CHAPTER FORTY

Over breakfast, Daniel revealed to his teammates what he'd gone through the previous night.  They were dismayed by how close he'd come to not making it out of this alive.  Since gain his abilities, this had been the first time that Daniel had gone up against beings with powerful psychic powers who could actually use them, and it had almost been too much for him.  Yet, in the end, he'd still managed to come out the winner.

"I wouldn't have made it if you hadn't gotten those lights on," he said to Sam.

"I just wish I'd gotten them on sooner."  She studied his face closely.  She could tell that he was really bothered by some of the things he'd been forced to do.  Teal'c, too, could see it.

"Your actions against the Methra were warranted, Daniel Jackson," he said.  "They were seeking your death and would not have hesitated to kill you if given the opportunity."

"Teal'c's right," Sam said.  "You did what you had to."

Daniel sighed.  "It just bothers me that I had to kill them like that, when they were not in a position to fight back.  But you're right.  They were trying to kill me, and it was the only way that I could beat them.  I just hope that I'll never have to do something like that again."

Sam could tell that, in spite of what he just said, Daniel was still having a problem with it.  But now was not the time to talk about it.  So, instead, she gave him a look of understanding and said, "Me too."

Once the meal was finished, they went to the power station.  Daniel's limited ability to read the language was a huge help, and Sam soon had the entire system figured out.  She saw that power could be supplied just to certain sections of the city.  They also found the way to turn on the elevated train system, as well as the subway.  Sam estimated that, overall, the technology was roughly thirty or forty years ahead of Earth's, more than that when it came to some things, less with others.  If it hadn't been for the fact that the city appeared to have been stripped bare, they could probably have found a lot of valuable technology.  Even so, there was more than one scientist in the program who would love to have examined the city's systems, as well as those robots.  That, however, would not be possible, not with the Methra here.

The team was on their way back to the warehouse when Daniel sensed something.  He looked up at the sky.

"The cavalry's arrived," he said.

A few seconds later, they heard a familiar sound.  Then Osiris' Al'Kesh came into view.  It came to a stop a few hundred feet above their heads.

"SG-1, this is SG-3 and SG-11," said the voice of Reynolds.  "Do you copy?"

Sam keyed her radio.  "This is SG-1.  It's good to see you guys."

"General O'Neill sends his regards and a request to know what the hell's going on."

"We've run into a bit of trouble down here.  Everything is secure for now, but the gate is not accessible."

"Do you want us to beam you up?"

"No," Daniel replied.  "There's a problem that needs to be dealt with.  Can you land?  We'll explain everything to you."

The Al'Kesh was set down just outside the city.  SG-1 met it and filled the other SG teams in on what had been going on.

"So, these Methra can only come out at night?" the leader of SG-11 asked.

"Unless they stick to the forest," Daniel replied.  "Their eyes are extremely sensitive to light.  They're probably originally from a planet with very little sunlight."

"And they've got powers like you."

"No, not quite like me, but they do have psychic abilities of some sort, and those abilities are deadly.  They came pretty close to killing me.  They've killed quite a few humans since they came to this planet.  I'm afraid that, sooner or later, the human population is going to be seriously threatened by them."

"Well, we did a quick scan of this general area when we came in," Reynolds said, "and the sensors detected a population of around a hundred thousand.  So, obviously, evacuating the people is not an option.  Not even moving them all to one of the other continents would be possible."

Daniel was only half-listening.  He was staring at the Al'Kesh.

"What are you thinking, Daniel?" Sam asked.

"I'm thinking that we've got this backwards.  We've been talking about ways that we can get the humans out of here, but there is another option: get the Methra off the planet."

"Teal'c and I talked a little about that, but we didn't see how it could be done."

"Well, it all depends on what they did to the Stargate.  If it's just temporarily buried and can be uncovered, we can get them to leave that way."

"What is your plan, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"I think it's time we started bluffing."

Daniel came to a stop around a hundred feet from the edge of the forest.  He could sense that he was being watched.  There were at least forty Methra not far away.

'It's time for us to talk,' he said in his mind.

'We hear you, killer of our people.'

'You were trying to kill me, hunting me like an animal even though I told you that I was not a threat to you.  I did what was necessary to survive.  You've killed many of my kind since you came to this world, people who meant you no harm, who only wished to live in peace.'

'This is our place now.  We have laid claim to it.'

