What Dreams May Come - 2/21
Warnings and summary are here: Chapter One
The previous chapters can be found here: What Dreams May Come
- = - = -
Chapter Two
- = - = -
"Carter, I thought you said there were trees?"
Jack studied the landscape of P2A-759-not that there was much to study. The stargate was surrounded by a vast plain of three inch tall amber grass that waved gently in the light breeze. The position of the sun indicated that it was mid-afternoon on the planet, and the MALP had recorded a twenty-seven hour rotation. The temperature was cool enough to allow their jackets, but warm enough to not require them. A few light yellow clouds floated high in the golden sky. All in all, it seemed to be a very dull and boring place.
The wormhole closed behind him, signaling Daniel's arrival.
"Carter?"
Carter looked up at Jack from where she knelt on the stone platform in front of the stargate. She flipped her backpack open, reached in, and nodded her head in the direction of the gate. "They're behind the stargate, sir, over by Daniel's temple."
Jack turned to check the area that had been hidden behind the active wormhole and found the trees exactly where Carter had said they'd be, though the leaves did appear to be a bit more yellow than he would have expected. They were roughly a mile away and were clustered together around a small stone structure which Jack had to assume was actually a rather massive temple.
"And the lake would be … ?"
"Over there, Jack," Daniel answered. He waved one finger toward a smaller clump of yellow-leaved trees to the left of the temple.
Jack nodded in satisfaction, and turned back to his team. "Okay, kids. We've got three days in Kansas; let's make the most of it. Carter, you've got everything you need to track these peek-a-boo energy readings of yours?"
"Yes, sir," Carter answered with a smile. She held up a small hand-held instrument and waved the attached wand in the air. "I'm ready to go."
"Daniel, you're ready to go read those alien scribbles?"
Daniel rolled his eyes and turned away. "Inscriptions. And of course I am."
"Teal'c …?"
"I am prepared, O'Neill."
Jack nodded again. "All rightie, then. We'll follow the yellow …" Jack stopped when he realized just how relevant his quip was going to be on this world. If ever there was a planet that could be said to resemble Kansas, this was it-with only one small exception. He shook his head and threw a look across his shoulder at his second-in-command as he walked away. "Carter, why didn't you tell me that everything is yellow?"
- = - = -
Daniel ran his hands along the obelisk. The polished black stone was smooth-the only things that marked its surface were the carvings on each of its sides. He traced the outlines of the carved symbols with his finger and muttered to himself as he circled it. Jack, Sam, and Teal'c stood to the side and watched him.
"Beware … danger … demon god …"
"Oh, Daniel?" Jack asked. "How's it going over there?"
"Fine," Daniel answered automatically, giving the impression that he was answering a question he may or may not have even heard.
Jack raised his eyebrows and exchanged a glance with Teal'c. "It sounds a lot like one of those, 'beware all ye who enter here,' things."
Daniel glanced up from the obelisk in mild surprise and smiled. "That's probably because that's exactly what it is."
Jack started to answer, but before he could he noticed Carter wandering away. She stared down at the small screen in her hand and held the wand in front of her.
"Carter?" Jack called to her. "Where are you going?"
"Sorry, sir," she answered. She stopped walking and adjusted the strap on her shoulder. "One of those energy readings just appeared. It's moving toward the temple. I thought I'd try to track it, since Daniel's going to be busy here for a while."
Jack nodded. "All right, Carter. You go on ahead. Teal'c, watch her six. Daniel and I'll be fifteen minutes behind you."
Teal'c nodded and moved away as Carter called out, "Thank you, sir."
Daniel looked up from the obelisk again. "Fifteen minutes? Jack, I can't possibly read both of these in fifteen minutes."
"You don't need to read them," Jack replied. "We've got three days, Daniel. Pace yourself."
"Jack …"
"Just get the Cliff's Notes version for now. Take some video if you want. We can always come back later."
"All right." Daniel tossed his backpack to the ground and dug through it quickly. He pulled his video camera out and began filming. "You know, the best I'm going to be able to do with this second obelisk is compare it to the images I took of Heliopolis and Ernest's notes. I've still got no way of even guessing at what it says."
"I'm sure you'll do your best," Jack said with confidence.
"Yeah," Daniel answered. "But still, I really wish that I had at least some idea of what it says. I'm under the impression that these beings, whoever they are, are pretty powerful."
"What gives you that idea?"
Daniel shrugged and crossed to the other obelisk. He panned his camera around slowly. "I don't exactly know. But we know they were meeting with Thor's race thousands of years ago." Daniel lowered the camera and looked up at Jack. "Think about it, Jack. Those four races were meeting on that planet after the Goa'uld had started their rise to power. And despite the fact that the Goa'uld would have been a force to reckon with even then, there were no Goa'uld writings there."
Jack began to see where Daniel was going with his line of thinking. "So not just a United Nations, but an alliance, do you think?"
Daniel nodded and raised his camera. "Against the Goa'uld."
Jack cocked his head to the side and smiled. "It might be worth meeting these guys, then."
"Definitely." Daniel turned his camera off and tucked it back into his backpack. He closed the flap, grabbed the straps in his hand, and stood, brushing a few errant strands of yellow grass from his knees. "But for now, we have no idea where they are. All we know for sure is where they used to be."
