by Cynthia J. Klawitter
winterjameson@yahoo.com
CATEGORY: Action/Adventure, Drama
PAIRINGS: None
SPOILERS: None that I could see
SEASON: Season 7
RATING: PG-13
CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence and the aftermath thereof, but nothing too serious
SUMMARY: What happens when darkness falls on a people who have never experienced night?
DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its' characters belong to MGM/UA, Showtime/Viacom, Double Secret Productions and Gekko Productions. This story is merely for
entertainment purposes. No money has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. All other ideas and new characters belong solely to the author.
* * * * * * * *
Daniel Jackson leaned back from his hands and knees to sit on his feet, setting aside the large brush he had been using as he raised a dirty, weary arm to wipe the sweat from his damp brow, glad for the soaked bandana that covered his short brown locks and made what moisture did drip down onto his face bearable. He and the rest of SG-1 had come to P4X-736 five days previously by request of the natives - the Luthanan - to assist with an archaeological dig they were in the middle of just outside of Eros Nor, their main city. The team had made first contact seven months prior to the request, and, finding a society that was at a comparable level of technology and willing to share, entered into a treaty much-welcomed by both sides. And knowing about Doctor Jackson’s archaeological expertise, it was a given who they would turn to when a team of Luthananite scientists uncovered the remains of a society they could not explain.
So far Daniel had been just as much at a loss as the original team. Everything that had been uncovered seemed to be from a society similar in advancement to the one that currently stood, and no reason could be found for the original society to have fallen. No sign of an invasion by the Goa’uld, no ready sign of domestic war, no planet-wide spread of disease, nothing of note. In fact, from what records could be found and translated, life had been nearly idyllic. No one even had any theories as to this previous culture’s demise.
Colonel Jack O’Neill’s main complaint, other than having to hang around watching people root around in the dirt and getting dragged into hauling things around in the meantime, was that this planet didn’t appear to have anything resembling night. With two suns and four moons, there was always a significant amount of light in the sky. “It’s just not natural,” he had grumbled under his breath to his second in command, Major Samantha Carter.
The tall blonde woman chuckled quietly as Daniel continued to discuss the project’s particulars with the native scientists. “Maybe not for us, sir. But I’m sure they’d say the same about Earth.”
“Indeed, O’Neill,” the fourth member of SG-1 commented. The former First Prime of Apophis raised an eyebrow, creasing the golden emblem in the center of his forehead. “I have been witness to many different cycles on many different worlds. There is no one length of day or night.”
“Yeah, I know that, Teal’c,” Jack said with a sigh. “I just wish it were more like home, that’s all.” At that point Daniel had returned and filled them in on the specifics of the excavation, bringing the conversation to a close.
At the present moment, the greying colonel sat on an exposed chunk of crumbled wall and mopped his own sweaty brow, watching his archaeologist frown at yet another something or other he had unearthed. “Still haven’t figured this thing out, have you, Daniel?”
“No, I haven’t,” the younger man replied a touch distractedly. “And the fact that I can’t even think of a theory is starting to bother me. If whoever built this city was doing as well as everything we’ve found suggests, why did it all fall apart? Why aren’t they the people we met when we came through the Stargate? Why didn’t their society survive? I’ve found earmarks that it could have been some sort of natural disaster, but something doesn’t click with that. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Are you absolutely sure there wasn’t some sort of plague or disease?” Sam asked as she came up with a tray full of finds the other members of the dig had come up with. “You know as well as I do something like that can be devastating.”
Daniel nodded, looking up at his fellow scientist. “You’re right, Sam. It can. But I don’t think that’s what happened here. From what I’m guessing were these people’s newspapers that we found, it’s obvious nothing like a wide-spread illness was, well, spreading. There was no mention of something like that, and I don’t think a disease could spread quickly enough to kill everyone off without some mention of it in the media. Not with the level of technology that we’re looking at.”
Jack waved his hand slightly to get the others’ attention. “Wait a minute. You saw the first example of that language when we first got here earlier this week and you’ve already deciphered it?”
