Voices from a Lost Time - Epilogue
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am only playing in the world.
Previously: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8
Voices from a Lost Time - Epilogue
Giza, Egypt, November 1929
Cam unzipped the bomber jacket as he knelt on the wooden floorboards inside the ring of the Stargate resting on trestles, which groaned and warped under its weight. He unzipped the top of his flightsuit and pulled it aside under the belt at his waist. He lifted his t-shirt out and gingerly pulled it up his abdomen, exposing the gash caused by Anubis. Just a jagged cut, nothing too bad. He shouldn't need stitches. He heard a creak and the slowed steps of Catherine Langford as she wobbled under the weight of a large jug of water and the thin towel she'd wrapped around her neck.
"Here you go, Mister." She set the water just beyond the edge of the Stargate and ducked her head to scrabble underneath it before dragging the jug along to where Cam was kneeling down. She turned and spotted his bare stomach and sucked in a shocked breath. "Does that hurt?" she asked in a worried breath.
"No, not really, I've had worse." He reached up for the towel and she unwrapped it from around her neck and handed it to him, revealing the necklace with its ring, which she had put on. He averted his gaze quickly. He pulled on the handle of the jug to bring it closer and tilted it to spill water on the towel, then proceeded to wipe the wound clean with a sharp intake of breath.
"Stop right there!" cried a man who burst into the warehouse, startling Catherine who gave a little yelp where she was kneeling beside Cam, watching him carefully. "Who are you? What are you doing to my little girl?" The man was brandishing a pistol, it looked like it was a US Army issue Smith & Wesson M1917 revolver. His hand was shaking. "Catherine, come over here."
"Father, he's not going to hurt me, and he's hurt himself." Catherine put a hand on Cam's shoulder, but he didn't take his eyes off Professor Langford and his pistol.
"It's alright, Catherine, go to your father." he said softly and she turned to look at him. She shook her head quickly, causing her short, straight hair to whip against her cheeks.
"No!" She turned to her father. "Father, he came flying from out of the ring! I saw it!" she pointed at the Stargate. Langford stepped forward slowly while Cam remained motionless, holding the towel to his abdomen.
"Catherine, do as I tell you, come to me." He held out his hand, ignoring her words.
"Go on, Catherine, I'll be alright, your father won't hurt me." Cam whispered, still following the revolver with his eyes. Catherine bit her lower lip, but stood up and backed away towards the edge of the ring. When she was out of arms reach Cam stood up as well, then raised one hand while keeping the other pressed against his side.
"Who are you?" Langford seemed satisfied with Catherine being far enough away even if she wasn't at his side. "Where did you come from? What are you doing here?"
"My name isn't important, Professor Langford, and like Catherine said, I came through the ring. I'm here on a mission of great importance." Cam replied in a voice far calmer than Langford's. He could still see the end of the barrel shaking. Lagford's brows knit together as he scoffed.
"You expect me to believe such lunacy? Such utter tripe?" he asked incredulously.
"It's true, Daddy, I saw it with my own eyes!" cried Catherine as she took a step forward.
"Stay back, Catherine." Cam said warningly at the same moment Langford cried to his daughter.
"Catherine, don't move!" he waved the pistol in Cam's direction as if he was trying to threaten him. Cam had still to move a single muscle. He eyed the Professor warily. Catherine gave a little yelp and stepped back again, pressing her back against the inside of the 'gate.
"The ring is a form of transportation. Two rings connect to each other forming a portal between them." Cam began, not wanting to get technical as he watched Langford continue to move closer to the outside edge of the Stargate.