"How long have they been gone?"
Daniel shook his head and shrugged. "I don't really know. But at a guess, I'd say these writings might actually pre-date the writings on P3X-972."
"A long time, then."
"A very long time."
- = - = -
"There are dozens of them here, Teal'c," Sam said. "And the closer we get to the temple, the more of them there are."
She looked up at the temple as they approached it. It was a massive structure-large by even Goa'uld standards. The brightly-colored paintings that covered its almost white surface stood out in sharp contrast to the vast yellow plain that surrounded it, giving it an almost mythical appearance. A long but shallow ramp led up from the ground to a large entrance that was flanked on either side by two pylons that each stood at least sixty feet tall.
The craftsmanship involved in the temple's construction was obvious. The outside surfaces of the walls were smooth; there were no seams visible between the stone blocks that she knew had to have been used to build them. It lacked even the marks of age that thousands of years of expo-sure to the elements should have caused-there were no cracks, or pits, or even certain areas that were rougher than others.
It was almost as though the temple had been frozen in time on the day it was completed.
She heard Teal'c step up beside her and turned to face him.
"Captain Carter, do you believe that the presence of so much of this energy may be unhealthy?"
Sam looked back down at the small screen in her hand and shook her head. "No. I'm not getting any indication of any unsafe levels of radiation or even electricity. I know that there are more of them, but they all seem to be giving off unique signatures. They don't seem to be blending or elevating the severity of the readings, just the amount of them."
At just that moment, she felt the hair on the back of her neck begin to rise and a now-familiar prickling sensation spread across her back. She shrugged slightly as the odd feeling moved up to her shoulders and down her arms. Her fingers started to tingle and a slight pressure began to build in her chest, causing her heart to flutter slightly.
Exactly as she had known would happen, when Sam looked down at the monitor again, another signature had appeared on it.
Sam decided to test her burgeoning theory. "Teal'c, are you feeling anything?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you having any sort of physical reaction to them?"
Teal'c thought for a moment before answering. "I feel no differently now than I did when we first arrived on the planet. Why do you ask?"
Sam smiled, as much in confidence as in an attempt to ease the alarm that she knew her revelation would raise in Teal'c. "I think I can feel them, Teal'c. I think my body is reacting to them physically."
Teal'c's face hardened in concern. "The energy is having a negative effect on your body?"
Sam shook her head. "No, not negative. It's just … I know when a new one is coming." Sam saw the alarmed expression on Teal'c's face grow. "I might just be more sensitive to them than you are, Teal'c. There's no proof that I'm in any danger from them."
Teal'c looked around warily. "Perhaps these energy signatures are intended only to affect human physiology. Captain Carter, I do not believe that it is wise to move any closer to the temple at this time."
"Teal'c, I'm sure that everything is fine."
"I am afraid that I do not share your optimism. I believe it best that we wait for O'Neill and inform him of your observations."
"Inform him of what observations?" Jack asked from behind them.
Teal'c turned around to face the two men that approached them. "Captain Carter has made a discovery about the energy signatures, O'Neill."
"Oh yeah?" Jack smiled. "That was quick. What's up, Carter?"
Sam shook her head. "Sir, are either you or Daniel feeling anything right now?"
"Anything?" Jack asked.
Daniel waved his hand as though he were trying to swat away an annoying insect near his ear. "Like what, Sam?"
"Like tingling in your fingers, or pressure in your chest?"
Jack and Daniel looked at each other in confusion and then turned back to Sam.
"No," Jack answered. "Not feeling anything like that."
Daniel swatted at the insect again. "I don't feel anything either."
Sam smiled and turned back to Teal'c, confident that she had secured the colonel's approval to continue her research into the signatures. "See, Teal'c, I told you that I'm just a bit more sensitive to it. There's nothing to worry about." She patted Teal'c on the shoulder before moving toward the temple once more. "But thank you for your concern."
Jack gave Teal'c a questioning look, and Teal'c answered without hesitation. "Captain Carter believes that the energy is affecting her physically."
Jack stepped forward. "Hold up a sec, Carter," he said. He walked toward her and she turned to face him. "You can go, but …" Jack stopped, waiting until she was looking directly at him and he was certain that he had her undivided attention before continuing. "You're the only one who can feel these things. I'm not convinced that it's bad, but I'm not all that sure that it's good either."
"But, sir …" she started, but Jack cut her off with a wave of his hand.
"You can go, but I want you to keep an eye on this, okay? If these things get any stronger, if you start feeling weird, if it changes at all, I want you to back off."
"Sir …"
"I want you to back off, Carter. I'm serious. I don't want you taking any chances with this."
Sam nodded and tried to keep her disappointment from showing on her face. "Yes, sir."
Jack waved his hand toward the temple, and Carter moved away with a small smile on her face. Jack watched her go before turning and walking back to where Teal'c and Daniel stood.
Teal'c took one step toward him. "O'Neill, I am uneasy with Captain Carter approaching any nearer the temple."
Jack smiled reassuringly. "You heard the woman, Teal'c. There's nothing to worry about. Besides, do you really want to be the one to tell her that she has to spend the next three days sitting next to the gate?"
