Hostile Ground Part 10

"In the books," replied Elspeth, but then pressed her lips together as if she'd revealed something she shouldn't. Too late, though. Daniel had heard the magic word.

"You have books? Where? Can you show me?"

"I don't like to show them. Most people mock me. They don't understand."

"I promise I wouldn't mock you, Elspeth. I'd really like to see."

But it was no use; the girl shook her head, braids fluttering about her shoulders and Daniel knew that pus.h.i.+ng the matter wouldn't help. He settled for the next best thing.

"Then tell me what you've found. Tell me about your past. Your people."

"My people?" she said with a speculative look. "Do we not share the same past, Daniel? Or do you truly come from the world beyond the Eye?"

Teal'c s.h.i.+fted, making his presence known, a reminder not to say too much.

Daniel cleared his throat. "Ultimately, we all share the same past," he said. "But some of us know more about it than others, and you strike me as someone who has a lot to teach."

Elspeth nodded, looking pleased, her braided hair swaying and the beads clattering together. "That's true."

Scholars were the same the world over, it appeared; academic vanity was always their weak point. "And I would be honored," he said, "if you'd share with me what you've learned."

"Very well, then," Elspeth said, settling herself. "The story of our people begins with the war."

"The war that destroyed the Stargate?"

"The war," she said, like she was telling a story, "that destroyed everything."

And this, he thought, with a sudden fierce joy, this is why I still do the job. After the trauma of losing Sha're, of losing his purpose, this was the reason he still got up in the morning.

"Tell me -"

"Daniel."

Startled, he glanced up to see Jack prowling into the room. Brow furrowed he was scanning the area with his customary vigilance, checking for exits and hidden dangers. Daniel could practically see his fingers twitching for lack of a weapon. "Jack," he said. "Feeling better?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

He raised his cup in salute. "Much better."

"Daniel..." Jack's frown dug deeper. "What have I told you about drinking the local brew?"

"I did endeavor to warn him," Teal'c said. "I was unsuccessful."

Daniel met Jack's gaze and held it. They were both smart men and they both knew the likely outcome if he didn't get home soon. "I figured, what's the worst that could happen?"

Jack just grunted in reply and moved further into the room, picking his way through the people gathered around the fire, eating and watching him with open curiosity. Eventually he reached Daniel and dropped down on the floor next to him. He stifled a groan as he did so, as if moving was an effort, and sat there for a moment flexing his fingers, shaking them like he had pins-and-needles.

"Where's Sam?" Daniel said, looking around. "Aedan said she was with you."

"She's coming."

And a moment later Sam appeared at the end of pa.s.sageway, one hand braced against the wall for support, looking groggy and unstable on her feet.

Teal'c immediately stood up. "Major Carter." He flung a disapproving look at Jack. "You require a.s.sistance."

She tried to wave him away. "I'm fine."

But Teal'c ignored her, hurrying over to take her arm and lead her to a s.p.a.ce on the opposite side of the fire. "Sit here," he said. "I will find you food and water."

With a grateful smile she eased herself to the ground. "Thanks, Teal'c."

Jack said nothing, his angry glare apparently engrossed by the dancing flames.

Looking between them, Daniel couldn't figure out what the h.e.l.l was going on. "Is she okay -?"

"She's fine," he growled. He jerked his head toward Aedan, who was still talking to Megan on the other side of the room. "You find out anything useful yet?"

Swallowing his irritation - and admittedly this wasn't really the time or the place to make a scene - Daniel resettled his gla.s.ses on his nose and said, "As a matter of fact, Elspeth was about to tell me about the war."

"When they nuked the gate?"

"I don't know. That's what she was about to tell me."

Jack gave a shrug as if to say, Don't let me stop you.

So he didn't. Elspeth was watching the exchange curiously, her inquisitive gaze darting between Daniel and Jack, as she steadily worked through the last of his MRE as if it were the finest meal she'd ever eaten. Perhaps it was. But she smiled when he looked at her again, licking gravy from her fingers.

