CHAPTER ONE
The five members of SG-1 traveled cautiously down the dirt path. The presence of weeds growing abundantly on the path seemed to indicate that it was rarely used. The MALP had not shown any signs of recent activity, which could mean that a Prior had not visited this world yet.
After walking around half a mile, they saw their first signs of habitation, a herd of animals being tended by a girl of around twelve. The child stared at them, wide-eyed, then ran away in the direction SG-1 was traveling.
"I'm guessing that we'll be getting company soon," Cameron Mitchell said.
He was right. A few minutes later, eight women on horseback came riding up to them, armed with bows and swords. The members of SG-1 raised their weapons in response.
"Who are you?" asked one of the women. "From where do you come?"
Daniel lowered his P-90 and held out his hand in a calming gesture. "It's all right. We come in peace. We're explorers. We came through the Stargate, the big ring."
The women all frowned. Then they focused their eyes on Sam and Vala.
"Which of you is in authority?" the same woman asked, very clearly addressing the two female members of the team.
Cameron began to answer. "Actually, I'm—" He was stopped by Daniel's hand grabbing his arm. He looked at the archeologist, who shook his head slightly in warning.
Sam noticed the exchange. She caught Daniel's eyes for a moment, then turned back to the women. "I am," she said.
"You came through the stone ring?" she was asked.
"Yes."
Another of the women spoke. "It has been many years since any came through." She looked at Daniel, Cameron and Teal'c and smiled. "This is good. Tafrea will be very pleased." The smile was replaced with a frown as she looked down at SG-1's firearms. "Those are weapons?"
"Yes, but we don't want to hurt anyone," Vala said.
"You must give them to us until we know that you are friends." Five of the women aimed their bows at the team to drive home their point.
The members of SG-1 all looked at each other. With an unspoken agreement, they handed their weapons to the women, removing the ammo first. They were then taken to a small village. Daniel noticed two things immediately. The first was that there were no children in sight. The second was that there were at least five times as many women as there were men.
The party stopped in the center of the village, and the horses were led off, though the women who'd ridden them stayed, keeping their hands on their swords.
A tall woman with long gray hair came up to them. On either side of her was another woman.
"I am Tafrea," the grey-haired woman said. "Welcome to our village." She turned to Sam. "I am told that you came through the stone ring. It has been nearly two generations since any visited us from another world."
"We're explorers," Sam told her. "We travel from world to world seeking trade or allies. The main reason we came here was to find out if you've had any recent visitors, a man who would have come to speak to you about beings called the Ori and their religion."
Tafrea shook her head. "No one like that has come to this village, although I do not know of the others. We have not traded with them in several months."
"That's good. They're very dangerous. If one comes here, you're people could be at risk. They've already killed many people. They are extremely powerful."
"We will fight them."
"No, you don't understand," Daniel said, which caused Tafrea and the other native women to glare at him. "They have weapons you couldn't defeat. Your best hope for survival would be to pretend to do whatever they told you or to leave the planet."
"We will not leave our home. If these people you speak of come here, we will see what they have to say." She looked at Sam. "You spoke of trade. We would be most amenable to that. There are only three other villages with which we can easily trade males."
The eyes of the four human members of SG-1 opened wide. Oh, boy.
"Trade m-males?" Sam stammered. "Uh-uh . . . no, we, um, we don't do that kind of trading."
Cameron was dying to make a remark, but the warning glare that Daniel focused on him kept his mouth shut. The same, unfortunately, could not be said for the newest member of SG-1.
"Well, you know, we could always take a look at what you have," Vala said. "We might be persuaded to change our minds."
"Of course," Tafrea responded. She studied the men of SG-1 in a way that made Cameron wonder if she was going to come over and start examining their teeth.
"They are fine males," she remarked. "We will bring you some of our best for you to consider as trade."
"That really won't be necessary," Sam insisted, shooting Vala a glare. "Like I said before, we don't trade men."
Tafrea frowned. "Never?"
"No, it's not our custom."
"Then how do you prevent weakened bloodlines?"
Sam didn't understand what she meant and looked at Daniel.
"Um, excuse me. Do you mean inbreeding?" he asked. "Uh, when a male and female who are closely related produce children?"
"Yes. It can cause children to be born with problems of the mind or body."
