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Woe To Thee - part 13
PART THIRTEEN
Daniel looked up from the books he’d been showing Cully and took another sip of his coffee. For the last few days Cully had alternated between following each member of SG-1 around the base, especially Sam and Daniel. Daniel kept Cully busy with books about their culture and had in return got a language lesson with vocal recordings of how the Tuberous language was spoken. Cully also spent time during the daily communications with the people aboard his ship, helping further the details of the treaty between them and the Asgard. The week of downtime Janet had ordered went by like the blink of an eye. Earth’s enemies stayed away, and
Daniel put his coffee down and looked at Cully. They were leaving for Tubris in the morning. “I really appreciate it, but I have to admit I was a little surprised that you wanted to wait with returning till I was well again. This is after all your world and your discovery. I’m sure you would have been able to come back to learn more about us at a later time. I doubt this is the last we’ll see of each other.”
Cully nodded. “I admit it is not something I would have done under different circumstances. However, this delay gave me the opportunity both to work further with the treaty with the Asgards and to learn more of your world. I would have been a fool to not take that chance when it presented itself. I am much impressed by the treaties you have brokered, and I’ve learned a great deal from you and the others. I am sorry you were ill, but I am happy that you are fully well again and able to join us now.” Cully drank the rest of his soda, crushing the can and throwing it into Daniel’s waste basket.
“As am I,” Daniel said. “I didn’t much like the idea of staying home while you got to go off with the rest of my team.”
“Indeed. You are a tightly knit group. If I were in a similar situation I would have been sorry to be left behind as well.” Cully smiled. “I have relished the opportunity to study your culture and your people, and I am very grateful for you and your leader granting me this chance.”
“You’re welcome. General Hammond’s great that way,” Daniel smiled. “He’s a good man. Besides, your world and mine are friends now, and friends visit.” Saluting Cully with his mug, Daniel drank the rest of the coffee and got up from his chair. “Come on. Let’s see if the others are available to join us for some food. I’m hungry, are you?”
&&&&&
“Well, Daniel,” Janet said as she finished Daniel’s pre-mission exam. “Everything looks good. There’s no residual infection in your stomach, your system is back on track and all your labs are clean. I’m sure Sam told you, but I can confirm that all the tests we did on the cylinder were negative.” Janet closed Daniel’s file and put it back on the table.
“Yeah, Sam told me.” Daniel hopped down from the bed and put his BDU jacket back on.
“Told you what?” Sam asked as she entered the infirmary for her own pre-mission exam.
“That you and Janet did a few more tests on the cylinder,” Daniel explained.
“Ah. They didn’t show anything.” Sam sat down on the bed closest to where Daniel was standing. “There weren’t any traces of energy aside from the EMF, and as you saw yourself when we scanned it after it was activated, it didn’t give of anything else than the EM frequency we’d already detected. Since that’s on the same level as a computer and those aren’t harmful to our health, we figured the cylinder isn’t harmful either.”
“So it didn’t affect us in any way?”
“No,” Sam let the nurse take some blood before continuing. “I can’t see why it would make you sicker when it didn’t affect any of the rest of us.”
“Janet?” Daniel asked.
“She’s right. Although you’re not the typical candidate for cholelithiasis, it’s not an illness exclusive to women. I couldn’t find anything else that would explain the symptoms you had. I think you just got unlucky, Daniel.”
“Lucky me,” Daniel started to smile, but it turned into a grimace when he realised what a bad joke it was.
“Lucky you that we have Janet who could fix you,” Sam smiled. “Unusual or not, I’m happy you’re well again. You were in some serious pain there for a while.”
“I know.” Daniel ducked his head for a moment before smiling at Janet. “Thanks, Janet.”
“You’re welcome.” Janet smiled warmly and patted his arm in a friendly gesture before going into bustling doctor mode again. “Now, if you don’t mind,” Janet continued, “I’d like to give Sam a quick once-over before you leave. Daniel we’re done.” Janet nodded towards the exit. “Just remember to take it easy.”
