Free Rebellion by Bill McCay

could see that there was much more light coming in.
    The slit-like gap in the wall was no more. Instead, a much wider opening allowed the glare of Abydos's THREE suns to pour in through a cloud of rock dust. The new, improved portal would require some work-broken stone at the ragged ends of the blast needed to be shorn straight, perhaps a concrete arch would have to go in place. But the new adit was more than wide enough to accommodate an earthmover, as one of the bulldozer operators demonstrated as he jockeyed his machine forward to push away the first load of rubble. "It's a start," Lockwood conceded. And we didn't bring the roof down on ourselves, he silently added. The outward-directed force of the blast, combined with the long, tube-like set of chambers behind it, had the same effect as the crack!
    of a rifle shot-except on a much more massive scale. And this "rifle"
    was aimed directly at the city of Nagada. The blast wave didn't hurt anything-the explosion was too far away and the city too sturdily built.
    But the sound struck the inhabitants like a sonic boom, a more impressive experience, since only one of them-Daniel Jackson-had any experience of jet planes. Daniel abruptly declared an end to his advanced hieroglyphics class when the dull booming sound pulsated through the air. "What the hell could that be?" he muttered as he set off through the streets in search of Kasuf. Daniel found the town leader in consultation with several of the other Elders. They adjourned to one of the spidery watchtowers, hoping to get a long-range glimpse of whatever was going on. Kasuf's face was stiff with dread, and Daniel could understand his concern. The last things to come from the great pyramid had been udajeet gliders lancing down out of the sky on a terror mission, lancing bolts of destruction into the helpless city. A couple of Skaara's home-guard members came into view, running madly up the dunes. One fired off a rifle shot into the sky while the other gesticulated in the direction of the pyramid. Kasuf drew himself up.
    Whatever was going on out there, it would have to be met and dealt with.
    He called an order, and several howdah-equipped mastadges came galumphing down the crooked streets. Well, Daniel thought, they'd ride out in comfort and the best possible local speed to investigate events.
    The massive gates of the city opened, and the eavalcader was that mastadgecade? a bemused Daniel wondered-set off. Skaara had turned up from somewhere to join them as they careened their way over the brownish dunes. Soon enough they reached the young watchers, who accorded Skaara snappy military-style salutes. Their report, however, was less precise.
    Apparently, there had been a tremendous explosion at the pyramid where Ra's spacecraft had docked. Afterward, a roaring yellow machine appeared. Seeing this, the boy commandos had fled to spread the word.
    Daniel frowned. Could something have gone wrong with the StarGate? For a second an unworthy part of him hoped so. Better that he lose his connection with Earth than see the culture of Abydos torn apart by corporate wolves. They topped a dune and came into sight of the pyramid.
    Daniel saw bulldozers and wreckage, and a red haze descended over his vision. The front face of the pyramid was no longer a perfect sweep of limestone. The base had been blasted, and a huge rent had been torn in the stone. Instead of the severe, tight arch of the old entrance, rubble was now being shoved to either side of the old entrance ramp.
    Among the wreckage were the pair of stone obelisks which had once flanked the ramp. Kasuf and his compatriots sucked air between their teeth in shock. More workers marched out of the violently expanded gateway. Some went to work shoring up the breach they'd created. Others began laying gravel over the stony rubble and mixing cement. Apparently, they intended to expand the rampway to THREE times its original width.
    That would allow heavy machinery like the bulldozers to