The linguist blinked in surprise at the question. “Sure, Jack. It seems to be an offshoot of Akkadian. But the native Luthananite language is a variant of Gaelic. There’s no apparent connection between the two. Which suggests that there were two completely different cultures at this same spot, the people who lived here,” he gestured to the ruins that surrounded them, “and the ones who live there.” He pointed to the thriving metropolis to the north. “I just don’t understand it, and there’s nothing in the Luthanan’s history to suggest anything remotely resembling a transition from one to the other.”
“So in other words, it was something quick and total that ended this civilization,” Sam concluded, frowning in thought as she set down her tray.
“Basically. The earliest texts I’ve been able to find talk about rising from the ashes and finding a new home before them, but the references are so steeped in legendary terminology and mythical imagery that it’s hard to be sure what they’re referring to.”
“You do know you’ve only got another two days to figure it out, right?” Jack reminded them. Carter might not have been an archaeologist like Daniel, but they both hated to leave a mystery like this unsolved - and Jack knew it. “And that’s definitely as long as I’m willing to be manual labor.”
Daniel sighed. “I never expected to solve everything in a week, but yes, Jack. I know.”
“Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c called out as he joined the other members of his team, his dark skin glistening with sweat and his black tank top soaked. “The Luthananite workers have left for Eros Nor. Tyrian believes he has found something that will interest the Ruling Council and has chosen to present it to them as soon as possible. He asked me to tell you he would return when the meeting had concluded.”
The brown-haired man sighed again. “I’m not going to get anything done if he keeps doing that,” he grumbled. “I don’t think he understands that we’re really leaving at the end of the week.”
“Probably not,” Jack agreed. “So why wouldn’t Tyrian let you bring a team of archaeologists in again? The rest of us aren’t exactly specialists in your field, which is what they need.”
“He said the Ruling Council didn’t trust anyone else from Earth since formal diplomatic relations hadn’t officially started yet,” Daniel explained for the fourth time since they’d received the request to come. “They haven’t met anyone else from another planet in their recorded history, so they’re being cautious.” He shrugged.
“Sir, take a look at that,” Sam said breathlessly, awe in her tone.
Jack adjusted his sunglasses and looked toward the point in the sky the major was pointing at. “Wow, it looks like the suns are lining up.” He cocked his head slightly to the side as he considered the positions of the four moons that were all visible. “And I think one or two of the moons are lining up, too.”
“I believe they are all nearly in alignment, O’Neill,” Teal’c corrected him, also looking at the sky.
“Talk about a total eclipse,” Daniel whispered, entranced, his hand shielding his eyes. “No one mentioned this was going to happen. I wonder how long the alignment lasts.”
“I guess we’re going to find out,” O’Neill said with a shrug that did nothing to hide his growing interest. “I wish we had some equipment to record this.” The others shared an amused look at their CO’s expense, the comment totally going against his hard-ass, completely unintelligent persona.
“I do, too, sir,” Carter murmured, stifling a chuckle.
The four of them were quiet as they watched the shadow of the impending eclipse wash across the landscape, thoroughly fascinated by the astronomical phenomenon. The sky grew darker and darker as the last of the celestial bodies slid into place. Finally, the grand conjunction was complete, and, since the last moon was quite a bit larger than either of the suns, everything was pitch black.
There was no time to even comment on what had just occurred when blood-curdling screams and sounds of destruction came from the direction of Eros Nor. “Tell me we remembered to bring flashlights,” Jack snapped as he scrambled out of the wide excavation pit and headed toward where he thought SG-1 had left their packs.
“They should be with the rest of our gear, sir,” Sam replied as she did the same. “I don’t know if we’ll have time to get to the city, though. The eclipse shouldn’t last that long.”
“Don’t count on that, Major,” the colonel threw back. “We have no idea how long it’ll take the moons to move.”
“Why do the people not activate alternative light sources?” Teal’c asked, having already reached the backpacks and started to sort through one by touch.
Daniel tripped over the kneeling Jaffa’s legs as he joined him and barely caught his balance. “I doubt they have alternative light sources, Teal’c,” he answered. “I have a feeling this doesn’t happen too often. Ouch!” he cried as someone smacked him in the hand with a flashlight, having used his voice as a way to find him in the dark.
