Future History
 
 
by
Travelling One
 
Email: travelling_one@yahoo.ca
Web: http://www.travellingone.com
Summary: Just Daniel and Jack, on Earth, lured by a strange inscription to the site of an ancient mystery.
Season: 7
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended. Any original characters, situations, and storylines are the property of the author. Archive only with permission please.
Notes: My apologies to anyone in Italy; I've taken liberties with your waters and ancient sites ;). Thanks for the zat, S.S.
May/04
 
 
 
 
"What's the significance of this, Doctor Jackson?" Hammond studied the magazine photo from yet another angle.
 
"They're saying it's an artesian well, sir."
 
The circular formation discovered below the waters west of Ischia off the Gulf of Napoli seemed of little interest to the Air Force general.
 
"Of what importance is it to us, Doctor?"
 
"Sir," Daniel was hovering over him in frustration. "Look at it closely."
 
"Doctor Jackson …"
 
"He did that to me too, General," O'Neill cut in. "He thinks it's a stargate."
 
Hammond's head jerked up; after staring at O'Neill for a quick moment, he looked once more upon the photo. A rock structure lay flat, adjacent to a wall of stone whose dates archaeologists had been debating heatedly. The circular structure offered them proof that at least this section of rock had been intentionally constructed at some point in the distant past, its demise being attributed to the partial submersion of a former harbour in that area of the Mediterranean and, more specifically, blamed on volcanic activity. Although lying face down with no markings on its backside and indeed looking remarkably like a well, Hammond realized that Daniel's conclusion could be valid. This might, quite legitimately, be a stargate.
 
"A third stargate on Earth?"
 
"Possibly not buried until more recent times, the Middle Ages perhaps. Artesian wells weren't constructed until the twelfth century, so the archaeologists must be judging it by the structures submerged nearby." Daniel was not quite pacing the room but coming close. "Which would explain why several of the alien cultures we've met have ties to some of Earth's more recent influences."
 
"And why they speak English?" Jack grinned mischievously.
 
"Well… yes." Daniel eyed Jack suspiciously. "Although English as we know it wasn't spoken until the fifteenth century, and even that would be difficult for you … us to understand today." Daniel turned his head away before he could field Jack's good-natured scowl. "The Goa'uld might even have been the ones who brought it to Earth. Otherwise, Latin must have developed along similar lines elsewhere and been transmitted by the Goa'uld to various planets."
 
"Are you trying to tell me there were Goa'uld here on Earth more recently than two thousand years ago?" Hammond studied his men's expressions, having obtained more information this way than from their words, so far.
 
"Possibly," Daniel admitted.
 
"Well, I don't believe there's much we can do, Doctor Jackson. Halting the excavations or sending the military in to dig this up would only raise public attention."
 
"Yes sir, I know. The researchers would never remove such a large manmade structure from underwater anyway, especially if they think it's a filled-in well."
 
"Won't they realize it's metal, and not rock?" Jack quirked up his eyebrows.
 
"Right now, it's caked in debris and sediment. It looks like rock. And the way it's fallen, its symbols are buried beneath it. At the moment, archeologists are more interested in studying the harbour itself. Sir, the last known eruption on Ischia occured in1302, and since this gate isn't covered in volcanic materials, that leads me to believe that it was buried even more recently than that."
 
"Alright. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Doctor Jackson. Dismissed."
 
When neither SG1 member made a motion to move, the general stood uneasily.
 
"Uh, there's more, sir."
 
"Doctor?"
 
Jack sat looking smug, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed. This would be good.
 
"Archaeologists have been slowly opening and deciphering the writings of papyri scrolls found in nearby Pompeii," Daniel flipped to another page, shoving it gently towards the general and pointing to the lower photos. "There are ongoing excavations over there, and they're now convinced that Pompeii was built on the foundations of an earlier city. They've been taking their time with these scrolls; you can understand how fragile they are."
 
"Continue, Doctor." Hammond sat down again, and sighed. Was this how Colonel O'Neill felt every time Dr. Jackson began to speak?
 
Daniel pointed to a photo of one of the scrolls. "The linguists believe this last line is a personal blessing or just a design. They can't decipher it, but I can. It's written in Goa'uld."
 
Hammond's face tightened. "What does it say?"
 
"Basically, 'the doorway opens at Antatticus's grave'."
 
Hammond looked into the eager blue eyes of his best archaeologist. "I don't understand."
 
"Neither do we, sir," Jack interrupted. "But Daniel thinks there's something left by a Goa'uld and that we'd better find it before anyone else does."
 
"Such as?"
 
"Oh, a ribbon device, a symbiote collection, an occupied sarcophagus."
 
"Or the doorway itself might refer to a stargate," Daniel cut in. "I know where the tombs are, sir."
 
The general gazed from one to the other of his men. "You think this is somehow connected to the submerged stargate, Doctor Jackson? That there's a Goa'uld buried in Italy who was using that third gate? Pompeii was destroyed just after the Egyptians buried the first gate, Doctor. And if there is a city older than that one, this Goa'uld was likely using that Egyptian stargate along with everyone else."
 
"Well someone was using the third gate, sir. If it was buried with the Egyptian one, how could it be on a stretch of land that was supposedly above water until a few hundred years ago? I'm beginning to think that there was definitely some Goa'uld activity in Europe and it's close to being uncovered. This scroll may lead us to whomever, or whatever, was using that additional gate, General."
 
"I'll authorize you to go check it out, Doctor. Take either Major Carter or Colonel O'Neill with you." With that tattoo of Teal'c's, foreign travel and border crossings might become a problem, much to his chagrin at not being able to see all of Earth someday. "Colonel? I'd prefer it be you… just in case you do run into a buried Goa'uld out there."
 
"Sure. Sir. Excavating with Daniel. Always been my dream, General."
 
_____
 
 
"So, you heading out on business, or holiday?"
 
