Thinking Out Loud

The next morning, after yet another set of scans and assorted tests, SG1 finally assembled in the gate room, ready for the dial-up procedure to be initiated. Jack, as usual, was grumbling about the delay to the mission occasioned by his and Daniel's side trip to the infirmary. Mercifully, from Sam's and Teal'c's points of view, his grumbles were mainly directed at Daniel.

'Geeze, the doc was pissy this morning.'

'Are you surprised, after your performance yesterday?'

Jack considered this for a moment and sighed. 'Good point. Suppose I've got a bit of fence-mending to do in that area?'

'Suppose you do. Looking back on it, calling that nurse a 'ham-fisted legalized vampire' wasn't the most tactful turn of phrase...'

'Hey! I didn't realize I'd spoken out loud. I was on the receiving end of that needle, remember... I'm as certain as I've ever been of anything in my life that her choice of site was a violation of the Hippocratic Oath.'

''First, do no harm?''

'Exactly.'

'I'm not sure that nurses even take the Hippocratic Oath.'

'Well if they don't, they sure as hell should.'

General Hammond's voice sounded over the PA system. "SG1, dial-up sequence is being initiated."

The stone rings ground around in their appointed order and the wormhole burst into life. One final check and they advanced up the ramp, through the shimmering blue portal, to meet the expected blast of desert heat on the other side.

"Okay kids, let's get this over and done with as quickly as we can. Daniel, you get back to the temple, get what you need for your translation. Don't touch the damn cover stone!" Daniel gave him one of his patented long-suffering looks, but said nothing.

"Teal'c, your knowledge of Goa'uld will be a big help; you go with Daniel."

"As you say, O'Neill." Teal'c gave an almost imperceptible inclination of his head.

"Carter, you're with me. We'll go and get your additional samples. How long do we need?"

"The area I'm interested in is about a half hour's walk from here, sir. Once we get there, maybe another hour tops."

"Daniel, that enough time for you?"

"Should be. I can do all the filming, see if there's anything else of interest, check out a couple of the other rooms."

"Okay, we'll aim to be back at the temple in about two hours then. We can all have a look at this device when we get back. Check-in every thirty minutes. Ready Carter? Let's go."

He and Sam both hitched their packs higher on their shoulders, settling in for the long hike.

'Careful, Daniel. I meant what I said about the cover stone.'

'What do you take me for? I'm not in a great hurry to find out what a repeat performance would do, especially with Teal'c. Stop fussing and get going. Sooner we finish up here, the sooner we get home. Now there's an experience I wouldn't mind repeating...'

Jack chuckled mentally. 'I think we might manage that. See ya, lover.'

He felt Daniel's mind click into academic mode as he turned away, and spent a moment or two relishing his enthusiasm for the task in hand. It was good to see him anticipating enjoying himself for once, he didn't get nearly enough time to do what he enjoyed most.

Jack watched the two men walk off for a couple of minutes, listening to the link getting fainter and fainter as they got further away, until finally he couldn't hear Daniel any more at all. Strange, he'd never realized just how big and, well, essentially empty a place the mind could be, not until he didn't have company in his whenever he felt like it. Experimentally, he tried to push his thoughts a little bit further. Suddenly Daniel was there again, but very faint and far off.

'Jack? Something wrong?'

'No, just curious about something is all. Not a problem. Take care.'

A smile, he definitely caught a smile. 'You too.' He concentrated hard on sending a grin back.

Another thought struck him as the link faded again and he turned away to head off. "Carter, about how far away from us would you say Daniel and Teal'c are?"

Sam considered for a moment. "I'd say about three hundred yards, sir. Why?"

"Oh, just wondering. That's about what I thought myself."

Sam shot him a sideways look. "Are you still in contact with Daniel, sir?"

"Not any more, I'm not. Not without a lot of effort, anyway. Although I've only just lost it. I think we could still manage to get in touch if we had to."

He looked at her: she was frowning slightly, staring at the ground as she plodded along, chewing her bottom lip, obviously thinking hard. Eventually she said, "That's quite a range this ability has. You can't sense his thoughts at all any more?"

"Nope, not at all. Why?"

"Oh, just wondering. Did it always have this far of a range?"

"No, it seems to have been expanding over the last two days. The more we use it, the better and easier it seems to get."

"Better?" Sam sounded incredulous. "You mean you don't mind?" She caught the expression on Jack's face, and hurriedly said, "I'm sorry sir, but I was thinking back. I can't imagine anything worse than having someone rooting around in my head. Jolinar was bad enough." She didn't quite manage to suppress a shudder.

The unexpectedness of the question pulled Jack up short. Strange, he'd never stopped to ask himself exactly how he felt about Daniel having free access to his psyche. Doubly strange, since he'd never exactly been the poster boy for emotional open-ness – rather the reverse, he had always defended his privacy, physical, emotional and mental. If he was honest, he was feeling slightly irritated with Carter right now for her inquisitiveness, and very inclined to blow her off. But then he figured, 'What the hell?' Scientific curiosity was obviously getting the better of her. She was a member of his team, she deserved to have the answers she wanted. She might come up with something useful for them, maybe some way to control it, use it to their advantage. Not that the tactical advantages weren't obvious.

But with Daniel... it had simply never occurred to him to do anything but accept it. And it wasn't just a question of the apparent fringe benefits to their sex lives, although he honestly couldn't count this a downside to the whole deal, absolutely not, not after last night. The whole thing just seemed... inevitable, almost. Meant to be, and not intrusive at all.

He was brought back to himself with the realization that Carter was still looking at him clearly expecting an answer.

"This isn't a snake we're talking about here, Carter. This is Daniel. We're friends. That's the difference. He doesn't impose."

"No, I don't suppose he would."

There didn't seem to be any reply that he could make to that, so they walked along in silence for a few minutes. After a couple of days of not feeling truly alone, Jack began to find the silence irksome.

"So, you got any clue yet as to how this device might work?" God, he didn't believe he'd asked that. Judging from the light in Sam's eyes, he was about to get a lecture so thick with scientific mumbo jumbo that he might never recover.

"Well, sir, I've been doing some research about the possible quantum connection... "

With a skill born of long practice, he filtered the actual words out, listening with half an ear instead to the sound of a voice, any voice, filling up bits of the empty Daniel-shaped space in his mind. She paused for breath, and he made an encouraging noise.

"And then, of course, there's the work done by Persinger... "

This whole team-leader deal wasn't really so different from marriage, when you thought about it. Same kind of stock responses.

He managed a surreptitious glance at his watch. Five minutes to check-in.

"And when you factor in the possible effects of Chaos Theory... "

There now, he'd just known that Chaos Theory was going to rear its ugly little head. Sheesh! Mathematicians! Madmen to a man. Who the fuck really cared about the habits of butterflies? Excepting, to be fair, other butterflies, that went without saying, they would probably have a vested interest. Oh, and entomologists, of course.

"So, taken all in all, I think that Josephson might be thinking along the right lines when he..."