“Will do. Sam, see you in a bit.” Daniel gave Sam a small wave and left the infirmary.
&&&&&
The heat on Tubris was refreshing to a desert-loving Daniel after the days spent indoors in the recycled air of
“I have longed for this for a very long time. This is our original world. To think that we perhaps could live here once again, without fear of destruction or being chased like in the ancient murals! It would be wonderful.” Cully smiled enthusiastically. “Let us not waste time and find the Circle.”
“Can you find it?” Jack asked. “Tallis did say he hid it.”
“Indeed. Tallis told me that everything is where it belongs when he agreed to let me come with you.”
“So he trusts us now?”
“Yes,” Cully said. “He believes you only have good intentions towards us. As do I.”
They walked the short distance from the Stargate to the Circle. It was just where it had been when SG-1 had come here earlier. It was very early morning on Tubris now.
As they entered the partially destroyed room, Cully stopped in awe, looking at his surroundings with open-eyed enthusiasm. The sun had just appeared over the horizon and was bathing the walls in a soft glow.
“Here we are,” Daniel took the cylinder out of his pack and handed it to Cully.
“Why don’t you put it here and see what happens?” Sam suggested, walking over to the wall where the crevice was.
Cully nodded and walked with a mixture of trepidation and excitement over to the placement holder. Lifting the Circulus he put it into the wall. The brightly glowing symbols that spelled Tamram’s name started blinking and the whole thing lit up and the Circulus disappeared into the wall. They waited for a bit but nothing more immediately happened.
Thinking about the conversation she’d had with Janet and Daniel in the infirmary, Sam brought her scanner out and scanned the placement holder and the area around it to see if anything came up. “Everything looks good. There’s no radiation of any kind.”
“What now?” Jack looked at Sam who shrugged and put her scanner back into her pocket.
“I do not know,” Cully said. “As I said earlier, we have no documentation of exactly what would happen once the Circulus was attached to this wall. It is likely that it was passed down from generation to generation as is our custom with valuable items. As we do not know exactly when it was lost, it is presumed that the keeper of the Circulus was entrusted with this task in deepest secret, and thus very few knew who kept it. It is also unlikely that anyone knows who lost it. Unless, of course, it was stolen and then lost.”
“Yeah, that is possible,” Daniel said. “If it was a known artifact from your past and supposed to release a great power of some kind, then someone might have figured out a way to find the keeper and take the Circulus.”
“You’re sure that the only thing needed for the Circulation to work is the Circulus connected to the wall, that there’s no other technology needed?” Sam asked.
“Yes. You need only activate the Circulus and place it in the holder.”
“So it should work even if the Circle is in ruins?”
“I believe so, yes.” Cully said, “As far as I know there is no record of anything else being required to make it work.”
“What do you want to happen?” Daniel asked while they waited.
“I would like for it to be a cloak that covers our world and prevents anyone from attacking us; or even better, something that can destroy Anubis.”
“Was this Tamram or whoever built the Circulation able to do that? Do you have powers that advanced?”
“I do not think so.” Cully shook his head.
“Is it likely that there is a bio-toxin involved somehow?” Sam asked. “I’ve used all the equipment I have and I can’t detect anything even remotely dangerous here.”
“It’s what the stories say, but I do not know. I am beginning to doubt it,” Cully frowned at the drawings his ancestors had made. “I am starting to think it is an illusion.”
“You seem to be good at illusions,” Daniel said, studying the drawings as well.
“Yes, it has been our way for many years. I am wondering if perhaps this potential toxin is a cover for something else. These drawings are not very helpful.” Cully looked at Daniel for confirmation.
Just as Daniel was about to answer something happened that caused them all to turn their heads and look in the opposite direction of where they were standing.
”What is that?” Sam asked, looking at the dark shape that had appeared on the horizon.
