Part 6

Chapter 12 - Pretence... Playing God.

"Ah, I have an idea. It's a bit of a long shot, really, but would you let me see if I can fix this without any more killing?" Daniel said.

"Ok, I'm fine with that," O'Neill responded.

"Danny?" Daniel asked.

~ Oh, I get a say in this? ~

"Well, yes. We may have to do some blasting though - to make them see things our way..."

~ We-ell... Ok then ~

"Good!"

"What are you going to do?" Jack asked.

"What I always do - talk to them..."

"What, you speak Aztec?" Jack exclaimed, wondering if there were any limits to this man's erudition.

"Nahuatl. The language is called Nahuatl. Just hope it's a close enough match here, that's all."

Daniel adjusted the headgear and walkout out to meet the approaching company. They pulled up sharply, looking much surprised. He raised his hand in greeting.

"Nil-tze! Ni-te-otl a-mo-te-otl Quetzalcoatl!" he proclaimed loudly, "An mom-a-uh-tia! An cenca mom-a-uh-tia!"

Greetings! I am your god, Quetzalcoatl. Be afraid! Be very afraid!

The guards and priests looked at each other, muttering, but at least they made no aggressive moves.

"An-mom-a-quix-tilia t-la- catl mot-en-eh-ua- Jonas Quinn!" Daniel continued.

Release the man named Jonas Quinn!

This produced some discussion, then one of the priests stepped forward and looked arrogantly at Daniel.

"Amo! Ye amo-cu-alli t-la-catl!" he declared.

No! He is a bad man!

"Tot-ech-mon-equi Jonas Quinn." Daniel insisted, "Ni-ant-la-ca-mati a-uh amo an-ton- ehua. Ni-amo- ti-mic-tia."

We need Jonas Quinn. You obey me and you'll not suffer pain. I won't kill you.

"Aic!" declared the priest.

Never!

The soldiers were getting restless.

There was a slight pause while Daniel had a brief internal conversation with Danny. Then he spread his arms in a wide gesture.

Sizzling forks of lightning blasted the two gateways. They flew apart in shattered masonry and splintered wood. The Atzec warriors fell back in alarm, but the priests became angry with them, urging them on. It looked like trouble brewing.

"Jack!" Daniel shouted back to the prison, "would you bring - er - throw the guards' bodies out here please."

~ Might as well make use of them. Maybe, then, they won't have died entirely in vain ~

The headless bodies, closely followed by the heads, had the desired effect. The warriors backed away in terror.

"Ne-chamo-hu-al-hu-ica Jonas Quinn!" Daniel ordered.

Now bring Jonas Quinn to me!

The priests looked a little uncomfortable.

"Campa ye-hu-at-zin?" Daniel demanded uneasily.

Where is he?

"Ompa!" declared one of the priests defiantly, pointing to one of the pyramids behind Daniel, "Ipan!"

Up there! On top!

Daniel felt the colour drain from his face as followed the priest's pointing finger.

"Oh, god, no..." he breathed. He aimed his hand a little below the mid point of the pyramid where no one was standing.

~ O.K., Danny, give it your best shot! ~

If the demolition of the gateways had been impressive, Danny's effect on the pyramid was spectacular. The shock wave caused slight damage to nearby buildings and even the ground beneath Daniel's feet trembled. Pandemonium broke out in the compound with people running hither and yon, and mostly as far from Daniel as they could get.

"Wow!! Way to go, Danny!" Daniel exulted in great delight, feeling dangerously god-like. "Come on, guys, let's go!"

S.G.-1 needed no second bidding, running hell for leather towards the pyramid. The priests up on top were pulling themselves back to their feet. One of them spotted the approaching form of their vengeful deity and shrieked, pointing. He and the rest fled down the other side of the pyramid leaving an inert body behind them.

It took quite a while to clamber up the wreckage. Finally they gained the sacrificial platform on the top. Quinn lay beside the raised stone fireplace. His wide open eyes were fixed in an unblinking stare on the sky above. A black obsidian dagger lay abandoned beside him. At first, it looked as if they were too late, but he was merely paralysed with fright.

"Come on, wake up, Quinn! Time to go home," Jack said, administering brisk slaps to his cheeks. "No more lying down on the job!"