Okay, that was it. Check-in time – and there was the area they were heading for right in front of them, he recognized the rock formations from reading Carter's report.

"Carter?"

She prattled on for a moment or two, oblivious.

"Carter!"

"Yes sir?"

"I think we're here. It's time for a check-in anyway." He clicked on his radio. "Daniel, do you read me?"

The radio squawked and Daniel's voice was in his ear. God, that sounded good – he was only now really appreciating how much he missed his archaeologist's constant presence. Hearing him on his radio wasn't the same, but it made a fairly good substitute.

"Yes, Jack. All fine here. In fact, better than fine, I've finished the filming I needed to do already and Teal'c and I are checking out some of the other rooms. We're finding some interesting inscriptions. Some of them appear to be in a different script."

"Okay. Enjoy yourselves – knock yourselves out. Next check-in in half an hour. O'Neill out."

So far, so good. "Carter, you need a hand here?"

"Thanks sir, I have quite a few samples I want to take."

"Just tell me what you want done."

The next half hour passed really quite painlessly. Jack found, for a change, that there was something quite soothing about losing himself in routine work, and Carter was pleased with their progress.

"That's just about it, sir. I have only two more samples to take, and then we can head back again. It makes a difference having some help."

"You go get 'em, girl. It's check-in time again."

"Yes sir. Five more minutes and I'm done here." Carter stowed the latest samples in her pack as she spoke, then moved off toward yet another rock formation.

"Daniel, do you read me? Come in, Daniel."

No response.

"Daniel? Daniel? Respond please."

Still nothing. Okaay ... nothing to worry about here, O'Neill. He's probably just involved in something tricky. One more try.

Shit, still nothing! Peachy, something to worry about after all.

"Teal'c! Teal'c, buddy, do you copy? Respond please."

The radio remained obstinately silent.

"Carter!"

"Sir?"

"Get ready to move out. Daniel and Teal'c are not responding to my check-in. We gotta book, something might be wrong." 'Make that 'something probably is wrong',' he thought sourly to himself. And then regretted the thought as his imagination began to run riot.

Daniel was enjoying himself as he examined the various texts on the walls of the rooms. It seemed like a great luxury to have some time for a change - he had finished the filming in record time. For once, he had considerably overestimated the time he needed to get everything he wanted: when it came right down to it, there wasn't a lot here that he hadn't managed to record the first time. With great restraint, he refrained from starting on a working translation of the various writings. There would be lots of time for that once he got the tapes safely back to base. Right now, it was more important to have a good look round, make sure there was nothing crucial relating to the device or its purpose, or the purpose of this place as a whole, that he was missing.

So far, so routine. The whole complex was obviously deserted and had been for quite a while – there was a thick layer of dust on the floor of every room that he peered into, and blown-in sand lay piled up in all the corners opposite the open doorways. He scarcely needed Teal'c to report to him that the place was empty, that much was obvious from his observations.

None of the other rooms had any inscriptions on the walls, apart from the cover stone room and one other. Well, that certainly wasn't unusual – some, if not most, of the rooms would be bound to be utilitarian – storerooms, living quarters for the priests that had serviced the temple at one time, and so on. No great need for pomp and circumstance in such workaday areas, therefore, no inscriptions. No artifacts left though – pity. The place was as clean as a whistle, looked as though it had been swept clean, in fact, before the sand blew in to stake its claim. Maybe that was something to do with the inscription on the cover stone? Had the people that had placed the warning deliberately scoured the temple precinct as well?

The one other room with inscriptions on the wall, now that was interesting. There were traces of another, older inscription, overlaid with some later... graffiti. That was the only term for it. "Cicatrices hae malleis deae ruptiorum superimpositae sunt." The phrase was repeated all the way round the room, defacing the original inscriptions. The scars... were placed here... by the hammers... of the violators – no, the breakers - of the goddess. The hammers of the goddess-breakers put these marks here. Goddess-breakers?

Was there any trace left of the older inscription? Just the faint outlines of a couple of glyphs – here, that surely had to be Ma'at? And this one, the Halls of the Dead maybe? The Halls of something, anyway. Damn it, this was frustrating. The hammers of the goddess – breakers had obviously been wielded with more than the average amount of determination. Daniel could almost find it in his heart to hate these goddess-breakers for such wanton destruction, even while he could sympathize with their position vis-à-vis the Goa'uld as a whole.

What could this room have been? Obviously it had to have been significant in some way, it was only one of two others apart from the central area with the cover stone that contained any kind of inscriptions. It certainly wasn't going to be easy to figure out though thanks to the comprehensive damage that had been inflicted on it.

Daniel jumped as Teal'c spoke from directly behind his shoulder.

"Does any of the original script survive, Daniel Jackson?"

"Precious little, Teal'c. The graffiti overlying the original inscriptions refers to a people who call themselves the 'goddess breakers' – they seem to have done a pretty thorough job here, whoever they were."

"Indeed. Such destruction speaks of great hatred for the Goa'uld." Teal'c's voice held, to the practiced ear, more than a trace of satisfaction.

"Well," said Daniel with the ghost of a grin, "I suppose one can't fault their motives, although it makes things awkward from our point of view. Have you any idea what this particular room would be for? It had to be of some importance, the inscriptions are so extensive."

"I concur. But in the absence of any other information, I cannot say for what purpose it may have been used. I am sorry, Daniel Jackson."

"No, no Teal'c. Don't worry about it. Guess we'll just have to keep looking. Okay, there's nothing much left on the walls, and what there is, I've filmed. So let's see if the floor can tell us anything more. Give me a hand to clear a patch so that we can have a look, will you please?"

Daniel carefully wrapped and sealed the video camera against the pervasive dust and sand and laid it down in one corner of the room, then he and Teal'c hunkered down and gently started to sweep some of the accumulated dust to one side. As they gradually uncovered a patch of the original floor, Daniel began to get excited.

"Look Teal'c! See that? There's something there, I can see the outlines of a shape - and a change of color. It's only slight, but it is there."

"I can indeed see something, Daniel Jackson. It appears to be laid in to the floor."

Daniel had a sudden thought, and glanced at his watch. Yes, he had remembered to set the alarm to remind him of the next check-in. Good, he could concentrate on the matter in hand then, not waste another moment. He briefly wondered how Sam and Jack were getting on, then dived back into the task of clearing the floor, rapidly becoming completely absorbed in uncovering the pattern.

It hardly seemed to be any time at all until the sound of his alarm beeping pulled him back from the excitement of the chase. But then, as the radio's familiar crackle sounded in his ear, another familiar sound, one that he had not been remotely expecting to hear, startled him. He and Teal'c glanced up at each other. Daniel only had time to say "Well, guess we know what this room was used for now..." before the rings descended around them and whisked them off to God only knew where.

The landing was a rough one. Instead of the expected solid floor beneath their feet, the rings seemed to terminate some two or three feet above floor level. The sensation of falling at the end of their journey, the lack of solidity beneath their feet, was so unexpected that neither man had time to react, both falling heavily. Daniel's reflexes, while good, were not quite good enough to save him. He landed on his feet with a jarring thud, pitched forward and hit his head against something that was all too depressingly solid. For a moment or two he saw stars, then darkness rushed up to claim him.