Daniel sighed, fully expecting this conversation even while dreading it. Jack was staring into the nothingness of massive gray clouds, the turbulent kind that give no visual clues as to what lies below. Like flying into a void, a non-existent area of space and time. Soon they'd be high enough for him to actually get away with pretending he was looking at the views below. Cramped into the seat beside him, O'Neill was fully aware of pretending to ignore the tension of the archaeologist at his elbow, while Daniel made pleasant but contrived conversation with the stranger in the aisle seat.
 
"Um, business, sort of."
 
"What business do you have in Paris, if I may ask? I don't want to be nosy, but..."
 
But this is a long flight and you really do want to tell your wife all about the person you were sitting beside. Eight more hours after a change of planes in Chicago, and this one would take them through until midnight, then a second change of planes in Paris for a short flight to Naples. Too early to even pretend to want to sleep. No military plane for this mission; no one's government needed to know that an Air Force team was heading out to investigate strange writing on an ancient piece of manuscript. "We're transferring in Paris to a flight to Naples. I'm an archaeologist. I have some upcoming investigations in Pompeii." Or, more specifically, a single investigation of a very ancient inscription, to ensure that there are no leftover snakes in the area waiting to bore into people's necks and turn them into evil false gods.
 
"Oh, Pompeii. That still being excavated? You'd think they'd have found all they need to by now."
 
"No, there's still a lot going on down there, a lot of unexcavated land. They've even found a new set of ruins under the old, indicating the buildings were constructed on top of a more ancient city."
 
"Oh."
 
Daniel turned his head towards the window; the clouds were breaking up, a deepening sky mixed with pink highlights becoming visible. Hopefully his neighbour's curiosity was satiated.
 
"You travel a lot, then?"
 
Daniel sighed, then smiled, facing his interrogator. "I do, yes." At least once a week my team visits planets hundreds, thousands of light years from Earth. How about you? "And yourself?"
 
"Oh hell, yes. I've been around the world. Sometimes on business, mostly for pleasure. You can't see a lot when you have time restrictions, you know. So, what's been your favourite place?"
 
God. The Nox world was nice. So was Tollana, once. Argos was beautiful, but we were definitely bound by those time restraints. Favourite? That would have to be Abydos, land of sunlight, warmth, and love. "Abydos." Daniel sensed Jack's posture abruptly but subtlely stiffen.
 
"You've gotta be kidding. There are a lot nicer places than that in Egypt. Oh, of course, you're an archaeologist." The man shrugged, looking at Daniel. "But certainly there are better ruins elsewhere."
 
"Yes. But it's a place not visited by many." Daniel turned as Jack coughed, noticing the man was giving him a … a look. "You okay, Jack?"
 
"Oh yeah, I'm fine. How are you doing?"
 
"Is he an archaeologist too?"
 
Daniel turned back to the man at his outer side. Carl. "No. Jack's a friend, coming along for the …fun of it. Company."
 
"Oh. So you're partial to Egypt, huh? I was there a few years ago on a Nile cruise. Quite a civilization. Amazing to think what they accomplished 5000 years ago."
 
"Yes, it is," Daniel agreed. Even more amazing that it was over ten thousand years ago, however.
 
"So, what exactly are you looking for in Pompeii?"
 
"Some new papyri scrolls they've been trying to uncurl for a very long while." With writing from an alien race that has already tried to destroy Earth from space more than once in the past five years.
 
Damn, but this would be a long flight.
 
And what exactly was he looking for, anyway?
  
"So where else you been?" Carl wasn't about to have a quiet eight-hour flight, apparently. The man didn't do boredom well. Why was Jack being so damn quiet? But really, what could they talk about? Certainly not their mission.
 
"The Middle East. South America, Mexico, An…" Daniel stopped himself before Antarctica could pop out. Oops. That wasn't a pleasurable mission anyway. "And…Central America." Just don't ask about that one. "A number of other places," he ended nonchalantly. Worlds you couldn't begin to imagine.
 
"You never get tired of the travelling? Those distant places, all the long flights?" Carl changed the subject. "You ever been on a cruise?"
 
"No, I, uh… I like to go the fastest routes possible." Wormholes usually do it, but sometimes there are scout ships and cargo vessels involved. Once in a while transport rings do the trick. Beam me up, Scotty. "You?"
 
"I've done some sailing." Carl smiled. "I like the sun and sea."
 
"Why are you heading to Paris?" Keep Carl talking about himself.
 
"Business, this time." Carl chuckled, glancing at Jack who was still feigning boredom by gazing out the window. "Archeology, huh? Working outside all the time, digging, no real amenities. Don't you ever get bored of that life?"
 
"Um, bored is not the right word. No, I can't say that I get bored." Daniel was struggling. Tents, MREs, unknown environments. Mosquitoes that change people into cocoons, viruses that age your best friend a hundred years in two weeks, Unas that eat humans, technobugs that reproduce by the hundreds and destroy everything around them, snakes that… snakes that steal the bodies of travellers' wives…
 
"I guess you wouldn't do it if you didn't love it. I doubt you do it for the money, huh?"
 
"I do it… I do it because…" because someone needs to explore the vast regions of outer space. I do it because I believe in saving Earth from its intergalactic enemies. I do it because I'm part of a high security, classified government unit that needs my skills. I do it because I hate the beings that took my wife, destroyed my favourite place in the universe, and ruined my life. "Jack. You want my pretzels? I always liked the peanuts, but not these…" Daniel's overenthusiastic eyes caught and held those of his partner. Daniel needed rescuing.
 
"Yeah, sure, Daniel. I'm a pretzel man myself. Can you get me a beer?"
 
Carl was speaking again, unimpressed with the banter beginning beside him. "D'you ever have problems with understanding the language of a country, or new customs?" He was gazing intently upon Daniel.
 
Well, we have encountered some aliens who didn't speak at all, and there was that time in Hadante when we really didn't know we were trespassing. Got thrown into prison and were forced to escape with a woman who was known as the Destroyer of Worlds and with whom I later fell in love when she turned herself into a beautiful young woman… "I'm a linguist and I'm good with cultures. So it happens, but not that often."
 
"Oh. Are you married?"
 
