Team Ryan: If You Love Something, Let it Go [3/6]
Cradle of Civilization





The boy had led Ryan down side street after side street, their surroundings growing steadily darker as they moved further away from the center of the town. Finally they were at the bottom of the hill the city was built on, and Baraka, still with a firm grip on Ryan's hand, led him down what could most easily be described as a tiny, sandy alleyway below one of the houses where they crouched down. With a small smile, the boy released Ryan's long-fingered hand and started pressing at stones until his face got a satisfied look on it when one gave way. Ryan, realizing what Baraka was doing, reached out and helped remove the loose stones until there was a hole in the wall large enough for them both to climb through. Ryan moved in first, taking the torch they had brought from Baraka's hand and looking around. "What is this place?" he whispered, a look of absolute awe spreading over his face. Absentmindedly, he reached back and offered the boy his hand again to help him down into this cavern that had apparently been hidden under one of the city's oldest houses this whole time.

He didn’t have much attention for where exactly he was or anything alike right at that moment, though. While he had been at several archaeological excavations, most of them had been so old that Ryan had started to lose hope of ever finding anything, ever making a real discovery. Yet here he was, probably the first person born on Earth to ever see these hieroglyphs, and he was stunned by the moment, shaking fingers reaching out to trace the old, earth-colored signs as his mouth hung open. He started muttering along as he wrote, a pensive look spreading over his features. "Cypian. Rem-en-jef. Bah-ka-naf-sema. Tah-parief. I'll be damned," he whispered.

"Tah-pah-rief?" someone asked behind him, and Ryan turned around to face the boy in confusion, one brow raised.

"Huh?" he asked, needing to make sure he had heard right. Because, really, if the answer to the lingual problem they'd encountered on this planet had been hiding right in front of him the whole time...

"Tah-pah-rief," Baraka repeated, blushing slightly. His voice had gone softer, shy and almost hesitant, as though he were afraid to have interrupted or said something out of line.

Ryan drew in a deep breath even as a small smile spread over his face. "Tah-pah-rief," he said, changing his pronunciation to match the younger male's.

Baraka grinned back, eyes wide and open. "Tah-pah-rief," he said once more, his voice relieved and jubilant all at once. He gave a nod as well, as though to confirm that Ryan's pronunciation wasn't as bad as it had been on his first attempt.

Ryan, eager now to find out more, moved onto the next hieroglyph. "Ned-jed," he attempted, grimacing a little before giving it another try. "Ned-jed?"

The boy shook his head in a quick, tiny motion. "Neh-dah," he said instead, giving another small smile. Ryan repeated the sound and Baraka gave a wide smile, nodding quickly. "Tiu."

"Tiu," Ryan mimicked. "Tiu." Then he moved symbols again, pointing at the next one as he spoke. "Uh... Netjer? Netjer-u?" This had always been one that not only he, but every other hieroglyphic expert in the world couldn't figure out. And Ryan just knew that the real answer was only seconds away.

"Natay," Baraka said. "Naturu." He made a wide gesture with his hand, which Ryan copied a moment later with a triumphant smile as he testingly repeated the words. He gave a bright grin. Baraka laughed slightly at the incorrect pronunciation, shaking his head just a bit, but this time it didn't seem to be in negative so much as in simple amusement. "Na-fee!" he stated enthusiastically.



They had to have been in the cave for close to two hours, talking about everything and nothing. Ryan had tried to explain Earth, and growing up, and what he did and liked and everything. Baraka in turn had explained a few things about their society, a lot of which both disturbed and fascinated Ryan. The younger boy was a little tight-lipped on some subjects, quite a few really, but Ryan wasn't about to press someone he didn't know just because he was a curious anthropologist. So when Baraka had started to seem uncomfortable answering more questions about his family and life and the society he lived in, Ryan had instead turned back to the hieroglyphs and read the story so that he could explain it to the boy.

His story had finished so recently that Baraka's eyes were still wide in surprise, his lips still pinched with indignation, when Ryan heard steps behind him and turned half-way to look, trailing off on what he was saying.

"I thought you didn't speak their language," Walker stated, a dangerous look in his eyes.

Ryan chuckled timidly and gave a small shrug. "Damn, you scared me," he stated. He watched for a moment as Walker, Smith, Spungen, Donnell and the tribe leader's middle son moved further into the cave. Ryan rose, seeing Baraka do the same out of the corner of his eyes, and moved closer to meet them half-way there. He gestured towards one of the symbol-covered walls. "It's an ancient Egyptian dialect," he finally stated. "I mean, it's like the rest of their culture. It's evolved completely independently. But... uh... once you know the vowels..." He shrugged again.

