STARGATE SG-1 29 Hall of the Two Truths (12 page)

Martouf sighed. Sam thought she could sense an edge of impatience in it.

“Samantha, you do not understand the nuances of this existence yet. Lantash will always be a part of me, and it is that which you sense. Nothing more.”

Damn, but he was going to be persistent. Fine. It didn’t change anything anyway. She still was going to search for the others. And she still needed him to come along.

“Sure. Fine. Whatever,” she replied dismissively. There had to be some advantage for him to keep up this charade. She’d figure it out eventually. But she was tired of playing the game right now. Getting out of this place needed to be her first priority. “How long is it dark here?” She gestured toward the door.

“The night is long, I fear. Daylight will not return for many hours.” He gave her the same fond look the real Martouf had so often given her. “You should get some rest, Samantha. Our journey will be arduous. You will need your strength.”

She was weary, she’d give him that. It was a lot colder by the door so she moved back to the fire, sitting as close to it on the marble floor as she could comfortably get. What little smoke there was drifted up to the invisible ceiling of the mausoleum and dissipated as gusts of wind through the open doorway occasionally purged the smoky air.

“It is safe to sleep,” Martouf assured her. “I will keep watch.”

Sam merely threw him a doubtful look. What she needed to be most on guard against didn’t lie outside in the dark and the snow. She pulled the hood up over her head and sighed. Sleep would definitely not be on the agenda for tonight.

It was going to be a long wait until dawn.

“THIS is everything?”

Freya looked apologetic.

“I am afraid so, General. The Tok’ra retain very few personal belongings. Because we are so often forced to relocate at a moment’s notice, burdening ourselves with items that are nonessential would hinder our evacuations needlessly. Besides, many Tok’ra have lived several lifetimes. Retaining trinkets from a previous host might make the present host uncomfortable. For these reasons, our possessions are few.”

Hammond looked at the small box on his desk with its meager contents. On the one hand, he felt voyeuristic, examining the intimate items of a person’s life. But on the other, he was frustrated that it held so few things, none of which seemed to offer any clues as to who Jenmar was or what his motive for betraying SG-1 might have been.

Carefully he removed each item. A small book. A stone the size of a child’s fist with a glyph emblazoned on it. A comb. Three pairs of what Hammond recognized as SGC-issue socks. And a small figurine that resembled something he’d expect to see in Dr. Jackson’s office.

“That is the symbol of the home planet of Jenmar’s host, Keyleb.” Freya indicated the stone with the glyph that he was now turning over in his hand. “It was destroyed by Cronus a few years ago and its people all killed. Keyleb is the last of his race. We assume the symbol is to remind him of his heritage.”

Hammond studied it. Mementos, he’d learned, could either be a source of solace or a reminder of loss. For some reason, he suspected this was the latter. Still, it told him nothing, so he set it aside. The comb and the socks also told him nothing, except that perhaps the man had cold feet — or light fingers.

“What about this book?”

“
We were able to translate some of it
,” Anise explained as Hammond examined it. “
It seems to be some sort of, for want of a better term, prayer book.
”

Hammond was surprised. “That’s a bit unusual for a Tok’ra isn’t it?”

“
Most certainly
,” Anise affirmed. “
But not as unusual as that.
” She pointed at the small figurine.

If he hadn’t known better, Hammond would have sworn it was Ancient Egyptian. Whatever its origin, the statue was worn to the point of almost being unrecognizable, but it appeared to be a woman with a crown on her head. There were markings on the entire length of the statue, but he couldn’t tell if they were supposed to be there or simply the result of its obvious age.

“I take it we know what this is,” he said, studying it closely. If ever there was a time he needed Dr. Jackson.

“
I will be honest, General. Of all the items we found in Jenmar’s quarters, that was, perhaps, the most disturbing.
”

Hammond glanced at her, surprised. Her brow was knit in worry as she eyed the little statuette.

“I assume you’re going to tell me why?”.

She reached out and took it carefully from his hand, holding it as if it were contaminated in some way.

“
As you know, the Tok’ra broke away from the Goa’uld many thousands of years ago. Among other differences, we did not believe in taking human hosts against their will nor subjugating less evolved species by pretending to be their gods.”

Hammond resisted the urge to comment on the phrasing ‘less evolved species.’ It was more important to hear Anise’s explanation, after all.

“
There was another group which also chose to break from the Goa’uld at the same time,
” she continued. “
They called themselves the Djedu. Like the Tok’ra, they found the taking of a host against their will abhorrent, but, like the Goa’uld, when they did take a host, they blended with it completely. The Djedu, however, claimed that, because the host was willing, this blending created a whole new being who was neither host nor symbiote, but a perfect merging of two minds and two bodies. They believed this set them apart from both the Goa’uld and the Tok’ra.
”

Another group of symbiotes running lose in the galaxy? Had the Tok’ra never thought to mention this before? Hammond could feel his blood pressure rise.

“Why have we never heard about these Djedu?” he asked, curtly. Mentally he began composing his phone call to the President and the Joint Chiefs.

