hathor_girl | Fic, Choices, Sam/Jolinar/Martouf/Lantash, PG-13, 26/37

Chapter 26: The Island

Summary: Martouf/Lantash and Rohk/Ihlkat go to check on the Stargate and the dangerous plants blocking the way from the planet.

Martouf POV

Ria has injected us with a drug which will increase our resistance to the carnivorous plants. It will have little effect on them, though, so we just have to keep our distance.

Ria told me that last she went there, the plants had been flocking close to the chaapa'ai. She believes they can move, too slowly to catch you, but still enough to migrate to the chaapa'ai in time for the flowering. No idea if they are attracted to the naquadah or if they are intelligent enough to know people will come there. Scary, if that is the case! Ria went there alone then, a dangerous thing to do, and for the Tok'ra's only queen, but there was no other Tok'ra on the planet so she had little choice. We cannot let her do things like that again!

Rohk/Ihlkat goes into the skimmer ahead of us, and sits down in the pilot seat. Ria has shown all of us how to fly it, should the need arise.

Lantash and I take one more look at Samantha, who is waving at us. We wave back, then close the door.

Rohk takes off, and the ship flies swiftly and calmly to the island where the chaapa'ai is... and the plants.

It is a short flight, and then we are at the island. We are circling for a moment, looking for a good place to land. I look out the window, and I can see a large number of huge plants down there - all with enormous, purple flowers. Honestly, they would look ominous even if I didn't know what they are! There is something creepy about them.

Rohk sets down the ship. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, you can open the door," I say, raising my zat'nik'tel.

A strong scent wafts towards us, as soon as the door is open. It is sweet, but not unpleasantly so. It is actually a very pleasant smell, and the more I notice it, the more I feel it's allure... and the plants are not particularly close to where we landed.

"Everything in order?" Rohk asks.

"Yes, I think so. The plants sure do send out a powerful scent!" I shake my head and step outside.

It is warm, almost too warm, but Lantash quickly regulates our body temperature. ~Relax. We will survive and get back to Samantha and Jolinar.~ Lantash tell me.

"You are correct. The smell is strong... and very attractive..." Rohk says, taking a deep breath.

"Come. We should not stay for longer than necessary. We need to determine how many plants are near the chaapa'ai, if it is possible to reach it, if the plants can be neutralized with zat'nik'tels, and if possible get a sample of both the plants themselves and of the flowers and the nectar. Ria hopes to synthesize an antidote or something that immobilizes the plants temporarily."

"We should just kill them!" Rohk says. "They look evil, and between Ihlkat's filtering abilities and the injection I have a hard time not going to them and allow myself to be eaten!"

I nod. "Yes, Lantash is working hard at filtering out the hallucinogen, but we are also very affected." I sigh. "Ria has been here twice, and she believe the scent had become even more alluring the second time. It may just be a cyclic variation, but it may also be a continued development. We should be careful."

We hurry on, and around us the plants grow more dense as we approach the chaapa'ai. I imagine they are looking at me with hunger, but Lantash reminds me they are plants. They do not have eyes... but somehow they can sense our presence, I am sure of it!

"There is the chaapa'ai!" I point.

"There is no way we can reach it! The plants are touching it, leaning against it, even sitting in the path between the dialing device and the chaapa'ai itself!" Rohk say.

"Yes... and there is one on each side of the dialing device... close enough that they... tentacles can reach, if they can indeed move them."

"I am not going to gamble they cannot. How else will they capture people? And they do, we have seen human and animal skeletons lying here and there!"

"If I understood it correctly, people will be drugged and just go and stay with the plants. The plants will not have to move fast to take someone - even slowly will do if the person does not move."

"True, but I still think we should keep our distances."

"Yes, as much as we can." I sigh again. "Well, we do know one thing. There are a huge number of plants. The air is thick with the hallucinogenic smell everywhere on the island. It affects you immediately..." I shake my head to clear it. "And worse over time. We also know that they gather around the chaapa'ai - in large numbers, and that they may block the road."

"Yes, let us return now!" Rohk say, uneasily.

"No, we need to see if they will reach for us when we approach the dialing device. If not, we may be able to go through it." I raise my zat'nik'tel. "First we should see if they are affected by our weapons."

I fire one shot at the nearest plant. It doesn't react, but it wasn't really doing anything in the first place, so I don't know what I was expecting.

~Dropping leaves, maybe?~

~Do plants do that when you shoot them with a zat'nik'tel?~

~No idea. I don't usually walk around and shoot plants, and when I have to shoot a person, I'm usually too busy staying alive and fighting the other bad guys to really pay attention to what happens to the greenery.~

Lantash is cranky, but I can't blame him - it's hard work filtering out the hallucinogen, and it's affecting him as much as me, so it's even more difficult than it usually would be.

"Try shooting it again!" Rohk suggests.

I do, and it still doesn't seem to do anything to it. "Maybe it's stunned, or dead - or immune. I'll try approach the dialing device, then we can see what happens... but please be ready if it tries to grab me."

"And do what? If the zat'nik'tel is not affecting it normally, the only thing that does is shooting it thrice to disintegrate it - and I cannot do that if it us touching you!"

"True..." I look around. "Have you noticed there are no other plants here? Not even grass on the ground."

"Maybe the carnivorous plants starve everything else out?"

"Yes, or they do something to the ground so only they can live - or maybe the stuff that was released and mutated it in the first place killed off everything else."

"All possibilities. You can talk with the scientists when we return - if we return." Rohk looks uncomfortably at the plants.

I spot a dead tree some distance away. "I'll just go see if I can find a branch that will work as a stick for defending myself with."

"Good idea."

We go to the tree and examine it - and finally find a couple branches that are mostly straight. They are not as sturdy as I would like, since the tree has probably been dead for a while, but they will do. I hope. We take one each, and thus armed, we return to the dialing device and the dangerous plants near it.