"Rubbish! It's a ceremonial monument!" Langford had reached the edge of the ring, stupidly, at the point closest to the man he was aiming at, which is where Cam wanted him. He moved, ducking and rolling forward as Langford fired where he no longer was. He came up and grabbed the man's wrist and twisted, catching the revolver as it fell from nerveless fingers with the hand which had just a few moments before been holding a blood-stained towel. Catherine had screamed when the shot was fired, she now clutched at her ears, looking at the two men fearfully as she crouched down on the balls of her feet. Cam's wound was probably bleeding again, he didn't care. He pulled on the hand he was still holding, forcing Langford painfully against the outer edge of the ring. He lifted the revolver and flicked the release, let the cylinder swing out and caused the bullets to tumble from it with a shake of his wrist. He then tossed the pistol over his shoulder so that it bounced on the wooden slats and fell into the hole created by the reversed vortex funnel. He pulled down on the archaeologist's hand so his arm was pinned against the ring and his face was mere inches from the inner track of symbols. Cam tapped his fingers on it, right in front of Langford's wide eyes.
"When have the Egyptians ever been able to work metal like this? Metal you can't identify." Without waiting for a response he lifted Langford's arm and led him to one of the chevrons, again pinning him against the ring and this time tapping on top of a crystal. "When have they ever worked crystal like this? Crystal with a structure that makes it unworkable with any tools you know of, let alone any tools available to the Egyptians." He pulled on the arm again, this time letting go so an unbalanced Langford slipped and fell backwards, allowing Cam to spin under the Stargate and grab at Langford's arm again as he lay on the floor, lifting him up and pinning the arm behind his back as he pushed him against the ring again, just to the right of the third chevron clockwise after the top one. Cam made sure Langford could see, then slammed the heel of his palm on the outside of the ring, twisting and sliding his hand away so a metal panel recessed itself and slid along the inside of the ring's housing, revealing two rows of irregular, multi-coloured control crystals. "Ever seen anything like that?" he asked the stupefied archaeologist before he slammed his palm to the left of the panel and watched it slide shut, and the seam disappear before his eyes, Langford would never see those crystals again. Catherine came running over along the inside of the ring, tears running down her face and Cam released Langford, letting him slump down onto his knees and then his haunches as the little girl ducked under the Stargate and threw her arms around her father. "This is something beyond your understanding, Professor Langford, beyond your imagining. Beyond your capability to fathom. You will never solve all its riddles to your satisfaction," he paused and looked at Catherine, "but your daughter will. With help." Langford stared at him dumbfounded before reaching up to stroke his daughter's hair as she cried against his shoulder.
"How do you know all this? Who are you?" he asked as he stared at Cam with a look of fear and amazement rolled into one. Cam paused and looked away for a moment, he couldn't believe what he was about to say, Sam would cover her eyes with her hands in despair. He clenched his jaw, driving the image from his mind, then turned back to stare at the man.
"I'm from the future, Professor Langford." He reached into his pocket and produced Sam's mobile phone, flipping it open and showing him the screen with its wallpaper of Sam kissing his cheek as he grinned into the camera. Langford stared at it in open disbelief. He flipped the phone closed and stuffed it back in his pocket. "My name is Daniel Carter, and I need your help to save the world."
Herian's moon, P6C-211, October 2008
Cam clutched at Sam lest she somehow disappear out of his arms. Her fingers wrapped around the back of his head, into his shaggy hair and pressed his face against her tac vest. She came to get him. It took her months, but she came. No... time dilation field... to her it's probably been less than a day. He didn't care anyway. She came. He knew she would.
"I've got you, Cam, I've got you." she breathed into the top of his head. He nodded, grinning wildly as the tears welled up in his eyes. He suddenly groaned in pain and held his breath. "Cam?" She pushed him away and he felt her hands moving over him, lifting up what was left of his shirt and gasping at the sight. "Holy Hannah... Cam..." He knew his torso would be covered in bruises, from the blunt padded arrows the hunters used in their bows, from the clubs and hafts of other weapons with which they'd struck him, finally from the fists and boots with with they'd punched and kicked him. They didn't want him dead though. They lived for the hunt, not the kill. They would hunt their prey until they were no longer worth the sport.
"I'm alright, Sam, this is just from today. They heal me with a hand device in the morning then let me rest for a day or two." He rolled over onto his back and lay still, breathing slowly.