'I don't know how things are done in your society, but where I come from, it's wrong to invade another's homeland and force them to leave.  The humans were here long before you were.  This is their planet, their home . . . and you are not welcome here.'

'It is ours now.  We will not leave.'

Daniel spoke into his radio.  "Reynolds, bring her in."

A short while later, the Al'Kesh appeared.  It swooped low across the plain and came to a stop a few dozen yards behind Daniel, hovering in the air.

'This ship has powerful weapons that can decimate the forest and kill many of you.  We have a ship far larger that could completely destroy you.'  Daniel got on the radio again.  "Give them a demonstration, guys."

The Al'Kesh lifted higher in the air, circling away.  Then it dove for the ground.  Two glowing balls of energy dropped from its underside and struck the earth with violent explosions.

"That'll do, guys.  Thanks."  Daniel turned back to the forest.  'That was just a small example of the power we can unleash against you.'

There was a long moment of silence.  'What is it that you want of us?'

'We want you to leave, to go through the Stargate and never return.  I can give you the address for a planet with a thick cloud cover that the sun rarely shines through.  There are dense forests there and no human life.'

'And if we do not agree to this?'

'Then you'll die,' Daniel replied bluntly, hoping the Methra wouldn't call his bluff.  He didn't really have any intention of wiping the aliens out, even if permission was given to do it.

'I will return before the sun sets,' he said.  'I'll expect an answer by then.  And don't get any ideas about attacking us after dark.  This ship will be taken out into orbit, where it will have the ability to watch every move you make.'

Daniel told the Al'Kesh to pick him up.  A few seconds later, he was beamed aboard and taken back to the city.

"How did it go?" Sam asked.

"I don't know.  I could tell that they weren't happy.  I guess it's all going to depend on how smart and how stubborn they are.  I'm offering them a planet that would seem to be more suited to their needs, so that should be an incentive."

"And if the Methra refuse to leave?" Teal'c asked.

"Then we'll drop a few bombs around them, drive home the point a little harder.  If they still won't leave . . . I don't know.  We'll have to figure something else out."

"Jackson, this is Reynolds.  Come in."

Daniel pressed the button on his radio.  "Daniel here."

"I've contacted the SGC.  General O'Neill wants to speak to you."

"Yeah, I bet he does.  Okay, come get me."

A few minutes later, Daniel was on the Al'Kesh and talking to the SGC.

"Hey, Jack."

"Daniel.  So nice to hear your voice.  We've been filled in on what's going on.  You always seem to meet the nicest people."

"Yes, don't we."

"These Methra sound pretty nasty."

"Unfortunately, they are.  Did Reynolds tell you about our plan?"

"Yes, he did," Jack replied.  "You know, I recall a time when you'd have tried to negotiate a peace between those guys and the human population."

"If I had even the smallest hope that such a thing would be possible, I'd have tried it, but I would have been wasting my breath.  The Methra aren't interested in peace nor in sharing the forests of this planet, and they will continue to kill any human who goes into the woods.  These people live in constant fear of them.  Their lives have been made very hard by the actions of the Methra.  We have the power to fix things, and I intend to do it."

"I'm not gonna say no, Daniel, so don't go getting on your high horse.  As far as I'm concerned, you can chase all those aliens right through the gate, and good riddance to them."

"Thanks, Jack."

"So, how long do you think it'll take to wrap things up?"

"That's hard to say.  Assuming the Methra agree to leave, it all depends on how long they take to undo whatever they did to the gate and get everyone through.  Hopefully, they'll get started on that tonight."

"Okay.  Keep me informed.  O'Neill out."

Half an hour before sunset, Daniel had the Al'Kesh take him back to the place he'd talked to the Methra.  He could sense that there were even more there this time, a lot more, enough that it was making Daniel more than a little nervous.  He was pretty sure that he was beyond the range of their abilities, though, and, if there was any trouble, the Al'Kesh could beam him out in an instant.

'What have you decided?' Daniel asked.

'You have given us no choice but to accept your offer.  But there is no trust in you.  The planet you send us to may not be as you claim.'

'Everything I said about it is true, but, if you want proof, that can be arranged.  Is the mechanical device that came through the Stargate before we did still working?'

'We did no harm to it.  We only buried the portal with rocks so that it would not function.'

'That thing is called a MALP.  We can send it through the Stargate first, and it will send back pictures of what the area on the other side looks like.  Our ship will send down to you a device that you can see the pictures on.'

There was a moment of silence.  'That is acceptable.'

