Lost Horizons
 
 
 
 
 
 
by
Travelling One
 
Email: travelling_one@yahoo.ca
Web: http://www.travellingone.com
Summary: An unexpected environment has its pitfalls, and Daniel's impulsive nature has its uses.
Related Episodes: 48 Hours; Frozen (S6)
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.
 
October/04
NOTES: If this story is having problems fully loading, please press "Stop" and then "Refresh". If this doesn't work, please let me know. - T.O.  
 
"Now, see, things like this never cease to amaze me."
 
Expressive eyes agreed silently with O'Neill, as SG1 made their way down the marble walkway to the rim of the pinkwater moat. There was nothing else from here to the horizons but that single looming pyramid, constructed in solid crystal, sitting smack dab in the center of that luminescent pinkish water. All that oddly-coloured liquid surrounding their narrow walkway lent itself to vivid, dreamlike imaginings, sculpted from the inspiration of minds long-experienced in interstellar travel. If any planet screamed out to them, "You're far far away from home", this was it.
 
With the bright dazzling sunlight glinting off the exterior of the tall structure and the breeze barely tickling the static air, Daniel picked up speed, Jack only a mere step behind. Carter and Teal'c followed as cautiously as one could while reining in their own curiosity.
 
No one had any idea of what, or whom, they would find within.
 
Lack of intel had not deterred Stargate Command from sanctioning proposed inspection of this planet. The lure of this immaculate building could be felt in the control room back at the base the moment it had appeared on screen. With the surrounding water and crystalline composition of the pyramid, it was not deemed likely that this building had ever been used as a landing pad for Goa'uld spacecraft.
 
Leaning over the edge of the marble walkway, Jack looked down into the depths of the dense pink liquid.
 
"That's not water, sir." Carter stopped beside the CO, noting the lack of transparency, the stillness of the shiny surface.
 
"No, Carter, I got that." Digging around in his pocket Jack brought up a dime, watching as it dropped onto the thick pink substance. For a moment it sat suspended, turning upright onto its edge. Then with a visible crease in the pink gel, the dime was sucked under and disappeared from view.
 
"Mercury?" Daniel peered down at the surface, his reflection squinting back at him.
 
"Without a sample I can't say," Carter shook her head, "but I doubt it."
 
"No sample until we know what we've got in there," O'Neill ordered, looking uncertainly towards the towering structure looming only meters ahead. "Stay alert."
 
The entrance to the pyramid was unguarded, its imposing door hinted at only by the triangular outline of its supposed frame.
 
"So, how does this open?" Having taken a cursory glance around the flat surface and having seen no doorknob or button to punch, Jack stole a glance at Daniel; the archeologist was in familiar concentration mode, bottom lip being tortured by upper teeth.
 
"I have no idea." Daniel slid his hand around the triangular crystal panel, the cool smoothness soft and soothing beneath his fingers.
 
"I could have done that," Jack glared back.
 
Ignoring the pettish remark, Daniel continued his motions.
 
"O'Neill." Without hesitation, the deep voice caught everyone's attention. Suddenly, with a high vibrating sound as if elastics were being stretched and plucked, the triangular door wavered and was gone. The interior of the building loomed darkly before them.
 
"How'd you do that?" Jack swung around, eyeing Teal'c with an expression of curiosity and guarded amusement.
 
Teal'c bowed his head towards the stump of crystal at his foot. "I did nothing, O'Neill. Yet I did hear a brief sound emanating from this protrusion."
 
"It must be light or heat activated, sir," Carter decided. "Teal'c either blocked out the light rays by standing directly in front of it, or it sensed his body heat."
 
"Yeah, whatever. I take point." Jack switched on his flashlight as he crossed the threshold, eyes, ears, and all senses above five on alert.
 
The act was unnecessary, for the moment his foot touched the interior surface, alighting on the white panels of the floor, lights powered up, highlighting the pyramid from within.
 
"Ho-ly …."
 
