The Sisters Three
"Wow."
"Holy Hannah!"
Jack could almost hear Teal'c's eyebrow rising on his forehead. He glanced toward his archaeologist, who was being uncharacteristically quiet. Daniel was standing with his mouth open and his eyes wide, as they took in the breathtaking mural on the wall before them.
The colorful mosaic depicted three young women: one blonde, one a redhead, and one with raven-black hair. A playful smile graced each of their faces, and the diaphanous gowns they wore did nothing to cover their 'features'.
Pieces of the mosaic had broken away and lay at the base of the wall that held the mural. Enough of it was left to show the beauty of the women that graced it.
"It's, um, very... realistic." Daniel almost felt the need to avert his eyes from the portrait's deliberate body positions; the intent the author was attempting to portray, crystal clear.
Jack, head tilted to one side as though he was trying to figure out the position of a Playboy centerfold, grinned happily. "You mean pornographic!"
Not buying into the conversation, Sam took the clinical approach. "I wonder what happened to it." Moving closer, she took a quick survey of the room. "The rest of the building is in fairly good shape."
"It appears to have been partially dismantled," Teal'c offered as he surveyed several lose tiles with the toe of his boot.
Daniel stepped forward, also closely scrutinizing the condition of the wall. "That's odd. It looks like this has been deliberately hacked away."
"Dissatisfied customers?" Jack suggested; head still tilted to one side, a hopeful expression on his face.
"Jack," Daniel warned.
"I'm just sayin'." Shrugging, he stepped back from the wall as though taking in the bigger picture. "Now why would anyone want to destroy these lovely ladies' pictures?" He was curious, though he'd never admit it out loud.
"I don't know, Jack, but maybe I'll find a clue in this writing." Daniel pointed to the base of the mural. There appeared to be an original set of writings, but over it had been placed a stone with another block of text; the stone having crumbled away to reveal its treasure behind.
Squatting down to get a closer look at the stone blocks, Jack squinted at the unfamiliar writing and looked back up at Daniel. "Any of this look familiar to you? Cause I got nothin'."
A smile played on Daniel's lips. "You don't recognize it, Jack? I was so sure."
Jack ran a finger across his chest at breast pocket height. "Do you see linguist written anywhere on this jacket?"
"Real cute." Getting down to Jack's level, Daniel reached out to touch the wall only to find a firm hand on his forearm pulling him back.
"Touch with your eyes, Daniel."
Offering Jack a smooth roll of his eyes, Daniel turned his attention back to the wall and its rows of inviting text. First glances never truly being what they appear, Daniel would have passed the writing off as Ecclesiastical Latin, but considering the content of the mural, he seriously doubted that these ladies of the night where strong pillars of whatever had passed for the local religion. No, there was something different here, something that drew him towards the language of the Ancients and their base variation of ancient Latin.
"So?" Jack asked helpfully, his hand still planted on Daniel's arm just in case his linguist decided that looking wasn't enough.
Slipping his glasses down his nose just a fraction, Daniel looked over the top of the rims and slighted his eyes, almost straining in the poor light. "I think it's a variation of Ecclesiastical Latin and Ancient, though the written form bears only a passing resemblance to Ancient."
"I was brought up with the good book, Daniel, and these-"
"Ladies!" Daniel quickly interjected before Jack could call on his extensive descriptive repertoire of the street prowling woman.
"Not quite what I was going to say, but that'll do. Anyhoo... these ladies don't strike me as members of the local Christian-faring blue rinse circuit."
"No," he conceded but quickly added, "but that doesn't mean that their language didn't evolve from Ecclesiastical Latin some time back in their history. Latin on Earth evolved into many different forms thanks to cross-pollination and-"
"Aht!" Finger waving in the air, brows puckered, Jack called for silence. "Thank you, Father Jackson, but we're not having a sermon today. If you don't mind reading from the good wall, we'd all be grateful."
Sam snorted and quickly turned away to hide her mirthful expression. Teal'c, not known for his open shows of emotion, barely suppressed a grin as he turned his attention back to the mural and the lissome display being played out by its muses.
