Book 4 - New Horizons 7

14/05/2024 – 11.59

For the period of R&R contact with Geb had been pretty much curtailed however with the offer of medical & technical assistance still on the table in return for fresh food Mahonney detailed SG2 to return to seal the deal. Irving & Dungip also wanted to look further into the regressive birth rate although Dungip’s interested in Lateefah was more carnal than medical. 

Concerned about the noises in the lift shaft Jayne finally convinced Mahonney that at the very least a rubble barricade should be built around the lift exits before the shafts were investigated further.

With Meera Taneja again acting as translator & Steffan Dorph temporarily added to the team (technician in charge of reactor maintenance & the therefore the closest thing to a radiation ‘expert’ available) SG2 watched as the gate control team fired the gate into life.

With the clock showing 12.07 SG2 stepped into the maelstrom.

14/05/2024 – 12.08

Something was wrong. The passage through the gate only took a second, it was near instantaneous normally. It felt like there was wall preventing them stepping out on the other side. It then dawned on the team that there was, a rough-cut stone wall. Irving, running his hands over the face felt something different central to the blockage, bizarrely it felt like a gate, not knowing what else to do he knocked, oven more bizarrely someone opened it to allow SG2 to slip through.

Immediately Technician Dorph threw up.

As SG2’s panic subsided they could see that there were at least 12 armed guards in the chamber, more than normal, their regular acquaintance, Captain Zaghloul wasn’t there or in charge.

To Jayne’s practised eye it looked, & felt, edgy to say the least.

The current guard captain bowed & introduced himself as Captain Annoub. He did apologise for the gate, which from this side was confirmed as a quickly erected cut stone wall with a barred small iron gate at its centre, but went on to say they had listened to & took heed of the words of the outlanders regarding the potential for others to use the gate who may bring unwelcome violence to Memphis.

With no option but to take this at face value Rex suggested that Jayne reign things in & asked for the council to be alerted of their return. Annoub pointed out that it was early morning on Geb (SG2 were aware of the shorter day on Geb, reckoned to be around 19.5 earth hours) Reluctantly Rex agreed that matters could wait a few hours longer. Annoub suggested that temporary sleeping quarters were available in the palace barracks & provide a guard of four to escort SG2 to the facility. Grumpily Jayne suggested they’d be more comfortable in a hostelry, again Rex suggested he put a sock in it.

14/05/2024 – 12.41

The barrack room offered was basic but clean, straw pallets with homespun sheets were laid out in readiness. The room was blocky in construction with high glass free windows & a single door to a communal yard. At the opposite end of the room was a small door leading to a communal privy, it was pleasantly fragrant despite the open channel turd gutter that ran out under the external wall.

It was noted that two of the escort remained outside of the door when the captain departed.

Bread, cheese, meat & wine were brought in by servants.

Whilst some of SG2 rested Irving paced about unable to sleep, as he stood in the outer door enjoying the fresh cool air he noted that one of the guards had departed, presumably on parole. The remaining guard nonchalantly stepped towards him & whispered something unintelligible. After the guard repeated himself for the third time Irving darted back into the chamber & woke  Meera, quickly he dragged her to the door to translate.

“My name is Tekem, I bring you a message from those who believe in all the gods, there are those who would talk with you without the knowledge of the council, will you accompany me?”

Despite the urgings of the messenger Irving, after brief consultation with the others suggested to the messenger that now was maybe not the time. Out of earshot of the false guard the matter was further discussed as the message hinted that worship of the one true god all in Memphis was maybe not as welcome as the council suggested & maybe there was sympathy for the followers of the old gods worshipped in Hermopolis.

Several hours later & with the sun creeping over the horizon Lateefah appeared looking slightly flustered; Dungip wasted no time in welcoming her.

No mention of the secret messenger was made to Lateefah.

She explained that she had not been made aware of their return until the council had already been summoned, She, as the council assigned representative to SG2 had been instructed to escort them to the council chambers.