The entire structure shone with sunlight, the crystalline wall panels, ending in a pointed apex at least six stories above their heads, having glimmered to near-transparency. Jack quickly reached into his pocket for his sunglasses.
 
Around the lower walls of the structure were rows and rows of small blank panels - likely screens - and indentations the size of a thumb, some lit, some not. The four explorers surveyed the room, wandering. There had been plants flowing down the walls, once; now, the dried dusty soil in golden receptacles was all that attested to a former elegance and aesthetic orientation.
 
"Ah!" Carter jumped as a panel in the wall slid open beside her, revealing a drawer filled with knobs, and she leaned over for a closer look. "Most of these controls are rusted, sir. Or fused together, as though they were exposed to a very high heat."
 
"So this place hasn't been used in a long time."
 
"That would be my guess, sir. Except that there isn't any dust anywhere." No, on the contrary, everything gleamed and sparkled and shone.
 
"Cool. Self-vacuuming dwellings. Bring home this technology, Carter, and I'll buy you an island."
 
Daniel had been searching the area for writing, but no symbols were apparent. The most unusual items were stacks of small dice-like cubes, all enclosed in transparent containers.
 
"Whoa!"
 
"Jack?"
 
"What have you found, O'Neill?"
 
"Look up." Waaay up.
 
In the light of the filtered rays of sunshine, translucent spheres could now be seen floating above them, dozens of semi-transparent balls of ...something, like bubbles blown from a child's soap dish. Swirls of pastel rainbow colors graced their surface, but what was within had the four teammates speechless and gaping.
 
Faces. Dozens of faces, one within each sphere. Serene, placid, as though taking a Sunday afternoon's light stroll through mid-air.
 
"Think these people are watching us?"
 
"Are you thinking these are communication devices, O'Neill?"
 
"It's a thought."
 
Daniel studied the smooth flawless facial features, perfection all pervading, taunting, a strange sensation causing a shudder to flit down his back. "They look, um, content. Peaceful." Not like they're watching us.
 
"Stasis?"
 
"Sir, I think these could be more like static records of the people who were here; I don't see how this can be any sort of storage facility."
 
Still gazing upwards in awe, the team watched the bubbles float around each other, slowly, gently, none touching, none revealing their purpose.
 
A sudden movement had SG1 shifting, planting their feet for a grip, and Daniel grabbed onto Jack's sleeve for balance. Carter stumbled backwards, caught and steadied by Teal'c.
 
"What was that?"
 
But before the words had been uttered, they realized the floor was moving, slowly descending, the pyramid's base growing larger around them and the control-paneled walls receding above their heads. The door they had entered rose as the ground dropped.
 
"What the hell?" Jack growled.
 
"This feels like an elevator." Daniel peered upwards, the bubbles now far above his head.
 
An elevator descending into the unknown, their point of entry cut off and their way home out of reach.
 
"What happened?"
 
"I didn't touch anything, sir."
 
"Daniel?"
 
"Um..." Daniel paused to organize his words, hesitating to reveal his thoughts.
 
"Um?" Jack raised an eyebrow. Any theories would be appreciated right about now, not that they could do anything about anything until this thing stopped and let them off. As far as he could figure, no member of his team had triggered this descent.
 
"I'd guess this was activated from below, and we're about to meet the locals," Daniel suggested, unsure as to whether this would be a good thing or bad, having been cut off from the stargate. His nerves were starting to act up, that sensation of excitement mixed with anxiety of the unknown, at possible discovery or disaster. They never knew, never could tell where the fates were leading them at each new turn, and the adrenaline rush was almost a scary thing.
 
The air was now swirling with clouds, a cool yellowish mist engulfing them. The smell was partly rainforest, partly the mold of old wet earth, mingling with faint tinges of sulfur.
 
"Carter?"
 
Sam was already checking the readings on her monitors. "Oxygen levels are dropping only slightly, sir. No indication of any toxicity."
 
