Heart's Desire (5 page)

Then the next word was an impossible string of consonants. Okay. Still, there was no mistaking the alphabet, even with some of the letters stylized a little differently than he'd seen them before, with stronger crossbars and descenders that ended in stylized points. That could have been an artifact of carving them into stone, though, without the benefit of mechanical tools. His mind was already spinning rapidly over the possibilities.

“I'd like to get some more light in here,” Daniel said. “Let me… no, no, I should get some other people down here. Anath, can you show me the fastest way back outside? My radio won't work underground.”

Anath gave his radio a skeptical glance but led him back through the maze of corridors to a set of steps that opened abruptly out to a small terrace, where a spindly potted tree looked like it didn't get watered as often as it would have liked.

He thumbed on his radio. “Hey, Jack?”

“Right here,” Jack said. “We're being served tea. And little pastries.” He sounded amused.

“That's nice,” Daniel said. “I need you to bring me my pack, it's got a better light in it. And you should come see this, anyway. We're in the
—
where are we, Anath?”

“The gallery that runs along the outside of the Hall of the Bulls,” Anath said in bemusement.

“Right, did you get that? The gallery that
—
do you actually have cattle here? I wouldn't think that with as little arable land
—”

“Daniel,” Jack said.

“Gallery outside the Hall of the Bulls,” Daniel said. “I'm sure somebody can show you the way.”

“Let me guess,” Jack said. “You found a wall with writing on it.”

“No, I found a set of clay tablets with writing on them, and I need to get pictures because they look like they're ready to fall apart. Oh, did I mention that the writing on them is in Ancient?”

“You have now,” Jack said after a moment. “Okay, we'll come down.”

Anath put her head to one side watching him. “You like these things?”

“Yes, they're very interesting,” Daniel said, and meant it more than he had all day.

“There are more in the treasury,” Anath said. “The High King collects things found in the deserted places.”

“The deserted places,” Daniel said. “You mean ruins? Places where people used to live?” He welcomed the itch of curiosity, intense enough to drive all other thoughts out of his head for a while. “I'd very much like to see the rest of them.”

“Good,” Anath said, smiling cheerfully. “Walat was sure we'd find
something
you wanted.”

“S
o I really think their price is very reasonable,” Daniel said over the video link. General Hammond privately suspected that Daniel would say so no matter what it was, given the chance to get more information about a mysterious ancient civilization, but in this case he really did think it was reasonable.

Antibiotics and information on methods of producing them were a fair exchange for the tablets, and something that they would probably been willing to provide for purely humanitarian reasons without asking for anything substantial in return. He hoped Daniel had more sense than to mention that. Besides, there was a certain inherent value to having a reputation as nice, friendly people who got along well with others.

“All right,” Hammond said. “I'll get someone to work assembling those supplies.”

“Yes, well, there is one slight catch,” Daniel said.

Hammond resisted the urge to sigh audibly into the microphone. In their line of work, it seemed like there was always just one slight catch. “And what would that be?”

“Well, we've been negotiating with the Minister of Trade, Walat, but apparently the High King is the only one who can actually approve the trade agreement.”

“That doesn't seem like a problem.”

“No. The problem is that we have to have someone of equivalent rank among our people come represent us. After we've spent the last few days being really firm about the fact that we can't make any promises without checking with our superiors, we can't change our minds now and tell them that we're political leaders.”

“Exactly what are you suggesting, Dr. Jackson? I can't very well get the President of the United States down here to make a deal for some clay tablets, no matter how interesting they are.”

“Well, as far as I can tell no one's actually mentioned to them that we have superiors other than you. I know it's not exactly our standard operating procedure, but if you came out here yourself to sign the trade agreement, I think they'd accept you as our head of state.”

“As far as that goes, there's no reason it has to be me,” Hammond pointed out. “I take it you haven't provided them with names and descriptions of our political leaders.”

“No,” Daniel said. “And of course that's a possibility. I'm just concerned that if we deceive them and they find out about it, as unlikely as I admit that probably is…”

“That's all right,” Hammond said. “I don't suppose it'll hurt me to get out of the office for a change.”

It wasn't only that, although he had to admit that on a lot of days it was frustrating to sit in front of a fantastic gateway to other worlds and watch other people walk through it. There were enough situations in which they had no choice but to deceive the people they met on other worlds about who they were and what their world was really like. He didn't like the idea of lying this time just to save himself the inconvenience of taking a walk.

 
“Great,” Daniel said. “We can go over the plans for the ceremonial signing when you get here. These things are traditionally public events here even when they're dealing with people they've traded with in the past, so given that we're more of an unknown quantity, I'm expecting this to draw quite a crowd.”

Hammond frowned. “Are we sure that's entirely wise, considering that we're signing this agreement on a planet controlled by the Goa'uld?”