O'Neill and Carter jogged the last stretch to the temple, heat and the weight of their packs notwithstanding. As they got within what Jack figured was mental hailing distance, Jack slowed down and signaled to Carter to stop. They hunkered down behind a handy patch of scrub.

"Okay, Carter, we go in slow and easy from here. No telling what we're gonna run into. But first, I'm gonna try and raise Daniel again."

"Sir, is that wise? If there are hostiles, and they hear the radio..."

Jack glanced at her with an air of exaggerated patience and a look that spoke volumes. Carter flushed as the penny dropped.

"Sorry, sir, I'd forgotten..."

"That Daniel and I have other ways of keeping in touch? Figured you had, Major."

"Do you need me to keep quiet?"

"Might help, so if you wouldn't mind?" Jack gathered his concentration and visualized pushing his thoughts out to what he felt was a reasonable distance.

'Daniel? Daniel! Can you hear me?'

No response. He tried again concentrating harder this time, trying to push that little bit further. Still nothing. Damn! He chewed at his bottom lip as worry gnawed at him.

"Sir? Any luck?"

"None, Major. He's possibly out of range."

"Or hurt maybe? Unconscious? Would that affect it?"

"Or hurt." Jack felt another flash of irritation at Carter for pointing out the obvious, which he quickly smothered. After all, she didn't know the exact nature of their relationship, so she could hardly be expected to... he gave himself a mental shake, and forced himself to do what he did best, pushing the worry down deep.

"Okay, we're going in – but carefully. We'll flank the complex. Radio silence, three clicks for an emergency – no point in tipping our hand that neither of us is alone. Meet back here in sixty to pool information if we can't meet at the temple. Stay low."

"Yes sir. Good luck."

"You too, Major. Stay frosty."

Sam grinned at that, nodded her head, dropped to her belly and slithered off to the left. Jack watched her appreciatively for a moment or two. He had to admit she was good at what she did – the soldier bit and the science stuff too, much as he hated being on the receiving end of too much of it.

'Come on, O'Neill, get moving. Places to go, people to see.' With that thought, he too dropped flat and squirmed his way to the next patch of cover.

It was a slow and tedious process, even though he was good at it, made no easier by having his nerves stretched taut and a constant thread of worry nagging at the back of his consciousness. He couldn't spare a moment to try and contact Daniel either and stay as mentally alert as he needed to be. By the time he was in sight of the temple complex he felt stretched as tight as a piano wire, and had to take a moment or two in a deliberate effort to relax enough to do his job properly. Cautiously he raised his head above the low hummock in the ground he was lying behind and scanned the area in front of him. All quiet, as far as he could see. Eerily quiet. No sign of any living thing. His gut clenched on the thought, and he had to force the feeling of panic down hard. 'C'mon, O'Neill, professional, remember?'

A slight movement, caught in the corner of his eye, attracted his attention. He scanned the area in that direction, way off to his left. Nothing. Imagination, then? He looked hard – no, there it was again. A dust devil, raised by the intermittent warm breeze that was getting up? No, Carter, it was Carter; he caught the glint of sunshine on metal, low down. He'd have to warn her about that, it detracted from an otherwise flawless stalk.

His attention turned back to the temple again as he considered his options. Wait or go in? Seemed quiet enough for now. And there was cover enough almost up to the door – maybe a twenty-yard dash completely in the open. He scanned the tumbledown walls. Plenty of cover there, enough to shelter a couple of platoons. No, he would have to wait it out for a while at least. No body of soldiers on any planet he had ever visited could keep quiet indefinitely. He, on the other hand, could. He took a quick look at his watch, surprised to find that only fifteen minutes has passed since he'd split with Carter. He could afford to wait a while then. He settled in comfortably, all his senses on alert.

Twenty minutes later, he reached his decision. The whole place was still quiet as the grave – no, bad image – was still quiet. Time to go in then. He was more than ever convinced that there was nobody else there at all – at least, nobody conscious. He had tried a couple of times during his enforced vigil to contact Daniel, still with no luck. So, now, time was of the essence. He gathered himself up and launched into a weaving run, flattening himself against a handy bit of wall once he reached the complex and slipping the safety off his P90. Looking to his left, he spotted Carter doing the same. Once she was in place, they started inching towards the still-blank doorway until they flanked it. He looked across at her and signaled his orders.

"I go high, you go low. On three. One, two, three."

They smoothly launched into their often-practiced drill, and methodically moved through the complex, checking out a room at a time. It was completely empty.

"Where the hell have they gotten to this time?"

"Well their packs are still here and undisturbed, Sir. They're piled in the altar stone room."

Jack looked down at the floor of the blank-walled room they were in. "Plenty of footprints. All criss-crossing. All different sizes, but this dry sand isn't good for holding prints. Think they might have run into some company after all?"

"I dunno sir. We could sure do with Teal'c to help out making sense of this."

"Yeah, the big guy's a better tracker than either of us." He studied the ground intently, twisting and turning his head to try and make sense of what was written there for a sufficiently skilled eye to read. "Ya know, Carter, I'm not sure, but there really doesn't seem to be enough prints here to indicate anyone other than Teal'c and Daniel. What clear prints there are, are all standard Air Force issue. I don't think there's been anybody here but us chickens."

"So what's the alternative then? Some kind of transportation device? Rings? Or something like the Asgard system on Cimmeria? Maybe even the cover stone itself?"

"It's possible. You didn't notice another back door anywhere, did you? Could they have left that way for some reason?"

Sam looked apologetic. "I wasn't really looking for one. I was concentrating on making sure we had no company. Sorry, sir."

"Don't sweat it, major, I was too. And nobody left via the back door we found the first time round. Okay, you go one way, I'll go the opposite. Quick circuit, just to check."

Five minutes later, the radio crackled in his ear. "Found one, sir. It hasn't been used – no footprints leading up to it."

"Okay, back to the altar stone room then. It's as good a place as any, and it's probably where they started."

"Roger that."

The first thing Daniel was aware of when consciousness returned was the severe pain in his head. He lay completely still, knowing from bitter experience that if he tried to move at all it would get very rapidly worse. Couldn't stop him trying to piece together what had happened to him though, as far as he could, his wits were really not behaving themselves at the moment – oh yeah, rings - obvious use for the room he and Teal'c had been in. But where in God's name had they taken them? First things first, though: better check and find out what kind of shape he was in. He shifted his limbs experimentally and took a couple of deep breaths, wincing as the pain in his head intensified, then settled down to a slow thumping ache. No sharp pains in his chest or his extremities – good sign, right? Nothing apparently broken.

He considered his stomach. Definite nausea – probably concussion then, but hopefully nothing major. Damn, he was going to have to open his eyes, find out how many of everything he was seeing. This was gonna hurt once the light hit. He took a moment or two to steel himself, then went for it. In any event, he needn't have worried. He opened his eyes to pitch-blackness. 'Oh, joy, let's hear it for mixed blessings.'