Damn, this would be a long flight. When exactly was that movie going to start, anyway? Maybe that baby across the aisle would wake up soon and start crying. Really loudly.
 
_____
 
"You handled that well."
 
"What?"
 
"Carlos."
 
"Carl. I always dread flying."
 
"Because …?"
 
"Because I can no longer have a proper conversation with anyone outside of the SGC, Jack."
 
Jack changed the subject, surveying the spread of ruins hanging like a ghost town after a bombing attack. Better not go where Daniel was heading, and he didn't mean on foot. He knew the perils of classified working conditions all too well. "This place is massive."
 
"Yes, it was a city, Jack. Parts of it are still unexcavated." The two men ambled down the long avenue of basalt paving stones cutting through the heart of Pompeii.
 
"We'll never find your clue here. Needle in a haystack sort of thing." Jack pursed his lips and eyed Daniel with a sideways squint. "So how do you know where we're going?"
 
"Instinct."
 
"Right. You looked at the map?"
 
"No. I've been here before."
 
"And we're going where?"
 
"To the tomb of Antatticus."
 
"Ah. Yes, you said you know where that is."
 
"Um, sort of. Specific tombs aren't on the map. But I know the area; they're on the roads outside the city walls. Not a lot of tourists hang around there for long."
 
Jack observed his archaeologist friend at work. Daniel's confidence here shone in his step, his determination, his conviction that he knew exactly what he was doing. "Okay." And Jack trusted that. "This place is huge."
 
Jack surveyed the ruins. Structures of stone, and more structures of stone. Where were the labels? "Is that Vesuvius?" The volcano guarded the horizon beyond the ruins like the watchful but threatening deity of an enslaved land.
 
Daniel's lips stretched into a tiny smile. "Yes."
 
"Needs a 'Welcome to Pompeii' sign in bold white letters."
 
Sighing, Daniel sped up his pace, leaving Jack following only steps behind.
 
"That's the temple of Jupiter." Daniel swivelled around, eyes knowing what to seek out. "Come here." He wandered purposefully, Jack trailing closely behind. Many other tourists were on the same trail, many with guides, fewer without. Jack couldn't help smiling, feeling just that little bit of pride for his own personal guide. Daniel knew as much as any of them. More, and in twenty-some odd languages.
 
Daniel made his way into a partially reconstructed pinkish-brown stone building. "I want you to see this."
 
"That?" Jack glanced disinterestedly at the doorway of what looked like a poorly maintained museum. His eyes momentarily grew wider upon entering.
 
"This was the home of wealthy Pompeiian aristocrat. The murals are original."
 
"Cool."
 
Daniel glanced over to see Jack trying not to be impressed.
 
Exiting and continuing along the avenue, the warm late afternoon sun on their faces, Jack could see Daniel thoroughly enjoying this role.
 
Stopping in front of another small building, Daniel surveyed the area, waiting for the next wave of tourists to pass before taking a more detailed look. A German tour leader stopped nearby with his group, and it was almost ten minutes of pretending to be interested in what they were saying before they moved on and Jack heaved a relieved sigh of boredom. Daniel, though, had been interested in what the guide had been saying.
 
"This was a brothel." Daniel peered through the doorway.
 
"That makes me happy. Just tell me we're almost at the tombs, Daniel."
 
"Uh… no."
 
"No?"
 
"No. I told you, they're outside the city walls. We have to go back to the entrance."
 
Jack pinned Daniel with a disbelieving, irritated glare. "Then why are you doing the narrative here, Daniel?"
 
"I'm showing you around, Jack. We should go out to the tombs near closing time, when less people are around. So we still have a couple of hours to kill."
 
"You've got to be kidding."
 
Daniel tossed Jack a disarming grin. "Allow me to show you around Pompeii."
 
"Oy."
_____
 
"It's here."
 
"What have you got?"
 
Jack, having finally followed Daniel out to the impressive tombs, had noticed that his friend was right. Few tourists were presently out this way, and none of the tour guides. The standing bits of wall were in a poor state of historical interest, at least for someone like him. The tombs were surrounded by weeds and shadowed by trees. Jack had seen more interesting ruins in a children's sandbox.
 
"Doesn't look like there's anything here." He had to admit, though, that the monuments themselves were fairly impressive. Ancient aristocracy certainly knew how to die.
 
"There has to be." Daniel was studying the exterior portions of a monument, trying to find the name on the tomb. "Look for Antatticus, Jack. It has to be here. I'm positive this is what the scroll referred to."
 
"It referred to a doorway. We've checked doorways, Daniel. Doorways of vaults, doorways of walls, doorways that aren't even there any more, and there's nothing that looks Goa'uld."
 
"There has to be. Look for some sign of a stargate. A... a picture. Something, This is a long street, we could've missed it." Or it could be at the second burial area, but he'd really hoped this would be the place.
 
Jack could hear the frustration in his friend's tone, could see the exasperated body language. They'd been up and down the street for over an hour. "Maybe it was here in the days of Pompeii, before the volcano blew. It's not here any longer, Daniel." Face it, kiddo. This is Earth, and a lot of time has passed amid the rain, sleet, hail, and all that.
 
"But if it was a Goa'uld's warning or invitation, there's something important buried around here somewhere. Or concealed. And we have to find it before someone else does."
 
"Doesn't exactly seem like you'd be allowed to take a shovel to this place, Daniel. And I seriously hope you're not thinking of unburying Antatticus even if we do find his tomb." Or entering it, for that matter. But Daniel was an archaeologist; didn't they love looking at old dead bodies? The last of the tourists ambled past, and Jack lowered his voice.
 
Daniel turned in frustration to face his friend. He'd been afraid it wouldn't be so easy. Damn it.
 
The men stared at each other for close to a minute.
 
"Now what?"
 
"I don't know." Daniel turned back to gaze at the row of monuments. "Look again." Crouching down, Daniel leaned on one knee and dusted the soil off a concrete slab.
 
_____
 
"Um. Daniel?"
 
"What?"
 