SG-1 peered into the early morning gloom and started to walk towards whatever it was that now rose up from the earth a little ways from the ruins.
“It’s the Circulation!” Cully exclaimed, rushing forward only to be held back by Sam’s quick reflexes. “It has to be.”
“How can you know?” Daniel asked.
“I do not, but what else can it be? I have never seen this before and although it is not rendered in any drawing it must have been released by the Circulus.” Cully sprang forth, rushing ahead of SG-1.
“We don’t know what that thing is yet. Let us go first. If there’s something there that shouldn’t be there we’re armed and capable of handling it, you’re not.” Jack grabbed Cully by the arm to stop him from running too far ahead.
Reluctantly Cully nodded and stepped back a little to walk beside Daniel.
“But what is it?” Jack asked, impatiently when it seemed like forever for the thing to appear.
“Something is appearing through the earth,” Teal’c said. “I believe it to be a weapon.”
“What if it’s the container for the supposed bio-toxin?” Sam asked, going over the containers she had in her pack, wondering if any of them were capable of storing whatever they might find.
“I think it holds the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything,” Daniel said tersely. “Come on, let’s go check it out.” He was eager to figure out what this thing was. Even though Daniel knew it’d only been a couple of weeks, it felt like they’d chased the Tuberous around the galaxy for forever.
Jack snorted, and Daniel glared at him. “What?”
“You really think it’s the ultimate answer?” Jack asked.
“No, of course not,” Daniel was getting irritated with all the uncertainty. A little calmer he added, “I’m just tired of guessing. I’ve been cooped up in bed for several days listening to you guys talk about what you experienced. I just want a piece of the action too, now that Janet’s finally released me.”
“I guess that’s fair,” Jack agreed, pretending he had to think about it before answering.
“Thank you.” Daniel said somewhat sarcastically and turned his attention to what was being displayed before them.
As they walked closer, they could clearly see that it had been hiding deep down in the desert sands, beyond the reach of any scans or other equipment except a shovel and a lot of hard work. “It looks like a pyramid,” Daniel said, more to himself than anything, but Sam heard and reached over to Daniel who was walking at her side, putting a hand to his forehead and tsk’d good-naturally. “You’re still feverish. You’re seeing things.”
“No I’m not.” Daniel pushed her hand away, shrugging. “It does look like a pyramid. See, it’s pointy.” The thing was pyramid…ish in shape, albeit a somewhat lopsided one. And it was pointy.
The thing that now had fully appeared from the ground was more like a building than anything else. It was about twenty feet high. The outer surface of what Cully was sure was the Circulation shone, as if it was metallic, unlike any other building on this planet, which had mostly been made of dirt or bricks. Even the Circle was a brick building and had no outer coating like the metallic hue of the supposed Circulation.
“This piece doesn’t fit with the rest of the puzzle,” Jack said, stopping at the bottom of the structure and looking up at it.
“I know,” Daniel said, frowning and pursing his lips while thinking. “Cully, all your architecture mostly has a rounded structure but this thing is definitely not…round.” Daniel shone his flashlight at the building.
Cully nodded, “I have never seen anything like it. This is obviously not of Tuberous design. Have you ever seen anything like it?”
“Yes,” Daniel said. “Well, not exactly like this, but very close.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know yet,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “It could be anything.”
“It doesn’t look quite like a Ha’tak,” Sam commented. “It’s too small, but it sure does resemble one.”
“What’s that?” Cully asked.
Sam only shook her head. “I’ll explain later.”
Daniel shone his flashlight across the surface. It was still bathed in shadow as the sun was yet very low in the sky. “There’s not much writing on the surface.” Daniel rooted through his pack for a pen and paper. “I’ve seen something like this before. I need to copy it down.” Looking to Teal’c he added. “Could you give me my camera, please?”