"Just answer the fucking question," Walker ordered, and with the stony look in his eyes and the way he held himself, there really was no doubt that it was an order.

Ryan swallowed nervously. "Well – uh. I-I me," he started, suddenly desperate to get off the hook. "I just had to learn how to pronounce it, you know. I mean, it hasn't been a living, spoken language in more than one thousand years." He took a deep breath, looking for some way to distract the colonel whose gaze still seemed much too heavy. "I mean, look at this. It says, uh: 'A traveler from distant stars escaped from a dying world looking for a way to extend his own life'." He let his finger trace along the wall as he spoke, sometimes pointing at one particular hieroglyph, and sometimes waving his hand over a whole picture. "'His body, decaying and weak... he couldn't prevent his own demise.' Apparently his whole species was becoming extinct." He took another breath, moving a step farther into the cave. "'So he traveled, or searched, the galaxies, looking for a way to cheat death.' And, uh... look here."

The scientist pointed to another pictogram, showing a pyramid with the sun directly above it and people tiny figures below it. Then he moved his index finger to the next picture, which showed a light coming from the pyramid itself, one of the tiny figures standing directly below it. "Here it says: 'He came to a world, rich with life, where he encountered a primitive race – humans'." Ryan chuckled slightly, grimacing a little. "'A species which, with all his powers and knowledge, he could maintain indefinitely. He realized within a human body, he had a chance for a new life.' Now, he apparently found a young boy. It says: 'As the frightened villagers ran, night became day. Curious, and without fear, he walked towards the light'."

Ryan took a deep breath. "Ra took him and possessed his body like some kind of... parasite, looking for a host. And inhabiting this human form, he appointed himself ruler." He tapped his finger against a pictogram showing Ra as ruler, then one with an active Stargate and people passing through it. "He used the Stargate to bring thousands of people here, to this planet. To work in mines like the one we saw, and to maintain the single place on this planet that hasn't become desert." Ryan took another couple of steps to present a large picture showing the workers bringing the mineral as an offering before Ra. "This mineral is clearly the building block of all his technology. With this, he can sustain eternal life."

Without really stopping to see if the others were following or even listening, Ryan moved another few pictures along the wall. "But something happened, back on Earth. A rebellion or uprising, and the Stargate was buried there." He smiled wryly. "'A million years into the sky is Ra, Sun God. Sealed and buried for all time is His Stargate', remember?" he added, raising an eyebrow and not really expecting an answer. "But anyway, fearful of a rebellion here, Ra outlawed reading and writing. He didn't want people to remember the truth."

"Ross!" Spungen called a moment later from where he and Donnell had been exploring on their own. "I think you'd better take a look at this."

Ryan, Smith, Walker and the local boys quickly followed Spungen back to where Donnell was waiting, torch held high to illuminate their find. And Ryan gasped slightly when he realized what he was looking at: a round stone, similar to the one in the middle of the cover stone found on Earth, was imbedded into the wall. "That's it!" the scientist exclaimed excitedly. "That's what we're looking for! They must've hidden it down here in the hopes that one day the Gate on Earth could be reopened. I knew they had to have written it down somewhere!" He quickly stepped up to the stone and started carefully brushing sediments away with his hands, revealing the markings while excitement and relief spread over his face. He stopped, hesitating, when he felt a jagged edge, indicating that some of it had fallen off. "Wait a minute," he murmured, worry rising in his voice. "Where's the seventh symbol? It must have broken off. It has to be here somewhere, it's got to!" Bending down, he started frantically searching through sand and dust and debris, trying to find the missing piece. Finally his fingers met two broken pieces of rock in the middle of the rubble, and he pulled them out and blew off the dust before piecing them together, a small smile forming on his face until he realized that he was looking at nothing but smooth stone. "It's worn off," he muttered, face falling at the same quick rate as his stomach. Sure, he hadn't wanted to go back just yet, but he had never ever planned to be stuck here, to live out the rest of his life away from everything safe and familiar, from his books and studies and every opportunity he hadn't had the chance to grab yet. "I can't get it to work without the seventh symbol."

Walker's face tightened. "All right, that's it," he bit, voice harsh. "Spungen, Donnell, Smith?" he called over his shoulder just as he turned and started to walk towards the cave entrance, the three other marines hurrying after him. Ryan, biting his lip, hastened to follow.