"Where is it?" she asked frantically and Cam shook his head to clear it before looking towards where Herian usually sat. He moved his arm towards it and Sam got up and ran off. He saw several things being thrown around and she was soon back at his side, with the hand device around her fingers, holding it over him. She was grimacing and shaking it, growling in frustration. "Work, damn it! Work!" He reached up and touched a hand to her cheek, stroking it gently. She stopped and looked at him as he smiled softly.
"Calm down, Sam." he breathed and the anger in her gaze melted away as she looked at him with watery eyes and nodded. She closed them in concentration and took a deep breath. After several moments he saw the orange light shining from the device and felt the pain in his chest easing little by little. He sighed. After a while he heard her throw the hand device aside and lift him up by the shirt and wrap her arms around his shoulders. "Thanks, darlin'." he chuckled.
"How long, Cam?" she breathed the question as if unsure she really wanted to know. He leaned his head against the side of hers.
"Just a few months is all, no biggie." He honestly wasn't entirely sure, it's not as if he could use the day/night cycle to count, damn thing moved through the sky like molasses, and the one night he'd seen had lasted a very long time. Sam whimpered and he sighed. "Seriously, Sam. I knew you'd come as soon as you could, I just had to wait it out." She punched the back of his head softly. He chuckled when her fingers then traced gently over where she'd hit him.
"You know..." She pulled back and pushed the hair away from his eyes, "considering all the relativistic effects we've been under over the years, you're probably physically older than I am now." She smirked at him ruefully and he chuckled.
"I see how you are, you're the type to kick a man when he's down." he grumbled and she slapped his arm and laughed when he did.
"Cam, everyone is waiting for me to disable the device so they can assault the Ha'tak. I kind of got sidetracked saving your ass." She stood up and slowly helped him get to his feet.
"Well, won't they be pissed, all dressed up and no-one to dance with." He kicked Herian's head away and leaned down to pick up the Goa'uld's sword and the sheathe from his belt, blood simply slid off the shimmering double-edged blade and he re-sheathed it. "High frequency vibrating blade." he muttered in disgust. "Thanks for saving my ass, by the way." He smiled at her and began hobbling out of the room, she quickly came to take his arm over her shoulder. "Let's go let everyone in."
"Are you okay? You look like a mess." Sam said softly and Cam glared at her.
"Sheesh, don't shave for a while and everyone's a critic." he joked and she couldn't help chuckling. They made their way to the ring room and Cam indicated a sequence for her to key in to take them to the base of the pyramid. They walked through the colonnaded gallery and into the water-laden parade ground ruins which held the device. Sam let Cam stand on his own and moved towards the control pedestal, opening a sliding tray filled with control crystals at its base. Cam didn't give her a chance to decide which crystal to remove first, he unsheathed the sword and swung it through the console over and over, ripping into it and sending sparks flying as huge chunks of it slid away to tumble into the shallow water.
"Cam! What are you doing?" she cried, but dared not go near him as he swung the ultra sharp sword with abandon. "Stop, Cameron!" With each swing and stroke he cried out in anger and pain until with one last cry of rage and frustration he lifted the weapon above his head in both hands and swung it down with all his might through the exposed heart of the pedestal only for the sword to strike something it could not cut, something which actually made the blade shatter into pieces, its vibrations sending the shards of metal flying through the rest of the machine away from them. Cam held the hilt of the sword up to look at the broken blade and threw it away to stare into the machine in puzzlement. He began pushing loose parts of the control pedestal away from whatever had broken the sword and Sam came to stand by him in surprise before giving him a hand. Nestled in the machinery was a large ingot of dark bronze metal, shaped into a shallow arc. It was embossed with Ancient glyphs, with a bevelled circular recess cut in the center and intricately shaped reliefs embedded inside. Cam touched it and nothing happened so he picked it up and pulled it out. As he did so, the SG teams streamed into the main chamber to find him and Sam turning the ingot over and over in bemusement.
"Colonel Mitchell, Colonel Carter, what's the situation?" asked Colonel Dixon of SG-2 as he came to stand by them. A medic immediately rushed to Cam's side and began fussing with his wounds much to his irritation. Colonel Reynolds joined them as well, as did the rest of SG-1.