He closed his eyes for another few moments, willing the ache in his head to subside. Wasn't gonna work, not by will power alone. Tylenol then, he was sure he had some in one of his pockets. He started to fumble up and down his jacket – good thing it had been chilly inside the temple complex, neither he nor Teal'c had been tempted to shed their outer clothes, both of them were too sensitive to cold.

His concentration suddenly sharpened. Teal'c! Where was he? He had to be here somewhere; they'd both been within the rings when they'd been activated. Damn, he hated this woolly feeling in his head, quite apart from the ache. How could he have forgotten about Teal'c?

"Teal'c? Are you here too?"

"I am indeed, Daniel Jackson."

A wave of relief washed over Daniel. "Are you all right?"

"I am uninjured, apart from some minor contusions. Are you injured?"

"Um, largely not. I hit my head though, passed out for a while I think."

"You were unconscious for no more than a few minutes. Are you otherwise unhurt?"

"Yes, so far as I can tell. No broken bones, just a couple of bumps and scrapes. Oh, and an egg on my head."

"What species of egg?" The puzzlement in Teal'c's voice was plain to hear.

Daniel manfully suppressed a desire to giggle hysterically. "Uh, sorry, Teal'c. Earth expression – I've bumped my head hard enough to raise a lump on it."

"Ah, another of your Tauri colloquialisms. I shall remember it for future use. Can the phrase be applied to lumps elsewhere on the body?" Teal'c's voice was getting closer to him as he used their conversation to locate Daniel's position.

Daniel sternly admonished himself as the ridiculousness of the situation hit him full force. Lying in the pitch dark who knew where in the galaxy, totally cut off from aid of any type so far as he was aware, discussing eggs with a Jaffa, for crying out loud! The sudden Jackism brought him up short – Jack and Sam would be worried sick about them since they missed the check-in.

"Daniel Jackson! Are you still conscious?"

"Yes, sorry Teal'c. I was just... distracted there for a moment. No, the phrase can only be used to describe lumps on the head."

Teal'c reached his side as he finished speaking, and started to check him out gently and methodically, feeling his head to assess the damage. Daniel winced as his large hands found a tender area.

"You are bleeding, Daniel Jackson. There is a not inconsiderable wound in your scalp. However, it does not appear to be deep. And, indeed, an egg on your forehead. However, I think that you have, as the Tauri say, gotten off lightly."

"Yeah, I think we've both been lucky – if you can call anything about our current situation lucky, that is. Help me up, would you? I need to find some Tylenol, my head is splitting... uh, I have a headache. Then we need to contact Jack and Sam, let them know what's happened. Have we any light?"

"We do." A flashlight snapped on, Teal'c considerately keeping the beam aimed at the floor until Daniel's eyes and headache adjusted to it, allowing him time to fish out the Tylenol and dry swallow two of them and to fold up a handkerchief – a clean one, mercifully – to apply to the long shallow gash just above his hairline. He finally found out that he was seeing only one of everything – better and better, only a mild concussion then, and the nausea was already passing.

"Thanks, Teal'c, it shouldn't be long until they kick in. Now, how about the radio?"

"Mine is broken, Daniel Jackson."

"Okay." He thumbed the switch on his. "Jack, can you hear me? Respond please. This is Daniel Jackson calling Jack O'Neill, come in please? Damn! Looks like this one isn't working either."

Daniel closed his eyes again, and tried to concentrate. It was no use, while his head was so sore, he just couldn't even begin to get a message out telepathically. "Just great," he muttered, as much to himself as Teal'c. "Just when it would be really useful to be able to contact Jack, my head hurts too much to manage it."

"Maybe once the pain passes, you will have more success. In the interval, we can investigate our surroundings."

Teal'c flashed the light round the space they were in. It was another room similar to the one from whence the rings had snatched them. Daniel saw at once that they had been truly lucky in their landing, even though it had not seemed so at the time: they had dropped onto virtually the only large clear space on the floor which was otherwise littered with rubble, the remains of the low dais which would have been the termination point for the rings. He winced again as he imagined what might have happened if they had landed a couple of feet further over. As Teal'c flashed the light around the walls, it became evident that there were inscriptions here too, also partially obliterated, but this time they were marked with the scars of staff weapon fire.

"There has been a great battle here," Teal'c's deep voice rumbled out of the darkness to his side.

"Maybe some sort of rearguard action against these goddess-breakers? That would make sense, if they attacked via the rings once they had found them. Any sign of the controls for this end of the system?"

Teal'c's light paused in its sweep round the room. "There."

"Good." Daniel looked along the beam and saw that the otherwise unscarred section of wall was blasted into fragments where the light was concentrated. "Oh. Not so good."

"The controls have been destroyed."

Daniel thought for another moment or two, and said, "Well that's encouraging – if the defenders of this place tried to destroy the ring system, then it can't be the only way out. All we have to do is find the alternative route."

"The controls may have been destroyed in error in the heat of battle."

Daniel sighed. "That's true. But until we find otherwise, I'm going to pin my hopes on an alternative exit, it makes no sense not to have one. Have you ever known a Goa'uld to put all its eggs in one basket?" 'Damn it, what is it with the egg motif – brains must be scrambled... fried... Pull yourself together, Jackson! ' "Oh, and hope that this place is as deserted as the rest of the planet, of course. I'm not sure that my diplomatic skills are up to dealing with a nest of Jaffa right now – no offence, Teal'c."

Daniel heard a smile in Teal'c's voice. "None taken, Daniel Jackson. We would indeed have little defense against large numbers. Do you carry a weapon?"

Daniel patted down his leg. "Yeah, I've still got my Beretta. And some spare ammo. I never thought I'd say this, and please don't tell Jack that I did, but that's a comfort. I'd rather have a working radio though."

"How does your head feel now? Have you recovered sufficiently to move from this place?"

"Oh, I think so. This room's charms are fairly limited, wouldn't you say? Let's go see if we can't find the back door."

They moved cautiously to the doorway and listened hard before they risked a flash of light in both directions down the corridor. Teal'c spotted a carving on the wall a little further down, and gave a soft grunt of satisfaction. "There, Daniel Jackson, a designation to tell us where in this complex we are."

They went towards it, Daniel sniffing the air as they went. "You know, Teal'c, I don't think there's anyone here either. The air has that smell about it – I've smelt it before in recently opened tombs. It hasn't been seriously disturbed for a long time."

"I thought so too, Daniel Jackson. Aah – we are on the sixth level, fourth circle."

"Meaning... what exactly?"

"That we are in the fourth circle of this complex at the sixth level."

Daniel rolled his eyes – Teal'c's literal mindedness could sometimes really be a drawback. "So, if we go down six floors, we should be at ground level?"

"Or maybe less. Sometimes these structures are constructed both above and below ground. There should however be some indication of ground level when we reach it."

"Okay, so how do we get down? Stairs? Elevator? What? And where?"