It was dawn when they went through the city gates, the rising sun painting the desert a bright red in front of them. Ryan felt a slight churning in his chest, for some reason a little hesitant to leave just yet. He turned briefly and looked over his shoulder, seeing Baraka standing by the city gate. His hair and half his face was covered by a thin, purple shawl, and the short-sleeved robe had been covered with a heavier cloak. He had a sad, almost desolate look on his face as his eyes watched Walker's team leave, but Ryan had no idea what might have caused it, and attempted a small smile in an attempt to cheer the boy up.

"Come on, Ryan," Smith, or maybe Spencer if they were suddenly on a first name basis, called back without turning around, and Ryan, after one last glance, turned back around and hurried after the others. When he looked back again a moment later, the young boy was nowhere to be seen.



According to Ryan's watch they had walked for nearly two hours, but he didn't really know how much he could trust his watch around here, seeing as how it claimed that it was early afternoon even though the moons were still low in the sky and the sun had only just risen above the horizon. He'd reached the conclusion that either the thing didn't much like being picked apart to atoms and put back together again, or their days were simply a hell of a lot longer here. That would make sense, what with how badly he was starting to feel that he hadn't slept since leaving Earth. His feet felt heavy in the large boots, and he was getting tired of dragging them through the sand, up and down dunes, and through more sand, all the while attempting to keep up with trained soldiers, which was quite a feat on good terrain and damn well near impossible on something like this.

The other four had reached the top of what Ryan hoped – as he had with the last twenty ones – was the last dune before they reached base camp, or at least the pyramid. Something, he soon realized, was definitely different about this dune judging by the way Walker had pushed Smith back before dropping to his knees, Spungen and Donnell following as they both whipped out their weapons and the colonel picked up his binoculars from his belt to apparently get a better look of whatever it was that suddenly had them so on edge. He had no idea what the matter was, and he was most decidedly curious, so he hurried his steps once again, panting for breath by the time he reached the top of the dune. Smith's hand held him back from going to the edge, and Ryan dropped to his knees, mimicking the marines, and crawled forward on all fours until he was right next to Donnell.

"What the hell is that?" Walker asked, and Ryan had absolutely no idea. The breath had stuck in the scientist's throat, and he took long, calming breaths as he surveyed the thing in front of them. They had definitely reached the pyramid, but aside from surroundings and shape it looked nothing like it had the previous day.

It was almost as though another, larger, pyramid and swooped in to cover the original one, and this one was made of one large, black jewel instead of simple sandstone. When Ryan looked closer, though, he realized that it was by no means any kind of a jewel. It was the same dark grey metallic shade as the Stargate, and the glittering lights came from thousands of tiny windows with light inside. And Ryan remembered the drawings in the cave in the city, remembered the depictions he had seen of Ra's spacecraft. This could very well be it. The scientist gasped, startled and suddenly scared, looking over at Walker who seemed to have figured it out too.

"Here," Donnell murmured, cocking a pistol and pushing it into Ryan's hand. "You might need this."

Ryan looked at the thing with distaste, grimacing slightly before he looked back at Smith who grimaced right back even as he pulled a handgun of his own out of his belt and took the safety off, wincing slightly at the sound. He looked like someone who knew how to use firearms, but wished he didn't. Then again, Ryan supposed, Smith had said his dream was to be a doctor, not a marine. Not surprising that he didn't like guns. Ryan hadn't heard of a lot of doctors who did.

Finally the colonel got up and cocked his rifle before setting off at a steady trot towards the pyramid, and the others quickly followed, Ryan struggling even more now in his attempt to keep up.



Even more out of breath than he had been minutes before, Ryan felt a small flash of triumph for having been able to mostly keep up with the others as they entered the pyramid. He let himself stand stock-still off to the side, taking deep breaths to get his lungs functioning properly again, and watched as Donnell, Spungen and even Smith took easily defensible positions behind pillars while Walker strode towards the abandoned equipment on the middle of the floor. "They must've abandoned base camp in the sand storm last night," the colonel mused, walking a circle around the half-eaten dinner rations and open water bottles before he bent down and picked up something that Ryan moments later realized was a fired bullet. "And someone attacked," Walker concluded, his face unreadable as he let the bullet drop back to the ground. "Stay covered," he ordered, gripping Ryan's arm harshly and dragging him along towards yet another pillar.