"That's usually not a problem where we come from," Cameron said. "There are plenty of guys to go around."
"Your male children do not die during Fashta?" one of the other women asked.
"Fashta?" Vala inquired.
"When a boy leaves childhood behind and enters manhood. When the change begins, most of our males begin to sicken. Many die before Fashta is complete."
"No, that doesn't happen where we come from," Daniel said. Well, that certainly explained a lot.
Tafrea exchanged a look with several of the other women. She then turned back to SG-1, an expression of great interest on her face.
"If you will excuse me, I must speak with some of my advisers. You will be taken to a place where you can wait."
Four of the armed women took them to a building with several small beds, a few chairs and a single table, as well as a crude sort of lavatory.
"Okay, so what's up with this place?" Cameron asked. "They trade people. That is just plain wrong."
"I agree, but Tafrea made it clear what their reason is," Daniel responded. "Because of the high mortality rate among males, the number of men is very small. To prevent too much inbreeding, they exchange men with other villages periodically, giving them access to a larger gene pool. They probably keep close track of every man and woman's bloodline."
"Well, a Prior hasn't been here, so we have no reason to stick around. I say that we bid them a polite farewell and get back through the gate before they get it in their heads to put us three guys up for auction."
Vala grinned. "Actually, that might be rather fun. They'd strip you naked, wouldn't they?" Her four teammates glared at her.
"We're going to have to wait for Tafrea to give us permission to leave," Daniel said. "She's obviously in charge of this village."
Vala raised her hand. "I have a question. Where are all the children?"
"Yes, I was wondering about that, too," Sam said. "The only one I've seen was the little girl tending that herd."
"It could be that they're kept in another area," Daniel replied. "I noticed a tall wooden fence at the south end of the village."
The door opened, and two women came in.
"Tafrea wishes to converse with you in private," one of them said to Sam.
"Uh, look—" Cameron began, but was cut off by Sam.
"Thanks. I'd like that." She went with the women.
"I don't like this," Cameron said.
"No, but we need to play by their rules for now," Daniel told him. "It's pretty obvious that, in this culture, men have a greatly inferior position. Some societies have little tolerance for cultures that are markedly different from their own. That's been true throughout Earth's history. These women might not react well to the knowledge that we come from a society that is mostly dominated by men."
"So, you're saying that I should stay cool and act the strong, silent type."
"That might be wise."
"So, women are the bosses around here," Vala said. "I think I like that. Then again, the obviously limited choice of male companionship would be a drawback."
Sam was taken to a small house. Tafrea sat on a divan with lots of cushions. She motioned to Sam.
"Come. Sit with me." Sam did as she asked. "What is your name?"
"Samantha Carter."
"Samantha. Your world sounds like an interesting place. Is there no way that we could persuade you to give us some of your males? It is possible that we could find things of value that we could use in trade."
"I'm sorry, but no. We don't trade people. We value all human life equally, both male and female."
"I see." She nodded to a teenaged girl, who brought over a tray with glasses of water and slices of an unusual-looking fruit. The girl set the tray on a low table.
"Please eat with me," Tafrea said.
"Um . . . thank you, but I don't think I should."
"It is our custom to share a meal with visitors. I would hope that you respect the customs of others." Tafrea picked up one of the slices of fruit and bit into it.
Sam looked at the fruit. Tafrea was eating some of it, so it probably wasn't poisoned. Besides, what reason would they have to poison her? If they wanted her dead, there were plenty of other ways to do it. And it wouldn't be a good idea to offend them, not if Sam and her teammates wanted to get out of here all in one piece.
She picked up a piece and took a small bite. It was pleasantly sweet, actually quite good, one of those flavors that begged you to eat more, like chocolate or potato chips.
"It is very good, is it not?" the older woman asked.
"Yes, it is."
Tafrea nodded. "The Shetai fruit is greatly prized by my people. Please. Eat as much as you wish. I would hope that, although our two cultures are so different, we can still be friends."
"I'm sure we could. And it's possible that we might be able to help with whatever it is that kills your male children, although I couldn't promise it."
"That would be most appreciated."
Sam finished her piece of fruit and took another as Tafrea did the same. She was on her third piece when she began feeling slightly light-headed. She put it down, suddenly having a feeling that she'd made a big mistake.