“I will do the filming for you, DanielJackson,” Teal’c said. “You must not overly tax yourself.”
Daniel looked surprised but when Teal’c didn’t back down, he nodded. “I feel just fine, but thanks. You need to use the flash. We should wait for full daylight, but I’d like some initial shots. You probably should use the monopod to keep it stable, get clearer footage.” Daniel started drawing an outline of the building in his note book, already engrossed in his work.
“DanielJackson, I know how to operate the camera,” Teal’c said patiently, bringing the equipment out of Daniel’s pack.
“Yes, I know you do. Sorry, I—”
“Get carried away when excited,” Teal’c finished for him, smiling a little.
Daniel smiled back and ducked his head, a little embarrassed. Shaking off the embarrassment he walked closer to the pyramid-ish shaped Circulation. “Thank you.”
“You are most welcome,” Teal’c said and set to work filming the Circulation.
“There’s a way in over there,” Jack said, cocking his head to indicate the far side of the…building, thing, whatever the Circulation actually was. He and Sam had walked around the building from opposite directions while Daniel and Teal’c talked about the camera.
Waiting while Teal’c finished filming the wall according to Daniel’s instructions, Daniel and Teal’c together with Cully walked over to the entrance. It was locked.
“Cully?” Daniel asked. “Do you know how to open this?” The door was a set of two huge doors each divided into sections with symbols on, something like the Ziggurat SG-1 and the Russian team had explored a couple of years earlier. Daniel shuddered at the thought of what had happened then and hoped there were no monsters hiding within the Circulation, Goa’uld or otherwise. The design of this thing did indicate differently though, and Daniel mentally crossed his fingers that they would find it empty once they got the doors opened.
Cully started to shake his head but stopped. “I think I do. It is a combination lock. See these symbols?” He indicated a series of symbols in one of the sections of the door. “They tell an ancient story of our past, about how a primitive population became suddenly wise and knowledgeable in the development of their technology thanks to an ingenious scientist in their midst. It looks like Tamram had something of an ego. This is of Tamram’s design, and knowing him and our past as I do, I shall be able to open this. This is the Circulation.”
“Sam, could you hand me my pack? I need to take some notes,” Daniel asked, looking over at Sam who was standing a little behind them, looking at the doors to see if there was some other way to open them. Taking Daniel’s pack she walked over to Daniel and Cully and handed Daniel his pack. “Think you can open this?”
“I’m confident if he’s confident,” Daniel smiled. “Thanks.” Taking out another notebook from the pack, Daniel started to draw a rough sketch of the doors as his mind worked on figuring out the puzzle of the story and which section to press first. Beside him, Cully mumbled to himself, clearly going through his people’s ancient history in his head.
After a little while Jack started heating some MREs and called the others over when they were done. “You’ve got to eat,” he said when Daniel just shook his head as Jack handed him a MRE. “Daniel!” Jack demanded.
Daniel sighed in irritation. “Okay. I guess I could eat. It’s just that this part is really interesting.”
“Ah!” Jack interrupted. “Eat first then you can translate.” Jack waved the meal in front of Daniel. “It’s not like this thing is going anywhere.”
Taking the MRE from Jack, Daniel sat down with the others a little ways from the Circulation, where Jack had made camp among some large stones that made for natural seats at the bottom of a sand dune. They were almost ready to open the Circulation. Cully had managed to figure out what kind of combination of symbols to press so all they had to do was open the door when they were done eating. Taking a few sips of water Daniel started to explain the ingenuity of MREs to Cully, who had only watched the others eat up to this point, mesmerised by this strange food, his own ration untouched by his feet until Daniel explained what to do with it.
&&&&&
A loud and ominous grating sound could be heard as the doors to the Circulation opened. Sam walked forward, her P90 ready, the flashlight on. Walking forward she entered the chamber inside first, checking it out for any potential dangers before allowing Cully and Daniel, who’d also drawn his gun, to enter. “We’re clear,” Sam said.
