INT. LADY OF SLAUGHTER/HOLDING CELL – DAY
A grate in the ceiling of the holding cell slides open, and Sihathor tosses O’Neal’s unconscious form inside. Upon hitting the cold water which fills the cell, O’Neal is immediately roused to consciousness, springing up and ready to fight. There are no enemies waiting for him, however; only Kawalsky, Feretti, Brown, and Freeman occupy the cell with him.
KAWALSKY: Colonel, it’s us! You alright?
The ceiling grate slides closed again, and O’Neal looks up. Sihathor looks down at him, smirking, then spits down at him before leaving.
KAWALSKY: Where’s Jackson?
O’Neal’s expression of fear and shock tells the lieutenant colonel the whole story.
EXT. BASE CAMP – DAY
Skarra and the others are rummaging through the remains of the base camp, digging in the sand and searching under the toppled tents for any equipment or supplies which survived the sandstorm intact.
As Nabeh finds a green helmet and sets it down on his enlarged cranium, another of the kids – a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen years old – unearths a large crate. As she flings the top open, her face lights up with wonder.
GIRL #1: (in Low Kemetic, subtitled) Guys, guys – I’ve found something, something big!
Dropping what they are doing, the others all crowd in around the girl on all sides, leaning forward to peer inside the crate. This is the very crate of two dozen M4 carbines Daniel had dragged here all those days ago.
NABEH: (subtitled) Guns?
SKARRA: (nods; subtitled) Different guns from the ones Black Hat and his friends were carrying.
Taking one of the M4s, Skarra begins looking it over. Pointing the muzzle skyward, he tries pulling back on the trigger, but finds it stuck.
SKARRA: (subtitled) I can’t fire it. The trigger won’t bend.
GIRL #2: (subtitled) Maybe it’s jammed.
Fiddling around with the weapon, he eventually manages to find and release the safety catch; now the trigger bends back, but still the weapon won’t fire.
SKARRA: (subtitled) It must be unloaded. (beat) Start looking for bullets. They must’ve have brought some here with them.
At that, the teenagers resume digging in the sand, now on the search for ammunition.
EXT. BUS STOP (MINDSCAPE)
Daniel sits alone on a bench at a bus stop, legs close together, his sack of books at his feet. Surrounding him from all sides is a heavy pea soup fog. The fog before him lifts a little, revealing that the bus stop is situated on the edge of the shore of a large, black lake. Stealing a glance at his watch, Daniel sighs with frustration.
Something then appears on the lake, far in the distance, obscured behind the fog. As it moves closer, on approach for the shore, it emerges from the heavy mists and its identity becomes clear; it is a long, narrow boat crewed by THREE FIGURES: two passengers, who remained seated, and the seven-foot-tall ferryman, who stands guiding the craft forward with each slow push of his long pole.
As the boat comes ashore, Daniel rises to his feet, collects his heavy book sack, and – with a heavy grunt – steps forward. Now we are afforded a clear view of who, exactly is on the boat; the passengers are Reilly and Porro, very life-like is spite of the caved-in skull and broken neck they sport, respectively; the ferryman, clad in a hooded robe of black sackcloth, bearing sallow skin, hollow cheeks, cataracted eyes, and a five-foot-long gray beard, is CHARON, the Greek psychopomp himself.
CHARON: Room for one more.
DANIEL: But I’m waiting for a bus.
CHARON: The bus has been cancelled – because of Death.
Reaching into the nasty hole burned through his abdomen, Daniel pulls out a bus ticket.
DANIEL: (holds out the ticket) But … my ticket.
Reaching into his robe, Charon pulls out a large pair of scissors and cuts the ticket in two.
CHARON: Climb aboard.
Shrugging, Daniel climbs into the boat and takes a seat beside the two dead non-coms. Charon then pushes the boat out into the water and proceeds to guide it back from whence it came.
INT. CHARON’S BOAT – TRAVELLING (MINDSCAPE)
As Charon silently guides the boat across the placid, dark waters, Daniel turns to regard his two companions.
DANIEL: Reilly, Porro – you’re dead, too?
REILLY: (grins) We certainly are.
PORRO: That Sihathor really did a number on us. (beat) I’ve got no complaints, though.
REILLY: Yeah, me neither. Got me a sweet little number waiting for me on the other side; she died fourteen years ago. (frowns) Hope she’s aged well.
They finally come to their destination on the far side of the lake. Rising up from the rocky shore, disappearing into the dark clouds above, is a tremendous stairway of black stone.
PORRO: Well, here we are. (stands up) Be seeing you, Doc.
DANIEL: Likewise.
Leaving the boat, the non-coms begin climbing the grand stairway, soon slipping into the clouds where they disappear from sight.