Teal'c didn't answer him.
"Relax, Teal'c. I know it's your nature to be on guard, but I really don't think there's anything here to guard against. I told her to keep an eye on things and I promise you, the moment I start to think that something's not quite right here, we'll all pack it up, okay?"
Teal'c raised his eyebrows, giving Jack the clear message that the Jaffa did not appreciate being dismissed so easily. Jack knew that the matter had not been dropped, but that Teal'c would put his feelings on hold for the time being. Jack gave a quick nod of understanding, which Teal'c returned in kind.
Jack turned away and glanced back over the nearly barren landscape. The stargate was still visible, though it was little more than a dark spot on the horizon. He turned back around to face the temple in front of them. He'd been right about it; it was massive.
"Okay, Teal'c. You stay out here with Carter; see if you can't catch one of those energy thingies for her. Daniel and I are gonna take a look around the temple and see if we can find anything interesting."
"As you wish, O'Neill," Teal'c answered with a nod.
"Daniel …" Jack turned to where Daniel had been standing only to find him no longer there. Jack shifted his gaze back toward the temple and was not surprised to see Daniel already walking up the ramp.
"Oh, Daniel!"
"Yes, Jack?" Daniel stopped where he was and turned around.
"Did you hear the word 'we' in that sentence?"
Daniel watched Jack walk toward him. "Huh?"
"Because I distinctly remember saying 'we.' And you know, with you being a linguist and all, you should really know that the definition of the word 'we' is not 'Daniel,' or 'just Daniel,' or 'Daniel by himself.' "
Daniel looked at Jack in confusion as the older man reached his side and stopped. "Jack, what are you talking about?"
Jack sighed and turned to face Daniel on the ramp. "I said that 'we' were going to check out the temple, Daniel. That means both of us." Jack heard Daniel's exaggerated sigh behind him as he started walking again. "Don't roll your eyes. You're stuck with me."
A few moments of silence followed before Daniel said quietly, "I wasn't rolling my eyes."
"Of course you were."
"No, I wasn't."
"Were so."
"Was not." Daniel sighed heavily as he followed Jack through the entrance and into the hypostyle hall of the temple. "And why do you always insist on … wow!"
Sunlight streamed in around them, through the entrance behind them and down through the open roof above. It shone into every corner and glittered on the brightly painted glyphs and golden accents on the walls. Massive columns rose up around them, towering over them-the wide, white stone bases ended where the roof would have been and were capped with detailed carvings of deep amber grasses. A large opening in the wall opposite the one they had just entered through led into what appeared to be the sanctuary.
"This is amazing," Daniel said breathlessly. He walked to one of the walls and began reading the inscriptions. "Welcome, brother, to our sanctuary. Herein lie the answers to all questions. Take heart and have faith, and the truth will be revealed."
Daniel turned to Jack with wide-eyed excitement. "This is Egyptian. I was right. There's been absolutely no evolution of the language at all."
Jack smiled as he glanced around the room. The structure appeared solid; there were no cracks in the walls, no fallen supports, and no collapsed sections of floor. Despite the obvious age of the structure, it looked completely safe. Whoever had built it had clearly intended it to last.
As Daniel turned back toward the wall once more, Jack's eyes were drawn to a large inscription above the door to the inner chamber. Unlike most of the glyphs on the walls, these were carved, not painted, and they weren't glyphs, they were letters. "Um, Daniel? You're sure these guys were Egyptian?"
"Positive, Jack. Why?"
Jack pointed at the writings he'd found. "Because that doesn't look Egyptian to me."
Daniel looked up and in the direction that Jack was pointing. His eyes widened further.
"That's not Egyptian," he agreed. His voice sounded confused. "That's Latin."
"What does it say?"
"Ex quattuor alio adveho unus mens. Ex unus mens adveho tres phasmatis."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Okay then, what does it mean?"
"From four bodies comes one mind. From one mind come three spirits."
Jack blinked and frowned slightly. "No, Daniel, what does it mean?"
Daniel shook his head slowly. "I have no idea." He smiled broadly and took a step toward the chamber. Jack's hand on his arm stopped him. "What?"
"Where are you going?"
"In there," Daniel answered simply.
Jack indicated the hall around them with his wave of his arm. "What about this stuff out here?"
"Well, what's out here tells me that the answers to my questions are in there."
"Where does it say that?" Jack asked.
Daniel pointed toward the section of wall he had translated. "It says that the answers are in the sanctuary." He gestured toward the door under the Latin writing. "That's the sanctuary."
The shadows in the sanctuary were already beginning to grow out from the corners, and he had hoped to keep Daniel in the bright atmosphere of the outer hall until sundown, with a promise of entering the inner chamber at first light. It was obvious, however, that Daniel had his mind set on going straight to the heart of the matter, so to speak. Jack sighed and relented.
"Okay, but the first question I want you to find an answer for is mine."
"Sure," Daniel said. "What is it you want to know?"
Jack pointed up at the out-of-place Latin inscription once more. "What the heck does that mean?"
- = - = -
Aynad watched Jack and Daniel enter the central chamber and shook his head again. "He does not understand."
