close.
They arrived at an intersection of four corridors.
"I think this is to confuse intruders," said Jack C., who had remained silent up until that point.
Only the corridor opposite had a different door at the end. There were letters and symbols engraved on it.
"Okay, let's take this one," said O'Neill, who was beginning to get bored of going round in circles.
Daniel did not even have time to read what was written on the door before Jack opened it. The door opened up into a large, dark room. The lights activated when Jack entered, showing a room that looked like a mess hall. At the end there was a large window that covered nearly the whole room. Jack and Daniel headed towards a kind of counter with signs positioned on it. Daniel read them:
"Nectar...must be some sort of syrup in this context," Daniel said to O'Neill.
"Nectar," O'Neill said, pushing his head over to see the other side of the counter, "no alcohol. You think...?"
But, before he could finish, a white light passed over him.
"Whoa!" he said, backing up.
This gave way to...
"I guess this is syr...nectar," said Daniel, who was holding a wine glass, holding it up to the light.
The glass reflected from the fragments and was filled with a translucent orange liquid.
"Do you think it's crystal?" Vala said, sounding interested.
"Interesting," Mitchell said. He picked up the glass to see if it was true. This was something from another age. The glass was flawless, perfect. He then drank the contents, "not bad after all these years."
"Looks like we went to all that trouble for nothing," said Jack O. as the glass disappeared once it was emptied. "Practical! No need to do the dishes."
"Hey! You should come and see this," said Angela who had made her way over to the window at the other end of the room.
Since she had entered the room, she had felt a presence in the room behind the glass. She had therefore approached it with caution. The rest of the team then headed towards the window, sticking close together. However, they all backed up when a shadow approached them. When they looked closer, they saw...
"Oh look, they're fish," said Vala.
"After all these years?" said Mitchell.
A long black shape, at least six feet long, passed in front of them. It looked like a shark, but much nastier. There were dorsal spikes covering its back. Angela thought she could see chiridian limbs, which might also have been fins. Its skin looked like it could be reptilian as well as its eye. It swam with ease.
"And sharks, apparently," said Jack Croft.
"Come over here," said Angela as another creature passed by.
This part was much more important: the window did not only look out onto a giant aquarium, but also a launch bay. They could finally see what they had seen through the surveillance cameras. The stargate was under some kind of glass which must have served as a shield. Just behind it were several Ancient fighters which looked similar to the ships found on Atlantis. On each side were clear blue drones.
"Cool! At least we know we've got weapons," said Jack, feeling reassured inside.
"We should try get in there," said Mitchell.
"Good idea!" said Vala, a little too enthusiastically for O'Neill's taste.
"Let's try here," Angela suggested.
They followed Jack who had set off down the corridor indicated by the young woman. However, they arrived at an intersection, a part of which had been blocked off with a heavy armoured door. Another door was open. The closed door also had bluish writing with funny symbols on it. It was the door that looked to be the closest to the hangar, but it refused to give way. Daniel had headed off in the other direction. He entered a large, brightly-lit room with numerous consoles which were still active extending from the walls and some in the middle of the room there were tables which looked like operating tables and some which seemed more like beds and stasis tubes. As soon as he entered, the settings changed on the panels lining the walls and new screens appeared, suspended in midair. One of the screens showed the image of a body. The room seemed to be analysing Daniel's body down to the finest level. He felt naked. It seemed like some sort of radio or scanner, but much more advanced; the screen brought up old injuries he had suffered when he was young and some more recently. They were flagged up in yellow and imposed over the area in question. More data was displayed to the left of his body as the analysis went on. Daniel supposed they related to his heart rate and blood pressure, in other words his vital signs. More data was displayed as the others entered the room.
"Oh, it's just an infirmary...a more modern one," said Vala, sounding disappointed.