"Yet." O'Neill watched as the air around them filled with the mist, growing thicker as the air became cooler and more damp.
 
And as the air swirled with yellow mist, the floor continued its slow downward journey. SG1 grew quiet, puzzled and insecure eyes seeking each other out. There was nothing they could do but wait.
 
Thicker and thicker mist surrounded them, but so far the smells were non-threatening and the air was breathable. A few coughs couldn't be contained, but SG1 was still relieved that nothing harmful was showing up on Carter's monitoring devices.
 
"How far underground do you think we are?"
 
"It's hard to tell, Daniel. Maybe a couple of stories so far." Shrugging off her pack, Carter set it down, preparing to do another test.
 
And just as suddenly, the floor stopped moving. With a gentle landing, the base seemed to pause in its desire to deposit the visitors into a further descent to infinity. Empty yellow space replaced the mildewy crystal of the lower walls, bathing the team in a deep, eerie, mustard-colored light.
 
"It stopped?" More of an uncertainty than a statement. Having no bearings and able to see nothing, it was hard to tell if they were suspended in space or on solid ground.
 
"Are we here yet?" Jack murmured, stepping to the edge of the floor and reaching out. His hand waved through empty space. Down here there were no walls of a pyramid.
 
Gingerly reaching out with a toe, he felt around beyond the visible perimeter of their platform.
 
"Careful, Jack." The soft voice held traces of doubt. Daniel gently gripped the creases of fabric on the side of his CO's jacket, a flimsy attempt to hold the man should he lose his balance and slip over an edge. They could see almost nothing; but then for brief moments the dull yellow fog would shift, and gray emptiness would grace the infinite distance.
 
But Jack felt solid ground beneath his foot.
 
Well, almost solid, just a bit spongy.
 
"We're here."
 
For several moments no one moved.
 
"Not the welcome I was expecting," Daniel looked around hesitantly; no locals were anywhere in sight, as far as sight stretched. SG1 could either get off this thing and try to find out where they were, or stand here all day. All they knew for certain was that at present they had no idea how to get back up.
 
"For some reason the inhabitants had, or have, underground tunnels." And tunnels were usually for hiding something. Or someone. "Do we go?" Jack looked around at his crew, hoping for a unanimous decision.
 
"O'Neill, I do not believe we have a choice in this matter."
 
"Sir, I don't see any way to bring this platform back up to the surface."
 
"Figured that, Carter."
 
With an exaggerated breath, Jack placed a foot slowly and tentatively on the surface. Finding relatively solid ground, he stepped fully out, planting both feet flat. Moving off a few meters into the haze, he watched as his teammates took hesitant steps towards him.
 
The ground gave slightly below their feet, mire or decay seeping to the seams of their soles. There was a slight sucking sound as each foot lifted to take another step.
 
"Okay, that's gross."
 
Suddenly the now-empty platform levitated off the ground; without their weight or balance, it swiftly carried upwards, leaving the surprised team staring above them, gaping. Within seconds the platform was out of reach, then out of sight.
 
The four teammates found themselves abandoned to a vaporous yellow-tinted mist, a squishy greenish-gray surface below their feet, and a view of hazy gray shadows and shapes melting in the distance.
 
"It left us here."
 
"Anyone see any controls for that thing?"
 
Carter was already exploring the immediate vicinity, the clouds swirling around them, her vision of any nearby equipment hampered and even the faces of her teammates wavering in unstable focus.
 
"I see nothing that would appear to lower or raise the platform, O'Neill."
 
"I see nothing," Daniel grimaced and squinted, trying to make out anything beyond his teammates, "at all."
 
"That platform has to be connected to something down here… right?" Jack looked to his teammates for affirmation. "I mean, walls, posts, something?" It couldn't just fly, or be suspended in mid-air. Right?
 
"Right, sir," Carter's disembodied voice echoed from somewhere to his left. "There's a central pole here."
 
