It was just after dusk on Savannah when Tony and Ahardt arrived. One of the guards pointed a staff weapon at them for the few seconds it took to recognize them in the dim starlight. When he did, he sprang to attention. In the makeshift shelter they'd set up, the other one rightly kept his gaze on the unconscious Goa'uld through the whole exchange.
"Any change?" Tony looked at the prisoner.
"No, Colonel." The heavily built Talisi responded. Tony had only heard his name once: Sorhan, he thought, or something sounding like that. "Not since the Healer left, anyway."
"Good." Tony stepped over to the Goa'uld and examined him closely. The host was of medium height, but heavily built. His breathing was barely detectable through the drug-induced sleep. Or at least that's what Tony hoped. He carefully injected the alien again, just to be sure. He then scooped it up in a rescue-carry, and turned to the guards. "Pack up that shelter and head to Hovak. You've got another ten minutes on the return window. And remember, steer clear of the locals on the other side. We don't want to spook anyone until Desousa's talks are done, and preferably not even then."
They both nodded and got to work. Ahardt gave him a concerned look, but didn't speak until he was out of the others' earshot. "We're not guarding him anymore?"
"That's right." Tony set the Goa'uld down and stepped up to the DHD to begin entering symbols. He'd never been to this planet before, but he'd made sure to memorize the address before heading to Savannah. "We're taking him to another planet."
"And then what, just leave him there? We can't let him out of our sight! He knows about Hovak. What'll stop him from telling another Goa'uld, or even coming back himself?" Ahardt's voice began to border on the incredulous.
"Hargrove doesn't think he can get anything else out of him, and I tend to agree. We got lucky just getting the access code."
During their brief conversation, Hargrove had told him how the interrogation had gone. Apparently the electrical discharge of the zat had allowed the host to emerge briefly, enough to tell them what they wanted to know, but the process had taken a toll. He'd concluded that trying for anything more would be a terrible risk for the host, and Tony had agreed. There was only one thing left to do, now.
"I can't believe you're just letting him go like this!" Ahardt intoned fiercely.
"Then don't." He responded smoothly. "Believe it, I mean." He looked meaningfully at the DHD, and Ahardt finally took a look for himself.
Recognition dawned on his features, followed by embarrassment. "Sorry, boss."
"Not a problem. You're right to be suspicious. Just try to be aware, too." He teased.
The 'gate finished its cyclic dialing process, and there was the usual rush of energy as a stable wormhole formed. Tony moved to pick up the prisoner again, but Ahardt hesitated.
"Boss, I don't think it's a good idea for me to go. After last time and all, I don't think I'd be very welcome."
"Nonsense. They requested you by name." Ignoring Ahardt's surprised look, he hoisted the prisoner up and stepped through.
-.-
They emerged into a small valley surrounded by forested hills. It looked like it was just after sunrise, as well. Next to the 'gate a massive stone obelisk, topped by what looked like a gold-colored capstone, towered over them. Tony noticed a flicker of movement from the top of one of the hills and suddenly three people appeared, one from behind the obelisk itself, aiming crossbows at them.
Above them, from the top of the obelisk, a loud humming noise began.
Tony spread his hands, as best he could, and Nelson followed suit. "Hello!" He called out to them. "We're visitors from Earth! The place you call Midgard. We're expected." He'd expected the obelisk and the noise, but not the guards. Strangely enough, they lowered their weapons as they approached.
The humming noise was increasing in pitch and intensity as the seconds passed, also what Tony had been told to expect.
"Help me hold him up." He instructed Ahardt, who didn't hesitate for once. They both propped the prisoner up and waited. The guards whispered among each other, but didn't get any closer.
Without warning, the noise coming from the obelisk stopped gaining intensity, and it apparently began powering down.
Tony stared at it in surprise. "Ok, that wasn't supposed to happen."
One of the guards responded in a gruff voice. "As you said, you are expected." He smirked at them, and suddenly a flash of light enveloped them.
-.-
When the light faded, Tony and Ahardt found themselves in another place entirely. It looked like a windowless, enclosed room, with a ceiling only about a foot above their heads. A table sat in the center, on which lay a few white stones. The main colors of the walls were purple and gray, a stark contrast to the gold and silver of the Goa'uld facility he was getting used to. And they were alone: their Goa'uld was missing, too.