"Sorry, Colonels, I kind of rescued Cam myself. It was an accident, I swear!" cried Sam and Vala laughed. Daniel looked at the pedestal in horror, while Jonas, Kianna and Teal'c came to stand by Sam and Cameron, Sam nodded to them reassuringly when they looked at her questioningly.
"We tried contacting you on the radio, but we received no reply to the double tap. Figured you were surrounded." grumbled Dixon with a mock-glare.
"Sorry, Dix," Cam smirked, "she probably couldn't hear it over me trashing the hotel room." He nodded towards the destruction in front of him.
"I can see that." Colonel Dixon clapped Cam on the shoulder and went to organise the SG teams.
"What did you do?" Daniel asked incredulously once he could tell Cam was mostly okay after the medic's impatient ministrations. He indicated the destroyed pedestal and Cam shrugged. For her part, Vala used her fingers to point around her mouth alluding to his beard and gave a little shake of her head. He grinned at her.
"I needed to vent. This is what you want." He handed the ingot to Daniel. "The Lock of the Eternal Moment." Daniel looked at him in confusion.
"Lock?" He glanced at the glyphs and nodded as he lifted his eyebrows. "Oh, yes, Lock." He pointed at a line of text. "Serrapta Momenta Eteri. Serrapta not Saepta."
Selenis, Luna, August 2010
Sam stood in Command with Teal'c going over various security enhancements they were thinking of installing at the base. Unfortunately it would need a self destruct system of some kind, all Air Force facilities of such a sensitive nature required one. He was nodding at the display as she indicated the secondary power junctions when Cameron came running up the stairs, all excitement, calling for the Jaffa.
"T-man, I've got it! Check it out!" He held up a football for the Jaffa to gaze at quizzically. Teal'c lifted an eyebrow at Cam.
"It is an American football, Colonel Mitchell." intoned the alien. "We have used one many times in the past as I recall." Cam frowned at him, but not half as much as Sam scowled at Cam.
"Cameron, we're kind of busy..." she began, but Cam smiled and kissed her lightly before turning back to Teal'c.
"I need to borrow the T. This is important, honey. You have no idea how much." He held the football higher. "I've been working on this with Dr. Lazlo using a personal forcefield generator I brought back from Atlantis last month. We modified it with Selenis' help."
"~Selenis? What is this about?~" Sam asked, trying to get a straight answer from someone.
"~A forcefield generator has been integrated into the internal structure of the ball, suspended in a high tensile strength fibrous mesh within the air sac.~" began the AI's explanation. "~The field generator maintains a pocket of air all around the ball, no more than five molecules thick, maintaining one atmosphere of pressure at all times while allowing contact with the ball.~" Sam was still at a loss. She stared at Cam dumbfounded.
"Can you not see what this means, T-man?" Cam asked desperately. At the Jaffa's continued look of confusion he pointed beyond the wall of the 'gate room. Teal'c looked where indicated and walked towards the wall to gaze out on the hangar deck. Sam followed both men to stare down at the vast expanse of grey decking down below. They were silent for several moments until Teal'c spoke.
"Samantha Carter, you must excuse me for an hour, perhaps two. Colonel Mitchell and I have important business we must attend to." Teal'c glanced at Cam and nodded once. "Lead the way, Colonel Mitchell."
"That's what I'm talking about!" cried Cam and spun about to hug Sam and kiss her lightly. "Back soon, sweetness." He bounded off with the Jaffa in tow, leaving Sam speechless. Thirty minutes later, Vala found her standing between the stairs behind the Stargate, staring out into the hangar bay, shaking her head.
"Samantha, where have Muscles and Cameron gone off to? Daniel and I are waiting to start our basketball game." She came to stand by Sam and followed her gaze. "Oh. Oh my."
