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.With Hammond, that was a sure bet.The General had a low tolerance for screwups, and this one was a prize example.“Go, then,” Alizane decided, without bothering to consult her fellow Councilors.“Wait, and when the Gate opens, go through it.And never come back again.”“That I can promise you,” O’Neill said feelingly.“For your part—” he hesitated and looked at her long and hard.“What were you going to do to your children? One of them has died already for defying your ways.” He felt like gagging as he said it, but Alizane’s commitment to punishment as example left him nearly certain what the Council had planned for the remaining five.“Surely they have been punished enough.They can never be Chosen again, can they?”Let them live, he was suggesting.Let them live without honor as you measure honor, but let them live.The five young people standing around Carter understood exactly what he was saying.Not all of them accepted it in the same fashion.One of the twins looked indignant at the very idea.The blond girl was remote and thoughtful, watching her elders decide her fate.He had a feeling that she would have a few things of her own to say about it.Live to fight another day, he tried to tell them, without allowing the Council to see that in his eyes.Alizane turned to Jareth.“What do you think?”Karlanan growled, “They must be punished.”“Won’t the memory of the loss of their friend be punishment enough?”They didn’t really want to kill the kids.It was part of the generally submissive nature of the culture.Blood-thirstiness just wasn’t in them.It didn’t take long for them to acquiesce.O’Neill gathered up his team.CHAPTER SEVENTEENCarter paced around the M’kwethet Gate, pausing occasionally to peer through the open circle as if she could see another world on the other side.“Siddown, Captain,” O’Neill said wearily, checking the action on his sidearm.It was spotless.So was his rifle.They should have been, considering he’d broken them down for cleaning at least three times so far.“We’re not going to go just yet.I want to give it time to cool down there.And you can’t open the Gate by using up all your energy that way.”“It is possible that Daniel Jackson was discovered and killed on Saqqara,” Teal’C observed.“No, it’s not.” O’Neill dismissed the possibility with finality.“He’s fine.He’s waiting for us.”“Sir, if we’re going to wait, I’d really like to talk to the kids again.” Carter was sitting, fidgeting.Then she bounced to her feet as if she’d heard something.“I feel like I failed them.”“Unlikely, considering you took the best course of action available to you at the time,” Teal’C pointed out.Carter glared and resumed pacing.The colonel got to his feet, looking over the expanse of the city one more time.“I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to leave a place,” he murmured.“They’re gonna do something awful to those kids,” Carter whispered.“Sit down, Captain!” O’Neill had had enough of her nervous energy.She was doing too good a job of reflecting his own inner turmoil.The second time check had passed while he was still arguing with Alizane.He hated the idea of waiting for more time to pass, but he couldn’t change the rules now.Meanwhile he and Teal’C examined every part of the leather arm guard.Around them, the life of M’kwethet flowed serenely on.The shops were closed.The moons rose.A lithe figure ran across the silvered square and stood at the bottom of the three steps.“Why aren’t you gone?” Clein’dori asked.“I thought you were going to leave.”We were talking about justice, O’Neill thought.He turned the leather brace over and over in his hands.“I am so sorry,” Carter said, helplessness apparent in her voice.“I am so sorry about Maesen.”“I know you tried,” the young woman said.“But now you have a way to leave and you’re leaving us behind until they come again.We have no way to escape.”“Your elders would not use it,” Teal’C rumbled.“They would return this device to the Goa’uld in hope of earning their favor.”“I wouldn’t,” she answered.The light caught her long braid and for a moment her hair was white instead of blond, like a band of silver around her brow.They could really use the technology on Earth.Earth already had a DHD.“Let me show you how this works,” a voice said, and O’Neill found himself striding down the steps.“I’ll give you the symbols to open the Gate to—to the Nox world.They’ll keep you safe.”“I want to go to your world.”He couldn’t take the time to explain about the iris.“It won’t work to Earth,” he said.“We have to use it to go back to Saqqara.But here, watch how this goes—”It was late, really late.Mafret had found a place for him beyond the Hall and told him not to move.There were fewer search parties now, though [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]