"This look familiar to you?"
 
Daniel turned to see Jack behind another monument, tapping at the ground with his boot, looking intently at an engraved stone tile. Rising and heading over to Jack's position, immediately he realized what Jack was pointing to.
 
Lowering himself to his knees, Daniel brushed the dirt away from the Latin lettering signifying the name Antatticus… and the four long inches of what looked like a raised sculpted serpent.
 
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't those things lock the doors in the Goa'uld ships?"
 
"I'll make an archaeologist out of you yet, Jack."
 
"Bite your tongue."
 
With no further response, Daniel turned the handle.
 
The small hatch of horizontal doorway masquerading as a tomb marker lopped inward, dropping dirt and pebbles to the ground beneath.
 
Daniel's upper body was quickly leaning into the darkened hole. "This isn't a grave. There's a stairwell down there."
 
"What?" Okay, Jack had not envisioned actually finding anything, nevermind considering what would happen if they did. Now he had that little tingly feeling he got when things were about to get unpredictable.
 
"Remember I said that Pompeii was built on top of an older city? I think some of the original tunnels still exist and this leads to one of them."
 
"Let me guess. We're going in, aren't we?" Jack was starting to think at times that his job as an SG1 explorer and team leader was closer to archaeology than Daniel would ever have him believe, and that the sneaky conniving man beside him had carefully pulled the wool over his eyes in a conspiracy in which his entire team, apart from himself, was involved.
 
"Well, I am."
 
_____
 
Making sure there was no one in the vicinity, Daniel eased his body into the hole of the deceptive floor. Dropping down the seven feet, he landed gently at the top of the ancient crumbling steps. The adjoining tunnel, levelling off at the bottom of the sixth step, was itself no more than four feet in height, lowered from the many centuries of dirt and mud that had settled and partly blocked off the passageway.
 
"Jack? Are you coming?"
 
"Sshh. There's people," he heard the low whisper coming from just above. Daniel ducked and headed into total darkness as Jack pulled the trap door shut.
 
Many minutes passed before the door was reopened and light filtered in once more. He saw Jack's legs emerge, and then the rest of his friend dropped to the top stair. "Sorry about that." Jack searched around, his eyes trying to adjust. "Daniel? Where are you?"
 
"Ssh, this tunnel probably echoes."
 
"There's no one else around. It's about closing time, they're all headin' out." Jack jumped up, thrusting at the small square door and swinging it shut.
 
Daniel showed himself in the light now emanating from his flashlight, one of the essential necessities tucked into both their small packs. "I hope we can open that again."
 
Jack glanced up. They could reach it if he helped Daniel up. He might even be able to jump that high. Did it open from this side? "Crap."
 
Daniel stifled a chuckle. "You ready?"
 
Jack peered down the low tunnel, black save for the glow from Daniel's light. He switched on his own, but was able to see no further. "You did this for a living, huh?" His low voice echoed loudly in the endlessly long space, and he lowered it even more.
 
Shifting into a crouch, Daniel attempted a mischievous smile. "And loved every minute."
 
"You're scaring me. My life's in the hands of an…. archaeologist. You sure this place is safe?"
 
"Of course not. I've never been down here before." Daniel turned before Jack could catch the grin. "Shall we?"
 
"Hold on. What the hell are we looking for?"
 
"I don't know. The writings told us to look for the doorway, so since there's actually a hidden tunnel here this has to be the place. I mean, it can't just be coincidence, right?"
 
"And if the doorway leads to a Goa'uld? Do we really want to meet up with one down here?"
 
"That's the whole point, Jack, to do what we can to stop it from ever getting free."
 
"Oh. There's that." Wish they'd've let us on the plane with a zat gun.
 
"This way."
 
"That's the only way, Daniel."
 
"And there's that."
 
Jack followed behind Daniel, crouching through the dark low passage. The ceiling scraped their backs, dust and small stones falling in their wake, and the dead air started them coughing. "We brought light, Daniel. You didn't think of oxygen?"
 
"Never needed it in the pyramids. We'll be fine."
 
"Daniel… we're in a 2000 year-old tunnel which no one's been in for at least that long, with a possible sleeping Goa'uld waiting to greet us at the other end, in a tourist attraction full of buried fossilized bodies. A place which, I might add, is about to close for the night. Does none of this strike you as odd?" Jack was just beginning to wonder about the sanity of the man he'd worked with for so many years. Just what had Daniel been into his whole life? No wonder the thought of gate travel that first mission out had not even phased him. "You think you know someone…"
 
"Ssshhh!" Daniel pulled up suddenly.
 
"What!!?"
 
"I thought I heard something."
 
"Daniel!" Jack glared at his friend's back. "You did that on purpose!"
 
"Maybe. Lighten up."
 
"I could if I had a P90 in my arms and Beretta in my hip pocket. But then, I might just decide to shoot you."
 
"Then you'd be on your own down here."
 
"And there's that." Jack decided not to speak again until they were back at the hotel. Except for one last comment. "If there's nothing down here, you owe my knees."
 
"Oh, so now you want a Goa'uld?"
 
Jack decided not to speak again.
 
"And by the way Jack, if this Goa'uld was using a gate in medieval times and he's down here now, I'd say this place was used more recently than 2000 years ago."
 
Jack had to speak. "I thought you said that scroll was written in the original days of Pompeii?"
 
Daniel paused, both in his movements and his thinking. None of this made sense. "Or just buried there."
 
Ten silent minutes later, the tunnel opened out into a wide chamber, just high enough to allow them to stand upright. There were no doors and no carvings, no murals and no inscriptions.
 
No sarcophagus.
 
No Goa'uld.
 
"Uh… ?" Jack gave Daniel one of his most thorough "Got any more ideas?" squints.
 
"There has to be something here."
 
"Daniel, either whatever was here is gone, or this was a practical joke of the original millennium."
 
