STARGATE SG-1: Oceans of Dust Read Online Free PDF Page A

hooded against the cold, some wore long robes that fluttered madly in the wind. He did spot a few items of what he had come to know as typical Jaffa armor and equipment, but on the whole, the men approaching him looked like people who had picked up whatever they could and run for their lives.
    The Jaffa on top of the cliff began to descend, running down a set of carved steps so narrow and fractured that O’Neill had thought them just another crack in the stone. Within a few seconds, they had reached level ground and spread out into ragged formation a few meters away. It was all O’Neill could do to keep his MP5 slung and his hands low.
    Finally, one of the Jaffa stepped forwards. He shrugged back the hood he had been wearing and raised a hand. “Teal’c!”
    In response, Teal’c tipped his head. “
Tek ma te
.”
    The hooded man’s dark skin was roughened by time, and a life in the service of terrible masters. He wore a skullcap, a neat white beard, and on his forehead the golden symbol of Apophis glittered in the meager light.
    O’Neill let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
    Bra’tac stepped forwards. “Greetings. You are here sooner than I had hoped.”
    “Couldn’t keep away.”
    “Once we had your message, General Hammond wanted us here as soon as possible,” Daniel explained.
    “Yeah…” O’Neill suppressed a shiver. “He was eager. Nice place you’ve got here.”
    Bra’tac was perfectly capable of recognizing human sarcasm, although sometimes he chose to pretend he didn’t. Today, it seemed, he had no time for such games. “It may be harsh, O’Neill, but for the moment it is safe.”
    “Perhaps no longer,” Teal’c replied. “If you have indeed found what you describe.”
    “Which is why I contacted you as soon as I discovered the bodies.”
    That was news. “Bodies?”
    “Of course. The significance of the ship was hidden until I saw who had been at the helm.” Bra’tac turned away, into the wind. “Follow me.”
    He stalked away. The Jaffa he left in his wake shifted into a kind of expectant line, waiting for O’Neill and his companions to follow. None of them, O’Neill noticed, had acknowledged Teal’c in any way other than suspicious glares, and some looked as if they would have been happier with their staff weapons leveled and open.
    Teal’c made no comment on this, and O’Neill decided it would be churlish to bring the subject up.
Maybe later
, he thought.
When things are a litt le warmer all round
.
    He set off after Bra’tac, trotting to keep up with the man’s long strides, Carter and Daniel falling in alongside him and Teal’c a few steps behind. A rearguard position. The fact that he thought this necessary made O’Neill feel even less comfortable than before, if that were possible.
    Bra’tac reached the bottom of the stone steps and launched himself up them. Watching him, O’Neill winced slightly. “Okay, people. Don’t try this at home.”
    “No intention, sir,” muttered Carter.
    O’Neill reached the bottom step, hesitated, then planted his boot on it. Immediately he felt it slide fractionally, frost and loose grit on its surface forming a treacherous coating. He sighed, then saw Bra’tac frowning back down at him. “Hurry,” the Jaffa snapped.
    “Fine…” O’Neill steadied himself against the rock on either side of the steps, and began to climb.
    The ascent was frightening, but not impossible. O’Neill got to the top after only slipping off three steps, but he had done so slowly, one stair at a time. How Bra’tac had scooted up so quickly he could only guess. A combination of Jaffa physiology and alien boots, probably.
    When he got to the top, he peered back over the edge. The drop was only about fifteen meters, but it made the Stargate looked small and lonely, like an abandoned toy.
    Up on top of the cliff the wind was, if anything, more cutting than before, but there was shelter in sight. A ring of buildings, low and cut from