The doors opened up to a single large chamber that seemed to account for the entire space inside of the Circulation’s outer walls. The chamber was empty except for one large piece of machinery that seemed to take up most of the space within the chamber. There were no other exits or rooms visible, no lights that came on when the entered and no windows. Sam started looking for the light switch but couldn’t find any and Jack and Teal’c both scanned the room with the flashlights, finding nothing but smooth walls. The door closed behind them, but as soon as Teal’c turned back to it to see if it would open again, it did, sliding away smoothly. At least they weren’t trapped. There was always that, Sam thought, focusing on the machinery taking up almost all of the space.
“Uh, guys,” Daniel said, “You’d better come take a look at this.” While the others checked the Circulation for dangers, he had walked over to the device filling the room and started studying it. It wasn’t what he’d hoped to find.
“What is it?” Jack asked, walking over to where Daniel stood.
“Cully, do you know anything about who Tamram was?” Daniel asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
“I don’t understand?” Cully said.
“Well, if he really was the one who made this, I don’t think he was who he appeared to be.”
“What do you mean?” Jack asked cautiously, staring at Daniel. Don’t suggest anything you can’t back up.
Daniel frowned I know at Jack and nodded at Cully. “Answer the question. What do you know about Tamram?”
“That he was one of our first scientists and that he created a lot of wonderful things for us, like the Circulus, the Circle and the Circulation.”
“I should have thought about this earlier,” Daniel said. “I’m sorry that I didn’t, but I think Tamram is a pseudonym Anubis used when he walked among the Tuberous as a pretend scientist.”
“What makes you say that?” Sam asked. “I’ve never traced any sign of Goa’uld influence on either the Circulus or in the Circle.” She brought her equipment out and started to scan the inside of the Circulation. “There are traces of naquada here but it’s not very strong.”
“That is why I didn’t think of it earlier. Anubis uses the Ancients’ technology and their oldest, most archaic dialects when he creates something. But who’s to say he hasn’t used the technology, language and science of a population other than the Ancients to reach whatever goal he wanted? Also, Tamram lived among these people thousands of years ago. Who’s to say Anubis started to use the Ancients’ technology that early? He was a regular old Goa’uld before he figured out how to ascend, remember.”
“Oh, I don’t know about regular,” Jack said sarcastically.
No one bothered to answer him, the silence following Daniel’s revelation deafening.
“You’re kidding, right?” Jack said after a little while had passed and no one had said anything else. Cully looked shocked and Teal’c was as unreadable as ever. Carter looked just like Jack felt, completely and utterly surprised. “T?”
“I have known the Goa’uld to use the technology of the people they enslaved to further assure their destruction if they did not do the false god’s bidding,” Teal’c said. “As this is different from any other structure on this world, I believe it was created to be revealed after the secrecy of the creator’s identity was no longer necessary.”
“Daniel?” Jack said in a commanding tone. Daniel had crouched down at the base of whatever it was that filled the room. Jack thought it looked like a weapon, something like the ion canons on Tollana, just smaller and with more protrusions, as if this thing was several ion canons in one. It didn’t look like any of the other machines they’d seen on this mission.
“I know, Jack. I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t think it was possible. The story on the door tells of a scientist with the same kind of attitude we’ve seen the Goa’uld have. They’re nothing if not egotistical.”
“Carter, is this thing active?” Jack asked. He wanted to get to the bottom of what Daniel suggested, but first they had to figure out if the Circulation was a threat or not. It probably was if Daniel was right, but Jack had to make sure.
“No, I don’t think so, sir. And I don’t detect any radiation. I’d hoped I’d get an EMF read on the same frequency as the Circulus but either it’s not here or there isn’t one.” Sam had been walking around the device, looking at it from every angle. “There is a control panel here, though.” She touched something on the far side of the device and a panel opened.
