Stargate Sg1 The Seeding

Stargate SG1: The Seeding

Jack stared at the crack in the earth again and tossed another stone into it. He already knew he wouldn't hear it reach the bottom. Just the receding rattle as it bounced off the sides of the crevice on the way down.

"You know. This planet is twenty-five thousand miles in circumference..."

"Twenty-six." Sam corrected him.

"It's just a little larger than Earth."

"Whatever. But that's an awful lot of miles for one damn crack to appear in. It could have been anywhere. But it chose this precise place. This precise moment..."

"Sometimes things just happen."

"Damn it, Carter. They don't just happen. They happen to us.

You'd think some higher power was playing with us. Getting up in the morning and thinking what can I do today to piss off Jack O'Neill."

Sam smirked.

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence, Sir."

"Yeah. Whatever. But our ride home is down there. Hundreds of feet down a tiny minuscule crack in the earth because Mother Nature just decided to have an earthquake right here on the day we visit."

"Hammond will already know they can't dial this gate address. We missed our check-in time hours ago.

Teal'c and Daniel will come and get us as soon as they can. Either an early test run for the Prometheus or they'll borrow a ship from one of our allies.

We're quite close to Earth relatively speaking."

Sam looked around the fertile lands surrounding them. An open countryside of grasses and small trees in the distance, with plowed fields and healthy crops closer to where they stood.

"It isn't so bad here.

The village is cute and the people seem friendly."

Back at the village the Elder, Aled they called him, had arranged a hut for them.

"It's as it is for everyone here." He explained.

"I don't know how you live in your realm but we are a simple people. This is the best we can offer."

A group of children ran past playing, stopping a moment to look at the strangers in their unusual clothing before continuing with their games.

"Thank you," Sam said.

"It won't be for long. And I'm sure it will be fine."

"The Great eye cannot be recovered. It's far too deep to dig out. A great loss we know its true purpose, and an even greater loss to you now that you can't return home I'm sure."

Jack wondered if he hadn't heard correctly.

"We will be returning home. In a few days, a ship will come by and pick us up."

Aled looked at a loss, as if ship meant nothing to him. More children came by distracting him.

"Soon you'll have children of your own. They're our future. We treasure all births."

Jack lost interest in explaining the obvious. It would only be a few days. Who cared what Aled believed? He'd see it with his own eyes soon enough.

"You think we're together?" Sam asked slightly shocked as Aled's words hit home.

"Of course.

You don't voice it, but you are. I can see the connection in your eyes. Both of you. The Colonel will seed you with fine children."

Sam smirked and avoided Jack's sudden glare.

"Yeah. Whatever.

Carter. Let's go check the accommodation. It's been a long day."

"You're just grumpy because we can't gate home and you have to wait for a ship."

"I'm grumpy because they had cake in the canteen today. Chocolate cake.

And meatloaf."

Jack glanced around the little hut. Just a living area and a bedroom which also served for bathing in a tub by the far wall. The latrines were outside in another tiny hut and shared with two other families. It was all very basic but served the villager's needs.

Given that they had progressed only to a medieval level of technology they were fairly civilized and seemed free of the superstitions and religious conflict that had blighted Earth during that time. But then they were just one village. A small group of people.

Sam tested the bed.

"It's okay." She announced.

"Straw and horse hair, but comfortable."

"You take it. I'll sleep on the floor next door."

"Sir. We can share. It's quite large and a floor isn't exactly comfortable."

"The floor's fine. It's not Iraq. No Camel Spiders crawling around."

Sam winced at the thought.

"Honestly Sir. If you want to share I'm okay with it."

"No Carter. Enjoy the..." He glanced around again "... five-star accommodation."

Sam felt a surge of disappointment as he closed the door behind him leaving her alone. Occasionally, just occasionally they managed to get trapped together somewhere imminent death wasn't their top consideration. For the short while she expected they would be here it could be a paradise. A holiday free of watching eyes. If only Jack would see it that way and take advantage.

"Damn it."

She looked over at the tub. It was evening. Aled had explained that hot water flowed from the stone Fire House at the end of the village for a few hours each evening for bathing, and again in the morning.