"I'm not feeling well," she said.
"Do not worry. The feeling will pass." Tafrea smiled. "Soon, you will be feeling very good."
Alarmed, Sam stood up and backed away a step. "What did you do? What did you give me?"
"Fear not. It will not harm you. In fact, it will bring you great pleasure, a pleasure that all women should know."
Sam had been gone around half an hour when the door was opened and she was brought in, followed by Tafrea. It didn't take long for Sam's teammates to see that something wasn't quite right with her. To the great surprise of the three men of SG-1, she actually began checking them out, her eyes roaming over their bodies, a smile of appreciation on her face.
"Choose the one who pleases you most," Tafrea said to her.
"Whoa, whoa," Cameron said. "What the hell's going on?"
"As is our custom, Samantha has partaken of the Shetai fruit, which fills a woman's body with great desire."
"An aphrodisiac?! You gave her an aphrodisiac?"
"Sam, are you okay?" Daniel asked, worried.
"Yes, Daniel. I feel very good." She smiled at him, but not in any way that she ever had before. The smile was . . . sultry. Oh, boy. This was so not good.
"Look, I don't know what kinky customs you people have here, but, as you already know, we're not from this planet," Cameron told Tafrea.
"That matters not," she responded. "You are here now, and you will abide by our laws and customs. If you refuse, you and your male companions will suffer greatly. If Samantha does not want any of you, then she can choose from among our men."
Vala smiled and shrugged. "Well, it's not like this is so bad. So, Samantha will have a good time with one of you, and then we can all go home."
"No, you, too, must partake," Tafrea stated.
Vala's smile got bigger. "I do admit that it sounds like a whole lot of fun, but I've always preferred a willing participant in my bed."
"You would find many willing males in our village."
"Hmm. Tempting, but I think I'll pass."
"The choice is not yours," Tafrea declared firmly.
"What happens afterwards?" Daniel asked. "Are you going to let us go?"
"Once the choosing and mating are completed, you may go." Tafrea turned back to Sam. "Choose now or one will be chosen for you."
Sam looked at the three male members of SG-1. First, she walked up to Teal'c, running her hands seductively across his shoulders, then she went to Cameron, sliding her hand over his chest. Last was Daniel, who tried very hard not to move an inch as Sam caressed his arms and chest. She looked back toward the other two men, then, much to Daniel's shock and dismay, took his hand and began pulling him toward the door.
"The choice has been made." Tafrea smiled. "You have chosen well, Samantha." She glared at Daniel. "You will please her or you and your male companions will pay the price. The effects of the Shetai fruit will not abate until after Samantha has reached the highest peak of passion."
With several armed women accompanying them, Sam took Daniel to a nearby structure that contained little more than a large bed. Daniel was nearly panicking as Sam shut the door behind the two of them, their escort remaining outside. The room was quite warm, having no windows for ventilation, but that wasn't the reason why Daniel had started sweating.
"Uhhh . . . l-look, Sam," he stammered. "I know that, right now, you're not thinking very clearly, b-but . . ." Sam's hands ran down the front of his chest and abdomen to his belt, "b-but we really shouldn't be doing this." She went around behind him and caressed his back. "We're . . . we're teammates and-and-and friends, and if we do this like . . . like this, we'll both feel horrible afterwards." He stiffened as Sam came around to face him and began pulling his T-shirt out of his pants. Daniel grasped her wrists. "Sam, please. There has to be some rational part left inside you."
Instead of replying, Sam pulled free of his grasp, grabbed hold of his belt and tugged him toward the bed.
"Oh, God," Daniel whispered. How was he going to do this? Sam would never feel comfortable around him again. It could damage their friendship.
She pushed him down to sit on the bed.
"Sam, please," he begged. "We can't do this."
Sam knelt on the bed. She pressed herself against his side. Her lips drew close to his ear.
"Shh. Relax, Daniel," she whispered. "The drug or whatever it is didn't work on me. I'm fine."
The archeologist's head whipped about, and he stared at her. "Sam?"
She smiled at him, eyes clear and earnest.
A wave of intense relief washed over Daniel. "Thank God."
"Shh. I'm pretty sure we're not being watched, but you can bet that someone is standing outside, listening in. I don't know what they'd do if they knew that the fruit didn't work on me, so we're going to have to pretend that it did."