From his cover behind the pillar, Ryan tried almost desperately to keep track of the whereabouts of his team mates and at the same time keep an eye out for whatever had caused the disappearance of a whole team of highly trained marines. His hand was trembling around the awkwardly held gun. He'd never before held one, nor had any wish to, but right now he seemed not to have a lot of choices on that particular issue. He could feel fear, which was rising to a sort of claustrophobic panic in his chest, forming a deep, empty pit in his stomach, and the blood in his ears was thumping so loudly that he was hard pressed to hear anything beyond it. He could still see, though, and see he did, looking around as he still tried to locate the others. Finally, he caught sight of Donnell, only to see him start and then turn around swiftly, already aiming his rifle. Before the communications officer had had time to shoot or even get a proper aim, though, the blunt side of some kind of a long staff was knocked harshly against the side of his head, and Ryan's heart jumped into his throat. Mere moments later, before Ryan had even gotten around to tugging on Walker's shirt the way his half-paralyzed brain suggested, some kind of high energy beam, too bright to look straight at, shot out of the end of the staff, and there Donnell was, lying on the sandy floor with a great, gaping hole where his chest had been seconds before, and Ryan was a mere second away from puking his guts out, his breath unnaturally quick and heavy and his eyes wider than they had ever been, refusing to register any command from the brain that they look the other way.

Suddenly a harsh hand grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him off even after he could've sworn he must have been rooted to the spot. He turned his head to look at Walker's stony determination, and let himself be dragged on when he heard something like an explosion behind him and turned his head back around just in time to see yet another beam hitting the spot where he'd been half a second earlier. He was going to die, he was absolutely sure of it. A race that had used quantum physics and wormholes for intergalactic travel for well over ten millennia had to be much too technologically advanced for any human to stand a chance, and Ryan's life was going to end that day, heart in his throat and blood drumming in his ears. Not exactly how he'd imagined he would go.

"Start moving!" Walker's familiarly rough voice ordered, giving him one last hard pull before letting go and leaving Ryan to his own devices. Ryan, seeing no better plan, followed right at the colonel's heels, making sure to jump swiftly out of the way whenever he sensed that the other man was about to turn around and take aim at the unseen enemy behind them.

"Where are we going?" Ryan shouted, panting as he tried to keep up with what seemed to be the other man's speediest. "Wait," he muttered when they both finally came to a halt in a very familiar chamber. "Why are we going to the Stargate? I can't make it work."

Walker simply lit a flare and started moving again, at a simple walk this time, though. Finally he crouched down in front of the equipment still sat right in front of the Gate. "Stay right where you are," he ordered through clenched teeth. "And shoot any damn thing that comes down that ramp."

"What are you doing?" Ryan asked in confusion, his eyes still darting back and forth between the exit and the marine who seemed to be quickly sifting through stuff on the first wagon, the one they had brought with them when they first came through.

"Just cover me, Goddamnit!" the colonel shouted, looking up very briefly to give Ryan a freezing glare before he returned to his work.

Ryan froze for a moment, but again his curiosity got the best of him, and after a moment of watching the entrance, gun a little steadier in his hand with each passing second, he turned back around and moved closer to see what Walker was up to. He appeared to be fiddling with some large remote or other for a few moments before he pressed a code into a panel on the wagon. The panel slid open, revealing an empty space, and Ryan raised an eyebrow, a little bewildered as to what this was all about. "What is it?" he finally asked. "What are you looking for?"

"It's gone," the colonel muttered, still staring, unmoving, at the empty panel. "I can't fucking believe they took it!"

Suddenly a whirring sound filled the chamber, and Ryan looked up to see a circular hole in the ceiling slide open and large stone rings beginning to drop down, slowly as though deliberately mocking gravity. This effect was only enhanced when they landed, the bottommost one hitting the floor and the next one hovering a few inches above it, and so on and forth, reaching up at least seven feet. Ryan, gasping, raised his pistol as a beam of light spread through and from the rings, and his hand started shaking again, worse and worse when the rings started to lift back up into the ceiling. He nearly blanched at what their disappearance revealed.

The creature had the body of a man, clad in garments that might have been in style back in Ancient Egypt, but his face was that of a jackal. He looked like a horror movie's take on Anubis, the God, with how his eyes lit up in an eerie, electric blue and how his metallic ears moved up and down quietly. Muscular arms of about the same girth as Ryan's thighs (or maybe a little larger, considering how skinny his legs really were) were poised, large hands holding onto a staff that was similar to the one Ryan had just witnessed Donnell's death by. The thing, whatever it was, said something in the alien tongue, his voice deep and reverberating and seeming to send chills straight through to Ryan's bone marrow. The scientist raised his gun, attempting to point it, but fear was nearly paralyzing him and his hand was shaking so badly that if he had tried to shoot, chances of hitting the colonel were as great as those of hitting the alien.