Quickly SG2 made use of the cold water, soap & hot towels brought by the council’s servants.

14/05/2024 – 14.24

On route to the palace Jayne pointed out a squat building to the accompanying guard captain & asked if it was a house of worship, when it was confirmed that it was he requested the guard halt for a few moments whilst he paid his respects, the lowly guard looked to Lateefah for advise but she indicated it was not her decision. Shrugging indifferently the captain gestured towards the door. Jayne, tailed by Agatha & Meera, mounted the steps.

Roughly square, the inside the building was pretty sparse, there were no pews & only a single alter in the middle of the floor with a few religious items of bling adorning its surface. On the walls were many bas-relief carvings however the faces of the majority had been chipped off to hide their identities.

Whilst Jayne & Agatha investigated the walls a bell wrung out. Spinning about both saw the captain stood behind in the lea of one of the doors with his hand on a chord that ran to a ceiling mounted bell, moments later a dishevelled priest trotted into the temple through a small side door. Jayne, via Meera, engaged with the priest proudly displaying his St James bible. It was a brief & terse discussion as the priest refused to acknowledge there was any god but Geb’s one true god. Disgruntled at the reaction Jayne stormed from the temple tailed by the captain, Agatha & Meera.

As they left the priest pointed to Agatha with the now familiar accusation of abombination.

14/05/2024 – 14.53

In the luxuriant council chamber the council of twelve were still taking their places when Lateefah lead SG2 before them. Jayne took no small opportunity to mutter about their lack of punctuality as a direct affront intended to scorn SG2. For the third-time Rex suggested the marine climb back in his box. Jayne, simmering, took out his well-thumbed bible & stood at the back of the away team sulking.

As Rex spoke of why they’d returned it was clear on most of the council members faces that they had hoped that SG2 brought a change of heart regarding Mahonney’s announced policy on weapons.

After a few words of introduction, Rex handed the floor to Irving & Dungip so they could expand on the assistance they brought & the benefits of modern medicine to improve the citizen’s health & life expectancy. Whilst this was well received by the two physicians who sat on the council it clearly frustrated the council premier, Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, who repeatedly tried to steer Rex back to the topic of food for arms.

SG2 also added that they wished to exchange cultural knowledge as well as language &, gesturing to Meera & Lateefah, suggested this would be a good place to start.

Finally, & in some frustration at the lack of enthusiasm from the bulk of the council, Irving dropped the bombshell that maybe the technology available to SG2 could find a cure to the declining birth rate on Geb (subsequently Lateefah revealed this was far more apparent in Memphis than in Hermopolis or the outlands)

There were several short sharp intakes of breath form other members of SG2. Other than several defensive comments from the council that this was not the fault of the Memphis males it again didn’t get the reaction expected from any other than the council physicians, it did however cause Lateefah’s ears to prick up. Irving added that if they/SG2 could investigate this further it could prove critical. Almost as an aside the premier pointed at Lateefah, “She will assist along with a male of no consequence. Investigate them as you will” None saw the tear running down the curator’s cheek.

Jayne, suddenly pushed to the forefront asking if they could be permitted to leave the city. Reluctantly, & with much warning of danger & brigands, agreed this could be permitted with accompanying guards. Jayne sniggered to himself as he caressed his shouldered rifle, fucking ragheads, he thought, who did they think they were suggesting he needed a guard.

Eventually Mubarak clapped his hands in near dismissal however he did direct the two council physicians to discuss further the technology & knowledge that SG2 offered.

Agatha, keen to assist, demonstrated to one of the physicians, Pe-schali-en-khons, the use of a tooth brush, the doctor was keen & took the brush Agatha had used & began to scrub his own stained teeth. Agatha sighed & began to explain again about personal health. Unsurprisingly, the Hem-Netjer, Osirtesen-Pepa, the head of the Memphian church muttered loudly concerning the abomination who stood before them. Agatha pointed out she too was a priest however before she could push matters further Rex suggested she too shut keep her mouth shut.