Daniel stared at her. "What are you saying?"
Sam grinned. "I hope you're really good at faking it."
Daniel's eyes widened. "Y-you mean. . . ."
"Uh huh."
"Uhhhh. . . ."
"Come on. This could be fun," Sam told him. She began moving backwards toward the head of the bed, motioning for him to join her. Once they were sitting by the pillows, they looked at each other.
"Um, okay, what do we do? I mean, I've never, um. . . ." Daniel blushed.
"Faked it before? No, I should imagine you haven't. Generally, the only guys who fake it are actors during sex scenes. First of all, we should probably strip down to our underwear and get under the covers. Once this is all over, they'll be coming in here, and it needs to look like we're naked."
"Okay."
Feeling a little self-conscious, they turned their backs on each other and undressed, Daniel down to his boxers and Sam to her bra and panties. The archeologist placed his glasses on a small table near the bed. As they got under the covers, Sam couldn't help but get a look at Daniel's bare chest and torso. Though it was certainly not the first time she'd seen his naked upper body, she felt a surprisingly strong tingle of female appreciation. Daniel, too, had gotten a glimpse of Sam's nearly naked form and couldn't help but admire it.
He glanced at her shoulders. "Uh, what about your bra straps?"
Sam looked down. "Oh. Right." Making sure that she remained covered, Sam slipped the straps off.
"Okay, now what?"
In reply, Sam closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and let out a low, sexy moan that made Daniel's eyes get really big. Then she murmured, "Ohhhh, yes, Daniel. Mmm. Feels so good."
Daniel's eyes were getting bigger by the second, his mouth hanging open. Though he was trying very hard to ignore it, Sam's low, husky voice was having an effect on him.
Sam opened her eyes and jabbed him with her finger, whispering, "Come on. You, too."
Blushing scarlet, Daniel made a half-hearted moan.
"Oh, come on. You need to do better than that."
'Okay, I can do this,' Daniel told himself. 'I have to do this.' He let out a louder, more convincing moan.
Sam smiled. "Much better."
Daniel smiled as well. Okay, so this was a very awkward and embarrassing situation, but he and Sam were friends. They'd be fine. Besides, she was right. It could be fun.
"Oh, Sam," he moaned in the sexiest way he knew how. Sam's eyes widened slightly. Whoa. That had actually been kind of a turn-on. Daniel could do sexy.
Pushing that thought aside, she countered with, "Yes, Daniel. Right there, baby. Ohhhhh, yes."
'Baby?' Daniel mouthed, his lips quirking upward in amusement.
Sam lightly slapped his shoulder, then moaned louder. Not to be outdone, Daniel let out a deep groan.
They gradually began increasing the number of moans, groans and other sounds of passion to simulate progressively more energetic foreplay.
Daniel leaned forward and whispered. "Does this bed squeak?"
"What?"
"I was thinking that, if it does, we should, you know, move around a bit."
"Right. Good thinking."
They both bounced up a bit and were rewarded with not a squeak, but, instead, a creak of wood. Grinning at each other, they resumed making sounds of passion while occasionally throwing in a bed creak or two.
Before they knew it, they were actually competing with each other as to who could make the most convincing sounds of sexual nirvana. The problem was that it was also cracking them up, and, more than once, they had to muffle laughter.
"So, you think it's been long enough to move this show onto the finale?" Daniel asked, his eyes twinkling.
"Running out of steam already, Daniel?" Sam questioned teasingly.
"Hey, I can go for as long as you can, Sam, but we're due for a check-in in less than half an hour, and you really don't want Mitchell to explain to Landry why we missed it, do you?"
"Good point." Sam began bouncing up and down on the bed in earnest. She was joined by Daniel. She began letting out cries of rapture. Daniel added some louder moans and groans.
Suddenly, Sam threw her head back and loudly screamed his name in pretend ecstasy. The archeologist belted out a shout of his own.
They both fell silent, smothering their laughter in the pillows. Once the giggling was past, they looked at each other.
"They'll probably be coming in at any minute," Sam said, "so we should probably, uh, be holding each other."
"Oh. Yes, you're right."