"So," he said, "the war?"

She nodded, pus.h.i.+ng the MRE container aside and settling down for the story. "Well, it happened long ago, when our parents' parents were young."

"Longer ago than that," Aedan corrected. He'd climbed up onto a ledge of rock halfway up the wall and sat there fletching arrows.

"It was in the time of the old G.o.ds," Elspeth said, ignoring the interruption. "They were beautiful, and very powerful, and our people served them and wors.h.i.+ped them."

"Some of our people..." Aedan, again.

Elspeth scowled but carried on regardless. "Then the Amam came - Devourers, as we call them now." She dropped her voice, adding a little extra drama. "It's said that they came in a single night, pouring through the Eye from the underworld."

"The underworld?"

Jack gave a disparaging grunt, but in fact the term made perfect mythological sense in the context of 'Amam'. Not that Jack knew that, of course. Or would care much, probably.

"And what - exactly - are the Amam?" Daniel said. "Are they people, like us?"

Elspeth shook her head. "They are the undead. They come from the underworld to devour the flesh of the living."

"Zombies." Jack raised an eyebrow. "That's new."

Daniel ignored him and smiled encouragingly at Elspeth. "Go on - the Amam came and... ?"

"And the old G.o.ds fought them. They sent every one of their mighty warriors against the Devourers, but they couldn't defeat them. You see, the undead cannot die. And so the war lasted for many, many years. It is said that millions of people died."

Daniel glanced over at Aedan, to see if he'd object to the exaggeration. He must have sensed Daniel's eyes on him, because he looked up from his work and gave a slight nod. "That much is true," he said. "No one doubts that. We find their bones everywhere."

And that was an image to keep you awake at night.

"The Goa'uld have been known to use tactical nukes," Sam chipped in, talking around a mouthful of the stew she was eating. She gave a little shrug, "If we're talking about WMDs and 'old G.o.ds'..."

Daniel nodded. It was pretty clear that the Goa'uld had been here at some point, and maybe they hadn't left. "So these Devourers, the Amam, they won the war?"

The girl's expression darkened. "Yes. They drove out the old G.o.ds and then there was no one left to protect us. The Devourers swarmed over the world like rats, feeding on flesh 'til they could eat no more. Some few of us survived, like this, under the ground where they can't find us. But others..." She looked over at Aedan, her voice less certain. "In the south, they say, there are camps where humans live penned like animals. The Amam feed on them at their pleasure."

Aedan gave a curt nod. "That's true. I've seen it."

He said no more, his face closing down into a hard expression that wouldn't have looked out of place on Jack O'Neill. The room fell silent, everyone subdued, and suddenly Daniel realized that this wasn't mythology, it wasn't even history. This was a cold, dark reality. The thought raised a s.h.i.+ver along the length of his spine.

"What about the Stargate?" Jack said, breaking into the silence. "Do the dead guys still use it?"

"The Eye?" Elspeth said, glancing at Daniel for confirmation. He nodded. "Yes," she said. "The old G.o.ds tried to destroy the Eye, but they couldn't. And still the Devourers fly through it."

"Fly?" Jack threw a significant look at Daniel. "In s.h.i.+ps, I presume. Not with... wings?"

Elspeth blinked. "Neither boats nor wings," she said. "They ride in fighters."

"Fighters?" Jack made a swooping gesture with his hand. "As in fighter aircraft? In the sky?"

"Death Gliders," Teal'c surmised from his place next to Sam.

"It's possible," she said. "Maybe they have some kind of on-board DHD so they can dial the gate remotely before they fly through?"

Jack nodded. "You ever see them land one of these things?"

"Never," Elspeth said. "When the Devourers are close, we stay inside and put out all the lights. Discovery means death."

With a soft clatter, Aedan dropped his arrows onto the floor and jumped down from his perch. "You can't travel through the Eye," he told Jack. "Only a fool imagines escaping this world. And there's only death for those who try."