Daniel had stepped cautiously over to one of the only artifacts in the room, one of four vessels placed in each corner. "Not canopic jars; they're all open at the top." The meaning was clear; there were no symbiotes inside. Nothing alive, anyway. Lifting one vessel, he peered through the small opening but could see nothing within. Jack was already shaking another one; the heavy sound of objects rattling around inside peaked Daniel's interest. "What have you got?"
 
"I don't know."
 
"Turn it over."
 
"Here. You do it." Jack handed the light vessel to his partner.
 
Turning the container upside-down, several small glazed clay cubes tumbled out, and Daniel lifted one into the beam of Jack's light. Delicately painted words were revealed, all in the Latin used in the days of Pompeii.
 
"What does it say?"
 
"Give me a minute. It's written in ancient Latin."
 
"So what does it say?"
 
"A minute, Jack."
 
As Daniel studied the miniscule words, his face creased into a frown.
 
"Daniel… what does it say?"
 
Ignoring his impatient partner, Daniel picked up another of the objects. After each of the five blocks had been read, Daniel stared wide-eyed up at Jack.
 
"Come on, give me a clue, Daniel." Jack realized he was not feigning interest but that his curiosity was real. Or maybe the atmosphere just gave him the creeps. This place was reminding him of a chamber filled with nine dead Linvris. "Yuck," he shivered.
 
"What?" Daniel blinked in concern.
 
"Nothing. What do they say?"
 
Placing the five objects on the ground in what seemed to be linear order, each one carrying its own message, Daniel began to read.
 
"The Lord and his followers must be buried before they destroy all Earth."
"The eruption will claim him, for he is not a true God."
"Some innocent will escape, many will die. They must not be forewarned."
"We are given no choice. Earth must be saved from the Evil One."
"Vesuvius must be given life."
 
"Daniel… are you trying to tell me…"
 
"Vesuvius was planned. They set off the volcano!" Daniel's blue eyes lit up widely in the artificial light, his voice awed.
 
"You're not joking, are you."
 
Daniel slowly shook his head. "No Jack. No joke."
 
"They caused a volcanic eruption... to destroy a System Lord?"
 
"A pretty bad one, apparently."
 
"Not Anubis?"
 
"No, the other Goa'ulds had gotten rid of him. Or so they thought."
 
"There was another?"
 
"Apparently."
 
"So he's buried here somewhere. Under Pompeii."
 
"Damn." Daniel rose and strode to tip over the third of the four jars, kneeling down once more for a better grasp.
 
"Daniel, if the other Goa'ulds got rid of Anubis - and this doesn't strike me as a Goa'uld message - who do you think the 'they' were who got rid of this guy?"
 
"Well, about fifteen miles up the coast from here are caves that were used by the ancient Roman military."
 
"You think they did it? How could they cause a volcanic eruption?"
 
"Allies tried to do it to Vesuvius in the second world war by dropping bombs into its center."
 
"Daniel, the ancient Romans had no airplanes and bombs."
 
"Jack, they had Goa'ulds. Who knows wh…" He stopped.
 
Jack eyed him questioningly. "Daniel?"
 
But Daniel was staring intently at the single object that had landed in his palm from the second to last jar.
 
"Daniel?"
 
The look on the other man's face frightened Jack. "Daniel!" The gloomy darkness of this ancient room and unnatural artificial flashlight illumination wasn't helping.
 
Daniel's voice was barely audible, its cadence mystifyingly haunting. "It wasn't them, Jack. The Romans didn't do it. Not alone, anyway."
 
Jack took a long look at his partner who was staring vacantly, palm closed mysteriously around whatever had been released from the ancient vessel. The older man spoke urgently, suppressing the impatience stirring in his gut. "Then who did?"
 
Daniel's eyes were wide as he glumly focussed on his friend in the semi-darkness. "We did."
 
The pause allowed Jack to scrutinize his friend before even trying to comprehend that response. "What?"
 
Remaining crouched on one knee, Daniel slowly held the metallic object out towards Jack, who recognized it before his hand even touched it, before he flipped it over.
 
His dog tag. Jack O'Neill.
 
And there was a message on the backside, written in English. "Stop digging, Daniel."
 
Many, many long moments passed as the two men stared at each other, Jack's hand never dropping to his side, never letting go of the … the artifact.
 
"God, Jack."
 
"I don't get it." There was a tone to Jack's voice that Daniel had never heard. Jack's eyes met Daniel's in their silent plea, please explain this, how can this be?
 
"We've been here before."
 
"That's impossible."
 
"No. No, Earth must have been different, Jack. Up until the twentieth or twenty-first century some nasty Goa'uld was in power who had been here in Pompeii before or since 79 AD, and we finally found a way to stop him."
 
"We went back in time?"
 
"Yes! To put an end to some treacherous System Lord."
 
"Bad enough to sacrifice this whole city? To change Earth's' history?"
 
"Yes."
 
"Not Anubis?"
 
"No. Someone we'll never know about - because we killed him. Someone who's buried here somewhere."
 
"Let me get this straight - we went back in time and changed history? In that other world, that original world with you and me and the US military and my dog tags, Vesuvius had not destroyed Pompeii?"
 
Daniel nodded slowly. "We did something else, Jack. The Goa'uld in our other life was still using the gate they've found underwater in the Mediterranean. When we destroyed this Goa'uld, that gate went unused. By him, anyway."
 
"And at some point was submerged in a flood, or was tossed into the sea, with no record of what it was? We changed a hell of a lot of history, Daniel."
 
"We must have truly believed the risk was worth it. We saved the planet."
 
"That bad a Goa'uld," Jack reiterated, trying to get his mind around what they had done.
 
"Seems that way."
 
"But he let the United States military gain power."
 
"No. He let the military exist. Maybe it even served him. Our finding a way back in time may have been accidental, or covert."
 
"So… we're living our own alternate reality right here in our own reality." Jack's mind was spinning with the revelations. "If the military served him, then you and I may even have been Jaffa." Damn.
 
"Against our will."
 
Jack rubbed his eyes. "This is making my head hurt. Why don't we bring this back to Carter?"
 
"For once I agree with you, Jack. This is all a bit hard to take in."
 