"Ok, boss, what just happened?" Ahardt sounded stunned.
"I'm not sure." He admitted. "You've been to this planet before, right?"
"Sure. This is the asgard-protected planet, Cimmeria. But the last time I was here, we only went to the city and back to the 'gate, and that spike thing didn't start humming at us."
"That's because last time you didn't bring a Goa'uld with you. The obelisk is supposed to send any Goa'uld it detects, along with anyone who's touching them, to an underground maze underneath the nearby hills. At the end of that maze is supposed to be a machine that we could use to free this poor guy from his parasite."
"Right, the Thor's Hammer device I read about." Ahardt looked around. "Maybe it malfunctioned and sent us somewhere else." He shrugged. "I'm just glad none of those guys decided to shoot us. Like I said, I might not be welcome here."
There was a noise of grinding machinery, and a door began opening vertically on the far wall. The opening was barely four feet high when a familiar gray-skinned alien stepped through.
{Colonel Marcus, Major Ahardt, welcome to Cimmeria.} His melodic, multi-toned voice seemed mild.
Reassured, Tony approached him. "It's good to see you again, Mimir. I wasn't expecting to see you in person, though. I assumed you'd be too busy to meet us, and that we'd be speaking with the Cimmerians themselves."
{Ordinarily, that would be the case. Under the circumstances, however, I have ample time to meet with you.}
Tony cocked his head slightly. "What circumstances?"
{The timing of your radio transmission was fortunate for you, Colonel.} The asgard responded, apparently ignoring the question. {My mission here is complete. I was in the process of preparing my equipment for transport home when you contacted me.} He waved his short arm around the spartan room. {I sent a request for a short delay to the High Council and it was granted so that I could help you. I also had some… personal reasons for requesting the delay.}
"We just wanted to use the Hammer thingie to free this guy from his Goa'uld." Ahardt put in timidly, looking around. "Where is he, anyway?"
In response, Mimir held up a familiar-looking white stone, and one of the walls began grinding open as the door had. Behind it, resting in some kind of coffin-like cylinder, lay the host and presumably his parasite. Mimir stepped over to it, and placed a small hand on the side of the transparent covering. {He is safe, for the time being. The computer is running calculations on the exact position of the parasite within him. It shouldn't be long before we can proceed.}
Tony was a little surprised. "I didn’t expect you to extract the symbiote yourself."
{The new Hammer will actually perform the transport, but this is an excellent opportunity to calibrate the device.}
"You’re going to try to beam it out of him?" Ahardt looked at the body inside with some concern.
"It's my understanding that the parasite can kill its host instantly, if it wants." Tony put in for him. "A Goa'uld definitely would, if it knew it would die, and this particular one threatened to do just that during its interrogation. Is there anything you can do to prevent it?"
Mimir shook his head fractionally. {I designed the original Hammer that your people eventually destroyed. It functioned by keeping the symbiote in a constant degree of pain so that it couldn't concentrate enough to kill its host. At the time, it was new technology, but still had an almost thirty percent mortality rate for the host. We have much more sophisticated methods now.}
He raised the stone again, and a hologram sprang into view, showing a close-up interior view of the host’s head. It was almost like looking at a 3D x-ray, and they could clearly see the symbiote attached to his brain. As they watched, more and more points began flashing around the symbiote's body. {The computer is isolating the symbiote's position and any likely changes during transport. We must be very careful, as even the slightest miscalculation could render the host brain-dead.}
Ahardt stiffened as something apparently occurred to him. "Wait a second, you designed the Hammer? Personally? I thought it was called Thor's Hammer."
Mimir deactivated the image and looked at him curiously. "Supreme Commander Thor is an able scientist, but he's also a military and political leader. The demands on his time are significant. When he drove the Goa'uld from this world the first time, I was assigned to manufacture and place the technology that would protect it. I built the infrastructure upon which the Cimmerians would later build their society, and I instilled the cultural values that would influence them thereafter.} His voice became contemplative. {They may view him as a god, but I'm the closest thing they have to a creator.}
Despite the gravity of what Mimir'd just said, Ahardt blundered on with his line of questioning. "If you built the first Hammer, then you must be at least… what? Four thousand years old?"
The asgard only stared at him for a few seconds.