"Give him time," the other said softly.
"They have entered the sanctuary!" Aynad said in dismay. "Already it is too late."
"No," the other replied. "He's got an hour. He'll figure it out."
"How can you be so certain of this?" Aynad demanded.
"Because I know him," was the murmured answer. "I know all of them. They'll figure it out."
"Time grows too short. He approaches even now."
"We can do this, Aynad!" the other snapped suddenly. "You've just got to give us a chance to do it. As long as we're together …"
Aynad turned toward the man as his voice faded. "What do you intend to do?"
"We have to be together," the other answered. "We have to do it together. That's what I didn't have. That's what none of us had."
"I do not understand."
A smile crept across the man's face, the first smile that Aynad had seen there in the four weeks that they had been together, or on any of those that had come before.
"You don't have to understand, Aynad. This is SG-1 we're talking about here. United we stand, divided we fall." The smile grew and the blue eyes sparkled with a hope that Aynad had thought he would never see. "We have to do it together, or we can't do it at all."
"This is not possible."
"Of course it is. We only have to enhance the natural responses that already exist. We won't even be changing things, not really."
"What benefit will there be in this? You know that they will not remember these things afterward."
"So we do a little reminding," the other answered with a shrug.
"They will not believe," Aynad said.
"Jack will," the other answered. "Jack always does. With a little help, so will Sam and Teal'c. And once they believe in him, they'll be able to reach him."
"How do you intend to do this? He will be stranded here with us. He will not be with them."
"Yes, he will," the man answered with certainty. "One way or another, Daniel Jackson is leaving this planet."
- = - = -
An hour later, Jack emerged from the temple. "So, Daniel's comfy in there," he remarked as he walked out. He scanned the area and spotted Teal'c immediately, standing at the base of the ramp. Carter, however, was nowhere to be seen. "How are things going out here?"
"Things are well, O'Neill," Teal'c answered. He tilted his chin toward the far west corner of the temple. Jack looked in the direction that Teal'c was indicating and found Carter, waving her instruments with one hand and gesturing angrily with the other.
"Any luck catching Carter's hide-and-seek energy thingies?"
Teal'c shook his head. "None. To my knowledge, Captain Carter has been unable to measure the energy signatures any more accurately than the initial probe was."
Jack winced in sympathy. "Is she yelling yet?"
"Indeed. Loudly."
Almost as if on cue, Carter's voice floated toward them from the corner of the temple. "Hold still, damn it!"
Jack smiled and placed a hand on Teal'c's shoulder. "I feel for ya, big guy."
"You do not," Teal'c replied evenly.
Jack pulled his hand back and smiled again. "Of course I do. I feel sorry for you, and I feel glad it's not me."
Teal'c simply raised an eyebrow.
Jack glanced up at the sky and noted that though the cloud cover had not increased, the area around the temple seemed darker than he remembered it being. The structure appeared to be falling under some sort of shadow, but the rest of the plain was as bright as it had been when they'd arrived. Jack rubbed his eyes and tried to clear them, but found that nothing had changed.
"Hey, Teal'c, is it just me, or is it getting kind of foggy out here?"
Teal'c looked around quickly. "I see no fog, O'Neill." He turned back to Jack in concern. "Are your eyes ceasing to function properly?"
Jack blinked a few times. "No, my eyes are fine. They're probably just not completely adjusted to being back out in the sun again." He blinked again. "It'll clear up in a minute. I just wanted to make sure that we weren't about to get rained on."
Teal'c nodded, but his expression of concern did not change. "O'Neill, my initial discomfort has not faded."
"What is it, Teal'c? What's bothering you so much about this temple?"
"I am not certain. I only know that my symbiote has been growing steadily more agitated since our arrival here. In recent moments, that agitation has doubled."
"Is that … abnormal?"
Teal'c shook his head slowly. "It is not. It is possible that my body has contracted an illness which my symbiote is repairing. However, if that is the case, then it is an illness that I am unaware of having developed."
"Maybe Junior's just having a bad day, Teal'c."
Teal'c nodded. "Indeed."
Jack blinked twice more and turned his attention back to the temple. "I'm gonna head back inside and check on Daniel. I'll give him a couple of hours to work before dinner. We'll see you then."
"Oh, come on! Just give me ten seconds!" Carter's voice sounded fainter than it had before.
Jack winced slightly. "Go herd her back this way, will ya, Teal'c? Try to keep her near the temple."
Teal'c nodded once and moved off in the direction Carter's voice had come from.
Jack sighed as he headed back up the steps. "We should charge by the hour for our babysitting services."
- = - = -
The two men stood together at the top of the ramp, watching Jack as he climbed toward them and walked back into the temple.
"Perhaps we need to enhance them again," Aynad suggested.
"No," the other answered. "We've done all we can with them for now. But I'm not done with them just yet."
"He grows ever nearer," Aynad said nervously. "Within moments, he will move against him."
"Not just him," the other returned. "This time, he's going to get all of them."
Aynad turned toward his companion in shock. "I thought you meant to save them!"
"I do," the other answered slowly. "And I will." The man smiled once more as he turned toward the entrance. "Come with me, Aynad. It's almost time for you to meet Daniel."