Teal'c was looking around, eyes following the beam of the flashlight, as Daniel spoke. "There, Daniel Jackson." He pointed to a patch of wall that to Daniel's eye looked identical to its surroundings, walked over to it and pressed one of the carvings. His eyebrow rose as nothing happened.

"I do not understand. This should make it open." He pressed it again, more firmly this time. There was a hideous, grinding squeal and a portion of the wall slid aside for a little distance, then grated to a halt. Teal'c put his shoulder to the gap, gave a hefty shove and the door, protesting all the time, opened to its fullest.

Daniel poked his head inside the compartment. "And this is...?"

"The elevator."

"I was afraid you were going to say that. I really think I would prefer to take the stairs, Teal'c, this thing doesn't sound capable of taking anyone anywhere."

"I do not believe there will be any stairs, Daniel Jackson. The Goa'uld place great faith in technology."

"I was afraid you were going to say that, too." Daniel sighed resignedly. "Okay. 'Whither thou goest, I go. Excelsior!'" Seeing Teal'c's head cocked quizzically to one side, he hurriedly added, "That was a quotation, Teal'c. Meaning, c'mon, let's get this over with. Not that I'm in a particular hurry to meet my maker." The last part was muttered under his breath as they went inside and Teal'c looked around for the controls. Of which there were none.

After five minutes of fruitless searching, neither man willing to believe the evidence of their own eyes, Daniel scrubbed his hands through his hair, carefully avoiding the cut above his hairline.

"Great, just great! No stairs, and now no elevator either. So now what?"

"There must be some method of controlling this elevator. Because we have not found them, it does not mean that the controls do not exist. We must keep looking."

"Well, I hope you're right, otherwise we're never going to get down...whoa!"

"Well, that's one problem solved..."

The elevator clanked into noisy life, grinding and moaning as it unwillingly inched its way downwards, stopping frequently in its jerky progress, making Daniel's palms more than a little sweaty. The whole experience was made that much more nerve wracking by having to be endured in the dark in order to conserve the flashlight batteries. He let out a small sigh of relief when the compartment finally jerked to a stop and the doors inched open, again squealing a protest. Then another thought hit him and he pulled out his gun. The noise that this damned elevator was making would have any living thing within a radius of miles coming to investigate.

The elevator doors had stopped after opening only a few inches, and no amount of heaving by Teal'c would open them any further. There was no way he could get through the gap; it would even be a squeeze for the less bulky man.

"Right, Teal'c, wait here while I check where we are. Don't waste any more energy on the doors. We'll worry about how to get them open for you if we have to, okay?"

So saying, Daniel hunkered down as low as he could, mindful of O'Neill's advice on the wisdom of staying low if there was the possibility of being shot at, and insinuated himself through the gap. Nothing there, no noise, nothing at all. He risked a quick light, holding the flashlight well away from his body so that no one could shoot along the beam and hit anything vital. Nothing in either direction and no weapons fire. Deserted then. He stood up, turned the flashlight full on and looked round the walls. Yes, there it was – damn! Seventh level! Wrong direction. Something else caught his eye as he surveyed the inscription. It looked like... yes, it was cuneiform. Very faint, he doubted if he would have seen it if the restricted light from the flashlight hadn't thrown it into relief. He quickly translated it, trying not to get too hopeful that it might be something to help them out of their current predicament. No, all it was was confirmation of the floor designation. Damn again.

He slithered back round the elevator door again, killing the light as he did so. "Teal'c, we're on the seventh level, we must be underground right now. We need to go back up."

It was a tedious process, inching up floor by floor – the elevator seemed, if anything, more reluctant to move up than down, if its shrieking protests were anything to go by; the noise seemed to get harder to bear as it continued, not easier. At every level, the doors were recalcitrant, sometimes opening enough under Teal'c's persuasion to allow him to check where they were, other times only opening enough for Daniel to squeeze through. Not once had they seen any indication that they had reached ground level. Now they were stuck: the elevator would go no higher. They were both standing at the floor designation marker, unwilling to believe that there was no sign that their search was over.

"Teal'c, are you sure there should be some indication of ground level on one of these floor markers? Is that standard practice in all Goa'uld installations?"

"It is generally the case, especially in a complex this large. I can think of no reason why this should be omitted in a standard installation."

"So maybe then this isn't a standard Goa'uld installation? Why would that be, I wonder?"

"I do not know, Daniel Jackson. Possibly innovation for the sake of innovation. The false gods are lovers of novelties which they can warp to fit their own devices."

"Or, possibly... not innovation at all." Daniel smacked his forehead – then smiled briefly as he realized his headache had gone – then frowned again as he realized what he had been missing. "Teal'c, I think I know where we are. Well, not exactly where we are, but where we are. It's a ziggurat, it has to be. Damn, the clues were all there, I can't believe I missed them. Cuneiform inscriptions, the way this lift terminates here – I can't believe I didn't put it all together until now!"

He rapidly drew a small sketch in the dust at their feet.

"Look, the standard form of a ziggurat was like a stepped pyramid, only with fewer steps. For example, the complex at Ur-Nammu had three progressively smaller tiers with a temple on the top. The lowest tier usually provided access both to ground level and to the temple, by means of ramps, although sometimes access to the ziggurat was by means of a spiral ramp that went from top to bottom of the structure. If the elevator won't go any further, it has to mean that we've reached the top of one of the tiers. The translation of the floor designation should have been 'circuit', not 'circle' – or maybe 'circle' is correct, not all ziggurats were square structures, some of them were oval. All we have to do is follow this corridor – either direction, it makes no difference, there must be more than one connecting corridor between the circuits. When we find one heading towards the center, we follow it until we find the first circuit and follow that until we find another elevator. If the structure follows the most usual pattern, that should take us up to the topmost level. We should be able to find the exit from there."

Teal'c considered what Daniel was saying. It seemed logical and reasonable, although the evidence seemed scanty. But Daniel Jackson was famed within the SGC for making intuitive leaps of this kind. They had no alternative plan; Daniel Jackson seemed certain of his facts and was well within his area of expertise. They had already followed Teal'c's lead and had not found an exit. They had to get out of here. He made his decision.

"Lead and I will follow."

"While we're on our way, now that my head has stopped aching, I'm going to try and contact Jack again."

Daniel looked at his watch. "We've just missed the third check-in time, Jack and Sam will probably be back at the temple complex by now. I'd better try and stop them following us through the rings if I can get in touch, they might not be as lucky as we were."

The altar stone room didn't turn up any clues. Apart from the packs lying in one corner and the footprints on the floor, there was nothing to indicate that Teal'c and Daniel had ever been there, let alone that they had disappeared from there.

"Okay, Carter, this is a bust. Maybe the cover stone had nothing to do with this after all. That leaves some other form of transportation system. Ideas? Suggestions?"

"Well, rings is the obvious one sir, we're dealing with a Goa'uld here, after all."

"Agreed. So where do we start looking, I wonder?"

