Ceremony

Sam blinked her eyes open as it began to get lighter. The sun had not risen quite yet, but already she could hear rustling as others in the caravan began to rise. Soon a series of whistles was sounding and the rustling became more earnest. Colonel O'Neill was very subdued as he drank from the buckets, leaving water for her and Daniel.



“Sir, I'm not thirsty,” she started, bracing herself for an argument, “neither is Dan...”



O'Neill simply sent the bucket through the force field and said nothing. No sarcastic quip, no order to drink, nothing. He took his place on his end of the cage and stood silently. Teal'c raised an eyebrow and emptied their second water bucket before sending it through. They had eaten all of their food the night before.



“Daniel Jackson, Major Carter, if you wish to use the waste bucket, now would be the appropriate time.”



Damn. Okay, it wasn't the first time she'd had to piss in front of these guys, they'd been locked away together often enough. It just felt so different, where any old hairy caravan guard could walk by and see her. Still, biology is biology she told herself and watched sadly as a small trickle of urine filled the bucket. Kind of annoying to waste water in that way, really. At least she hadn't vomited at any point yet. Considering she'd been drugged, she considered herself pretty lucky on that count.



She passed the bucket to Daniel who used it, and passed it to Teal'c. No one commented about the bucket's missing handle, though she felt kind of guilty for losing it. Teal'c dumped it and passed all of the buckets back to them before the final whistle sounded and the caravan started to move.



Sam had moved back to her side of the cage and was testing the field, trying to see how much give it would have. The team was silent, as was most of the caravan as they moved forward. The sun had reached the highest point in the sky before she realized, and she felt relief. She hadn't realized quite how worried about Colonel O'Neill she had been. Except that they didn't stop.



She turned to glare at Daniel accusingly. “I thought you said they always stopped at noon. Heat of the day, all that.”



“They do. We must be reaching our destination soon.”



Sam swallowed her panic. “Oh.”



Too soon she smelled a city. Dirt, unwashed humans, smells of cooking all filtered through the air. She began to hear noises, and then they walked over a hill and she saw it. It seemed to be a fairly large city. Buildings crowded into each other, some towering over others. Small children ran, dodging in between the various cages and shouted various things. Adults standing off the side of the road were soon making comments, and judging from the look on Daniel's face, fairly lewd ones. Just a body, Sam told herself. They'd have to be let out at some point, and then they'd all make their escape.



They finally halted, and O'Neill stood hunched over, gasping for breath. Sam nudged the last water of the water towards Teal'c, who immediately understood and made sure it got to the Colonel. O'Neill drank it all without protest. Sam tried not feel thirsty, or hungry. After all, she had done nothing but sit in a cage.



Soon the hairy guard from the night before returned and said something to Teal'c. Who looked straight at Daniel.



“Uhm, he said to come over here. Basically. I think.”



Teal'c supported O'Neill as they walked closer and the guard hit some button on his pain-stick. The force field had dissipated! Carter looked and saw Daniel nod, this was essentially their chance. She kicked the hairy man who stared at her in shock, long enough for Teal'c to incapacitate him and take the pain-stick. Daniel left the cage.



Sam looked at her friends. “Which way to the Gate?”



“That way,” Daniel pointed. “Across a desert, with no resources. No food, no water, not even clothes.”



“Yeah, well,” O'Neill finally spoke, though it was considerably quieter than usual. “Probably still better than staying here. Let's book.”



“Book?” Teal’c’s question was a comfort as they began to run.

People started shouting, as they did. “Was this the best plan you guys had?” O'Neill panted as they came to edge of town.



“What, you had...” Carter didn't hear the last of Daniel's statement, something had pricked her in the shoulder.



“Sir...” she trailed off, staying conscious just long enough to hear O'Neill say, “Great,” and fall over himself.



----



“Dad!” Sam was shouting. There was so much fire, pain. Screaming shouting. Where was she? “Jack!”Hands were grabbing her, reaching out for her, touching her.



“Carter! Wake up!” Something stung her cheek. She blinked, Jack... not wearing a shirt. And she was nake... oh. She blushed and sat up.



“Uh, morning sir.”



“More like night, Major. But nice to have you back.” Jack was leaning against some sort of force field. Oh.



“So we're all locked in together now?” Carter pressed down against the spongy material that made their cage's platform.



“It would seem so.”Teal'c was staring at the roads and the people around them menacingly.



“Uh...yeah, seems after that escape attempt, we were worth more. We're apparently being saved for some big auction...selling as a group.”Daniel tried to push his glasses up, before obviously remembering they weren't on his face. “Someone in the caravan said we could be controlled through each other. Or that was general gist of it.”



“Oh.” The members of SG-1 studiously avoided looking at each other for a moment.



“So, Major, how about disabling that force field? How's that coming?”the Colonel asked finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence.



“Sorry, sir. I really am at a loss. If we could get one of those pain- sticks, apparently something on those turns it off. I don't recall any pain -sticks working in this fashion before. But they were definitely the Go’auld variety pain- sticks, weren't they?” She looked towards Daniel for confirmation.



Daniel nodded, somewhat distracted. Apparently he was trying to listen to the crowd. Piecing together the language, more than likely. Or trying to find someone sympathetic he could argue to their side. Well, that was better than their current plan. Or at least as good.



“Maybe we can convince whoever buys us to take us back,” Sam mused, giving voice to her speculations. The whole team stared at Daniel, who shrugged.



“Maybe,” he said. “If we can communicate. I can convince them that we aren't slaves, that we come from the Stargate, and that they will get a handsome reward for returning us.”



“And just how, Daniel, would we get the S.C. to let us through the iris?” Jack patted his pants. “No pockets. No GDO. And unless one of you two is hiding it...” he trailed off, flushing.



“Well, sir, it's better than no plan. Or the plan of “somehow overcome the guards again, escape and trek through the desert half-naked back to the Stargate”. We still wouldn't have a GDO.”



“We should take solace that we have not been separated,” Teal'c said suddenly. “Together I am certain we will prevail.”



“Yeah, what he said,”Jack said finally, pantomiming putting his hands in his pockets. “What he said.”



Eventually they slept, or at least tried. Sam thought she heard little snores coming from the Colonel and was relieved. He and Teal'c particularly needed rest. She actually was feeling restless and useless. Still, she tried, curled against Teal'c, who was quite warm, and she eventually dozed.