"Where was Carter, anyway? There's no mention of her."
 
"You think she wasn't on our team back then?"
 
"Just you and me? Maybe that's why we went and changed history. No Carter to talk us out of it… Oy." His eyes narrowed with yet another thought. "But… if we ever find out how we did this, then we'll have to go back and destroy Anubis at the source too, Daniel. Before he gets as much power as he's got now."
 
Considering this for a minute, Daniel frowned. "Maybe not. Your note told me to stop digging. To let things be." How many times could they keep changing the history of Earth, anyway? As many times as it took to rid themselves of the System Lords, probably. But then again, perhaps their interference was what allowed Anubis to return… and every destruction of one System Lord would bring a new threat. Maybe this was just the law of the universe.
 
Jack pondered his own ancient message. "Good advice."
 
"Why?"
 
"Because if we go back in time again to change future history and get rid of Anubis, then if and when you ascend you won't need to challenge him in order to save Abydos. You'll have no reason to be stopped by the ascended beings and they won't need to … dump you. Next time around, you'll stay dead."
 
"We both know I'd have to take that chance."
 
"Daniel, how do you think I knew you'd come here?" Jack faced Daniel quizzically, head cocked slightly to the side. While not expecting his partner to have the answer, he couldn't think of a better time than this for Daniel to come up with one of his long-winded theories.
 
The truth dawned on both men at the same time.
 
"You wrote that message to yourself on the papyrus scroll," Jack gaped at his team's archaeologist. "And then you put it where you hoped it wouldn't be destroyed by volcanic ash."
 
"And where one day, if anyone were to see it and assuming we were alive, I'd be the only one who could read it." Daniel's words came slowly.
 
"But why tell us at all? Why not just let things be?"
 
"Maybe to stop a search that might later take place? I mean, there's a Goa'uld buried around here somewhere."
 
"They've probably already found him."
 
"What do you mean?"
 
"This is Pompeii, Daniel. He's probably encased in a mold of plaster. They wouldn't know a Goa'uld from an aristocrat if they tripped over him. For that matter, neither would we."
 
Glancing again around the bare room, Daniel realized that Jack was right. They had nothing to worry about. The Goa'uld was history.
 
But they hadn't quite managed to forget about the fourth jar, the existence of which Daniel barely wanted to acknowledge. Jack was making no move to check it out, although the expression on his face told Daniel that investigation was inevitable.
 
Shrugging off the doubt and feelings of foreboding, Daniel made his way over to the last vessel. Taking in a deep breath of musty air, he gingerly turned it upside-down.
 
A square, flat, palm-sized metallic object dropped out, one end tapered to a thin grilled edge, and Daniel lifted it gingerly.
 
"What is it?" Jack queried from over his shoulder.
 
"I have no idea." Daniel flipped open the small lid; on the inner surface were two circular buttons, one yellow, one red.
 
"Cigarette lighter? Electric razor?"
 
"Remote control?" Daniel looked up at his partner, uncertain as to whether he even wanted to be holding this object.
 
"To what?"
 
"Something we haven't found yet, Jack."
 
"Like something that may have been used to set off Vesuvius?" Jack locked eyes with the archeologist. This was definitely something from the past's future, something that had likely been planted by himself or Daniel."Don't touch those buttons. We'll take it to Carter."
 
Carefully wrapping the object in a bandana, Daniel gently deposited it into his backpack. "We left this for ourselves to find. Why?"
 
"Maybe in case we didn't have one in our present time period?"
 
"Or maybe we were in hiding here and were just trying to dispose of it." Didn't want it falling into the hands of a System Lord. Maybe the device, the dogtags, were never even meant for them to find at all? Had Jack written that message to Daniel, his friend, and not Daniel the future explorer?
 
"Look," Jack tapped the archeologist on the arm and sighed. "Call it a day? Mission accomplished?" And let Carter do the rest of the head work.
 
"Yeah. I'd say so," Daniel agreed, picking up and pocketing the painted ceramic cubes.
 
"Here." Jack held out his open palm, exposing the dog tag.
 
"Don't you want that?" Daniel hesitatingly looked up at his friend.
 
"No. I left that message for you. One of you. Anyway," Jack mock shuddered, "that's too damn creepy."
 
_____
 
Retracing their crouching steps through the tunnel, Jack again followed behind the archaeologist.
 
"I won't get used to this, Daniel."
 
"What?"
 
"You taking point," the military man grinned. "You feel right at home here, don't y… Hey!" Jack grabbed Daniel's pack from behind, pulling him backwards roughly as rocks slipped in their path ahead. The two men jumped out of the way, sprinting backwards into the main chamber, as dust sprayed towards them and the tunnel ahead loudly disappeared.
 
Coughing and batting at the penetrating dust and grime, the two men turned their lights onto one another.
 
"You okay?"
 
"Yes. You?"
 
Jack nodded. "Crap." The entranceway had disappeared, and judging from their position when the collapse had begun, their way was blocked for at least a dozen feet.
 
Cautiously, they lifted some fallen rocks, placing them inside the room. Dust swirled and choked, but the two men continued to work furiously but carefully to free themselves. Fingers bled, lungs ached, and muscles cramped. The digging was futile, more rocks and dirt and mud tumbled down to replace all those which they'd removed. Jack jumped out of the way as several more stones fell at his side.
 
"Daniel. Stop digging."
 
"What? Why?" the archaeologist exclaimed, knowing yet denying the truth.
 
"We can't get out this way."
 
"There's no other way."
 
"I know."
 
"Jack…"
 
"This ceiling is going to come down on us, Daniel. And we're using up the air too fast."
 
"No one knows we're here, Jack." Daniel fought back the panic of their situation.
 
"No." Stop digging, Daniel. Jack motioned towards Daniel's pocket, towards the inscribed object lying within. "But maybe we're not supposed to leave here. Do you think we knew about this?"
 
"That's impossible."
 
"Probably. But let's face it, Daniel. You and I were probably buried somewhere here in Pompeii, unless we had helicopters waiting back in 79 AD to get us out. Maybe this is where it's supposed to end."
 