Anise handed him back the small figurine. “
Because we believed them to have died out long ago. Their leader was named NebtHet. As a Goa’uld she had modeled herself after one of your Egyptian goddesses.”
Anise pointed toward the statue. “
That is her image. From time to time, over the millennia, small groups of Tok’ra, and even some of the Goa’uld, have claimed to be followers of the Djedu cult. They’ve insisted that the Djedu still exist, in hiding, on a planet called Duat. As with such things, the popularity of these claims peaks and wanes. But the presence of the NebtHet deity among Jenmar’s possessions, along with the prayer book, would suggest that he considers himself a follower of the cult. Perhaps over and above his status as a Tok’ra.
”

“And do you believe that these Djedu still exist? Could they somehow have decided to come out of hiding and become a threat, like the Goa’uld?”

Anise shook her head. “
They were not militant, General. Domination was never their goal. Their philosophy had to do with exploring the potential that existed within the individual. It was NebtHet’s belief, and the belief of those who followed her, that in time the Djedu would be able to shed their corporeal form and ascend to a whole other plane of existence.
”

Hammond stared at her blankly. “You’re serious,” he said finally. “Ascension? Like we saw with the Harsesis — and that Orlin fellow Major Carter encountered?” Granted, he didn’t claim to know much about the process, but what little he did made a bunch of navel-gazing Goa’ulds seem the unlikeliest of candidates.

“
You may certainly express your doubts, General. Although it was NebtHet’s belief that the Djedu could evolve beyond the limitations placed on them by the host/symbiote relationship. The full and complete blending of two consensual beings was thought to be the first step toward achieving that evolution. How far they were able to progress… Well, no one ever knew.
”

Hammond turned this information over in his mind as he absently gazed at the small figure of NebtHet. He was trying to make the pieces fit.

“So, you think Jenmar has become a member of this Djedu cult?”

“
More of a follower, I would think. The Djedu were a closed society. They guarded their secrets closely. But that did not prevent them from making use of the skills of those who hoped one day to be allowed to become one of them.
”

Hammond couldn’t help a humorless chuckle. “And you said they didn’t consider themselves Goa’uld.”

“
Well, there is, after all, a reason why the Goa’uld, and even the Tok’ra, for that matter, consider ascension to be beyond our grasp.
” Hammond wasn’t sure if he detected bemusement or bitterness in her tone.

Another time he would have enjoyed discussing the finer points of that statement, but at the moment he needed to keep his focus on Jenmar and his motives. At least the Djedu did not seem to warrant him picking up the red phone. Yet.

“I take it from this,” he indicated the statue. “That you no longer think the Djedu are extinct. Could they be the ones who kidnapped SG-1 on P4C-679?”

“
I wish I could say, General. Certainly the evidence points to it
.”

Hammond felt his frustration mount once again. How could anyone be both helpful and yet unhelpful at the same time? It was like pulling teeth. Deeply impacted teeth.

“Can you think of any reason why these Djedu might want SG-1? Jenmar went to an awful lot of trouble to get them to that planet.”

“
At present, General, I could only speculate
.”

He waited, but Anise did not elaborate further. His already thin patience was becoming nearly transparent. His people had been missing for forty-eight hours already. Time was not working in his favor. “Would you care to share that speculation?” There was no point even trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice.

Anise still appeared reticent, but finally Freya spoke.

“Actually, I believe you already have identified the reason, General. Based on the information you have shared with us, SG-1 has the distinction of being the only people, to the best of our knowledge, in the past several millennia to have actually encountered ascended beings. Besides the one calling himself Orlin and the Harsesis child, there was also the being Dr. Jackson described as ‘Mother Nature’ on Kheb.”

Maybe it was the late hour or the fact that he hadn’t slept much since SG-1 went missing, but he wasn’t exactly seeing the connection.

Showing signs of her own exasperation, Anise took over. “
If I had devoted over three thousand years to the search for the secrets of ascension
—” She sounded as if she was leading a small child through the basics of logical thinking. “
And I learned that there was a group of individuals who had recently had intimate contact with ascended beings, then it is extremely likely that I would do whatever it took to find those individuals and extract from them any knowledge they might possess.
”

“So, you’re saying the Djedu took my people because they think SG-1 can help them ascend?” It seemed preposterous, but after four years in Stargate Command he’d gotten used to preposterous.

“
If it is indeed the Djedu who have them, then yes. I believe that would be their purpose.”

“They could have just asked.” Hammond harrumphed, more to himself than to Anise.

“
As you are fond of pointing out, General
,” she answered him nonetheless. “
Asking is not something we are particularly good at. And if the Tok’ra are incapable of it, how much more so might be a group that has been in hiding for thousands of years?
”

She had a point, he’d give her that.

“Could they have been taken to this Duat, wherever it is?”

“
If we are dealing with the Djedu, then yes. Duat is where they most probably would be.
”

“And do the Tok’ra have any idea where that planet might be located?” Hammond was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

“
Regrettably, no. There are stories, of course, but to the best of our knowledge, no one has ever actually found its location. As I said. Most Tok’ra have considered the Djedu to be long extinct. Many regard Duat itself as little more than a myth. We will, however,
” she continued, anticipating his next request. “
Make inquiries among our contacts and see if we are able to learn anything which might be of use to you.
”

“I appreciate that.” Hammond was sincere. He’d take any lead he could get at the moment. Finding Duat would be no simple task. Without any sort of parameters by which to refine a search, their list of Stargate addresses was pretty much worthless. It was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

The items scattered about on his desk seemed to have told him everything they could. By the way Anise was fidgeting with her hands, he figured he’d gotten just about everything out of her he was going to for now anyway. He offered her his thanks and nodded to the SF to escort her from the conference room.