"Well, it will take me some time to sort through the colloquial variations before I can give you a clear translation, but basically, these ladies-"
"Good enough for me." Jack slapped his thighs and rose to his feet, slinging his P90 across his arms. "Teal'c, you and Carter establish a perimeter and set a base camp. I'll stick close to Father Jackson here and report in on the half hour."
A short chorus of "Yes, sir" and "Affirmative, O'Neill" was followed by a groan from Daniel, which left Jack to blow out "Sweet" as his team set to work.
"Are you almost done, yet?"
Jack was moaning... again, leaving Daniel more than a little irked. If it wasn't bad enough that the temperature in the temple was hitting the high eighties, Jack had grown more and more frustrated at Daniel's lack of response to his constant nagging. Even Jack's yo-yo, which he'd fumbled and dropped on the sandy floor, completely clogging up its "expensive" cogs, hadn't kept his friend amused for more than a few minutes.
The translation had proven more difficult than Daniel had initially surmised. He had guessed correctly at the meshing of Ecclesiastical Latin and Ancient, but something else had been thrown into the mix, and shadings of trying to learn Abydonian Egyptian had crept into his mind. At this point, with his attention taken up trying to piece together the scratchy threads of a long dead language without the luxury of having heard it spoken before, Daniel could only be thankful for the scroll of frottage he'd been able to make. Jack, his faced pinched in thought, had taken his merry time pondering Daniel's request to make rubbings of the inscriptions. Daniel had argued, and quite rightly so in his mind, that the history of these ladies — a term he used in the very loosest of fashions, would be of no intrinsic value to the SGC, but a scale copy of the writing, along with the digital recording he'd made, could prove invaluable to the linguists department. Jack looked as though he desperately wanted to disagree and beat a hasty retreat out of Kansas and back to the sumptuous MRE Carter had burned, err... cooked and waiting for him back at base camp. However, after a stare-off that Daniel eventually won, Jack shrugged his loss away and told him to "knock yourself out."
Rubbings done, and with the almost carnal pleasure of running his hand across the written remnants of a long dead civilization, Daniel was in heaven. It didn't matter what sordid tale theses ladies told, only that he had the mystery of a language to unravel.
Daniel rocked back on his haunches, valiantly trying to ignore the seductive poses of the woman staring down at him, their eyes following him at every turn as though urging him to employ their services. Some words leaped out at him, their meanings clear though their placement in the oddly structured sentences definitely made for some interesting connotations. Keeping this in mind, Daniel thought it best not to say anything until he was absolutely sure he had the translation correct.
"Now? Are you done, now?"
Scrubbing a hand across his chin, Daniel stood and shook out his cramped legs. Jack was leaning up against the entrance to the temple room, his weapon swinging from its clip, a bored out of his skull expression plastered on his face.
"How old are you, Jack?"
"Why?"
"Because, I swear the General's granddaughters have more patience than you do."
Jack slapped a hand over his heart at the insult. "I'm hurt!"
"Live with it," Daniel returned flatly.
"No respect. I get no respect sometimes."
Snorting in response, Daniel turned back towards the wall and waved a hand over its entire length. "The mix-match of languages is proving more troublesome than I'd anticipated. From what little I have been able to translate, I can tell you that this is a tomb. More of a crypt really. And these three ladies," he waggled a finger at the mural, "are all entombed inside."
"Whoa," Jack straightened up quickly, his weapon instantly back in his hands. "Back it up... entombed? What are we talking about here? Not that I doubt your translation, but we've come up against Goa'uld who have been locked away before. Got ugly as I recall."
"They're dead, Jack."
"And it says that... where?"
Daniel hated when he had to concede a point. "Okay, so it doesn't exactly say that they're dead, but if I'm reading these time references correctly," he pointed to a long stream of text at the very bottom of the wall, "then the sisters were buried here over eight hundred years ago."
Jack let out a long whistled and hesitantly stepped closer to the wall. "Sisters, ya say?"
Daniel shook his head knowingly. "According to the inscription, yes."
"I bet their daddy had a shotgun handy... or whatever constituted for being armed."
"Shotgun?"
"You know... to scare away potential suitors. Face it, if I had three daughters looking like these do, I'd be packing some serious heat."