"They had some important business to take care of." Sam answered Vala's question with equal parts irritation, amazement and indulgence in her voice. She shook her head and held a hand to her temple, but she couldn't help the smile which creased her lips at the same time, as she watched Cameron, standing in the standard Lunar gravity down in the hangar deck, surrounded in a large air retaining forcefield projected by Selenis. He pulled his arm back and launched another thousand yard pass to Teal'c standing in his own forcefield over by the completed Alteran ship. Selenis kept a spotlight trained on the tight spiral of the football, marked with brief flashes of blue as it passed from within Cam's forcefield into the vacuum of the hangar proper, then once more as it entered the Jaffa's forcefield at its destination, all the while encased in its own pocket of air at Earth standard atmospheric pressure.
"I think I better tell Daniel."
USS Odyssey, above P3X-474, May 2007 + 3,315 days relative
She pulled out of the kiss to see the look in his eyes and it immediately made her kiss him again. She ran her hands through the hair at the back of his head and lost herself against his mouth. After several ardent minutes which had her breathlessly pulling away to caress his cheek as his eyes sparkled that intense shade of blue she loved so much, she started climbing out of the second seat and wordlessly motioned him into it. He grinned and complied, she watched him for a moment, biting her lower lip before turning to the first seat and climbing in.
"Your turn is it?" he asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"You better believe it." she said over her shoulder as she flicked the switch which closed the canopy and raised the F302 into the center of the simulator. "Can you start it up in the planetary atmosphere? Or do we have to take off from Odyssey?"
"I can do that, no problem." Cam replied and took out the remote, inputting several commands which flashed the holographic display around them from the yellow gridlines on black to displaying a blue sky. Then the simulation began and she was in control. She grinned as she angled the 302 over and down towards the ground. Cam liked negative gee climbs, well Sam liked positive gee dives. Flying inverted with the ground above them and pulling back on the stick had them hurtling towards the ground and Cam laughed from behind her.
"That's what I'm talkin' about!" He whooped and slapped the console in front of him as their altitude decreased at a starling rate until she brought them out of the dive at Mach 2.5 and level flight at thirty feet off the ground over a pampas like grassland.
"I learned this from a crazy man!" she cried over her shoulder and inverted the 302 once more, bringing it down to within the height of a tall man above the ground, Cam laughed maniacally as he could hear the tall grass being cut by the tail fins of the fighter behind his head. The grass flattened against the ground in their wake, but before it did so she thought it looked like a swaying, rippling pale yellow sea in front of her. Upside down of course.
"This crazy man sounds like my kinda guy!" Cam joked from behind her. "Let me guess. You have a crush on him, right?" She fired her manoeuvring thrusters and lifted them up over the pampas as she turned her head to look him in the eye with her own intense gaze.
"I love him, madly." she breathed. "He makes me soar through the sky." She pulled hard left on the yoke and rolled the 302, then kicked the nose up with her thrusters with perfect timing, spinning the fighter like a top until its momentum caught up and she shot up into the sky. When she hit Mach 3 she kicked the ramjets in and powered on into orbit. As she climbed through the atmosphere the sound of the engines died to only what could be heard through the airframe as they reached hard vacuum. She kicked in the sublights and made for Odyssey. She pursed her lips and made a crackling sound with her mouth before speaking in a monotone. "Tower, this is Ghost Rider, requesting a fly-by." Cam laughed and made his own crackling sound before responding in an impassive voice.
"That's a negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full." He was chuckling as he finished and saw her fly right past the forward windows on the bridge, at which point he laughed out loud. He was barely able to contain the laughter a minute later as he put on a mock-furious voice. "When are you going to stop those jockeys doing a fly-by on my tower at over 400 knots. I want somebody's butt, I want it now, I've had it!" Sam giggled.
"You want somebody's butt, do you?" she asked coyly looking over her shoulder. He raised an eyebrow.
"Is your ego writing checks your body can cash, Colonel?" he asked.
"Switch this thing off." she ordered, already sliding open the canopy.
Urdijina, M3R-921, September 2010
"Well, let's go." He held out his hand and she took it, following alongside him as the path underfoot quickly became the only source of light as it curved around a protective curtain of rock, until then hidden in the darkness. Starkly illuminated in the cold light, his tense features made her halt their progress momentarily and had him gazing at her in confusion.