"Where are you, Carter?"
  
"Here, sir. Turn to 4:00 and take about twelve steps."
 
In moments Carter came into full view, along with a shining thick metallic pole. Jack ran his hands up and down its even surface.
 
"It's smooth."
 
"That it is, sir."
 
"So where are the controls, Major?"
 
"Sorry, Colonel."
 
"No; wrong answer, Carter."
 
"I know, sir. But I've looked up and down and around the base as far as I can reach, and I see nothing but this same smooth finish. And by the way, sir, it's solid naquada."
 
Jack turned brusquely. "What?"
 
Carter nodded as Daniel moved to stand behind her. Staring over her shoulder the archeologist tried to find indications of a switch, button, panel, discoloration, joint, thumb indentation… but nothing revealed itself.
 
"So… what exactly does that mean, Carter?"
 
"Well… I'm not sure, Colonel. But there's got to be a naquada mine around here somewhere. And we know the combustion enhancing capacity of naquada, so I think we'd better watch our backs closely, sir."
 
"As always, Carter." Jack looked up at the pole, its height disappearing into the upper atmosphere. Nothing could be seen beyond the heavy yellow fog. "Find a way to get us back up there."
 
"I'll do my best, sir."
 
I know that. Jack was well aware that he did not have to give Carter any such order; he didn't have to remind any member of his team to do his best. Any crisis could come along and his crew would fall into step, each one of their performance levels unparalleled. He knew that.
 
So why was he so worried that their best might not be good enough this time?
 
Because Carter could only work with equipment and controls that were there. Daniel could only read script when he had some; he could only communicate with aliens when they showed their faces. Teal'c could only render assistance when he knew what they were facing, his staff weapon fairly useless against thick yellow vapour.
 
And their only way back to the stargate was to climb sixty feet straight up a completely smooth metallic pole. Which would only land them underneath a broad flat surface, even if they were able to do it. "There's got to be something we're missing, Carter. Whoever comes - or used to come - down here, would have had to get back up."
 
"I would tend to agree with you, s…"
 
"Not necessarily."
 
"What?" Jack snapped towards Daniel's face wavering in the mist. Thrashing his hand outward in a futile attempt at trying to rid the haze from his vicinity, O'Neill revealed his frustration. Daniel's face became no clearer.
 
"What if this is only one way down? Maybe there's another… floor… around here somewhere that goes up?"
 
"Like our escalators."
 
"Um, yeah," Daniel agreed. "Or the moving walkways in airports."
 
"There was only one pyramid on the surface," Jack reminded him.
 
"Well… maybe it just goes up to flat land, um, water. Or whatever that was. Other walkways might be just below the surface of that stuff, flooded over."
 
"And speaking of which, why isn't it dripping down on us?"
 
"There could be hard ground not far below the fluid, sir. We couldn't see into it at all. Or maybe that's what's causing this environment; it could be a surface layer that transforms into this stuff," Sam wrinkled her nose as she glanced around.
 
"Perhaps there is a second pyramid which utilizes a cloaking device, O'Neill. It would therefore have not been visible to us."
 
"In which case if we ascend into it we may yet meet the aliens." And no idea, again, what we might be getting trapped in, or who's watching us, Daniel couldn't help thinking. From the frowns on neighboring faces, he knew the others were considering the same possibility.
 
"Okay," Jack knew there was no choice, but at least any option was more optimistic than being stuck down here indefinitely. "We fan out. Carter, take 3:00, Daniel, 6:00. Teal'c, you take 9:00. Count off the steps with me." As the members of SG1 faced the four directions, Jack counted off the steps one at a time, each teammate moving forward. By fifty, they could no longer hear O'Neill's voice clearly and the CO was forced to use his radio.
 
By the time he'd reached one hundred paces, Jack was beginning to worry. Getting separated in here would be equivalent to becoming lost in a blizzard, dangerous and foolish. "About turn, kids. Complete 180." Once again, the CO counted off the steps, and soon the four travellers met up somewhere close to the pole. They had found nothing.
 