"That's not true," Elspeth retorted, turning to face him. "People have escaped." She appealed to the rest of her people. "Haven't they?" Some of them shrugged, while others just shook their heads as if bored of an oft-rehea.r.s.ed argument.

But she had one rapt listener. "How?" Jack demanded. "Tell me how they escaped."

"The resistance, of course."

"And they are... ?"

She looked at him askance, eyes narrowing. "Why do you pretend you know nothing of them when you're wearing their symbol on your arm?"

Jack's gaze darted to Daniel's. "This?" he said, touching his SG-1 patch.

Elspeth shook her head impatiently and pushed up her sleeve, revealing a tattoo on her arm. "This," she said.

The Earth glyph.

Jack's eyebrows rose. "Okay," he said cautiously. "Daniel, any ideas?"

"Well, think about it," he said, mind racing ahead to make the connections. "If you're looking for a symbol of resistance, of a place of safety, that's a pretty good one."

"You mean because of what happened to Ra?"

Daniel nodded. "Stories are powerful," he said. "They spread fast and they're almost impossible to stop. Over time they evolve into legends and myths, but there's usually a kernel of truth in there somewhere." He brushed a finger over Elspeth's tattoo. "And there it is."

"The resistance is no legend," Elspeth insisted, pulling down her sleeve. "It's real." She threw a defiant look at Aedan, as if daring him to object. "They're led by a man called Dix, and he's helped thousands to escape this world and join them."

"Through the Stargate?" Jack didn't sound convinced and neither was Daniel. No one was escaping covertly through a defunct Stargate, with no DHD, that was the only thing standing for miles around.

Elspeth shook her head. "I don't know how. I just know that if you find him, he'll get you out."

"Elspeth, stop it," Aedan said at last, weary and frustrated. "Stop your nonsense."

"It's not nonsense!" She turned back to Daniel. "Dix serves the old G.o.ds," she said, "and the resistance is going to help them return and save us. The old G.o.ds will drive out the Devourers and we'll be free again."

"The 'old G.o.ds'," Teal'c said darkly, "will not free you. They will enslave you."

Elspeth folded her arms across her chest and fixed Teal'c with a hard look. "Well, I'd rather serve the old G.o.ds than feed the Devourers."

"Then you know nothing of slavery."

"And you know nothing of the Amam."

Teal'c glared at her and she glared right back. Daniel had to swallow a smile at the sight of this stripling girl going toe-to-toe with Teal'c.

"Easy there, big guy," Jack said, not bothering to smother his own amus.e.m.e.nt. "This one looks dangerous."

"Take no notice of her," Aedan said, glancing between Elspeth and Teal'c with a s.h.i.+mmer of concern. "Elspeth believes in fairy tales."

"Aedan," she warned. "Don't you -"

"It's a myth!" he snapped. "The whole Dix thing is a myth. How could he still be alive? The war was generations ago."

"The old G.o.ds can do anything."

"Nonsense! Everyone knows the 'old G.o.ds' weren't G.o.ds, they were just creatures from another world. And now they're gone and they're not coming back to save us. No one can save us." Aiden s.n.a.t.c.hed up his arrows from the floor and headed for one of the pa.s.sageways branching off from the room. He stopped at the last moment, fixing Daniel and Jack with a serious look. "I don't know where you've come from, but, trust me, it's better to hide and live than to fight and die. That's the reality of the world and anyone who thinks otherwise ends up dead."

After Aedan had stormed out, it wasn't long before Elspeth and the others started preparing to sleep. Sam was surprised when the colonel suggested they sleep back in the 'cell' until she realized that it had a door, which meant they could talk with a modic.u.m of privacy.

So they dragged their kit inside, along with a straw pallet to help Daniel rest more comfortably, and made camp. Once they'd laid out their bedrolls Sam extinguished the lamp and groped her way back to her sleeping bag. It was almost pitch black, only the dimming firelight seeping around the door cutting the darkness. Crouching down, she misjudged her position and when she reached out for her bedroll, she hit a nose and part of a face instead.

"Ow! Carter!"