'When will the Stargate be ready?'

'We have begun to remove the stones.  The portal will be in its former place by the time night descends.'

'All right.  We'll come back then.'

It was dark when Daniel returned.  This time, he spoke to the Methra from inside the Al'Kesh.  He wasn't going to take the chance that they'd decide to attack him.

A video monitor was beamed down to the Methra, and Daniel told them how to make it work.  He gave the aliens the address of the planet via mental images of the glyphs, and it was dialed.  The MALP was sent through and began broadcasting video.  After watching the images for a few seconds, the Methra were satisfied with what they saw.

'We will go to this other world.  Our people have begun gathering.  By midday tomorrow, we will be gone.'

Throughout that night and into the next day, the crew onboard the Al'Kesh watched the Methra from orbit.  As the aliens promised, by noon, they were all gone, having quickly and efficiently transported their entire population through the gate.

SG-1 and SG-11 were beamed down to the gate, checking to make sure everything was okay.  Everyone then returned to the city and told the villagers the good news.

"The Methra are truly gone?" one woman asked.

"Yes, they're gone, and they'll never come back," Daniel replied.  "You are all free to enter the forest without fear."

"We have no words to thank you for what you have done," Kelith said.  "When the other villages and towns hear of this, they will rejoice.  We will send messengers out right away."

As the villagers got busy packing their things, SG-1 and SG-3 went outside.

"Well, I guess that's it," Reynolds said.  He looked at Daniel.  "I never did ask you what planet you sent the Methra to."

"P5S-798."

The leader of SG-3 frowned.  "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the planet we evacuated the inhabitants from because it suffered frequent storms and rained most of the year?"

"Yep."

"And isn't it also the one with the DHD that was totally fried by a lightning strike."

"Uh huh."

With the tiniest of smiles, Daniel walked away.

"Daniel Jackson was quite displeased with the actions the Methra took against the human inhabitants of this world, as well as by their attempts to kill him." Teal'c stated.

Reynolds watched the departing archeologist.  "Yes, I'd say he must have been.""

Sam was smiling.  "I doubt the Methra will be very happy once they realize the state of the weather in their new home and find out they can't leave."

Reynolds turned to her.  "Couldn't they use the Naquadah generator you guys used to dial the gate back when you were there?"

"It's not there anymore.  Those generators aren't cheap, so we've made arrangements with the Tok'ra to retrieve any that we left behind, if they're ever in the neighborhood.  We got that one back quite a while ago."

"Then the Methra really are stuck there."

Teal'c smiled very slightly.  "Indeed they are."

Sam shrugged.  "As far as I'm concerned, they got off light for what they did.  There are a whole lot of planets Daniel could have sent them to that would have been way worse.  And it is possible that the weather might not be as bad on one of the other continents, although to get there, they'd have to cross the ocean, which the inhabitants told us would pretty much be suicide throughout most of the year.  Violent storms whip the sea into a frenzy."

Once the villagers were on their way back to their home, SG-1 decided to conduct a more thorough exploration of the city.  SG-11 stayed with the Al'Kesh, SG-3 joining Daniel, Teal'c and Sam.

As they'd already discovered in other buildings, the former inhabitants appeared to have taken all their possessions with them.

"I wonder what made them pack up and leave," said a member of SG-3.

"Well, obviously, they weren't in a hurry," Sam responded.  "Too bad they weren't.  They'd probably have left behind a lot of stuff we could have used."

They came across a building that, according to the sign, was the city government's headquarters.  They went inside.  In the center of the large foyer was a round black pedestal that looked out of place there, as if it had been a recent addition.

Sam ran her scanner over it.  "I'm picking up energy readings."

Daniel studied the writing.  "It's a note to whomever finds it.  According to this, there's a recorded message inside."

Not sensing any danger, Daniel pressed the button that would turn the recording on.  He stepped back, startled, as a holographic human figure formed above the pedestal.  It began speaking in the variation of Ancient used by the robots.  There were other buttons on the pedestal, and he noticed that beneath some of them were words in different languages.  He picked the one in Ancient, and the voice changed to that language.