"So."
 
"So." Daniel peered into the unrevealing distance.
 
"So now what?"
 
"Sir, I recorded some strong naquada readings in the direction I was walking. I'd suggest we head that way. It may indicate another… elevator."
 
Waving his arm, Jack consented. "Lead the way. We're right behind you." Following closely.
 
The going was slow and difficult, the terrain sticking to their boots in the boggy squishiness one might expect to find with decades or centuries of decayed plant growth. The view before them never changed; nothing appeared on the horizon but more disconcerting vulgar mist. Every now and again one or another of them would slip, only to be caught by a companion before dropping to an undignified bundle on a wet slimy terrain. Water - they hoped - soaked into their boots and humidity coated their unprotected patches of skin.
 
"So, would you say we're outdoors?"
 
No one responded. How could they be, underground like this? Yet, how could they not be?
 
"The environment around the pyramid appeared to be pretty flat, Jack." No holes, no mountains, no valleys. Just pink liquid, spreading into forever.
 
"So we're indoors, Daniel? That what you're saying?"
 
Shrugging his head from one side and then to the other, giving the possibilities some thought and consideration, Daniel could not answer. "Umm, I'm not saying that."
 
Jack shook his head. No one had an answer. And still no one had a way out. They had encountered nothing so far that might bring them back to the upper surface. They had encountered nothing at all.
 
Bending down, Sam reached out a gloved hand and scooped some of the ground into a glass vessel. Capping it tightly, she squinted, shaking the small transparent jar as she stood. There were traces of naquada in the indistinguishable muck.
 
"Look familiar, Sam?" Daniel closed the space between them, peering over her shoulder.
 
"No, actually. It doesn't really look like anything organic."
 
"Inorganic decaying matter?"
 
Carter shrugged. What could she say? They were in an alien environment, and she'd seen the known laws of physics bent more than once.
 
"Look kids, could be decaying styrofoam for all we know. Are we still on the right track, Carter?"
 
Sam nodded. "Yes, sir."
 
"Then what do you say we keep moving before we find out what night looks like here. I'd so hate to have to camp on this terrain."
 
Jack moved on ahead, but just slightly, making sure his teammates could always keep him in view. And visual acuity deteriorated after six or seven feet. His boot skidding on the slime, Jack slipped, caught by the strong hands of a former Jaffa. He nodded his thanks at Teal'c, resuming his almost-steady pace.
 
The emptiness was overwhelming; without buildings or landmarks, the incongruity of the stunning upper pyramid and dismal lower reaches of Hades allowed imaginations to run rampant. Someone had put an elevator here, in what looked to be more and more of a one-way trip.
 
"Jack - ?"
 
O'Neill noticed the hesitancy in his friend's voice. "What?"
 
"What if this is only one-way, and prisoners were sent here to get them out of the way?" Somewhere, sometime, they had known another Hadante might rear its head.
 
Jack's eyes darkened. "We haven't met anyone."
 
"So it's been out of use for a few centuries."
 
Jack pursed his lips. In which case we might be walking into... oh crap. "Keep the optimistic thoughts coming, Daniel."
 
"I'm just saying."
 
"O'Neill, I believe we are beginning to descend."
 
As three more heads stared into the misty distance, straining to differentiate their present earthen conditions from those of the last half hour, they could detect a slight, very slight, downward incline to the terrain. The ground was just a bit more slippery under their boots.
 
As the pace grew even slower, Daniel reached out, his hand alighting on and gently grasping the edge of Jack's backpack.
 
No comment was offered, no explanation was needed. This trek was raising all of their warning bells, and Jack wanted his teammates to remain as close as possible. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Carter unobtrusively holding onto Teal'c.
 
"The readings are off the scale, sir."
 
"Any danger, Carter?"
 