She turned the tap on and watched in disappointment as water trickled out at a snail's pace. More frustration.

Jack could wash after a good night's sleep. Perhaps his mood would improve.

Jack remembered Sam's exact words "It isn't so bad here" at the very moment it became bad.

"What do you mean we have to breed?"

Aled explained it again.

"Everyone is allocated their Seed Mate when they pass their fifteenth summer. Our numbers are small since the pandemic and it is our law that everyone shall increase the population.

We aren't sustainable if another pandemic comes. Our people could die out."

Sam looked incredulous.

"Allocated? You're talking about arranged marriages. What about free will?"

Jack waved his hand dismissively.

"That's your business. We aren't stopping. We're just passing through."

Aled smiled.

"You are here to stay and we welcome you into our fold. Talk of leaving is foolish. The Great Eye you came through is gone. Swallowed by the Earth."

"A ship will come for us," Sam explained.

"What is a ship?"

Aled was genuinely at a loss for the meaning of that word.

"A spaceship. We use them to travel between the stars and planets when there isn't a Stargate available."

The concept meant.

"Fanciful nonsense.

Please. Abide by our laws. You are suited together. You will have many strong children."

Sam blushed and she noted Jack avoided her gaze when she looked at him.

Aled continued.

"Seeding is important to our survival. We need new offspring from strong stock.

I will come by each morning as I do with the other newly matched. If you persist with denying your nature I will bring the Witch to check for the truth.

Tomorrow you will help with the work. You are our guests but we also need you to assist for the good of all of us."

Jack's glare remained.

"Fine. Happy to help.

While we're here."

Aled turned away and with his two assistants following he continued on his tour of the village.

"Witch?" Jack enquired.

"No idea Sir." Sam shrugged her shoulders.

Jack rolled his eyes. "One night we've been here and the, and I quote 'the cute little village' is turning into a scene from Hansel and Gretel."

Jack was good to his word, helping in the fields. He was no farmer but he could wield a spade. And he could keep going even in the warmth of mid-day. Special Forces training had hardened him to cope adequately with extremes of weather. Warm as it was this planet wasn't desert conditions. Twenty-five degrees wasn't even taxing as he helped clear the new field of large stones and old roots so that the horses could plow it.

Sam was a woman. On this world, it meant respect and equality of voice. But it also meant she couldn't do man's work. Gender roles were strictly segregated. Instead, she was trapped in the village looking for where she could be useful. Weaving and sowing were out of the question and there was little call for an astrophysicist. There were no schools to teach in, just education as they went along with the older children helping the adults.

So Sam found herself in the communal kitchen where they prepared all the village meals. A strictly vegetarian diet that involved preparing and cooking the produce from the fields.

All the women stayed in the village looking after the children while working at what they could. Even new mothers were peeling root vegetables or sowing cloths together for clothing while a child suckled at a breast.

There were a lot of children she noted.

"How's it going?" Sam asked serving up soup to Jack as he passed her in the line.

"Oh, you know."

His eyes were drawn to Sam's locally made tunic where it hung loose exposing her cleavage. As she ladled his food into the bowl he saw her tits wobble unrestrained from any underwear. A gently moving river of sweet pale flesh. He pulled his eyes away before she noticed and looked at the thick creamy pea-colored fluid in the bowl.

"Is there cake?"

"Afraid not Sir."

"Oh well."

He glanced at the queue building behind him.

"Better get on.

Lots to do. Plowing. Planting. That sort of thing."

"See you tonight, Sir."

She gave him a smile as he moved away to sit with his meal and turned her attention to the next laborer.

"I found out what the pandemic was," Sam said.

"Apparently, they get flu and colds just like we do on Earth in the cooler months. A few years ago was a particularly bad season. Probably like the Spanish flu. It wiped their population in half.

And as far as they know this is the only village on the planet so being down to just a couple of hundred people as they were was a serious issue. That's why they consider having children so important."

Jack pulled his boots off and rubbed his feet.

"Perhaps we'll send them medicines as a thank you. The Prometheus can swing by once it's in full service.

That's if the wicked witch doesn't eat us up for being naughty children."

"What do you think this witch business is about?

There's no sense they're superstitious. So a witch?"