“Yeah, we asked them about that,” Daniel said. “They said that their goddess never actually pays attention to who they trade with. Apparently she hardly ever shows up, and when she does, she usually spends the whole time visiting her temples and having everybody tell her how wonderful she is. Then they give her a bunch of tribute gifts and she leaves again. It's not a bad arrangement for them, except for the fact that the tribute is draining their economy and preventing them from having any kind of reliable agricultural surplus.”

“Well, it's their funeral,” Hammond said. “I just hope we don't end up causing more trouble than this stuff we're selling them is worth.”

“So do I,” Daniel said. He looked like he was struggling with his conscience, and also like it wasn't winning. “I really want to find out what's on those tablets, though,” he said. “From the two I've been able to look at so far, I think these are copies of much older original documents or inscriptions that may have already been here long before the Goa'uld ever brought humans to this planet. I'm hoping we may find an account of how the Stargates were originally installed, or find out why the Ancients were interested in this planet to begin with, or… who knows.”

“All right, you don't have to convince me,” Hammond said. “I'll come out there, and we can get this trade agreement signed so you can pack up your tablets.”

“Actually, I was just planning to videotape them,” Daniel said. “I'm not sure how we'd move some of them if we tried; the biggest ones are huge, and half of them look like they're falling apart. They are handing over one of the oldest of the tablets in the ceremony itself, though. Apparently that one's actually engraved metal, which makes me suspect it might actually be original. I have no idea right now, because as soon as they figured out we were interested enough in this stuff that we might be willing to pay them just to see it, they wouldn't let us anywhere near it.”

“Sensible people,” Hammond said. “How is Major Carter's meteorological survey going?”

Daniel looked like he had no idea. “Fine, I think? She has the UAV you sent through up recording data about the prevailing winds. The locals think it's interesting. I don't think they've ever seen a heavier-than-air aircraft before.”

“That's a trade for another day,” Hammond said. “We should be ready to leave within the hour.”

“You may want to dress up for this,” Daniel said. “I think we're talking royal robes in the High King's delegation.”

Hammond shook his head. “I'm a little short on those, Dr. Jackson, but we'll see what we can do.”

“A
re you entirely sure about this?” General Hammond said, inspecting himself in the guesthouse's mirror. Jack tried not to look visibly amused. The length of heavy wool brocade that Daniel had wrapped around Hammond's waist as a… well, as a skirt… certainly wasn't the worst thing SG-1 had worn for the sake of a mission.

“I really think it's necessary,” Daniel said. “It's pretty clear to me from everything that I've seen so far that trousers are only worn here by laborers and servants, or at best by ordinary guardsmen. They're going to expect a leader to wear robes of some kind.”

“I suppose I could have brought my bathrobe,” Hammond said. “As opposed to putting on dress blues.”

“I did say…”

“I know,” Hammond said, and sighed. “All right, let's get on with the show.”

“I really think you ought to have a wig as well,” Daniel said. “I could see if we can arrange
—”

“No, thank you,” Hammond said firmly. “I'm going a long way for the sake of these tablets of yours. I think the High King can deal with the sight of my actual head.”

“All right,” Daniel said. “The plan is, we're part of a ritual procession through the city to an outdoor court, which is where we'll meet with the High King. I'm assuming there will be a ton of spectators, but the High King's guards are supposed to be taking care of security. Once we actually come into the High King's presence, we'll have to surrender our weapons
—”

“Hello,” Jack said. “That's a problem.”

“There was no such requirement when we dined with the High King the other evening,” Teal'c pointed out.

“Yes, but apparently it makes a difference that it's a public ceremonial occasion, and that it's taking place on sacred ground. Apparently the court is a site of the ritual worship of their goddess Asherah, and being visibly armed would be the equivalent of taking rifles into a church.”

“You said visibly,” Jack said.

“I don't think they're actually going to search us,” Daniel said. “That would be disrespectful, and they're trying to be friendly here. I think as long as we hand over our rifles and Teal'c's staff weapon, and keep anything we don't hand over well out of sight, we'll be okay.”

Teal'c frowned but didn't argue. Jack drew his pistol from its holster and tucked it under his jacket instead, his eyes on Carter and Daniel to make sure they were doing the same.

“All right,” he said. “Let's go… process.”

W
alat came to fetch them trailing half a dozen nervous attendants, all dressed in bright skirts and robes. Jack thought he looked relieved at Hammond's altered outfit. Apparently for a while it had looked like they were really falling down in the ‘impressive royalty' department.

Walat led them at a leisurely pace through a maze of gardens and corridors toward what was obviously their destination, an open courtyard that on one side ended abruptly at the edge of a cliff. The drop was a sharp one, with no protective wall or even a handrail to keep anyone from straying off the edge. Jack made a note to watch his step.

The only thing that broke the view of the mountains beyond the Gap was what looked like a tall, limbless and leafless tree with its base set into the stones of the courtyard. In front of it, a handful of people were gathered around a wooden chair and low table, one of them in scarlet robes that trailed behind him on the ground and a tall hat trimmed with gold.