Tony gave Ahardt a warning look, which he apparently missed. "But… how? Obviously you don't use anything like the sarcophagus. You're not… well, evil."
{It is not something we discuss with other races. Please do not inquire further on this topic.} Mimir’s voice was calm and measured, despite his words.
Ahardt gulped and nodded contritely, and Tony hurried to change the subject. "I take it the guards at the 'gate when we arrived were your idea?"
{Actually, that was on their initiative alone. The new Hammer protects the Cimmerians from Goa'uld, Jaffa, and humans under all known methods of Goa'uld mind control. However, if the System Lords were to realize that, they could easily send some of their human worshippers through to damage my technology again. The Cimmerians apprehend any visitor for questioning, and I gave them the tools to confirm if their prisoner is being truthful or not.}
Tony was impressed. "Wow, they're really not taking any chances this time, are they?" He paused. "What if the Goa'uld decided to send a whole army through the 'gate? We've seen them use humans as cannon fodder before. How would the Cimmerians stop them if you're not around anymore?"
{In dire need, the Hammer can be activated manually, and used to target humans. However, after Heru'ur's humiliating defeat here last time, it is unlikely that any of the Goa'uld will try again. It is partially that subject which prompted me to call you here, actually.} Mimir seemed to soften his tone a little as he looked to Ahardt. {I asked for you personally so that I could apologize to you.}
Tony and Ahardt shared a confused glance. Before they could ask, he continued. {I care about the Cimmerians deeply. When I heard that humans from Earth had destroyed my work and endangered my people, I reacted out of injured pride and emotional upset, rather than my usual calm detachment. Of course, I followed orders and began to help them rebuild, but I held a grudge against your people for quite some time. Then, suddenly, you were here, Major. Asking for my help. I… allowed you to be injured when I could have easily prevented it.} He actually lowered his head in remorse. {I regret my actions.}
Tony nudged Ahardt, and he snapped out of his surprise. "Uh, don't worry about it. It's not the first time someone's decked me for something I said." As Mimir nodded gratefully, Tony heard Ahardt add, 'hopefully won't be the last, either' under his breath.
All three silently watched the computer continue to map the host's brain for a time. A warning light began flashing, and Mimir checked it. {There appear to be significant amounts of several different sedatives within his system. They seem to be effective, but their presence is making the scanning process take longer.} He began entering commands on the side of the cylinder, making slight changes to the process.
Finally, Ahardt spoke again. "Boss, are you sure we're doing the right thing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if this guy's been a host for hundreds if not thousands of years, he's been through a sarcophagus God knows how many times…" He trailed off for a second. "I feel like a real jerk asking this, but is there really anything left to save here?"
"There is." Tony assured him. "He's never used a sarcophagus. Neither he nor his superiors had one to use." At Ahardt's dubious look, he continued. "No, really. Seraus knew I'd kill him if I thought he was lying, so I believe he was telling the truth. Without one, I think the upper limit to how long he's held this guy is two hundred years or so. And if we free him," he continued hurriedly over Ahardt's noise of protest, "he should be able to live a normal-ish life from here on out."
"But we don't even know where he's from! If he doesn't know the 'gate address, how will we get him home?"
{That won't be a problem.} Mimir responded ahead of Tony. {There is a 94 percent chance that he is from Kaleyus Trotaoi.} He pressed a control and six 'gate symbols appeared on the cylinder's screen. {The planet was abandoned by the Goa’uld over sixty years ago when the local supply of naquadah was depleted.}
"How do you know that?" Tony managed through his surprise. "That he’s from there, I mean."
{The human populations in this galaxy are all descendants of people taken from Earth, from very specific locations on your planet.} He responded drily. {Human genetic changes are easy to predict, even over long spans of time. Based on your captive's genome, that planet is his most likely place of origin. There are four other planets that comprise another five percent, if I'm mistaken.}
"Lucky him, I guess." Ahardt responded, apparently taking the news in stride. "Can you also tell how long he's had that brain slug?"
Mimir seemed taken aback for a second, and then checked the data streaming on the side of the Goa’uld’s tube. {Based on his current rate of cell mitosis, he is approximately one hundred and twenty-five years old. The amount of naquadah built up in his bloodstream suggests he's been infested for about ninety years of that time.}
Tony whistled despondently. "You may be right, Ahardt. There may be nothing left to save here. We'll give him the best chance we can, though."