"This is meant for us, Cam. We're expected." She stood her ground until he chuckled and nodded, lifting his other hand to caress her cheek momentarily, his features settled into his look of determination before he proceeded into the darkness once more. After several more turns in the depths of the cavern the path ended at an obliquely lit doorway which opened at their approach, leading them into a small sanctum containing only a large silvery column which shone from within with refracted light. Cam let go of Sam's hand and they circled the column to look around the area. There were very few features, just stones rising from the bedrock to various heights and smooth rock walls slick with moisture. And the column. She caught his eye and nodded slightly and he stepped forward and looked up and down the column before placing his palm on it causing a pulse to flow out from his hand through the surface of the crystal, which began wavering and shimmering. Cam stepped back to stand by Sam, while the column shrank and twisted at the top and bottom, evaporating with soft hisses and drips like melting candle wax. Sam gasped when she saw what was revealed, a man staggered forward into a quick-thinking Cam's arms and fell to his knees, coughing and clutching at his chest.
"Whoa there, buddy, take it easy." Cam muttered before remembering himself. "~Relax, sleeper. You are amongst friends.~" The man looked up to stare quizzically at Cameron and Sam covered her mouth with her hand.
"Ilemus." she breathed and the man turned to look at her at the sound of his name. He looked older than the footage of him on the log tablets, his hair was white and his face was lined with wrinkles, but it was clearly him. He coughed and spasmed in pain, Cam helped him up and manoeuvred him over to a conveniently shaped rock which could well have been some sort of seat. After several moments the man's shuddering breaths eased a little and he looked between them both. He clutched at Cam's robes with strong fingers.
"~Have you met the Children of Thyilea in Exile? The Indesta walk through Avalon still.~ he forced out with a shaky breath and Sam regarded Cam with a troubled gaze. One which he returned in kind. She crossed her arms over her chest as her brows furrowed in thought.
"~You're saying there are Indesta in Avalon right now?~" Cam asked pointedly of the man he was helping to support. Ilemus nodded emphatically. Cam looked at Sam with a frown which she returned. To imagine they would meet the builder of Selenis and his first words were a warning about Indesta in the Milky Way.
"~That is why you have come, is it not? You have met the Indesta who remained in Avalon, yes?~" The aged Alteran glanced between them both severely. Sam frowned and glanced at Cam.
"~Actually we just came to purify in the hot springs before concluding an accord with the Urdijine.~" Cam murmured to Ilemus' great alarm. "~We didn't know you were here.~" The man faltered as he attempted to stand and Cam came to take him by the elbow in support and eased him back down into the seat. "~How can there still be any Indesta in Avalon after all this time?~"
"~Who are you? Where do you come from? How long has it been?~" His shrewd eyes bore into them. He asked his questions decisively.
"~I am Samantha Carter, this is Cameron Mitchell. We are from Terra.~" Ilemus looked up in surprise at her words. "~It has been several million years since you left Selenis, Ilemus.~" He shook his head frowning then clutched at his temple in pain until Sam laid her hand on his shoulder.
"~I know that much. How long since I left Atlantus?~" he demanded as Sam pulled back again and Cam stood up.
"~We don't know.~" admitted Cam gently, Sam thought he might be unsure what effect any answer would have on the man. Ilemus did not seem to be adjusting well to his return from stasis. She turned to the Alteran again.
"~It has been over ten thousand years since the Lanteans left Atlantus to return to Avalon after their defeat in the war with the Wraith. They fought for over a century.~" she offered as much of the history of the end of the Lantean occupation of Atlantis as she could. Ilemus didn't react well. His jaw slackened in shock and his eyes glazed over. Once more he clutched at his chest and heaved great sucking breaths into his lungs. "~Ilemus, please rest, you've just been taken from deep stasis. You must recover your strength.~" He shook his head sadly.