"What exactly did Daniel say in his last check-in?"

"Something about having a look around the rest of the complex..."

"And about finding some interesting inscriptions."

"Okay, so we look for other rooms with inscriptions on the walls. And keep our fingers crossed that there aren't too many of them. Same drill as last time, Carter, you go one way, I'll go the other."

"Yes sir."

They moved out quite normally this time, confident that there was no one else in the complex. Jack looked at his watch. Coming up on the third check-in time. Maybe this time... 'Yeah, go on O'Neill, kid yourself why doncha? Why would Daniel wait for a check-in time before he got in touch? He knows how worried you're bound to be. God, what if he's hurt somewhere... and where the hell could he be? He could be anywhere in the freakin' galaxy, for crying out loud, we might never find him this time... we might never find either of them.'

His radio crackled, making him jump.

"Colonel? I've found something, sir."

"Where are you, Carter?"

"Fourth room on the left in the corridor I took, sir."

"On my way." As he jogged back along the way he had just come. Jack asked, "What exactly have you found?"

"Daniel's video camera, sir. It's lying in one corner of a room with more defaced inscriptions on the walls, but it's been wrapped and sealed against the sand and dust, not just dropped. Looks like whatever happened, Daniel had finished his recording before he disappeared."

O'Neill skidded into the doorway just as Carter finished talking.

"Damn! So no clues on video as to what happened then."

"Sorry sir, doesn't look like it since Daniel had time to wrap it. I'll review the recording just in case, though."

Jack was studying the floor intently again. "See, here, they had started to clear a patch of the floor before they were taken, you can see a pattern starting to take shape. And there are a lot of footprints, but only one type, as far as I can see, all standard issue. Looks to me like a transportation device is inching ahead in the abduction stakes."

Sam was scanning the walls of the room as he spoke. "But if we're talking about a transportation device, where are the controls? Any device we've ever encountered before, the controls have always been quite obvious – on the wall, on a separate plinth, something."

"So maybe this particular Goa'uld is a more devious bastard than we're used to, if that's possible. Maybe the controls are hidden amongst all this other shit on the walls. Take a good look around; see if you can spot anything that might qualify."

They both moved apart from the partially exposed pattern on the floor and started to study the walls intently. As they moved around the perimeter of the room, Sam turned on the camera and pressed rewind. The low battery indicator on the camera sounded, startling them both. Jack jumped, cursed, and looked across to Sam to tell her to switch the camera off, then jumped some more as two different things happened more or less at the same time. The ring system suddenly activated, and at the back of his mind he heard a faint 'Jack? Can you hear me?'

"Whoa!" Carter was looking at him, big eyed, from her position on the other side of the room. "Guess that answers a lot of questions. What set them off?"

"The camera, I think. Geeze, sound activated rings for a change. Remind me to check the damn batteries more often next time we're offworld, will ya?"

"You got it, sir!" Sam's reply was fervent. "Goes double for me!"

Jack hardly heard her as a wave of relief washed through him. 'Daniel? Daniel love? Thank God! You okay? Where are you?' The voice in his head sounded muffled, distorted, as if it were coming from the bottom of a well.

'Jack! Can you hear me?'

Damn! He obviously hadn't got through the last time. He gathered all his concentration, and thought as hard and as far as he could.

'Daniel! That you? You okay? Where are you? Teal'c with you? Is he okay?'

This time, he got a reply. 'Yes, fine, don't know, yes, and yes.' Together with a definite sense of "Duh!" accompanying the first 'yes', and in no small measure, relief. Oh yeah, that was Daniel all right.

'We've just found the rings. Hold on, we're going to follow you through.'

'Uhh, wouldn't recommend that, Jack. The landing's a bitch. And we're not at the termination point any more. We're trying to find a way out.'

'You sure you're not hurt?'

'We got lucky, just a couple of bumps and bruises. You and Sam might not get off so lightly. And where are we? I have no clue – inside a ziggurat somewhere. At least, I think it's a ziggurat, that's a theory Teal'c and I still have to test out.'

'Can't be too far away, though, I can still 'hear' you.'

'No, I think we have to be on-planet somewhere, and you're right, we're probably not too far away from you, unless the link has grown out of all recognition.'

"Sir? Sir, are you okay?" Carter's worried query brought Jack back to himself with a jolt.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Carter. More than fine – I'm in contact with Daniel again."

"Oh, thank God. Is he okay? Was it the rings? Where is he? Is Teal'c with him? Is he okay?"

"Yes to four of those, Carter. Don't know where he is though – yet. We're working on that bit."

Sam subsided into silence, her fingers drumming on the stock of her P90 an indicator of her impatience.

'Any sign of trouble?'

'As in company? No, this place is deserted. We can't use the rings to get back, the controls have been destroyed. Teal'c and I are trying to find another way out. No luck yet, but we've only just figured out where we need to go. Where exactly are you?'

'In the ring room. Damn things went off when the video battery indicator did.'

'Yeah? It was the alarm on my watch that got us.'

Carter was all but jumping up and down in her impatience to attract his attention.

'Back in a sec, Daniel, Carter's getting antsy here.'

"Carter, will you settle down? Daniel's fine, Teal'c's fine, we're just gonna try to figure out how to get back together again."

"That's what I was going to suggest, sir. Could you possibly do a triangulation on the signal Daniel's sending to you? I mean, do you know roughly what direction he's in from here? Or is the whole thing less specific than that?"

Now there was an idea that hadn't occurred to him. He stopped and thought for a minute, eyes closed, then turned in a circle. Yes, he could feel Daniel's general direction much as he could tell when he was pointing directly at the sun when his eyes were shut. He slowly swung from side to side, feeling the contact get stronger, then weaker, until he could decide from which direction he was feeling it strongest. He opened his eyes again.

"That way. He's somewhere in that direction."

"Great! How about we go outside and see if we can't pinpoint where they might be? If you walk along a measured course, find his direction and then walk an equal amount at one hundred and eighty degrees from the first point and try again, where the two lines cross should be their position. Then all we have to do is walk there. Even if they're on the move as well, if we do that at regular intervals, we should be able to keep track of them."

Jack was kicking himself for not thinking of it first. He would have gotten there eventually, probably – but he had to admit, she was quick.

"Good thinking, Major." Credit where credit was due. "I'll relay that to Daniel."

'Actually, I heard. Or at least, I heard you thinking about what Sam said. You seem to be coming through a lot stronger now. And you can't think of everything first, that wouldn't be fair. Sounds like a plan to me, let's try it. If nothing else, we'll manage to pinpoint this complex for future investigation. Teal'c and I will keep going here until you're in position. Let me know and we'll stop moving, give you a chance to get a fix on us.'

'Okay. We're moving outside now.' "Carter, let's move out."

Once outside again, Jack cast around for a moment or two to get his bearings on Daniel, closing his eyes the better to concentrate on getting his line right. There it was again, that feeling akin to the warmth of the sun on his face, now stronger, now weaker. He opened his eyes and pointed confidently to the low hills behind the temple complex.