Before Ryan had the time to even properly consider firing the pistol, though, another two of the guard creatures appeared, also in the jackal apparel, and Ryan was absently starting to wonder whether this was actually what the alien race looked like. Only it hadn't, not in the pictograms in the cave. But he couldn't really be sure, not entirely. The two newcomers raised their staff weapons, pointing them at Ryan and Walker, and one of them seemed to load, what reminded Ryan of an echo of one of those deadly beams coming up along the staff only to be swallowed back in by the tip once again.

"Put it down, Ross," Walker murmured, placing a surprisingly gentle hand on Ryan's shoulder, and Ryan followed orders, slowly relaxing his arm until the weapon clattered to the floor.



Using the ring device felt a bit like using the Stargate, the way you could say that using the merry-go-'round down at the local playground felt a bit like using the world's craziest rollercoaster at some huge, overprized theme park. Kind of the same thing, but over a shorter period of time and on a much smaller scale.

Moments later they found themselves in a different place. It was much more brightly lit now, and the decorations were much more refined and beautiful than they had been in the pyramid. In ways it looked completely like Ryan might have expected a pharaoh's palace to.

As they stepped away from the circle on the floor that marked the transportation device, Ryan noticed the apparent leader of the three guards press a blue crystal on some hand ornament he wore, apparently shutting the device off. "Yatta," the man-jackal said, and raised his staff. But rather than attacking, he used it, without any unnecessary force, to herd them with small nudges and pushes towards an empty throne on the other side of the room.

Panels in the vaulted ceiling seemed to slide aside, letting in the harsh daylight. Then sudden skylights created nearly panoramic patterns of light on the floor, and Ryan didn't doubt for a minute that a lot of the decoration in here, if not most, was for purely aesthetic reasons, not functional. A bit vain, this Ra. Not that he would probably have the guts to say that to the alien's face.

After a few more steps they reached the floor just before the raised dais on which the large gold throne was situated, and before Ryan knew what was happening one of the guards had swept his staff against the back of the scientist's legs, forcing him to his knees as sharp pain coiled in his calves. A glance to his side confirmed that Walker had been treated similarly, even if his back was still stiff and proud and he didn't seem to have nearly the same problem balancing that Ryan did.

Behind the throne was a broad stairwell, which Ryan was only now noticing, and after only moments of enforced kneeling he saw movements from the top. A small group of scantily clad – ancient Egyptian style – young boys descended slowly and gracefully, all of their faces emotionless mask. And behind them came the big shot himself. Ra was clad in ornate, golden robes that should've belonged in a museum, and the metallic mask covering his face looked scarily like those buried with mummified pharaohs of old. "You have come here to destroy me," he stated in a voice that was deep and rumbling and entirely non-human. The dialect, though, was much closer to the language Ryan had studied and unlike that of the slaves didn't seem to have evolved much.

Ryan was confused by the comment for a moment, but then two servants came walking inside, carrying something between them only to put it down by Ra's feet, right in front of Ryan and Walker. And Ryan may not be a weaponry expert, but up this close there was no mistaking what the object was. "What is that?" he breathed, panic welling up inside him. "That's a bomb, isn't it? That's what you were looking for. What the hell were you thinking? What'd you come here for?" He was speaking too quickly, starting to babble a little, but seriously – a bomb! And now it was in the hands of the enemy.

Walker remained stiff and stoic and didn't answer a simple thing, his lips tight and white with how hard they were pressed together. Ryan's hands were shaking with fear again, and looking at the colonel was only making it worse, so he turned his gaze back forward, hoping that maybe it wouldn't seem so bad when he had his eyes on the threat. And though he didn't quite manage to catch the words, he did see the gesture Ra made towards his headpiece and did hear the commanding tone of voice. A moment later all the guards reached up and pressed a certain point on the side of their jackal heads, and Ryan watched in stunned silence as the faces seemed to pull in on themselves and disappear, leaving simple human faces in their places.

Ra himself followed and the ornate, golden mask disappeared as well, revealing the young, unlined face of a boy who couldn't be a day over seventeen. But apparently it was more than a little awe-inspiring for the guards who all immediately dropped to their knees as well, bowed their heads in submission to their ruler.

Ryan noticed only too late to interfere that Walker had reached out to the guard kneeling next to him, lightning-quick, and wrestled the weapon out of his hands. He'd fired and killed a guard before Ryan could even blink and was turning towards Ra himself, but one of the other guards knocked him over and was about to shoot. It was mere impulse that caused Ryan to shoot up and jump in front of the colonel, spreading his arms to the sides desperately. "Wait!" he shouted. "Na-ney! Stop! No!" The guard, however, still fired, and Ryan felt white-hot pain spread through his chest, worse than anything he had ever felt. He could hear someone screaming in the distance and was surprised to realize it was himself, and then he was falling, suddenly cold all over. And then he didn't feel anything anymore.