"Beats me. Guess we'll find out eventually.

Please don't let it be a snakehead."

"I doubt that. The villagers don't seem to have any concept of Gods. They'd no idea what the Stargate was until we scared them by coming through it, and they don't understand the concept of other planets and space travel at all."

"Well whatever she or he or it is, I think we'll be finding out shortly when we don't... play along."

"So no chance you're going to 'seed me' tonight?"

She half teased but with the clear indication she wouldn't object if he did.

"Will everyone stop calling it that."

He thought about the alternatives.

"No. Actually. Don't."

Sam smirked while Jack went suddenly quiet.

"I don't think General Hammond would approve." He said quietly.

Sam knew then that he had considered it. But she would be going to bed alone again.

"You have to understand our ways."

"I told you. We're not stopping."

"And yet you are here with no way home."

"Our friends will come get us."

Aled laughed. "Oh yes. In the skyship."

"Yes. Big thing with rockets and... and what have yous."

"That's impossible. You talk nonsense. Only birds and insects fly and even they don't travel between realms."

"Not realms. Worlds.

Oh for crying out loud.

You thought the damn Stargate was an ornament until we stepped through it, so why can't you get it through..."

He tempered his frustration.

"Why can't you accept there might be other things you don't understand."

"Enough." Aled looked angry for the first time.

"You are here. That is all I need to know. Now we've let you choose your mate freely. We've clothed and housed you. In return, all we ask is you help in the fields and obey our laws."

"Happy with the fields. No problem. Fields all day long. But the seeding thing. That's a no-no."

"Are you barren?"

"What? No. It's against the rules."

"Old rules. You have new rules now. Ours."

"I'm her superior."

"Of course you are. You are the man and she is your Seeding Mate."

Jack threw his arms up in exasperation.

"Okay fine.

If that's what you want I'll seed her. Happy? Consider it done."

Sam bit her lip. She so wished he would, but she was also noticing that the village wasn't quite the idyllic paradise she'd thought. She objected to being viewed as just a vessel for children by Aled. Yes, there was respect between the genders, but now she was seeing the age-old order creeping through the facade. Men considering themselves superior.

This wasn't the time to argue with the Elder about how they'd come to view women. He was still raw from the ravages of the pandemic. What they did here was, from their point of view a necessity. Aled wasn't wrong about the precariousness of their numbers.

"So what's the plan."

Sam drank from her brew. Some strange concoction of boiled leaves that resembled tea. It wasn't unpleasant though and had a natural sweetness.

Jack studied her for a moment.

"We'll just say we're a couple. Whatever they want to hear. We'll be gone long before they know it's not true."

Sam almost felt a twinge of disappointment. But it was the right thing to do. She knew that. At least she told herself she did.

"Is it hot water time yet?" Jack asked.

She glanced at the window to see the skies dulling.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. You go first. Call me when you're done."

"Yes Sir."

Sam stood up and gathered some candles from the shelf for light and took them into the bedroom.

The tap was as slow as it had been every other night and little more than lukewarm. Sam wondered about trying to explain the concept of a pump, perhaps powered by a water wheel. No. She wouldn't be here long enough.

She gave up at about six inches of water and stripped her garments away. It was enough to wash in.

Sam lay in the tub with the soapy water from her washing just sitting around her butt and ankles. Thankfully this planet or at least this part of it kept its heat through the night at this time of year. Candlelight bathed the room in flickering shadows as she relaxed for a moment after washing herself down.

Just a few minutes, then she'd have to vacate the room so Jack could take his turn. Jack, just a door away and the thought was driving her crazy.

She didn't even realize when her hands began to massage her thighs, stroking up the insides towards her crack. Not until the tiny pearl hidden away between her legs started to cry out. Like her own little symbiont, it took on a life of its own, tormenting her with its incessant un-scratchable itch.

"Uhh."

She shuddered, giving it the attention it demanded.

Sam's fingers circled over clit, brushing her tender nether lips apart to find her lubricating juices. Just clear of the water she could see her hand where it massaged her sex to alleviate the agony of not being serviced by a man. By Jack.

"Mmm."