"They're over there somewhere. According to Daniel, they're in pitch darkness. My feeling is that wherever they are, they're either underground or in some area built into those hills."

"That seems logical. But let's do the triangulation just to be sure."

'Daniel.'

He was there instantly, although still muffled and faint.

'You ready for us to stop?'

'Yes.'

'Give me a minute to tell Teal'c. Okay, go for it.'

Carter moved to take Jack's original position as he trotted off at right angles to the direction in which he had been facing. When he was about one hundred yards away from her, he stopped and took a bearing. There, got it. He quickly piled up a couple of handy rocks to mark his position and placed another two in front of them to mark the direction he'd first been facing in, then jogged two hundred yards in the opposite direction and repeated the procedure.

"Carter, do you copy? I've got a fix from this corner." He looked across to see that Sam was already on the move, heading for the first triangulation point, feeling a flush of satisfaction that they worked together so well. "When you get there, I had to turn through about forty-five degrees to feel Daniel strongest."

He watched as she got into position.

"Ready, sir."

"Good work. I'll set the pace. By the left – left, right, left." 'On our way, Daniel.'

'Check.'

They gradually converged on each other, Jack counting out the pace the whole time, concentrating on maintaining a straight course, feeling the pull of his link with Daniel growing stronger with every step he took.

He and Carter were about forty yards apart when Jack suddenly lost the certainty of Daniel's position.

"Carter, halt. I've lost him."

'No you haven't. I think you've passed us. You feel like you're ahead of me, just by a little.'

'Keeping tabs on me, Danny boy?'

'Always, lover. Go a bit further forward; I'll see if I'm right. Yep, I'm right. You're heading off at an angle to us though. You must just have crossed our position.'

Jack backtracked a little, adjusted his heading and moved forward some more.

'That's more like it. You are slightly ahead of us, but now we're all heading in pretty well the same direction.'

'You're heading roughly parallel to the hills behind the temple.'

"Colonel? Sir?" Carter's worried voice sounded tinnily in his ear. "What's happening?"

"'S' okay Carter. Get yourself over here. We've found them. I seem to be right on top of them."

'Okay, Daniel, move out. We'll follow up here until we figure out where you're headed. This zigzag thing, how does that work?'

'That's 'ziggurat', Jack. Look, I'll show you: this is a reconstruction of the ziggurat at Ur-Nammu, and this one's at Uruk.'

'Geeze, you manage to get slides into every damn thing, don'tcha? Okay, I get the picture.'

A snort of laughter greeted this remark. 'I should hope so too, all the practice we've had at this. And just remember, it wasn't me that started the private showings. We're looking for a connecting corridor to take us into the center, trying to find our way to the topmost level. After that, it should be plain sailing to find some way out.'

'So we should be looking for anything at roughly ground level that might indicate where the outside ramp ends? Wait up though, the pictures show that you might be able to get out before going to the very top.'

'Yeah, but that wasn't always the case... and I heard that groan. We're certain to get out from the top, one way or another, and it's a smaller area to search. The entrance could be anything up to about one third of the way up the hillside, I should think.'

'One way or another? We might have to dig you out?'

'Hopefully not – we've got no food and not much water.'

"Oh, this day just gets better and better."

"Sir?"

"Nothing, Carter. Keep your eyes peeled for anything that looks like it might be a way into those hills, 'cause that's where we think they are, inside a structure that looks a bit like a wedding cake – a zigzag thingy, something like that. It's kinda..."

"It's okay, sir, I know roughly what a ziggurat looks like."

Jack grimaced. "Sure ya do. Why wouldn't ya? Daniel thinks the entrance should be somewhere in the lower third of the hills' elevation."

'Jack, we've found an interconnecting corridor and we're going down it. We're turning at right angles to our previous heading.'

'Gotcha. You're heading for them thar hills now. We're staying with you.'

'What happens when we hit them? You can't stay with us over the surface if we're going to have to go deeper into the heart of the hill itself.'

'We'll solve that problem when we get to it. I'm working on it, you work on it too. In the meantime, maybe Carter and I'll get lucky and find the way in from here.'

The corridor was long, and as obviously deserted as all of the rest of the complex had been so far. As Daniel and Teal'c plodded along, their feet stirred a fine veil of dust which danced in the beam of the flashlight and caught in their throats, making Daniel cough even through the bandanna he had tied round the bottom half of his face and making both men disinclined to talk out loud. Had it not been for the periodic commentary in his mind, Daniel would have found the silence oppressive. But even this was gradually fading as the two made their way into the heart of the structure.

'Daniel? You still with me?'

'Just barely, Jack. Still no sign here of the corridor we're looking for – this place is big. Any sign of the entrance yet?'

'We're investigating a possibility here. We've found a large rock slide that looks comparatively recent at roughly the right level on the hillside. Carter's looking at it now, and doesn't seem to think there's any geological reason for it. I'm wondering if part of the hillside has been collapsed over the entrance.'

Daniel winced. 'So even if we find a way out, we're stuck as soon as we hit the exit?'

'Maybe not. I'm thinking we might be able to blast a way through with C4, a couple of controlled explosions might just clear the rubble out of the way.'

'Or might just seal us up here for good. That would puzzle any future archaeologist that found this place.'

The voice that came back to him sounded pained. 'Daniel, one thing that I do know about is explosions – Special Ops, remember? Specialized training? Years of experience? That kinda stuff? Not to mention threat assessment?'

'Bangs and flashes a specialty, huh?'

'You better believe it, and in all the ways that count. In fact, I've got plans in that direction once we get home...'

Daniel snorted, but his lips twitched in a grin. It was novel, being regarded as sex on legs at his age... 'Do you ever think about anything else?'

'Not in connection with you and home, no. Got a problem with that?'

'Not in the ordinary way of things. So what's the verdict? Are you going to try the C4?'

'I think, probably yeah. It seems to be an acceptable risk, if it's done right. I'm pretty sure you and Teal'c are far enough away from us to be safe. Okay, here's what we do. I'm gonna try this. You and Teal'c keep going, try to get to the top. If we can find a way through, we'll head for the top as well. Hopefully once we're all inside we'll be able to reach each other again and guide each other. That sound like a plan?'

'Well, it's the only one we've got, so – go for it. Take care.'

'You too.'

"Okay, Teal'c, we're moving out again."

"What did O'Neill say to you?"

Daniel outlined the plan to him and the big man inclined his head. "It sounds like an acceptable risk. O'Neill is skilled in the use of explosives."

"That's funny, that's what he said."

"O'Neill is a formidable tactician. He does not take reckless chances."

"Yeah. He more or less said that, too."

Ten minutes later, they finally found the connecting corridor they were looking for, heading off along it to locate another elevator. Events suddenly took a turn for the better as they stumbled across one in short order, and a turn for the better still when the elevator doors opened to their fullest without too much of a protest.

"Well, Teal'c, it looks like our luck is changing at last. This elevator seems to be in better order than the last one. Shall we..?"