Ryan sat up with a gasp, sucking in a deep gulp of air. He frantically tugged at some fabric covering his face and body until he was free, and for the longest time he had no memory of where he was, what had happened. He appeared to be sitting in a sarcophagus, or something that looked a lot like it, and it took long moments for him to realize that it wasn't all just a very strange dream. Then he remembered, and he looked down at his chest, fingers rising in search. He found a scorched hole in the fabric of his shirt, but when he felt the skin beneath it was soft and whole, seemingly untouched by anything. He took a deep breath and pulled himself to his feet, stepping out of the sarcophagus, which closed itself behind him.

He heard the soft sounds of bare feet slowly hitting the ground behind him, and turned around to find himself face to face with one of the boys, maybe ten years old, with his head shaved but for a small, half-long patch above his right ear, which was held together by a golden ring inlaid with gems. His upper body was bare and he wore only a loin-cloth and a broad piece of golden fabric around his neck that covered most of his shoulders and upper chest. The cat in his arms only enhanced the feeling of seeing someone stepping out of a history book. The boy let out a laugh when he found Ryan looking at him and turned around to walk away. Ryan, shrugging slightly, followed.

Moments later they entered the throne room, and the boy deposited the animal on the throne before running away. Ryan, this time with a mental shrug, walked to the throne and gently patted the cat's back before scratching lightly behind its ears. He tended to prefer dogs, but you couldn't be into ancient Egypt and not find cats fascinating. Then he noticed movements behind a set of curtains and quickly walked over, pushing the cloth slightly aside to look inside what appeared to be a bathing room. Ra must've just bathed, his long, black hair still hanging loose down his back while servants dressed him. Ra, apparently noticing Ryan's presence, turned slightly until he was in profile, gave a mocking smile, and then walked away without properly acknowledging the scientist's presence.

Ryan, again, followed, watching as the servants kept layering on garments and elaborate jewelry on their king. Finally his patience had run out and he took a deep breath, mentally assessing his knowledge of the language before speaking, "Was I dead?"

Finally Ra deigned to look directly at him, and though he was several inches shorter than Ryan, there was endless condescension in his eyes. "That's why I chose your race," he stated. "Your bodies are so easy to fix." There was a pause for a moment, and the alien in his human skin looked back in the direction of the throne room for a moment. "You have advanced much, harnessed the power of the atom."

The young scientist walked closer, noticing, once again, the bomb as well as several of his books spread about, some opened and clearly read. He managed not to go into a protective rage like he usually did when someone touched his books. Keeping his temper in check seemed to be vital right then. "What are you going to do?"

"You should not have reopened the Gate," the ancient creature told him. "Soon, I will send your weapon back to your world with a shipment of my mineral, which will increase its destructive powers a hundred fold." He lazily stretched out his arm, letting his servants adorn his fingers and arm with more jewelry.

"Why would you do that?" Ryan asked, feeling panic well up in the pit of his stomach once more.

"I created your civilization," the rumbling voice informed. "Now, I will destroy it." The ruler stood and servants adorned him with the final piece of the outfit, a golden breastplate. His eyes narrowed, the young-looking alien walked slowly towards Ryan. "But before my workers question my authority, you will prove that I am their one God by killing your companions."

Ryan swallowed, his hands trembling yet again. "And if I refuse?" he asked, the words a lot braver than he actually felt right at that minute.

The dark, ominous eyes narrowed further, and Ra was hardly a feet away now. "Then I will destroy you, and all who have seen you." His eyes flashed in anger as he leaned in, sturdy fingers wrapping around Ryan's necklace, and he pulled until the string tore and Ryan's neck ached. "There can only be one Ra."

Looking away, Ryan's thoughts strayed to the people in that town, the place he'd been last night. He remembered the boys, energetic young Skaara who was braver than any grown man Ryan had ever met, and Baraka with his nervous way and fearful eyes and soft, beautiful face. Ryan remembered their father, the leader with his stern authority and good nature and desperate fight to help his people keep their dignity in the midst of this world. And he knew he had no choice at all.



Hours later Ryan stepped out of the pyramid and into the glaring sunlight. There was a guard on either side of him, pushing and prodding as they passed Ra's throne. And then, finally, he could see despite the sun, and the throngs of people on the sands in front of him immediately caught his eye. Every slave in their whole town and possibly more were assembled, and there were loads of them, all looking up fearfully. Then his eyes fell more directly in front of him to where the remains of the team were on their knees, looking at him in disbelief. Walker was there, and Smith, and Marlowe and Spungen and two others he didn't recognize. Several of them were already wounded, and Ryan's heart took residence in his throat, nearly choking him. How the hell would he find it in him to do this?