The writing the panel revealed was nothing like the Tuberous’ language, which Sam thought confirmed Daniel’s theory further.
“Cully?” Daniel asked, crouching down in front of the panel. “You recognise any of this?”
Cully shook his head. “How can Tamram have made this?” he asked. “Didn’t he possess the gene after all?”
“I don’t think so, no. He probably pretended to have it to not stick out among your people. And especially since he pretended to be a scientist, he had to keep up the pretence, since what he obviously made wasn’t something you would be able to make of your own. He hid the Circulation well, but he probably never thought he wouldn’t be around to activate it.” Daniel pointed at the writing within the panel. “It’s Goa’uld, a very old dialect. Also, this explains why your language is hieroglyphic. There’s no evidence in what I’ve seen of the ruins of Trusla or what you’ve told me to indicate your people being of Ancient Egyptian origin, but Tamram being Anubis might have had some influence on its development by introducing the symbols to you when he started making things.”
Cully nodded. “Yes, it is believed that Tamram had a hand in developing our language.”
“So we’ve been wrong the entire time,” Sam said, sounding very much defeated. “The ‘woe to thee’ warning was really so that Cully’s ancestors should keep away, the vagueness was because he didn’t want to reveal that he was the one they really should fear. If it’s of Goa’uld design, it’s probably a weapon that’s either booby-trapped or set to go off with some hidden switch. That could also be why Anubis has returned here so many times: he wants to use it.”
“Which is why we shouldn’t fiddle around with this thing any more,” Jack said.
“But we can’t leave it like this now, someone might come and find it, and....”
“And do what, Carter?”
“We’re so close to figuring it out. Cully doesn’t know, no one of his people knows what this is. Unless Thor beams down we’re the only ones who can figure it out,” Sam said.
“What about Jama?” Daniel asked, remembering the man they’d met on Tuberous. “He knew how to operate their technology. He knows of Anubis. Could he have dome something to this device?”
“I don’t think so,” Sam said, receiving a confirming nod from Cully. “Tallis evicted him back to Tuberous as soon as he found him here. I don’t think he would have known how to find this place. He didn’t have the cylinder and without that he wouldn’t be able to get access to this place.”
“He knew we have it and he did want it,” Daniel said.
“Yes but if he did know what to do with it don’t you think he’d made more of an effort to steal it from us?”
“Major Carter is correct,” Cully said. “Jama might be a criminal and have enough knowledge to activate the Circulus and reprogram our equipment, but he would not willingly steer Anubis’ attention towards us.”
“You believe he’s back on Tuberous?” Daniel asked. “Tallis can have him sent there, even if he can’t do it telepathically?”
“Yes, Tallis was true to his word. He might not have the gene, but he can use others who have it to do his bidding. I’ve seen it before. When we are done here I will contact him and see if there is a way for us to let Jama live among us again. His punishment is in my opinion unjustly cruel.”
“I thought you couldn’t use that gene unless it was to benefit your people?” Jack asked.
“That is the intention, yes, but apparently not everyone thinks the same things benefit our people. I sometimes believe life would be easier for us did we not have it. We might not be as technologically advanced, but we would live truer lives.”
“That is a noble wish, but I don’t think you’d get rid of all your problems that way. In all civilizations there are people who wish things differently for their people than those in government do. Its part of living in a democratic society,” Daniel said. “It’s better than being subdued into slavery by Anubis, don’t you think?”
“Indeed,” Cully said, nodding gravely.
“I’m glad you’re looking into ways of helping Jama,” Daniel said before he turned back to the device.
“Don’t turn it on!” Jack warned when Daniel leaned closer to get a better look.
“We won’t,” Sam said, crouching down beside Daniel who now was looking at the panel Sam had revealed earlier.
“Teal’c, I need your help to translate this,” Daniel said as Sam and Jack discussed.
Crouching down by the panel, Teal’c looked at the writing, frowning in displeasure. “It is most difficult.”