This elevator did seem to run a lot smoother than the last one, a fact that Daniel filed away in his mind under 'interesting'. It still wasn't a totally comfortable experience however; there were a couple of stops and starts. When they were about three quarters of the way up, they heard four muffled thumps. Daniel looked at Teal'c, who said one word: "O'Neill."

"I guess so. Wonder if it worked? Suppose there's only one way to find out, and we aren't going to do that until we get out of here and Jack and Sam get closer to us."

When the elevator finally came to a halt, Teal'c was able to open the doors with comparative ease and they both cautiously looked out. They were in a huge space, so large that the beam from the flashlight petered out into the emptiness, illuminating nothing other than a bright slash through the darkness.

"Well, if I'm right, we should be in some kind of temple at the very top of the ziggurat. No way of telling though, with only this flashlight. Why in hell do we never get light when we need it? There's obviously a viable power source of some kind here, or the elevators wouldn't be working. So why no light? Did the last one to leave the building switch them all off?"

Teal'c shone the flashlight onto the walls around the elevator door, stopped to consider a moment, and then said, "It is possible that they did exactly that, Daniel Jackson. However, I see no device for switching them back on again." He paused to consider a moment or two, then said, "Light!"

At the command the area was bathed in a soft illumination, and Daniel chuckled as he turned to see what was now revealed. "Good thinking, Teal'c! Most other things seem to be sound activated round here. Now let's see where we've ended up and see if we can't... wow!"

The space was vast and imposing, filled with ranks of columns, the tops of which were decorated with stylized ostrich feathers. The columns themselves were covered with huge decorated tiles, the grout between them glinting in the soft light, the colors bright, fresh, and startling in their intensity, blue and gold and royal purple shockingly vibrant against a pale cream background.

Daniel swung this way and that, trying to see everything at once. This place was incredible – the most purely Egyptian place he had been in since Abydos. It was like stepping into a computer generated reconstruction of an ancient temple, and for a moment he was overawed at the fact that this place was real, exactly as its makers had left it and almost as if they had left only yesterday.

'Jack has just got to see this.'

'See what?'

'You're back!'

'Yeah, large as life and twice as handsome. We're in – it was a bit of a squeeze, but the entrance seems stable enough under all the rubble. Not gonna chance making the hole any bigger unless we absolutely have to though. No sense in pushing our luck any further than necessary. So, see what, exactly?'

'Where are you?'

'Climbing the mother of all staircases in the pitch dark apart from Carter's flashlight – this sucker looks like it's going to go on forever. See what?'

'Sounds like you're on the right track. You might like to try saying 'light', either right now or when you get to a landing, the lights up here are sound activated.'

'Up where? And see what?'

'Look!'

Daniel looked around himself, concentrating on sending what he was seeing to Jack.

'Isn't it just the most incredible thing you've ever seen?'

'I can see why you'd think so. Personally, I'd prefer a rack of zats or staff weapons, so each to his own. But yeah, it's pretty amazing. I suppose you want to film it?'

'No camera.'

'Carter's got it in her pack, if you've got the spare batteries. Now I'm shutting up; I need all my energy for these damn stairs.'

Jack's knees were giving him hell and his legs felt rubbery when he and Carter finally neared the top of the staircase, although a mixture of pride and determination to get the missing part of his team back under his wing would not allow him to admit it. The fact that the lights had indeed been activated by his voice did not improve the situation any: being able to see just how far the staircase extended had only worsened the whole experience, in his opinion. Christ, all that technology to hand, just begging to be used, and those stubborn motherfuckers had to do things the hard way, just for effect!

His temper was not improved any by his first sight of Daniel, who looked, frankly, ghastly, his face covered with large smears of blood from the gash on his scalp, mixed with copious amounts of dust and grime garnered from his and Tealc's progress through the ziggurat.

All in all, it took some moments of anxious fussing and quite a bit of irritable reassurance, audible and otherwise, from Daniel to ensure that everything was as okay as possible considering the circumstances. After all this frantic activity, Jack was glad enough to take a breather while Daniel filmed the inscriptions on the pillars, and in no hurry, now that his team was reunited, to rain on Daniel's parade. A blissed-out Daniel was something he could live with in the face of no immediate danger and the waves of pleasure he was picking up from his partner were oil on the troubled waters of his temper.

Jack shucked his pack at long last and eased himself down beside Sam, who had done likewise and was sitting with her back propped against one of the pillars, legs stuck straight out in front of her.

"Some climb, huh? You okay, Carter?"

"Sure was, sir. Yeah, I'll be fine when my legs decide they belong to me again. This is some place, isn't it? I can see why Daniel was so enthusiastic. Although I really can't say that I'll be sorry to leave it and head home."

"Me neither. At least we don't have to climb the damn stairs this time. That's gotta be an improvement, no matter what else happens. God knows how many of them there were."

"Seven hundred, sir."

Jack turned and looked at her. "Carter? You counted?"

Sam's face was the picture of innocence. "Of course. Didn't you? I wanted to calculate how high we'd climbed."

Jack was shaking his head in amazement. "Geeze, I can't believe you counted them... sheesh!" Scientists!

Sam looked at him sidelong and ducked her head so he wouldn't see her grin. That should help take his mind off his knees.

After a decent interval, Jack stood up and strolled over to Daniel's side. He'd worked his way around nearly all of the walls, and he and Teal'c had investigated another room whose entrance they had found at the far end of the room.

"Daniel? You 'bout done here? I don't want to rush you, but we're due to return in an hour, and we're probably going to need all that time to get to the gate."

"Not just 'about done', Jack – finished. I've got all the inscriptions taped, all that we really need for now, anyway. If there's anything there about what's happened to us, it's only a matter of time before we find it."

"Okay then. Teal'c, Carter, we're outta here. We'll head back to the ruins to pick up the two packs and then to the gate. Stay frosty; let's not get careless just because we're on the home stretch."

They fell into their usual formation, Jack in front with Daniel close behind, Carter next and Teal'c bringing up the rear. Daniel took one last, lingering look around him as they moved towards the stairs. As Teal'c left the room, the lights dimmed and went out.

The stairway took most of their concentration and there wasn't much talking on the way down. Some of the steps were cracked and worn, and nobody was very keen to lose their footing and tumble down. The only occasional comments came from Jack, and were along the lines of "Watch this one... here's another one that's not too safe...". However, they managed to get to the bottom without incident, almost as if the planet had flung everything it could at them and was now tired of the fight. The only awkward moments came when they got to the pile of rubble that Jack had blasted through to get into the ziggurat. It was a tight squeeze for him, less so for Daniel and Sam, but it was obvious that Teal'c was going to be struggling to get through. They had to spend half an hour patiently widening the hole rock by rock and suffered a few anxious moments frozen into immobility and listening to the soft pattering of falling earth and small stones before they all managed to reach the outside with nothing worse than scratches and broken nails.

From there to the gate was plain sailing. Daniel dialed the address, Sam sent the GDO signal, and they arrived, tired, filthy and bedraggled, in the gate room.

On to part three

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