"No sir, I think there's a supply of naquada somewhere just up ahead though. My guess would be a mine."
 
And where there were naquada mines… there were Goa'ulds.
 
"This would be a perfect Goa'uld trap, wouldn't it," Daniel muttered, expecting no confirmation for the rhetorical remark.
 
"Stay alert," Jack's gruff order was not entirely useless; the almost-normal command acted as an anchor, O'Neill's voice bringing his team back from their perceived lack of reality. The heightened flow of adrenaline partly served to compensate for the poor state of visibility.
 
The terrain swept downwards as the mist rose above their knees, then above their waists, the increasingly solid rock below them becoming more distinct.
 
As the drifting yellow haze lifted, or rather, as SG1 sloped downhill below the encompassing yellow cloud cover, the landscape at last chose to reveal itself.
 
As if in practiced unison, all four teammates stopped. Gazing around, trying to comprehend the sight that lay before them in this huge shallow pit or valley, even the scientists were speechless.
 
Many moments passed as they absorbed and contemplated the meaning and significance of what lay stretched out before them. No one wanted to be the first to state the obvious.
 
"A stargate factory?" Jack finally gave in to the urge to break the strangling silence.
 
"Um…"
 
Before them spread a deep rocky quarry, its perimeter walls glittering with as yet unmined naquada, its central interior and edges dotted with multiple stargates in various stages of completion.
 
Stargates stood upright, some leaned against quarry walls. Still others lay flat on their backs.
 
No living beings were in evidence.
 
"This place is old."
 
No one but Jack found a need to speak. Too many thoughts were racing through their heads, too many unanswered questions, too many ideas and possible repercussions for their own future.
 
"They were building stargates!" Daniel finally regained control of his vocabulary. "Do you know what this means?"
 
"We could put one in every country?" Jack tilted his head to stare at his archaeologist. "At airports?"
 
"No!" Daniel frowned. "This place - this place belongs to whatever race - "
 
"Belonged, Daniel. They're not here any more."
 
Daniel paused, his thoughts braking in a skid. This arena was deserted, the atmosphere ugly and condemned. "Why did they leave? When did they leave? Where did they go?"
 
"Daniel, I'm just guessing here, but those bubbles in the pyramid were probably records of these people." Carter had theorized upon that before, but now she seemed almost certain.
 
Edging forwards towards a more inclined section of slope, Jack carefully led the way into the quarry, stumbling against silvery rock, glad to be out of the mulch and slime of a murkier, more humid terrain. Within twenty minutes they had arrived at the lower pit, its embankment reaching up to surround them, its floor stretching for several football fields distant. Around them rose rings of naquada, stargates threatening to dwarf them, rule them like giant gods, taunt them with a teasing song. Like candy on a fishing pole or salt water surrounding a dehydrated man, stargates unfinished and in need of a power source goaded them with a way home unable to be executed.
 
"So, are we indoors or outdoors?" For some reason, the question haunted Jack now more than ever. Above the quarry's encompassing ledges, the hint of straight and smooth walls seemed to encapsulate the travelers, fading off into the yellow mist now thirty-odd feet above their heads.
 
"Jack, I'd like to look ar…"
 
Jack was used to being ignored. "Forty meters, keep in sight at all times." Nodding to the rest of the group, the colonel waved them on. "See what you can find."
 
As the four explorers meandered among the intact and ageless artifacts, questions only grew more plentiful, answers remaining slim. Jack trailed a few paces behind Daniel, watching the archeologist flit from one gate to another, a ground squirrel in a field of acorns.
 
"You know, with one of these in my living room, I could happily do away with facing the morning traffic."
 
"And I could work late, then go straight home within seconds." Daniel nodded, approving the idea.
 
"Nevermind; you'd be popping back to your office all night long. Cost the average American family a truckload in wasted power dollars."
 
Daniel shrugged. "We'd each have our own and get the monthly stargate bill."
 