14/05/2024 – 15.27

Back at the tesseract Dungip & Dorph discussed the readings taken so far. Dungip instructed the technician for his opinion. Steffan, slightly out of his comfort zone, seemed to think the problem was centred around the museum itself although he added this was till to be proved. Hearing this Jayne through in that if this was the case then his request that they go walkabout was unnecessary as he only asked this so they could spread their investigation over a wider area. With Dorph left circling the tesseract & the streets around it SG2 headed inside wanting to explore the structure further (they’d roughly calculated that the open spaces thus far seen in the tesseract accounted for less than 1% of its overall volume)

Whilst this was in progress Jayne quickly headed back to the gate & radioed back to base, moments later two IS grunts bearing side-arms as well as two of SG’s few remaining medical technicians stepped through the unbarred doorway in the erected wall in front of the gate. Jayne instructed them to accompany Meera Taneja & assist as required as they tried to kick-off the exchange of health education for food.

14/05/2024 – 15.49

Over the next couple of days under the direction of Dungip the known passages & chambers of the ancient ziggurat were scoured for hidden doorways & passages, four were located in addition to the one previously identified. With permission Dungip had a small quantity of semtex brought through the gate along with drills, detonators & other required tools as it was likely to take weeks to open up the hidden chambers if only hand tools were to be used.

Lateefah was amazed when after only a few hours work Dungip blew the facing stones obscuring the first hidden treasure. With the passage cleared Dungip blew the plastic charges drilled into the wall.
When the dust cleared the facing stones were easily removed & the rough stone backing wall was soon broken through.

Inside could be seen a room some twelve feet wide by twenty feet long. After enlarging the hole Didimos flew a small camera rigged drone around the hidden chamber. Central to the room was a magnificent & richly decorated sarcophagus.

A couple of hours later & man access was possible. Under Lateefah’s eager gaze the gilded lid was lifted, inside was a perfectly preserved skeleton bedecked with stunning jewellery. The only other thing of note was the 26mm perfect hole in the frontal bone. It was only when the skull was lifted clear of the skeleton that a matching & aligned hole was seen in the occipital plate at the rear of the skull.

With Lateefah’s Irving packed the skull for temporary transport for further study back to SGC – Minor damage was not noted inside the skull & a microscopic examination had confirmed what SG2 had suspected, the edges of the hole were fused as would be caused by very high temperatures suggesting it had been formed by a high energy beam at close range.

15/05/2024 – 10.41

Whilst Dungip & the others drilled & set charges on the next hidden chamber Irving had returned to SGC with Lateefah & the designated male for further testing. In brief the outcome was Lateefah had mutated uterus & ovaries but there was also signs of long term indirect ionisation & damage to the sugar phosphate backbones of the base pairs of DNA. To the male the testicular function was severely inhibited & the patient was suffering a very low sperm count – it wasn’t a good outlook.

Lateefah hadn’t been overjoyed to succumb to unknown medical testing but as the order had come from the council she felt she must obey, the male was ambivalent as it was well known in Memphis that the problem was confined to women as punishment for impurity. Irving decided to make no mention of the results to Memphians until he’d had chance to discuss it with his colleagues.

16/05/2024 – 13.11

After the charge had been detonated on the second hidden chamber & the facing stone cleared the backing rubble face was soon removed to allow Didimos to again push a drone through the whole. Strangely this revealed a corridor some forty or so yards long around ten feet wide. The corridor however was a dead end with no branches & no decoration of any kind. After breaking thorough to allow man access the corridor was scrutinised but no other passage or hidden chamber was detected although a full height section of the wall some ten yards long mid-length of the corridor felt somehow different. Physically Dungip noted that the facing blocks were marginally of a smaller size.

After a brief consultation Dungip & the other members of the team headed back to SGC to construct a basic metal detector.