She had been envisaging rooms filled with treasure or maybe even new weapons, but up until now she had been disappointed. Meanwhile, Mitchell and Daniel were fascinated. This infirmary was a true treasure trove of medicine. She soaked up information on settings that were thus far a mystery to her. Seemingly, the screens could even show the measurements of different nerve impulses that were stimulated by thought, motion...more precisely than modern medicine had been able to measure and interpret them. The room also seemed to be entirely automated, but seemed somehow alive. Everything was programmed to analyse and prepare emergency health reports when patients arrived so as to save time in making a diagnosis and it didn't miss a thing, not even blood analyses. There must have been a system for calculating the amounts of different substances in the blood without taking samples. Daniel saw what looked like his blood sugar level and his insulin level. Scans started to be run on the others as Vala's, John's and Teal'c's profiles were displayed.
"It's an incredible technological development in medicine," said Daniel.
"You have not noticed this place previously?" said Teal'c.
"No, we didn't have time to see everything, we mostly just focussed on weapons and power systems and then Angela left," said Daniel.
"This is strange," John said as he walked up to his scan.
Numbers and letters were appearing next to his image.
"What does it mean?" Vala asked John as she looked at Daniel.
At that moment, an orange dot appeared on his right shoulder.
"I think it's a colour-coded system for representing how serious an injury or problem is," Daniel explained.
"Looks like that wound you got to your right shoulder in Russia didn't fully heal," said Angela, sounding slightly guilty as it had after all been her who was responsible. She certainly knew how to hit where it hurt the most. "I'm sorry. Oh, and apparently you've got a problem with your kidneys too, or maybe it's your prostate, it's hard to tell," Angela finished as she studied the screen, suddenly looking scared.
Her profile had not yet been displayed as she was one of the last to enter the infirmary. She was also in no rush to see it, fearing she might discover more things whose existence she was still ignoring or maybe that she might find out what was currently going wrong inside her as this would mean accepting her illness. Besides, she had other things to worry about as the room, in the blood analysis, had even detected old infections and more recent ones such as John's cold. Slowly, O'Neill's and Vala's results arrived. The scanner went on with its work and brought up Jack Croft's, Mitchell's and Angela's profiles. Daniel was hunched over a console, whereas Vala was milling about. The others were just looking at their analyses, caught up in their own thoughts. Vala found several implements such as bandages.
"Looks like they used the same basic tools as we do," she said holding up a bandage, syringe. As she passed by another drawer she said "or, maybe not," as she saw the contents of the next drawer.
There were glasses containing translucent liquids that shone fluorescently in the light.
"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," said Daniel.
"Do you think it might explode in my hand? We're in an infirmary, who'd hide a chemical bomb in here?" Vala asked.
"No, but there could be viruses or bacteria," said John.
"He's right. Some archaebacteria or even cyanobacteria become fluorescent in the presence of certain chemical products," Angela added, taking her eyes off the screens for a few seconds as she listened to the word bacteria.
Vala suddenly put down the glasses which were in fact vials.
"These seem like pretty in-depth analyses," said Mitchell.
"Yes, they are," Angela confirmed.
"They even detected the fact you were an Ori, Daniel and that I was infected by a … according to this, it's an αγβ324. It looks like it's giving the antidote or solution to the problem."
"What?" Daniel asked.
"Oh, it's an anti-Ori remedy," said Vala.
"That could be useful," said O'Neill, "if we can get rid of these Ori with a vaccine or something like that, I'll take it.
Daniel suddenly became interested in his own profile.
"Unfortunately it only gives us a code name."
"Yeah, thought that seemed too easy," Mitchell said.
"Yeah, but I think I've got something interesting here," said Daniel.
"We'd better go, we don't want to be late leaving, do we?" said Angela.
"What's so interesting," asked O'Neill.
"The information. It's coming from a central database which looks like it's connected to a ... network."
"Like a server," said John.
"We might have access to other databases and we might actually have access to the information in the medical section here. But the potential for this information is huge," said Daniel.
The screen started to display the data gathered from the last three people who had entered the room. Angela was still intently transfixed on the screen. Nobody noticed that she had tensed up and seemed worried. Her profile appeared, indicating her vital signs and ...
"General, I'm ready now. We're good to go," said Sam over the radio.
"Ok, we're on our way."