-.-
Suna raised her hand to open the door to the lab, and stopped. She could hear something, very faintly, from inside. Pressing her ear to the cold metal of the door, she could make out what was, unmistakably, music.
When she’d been a child, a group of traveling performers had visited Mendoha for almost a week. One of them had been a minstrel of extraordinary talent. Of course, she’d been very young, but what she remembered of his performances had stuck with her ever since. He had played the flute, and later sang while playing the strings. Later on, she’d heard flutes being played in harmony, and at the bonfire celebration back on SR, drums as well.
Suna had never heard anything like this, though.
Hurriedly pressing the combination to open the door, she was blasted by the full volume. Inside, she’d expected to find Blake, Haley and Govis, but she was surprised to see Hargrove as well. He was seated next to one of the Goa’uld consoles, moving his hands on its controls. She started towards him, opening her mouth to speak, but Blake grabbed her shoulder and raised a finger to his lips.
"Let him finish." He whispered into her ear. "It won’t be long now."
Overwhelmed, she nodded and sat down nearby. The multitude of tones mixed together, rising and falling, seeming almost to press against each other in some kind of dance of sound. She closed her eyes so as to better absorb it all.
When it was done, Blake and Haley began clapping their hands together. Sharing a confused glance, Govis and Suna followed their example.
Hargrove turned on his chair, and did a double-take upon seeing her. He got up quickly and headed over to another one of the consoles. Suna hid a smile. For all his professionalism, despite his cold-hearted, calculating nature, she still seemed to be able to trigger signs of emotionalism within him. In this case, apparently, embarrassment.
"What d’you think?" Blake asked, smiling.
"That was… amazing." She answered truthfully. "I had no idea that any of these machines could be used in this way."
"Well, they weren’t, originally." Haley stepped up next to Blake. "Looks like Seraus used this equipment as a sort of PA system. He probably used it to blast his ‘godlike’ voice out at the nearby villages and to his Jaffa whenever he wanted. It took me and Blake some work to make it into a pseudo-piano."
Blake laughed. "You know, I’m still stunned that you- you of all people!- know how to play the piano."
Hargrove shrugged hesitantly. "I took lessons as a kid. My mom insisted on it." He finally turned to face Suna again, and his face was less red-tinged this time. "Instrumental music always came easily to me. That was Bach’s Concerto number 7 in G, if I recall. I first heard it played-" He abruptly cut off and chuckled, "in a recording by a man named Glen Gould, ironically."
Blake smiled at that. "Before Tony took Nelson on… whatever mission they’re doing, I told him about this equipment we found, and he suggested we try something like this to lift spirits around here. I don’t know about the others, but I’m sure looking forward to hearing other parts of Hargrove’s repertoire."
Haley prodded him. "Oh, right. Our turn." He pressed a control on his own console, and then stepped back to Haley and winked at Suna and Hargrove. "You’ll get a kick out of this."
A series of tones began from the same location Suna had heard Hargrove’s song, but these were very different. They sounded like strings being plucked on a lyre, but came so quickly she had a hard time keeping up. Shortly later Blake started singing and, red-cheeked and laughing, Haley soon joined in.
We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout…
Suna didn’t understand most of the song, but it kept on bringing up the name of a place called Jackson, most certainly on Earth. As bad as Blake and Haley were at singing, though, their enthusiasm shone through like a star. The song lasted several minutes, and when they were done, Suna could see Jahu, Pierson and Chanehi all standing at the entrance, openmouthed.
Everyone from Earth burst out laughing as soon as they finished, while everyone else seemed to get caught up in the spirit of things.
Such a performance was well outside of her experience back on Zau, but Suna could see the attraction. She imagined crowds of people being mesmerized by this kind of activity. "What was that??" She finally managed to ask, still laughing lightly.
Blake grinned over at Haley before answering. "Remember back on SR, when Desousa said he missed his Johnny Cash collection? Well, that’s one of Cash’s most popular songs, one he sang in duet with his wife. Desousa’s birthday is in two days, and we’re gonna give him a recording of it." He shook his head. "It’s dreadful, I know, but it’s what he likes. I’m just glad Haley remembered the words to it."