"~There is no time. You are right when you called it deep stasis. We are not meant to be held frozen in time so strongly for so long. It causes severe damage to our minds and bodies.~" Cam looked at him in confusion.
"~Saronus was in stasis for millions of years, too, until we woke him up not long ago...~" He trailed off at Ilemus' look of shock. "~Saronus spliced a stasis chamber out of Selenis' control and sealed himself in. We discovered him not long after first arriving on Selenis several weeks ago.~"
"~Saronus was on Selenis?~" Ilemus' eyes grew wide in shock. "~We stranded him?~" He looked highly distressed until Cam shook his head sadly.
"~No, he was the Indesta saboteur,~" Cam's words had the Alteran blinking in surprise, "~but like I said, we woke him up not long ago and he was fine.~"
"~Was he really, Cam? He had twinges and muscle spasms.~" Sam pointed out and Cam gazed her way for a moment before looking down. "~You're suffering because we've returned you to realtime. Is there anything we can do?~" she asked Ilemus apologetically.
"~No, child. This was expected, I prepared for it.~" He unclasped a band of dark glossy metal from his wrist and held it out to Sam. She pointed at Cameron and smiled wryly.
"~His gene expression is better than mine even with the serum.~" She shrugged slightly. Ilemus looked between the two for a moment in great thought.
"~You are partners? In every way?~" Ilemus waited until they'd glanced at each other then nodded to him in unison. The Alteran shook his head slightly and closed the band once more. Holding it between his hands with his fingers grasping the outside of the black metal, he twisted each side in opposite directions, the band unlocked in a serrated pattern all along the circumference. Pulling each half apart they could see filaments of the black metal stretching and distending and finally tearing, only to be absorbed into the main body of each half. The trangular teeth on each then gradually became rounder and shallower until he held two identical bands, slimmer than the original, he then offered one each to Cameron and Sam. They took them, Cam held his, examining it while Sam put hers on hesitantly when Ilemus motioned for her to do so. She felt a jolt, and looked down at the band in amazement. Touching it with a finger she pulled her hand away which caused a strip of light to form in the air before her, which widened as she reached inside to pull out a flat disk of silver metal with recessed glyphs running along its edge, on both faces were irregularly shaped, angular notches and splines arranged radially from the center of the disc. The strip of light faded from sight as Sam's hand moved away from it. "~Ilemus. This is...~" She looked at Cam in dismay. "~This is a myth.~" Ilemus chuckled in understanding and nodded.
"~What is it, Sam?~" Cam came to stand beside her, looking at the disk in curiosity while looping his fingers through his band.
"~Daniel's going to kill me, Cam.~" she said in amusement and he looked at her in confusion. "~This is the Key to Infinite Treasure.~" He raised his eyebrow and Ilemus barked an incredulous laugh.
"~No, the Key to the Vault of Infinity, at least, my part of it.~" Ilemus corrected with a shake of his head. "~An oddly subtle though predictable mistake. You must find the other parts of the Key, and it's mate. It will lead you to our greatest secret. The secret we worked so hard to keep from the Indesta.~" They both looked at the Alteran in awe. And then in shock, as he doubled over in pain once more. Cam rushed to help support him. "~You must find the Lock!~" Ilemus gasped while clutching at his chest. "~The Lock to the Moment of Eternity. Inside... is the...sum of our- ~" His jaw clenched and his eyes screwed shut in pain and Sam rushed over as well to take one of the man's arms. Suddenly the room was filled with a blinding light. When she opened her eyes she saw Ilemus before her, tendrils of his energy brushing against her face and Cam's as he spoke into their minds. '~You must take up the burden now. Forgive me.~' He vanished as a shimmering wisp, flashing through them and into the ceiling. They stared up after him for several moments.
"Why does the Lock to the Moment of Eternity sound familiar?" Sam asked as she turned to Cam with a slightly unfocused gaze.
"'Cause I think it's in the vault at Area 51." Cam replied with the same tone of mild disbelief, still staring up at the ceiling.
On to the Gag Reel
To be continued in ' A Sword in Agate'