Angela sighed heavily. They left the room, but it continued to analyse them. Something was troubling the programmes; there had been contradictory information flagging up which gave it aggressive orders. Some of the information ordered it to shield the ship due to the appearance of a highly infectious foreign body and the other required a new programme to be started to adapt. The AI could not decide between the two choices itself as it did not have the necessary knowledge to respond to this dilemma. It felt lost and so it did what it usually did and displayed an error message. Angela's blood analysis remained unfinished and, given that the people had left, could not display the results. Angela's profile greyed out and a red light flashed. The screen then deactivated. Naturally, the information had been recorded so it could be used again. It then awaited further instructions as it had for so many long years. The AI had been inactive for a long time, neglected by its creators.
They got back together in the main room faster than they had the first time.
"That's odd. I thought we'd gone further than that," said Vala.
"I didn't," said John, "I counted how many steps we took on the way there and the way back and it wasn't the same."
"Why?" asked Vala.
"Force of habit. You never know when you're going to get lost, so I always count how many steps I've taken."
"I thought we came the same way," said O'Neill, seeming disorientated.
"Indeed," said Teal'c.
"It seems there's not just a spatial distortion, but a temporal one as well," said Angela.
"What do you mean?" Mitchell asked.
"Come on, you can't tell me you didn't notice that the ship seemed smaller on the outside," said Angela.
"Well, yeah, but I just thought..."
"I'm only going off what I saw in your reports," said Angela.
"Reports?" said O'Neill.
"Yes, your mission reports. If my memory serves me right, you've been in a similar situation before."
"Yes, but never inside a ship," said Daniel.
"Wait a minute, Daniel, that's not the issue," said O'Neill as he turned round to face the young woman, "you read our reports?"
"Yeah, just a few. Actually, just the ones from the last 6 years. I didn't have time after that."
"Didn't have time," O'Neill whispered, "those reports are classified top secret. How did you get access to the files?"
"What did you expect, Jack?" said Angela, "you know very well who I am. I'm one of the best hackers in the business. No file is safe when I'm on the loose. Do you just expect me to sit there while there's a treasure chest of information in front of me, something nobody has the right to read? Curiosity is one of humanity's greatest sins."
"They were classified from people for a good reason! What part of 'top secret' don't you understand," said Jack as he went through the door.
"And you say you have read 6 years' worth of reports," said Teal'c, amused by the situation.
"Yeah, but they get boring after a while."
"Boring. As you wish," said Teal'c
"It's always the same thing: humanity has a problem and then you all show up, find a solution with considerable losses in battle and then you come out of it beating the bad guys and leaving lots of them injured bla bla bla and then the same again."
"Yeah, but that's still a lot of information to take in in such a short space of time," Mitchell remarked.
"I have an instantaneous memory and I went from an analogue memory to a numerical one, so ... actually I can read diagonally, so..."
"You're very skilled," said Mitchell.
"That's why she's the best at what she does," said John as he walked past them without looking at Angela.
"And you don't know all my abilities yet, Mitchell. I've got a lot of interesting assets depending on the situation and I've got more than one trick up my sleeve," said Angela with malice in her tone.
"Ah, you're here. You know what you have to do," Sam said to Angela.
"Yes."
She made her way over to a console and placed her hand on the control panel. The concentrated on the navigation data. A shudder went through her body. There would be no going back now.
General Landry watched the screen attentively with delegations from the other countries taking part in the mission. They gazed intently at the steaming lake. A few minutes from now, they would witness the vessel's departure. Everything seemed to be going well on-board. They saw the ship appear and held their breath until, as if by magic, the vessel passed through the fog. They would not see it again.
"The vessel's left Earth, but communications are still weak," said an airman sitting in front of a screen.
"Very good, sergeant," said Landry.
"General Landry, I need to speak to you urgently," said a female voice.
"What's this about, Doctor?" Landry sighed.
Let the boredom begin.
"We need to cancel the launch," said Dr Lam.
"What for?"
"It's urgent. We absolutely cannot allow this launch to go ahead.
"It's too late! They've already left and we don't have communications in place yet.
End of chapter.