While Jack was thus engaged, Daniel looked around at the other three pyramids. Seeing no movement on any of them, he gave Danny his head. Soon, the tops were reduced to mounds of rubble.

Quinn showed signs of returning to normality as the last pyramid went up in fountains of debris. He was looking somewhat bemused until Daniel turned round. Then he stared at him, horror-struck.

"You...? You?! You're— dead!" he gasped, and fainted away.

"Oh, Daniel!" Jack said, exasperated, "now look what you've done..."

"Sorry," Daniel responded with a look of confused innocence.

While they waited for Quinn to recover consciousness again, they took in the magnificent view from their lofty eminence. The Stargate was visible some two or three klicks away. They could go down the undamaged steps on the outside of the curtain wall and be on their way through the market area of the town.

Finally, the five of them set off down the pyramid. They could feel eyes watching their progress, but no one attempted to stop them. Quinn was still fairly jumpy, and looked very uncomfortable around the ex-late Dr. Jackson.

As they walked back to the Stargate, Daniel filled his friends in on some of the details of his restoration, assisted here and there by Danny which rather freaked out Sam. Quinn lagged a little behind as the old friends chatted happily. No one noticed.

"I'm a little concerned about returning to S.G.C.," Daniel said eventually. I don't think General Hammond will be all that pleased to see me."

"Don't worry," Sam reassured him, "he'll be all right once he knows what happened and why. He's never held it against me for knocking him out when..."

She broke off thinking maybe Daniel wouldn't appreciate being reminded of the Hathor experience.

"Hm, not quite the same thing," Daniel demurred, "but you may be right. Just so long as Danny will behave himself. How about it— Bro'?"

"I'm cool. You guys seem quite a lot of fun to swing with."

"Brilliant!" Daniel exclaimed happily.

Perhaps living with Danny might turn out ok after all.

"Just one thing. Let's seal it with a kiss, Toots!"

Before Daniel had any say in the matter, his arms were firmly around a very surprised Major Carter and his mouth closed over her indignant lips. O'Neill and Teal'c hastily dragged him away.

"Aargh! Sorry! No! Don't! Sorry! Aargh!" Daniel babbled, not knowing whom to placate first.

Much to his relief, his confusion sent his team mates into fits of laughter. Even Sam joined in, if a little belatedly. Danny finally saw the funny side too, and watching a disconcerted Daniel being laughed at apparently by himself set them all off again.

Then they noticed Quinn was missing...

"Oh-oh," Jack groaned. "What is it with civilians that they have to keep wandering off?! This guy is wa-ay worse than you ever were, Daniel, and that's saying something! Come on, let's go find him."

As it happened, he wasn't far behind. When he caught up with them, Jack gave him a very suspicious look.

"All right, Quinn, what's that under your jacket?"

Reluctantly, the Colonan pulled out a small golden statuette. Jack gave him a smart back-hander across the face.

"Don't you ever learn, Quinn?!" he yelled.

"I thought you'd be pleased," he replied resentfully, "plus I think they owe me for what they did to me."

"Oh, for crying out loud! They only did what they did to you because you stole the damn' thing in the first place! And I am not letting you sneak any more stolen property back to Earth. Is that clear?! Now take it back where you got it from. Teal'c, go with him and make sure he does. And if he tries to lift anything else that doesn't belong to him, you have my full permission to zat him!"

Back in the commissary at S.G.C., where there was an air of quiet celebration, O'Neill was one very happy man. Sam was tucking into her favourite blue jelly with an appearance of pleasure she hadn't displayed since the ill-fated mission to Colona. Daniel Jackson, freshly showered and back in fatigues, was chatting easily with Teal'c. The big Jaffa was actually smiling - smiling broadly, in fact. Something O'Neill couldn't remember having seen before. He felt like the proverbial cat with the cream.

"You are looking very pleased with yourself, O'Neill," Teal'c said, breaking into his reverie.

"Oh, I am, Teal'c, I am," he replied contentedly, "Quinn's been redeployed to the Smithsonian, archiving artifacts that are so heavy that even he can't lift them, and I've got my pet archaeologist back in S.G. -1 which is the best team I could ever hope to command. Sweet!"

"Tzopelic!*" Daniel responded.

"Bless you!"

*Sweet!

Fizz ...Ting