It’s searching, he realized, and I’m the one making it move. With sudden alarm at where the star map might be headed, Jack threw it onto the table before it led exactly to the place he never wanted this crazy bastard to know existed: Earth. It landed with a crash in the midst of the surrounding artifacts.
The Amam snarled and Jack understood his mistake a second before he found himself knocked halfway to the door. Crazy stalked towards him.
“I’m sorry!” Jack said, holding his hands up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” He pushed himself to his feet and shook the ringing from his head.
But as Crazy approached with its shambolic gait, Jack saw something that was even more unsettling than the threat of further violence. The Devourer was grinning. “You will be of use,” it said. “You will lead us.”
“And what use do you think I’ll be?”
“I have not seen one with your power before,” it said, and for the first time Jack thought he glimpsed some semblance of sanity in its expression. “The others of your kind are weak, control falters too often, and they are spent before any progress is made. But the blood… your blood is strong. You may be the one we have awaited. You will lead us, Lantean. You will let us fly.”
Perhaps sanity was the wrong word to use after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The fire burned bright, bringing warmth to Daniel’s bones. Sam had objected to lighting it for fear that it would bring the Amam right to them, but Hunter had said it wouldn’t make a difference.
It was true that their escape had seemed almost too easy. They had sprinted towards the cover of a nearby forest, downhill and away from the alien craft. Daniel had expected, with every passing moment, a clawed hand to close on his shoulder. But the only assault had come from the tree branches that tore at their clothes and exposed hands and faces.
“They won’t chase us no further,” said Hunter, once they’d finally slowed. “They’ve got what they want.”
“You mean Colonel O’Neill?” Sam had almost spat the words.
But Hunter had been unfazed by her anger. “Right enough,” he said. “But don’t worry, they ain’t gonna feast on him. He’s safe enough for now.”
“How do you know?”
Hunter had just smiled, though his eyes were hard. “’Cause I know Snatchers.”
He’d led them then to a clearing, canopied by skeleton trees whose jagged branches cracked the darkening sky into brittle pieces of gray. From the snaking carcasses of roots that jutted through the hard-baked soil, it looked like this area might once have been densely wooded. Now it was just a filigree of death and dust.
In the near distance, the behemoth that was the Amam ship lurked on the mountainside like some brooding creature, and they sat in its shadow collecting their thoughts. Looking at his friends’ faces, Daniel knew they were all asking themselves the same question: What now?
“Where did you get that grenade?” Sam asked Hunter. “How did you know what it was?”
“Took it from one of the tables in the junk room. We’ve seen ‘em before. We use what we can find and we’ve stolen plenty like that in the past. Sometimes we just find ‘em in the dirt.”
“The grenade appeared to be of Goa’uld design,” Teal’c said, “although unusual. Most likely they were abandoned here during the war with the Amam.”
Hunter just shrugged. “Dix provides.”
His devotion to the mysterious Dix was fascinating, and Daniel wondered what role he played on this world. To Elspeth he’d been little more than a legend, yet to Hunter he seemed very much a living person.
“You said you would take us to him,” said Teal’c.
Hunter just threw another bundle of sticks onto the fire. “If you lend me one of your knives, I could catch us a jacker. Some good eating in a jacker.”
Sam grabbed his elbow. “Hunter, you said you would help us. We don’t have time for this.”
Hunter nodded and said, “I’ll take you to Dix soon enough, but strangers can’t just go walkin’ in on him.”
“Fine,” said Sam, “then you take us there. Let’s go. Let’s go right now.” She stood up, brushing the dirt from her BDUs, heading away from the light of the fire. Daniel could see how antsy she was to get moving and he could understand her impatience.
“No!” Hunter’s shout split the night and Sam froze. Clearly she was as alarmed as Daniel was at the panic in the man’s tone. It was more than just concern at them wandering in where they weren’t welcome, though. It bordered on actual fear. Hunter took a breath and sat back, staring at the fire again. “No,” he said again, quieter this time. “Ain’t safe in the Shacks at night.”