The previous chapters can be found here: What Dreams May Come
- = - = -
Chapter Two
- = - = -
"Carter, I thought you said there were trees?"
Jack studied the landscape of P2A-759-not that there was much to study. The stargate was surrounded by a vast plain of three inch tall amber grass that waved gently in the light breeze. The position of the sun indicated that it was mid-afternoon on the planet, and the MALP had recorded a twenty-seven hour rotation. The temperature was cool enough to allow their jackets, but warm enough to not require them. A few light yellow clouds floated high in the golden sky. All in all, it seemed to be a very dull and boring place.
The wormhole closed behind him, signaling Daniel's arrival.
"Carter?"
Carter looked up at Jack from where she knelt on the stone platform in front of the stargate. She flipped her backpack open, reached in, and nodded her head in the direction of the gate. "They're behind the stargate, sir, over by Daniel's temple."
Jack turned to check the area that had been hidden behind the active wormhole and found the trees exactly where Carter had said they'd be, though the leaves did appear to be a bit more yellow than he would have expected. They were roughly a mile away and were clustered together around a small stone structure which Jack had to assume was actually a rather massive temple.
"And the lake would be … ?"
"Over there, Jack," Daniel answered. He waved one finger toward a smaller clump of yellow-leaved trees to the left of the temple.
Jack nodded in satisfaction, and turned back to his team. "Okay, kids. We've got three days in Kansas; let's make the most of it. Carter, you've got everything you need to track these peek-a-boo energy readings of yours?"
"Yes, sir," Carter answered with a smile. She held up a small hand-held instrument and waved the attached wand in the air. "I'm ready to go."
"Daniel, you're ready to go read those alien scribbles?"
Daniel rolled his eyes and turned away. "Inscriptions. And of course I am."
"Teal'c …?"
"I am prepared, O'Neill."
Jack nodded again. "All rightie, then. We'll follow the yellow …" Jack stopped when he realized just how relevant his quip was going to be on this world. If ever there was a planet that could be said to resemble Kansas, this was it-with only one small exception. He shook his head and threw a look across his shoulder at his second-in-command as he walked away. "Carter, why didn't you tell me that everything is yellow?"
- = - = -
Daniel ran his hands along the obelisk. The polished black stone was smooth-the only things that marked its surface were the carvings on each of its sides. He traced the outlines of the carved symbols with his finger and muttered to himself as he circled it. Jack, Sam, and Teal'c stood to the side and watched him.
"Beware … danger … demon god …"
"Oh, Daniel?" Jack asked. "How's it going over there?"
"Fine," Daniel answered automatically, giving the impression that he was answering a question he may or may not have even heard.
Jack raised his eyebrows and exchanged a glance with Teal'c. "It sounds a lot like one of those, 'beware all ye who enter here,' things."
Daniel glanced up from the obelisk in mild surprise and smiled. "That's probably because that's exactly what it is."
Jack started to answer, but before he could he noticed Carter wandering away. She stared down at the small screen in her hand and held the wand in front of her.
"Carter?" Jack called to her. "Where are you going?"
"Sorry, sir," she answered. She stopped walking and adjusted the strap on her shoulder. "One of those energy readings just appeared. It's moving toward the temple. I thought I'd try to track it, since Daniel's going to be busy here for a while."
Jack nodded. "All right, Carter. You go on ahead. Teal'c, watch her six. Daniel and I'll be fifteen minutes behind you."
Teal'c nodded and moved away as Carter called out, "Thank you, sir."
Daniel looked up from the obelisk again. "Fifteen minutes? Jack, I can't possibly read both of these in fifteen minutes."
"You don't need to read them," Jack replied. "We've got three days, Daniel. Pace yourself."
"Jack …"
"Just get the Cliff's Notes version for now. Take some video if you want. We can always come back later."
"All right." Daniel tossed his backpack to the ground and dug through it quickly. He pulled his video camera out and began filming. "You know, the best I'm going to be able to do with this second obelisk is compare it to the images I took of Heliopolis and Ernest's notes. I've still got no way of even guessing at what it says."
"I'm sure you'll do your best," Jack said with confidence.
"Yeah," Daniel answered. "But still, I really wish that I had at least some idea of what it says. I'm under the impression that these beings, whoever they are, are pretty powerful."
"What gives you that idea?"
Daniel shrugged and crossed to the other obelisk. He panned his camera around slowly. "I don't exactly know. But we know they were meeting with Thor's race thousands of years ago." Daniel lowered the camera and looked up at Jack. "Think about it, Jack. Those four races were meeting on that planet after the Goa'uld had started their rise to power. And despite the fact that the Goa'uld would have been a force to reckon with even then, there were no Goa'uld writings there."
Jack began to see where Daniel was going with his line of thinking. "So not just a United Nations, but an alliance, do you think?"
Daniel nodded and raised his camera. "Against the Goa'uld."
Jack cocked his head to the side and smiled. "It might be worth meeting these guys, then."
"Definitely." Daniel turned his camera off and tucked it back into his backpack. He closed the flap, grabbed the straps in his hand, and stood, brushing a few errant strands of yellow grass from his knees. "But for now, we have no idea where they are. All we know for sure is where they used to be."