Now alone with Charon, Daniel looks up at the cadaverous ferryman. When the psychopomp says nothing – when he doesn’t so much as acknowledge the ex-Egyptologist’s continued presence with a downward glance – Daniel sighs and, picking up his heavy sack, steps out of the boat and begins the long, laborious climb up the stairway.
EXT. PEARLY GATES (MINDSCAPE)
Reaching the top of the stairs, Daniel finally finds himself on a short causeway which leads to the pearly gates of Heaven itself.
As he moves on approach for the gates, Daniel pauses as he comes upon a white marble statue. The statue, carved in the Greco-Roman style, is shaped in the likeness of a beautiful woman; it is Sha’ure herself. In her hands, she holds a bust; it is the exact duplicate of the bust he gifted to Catherine Langford before leaving through the stargate. At this point, it is finally made clear why Daniel found Sha’ure so uncannily familiar upon their meeting; she is the living twin of the long-dead woman whose likeness his bust was carved to represent.
Leaving the statue, he completes his trek to the pearly gates, where SAINT PETER stands in wait for him, a large, heavy book in hand.
DANIEL: (frowns) Saint Peter? Is that you?
ST. PETER: (bored) I’m certainly not Saint Nick, kid. (opens the book) Name?
DANIEL: Daniel – Daniel Jackson.
ST. PETER: (looks through book) Daniel Jackson … Daniel Jackson. (beat) Would that be Daniel T. Jackson?
DANIEL: No. My middle initial’s “G”.
ST. PETER: Ah, yes, Daniel G. Jackson. (beat) Oh, I’m sorry, but you can’t get in yet.
DANIEL: (frowns) I can’t? Why the he–
Saint Peter frowns.
DANIEL: (cont’d) --double hockey sticks not?
ST. PETER: Says here that you haven’t been weighed yet. (closes book) Sorry, kid, but you’ve got to pay Osiris and Anubis a visit first before passing through these gates.
Stepping to the side, Saint Peter uncovers a lever which had been hidden behind him the whole time. Taking hold, he pulls it back, opening a trapdoor beneath Daniel’s feet.
INT. BLACK VOID (MINDSCAPE)
Falling through the trapdoor, Daniel hits the unseen floor of the void. Even with the bright white light shining down from the opening above, his surroundings remain a perfectly featureless black.
At the very moment Daniel climbs to his feet, five things materialize in this void: OSIRIS, the green-faced lord of the underworld; ANUBIS, the jackal-headed god of judgement; THOTH, the ibis-headed scribe; AMMIT, the crocodile/lion/hippopotamus devourer; and a large scale. These five things are all enormous in size, each towering over Daniel, who is but an ant beneath them.
OSIRIS: Daniel Jackson, son of Melburn and Claire, do you know why you are here?
DANIEL: For judgement – to see whether or not my heart is free of sin, if I’m worthy of joining my loved ones on the other side.
OSIRIS: You catch on pretty quick. (to Anubis) Let’s get this going. I’ve got dinner with Isis at 4:00, and I don’t want to be late getting to the restaurant. Traffic’s absolute he–
ST. PETER: (O.S.) Ahem!
OSIRIS: (cont’d) – absolute heck this time of day.
Reaching into his kilt, Anubis pulls out a feather – the feather of Maat. Licking his fingers, Anubis straightens the barbs of the feather, then gently lays it down on one of the two sides of the scale. He then picks Daniel up and sets him down on the other side.
Daniel immediately proves much heavier than the feather.
OSIRIS: Well, that’s that. Toss ‘im.
Picking Daniel back up, Anubis crosses over to Ammit, who starts wagging her tail eagrely in anticipation.
ANUBIS: Hey, Ammit – would you like a biscuit?
Ammit begins panting fiercely.
ANUBIS: Then stand, girl, stand!
Ammit rises up on her hind legs.
ANUBIS: Good girl! Here you are!
The jackal god tosses Daniel into the air, and Ammit snaps the little man up in her long crocodilian jaws.
INT. LADY OF SLAUGHTER/FAIZAH’S BEDROOM – SUNSET
With a hoarse cry of panic, Daniel bolts upright, gasping as he comes to. Looking around, he finds himself on the pyramid ship, seated on the spacious bed Feretti had seen earlier. Looking down at the large hole burned through his shirt, he feels around inside for the wound he knows should be there, but there is no wound at all; there isn’t even a scar to mark where one had been. Reaching up to his face, he finds he no longer has his glasses. Indeed, he no longer needs his glasses, for his vision is now perfect.
Rising from the bed, he finds a manservant standing in the doorway. This boy, one of the very same scantily clad youths who unveiled the bomb earlier, gestures for Daniel to follow him.