Jack stepped into the center of a horizontal unfinished gate, its face smooth and free of glyphs. "How do we know these are real, anyway? I mean, they could be lawn ornaments." Jack sat down in the center of the circle, putting his feet up on the outer ring. "Swimming pool rims, or something."
 
Smiling, Daniel sauntered off, letting his CO… play. Jack watched him go, a smirk gracing his features. Kids in a playground, two scientists in ecstasy. Pushing himself up, he sat down on the edge of the gate.
 
Daniel paused before a massive block of machinery, slabs and bricks of naquada and rock littering its base. Rows of doorways opened into unlit interiors, but Daniel's flashlight threw enough accumulated illumination to highlight panels of raised symbols. "Molds," Daniel whispered. "Glyphs." These aliens had a way - around here somewhere - of making and pressing liquid naquada. Tapping his radio, he exclaimed to all who would be listening, "I've found where they made the glyph panelling, guys!" In the periphery of his vision, Daniel caught glimpses of his teammates turning.
 
"Don't go in there, Daniel," Jack cautioned, radioing back. "Anyone else find anything?"
 
"Some of these stargates seem to be complete, Colonel."
 
"So why are they still here, Major?"
 
Knowing he couldn't see her shrug, Carter resisted a sarcastic reply. "I have no idea, sir. Maybe they had nowhere to put them yet."
 
"They were likely awaiting transport to distant locations, O'Neill."
 
"Can we use one to get out of here?"
 
"Sir? We haven't seen any DHDs yet."
 
"Keep looking."
 
An hour passed, then two. Four space explorers-turned-archeologists examined and dug and theorized, but little information came to light, and no way to power up a stargate.
 
"Back at center, kids. Time to regroup." Jack's voice held a mixture of frustration and annoyance, a pinch of uncertainty. In Jack's case, a recipe for aggravation signaling the need for a plan.
 
Retreating, they all met at center field, dwarfed by several rings of stargates standing like sentinels over a dead land, others lying flat or only partially assembled from a myriad of parts welded together to make a solid and unyielding whole.
 
"Anyone see a way home yet?" Jack looked at the faces of his travel partners, knowing at a glance what they 'd found, not needing the words of confirmation.
 
"I really don't think these gates were intended for immediate use, sir."
 
"Doesn't mean we can't use them, does it?"
 
"Sir…" Carter didn't quite know how to say this simply, but her commanding officer was a seasoned leader; by all expectations, he would understand. "You're aware of the combustion properties of naquada. Even if we had a power source, it would be too dangerous to operate it in this place. One stray spark and we could blow the whole area, which is likely why the locals didn't make their DHDs here and probably why they located their working stargate above ground. Since the terrain we were walking on has traces of naquada in its composition as well, we'd be risking a chain reaction with this entire planet."
 
"So that water surrounding the pyramid..."
 
"My guess, Daniel, is that the pink liquid, whatever its composition, was meant to buffer any explosive potentialities that might occur from activation of their stargate, or maybe from electrical storms. The elevator was a way of keeping those above ground - and anyone working down here - safe from possible dangers."
 
For a long moment Jack just stared.
 
"So there's only one way out."
 
"Yes sir."
 
"Which was also only one way down."
 
All the excited, curious questions from moments earlier seemed to retreat into solitary nothingness. Minds blanked out, thoughts decreased to insignificant grains of sand on an oceanic beach.
 
"Crap."
 
"The inhabitants who were here would have had to get back up. Or out," Daniel reasoned logically, hopefully.
 
"They probably also knew how to work that damn elevator," Jack snarled. It was time to start getting pissed off.
 
But these were members of SG1, and none were ready to concede failure. "I don't know about you, but I'm not done here yet." Daniel turned, his back to the others now, and strode off. There was something out there, and he damn well intended to find it.
 
"Daniel."
 
The archaeologist kept walking.
 
"Daniel, I never said we'd stop looking around down here."
 
Daniel turned, pausing.
 