"How long have they been gone?"
Daniel shook his head and shrugged. "I don't really know. But at a guess, I'd say these writings might actually pre-date the writings on P3X-972."
"A long time, then."
"A very long time."
- = - = -
"There are dozens of them here, Teal'c," Sam said. "And the closer we get to the temple, the more of them there are."
She looked up at the temple as they approached it. It was a massive structure-large by even Goa'uld standards. The brightly-colored paintings that covered its almost white surface stood out in sharp contrast to the vast yellow plain that surrounded it, giving it an almost mythical appearance. A long but shallow ramp led up from the ground to a large entrance that was flanked on either side by two pylons that each stood at least sixty feet tall.
The craftsmanship involved in the temple's construction was obvious. The outside surfaces of the walls were smooth; there were no seams visible between the stone blocks that she knew had to have been used to build them. It lacked even the marks of age that thousands of years of expo-sure to the elements should have caused-there were no cracks, or pits, or even certain areas that were rougher than others.
It was almost as though the temple had been frozen in time on the day it was completed.
She heard Teal'c step up beside her and turned to face him.
"Captain Carter, do you believe that the presence of so much of this energy may be unhealthy?"
Sam looked back down at the small screen in her hand and shook her head. "No. I'm not getting any indication of any unsafe levels of radiation or even electricity. I know that there are more of them, but they all seem to be giving off unique signatures. They don't seem to be blending or elevating the severity of the readings, just the amount of them."
At just that moment, she felt the hair on the back of her neck begin to rise and a now-familiar prickling sensation spread across her back. She shrugged slightly as the odd feeling moved up to her shoulders and down her arms. Her fingers started to tingle and a slight pressure began to build in her chest, causing her heart to flutter slightly.
Exactly as she had known would happen, when Sam looked down at the monitor again, another signature had appeared on it.
Sam decided to test her burgeoning theory. "Teal'c, are you feeling anything?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you having any sort of physical reaction to them?"
Teal'c thought for a moment before answering. "I feel no differently now than I did when we first arrived on the planet. Why do you ask?"
Sam smiled, as much in confidence as in an attempt to ease the alarm that she knew her revelation would raise in Teal'c. "I think I can feel them, Teal'c. I think my body is reacting to them physically."
Teal'c's face hardened in concern. "The energy is having a negative effect on your body?"
Sam shook her head. "No, not negative. It's just … I know when a new one is coming." Sam saw the alarmed expression on Teal'c's face grow. "I might just be more sensitive to them than you are, Teal'c. There's no proof that I'm in any danger from them."
Teal'c looked around warily. "Perhaps these energy signatures are intended only to affect human physiology. Captain Carter, I do not believe that it is wise to move any closer to the temple at this time."
"Teal'c, I'm sure that everything is fine."
"I am afraid that I do not share your optimism. I believe it best that we wait for O'Neill and inform him of your observations."
"Inform him of what observations?" Jack asked from behind them.
Teal'c turned around to face the two men that approached them. "Captain Carter has made a discovery about the energy signatures, O'Neill."
"Oh yeah?" Jack smiled. "That was quick. What's up, Carter?"
Sam shook her head. "Sir, are either you or Daniel feeling anything right now?"
"Anything?" Jack asked.
Daniel waved his hand as though he were trying to swat away an annoying insect near his ear. "Like what, Sam?"
"Like tingling in your fingers, or pressure in your chest?"
Jack and Daniel looked at each other in confusion and then turned back to Sam.
"No," Jack answered. "Not feeling anything like that."
Daniel swatted at the insect again. "I don't feel anything either."
Sam smiled and turned back to Teal'c, confident that she had secured the colonel's approval to continue her research into the signatures. "See, Teal'c, I told you that I'm just a bit more sensitive to it. There's nothing to worry about." She patted Teal'c on the shoulder before moving toward the temple once more. "But thank you for your concern."
Jack gave Teal'c a questioning look, and Teal'c answered without hesitation. "Captain Carter believes that the energy is affecting her physically."
Jack stepped forward. "Hold up a sec, Carter," he said. He walked toward her and she turned to face him. "You can go, but …" Jack stopped, waiting until she was looking directly at him and he was certain that he had her undivided attention before continuing. "You're the only one who can feel these things. I'm not convinced that it's bad, but I'm not all that sure that it's good either."
"But, sir …" she started, but Jack cut her off with a wave of his hand.
"You can go, but I want you to keep an eye on this, okay? If these things get any stronger, if you start feeling weird, if it changes at all, I want you to back off."
"Sir …"
"I want you to back off, Carter. I'm serious. I don't want you taking any chances with this."
Sam nodded and tried to keep her disappointment from showing on her face. "Yes, sir."
Jack waved his hand toward the temple, and Carter moved away with a small smile on her face. Jack watched her go before turning and walking back to where Teal'c and Daniel stood.
Teal'c took one step toward him. "O'Neill, I am uneasy with Captain Carter approaching any nearer the temple."
Jack smiled reassuringly. "You heard the woman, Teal'c. There's nothing to worry about. Besides, do you really want to be the one to tell her that she has to spend the next three days sitting next to the gate?"