"Besides, I think we can do one better." Haley continued for him. "Here, listen to this."
She pressed a few controls, and a section of the song played back for everyone. Suna could hear that the voices were different this time, though. Blake’s was deeper and steadier, and Haley’s was more melodic.
"The… voice synthesizer, I guess you could call it, was lumped in with the rest of this equipment. We can use it to actually make ourselves sound better." Blake explained. "Think of it as photoshop for music." He took in the blank looks from most of them. "Ok, bad example. Just listen and you’ll understand."
He stopped the playback, and pressed a few more keys. The music started again, but this time the voices had the same tone as the Goa’uld!
Almost everyone gasped in surprise. Suna cocked her head to the side, listening intently as it played. Sure enough, if she hadn’t known better, she would have thought it was a Goa’uld or Tok’ra singing.
"That’s incredible." Pierson spoke up.
"And potentially very useful." Hargrove added. "Good work, you two. I’m sure Desousa will love it. I’ll record a few more piano pieces later and you can pipe them through the base’s PA system." He lowered his gaze, avoiding Suna’s amused look. "In case you were going to ask, though, I don’t sing."
-.-
As the computer continued running its calculations, Mimir closed the entryway and stepped back into the original small room. He moved over to the central table, and placed one of the stones there in the bottom right position. Another hologram sprang into view above the table, depicting what looked like an altar of some kind. Square stones were set into it, at varying heights, and a round button could be seen on each end of it. {This is the other reason I wished to speak with you in person.}
Tony moved close to examine the display, with Nelson following suit. It didn't look like Goa'uld or asgard technology to him, but then, he couldn't be sure. "What is it?"
Mimir again ignored his question. {When I first began studying the barriers surrounding your planet and the others nearby, I noticed a periodic fluctuation in the energy output to each of them. At first, I thought it was an anomalous reading, due to my equipment's calibration, but it followed a regular pattern. In the months since the barriers were erected, there has been a consistent interval of exactly ten hours between each energy fluctuation. Does that specific time interval have any meaning to you?}
Tony shook his head. "Maybe it's some kind of recharge cycle. If Blake or Haley were here, I'm sure they'd have other suggestions, too."
{That was my assumption at first, as well.} Mimir nodded. {I even sent another probe into the field at that exact moment, in order to find a way through. Unfortunately, it was destroyed just as the first one was. Something about that particular time delay seemed familiar, though, so I requested access to a database from my homeworld. It took extensive research, but I now have a theory as to what caused the barrier in the first place.}
Tony felt a rush of excitement. Finally, some progress! He looked at Nelson, and saw a renewed interest in his expression as well. "When we first met, you suggested it was an Ancient machine of some kind. Were you right?"
Mimir raised his hand in an all-too-human gesture. {As I said, it is only a theory, but it does explain a great many variables. As you know, the asgard accessed an Ancient database long ago, and used what we learned from it to build much of our infrastructure and technology. In that database were oblique references to a device which the Ancients used during what we assume were their final days in this galaxy. According to the database, Earth and a number of nearby planets were isolated from the rest of the galaxy for a time by the use of this control terminal.} He pointed at the holographic display. {In addition, the isolation field had a ten-hour cyclic power signature.}
"That sounds encouragingly familiar. This has happened before?" Ahardt inquired. He thought about it for a second "How did we not know about it? A huge bubble appearing around our entire solar system isn't the kinda thing people just miss, you know."
"Maybe." Tony mused. "Depending on how long ago it happened, people may not have even known what they were looking at."
{You are correct, Colonel. Based on my research, if there were humans on your planet the last time this happened, they still lived in caves and ate raw meat. Your people have evolved past such needs since then.}
"Well, most of us. Apparently, you've never been to Jersey." Nelson muttered, and Tony surreptitiously elbowed him.
"Did the database say how long it stayed up last time?" He asked.
{Unfortunately, no. It did specify that the Ancients themselves deactivated it, though it didn't say why.}
"At least we know it can be shut down, then. Did it say where this control terminal thing is?" Tony looked up at the display again.
Mimir shook his head. {There were only a few references to it, as I said. However, that is not the most disturbing aspect I discovered about this device. It isolates the specified planets from the rest of the galaxy, not just through space but through time as well!}
