Ceremony

Lady Amalia's house seemed completely nondescript, a tall white building wedged between several other tall white buildings. The buildings were just a hair to short to be called sky scrapers, but the term still floated into Sam's mind. She had no more than a second to wonder if they'd have another chance to escape when the force field was turned off, before one of the guards hit her with a needle. Blow guns? Force fields and blow guns... she passed out, laughing at the thought.



Sam woke, and found she was lying on a plush cushion. The material was incredibly soft and she had a blanket to curl up with. Something was making a pleasant sound in the background, water, running water. She sat up and blinked. A water fountain? In the desert? Certainly they had been sold to someone wealthy. Sold. They had been sold. Well. They'd been in worse situations. She'd think of a list of those after she found Daniel, Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill.



Daniel was asleep beside her, splayed on a similar cushion to hers. She nudged him gently. “Daniel,” she whispered.



“Sam...” he sat up quickly, pulling the blanket around him. They hadn't been provided with clothing, unfortunately. “The others?”



“I don't know,”she answered and walked over to the fountain. It was a large structure, with a deep basin and tall column rising from the middle. Water poured out of the column from several sides, creating a soothing mist of moisture. There was a ledge around the entire basin, providing an easy place to sit.



“A fountain. In the desert.” She looked at Daniel who had followed, blanket still preserving his modesty. She noticed that she had actually done the same thing with hers.



“Colonel? Teal'c?” she called and received no answer.



“Jack? Teal'c?” Daniel was calling in the other direction. They seemed to be in a room, no doors, no windows. There was an dip in one wall, where they had waken, a lot of open space, three other walls and the fountain.



Sam trailed her fingers along the walls, looking for any signs of an opening, after she was convinced that Teal'c and the Colonel were not with them.



“So much for not being separated,” Daniel said, sitting on the edge of the fountain.



Carter finished her search. “Yeah.”She went to sit by Daniel. “Suppose the water's safe?”



Daniel shrugged.



“Oh it's safe,” their new owner seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Samantha blinked. The woman, Amalia, was still dressed in her skimpy white gauze and was smiling at them.



“How did you do that? Trap door? Is it like the force field technology?” Sam was babbling questions. Amalia smiled at her indulgently.



“Silence,”she demanded and Sam found herself glaring. “This once I will allow you to behave so in my presence. You are untrained, and you do not know the rules. Next time you will behave properly. Now, I will allow you to ask questions. But do not try my patience. I will only answer so many before I tire of it. Ask, and then I will introduce you to your trainer and will not see you until you are fit to be in my company.”



“Where are our friends?” Daniel asked immediately.



“They are safe. They are proving their worth as your guards.”



“What does that mean?” Sam asked.



Amalia said nothing.



“Where are we, I mean, what planet, what city?”Sam tried again.



“You are on Piktu, of course,” Amalia seemed startled. “There is only one City.”



“We are not slaves,”Daniel said softly. “We came through the Stargate to visit your planet, we are traders. Explorers. Our people would give you much for our safe return.”



Amalia laughed. “Do I look as though I need anything,” she gestured pointedly at the fountain. “And that is one of many in my House. It is fresh and safe to drink. Quite safe. This is Toan, he will be instructing you.”



Sam blinked and there, kneeling just in front of Amalia was a naked man. His hair was black, and soft and fell over his back in waves. His skin was dusky and almost seemed to glow. His muscles were nicely proportionate and she couldn't help a little twinge of attraction. He made a nice picture, kneeling at Amalia's feet.



“Now, I will explain the rules once. You will not be covered in my presence,” Amalia eyed their blankets significantly, “you will speak only when given permission, you will obey any order I give you without question or hesitation. You will treat and obey Toan as if he were I.” And then she was gone. Along with their blankets.



“Hey, wait...” Toan had risen and was starting towards Daniel.



“You will speak when you have permission, only,”he said haltingly. Sam wondered when he and Lady Amalia had learned English, and then gave it up as not worth speculating about.



“Please, this is a misunderstanding. We are not slaves,” Daniel persisted, adding a few phrases she assumed he’d picked up during their trek with the caravan.



“You do not have permission,”Toan said. Daniel stared at him.



“Please, can you just tell me where our friends are?”



Toan sighed, was it regretfully? Sam wondered, and the guards appeared in that same impossible manner. They must have beaming technology. Great, the only way in or out of this room was some kind of beaming technology. The guards attacked Daniel mercilessly with the pain-stick, while Sam watched, helpless to do anything.



When they stopped, Toan had pressed something into Daniel's mouth. A gag. Sam glanced away.



“There,” Toan said, “now you will not be tempted.” He looked at Sam who simply looked back at him. “Will you require such an aid?” Sam shook her head. No. No she really wouldn't.



“Very well. We shall begin with self-pleasure. Show me, please, the way in which you pleasure yourself.”