Teal'c didn't answer him.
"Relax, Teal'c. I know it's your nature to be on guard, but I really don't think there's anything here to guard against. I told her to keep an eye on things and I promise you, the moment I start to think that something's not quite right here, we'll all pack it up, okay?"
Teal'c raised his eyebrows, giving Jack the clear message that the Jaffa did not appreciate being dismissed so easily. Jack knew that the matter had not been dropped, but that Teal'c would put his feelings on hold for the time being. Jack gave a quick nod of understanding, which Teal'c returned in kind.
Jack turned away and glanced back over the nearly barren landscape. The stargate was still visible, though it was little more than a dark spot on the horizon. He turned back around to face the temple in front of them. He'd been right about it; it was massive.
"Okay, Teal'c. You stay out here with Carter; see if you can't catch one of those energy thingies for her. Daniel and I are gonna take a look around the temple and see if we can find anything interesting."
"As you wish, O'Neill," Teal'c answered with a nod.
"Daniel …" Jack turned to where Daniel had been standing only to find him no longer there. Jack shifted his gaze back toward the temple and was not surprised to see Daniel already walking up the ramp.
"Oh, Daniel!"
"Yes, Jack?" Daniel stopped where he was and turned around.
"Did you hear the word 'we' in that sentence?"
Daniel watched Jack walk toward him. "Huh?"
"Because I distinctly remember saying 'we.' And you know, with you being a linguist and all, you should really know that the definition of the word 'we' is not 'Daniel,' or 'just Daniel,' or 'Daniel by himself.' "
Daniel looked at Jack in confusion as the older man reached his side and stopped. "Jack, what are you talking about?"
Jack sighed and turned to face Daniel on the ramp. "I said that 'we' were going to check out the temple, Daniel. That means both of us." Jack heard Daniel's exaggerated sigh behind him as he started walking again. "Don't roll your eyes. You're stuck with me."
A few moments of silence followed before Daniel said quietly, "I wasn't rolling my eyes."
"Of course you were."
"No, I wasn't."
"Were so."
"Was not." Daniel sighed heavily as he followed Jack through the entrance and into the hypostyle hall of the temple. "And why do you always insist on … wow!"
Sunlight streamed in around them, through the entrance behind them and down through the open roof above. It shone into every corner and glittered on the brightly painted glyphs and golden accents on the walls. Massive columns rose up around them, towering over them-the wide, white stone bases ended where the roof would have been and were capped with detailed carvings of deep amber grasses. A large opening in the wall opposite the one they had just entered through led into what appeared to be the sanctuary.
"This is amazing," Daniel said breathlessly. He walked to one of the walls and began reading the inscriptions. "Welcome, brother, to our sanctuary. Herein lie the answers to all questions. Take heart and have faith, and the truth will be revealed."
Daniel turned to Jack with wide-eyed excitement. "This is Egyptian. I was right. There's been absolutely no evolution of the language at all."
Jack smiled as he glanced around the room. The structure appeared solid; there were no cracks in the walls, no fallen supports, and no collapsed sections of floor. Despite the obvious age of the structure, it looked completely safe. Whoever had built it had clearly intended it to last.
As Daniel turned back toward the wall once more, Jack's eyes were drawn to a large inscription above the door to the inner chamber. Unlike most of the glyphs on the walls, these were carved, not painted, and they weren't glyphs, they were letters. "Um, Daniel? You're sure these guys were Egyptian?"
"Positive, Jack. Why?"
Jack pointed at the writings he'd found. "Because that doesn't look Egyptian to me."
Daniel looked up and in the direction that Jack was pointing. His eyes widened further.
"That's not Egyptian," he agreed. His voice sounded confused. "That's Latin."
"What does it say?"
"Ex quattuor alio adveho unus mens. Ex unus mens adveho tres phasmatis."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Okay then, what does it mean?"
"From four bodies comes one mind. From one mind come three spirits."
Jack blinked and frowned slightly. "No, Daniel, what does it mean?"
Daniel shook his head slowly. "I have no idea." He smiled broadly and took a step toward the chamber. Jack's hand on his arm stopped him. "What?"
"Where are you going?"
"In there," Daniel answered simply.
Jack indicated the hall around them with his wave of his arm. "What about this stuff out here?"
"Well, what's out here tells me that the answers to my questions are in there."
"Where does it say that?" Jack asked.
Daniel pointed toward the section of wall he had translated. "It says that the answers are in the sanctuary." He gestured toward the door under the Latin writing. "That's the sanctuary."
The shadows in the sanctuary were already beginning to grow out from the corners, and he had hoped to keep Daniel in the bright atmosphere of the outer hall until sundown, with a promise of entering the inner chamber at first light. It was obvious, however, that Daniel had his mind set on going straight to the heart of the matter, so to speak. Jack sighed and relented.
"Okay, but the first question I want you to find an answer for is mine."
"Sure," Daniel said. "What is it you want to know?"
Jack pointed up at the out-of-place Latin inscription once more. "What the heck does that mean?"
- = - = -
Aynad watched Jack and Daniel enter the central chamber and shook his head again. "He does not understand."