"Greetings.  We are the Kenterans.  This city you are within is one of several that we built on this world.  For more than a hundred and fifty years, this planet was our home, but it was not the place of our heart.  We had been driven from our homeworld by a powerful enemy that enslaved the rest of our people.  We always hoped that, someday, we would reclaim our world from those enemies.  And then, one day, it happened.  We received word that an uprising had overthrown the ones who took away our home and the freedom of so many of us.  All of us who lived on this planet decided to go home and help restore the former glory of our people.  But we chose to leave behind mechanical workers to maintain the cities we'd built here and protect them from animals and anyone who would seek to damage them.  Since you are here, listening to this message, it means that you have convinced the mechanical guardians that you mean no harm.

"If you are looking for a new home, we welcome you to take this city and the others as your own.  All of the systems are operational and need only have power restored to them.  There are instructions within this device, as well as a map to help you locate important facilities.  We only ask that you respect what we have left behind and do no harm to it.  It may be that, someday, we will return.  If that day comes, we would seek friendship with anyone who proved themselves worthy."

The message ended, and the hologram winked out.  Daniel told the others what he'd learned.

"Well, at least now we know why they left," Sam said.  "I wonder where their homeworld is.  It sounds like they'd be an ally, if we could find them."

"A lot may have changed in the centuries since this message was recorded," Daniel pointed out.  "We have no way of knowing what's happened since then."

After the hologram ended, a control screen had come up.  Daniel was glad to see that it was in Ancient.  Reading what was on the screen, he saw that the device apparently contained more than just a map and instructions for turning the systems on.  There was also some historical information.

"I'd like to see what's in here," he said.

"Okay," Sam responded.  "We'll continue exploring the vicinity.  Bring up the map so that we can see if there's anything of particular interest in the area."

Daniel did so, and Sam made note of several places not far away that were worth a closer look.

Alone, Daniel went through the information contained in the pedestal.  He found some historical records on the Kenterans' homeworld.  Thinking that they might be able to find out where the people went after all, Daniel dug deeper.  He hadn't been at it for all that long when he found what he was looking for.

"Oh no," he murmured.  He got on the radio.  "Sam, I found out where the Kenterans' homeworld is.  It's not good news."

"Hold on.  We're not far from there.  We'll head back."

A few minutes later, the group came in.

"What did you find out?" Sam asked.

"Their homeworld was BP6-3Q1, Sam."

It took a moment for the astrophysicist to recall which planet that was.  When she did, her heart sank.  "Oh no."

"Which planet is that?" SG-3's 2IC asked.

"The population was wiped out by big flying insects," Daniel replied.  "We went there around six years ago, and Teal'c was stung by one of them.  He almost died."

"Yeah, I remember reading about that," Reynolds said.  "Nasty."

Daniel sighed sadly.  "They succeeded in defeating one enemy only to be wiped out by another.  If only some of the refugees from the war had stayed here.  At least then their civilization would have been preserved."

Sam frowned slightly in puzzlement.  "From what we saw of the technology level on that world, it was right around the same as this city is, maybe just slightly higher.  I'd have thought that there would have been significant advancements in all those years."

"It's possible that they had to do a lot of rebuilding after the war and that it set them back technologically.  I guess it doesn't really matter now."

Their mood subdued, SG-1 and SG-3 resumed exploring the city.  Every once in a while, one of the robots could be seen in the distance, and Daniel couldn't help but think about the fact that they were protecting this city and keeping it maintained for the return of people who would never come.

Jack had only given them the rest of that day for exploration, so, as the sun began sinking toward the horizon, SG-1 returned to the village, the inhabitants of which were quite startled when the team was beamed down right before their eyes.

"We're going home soon," Daniel told Kelith, "but people from our world will be returning.  We want to continue exploring the cities.  We'd also like to help you recover from the trouble with the Methra, bring food and other things you need."

"We will welcome your people.  We owe a great debt to you.  Blessings be upon you, Daniel," he looked at the archeologist's teammates, "upon all of you."

Instead of covering the distance by foot, SG-1 and SG-3 were beamed down to the gate.  SG-11 would be taking the Al'Kesh home.

"Ready to go home?" Sam asked Daniel.

"More than ready."

For more than one reason, the archeologist had not been looking forward to the debriefing.  He was pretty sure he knew what he'd have to deal with.  He was right.  When they got to the part where he chose to make the Methra come after him, Jack was not pleased.

"And that's the best plan you could come up with?" the general asked.

"Yes, pretty much," the archeologist replied.  "I had to keep the Methra away from the villagers, and having them chasing me instead was the only thing I could think of.  If I had known at the time that they'd be able to track me so easily, I might have thought twice about it."

"And then gone ahead and done it anyway."

"Yes, probably so."