“Ahh....” Carter stared at Toan. He wanted her to...Carter blushed then. “I....,” she snapped her mouth shut, remembering she wasn't supposed to be speaking. Orders. These were orders, she told herself this firmly. She could follow orders. They were unorthodox, but... she could do this. There was no need to get tortured into doing it. Because she'd give in eventually. This wasn't that hard, just humiliating. She could do humiliating, too. She closed her eyes, and tried to pretend she was somewhere else. In her own bed. After a good day at work.



No, that wasn't going to work. Sam opened her eyes and shook her head gently. She wasn't sure she could do this. She avoided looking in Dr. Jackson's direction. Toan was looking at her, something akin to sympathy in his dark brown eyes. “Self-pleasure,” he prompted softly, caressing his nipples softly. Sam swallowed. Just a body. Biology. It was a biological function, designed to make reproduction pleasant so that the species would propagate itself. Biology. She pressed her own fingers to her nipples which were not the least bit stiff. It was warm in this room, bordering on hot, and she wasn't the least bit aroused.



“Good,” Toan said softly, walking closer to her.



Sam closed her eyes again. In her own bed. A breakthrough, she was already excited and felt like rewarding herself. She blinked and felt wetness in her eyes. She squeezed them shut. At home. In bed. Playing with her nipples, playing with her tits. Squeezing, pinching. Attempting to set herself on fire, she loved doing this to herself. She did. And for just a moment the illusion was real and she gasped.



“Yes, good,”Toan was touching her arms now and the illusion shattered. She stopped and wiped at her eyes angrily. She was not going to cry about this.



“But, you are putting on a show now. Your body is for your Mistress's pleasure now, so,” Toan lifted one of her arms gently and Sam jerked it away.



Toan stilled and stood sill and silent. Sam blinked away some more tears. Finally she looked at him.



“You have no choice,” he said. “You will comply, you are now property of Mistress Amalia. She wishes you to learn how best to please her. You will please her best by performing well during Ceremony. I will show you how. I will try not to hurt you. But I will if I have to. I, too, am property of Mistress Amalia, I too have no choice.”Toan switched his gaze towards Daniel for part of his speech. Sam crossed her arms across her chest and slid to the floor. “Please...” Toan knelt beside her and again gently took her arm. Sam allowed it to hang limply.



“Now, make small circles at first and then larger ones. Start by looking at your own breasts, and then raise your eyes and gaze at your Mistress...” Toan continued to instruct her, told her to part her thighs slowly, invitingly, wantonly. Sam responded listlessly. Following orders, following orders, she told herself over and over again. A mantra in her head. Toan couched her gently when she faltered, and demonstrated using his own body, never once losing control. If she hadn't been able to see the evidence of his arousal with her own eyes, she would have believe she was as disinterested as she was. And her body was disinterested, it took an inordinate amount of effort just to get her nipples to stiffen for a significant period of time. And she certainly wasn't wet. But that didn't matter. She simply had to be supremely effective at faking it. She was old enough that she'd done that before, and used that experience to her advantage. Finally, finally, Toan left her alone and she huddled by the fountain, drinking sparsely, knowing she needed the water, but wanting to throw up all the same. She would have thrown up if she'd eaten recently.



“I am sorry, this is more difficult for males,” Sam heard Toan's voice and refused to watch Daniel receiving the same lessons she'd just been given.



They had to get out of here. Find Jack, Teal'c and get out of here. And she was going to have find some way to do it. Sam used a bit of water to wash off her face, and continued to ignore Toan's soft voice. She wandered to the furthest wall, and began to systematically look for anything that might be a door or an opening again, or any possible glimmer of hope. Anything. The wall was solid. Everywhere, it melded together with the floor. Which was the same material from their force field cage. Sam frowned. What type of material was this. She pushed it at it, it was springy, very springy and yet very solid. She couldn't push through it... Sam jumped as something brushed her arm and turned around, automatically poised to fight. It was Toan. Sam blinked, idea forming in her mind and reacted instantly, attacking him abruptly and wrapping her arms around his neck.



The guards on the other side of the room started to rush over and Sam cried out, “Don't do it. I'll kill him before you get here, I'll break his neck. Get Amalia here, tell her to let me and my friends go, and I'll let him go.” She glanced at Daniel who looked at her briefly before glancing away. Well, even if he didn't approve, he wasn't necessarily disapproving either.



The guards stilled and began arguing amongst themselves. Sam held her hands ready. She didn't really want to do it, but she would if they pushed her. Toan wasn't struggling her arms, was unnaturally still, actually.



“It won't work,” he said dully. “You two are exotic, worth more even apart than I am. They'll figure that out soon. You'll kill me for no reason. No one will care.”



And it seemed Toan was right, the guards had quit arguing and were rushing towards them again. Defeated, she threw Toan away from her disgustedly and cried out at as the first guard hit her with one of his sticks. They continued to assault her, until she was screaming incoherently from the pain, they continued the assault even thin until finally, blessedly, she passed out.