Daniel coughed and pinched the brow of his nose, counting in frustration under his breath. "Considering their chosen profession, I'm guessing 'daddy' lost total control over them pretty early on. He may have even encouraged them to ply their trade, given what we know of the dark ages and how it relates to many of the civilizations we've discovered through the Stargate."
Jack harrumphed, "You just have to take the fun out of everything, don't ya?"
"Yes," Daniel said dryly. "I've made it my mission in life."
"Colonel, Daniel." Jack's radio chirped to life and Daniel silently thanked his teammate for her clever timing.
"Hey, it's Carter."
Daniel pointed towards the radio on Jack's vest. "You gonna answer that before she goes to message bank?"
"Har-har," Jack sing-songed before pressing down the talk button. "Go ahead, Carter."
"The SGC check in is in 20 minutes and the suns are setting pretty quickly, sir. It'll be dark soon."
"Roger that, we're on our way. Can't keep the SGC waiting. Long distance calls are such an expense."
"Acknowledged, Carter out."
Daniel couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard Sam laughing as she signed off.
"Pack it up, Daniel. After our check-in, it's MREs ala Carter."
When no witty rejoinder greeted his ears, Jack turned back to Daniel, who was staring intently at the center of the mural.
Head tilted to one side, Daniel's lips were moving as his head appeared to follow an imaginary curving line along the center of the picture.
"C'mon, Daniel. You can salivate over these beauties tomorrow."
Unable to get a rise out of his friend, Jack moved closer and touched Daniel's shoulder. "Hey, time to call it a day."
"It's been hidden."
Jack just knew he was going to regret asking. "What has?"
"This line of text has been woven into the folds of their garments where they meet here," he pointed to the center of the mosaic where the women's garments came together in a wave of flowing fabric.
"Ok, I'll bite. What does it say?"
"'He who calls upon the triad shall receive perpetual vivification.' And then it gives their names: Cupidae, Sanguinari, Coruptella."
A warm breeze caressed Jack's face and he felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. Unfortunately, this was an all-too-familiar feeling, and also unfortunately, it usually meant their mission was about to go to hell in a hand basket.
"Daniel."
Exasperating silence followed. Jack grabbed Daniel's shoulder and spun him around so they were face to face. Crap. Daniel's pupils were so large, only a rim of blue was visible around their edges. If he didn't know better, he'd think Daniel was aroused. "Daniel!"
Daniel looked startled by Jack's raised voice. "What?"
"You, okay?"
"I'm fine, why?"
"You were just acting a little..."
"A little, what?"
"Never mind." Daniel's eyes had returned to normal but Jack had a niggling feeling things were not normal. "So, tell me, just what does 'perpetual viv . . . viva . . . "
"Vivification."
"Right, perpetual vivification—what does it mean?"
"Um, it means to continually be given new life or energy."
"Scintillating stuff. Well, get your gear together and let's get going; Carter will have those MREs burned, er, cooked by the time we get back."
Jack walked to the doorway and, squatting down, began stuffing Daniel's things back into his backpack. As he finished, he called out, "You about done?"
Glancing back at Daniel, he saw that he had his BDU jacket off and was unbuttoning his shirt.
"What are you doing?"
"It's hot in here. Aren't you hot?"
Jack narrowed his eyes, wondering if Daniel was referring to the temperature or something else.
"No, I'm not. And you can stop right there. Just grab your stuff and let's go."
Daniel took the pack Jack was holding out to him and turned to look at the wall again.
"Now, Daniel," Jack ordered as he headed for the door.
"What flavor did this MRE used to be, Carter?" Jack tried to force himself to swallow; convince himself that today wasn't a good day for death by MRE... though the unsettling lump in his throat and the loud protesting of his tastebuds tended to disagree.
"Sir?"
"You know," he lamented painfully as he forced the lump past his through, swallowing whole without chewing, "before you cremated it."
A small white packet flew through the air and landed at Jack's feet. Picking it up and turning it over in his hands, Jack looked across at Daniel, his teammate in a similar struggle with his own meal. "Just add salt, Jack. Covers everything," Daniel teased, emptying the contents of another packet over what remained on his plate. "At least, I hope it does."
"Can it cover the bitter taste of burnt pasta?"