One of the staff weapons was pushed into his hands and he was given a small push in the back as well as yet another order on what to do. Slowly, he walked down the ramp to get closer. And then, suddenly, something seemed to cut into his eyes, light brighter than even the sun appeared, however that was possible, and he followed the beam to its source, his eyes widening slightly when he saw Skaara and Baraka in the front of the crowd, Skaara holding a lighter he must've gotten from one of the team members and purposefully reflecting the sun into Ryan's eyes. Ryan paused for a moment, looking down at the two boys and ignoring Walker, whose gaze was becoming a little curious although he clearly was doing his best to hide it.

Ryan watched as Skaara put the lighter away once more, and the boy flashed him a wry smile while Baraka at his side looked nervous and frightened. Ryan, slowly, started to rise the weapon, his eyes still locked on the two local boys. In front of him, Skaara pushed aside the uneven hem of his cloak, and Ryan nearly faltered at what he saw. Pushed against the boy's side was one of the rifles the team had brought from Earth and on his face was suddenly one of the most determined looks Ryan had ever seen. And the scientist finally started to think that maybe, just maybe, everything would somehow work out.

Ryan primed the weapon and waited a long moment before spinning on the sole of his foot, firing blindly against Ra and the guards and the entrance to the pyramid. His blast went as wild as he'd expected, but immediately at least a dozen of the local boys were firing rifles and handguns into the air.

In the ensuing panic, the whole team did the only reasonable thing and ran down the ramp before the guards had the chance to start firing back, and some of the boys met them when they reached the crowds, pushing sand-colored garments and their own cloaks over them to make them less recognizable. And then the blasts of the staff weapons resounded over the desert and shots hit the throng of people and all Ryan could do was run, as quickly as his legs would carry him and hope no one would get too badly injured, although he knew that wish was in vain.

"Ross!" Walker shouted over the noise. "Ross, over here! Come on! Spungen!" Ryan followed his voice, pushing through the locals on his quest to reach the colonel, and then he was there, and a couple of boys helped him up onto the back of one of the strange, large creatures behind Walker and slapped its rear end, sending it running through the desert. Shots resounded behind them and Ryan knew they were now aimed towards the creature they were riding, and all he could do was squeeze his eyes shut and clutch Walker's sweaty, dirty shirt to hang on and hope for the best.




A few steps farther and his legs refused to carry him anymore. Unceremoniously, he collapsed down on the sand with a small groan, arms wrapping tightly around his own middle. "Ross!" Walker shouted from a few feet ahead. "Come on! Come on!"

The creature had stopped walking with them, still offering some tiny amount of shelter against the elements, and Ryan tried, almost desperately, to pick himself up, but his head swam and his legs hurt way too much. He heard Walker sigh, and then felt the colonel lie down half on top of him to protect him against the weather, and he closed his eyes and fell asleep or unconscious, he didn't even know, much quicker than he'd have expected.



Ryan didn't know how long he'd been out of it, but when he woke up again Skaara and a small group of local boys he didn't know were there with them, gesturing and speaking loudly to a confused colonel who obviously didn't understand a word. After a moment, though, Skaara seemed to realize Ryan was awake and smiled in relief, bending down to put an arm around his back, one of the other boys immediately coming to help hoist the scientist to his feet, and then he was being half-carried, half-dragged through the dark, freezing desert by a pair of teenage boys who were a hell of a lot stronger than they looked.

The walk was blurred through exhaustion, and Ryan couldn't say if it had been ten minutes or ten hours later when they reached their destination. He couldn't see much in the darkness, but he thought he could make out rock formations that were as holed as Swiss cheese.

"These are old mines," Skaara told him. "Abandoned."

Ryan nodded his understanding and let them help him on inside one of the caves where he sighed in relief at being away from the weather even as they continued to move further in, down the initial pit and into another cave where around twenty people were gathered around a roaring fire, including the remnants of the team as well as more local boys.

Giving a sigh, the scientist slumped to the floor along one wall, taking deep, calming breaths, even as he kept observing. Skaara pumped a fist into the air, all glinting dark eyes and broad smile. "To our victory!" he shouted. The other boys roared and cheered even though Baraka, whom Ryan discovered was also there, was a little more subdued and kept casting Ryan long glances. Skaara, though, turned to Walker with an elated expression. "We recovered your weapons," he declared brightly, but there was something fierce to his voice, fearless. The boy held out his hand, showing off a rifle.