Being very careful not to touch any body parts he shouldn't, Daniel drew Sam into his arms. Her body was warm, and he could smell her perspiration from the physical activity and the heat of the room. He felt a quiver of reaction in the pit of his stomach, but tried to ignore it, passing it off as a natural physiological response. After all, it had been a very, very long time since he'd had a mostly naked woman in his arms. Unfortunately, trying to ignore it wasn't quite working. He really hoped someone came soon.
To get his mind off what he was feeling, Daniel asked. "There's something I need to know. Why did you pick me?"
The question succeeded in distracting Sam from the thoughts that had been whirling through her mind, thoughts about how firm and muscular Daniel's body felt against her, how good he smelled, even with the faint scent of sweat, how his hands on her bare back were making her body tingle.
"I, um, knew right from the start that I'd pick you," she replied. "If I'd picked Cam, he'd never have shut up about it. He couldn't have resisted teasing me. As for Teal'c, that would be just way too weird. But you . . . I knew that you'd be great about it. You'd be a gentleman and never say another word about it." The irrational thought came to Sam that she wasn't sure she wanted him to be a gentleman at that moment. Alarmed by the thought, Sam forcefully shoved it down. "Besides, you're my best friend, Daniel. If I couldn't do this with my best friend, who could I do it with?"
Daniel smiled at her softly. "Thanks, Sam. I'm . . . I'm glad you picked me."
He looked deeply into her eyes. The smiles on their faces faded as their awareness of each other and the reactions in their bodies grew too powerful to ignore. The rate of their respiration and heartbeat began to climb, and they both felt a flush of heat race through their bodies.
Daniel's arms tightened their hold. "Sam," he whispered a little hoarsely.
Almost of its own volition, Sam's hand began running up and down Daniel's chest. In response, one of his slid further down her back to just above the swell of her buttocks, his thumb gliding back and forth across her skin.
All at once, they both felt a hot explosion of desire burst inside them. In the next instant, they were kissing. The fire inside flared into an inferno within the space of a nanosecond. Lips opened, and they were soon searching each other's mouths with uncontrollable passion. Sam rubbed against Daniel, the movement causing the cups of her bra to slide down. The sensation of her bare breasts against Daniel's naked chest made their senses reel. Daniel rolled over, bringing Sam underneath him as his thigh slipped between hers. The moan that escaped Sam's lips was anything but fake.
Daniel's mouth left hers and went on a journey down her neck as his hand cupped her breast. Sam moaned low in her throat at the exquisite sensation. God, this felt so good. She ground her pelvis against his, feeling his growing arousal. He responded by copying the movement, one of his hands now curved over her buttocks.
Daniel's lips were dipping down into the valley between Sam's breasts when the door opened. They jerked apart, Sam covering herself.
"Oh! My deepest apologies, Samantha," the woman standing in the doorway said. "We had believed that your mating was concluded." She looked at Daniel in admiration. "Few men are capable of mating again so quickly."
Daniel blushed all the way down to his neck.
The woman returned her gaze to Sam. "If you wish, I will come back later so that you can enjoy more pleasure with this man."
"No!" Daniel and Sam both blurted out.
"I, uh, mean that, as much as I'd love to, we really don't have the time," Sam stammered.
"Very well. Please get dressed and rejoin the rest of your people."
Avoiding each other's eyes, Daniel and Sam got out of the bed and started redressing, refusing to acknowledge the lingering traces of the feelings that had been controlling them only moments ago.
Daniel was sitting on the bed, tying his boots, when a realization struck him. He sat upright. "Uh oh."
Sam glanced over her shoulder at him. "What?"
"Vala's next."
Sam's eyes widened. "Oh, shit!"
The curse almost made Daniel smile. Sam had never used that word before, at least not in his presence.
"Okay, it may be all right," she then said. She walked around the bed and sat beside him so that she could lower her voice. "I've been thinking about this, and it's possible that I wasn't affected by the fruit because of Jolinar."
Daniel relaxed. "And Vala was a host to Qetesh."
"Right. So, she'll probably be immune, too."
Daniel's relief was short-lived. "Sam, if she picks me, and I have to put on the same act with her, she will never let me forget it."
Sam sympathized with Daniel. She knew that he was right. "Well, I guess all we can hope is that she doesn't pick you."