INT. LADY OF SLAUGHTER/BATHING ROOM – SUNSET
Within a bathing pool, the Sekhmet Guard – FAIZAH – lies submerged up to her breasts in hot, steaming water, eyes closed in relaxation. Now shed of her armour and all accoutrements, she allows her long, full, curly black hair to frame her face and cascade down her shoulders.
As Daniel enters the room with the manservant, her eyes fling open, burning into him.
FAIZAH (SEKHMET GUARD): If was foolish of you to reopen your stargate, man of the First World. The presence of you and yours was detected here the very moment you stepped through the gateway.
DANIEL: (amazed) You – you speak English?
FAIZAH: (half-smiles) After a fashion. (beat) After my guard’s blast-lance felled you, I had your ka-less form – and those of your fallen companions – sent back to my world. While the healers of Aset peeled their brains in search of information, I had them also repair your body. During the procedure, lingual nanites were injected into the language centres of your brain. All the tongues known to the Imperium are now cognizant to you, and vice-versa. (beat) Consider it a gift.
Faizah then rises from the pool, allowing rivulets of water to run down the length of her strong, beautiful body. As a pair of manservants slip her into a translucent black robe, Daniel catches note of her belly; where a navel should be is a pair of slits criss-crossing her abdomen to form an “X”.
DANIEL: You aren’t human.
FAIZAH: (cocks an eyebrow) I was human – once. My years of service to the gods have granted me greater status. I am now Jaffa, first prime of Sekhmet, war goddess of the Imperium.
DANIEL: Jaffa ….
FAIZAH: The Jaffa are the pinnacle of humanity – enhanced by the prim’ta to have greater strength, endurance, health, and longevity than any mere human.
DANIEL: Prim’ta?
Sliding her hand down her chest to her stomach, Faizah slips her fingers past the “X” slit into her abdomen, drawing a cringe from Daniel. Amused by Daniel’s revulsion, she plunges her entire hand inside, taking hold of what lies within and pulling it out. In her grasp is a wriggling, white, worm-like creature with two beady, black eyes and weak four-pronged jaws.
FAIZAH: A remnant of a race subdued by Atum in ages past. Where they once sought to ravage the Imperium, they now serve it dutifully through us.
Faizah returns the prim’ta to its pouch.
DANIEL: The godlings, Atum’s viceroys – are they, too, Jaffa?
FAIZAH: They are … more than Jaffa. How much more, that is not for me to say.
Tying her robe in place, Faizah steps out of the bathing room, accompanied by her servants. Daniel follows them.
INT. LADY OF SLAUGHTER/FAIZAH’S CHAMBERS – SUNSET
Entering her chambers, Faizah steps past a long marble table and crosses over to a dressing chair. As she sits down in it, her manservants proceed to brush her hair and apply her makeup. As Daniel steps inside, he sees the table and everything laid out on it: guns; ammo; radios; dog tags; jewellery, some of his books; even an entire uniform stripped from one of the dead airmen.
DANIEL: You said you had the minds of my friends searched for information. You must know everything they knew.
FAIZAH: (nods) Yes.
DANIEL: Then you must know we came here as explorers.
FAIZAH: You may have come through in the spirit of exploration, as did your guards. But your commander? (shakes her head) No. (beat) You of Earth have harnessed the power of the atom; you have become dangerous. You may no longer be under the thrall of the likes of Ushabti and Nem, but your chieftains still mean to bring war to us.
DANIEL: What are you going to do?
FAIZAH: My mistress has ordered me to send your weapon back to your world. I will encase it within a shipment of weapons-grade naqahdah. It will increase your weapon’s destructive power a hundredfold.
DANIEL: Why did you give me back my life?
With a wave of her hand, Faizah dismisses her servants. Rising from her chair, Faizah approaches Daniel – groomed, made-up, naked save for the thin robe which covers her body.
FAIZAH: The Imperium encompasses a thousand worlds; I have not seen your like on any of them. (smiles) You will serve me.
DANIEL: And if I refuse?
FAIZAH: Then I shall destroy you (leans in close) and all who have seen you.
INT. RUINS/HALL OF HIEROGLYPHS – EVENING
Sha’ure is back down in the ruins, examining the hieroglyphs by lantern-light, when Skarra and Nabeh enter.
SKARRA: Sha’ure.
Sha’ure turns at the sound of his voice.
SKARRA: The gods have called an assembly … an execution.
SHA’URE: Skarra, Nabeh, I want you to listen.
As she beckons them to come hither, the two boys approach.
SHA’URE: I want you to know what Daniel told me, about where our people came from … and why we can’t let this happen.
The pair looks up at the pictures on the walls as the young woman begins her tale.