Jack sighed silently, thinking that Daniel would be the death of him yet.  "Okay, so you had sixty of those things on your ass.  Obviously, you managed to stay ahead of them."

Daniel recounted his adventure.  Though he skimmed over the part where he became the hunter and started killing Methra, Jack could tell that it was bothering him a lot and decided that they'd need to have a talk about it later.

Finally, Daniel got to the part that he was dreading the most.  "Um, once the Methra caught onto what I was doing, I had to start running again.  I knew that I couldn't keep going like that indefinitely, that, eventually, they'd catch me, especially since I was getting pretty tired.  I needed someplace to rest and be safe from them, at least for a while.  Earlier, we'd passed a partially constructed skyscraper.  The only way to the top was an elevator.  I figured that, if I could get to the roof then disable the elevator, the Methra wouldn't be able to reach me.  I'd be out of range of their abilities because the closest structure was over a hundred feet away."

"Sounds like a good plan.  What happened?"

"The Methra were blocking my way, so I, uh, had to get to the building another way."

"What other way?"

Knowing there was no way he could get out of telling Jack, Daniel replied.  "I went to the roof of one of the nearby buildings and, uh . . . jumped."

Jack sat staring at him for several agonizing seconds.

"I'm sorry.  I think I heard wrong," the general finally said.  "I could have sworn that you said you jumped."

"Yes."

"From the room of another building."

"Yes."

"A distance of a hundred feet."

Daniel sighed.  "It was probably closer to a hundred and twenty."

"I stand corrected.  You know, when we were all wearing those superpower armbands, maybe we could have jumped that far, but I'm not seeing any fancy alien jewelry on your arm, Daniel, so I have to ask myself how you managed that feat."

"I used my telekinetic abilities to keep me from falling."

Jack stared at him for several more very uncomfortable seconds.  "Okay, so let me get this straight.  You leapt over a hundred-twenty-foot gap and kept yourself airborne with your abilities?"

"Yes."

The tiniest of smiles began to form on Jack's lips.  "Which is a wordy way of saying that you flew."

"It wasn't flying, Jack, not really."

"It sounds like flying to me."  Jack turned to Teal'c.  "Doesn't it sound like flying to you?"

"Indeed."

The Jaffa was subjected to a heated glare from Daniel, which he completely ignored.

Jack next looked at Sam.  "Doesn't it sound like flying to you, Carter?"

Sam took one look at Daniel and said, "No comment, sir."

"Coward," Jack responded.  The faint smile grew into an amused expression.  "So, Daniel.  Did you flap your arms?"

"Jack," Daniel growled.

"Or did you do a Superman and just shoot across?"

"Jack, cut it out."

The general paid no attention to the request.  He was having too much fun.  "We'll have to get you a suit.  Not blue and red, though.  That's too tacky.  How about a nice, understated grey?  Or maybe a powder blue.  I could probably come up with a logo to put on the chest, a fancy 'S' and 'D' for SuperDaniel."

Daniel was not amused, especially since he knew that Jack might actually do it.

"Jack, you are really pushing it," he said in a tone of warning.

The man paid no attention to the warning.  "Hey.  We could have a contest.  People come up with designs for the suit and logo, and we pick the best of the bunch."

There was a very brief moment of silence, then Daniel quite surprisingly said, "Sure, Jack.  Sounds great.  So, would you like me to give you a demonstration, show you how I did it?"

Jack really looked at the archeologist for the first time.  There was a dangerous light in Daniel's eyes that made him a little nervous.  He finally considered the fact that teasing a man who could do what Daniel could might not be the smartest thing in the world to do.

"Um, no, that won't be necessary," he replied cautiously.

"Oh, come on, Jack.  I know you must be curious.  After all, how often do you see a man flying without the assistance of special effects?"

Jack stared at Daniel.  The man's expression was bland, and the general had to wonder what was going through his mind.  Jack's instincts were telling him to say no again, but he had to admit that he was curious.

"Uhhhh . . . okay, but don't—   Whoa!"

Jack's exclamation was caused by suddenly finding himself airborne, floating near the ceiling.

"Like the demonstration, Jack?" Daniel asked, smiling tightly.  "How about if I zip you around the room a few times so that you can get the full feeling of flight?"

"Dammit, Daniel!  Put me down!"

"What's wrong, Jack?  You're a pilot.  I thought you liked to fly."

"Very funny, Daniel.  Now put me the hell down!"

"If you insist."