Shoving a fork full in his mouth, Daniel promptly leaned forward and spat it back into his dish, face screwed into a grimace of distaste. "Nope... guess it doesn't."
Carter had wisely chosen to ignore the snarky banter, catching the smallest of smiles on Teal'c's face and knowing that the Colonel and Daniel were probably putting on the show just to rile her. It wouldn't be the first time that her cooking had been used as the butt of their on-word and off-world dinner conversations. Picking up a long stick she'd found earlier in the day to use as a fire poker, she shuffled the coals and embers around in their small dug-out hearth.
"Any progress with the translation, Daniel?" she asked above the din of their continuing death by MRE conversation. "When we left, you were having some issues sorting out the language."
Daniel settled his plate on the ground and pushed it away with the toe of his boot. "Well," he said rubbing his hands on his BDU pants, "the language is a combination of Ecclesiastical Latin and Ancient with some local colloquialisms thrown in. Something that would have evolved over time."
"But you can read it?"
"I'm getting there. The translation would go a whole lot faster if I could hear it spoken aloud."
"Well, considering the position of the wall, there would have to be some significant reason as to the content of the mural. Advertising?"
"Oh, there's a reason alright," Jack interjected, abandoning his own dinner in a similar fashion. "What were their names again, Daniel? Kewpie, Sanga-something, and..." Jack twirled a hand in the air, and then gave up with a shrug. "... The other one."
"Cupidae, Sanguinari, Coruptella. The closest I've managed to translate them to in Latin would be Cupidus — desirous, Sanguinarius — blood thirsty, and Corruptela — seduction."
"Charming," Jack murmured, "Is this yet another reason I should be worried or just the fact that someone saw fit to entomb them here is enough? I think I've still got a few strands of silver hair left you can have."
"Grey."
"Daniel."
"Jack, I'm fairly certain they were dead when they were entombed here. The whole building has the feel of a crypt about it and crypts weren't traditionally used for locking people in while they were still alive."
"I don't know. I've seen some pretty scary movies-"
"Well, judging from the design and building methods employed by this culture, I don't think we're in any danger of them having had the technology to intercept and emulate really cheesy B grade movies from Earth."
Jack harrumphed and moved to put another log on the slowly dwindling fire. "All I'm saying is that we should exercise a little caution here. Have you found anything in all in that squiggle that might be of benefit to the SGC? Remember that pesky little mandate we have to uphold? The reason we get paid?"
"Besides the discovery of a new language?" Daniel heaved a sigh and tugged down the zipper on his jacket. Whether it was his closeness to the fire or just general exhaustion from sitting in front of a wall for the better part of a day, but he suddenly felt a little warm. "From what I have been able to translate, the writing tells the history of the women from the POV of those they crossed."
Jack looked across at Daniel and frowned. "Crossed? Why don't I like the sound of that?"
"You don't like the sound of anything except the hockey scores, Jack."
"And your point being?"
"My point being, that I simply haven't had enough time to sort the nuances of the language to give you an accurate enough translation. I missed it the first few times, but hidden in the folds of their gowns, at a place where the three of them come together, is a row of text. What I don't understand is why, considering it reads like sort of blessing, it would be placed in such an obscure location. The other point I noticed is that it appears to be in direct conflict with what I've managed to translate of the two blocks of text below. Neither of which are in the best of condition. All I've managed to ascertain is both the covering block and the wall behind speak of a warning to any of those that try to disturb the crypt."
"What would be the significance of such an act, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c, characteristically quiet, piped up from the other side of the campfire where he had been wandering the permitter.
"I'm not sure, Teal'c."
"Something more I need to worry about, Daniel?" Jack quipped, clearly not liking the tone of the conversation.
Daniel shrugged and slowly slid his jacket down over his shoulders to fall on the ground behind him. "I really don't think so."
"So, what does it say?" Sam asked.
"'He who calls upon the triad shall receive perpetual vivification.'" And then it lists their names."
"Kewpi, Sangi, and... the other one?"
Daniel's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "You do that deliberately, don't you, Jack?"
"Do what?"
"Mess up names just for kicks."
"Now, why would you think that?"
"Oh, so you really do have a bad memory? First thing to go, you know."