Walker stared at the weapon in shock for a moment before he was distracted by Marlowe. "Here, colonel," the marine said, offering a clay cup of water, which the colonel immediately took and downed greedily.

Ryan was racked through by a coughing fit, his throat parched and dry and feeling full of all the sand he must have inhaled. And suddenly Baraka was there, placing a rough, warm blanket around his shoulders and giving him a bowl of water, and Ryan tried to give a grateful smile although it probably turned out more like a grimace and started drinking. It was all he could do not to moan in pleasure at the fresh taste and the feeling of his throat starting to become moist again.

Walker seemed to have gone back to staring uncomfortably at the kids who seemed to all have a handgun or a rifle or even hand grenades, all of them weapons the team had brought from Earth.

"So," Spungen spoke up with a grin. "What do you think? They aren't exactly special forces, I mean, but they sure were eager to join up."

Walker frowned and put down his water, starting to grab the weapons away from the boys and gather them at his own feet. "Take these guns away, lieutenant," he ordered in what was practically a growl. "Before they hurt themselves."

Spungen gave him a confused look as Ryan kept watching from his spot by the wall. "Sir?" the lieutenant asked.

"You heard me!" Walker snapped. "Send them all home!"

"There's no place these kids can go!" Spungen protested. "Anyway, we could sure use their help right now."

"For what?" Walker roared, standing back up to loom over his men, his hands shaking. "Huh? To do what?"

Everyone was stunned to silence, and the colonel's shaking only seemed to be getting worse. Finally Ryan decided that someone needed to speak, and it might as well be him. "Why don't you just tell them everything?" he asked hoarsely. "Why don't you tell them about the bomb?"

"What's he talking about?" Smith asked after a pregnant pause, looking at Walker warily.

Walker sighed. "My orders were simple," he stated in an almost subdued voice that was very different from what Ryan was used to hearing from the man. "Track down signs of any possible danger. If I found any, blow up the Stargate." He paused for a long, tense moment. "Well, I found some."

"Well," Ryan said from where he was seated, voice a bit harsher than he had intended. "Your bomb is his now. And three months from now – while we're stuck here and can't interfere as he gathers enough of that mineral – he'll send it back to Earth along with a large shipment of that metal they mine here. And when that thing goes off it's going to cause an explosion a hundred times more destructive than that bomb alone is capable of."

Walker ran a tired hand across his face. "I'll intercept the bomb before he can send it through."

"Why wasn't I told any of this?" Marlowe asked sharply.

"Because there wasn't any reason to tell you," the colonel answered tiredly. "You weren't even supposed to be here. You were all gonna go right back through with Ryan. I was gonna stay behind alone and blow up the Stargate, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

"It's the Gate on Earth that's a threat," Ryan stated softly. "That's the one we really have to shut down."

"You're absolutely right," Walker stated, and he seemed a lot more composed by now. "But since you don't know how to get us back, we don't exactly have that option, do we?" His eyes locked on Ryan's across the cave for a moment, fire and distance flickering between them before Ryan shamefully broke the eye-lock. Walker then turned to Skaara who held his rifle close, obviously quite unwilling to let it go, and the colonel shook his head and walked out of the cavern.



Ryan had gotten maybe two or three hours of uncomfortable sleep, wrapped in the blanket Baraka had given him on the hard, rocky floor. When he finally woke back up he grimaced slightly at the realization that he was feeling more than a little guilty about forcing about that confrontation earlier. With a sigh he got up and went silently to the outer cave, passing sleeping boys and soldiers as he went. He supposed they'd be setting up some better sleeping options later, but everyone had been too exhausted on this, first, night.

He found Walker sitting with his back against the rocky wall of the outer cave, lazily smoking a cigarette while his eyes seemed to be staring at absolutely nothing, inexplicably softer than he had ever seen them before. "You had accepted that no matter what happened you weren't going home?" the young scientist asked cautiously, sitting down next to the Navy officer. "Don't you have people who care about you? I heard you have a family."

Walker laughed bitterly, looking away for a moment. "I had a family," he stated. "No one should have to outlive their children, or watch their wife go from vibrant and alive to cold and dead within the blink of an eye."

Ryan looked down at his hands, biting his lip. "Well," he muttered, feeling incredibly sorry for the other man. He didn't think the sentiment would be very appreciated, though. "I don't want to die. Your men don't want to die. And these people here don't want to die." He sighed. "It's a shame that you're in such a hurry to."

The colonel didn't answer, but when they heard approaching footsteps they both looked up to see Skaara coming closer. Ryan got up, patting the officer's shoulder before he could think better of it, and walked off.

Part Four