Jack let out a shout as he started falling.  Before he hit the floor, however, his descent slowed, and he was lowered gently to his feet.

Straightening his clothes, Jack returned to his seat with as much dignity as he could muster.  Sam was pointedly not looking at him to avoid breaking into peals of laughter.  Teal'c looked on with the corners of his mouth quirked upward in amusement.

"Shall we continue?" Jack asked, pretending like nothing had happened.

Daniel went on to explain how the Methra began climbing the girders of the building and what he did in response.

"Daniel, I didn't ask you before, but what exactly did you do?" Sam asked.  "From where we were, it looked like a ball of superheated plasma."

"That's pretty much what it was.  It was something I learned how to do when I was ascended, although it was a whole lot easier back then."

"Too bad you couldn't just fry them all with lightning," Jack remarked.

"I tried.  It's the first time I've actually tried to do that.  It didn't work."

"Bummer."

"Maybe with a whole lot more concentration, I could do it, but I have a feeling that it would drain me too much.  Making that ball of light pretty much did me in.  I lost consciousness.  But at least it did what I intended.  The Methra couldn't stand the light and ran away."

Sam took over.  "Just a few seconds after that, I succeeded in getting the lights in the city turned on, and they apparently made the Methra leave.  When we got to where Daniel was, we found several dead Methra, the ones who'd been climbing the building.  They must have lost their grip and fell."

"We succeeded in ascending the structure using a rope and came to Daniel Jackson's aid," Teal'c said.

"And how did you get back down?" Jack asked.

"Once Daniel was recovered enough, he lowered us down telekinetically, then did the same for himself," Sam replied, having no intention of revealing that Daniel's descent was more like a jump.

SG-1 finished recounting the events, including Daniel's "deal" with the Methra.  That last bit made Jack smile in satisfaction upon hearing where the Methra had been sent.

"Oh, I bet they're not gonna be happy as the wet season goes on, and on, and on," he said.

"Probably not," Daniel agreed.

"I like your style, Daniel."

"Thanks."

All levity ended as the archeologist talked about the pedestal they found and what it revealed.

"Damn," Jack cursed.  "Talk about rotten luck."

"I suppose there is some hope that those bugs didn't spread across their entire homeworld," Sam said.  "Some fragments of the civilization may have survived."

"So, find anything interesting in the city?"

"I'd love to examine their power system more fully, and those robots are pretty amazing.  The ones that were programmed for maintenance have managed to maintain that city in perfect working order for centuries."

"No weapons, I suppose."

"No, sir, not that we saw."

"The Kenterans took most of their things with them when they left," Daniel explained.

"Well, I'm sure that the scientists will have fun there anyway," Jack said.

Sam nodded in agreement.  "We definitely need to get samples of that metal that was used to construct the buildings."

"You know, it seems a real shame that those cities are just sitting there, not being used."

"If the robots were reprogrammed to allow them in, some of the present human population might eventually move into the cities," Daniel responded, "but it's completely alien to the way of life they're used to."

"Actually, I had kind of a crazy idea," Sam said.

"Hey, you know me," Jack responded.  "I like crazy.  Hit me with it."

"Well, those cities are just sitting there, in perfect working order, all ready to be inhabited again.  We've been setting up bases on other worlds, places we could evacuate a small number of people to in case of emergency, but what about having an Earth colony?"

"A colony?" Daniel repeated.  "How could we do that?  We can't just go out and ask for families to volunteer to start a colony on a new world."

"No, but we could probably find scientists and other people with valuable skills who have no family ties on Earth and would be willing to go, just like Doctor Weir did when she chose people to go to Atlantis.  If we got people from all the countries that know about the program, we could probably come up with quite a few.  And if there were no restrictions against people marrying. . . ."

"Then, sooner or later, nature would take its course, and we'd have ourselves an actual colony," Jack finished.  "I like it."

Daniel thought about it.  "It could work.  The fact that it's an address probably unknown by the Goa'uld is a plus."

"And with the Prometheus' new hyperdrive, it would be quick and easy to ship supplies there," Sam added.

"There is one thing, though."

"What's that?" Jack asked.

"We'd have to ask permission from Kelith's people.  It is their world, after all.  Maybe we could offer them a trade agreement of some kind.  They're a hunter/gatherer society.  Teaching them how to farm and raise livestock would dramatically improve their way of life."

Jack nodded.  "All right.  I'll talk to the president about it, see what he says."

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