"Just for that, you can take first watch."
Daniel glared at him. "Fine."
"Carter, you take second, I'll take third, and Teal'c, you can have the last one."
Carter got up from her spot, stashing the remainder of her MRE in their trash. "Well, goodnight. See you in a couple of hours, Daniel." She gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Night, Sam." Daniel untucked his T-shirt from his pants and fanned himself with it.
Teal'c dipped his head to his teammates and headed for his own tent.
Jack rose and brushed off his pants. "Night kids. Daniel, if you're hot, you might want to consider moving away from the fire."
"Thanks for the tip, Jack."
"Anytime, Daniel, anytime."
"Sir!"
Jack shot up from his bed, Carter's urgent call bringing him instantly awake.
"What is it, Carter?"
"Daniel's gone, sir. I went out to relieve him from his watch and he wasn't there."
"Crap." He grabbed his boots and shoved them on his feet, tying them quickly.
Jumping up, he pulled on his jacket, grabbed his P-90, and headed to the campfire. He was met by Teal'c who was already dressed and inspecting the campsite, staff weapon in hand.
"Anything?"
"Daniel Jackson's boots and socks are by the fire. His footprints lead in that direction."
Jack looked in the direction Teal'c was pointing. Double crap. Daniel was heading back to the tomb. It was pointless to call him on the radio; it was still attached to his tac vest which was lying where he'd had let it drop along with his jacket.
"Teal'c, take point. Let's go."
As it turned out, it didn't take an expert tracker like Teal'c to follow Daniel's trail. Nope, just follow the path of discarded clothing.
The first item had been Daniel's T-shirt. Jack picked it up, realizing that Daniel had been trying to take his clothes off ever since he'd read that cryptic message on the mural.
"O'Neill." Teal'c held up Daniel's BDU pants.
Jack hoped Daniel had stopped there, but that hope crumbled when he spotted something else a few feet down the path. Walking over, he went to pick up Daniel's underwear but his 2IC swept down in front him.
"Yes, I win!" she exclaimed, face alight with satisfaction.
"What've you won, Major?"
"Boxers or . . . never mind," she said blushing.
"Mind on the job, Carter."
"Yes, sir."
Turning his attention away from Carter, who was gleefully stashing the unmentionables in her pocket, Jack caught sight of the ancient temple up ahead, bathed in the light from the full moon.
"Not the clueyest apple in the barrel here, but I'm fairly sure I know where our archaeologist is."
"Sir?"
"Follow me, kids. Things have been wacky with Daniel since he started reading that mumbo jumbo on the wall."
"Perhaps Daniel Jackson has been caught by the lure of the Siren, O'Neill?"
Jack quirked an eyebrow at Teal'c. "Last time I give you the Odyssey to read."
"Was my comparison not correct?"
"Nope, T... in this case you may very well be right."
"Daniel?" Jack crossed the threshold of the temple and caught sight of Daniel standing in front of the mural with his back to them. His very bare back... among other things. "Can anyone join this party or is it Toga-free only?"
Getting no answer from Daniel, Jack moved in closer, not wanting to startle him.
"Oh! My!" Sam's eyebrows shot through her hairline as she clamped a hand to her mouth in surprise, taking a step back and averting her eyes.
"What did I say to you about keeping your mind on the job, Carter?"
"Does not the discovery of Daniel Jackson's clothing already allude to the fact that he is naked?" Teal'c asked, mouth quirked into the smallest of smiles. "I am confused by your declaration of surprise."
"It's just that, I..." Sam's cheeks reddened with a blush of embarrassment. "Seeing is a lot different than fanta . . . visualizing."
"And again, I say 'Mind on the job, Carter'... not in the habit of repeating myself." Jack turned his attention back to Daniel, and moving closer, noticed that he was trying to place pieces of broken mural tile back onto the wall.
"What are you doing, Daniel?"
Daniel paused in his efforts for a brief moment, cocked his head to one side in thought, and then pressed in the next tile. "I have to make them beautiful again."
"And you have to be naked to do that?"
"Naked? I'm not naked, Jack."
"Really? Looks like it from where I'm standing."
"Naked is a stereotypical reaction to revealing the flesh."