"That doesn't make any sense."
 
"Does any of this?"
 
"If we knew about this, we'd have to have died here in a previous cave-in. So," Daniel made a point of looking around, "where are our bodies?"
 
Jack shrugged. "Removed by whomever we were hiding from? Look, Daniel. I haven't got a clue what happened here. I can't tell you how we got here the first time and I sure as hell don't know why we're stuck down here now."
 
Daniel sighed, coughing, the dust continuing to swirl from their movements. "Well we can't just give up."
 
"I agree. But we can't get out this way. We'll be buried under the rocks, Daniel, and unfortunately this time I don't see that sarcophagus we came looking for."
 
Jack crouched down, adjusting his body to more comfortably fit into the space between the fallen rubble. The broken floor was less than welcoming but for now it was home, neither man willing to accept this fate but a sense of hopelessness increasing with every passing minute.
 
"We might have had a flight out. I mean, if we could drop a bomb into the center of a volcano…"
 
"Daniel, we put notes into this room, for crying out loud. For us to possibly find in the future."
 
"Before we blew the volcano."
 
"It doesn't matter."
 
"Why would we set a trap for our own deaths?"
 
"Not a trap, a warning, But for some reason maybe it had to turn out this way."
 
"We unsettled the upper foundations when we came through the tunnel, Jack. Our packs kept scraping against the low ceiling. We set this off."
 
"Probably,"
 
"Ja.."
 
"It doesn't matter." Jack surveyed the now smaller quarters, half filled with debris and dirt. "There's not a lot of air in here. It won't last until this place opens in the morning."
 
"No one would hear us down here anyway."
 
Jack scanned his distraught friend. Daniel knew as well as he did what their options were. He was no pessimist, but sometimes options were few, and even nonexistent. He'd learned that the hard way over the years. Sometimes you just had to wait for the future to take place around you.
 
"Even if we survived, we would have been trapped in 79 AD." Jack grimaced at the thought of having to spend the rest of his modern life in the ancient world.
 
"We might have had a way back to the future."
 
"No, Daniel. Then we'd be us and we'd know about it."
 
"Oh. Right." Daniel shook his head. "I don't want to think about it."
 
The hours dragged on, the air growing warm and thick. Their increasing sleepiness was not due to the time of day or night. "You've been a good friend, Daniel. Thanks."
 
Daniel jerked his head up. Jack was giving up. "No Plan B?"
 
The other man shook his head.
 
"So have you." Daniel stood, crossing the leftover space to sit beside his CO. Not a CO on this journey though, for this was no offworld mission. This had been Daniel's territory, his responsibility. "I'm sorry, Jack. This is my fault."
 
Daniel felt a hand on his leg, and a gentle squeeze before the pressure lifted.
 
"No." Jack sighed. "We were in this together last time, and we're both here together now. This," he looked around, "was just a freak accident. They happen." Not planned. Not destiny. Not necessary.
 
"I'm an archaeologist. It's my job to be aware of dangers."
 
"We had to come down here, Daniel. You know it, I know it. We didn't know what would be here."
 
Daniel lay his head back against the wall, closed his eyes. "One day they'll find our bones."
 
More rocks fell from the ceiling and rolled down the mound.
 
"Think we should leave a note?"
 
Daniel chuckled. "To who, Sam?"
 
"Why not?"
 
"Think this is what happened last time?"
 
A few more pebbles broke loose, and Jack pulled Daniel to his feet. "Watch it."
 
They retreated to the far wall as the dust and debris fell more forcefully.
 
Still gripping Daniel's sleeve, Jack breathed heavily in the thickening air, as more rocks fell and rolled, landing nearly at their feet. There was nowhere else to take refuge. Daniel closed his fingers around a handful of Jack's jacket, his eyes wide with tension, his other hand fastened around his flashlight. The rockfall wasn't ending, but the room was closing in. The two faced each other, heads partly buried in each other's shoulders to keep from choking.
 
"Jack…?" there was fear in the single utterance, and Daniel felt Jack's hand grip him tighter.
 
The dust streaking down Daniel's features in the glare of the light made him look even more desperate. Jack wanted to get them out of here, wanted to take charge and somehow get Daniel safe. Somehow. And if something bad had happened to them last time, he would have wanted to keep his friend safe then too, he was sure of that...
 
"Daniel... if we did know something might happen to our future selves down here, we'd want to help ourselves, right? Would we, maybe, leave something like a miniature time machine device? Remote control to some transport rings?"
 
Eyes widening in disbelief, Daniel balked at the thought now occuring to them both. "You're not suggesting we actually use that thing?"
 
"I think I am."
 
"We don't know what those buttons are for or how to program it. We could die."
 
"If we stay here we'll die." Jack motioned towards Daniel's daypack. "I can't think of anything else, can you?"
 
Reluctantly, Daniel shook his head and bent down, undoing his pack and removing the object, which he handed to the waiting man. "Um, I hate to bring this up, but what if it sets off something inside Vesuvius again?"
 
Hesitating, Jack pondered that thought. "I don't think so. The message - my message - told you to stop digging. Then I, or we, left this down here. I'm going with time machine controls." Already programmed to take us home. Okay, not home, but at least somewhere safe. Fingering the device and turning it over in his palm, Jack grimaced. "You know this wouldn't normally be my first choice."
 
"Jack... if this doesn't work..."
 
"I know." He sighed. "Me too. Now hold onto me; we have to do this together." While arriving in some strange historical period on Earth alone was frightening, he didn't want to consider that they both might be sent somewhere unpalatable, but Jack knew that he and the man beside him had already done it once before, long ago, to save their planet. Remaining here was the greater of two evils this time around. "Ready?"
 
With Daniel grasping his waist and hanging on, not wanting to be left behind while Jack ended up elsewhere with their only possible way out, he nodded, closing his eyes.
 
"Pick a colour." Aiming the tapered edge upwards, Jack inhaled deeply and pressed his finger down on the yellow button.
 
