06 - Siren Song by Jamie Duncan, Holly Scott - (ebook by Undead) Read Free Book Online

but directly ahead,
a single slab of metal rose from the floor of the cave to the ceiling. Man-made,
definitely, and covered with symbols—simple glyphs. In spite of himself, a
thrill of anticipation rose in his gut. Something new, something he hadn’t seen
before, or looked for; something he hadn’t known existed. He stared, fascinated,
at the tiny symbols.
    “Do you know what it is?” Aris asked him.
    Daniel could feel the others moving closer behind him, but he had eyes only
for the glyphs. “I have no idea,” he said and smiled a little. It was another
way of saying that he’d know soon enough. All translations were puzzles, made
just for him. Jack’s hand on his shoulder interrupted that thought, and he
turned away, reluctantly. “It’s… obscure,” he said, in response to Jack’s
telegraphed warning. Of course he wasn’t going to give anything away. “I don’t
recognize it.”
    “That’s too bad, because the price of your freedom is an open door.” Aris
settled himself on a rock beside the door, one hand resting casually on his
weapon. At his feet were signs of excavation, like someone had been digging
around and later refilled the hole.
    “Why is it so important?” Sam asked.
    Aris leaned back, opened his mouth to answer. Then, as if he thought better
of it, he paused. He glanced up at the door, and his expression changed subtly
before he said, “If you can’t open that door, my people are going to die. All of
them.”
    “Why?” Daniel asked softly.
    “Sebek wants whatever is in there. But,” Aris indicated the door with the
muzzle of his blaster, “he can’t get to it.”
    “And he’s taking it out on your people,” Jack said sourly.
    “Yes.” There were shadows in Aris’ eyes, and for a brief moment Daniel felt
sorry for him.
    Aris took a breath, then reached to his belt for a tiny packet of blue
roshna. He emptied it into his canteen. “Major Carter, I don’t suppose you found
a way to break the cycle with this. Did you?”
    Sam’s face was pale. “We worked on the sample you gave me but didn’t have
much luck.”
    With a shrug, Aris said. “Fair enough. At least you tried.” Still, in spite
of his response, his eyes were shrewd when he shifted them to Daniel.
    Daniel knew he didn’t have to point out that their focus had not been on
helping Aris but on figuring out if the roshna he and his people were addicted
to also was responsible for their resistance to Goa’uld implantation. Thinking
about it gave him a vaguely bitter taste in the back of his mouth. One more compromise they’d made over the
years, one more opportunity they’d seized.
    Aris upended the canteen and downed the contents, then wiped his mouth with
the back of his hand. “Sebek doesn’t like it when things don’t go his way. It’s
making him crazy.”
    “How can you tell?” Jack said. “Is it the bombastic ranting or the penchant
for gold loincloths?”
    “None of his scientists could break into it, so he had them all killed.
Ripped their hearts out, right here on the floor.”
    Daniel glanced down. Nothing under his feet but black rock. “That’s… not
comforting,” he said.
    With the canteen, Aris tapped the metal door, producing a hollow ring that
echoed through the chamber. “Either you’ll get into this thing for me, or I’ll
find another use for you.”
    The symmetrical patterns seemed vaguely familiar to Daniel—matched figures
stretching the length of the door, slightly off-center—but he couldn’t make a
connection. “There are still some gaps in my memory. Without my translation
tools, I may not be able to help.”
    “Oh, you’ll be of use to me.” Aris leaned forward, his brown-golden eyes
black in the dimness. “You’ll open the door, or I’ll trade you for roshna.
Either way, you’ll serve a purpose.”
    Daniel nodded, but he looked to Jack, who was the final decision-maker in
this arena, no matter whose gun was on them or what options Daniel might think