“Sorry about that, Danny,” Jack apologized. He turned on his own light. “Let’s get to the city and figure out what’s going on. I get the feeling we’re not going to like it.”
* * * * * * * *
Jack was right. When the four members of SG-1 reached the fallen and mangled iron gates that had formerly stood to either side of the main entrance archway in the thick city walls ten minutes later, the sky was still dark and screams could still be heard. Only now they were louder and mingled with the distinctive sounds of weapons’ fire and masonwork falling, glass breaking and vicious cursing. Wild panic had gripped the Luthanan, and Eros Nor was in the middle of a city-wide riot.
“They’ve all gone insane,” Sam whispered, horrified.
“To them it must be the end of the world. To go from constant light to even a temporary lack must be terrifying,” Daniel murmured in response.
“There’s nothing we can do here,” Jack declared emotionlessly, the beam of his flashlight just catching the flicker of regret that swept over his features. “I think we should get to ground and wait this out. When the eclipse is over we’ll see what we can do for the survivors.”
Daniel turned to face him incredulously. “But Jack...”
“No, Daniel!” the older man cut him off sharply. “There’s no rational thought going on here! Like Carter said, these people are crazy. When the suns come back out, so will their brains. And then we can talk. Until then, the best thing we can do is hide. Now let’s move.”
It wasn’t fast enough. A large group of natives had seen the illumination from the Tau’ri flashlights and raced toward what they perceived to be salvation. The formerly civilized people savagely lunged for the tiny shafts of light, tearing into the holders of those shafts as well as each other, breaking the devices in the struggle, and the next thing any of the off-worlders knew they were battered and bruised and dragged away from each other, lost in the dark of the eclipse.
* * * * * * * *
Teal’c fought against the pulsating crowd, but it was as futile as fighting the tide. He watched with stricken eyes as his friends were swallowed by the returning blackness that followed the sounds of broken glass and cracking plastic, then listened as their protests grew fainter then undistinguishable from the roar of those that surrounded him. Only his greater strength and heightened senses kept his body safe from anything more damaging than the occasional cut and bruise as he abruptly went with the flow and slowly separated himself from the throng. He could only hope the quiet place he found himself in at the end of his ride would continue to be safe until the large, slow-moving moon uncovered the suns.
The Jaffa waited until he heard the evidence of the riot begin to calm, the air beginning to fill with the sounds of the dying. They were much too familiar to the warrior, and regret seeped into his heart much like it did when he would survey a decimated battlefield, a living banner of yet another victory for his lord Apophis. He could only wonder if this time there would be anyone left to mourn those he heard moaning out their last breaths. He’d sensed and felt too much as he made his way to his resting place to believe there was much left.
Which left the hopes for his friends. The last thing he had seen before the flashlights had been broken in the struggle over them was the three Tau’ri being washed away and apart in the sea of insane humanity that held them in its grasp. The years he’d spent with the SGC, and SG-1 in particular, had taught him of the strength of the human race, the ability to overcome overwhelming odds, the amazing tendency to survive that which he would have said at any other time in his life was inescapable death. These people, these friends, this family had shown him the necessity of holding onto hope, the alternative being a life unworthy of living, something totally devoid of meaning. No, he would continue to hope for his friends’ survival; there was no other option. There never was.
The cobbled stones beneath his feet rumbled and a cloud of dirt and dust rained down on him from above a few moments later. Teal’c smothered a cough with his hand and blinked away what had fallen in his eyes. When the dark brown orbs were finally clear, he could see a decided difference in the sky above: light once again began to shine down on the world it had wrapped itself away from. The still-mated suns began to slide out from behind the pitch black moon like the phases of Earth’s satellite in fast forward. Calm normalcy was born once again in the city of Eros Nor. Teal’c just wasn’t sure there was anyone left to appreciate it.