Streams of electricity shot out from the nozzle, sizzling around the ceiling, small pebbles breaking loose and raining down.
 
"Whoa." Releasing his hold on Jack as both men jumped out of the way, Daniel's words burst forth. "Did that look to you..."
 
"Like a zat blast." Jack coughed, waving off the last of the swirling dust. "Original version?"
 
"Why would we have left a zat? "
 
"In case you and I found something down here we didn't want to find?"
 
"Or, we'd need it to get out of here?" Daniel's eyes met Jack's. "Yellow button kills, red button....."
 
"Disintegrates?" Jack aimed at one of the rocks, watching it disappear amidst swirls of vibrating energy. "Looks like we've got our way ou... Daniel!" A thunderous roar accompanied the implosion of the ceiling above them as Jack pushed Daniel out of the way, both of them tumbling to the edge of the wall as a huge crash shook the underground chamber. Rocks and debris continued to rain down around and on top of the two friends as they huddled against each other, pressed to the ground and against the wall, covering and protecting their heads and faces.
 
Minutes or moments later the noise had subsided, trickles of pebbles bouncing around and then settling in crevices between fallen rocks.
 
For several moments there was silence, the two men realizing they were still alive. "It's over," Daniel whispered, trying to catch his breath in the dust-filled environment. "I think. Jack?"
 
"Yeah."
 
"You alright?"
 
"Mostly. You?"
 
"I think so."
 
"Good. That's good." They'd been two feet away from getting killed, and Jack didn't want to even think about that. "Are we buried?"
 
Daniel lifted his head and looked behind him. His light illuminated nothing but a diagonal hunk of ceiling only two feet above their prone positions and reaching to the ground on his left side, creating a cracked and fallen canopy between the wall and the floor. There was an opening at the far end where his feet were sticking out. "Almost. I think I can squeeze out."
 
Moving carefully, Daniel slid out the aperture at the opposite end. Gingerly he pushed himself into a seated position, rubble and debris falling from his clothing. He waited while Jack did the same.
 
Dusting off his hair, Jack palmed the wall, sliding up to a standing position. Peering closely at Daniel, he squeezed his friend's arm and then stepped out of the way, aiming his beam around the destruction. There was a massive hole in the ceiling, but only darkness up above. "You'd think we'd see stars by now. I mean, you know. Night sky." Enough of that stuff had fallen on top of them. "But we have a way out now." If they dared use that thing again. This time, at least, he knew where to aim the rectangular nozzle.
 
"Uh, Jack..."
 
Jack slid his questoining gaze towards Daniel; the man's tone had taken on that mysterious ring again. "What?"
 
"Look." The beam of Daniel's flashlight was lingering on a heaping mess of broken tile in the center of the floor. There, half buried under huge slabs of a demolished stone sarcophagus, lay a skeleton partially covered in decaying strips of cloth. Two; as Daniel approached and stepped around the pile of debris, he could make out three overlapping arms, the rest of the bones broken and smothered by chunks of inscribed mosiac and stone. "We must be right under another grave."
  
"So... our Goa'uld?" Jack was staring at the remains with horror and disdain.
 
"Um, two?" Daniel sounded skeptical.
 
"Goa'uld and goddess?"
 
Daniel's eyes widened. "You don't think..."
 
"Well I don't know. Exactly what am I not thinking?"
 
"That they could be us?"
 
"Oh shit." Jack froze, staring at his partner, unable to think about that at all. "No."
 
"No?"
 
"No. They're not us. Let's get the hell out of here." Aiming the light upwards, Jack raised his other arm and tried to grasp the outer edges of what little remained of the ceiling above them. "Give me a hand."
 
"Hang on." Daniel was already starting to pile up a mound of rubble directly beneath the aperture. Together, the two men quickly built up a platform of stone.
 
Carefully grasping the still unstable ground around the gaping cavity, Jack pulled himself through the ceiling, finding himself surrounded by a hollow stone structure, not more than four feet high. It was only luck that had kept this whole thing from collapsing in on them. Moments later, Daniel joined him, falling onto the cool ground in weak release of the tension that had built up in his nerves over the past several hours.
 
"We're inside someone's tomb." Daniel peered around in the gloomy beams of artificial light. "If any artifacts were buried with the bodies, they must be under the rubble."
 
Peering down over the edge of the wide hole, Jack aimed the square zat and fired, twice, disintegrating the bodies and sarcophagus below."Whoever put those people in this vault had to get out again, right?" He was quickly on his feet and searching for an exit. It took only moments to find, and with a splintering crack of broken parts, the doorway opened into fresh nighttime air. Jack inhaled a joyful swallow of fresh oxygen, coughing with the unexpected ease of respiration.
 
Within moments Daniel was standing by his friend's side, contemplative and subdued. "You know, if those two were us, we gave ourselves that way out."
 
"I gave us that way out by zatting the ceiling." Although I nearly got us killed first. "They weren't us."
 
The men lingered, shoulder to shoulder, gaping down through the ancient broken doorway into the disturbed space within, the gaping hole beckoning. Pompeii was almost silent in the post midnight darkness, just the rustling of a mouse in the grass to gently disturb the night.
 
"They'll find this mess sometime soon," Daniel's voice was hushed. "And if they dig out the rocks they'll find the room."
 
"An empty room."
 
"From a collapsed grave above some dwelling... or something... from the original site of Pompeii."
 
"And…?"
 
"And it'll be catalogued, put on a map, and forgotten about."
 
"I hope they don't wonder where the occupant of this tomb went," Jack spoke questioningly.
 
"Empty tombs were often used only as markers; cremation was practiced frequently back then. Burials gained popularity later on with Christianity."
 
"Christianity, or Goa'ulds? You know, nothing like revival in a sarcophagus to reinforce one's hope for resurrection." Jack laced an arm over Daniel's shoulder, then locked eyes with his friend. "I don't know about last time, Daniel, but this time we made it out of Pompeii."
 
"Next time?"
 
"Next time we get Anubis."
 
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