A Dream Given Form

Chapter Six

Sam shut the book she had been studying and closed her eyes. It felt good, if only for a moment, to shut out the sight of the room and its ominous, growing orb. The body had been removed, at least, although she and Daniel both avoided looking at the dark stain across the wall where it had been.

"This is hopeless," she said. "Just when I think I'm getting a handle on the science involved, it throws in mysticism, astrology, or starts writing huge passages in other languages."

"I know what you mean," said Daniel, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "I can translate some of this – it has similar roots to our own Earth languages – but knowing what the individual words mean and understanding what they're supposed to say when put together like this are two very separate things."

"Let's swap books for a while," offered Sam. "If you can get a sense of what this bit is supposed to mean, I may be able to tie that back to the science."

Daniel looked sceptical, but they exchanged tomes anyway.

"I don't think we're going to have enough time," said Daniel.

Sam looked at the orb. It had expanded considerably since it had appeared, and now filled much of the room, its surface swirling and opaque, giving off a strange, dark glow which coloured the shadows around it as though it emitted light from some unknown, eldritch spectrum. It also seemed to silently eat into anything it touched, which they found when it expanded to come into contact with a table the staff of the station had brought in to help them work, and the end of the table had fallen away, sliced clean through, filling the room with an acrid odour.

She sighed. "I'm afraid you might be right, but we've got to keep trying. There has to be something in these books which can help."

They worked on in silence for a while, each trying not to throw worried glances at the ever-expanding sphere.

"Hey, I think I've got something," said Daniel at last. He moved to Sam and showed her his book. "When I translated this passage, it didn't make sense because I thought it was talking about spirits – this word here usually means 'ghost' – but what if it's actually describing some property of a spirit."

"I don't know, Daniel," said Sam. "It seems like a long shot."

"No, listen: 'Let the caster be unafraid, as like the ghost shall the – I couldn't translate these words – pass without harm to the other side'."

"That could just as easily mean that all good techno-mages go to heaven," said Sam, but seeing the look on Daniel's face, she gave in. "All right, give me that book. I'll read around that passage, see if I can see anything technical we can use."

"Pass me another one," said Daniel, "and I'll keep working."

Sam took a slim book from the pile beside her and handed it to Daniel, who leafed through its pages. The book was handwritten, with page after page of carefully-drawn schematics and diagrams.

"Uh, I think this one is more your speed," said Daniel, turning another page. Then he took a closer look at the writing beneath one of the drawings. "Wait a minute. I know this language. It's a derivation of ancient Egyptian."

"So?"

"So," said Daniel, "it's most commonly used by the Goa'uld."

Sam thought about this. "In our world, maybe, but they don't have any Goa'uld here, and without the Goa'uld to enslave them, who knows what sort of future the people of Egypt might have had in this timeline? Perhaps their ancient Egyptians were able to keep that language alive on Earth."

"I guess," said Daniel. "Either way, I think this book might be the key we're looking for. See if you can make any sense of these diagrams and I'll get to work on the text."