SG1-15 The Power Behind the Throne Read Online Free PDF Page A

stone. It came an inch at a time, sinuous and sure, tasting the air. It took him a moment to realize what it was: a serpent. The serpent coiled around the iron chain suspended from the ceiling and climbed.
    In a curious gesture that was almost tender, Kelkus pulled the breathing mask off the man and ran his fingers through his matted hair. Then all pretense at tenderness disappeared as he yanked the man’s head back, forcing his mouth wide open in a scream that lacked only the
sound
of agony. Everything else was burned in the dying man’s face.
    As the serpent wound itself around the chains the grave robber backed away from the center of the circle, bumping into the table in his hurry to be out of the crypt. The ripple of motion along the iron links almost dislodged the snake. The creature hissed, opening its mouth impossibly wide. All he could think, staring at it, was that it had too many teeth. It was unlike any snake he had seen in his life.
    And then it started to move again, coiling down the links until it reached the man’s hand, and down the length of his forearm, leaving a mucus trail behind it.
    Kelkus yanked on the man’s hair again, forcing the wretch’s mouth wider.
    The serpent’s tail lashed against his clavicle, and then with a sudden and shocking flurry of motion, reared up and plunged into the man’s gaping mouth.
    The grave robber stared, trapped in abject horror. His muscles refused to obey his mind. All he wanted to do was run but they wouldn’t let him. The convulsions tore at the man’s emaciated frame, and then his head came up, eyes blazing cold gold, a new found strength in his bones, and he surely heard the voice of the dead as the man rasped, “I am your God, worship me!” He pulled free from the chains and rose from the table. There was no pain in his face now, only strength. Glory.
    The grave robber fell on his knees and wept.
    Kelkus knelt beside him, eyes burning as he surrendered to the revelation.
    “I live to serve,” he said.
    “Yes,” the god said, “you do.”

Chapter Five
     
One of Us
     
    The Tok’ra emissary came through the Stargate less than an hour later. She was grim-faced and wore her grief like a crown as she walked down the ramp. Her descent was slow and measured, her curiosity had her eyes darting across the room, taking it all in. O’Neill knew the routine, this one was a soldier. It was in her bearing, the way in which she carried herself and, most tellingly of all, the way with which she familiarized herself with possibly hostile territory. She was scoping out potential exits before she had even entered the room. The woman made no attempt to mask her annoyance at the muzzles aiming at her as she studied the faces of the Tau’ri watching her. “Which of you is Hammond of the Tau’ri?” Her voice had that brusque metallic echo of the symbiote talking through its host. The inhuman resonance never failed to unnerve him.
    Hammond inclined his bald head slightly, almost deferentially, and stepped forward. He began to greet the woman but was cut off by her puzzled frown. “Ah, I was led to believe you were a great warrior… you do not look so great.”
    “Appearances can be deceptive,” O’Neill said, putting himself between the general and the emissary. He couldn’t help himself; something about the woman just irked him. “You, after all, look like a lady.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
    “That is quite enough, Colonel O’Neill,” Hammond said, cutting him off before he could talk himself into trouble.
    “Quite,” the woman said. Jack detected the hint of a self-deprecating smile. It took him a moment to realize that she was agreeing with him, not Hammond. It was enough to have Jack reassess his immediate dislike: perhaps she wasn’t quite so irksome after all. “And you must be the one they call O’Neill.”
    He grinned. “Nice to see my reputation precedes me.”
    “Oh, it most certainly does. If you have