"Well, gotta say... you're revealing quite a bit of flesh here. Carter is blushing."
Daniel's arms suddenly dropped to his sides, the tiles he was holding falling to the sandy floor. In one swift fluid motion, he turned and walked over to Jack, grabbed his chin in his hands and kissed him deeply.
Pushing back, Jack took hold of Daniel's wrists. "What the hell! What was that about?"
"She wants you."
"Who?" Confused, Jack twisted around to look at Sam. "Carter? Carter wants me?"
"No, Coruptella..."
"Why?"
"She is seduction."
"What?"
"Her name, Jack... it means seduction."
"You've lost me here completely, Daniel."
"On the wall. The mural."
"Your ladies of the night?" Jack replied, looking past Daniel to the wall behind. "Do I wanna know what the others mean?"
"Desire and bloodthir..." Daniel dropped his arms to his side and went deathly pale. "Jack?"
"Daniel?"
"We need to leave."
"That much I figured out when I started collecting your uniform."
"They want me."
"Who does?"
"The... the ladies in the mural. The triad. They want me."
"They're just pictures, Daniel."
"No, don't you see? They're more than that. They were entombed here by the village women after they seduced and killed their men. They're not dead, and I've released them. I finally get it now."
"Good, I hope its not catching."
"What?"
"What?"
Interrupting the inane banter, Teal'c announced, "Should we not address the matter at hand, O'Neill?"
"I think dressing would be a good idea." Jack waved his finger up and down the length of Daniel's body. "It's obviously getting a little chilly in here."
Daniel looked down at himself, frowning. "Why am I naked?"
"We haven't worked that part out yet, but Carter won some bet over parts of your wardrobe so you've made her happy at least."
"I don't feel so well."
"Fainting is not an option."
"Men don't faint, Jack... they pass out. Like this."
"Whoa, big fella," Jack lurched forward and grabbed Daniel before he took a header to the floor. Lowering him down gently, he muttered, "Hmmm. Sorry, don't see the difference there. Teal'c, help me out here."
"Should we not dress him first?"
"Carter! Hand over his boxers."
"Damn," Carter mumbled.
"Geez, Daniel, you're heavier than you look!"
The shuffle to the gate was an awkward and slow affair when one of your teammates was staggering along at a zombie's pace. Daniel looked pale and pinched in the moonlight; placing one foot in front of the other a seemingly Herculean effort.
"Put me down," Daniel slurred, folding his legs up underneath him in an effort to sit down.
"No doing that. You can rest when we get you back in old Doc Fraiser's tender mercies."
"Vampire."
"Who? Fraiser? I wouldn't go letting her hear you say that."
"No, the sisters. They were vampires."
"A bit of a leap." Jack hooked his hand under Daniel's armpit to stop him from staggering forward.
"Makes perfect sense," Daniel returned. "They used their beauty to seduce the men and then drained them dry."
"Seduction from the grave. A novel concept, even for you." Although, as pale as Daniel looked, Jack was beginning to wonder himself.
"Well how else would you explain me getting naked, kissing you, and fain...err, passing out?"
"Well, there is one explanation I could come up with..." Jack trailed off.
"Oh, so we're back to me being flaky again, are we Jack."
"Not sayin' a word."
"And they're not dead, well, they're un-dead, and I released them by reciting their names."
"What is it with you and alien women?"
"Don't forget, Seduction liked you."
"Uh-huh. Carter!"
"Sir?"
"Dial it up."
The gate winked out, leaving the clearing bathed in moonlight, highlighting the three figures standing at the edge of the woods. Together, the three sisters lamented their loss.
Cupidae, her long blond hair falling down over her heavy breasts, tilted her head to one side, her eyes sad as she whispered, "He was so handsome."
"He was so responsive." Coruptella missed the loss of her victim's attention. "I had such great plans... for both of them."
Sanguinari, her red hair billowing around her head like a halo in the light breeze, laughed at her sisters' silliness, and raising a hand to wipe away a small trickle of blood trailing down her chin, purred salaciously, "He tasted so delicious. I look forward to our next meal together."
"He'll be back." Coruptella tugged at her long black hair, piling it into a bun on her head. "He can't live without us now."
The End