The first jolts of pleasure fired up her spine and invaded her belly. She bit her lip to keep herself from groaning. Her fingers rubbed faster and harder. Her other hand squeezed her tit, still damp from bathing and she found herself rising quickly.

It'd been a while since she'd relieved herself. Back on Earth before the mission. Her pussy was tender and sensitive after waiting days. Within moments she hit her high, bucking in the tin bath as jolts of pure joy rushed up her spine while images of Jack forced their way into her head no matter how much she tried not to let them.

"Uh uhh."

She shocked herself with the loud escaping grunt and forced herself to still. That, with the ratting of the tub on the wooden floor must have been heard. She colored up regretting her weakness and listened.

Sure enough.

"Carter. You okay in there?"

"Yes Sir. Sorry. I was just... I slipped getting out of the bath but I'm fine thanks."

Quickly she stood to get out, cursing as the water ran off her legs trickling loudly into the pool that passed as a bath-full. The noise giving a lie to her words.

She stepped out and grabbed a woolen towel, wrapping it around her damp body.

"Well hurry up. I'm covered in most of this planet today."

"Sorry, Sir."

She opened the door and let him in, sensing his eyes on her legs as she turned back to the tub. The color in her cheeks deepened and they pricked with heat.

Jack stood in the doorway as she swished the bath clear of her dirty water. She knew his eyes were on her and she fought the urge to bend over too far. The towel was short and already showed enough of her, but there was that pressing demand in the back of her head to entice him further with an accidental slip.

"There you go."

She turned the lamentable tap on and turned back to Jack. He looked hot in the pale tunic. It was open around the neck and she could see the light covering of hair on his chest.

Jack waited as she stood there.

"Thank you, Carter.

Now shoo." He waved his hands towards the door ushering her out.

"Sorry."

She realized she'd been hovering and rushed to squeeze past him into the living area. He shut the door as she sat at the small table.

"Damn it." She muttered.

She wished the rest of SG1 would hurry up. Being stuck in such close proximity to Jack was driving her mad. She needed normality. The sense of order the military brought. And she needed the comfort of her own home where she could deal with her frustrations in private.

"Oh yeah. We seeded all night. Lots of seeding. All night." Jack said dismissively.

"Lots and lots."

Sam flushed red and put her head down to hide her smirk. If only, she thought. And if he was going to lie, couldn't he at least sound convincing?

This was the fifth time now. Every morning Aled had come with his two attendants and asked the same question. Each day Jack and Sam had answered the same. Playing along with the idea that they were a couple trying for a baby as the law required.

Each day Aled had looked less convinced and each day Jack had become more agitated answering.

"The Witch will know." Aled declared.

"We will have the truth of you two."

From behind his two attendants, a tiny old lady scuttled forward with more agility than she should have had for her age. Dressed in a long cape she looked almost exactly like a child would expect a fairytale witch to look.

Sam was taken aback and it showed in her eyes. She hadn't seen her before and wondered where she'd come from.

Jack was less diplomatic.

"What? That old crow? How would she know? She wasn't there."

Then he added.

"Thank God."

"Step forward." Even her voice crackled as she addressed Major Carter.

Sam did as she was asked, trying not to laugh as the Witch raised a sun-spotted hand and slowly waved it in a circling motion a few inches from her crotch. Sam lost the battle and started giggling like a schoolchild at the stupidity of it.

"He has not seeded her."

Sam stopped laughing.

"Wait. She can't know that." She protested.

"Oh for crying out loud. How would she know?" Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and rolled his eyes.

"She knows" Aled snapped.

The Witch wasn't finished.

"This one has spent her time looking for pleasures alone."

The witch spat the words as though it were a crime. Perhaps here it was.

Sam was stunned.

"What? I didn't... you're guessing."

Her face turned bright red at the thought that this wizened old woman had just told these people she'd fingered herself.

Aled stared at her with obvious disdain.

"You waste your energies on a fruitless pursuit rather than be seeded by your man?"

Sam stared at the ground wishing another chasm would open up and swallow her as soundly as the Stargate had been.

"I have accepted that you are strangers here. And that it is through no fault of your own. But you continually defy our laws. And now I find you waste your nights indulging in the behavior of an unmatched child."

Sam said nothing. Her red face confirmed her secret to everyone there.