The large man hurried off in the direction he’d last seen his teammates, automatically avoiding the bodies of those who had not survived the madness of the eclipse. Piles of rubble covered once-wide avenues. In fact, there weren’t many buildings left standing at all, and those that were were neither steady nor whole. It reminded the Jaffa most recently of the pictures Daniel Jackson had shown him of the devastation left behind from the bombings of both London and the cities of Germany during World War II. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and wished for his friends to have made it through the wide-spread destruction, then headed off in one of the directions he thought the others had been taken.
He had carefully made his way through a bloody and body-littered mile of terrain, the rubble and periodic checks for survivors making the trip much longer than it would have been normally, when he saw a sight that stopped his heart. Ahead of him, half-buried by broken bricks and shards of glass, was a head of short, blonde hair the exact shade of... The face was turned away, but it was very apparent that the body was lifeless. The puddle of blood beneath the awkwardly-tilted neck was evidence of that. With only a brief pause in his stride, Teal’c moved forward, not noticing his breath catching with every other attempt.
“Major Carter,” he whispered, briefly running a gentle hand through the golden locks before gathering his nerve and stepping around to face the deathly image he knew would haunt him for the rest of his days.
It wasn’t her.
He couldn’t say who the woman was who stared sightlessly back at him from her half-exposed grave nor how long he stared at the evidence that there was still hope he would be returning home with all three of his teammates. He barely noticed that his eyes had filled with tears, first of grief and then of utter relief. He didn’t feel another pile of debris shift and tumble behind him, the stones coming to rest against his legs. And he didn’t hear the light coughs and cut-off groan of a figure freeing itself and joining him.
“Teal’c?” a raspy, feminine voice queried softly. “Are you all right? What happened?”
The sensation of a gentle hand on his right shoulder made him twist his head around sharply. There, bedraggled and dirty, a ragged cut on the left side of her forehead with blood running down her cheek, but most definitely alive, stood Major Samantha Carter, her bright light blue eyes watching him carefully yet with undisguised joy. “Major Carter?” he returned, his left hand coming up to cover the smaller one that still rested on him.
She smiled wearily. “Yeah, I’m here. I managed to jump back out of the way when this building gave way, but one of the falling bricks got me upside the head. I’ve been out of it since.” The blonde major took a closer look at what had captured the big man’s attention. “Oh my God,” she gasped, her grip tightening as her body swayed. “Did you... Were you thinking... You thought that was me, didn’t you?”
“I saw her from behind and saw the color of her hair. I could not help but to think...” Teal’c’s voice choked off as he bowed his head and tried to gather his composure, his hand falling back to his side.
“It’s okay, I’m all right,” Sam said quickly, moving closer and wrapping her left arm around her friend’s waist. “I understand why you thought what you did. But I’m fine, especially now that you found me. What about the others?”
He shook his head before raising it, once again in control of himself. “I have not encountered them in my search. But I will continue on until I find them.”
The shorter woman nodded, letting out a small moan at the action once she swallowed away the almost overwhelming feeling of nausea it caused. “That was stupid, Sam,” she muttered to herself. She cleared her throat and spoke at a normal volume. “I’ll help you, Teal’c. We probably shouldn’t get separated. Who knows if we could find each other again in this mess?”
“First allow me to do something about your injury.” Teal’c took a handkerchief out of his back pocket and wet it with water from the canteen that rested on his hip.
As he reached out to clean the blood from his companion’s face, Sam remembered her own canteen and took a few short sips in deference to her still-upset stomach. “That’s better,” she commented, her voice much clearer. She flinched as Teal’c touched a particularly sensitive spot. “Has that stopped bleeding yet?”
“I believe so,” the Jaffa replied simply, finishing his task and putting the moist cloth away. “Are there any other injuries I should be made aware of?”
“Well, my right foot is pretty sore, but I don’t think anything’s broken and I don’t feel any blood in my boot. Other than that it’s just a bunch of small cuts and bruises. I should be fine until we get back to Earth.”
“Then I believe we should continue our search for Colonel O’Neill and Daniel Jackson.” The two of them headed back the way Teal’c had come to follow another guessed trail from where they had been ambushed by the gate.
Go to part two
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