"Give him time," the other said softly.
"They have entered the sanctuary!" Aynad said in dismay. "Already it is too late."
"No," the other replied. "He's got an hour. He'll figure it out."
"How can you be so certain of this?" Aynad demanded.
"Because I know him," was the murmured answer. "I know all of them. They'll figure it out."
"Time grows too short. He approaches even now."
"We can do this, Aynad!" the other snapped suddenly. "You've just got to give us a chance to do it. As long as we're together …"
Aynad turned toward the man as his voice faded. "What do you intend to do?"
"We have to be together," the other answered. "We have to do it together. That's what I didn't have. That's what none of us had."
"I do not understand."
A smile crept across the man's face, the first smile that Aynad had seen there in the four weeks that they had been together, or on any of those that had come before.
"You don't have to understand, Aynad. This is SG-1 we're talking about here. United we stand, divided we fall." The smile grew and the blue eyes sparkled with a hope that Aynad had thought he would never see. "We have to do it together, or we can't do it at all."
"This is not possible."
"Of course it is. We only have to enhance the natural responses that already exist. We won't even be changing things, not really."
"What benefit will there be in this? You know that they will not remember these things afterward."
"So we do a little reminding," the other answered with a shrug.
"They will not believe," Aynad said.
"Jack will," the other answered. "Jack always does. With a little help, so will Sam and Teal'c. And once they believe in him, they'll be able to reach him."
"How do you intend to do this? He will be stranded here with us. He will not be with them."
"Yes, he will," the man answered with certainty. "One way or another, Daniel Jackson is leaving this planet."
- = - = -
An hour later, Jack emerged from the temple. "So, Daniel's comfy in there," he remarked as he walked out. He scanned the area and spotted Teal'c immediately, standing at the base of the ramp. Carter, however, was nowhere to be seen. "How are things going out here?"
"Things are well, O'Neill," Teal'c answered. He tilted his chin toward the far west corner of the temple. Jack looked in the direction that Teal'c was indicating and found Carter, waving her instruments with one hand and gesturing angrily with the other.
"Any luck catching Carter's hide-and-seek energy thingies?"
Teal'c shook his head. "None. To my knowledge, Captain Carter has been unable to measure the energy signatures any more accurately than the initial probe was."
Jack winced in sympathy. "Is she yelling yet?"
"Indeed. Loudly."
Almost as if on cue, Carter's voice floated toward them from the corner of the temple. "Hold still, damn it!"
Jack smiled and placed a hand on Teal'c's shoulder. "I feel for ya, big guy."
"You do not," Teal'c replied evenly.
Jack pulled his hand back and smiled again. "Of course I do. I feel sorry for you, and I feel glad it's not me."
Teal'c simply raised an eyebrow.
Jack glanced up at the sky and noted that though the cloud cover had not increased, the area around the temple seemed darker than he remembered it being. The structure appeared to be falling under some sort of shadow, but the rest of the plain was as bright as it had been when they'd arrived. Jack rubbed his eyes and tried to clear them, but found that nothing had changed.
"Hey, Teal'c, is it just me, or is it getting kind of foggy out here?"
Teal'c looked around quickly. "I see no fog, O'Neill." He turned back to Jack in concern. "Are your eyes ceasing to function properly?"
Jack blinked a few times. "No, my eyes are fine. They're probably just not completely adjusted to being back out in the sun again." He blinked again. "It'll clear up in a minute. I just wanted to make sure that we weren't about to get rained on."
Teal'c nodded, but his expression of concern did not change. "O'Neill, my initial discomfort has not faded."
"What is it, Teal'c? What's bothering you so much about this temple?"
"I am not certain. I only know that my symbiote has been growing steadily more agitated since our arrival here. In recent moments, that agitation has doubled."
"Is that … abnormal?"
Teal'c shook his head slowly. "It is not. It is possible that my body has contracted an illness which my symbiote is repairing. However, if that is the case, then it is an illness that I am unaware of having developed."
"Maybe Junior's just having a bad day, Teal'c."
Teal'c nodded. "Indeed."
Jack blinked twice more and turned his attention back to the temple. "I'm gonna head back inside and check on Daniel. I'll give him a couple of hours to work before dinner. We'll see you then."
"Oh, come on! Just give me ten seconds!" Carter's voice sounded fainter than it had before.
Jack winced slightly. "Go herd her back this way, will ya, Teal'c? Try to keep her near the temple."
Teal'c nodded once and moved off in the direction Carter's voice had come from.
Jack sighed as he headed back up the steps. "We should charge by the hour for our babysitting services."
- = - = -
The two men stood together at the top of the ramp, watching Jack as he climbed toward them and walked back into the temple.
"Perhaps we need to enhance them again," Aynad suggested.
"No," the other answered. "We've done all we can with them for now. But I'm not done with them just yet."
"He grows ever nearer," Aynad said nervously. "Within moments, he will move against him."
"Not just him," the other returned. "This time, he's going to get all of them."
Aynad turned toward his companion in shock. "I thought you meant to save them!"
"I do," the other answered slowly. "And I will." The man smiled once more as he turned toward the entrance. "Come with me, Aynad. It's almost time for you to meet Daniel."