Young Writers Society

James caught Maahes's panicked glance. He wasn't sure what the cause of Maahes's anxiety was, but he did suppose that it might be odd to tell the archaeologist that they'd found someone in a pod when they weren't expecting to, and that Odris had tried to summon Maahes. He didn't know what the social implications were if Odris were to be exposed to more than just their small inner circle. In fact, he still didn't know a lot of things.

So he stuck to greeting her simply.

"Hey."

"Hey," the young woman said back to James, giving him a smile. "I see you two already got to talking with our guest."

Maahes and Odris both stiffened, then managed frantic nods in response to the comment. From the look on the archeologist's face, something about their reaction amused her, but the way she glanced from them to James seemed to suggest that she knew something was up. "So how is the modern day going for you so far?"

Odris looked like a deer caught in headlights when the question registered.

(Not that he even knew what a deer or headlights were.)

"It's, uh, been nice." Maahes was surprised when Odris suddenly moved a little closer to him, likely out of habit from when he was younger - his childhood had been spent with Odris having to run after him, and stopping him from doing things that could have disastrous consequences later on.

"That's good," the archeologist said, grinning. She gestured at the pentacles on the ground, and Maahes's essence immediately began to twist and churn. "How did chatting with your ancestors go-Wait, that's weird." She turned her head to the side and studied the lines and symbols on the ground. "I've seen those before, and I don't think it was at a site."

Maahes stiffened even more. "You-You have?"

"Yeah," the woman confirmed with a nod. "Hmm...I think Ci might have showed me once, back when she was talking about her culture. We were swapping stories, and she kept saying something about a monster she knew when she explained the design. But monsters are just kids' tales, so I always thought she was making it up and that it had some sort of symbolic meaning."

James looked between Maahes and the archaeologist with mild confusion as he tried to follow.

"Sometimes things are more literal than they seem in stories," he commented.

"Yeah, but monsters aren't real," the archeologist replied, crouching down next to the nearest pentacle and studying its design. "I guess her civilization is more akin to yours than I thought, Kalen. Who knew that a tradition like this would last for so long, even if its purpose changed over time?"

Maahes could barely focus on what the woman was saying. Someone else drew pentacles. Someone else had summoned a spirit. There was another spirit running around out there! He felt his nonexistent heart skip a beat at the thought. That was incredible! It had been so long since he had last met another spirit. Maybe, just maybe, he could get Odris or James to help him summon them, and then they could talk about spirit things, and he'd finally meet someone who fully understood him! He just need their true name.

"What was the monster's name?" he asked.

The archeologist for a moment, folding her arms as her face adopted a look of deep concentration. "Maahes, I think?" she replied.

Odris promptly choked on his own spit, and Maahes went several shades paler. There coudn't be another Maahes, right? But then who could have summoned him as a kid? There was only a limited amount of people who had summoned him. There had been Odris. Ra. The people from Earth's rebellion. And Ciannet. So then who could Ci be-

His eyes widened.

He had spent nearly a year looking for a Ciannet Rivell, or an Annie Rivell. But if she had outgrown her childhood nickname and still didn't like her first name, then wouldn't she have moved onto another nickname? One that was simple and straight to the point, just like she had always wanted things to be?

Wouldn't Ci have been a logical nickname for Ciannet?

"When was the last time you heard from Ci?" Maahes asked as the woman got back to her feet. "I'd love to talk to her about Alteran customs, and I'm sure Kalen and James would, too." He shot a look in Odris's direction. "Right, Kalen? It might be interesting seeing what her culture is like compared to yours, wouldn't it?"

"Kalen" gave a very confident nod in agreement.

James nodded as well. From what it sounded like, Maahes seemed to know Ci - or at least suspected he did.

"Is she still around?"

The archeologist thought for a moment.

"The last I checked, she was visiting a planet a couple of solar systems over." When she noticed the looks on Maahes and Odris's faces, she added with a grin, "I could give you the gate coordinates, if you want."

"That would be great," Maahes said. He was trying to hold the joy back, but it was difficult: he had never been so close to finding his summoner. And with James and Odris in tow, it didn't seem as impossible as it always had. He was making progress, and he wasn't making it alone.

James looked over to Maahes with a ghost of a smile. He knew that Maahes was happy to find Ci, but he still wasn't sure who exactly she was to him. She must've been a long lost friend, but in any case, he would share in Maahes's joy at the hope of finding her.

"We'd love to meet her," he said with a nod.

It didn't take long for the archeologist to give them the gate coordinates. Though it had been assumed that their method of travel would be through the stargates, Maahes led their trio back to his ship instead. Gate coordinates were ultimately just locations - they were like longitude and latitude. And he had been smart enough to long ago install a system in The Lotus that could translate those symbols into an actual location, so going through the ship felt like a much safer possibility.

"This is your ship?" Odris managed to get out, staring at it with wide eyes. "I-I've never seen anything like it!"

"It's a modified Goa'uld ship," he said, only to realize that Odris had no idea what that was. Odris continued to marvel at the ship as Maahes took a step inside.