"Let's break for some food, then we'll map out the area," Jack offered, sincerity in his tone and expression. Returning to the elevator would be plan C... which still left room for a Plan B. "And if we have to camp out tonight, I'd rather do it down here than up there."
 
Slowly, Daniel nodded. They hadn't eaten since they'd arrived on this world, and he realized how hungry he was. He took a single step forward towards the rest of his team.
 
Suddenly his gut clenched. Knew it, and didn't. What the mind denied, the eyes filled in.
 
The horror of past events rose up nauseatingly to choke and drown him, time racing with the intense consuming knowledge of what was about to occur.
 
"Jack, MOVE! SAM! TEAL'C!" The screams faded and echoed, painfully useless given the speed of gravity.
 
In a motion involuntarily slowed only by the mind, the witness at the mercy of his own subconscious, all subsequent movements jumbled into one. The stargate that Sam had been leaning on giving no warning as it shifted, the ground beneath their feet gave way as the huge ring knocked the edge of another, both rings going down as the three travelers in position below jumped in avoidance, too late and without a chance of success.
 
"NO!" Mom, daaaaaaaaaaddddddddddd……..
 
That coverstone was falling, and even as shock denied the truth, his mind shouted that something terrible was happening, something that could not be undone... they would be hurt, they were hurt, they were really badly hurt... but his young mind never anticipated the thought that he would never see them again, never... never was a concept too abstract to fully incorporate into his little heart...
 
Jumping forward but forced to stop abruptly, helplessly, Daniel could only watch as the two stargates landed with a sickening thud, dirt flying and rock cracking, chips volleying out towards him as he shielded his face with his arms. The high-pitched scream and two agonizingly deeper ones reverberated into his consciousness to stir a memory long buried, too long whisked into the realms of unreality and disbelief. Time had eased the wounds but never erased the scars, and an eight-year-old boy once again rose to the surface on a planet presently inaccessible from home.
 
Daniel looked up, sick dread drenched in shock.
 
Not this family too, not like this…
  
"No, no, no no no no no…no... no. No," The words repeated involuntarily as Daniel raced to his fallen comrades, landing on his knees first at the side of Sam, nearest to him. "No, god no. No. Sam, talk to me." Carter was on her back, the ring lying straight across her abdomen, leaving an unnatural caving of the ribs. Blood poured from the back of her head, out her mouth. "God, NO!" The vocalization was a shout, a sob, a plea.
 
God, no. This can't be happening.
 
He hovered there, suspended in time, mesmerized by the sensation of floating, of distance. Disconnected from any sense of self, his body was stunned, paralyzed. No thoughts invaded his trance, no words broke into his nightmare, no comfort softened his loss.
 
Until his eyes betrayed him to focus on the discoloured lips, and Daniel woke to reality with a psychic slap across the face.
 
"God, no."
 
There was no need to check for a pulse.
 
Emptiness became everything. Needle-sharp fingers ripped into his body and grabbed his heart, squeezed it until pain was the natural state of being, of feeling, of feeling nothing but weighted, deadened limbs. His head floated above him, beside him, tearing him away from the material physical body and leaving him in a billion pieces stretched out in the void of unimaginable horror.
 
With a gasp he awoke into the reality of his nightmare.
 
Daniel pulled himself into the present and slid heavily over to Teal'c only three feet away, the large man trapped on his stomach. The ring was a dead weight against his back, the force having pressed his body into an indent in the loosened soil. "Oh God." Tears blurred Daniel's vision. "Please, no."
 
Numb, Daniel crawled to where Jack lay diagonally under the second ring that had fallen, the CO's legs and torso pinned to the ground.
 
"Jack." With eyes glistening, Daniel's hands fumbled for a pulse, not realizing the open stare was aimed wistfully up at his own face. Comprehending nothing but that his friends were suffering the same fate as his parents so long ago, his heart threatening to combust with the pain and horror of history repeating itself, slicing him up once again from the inside where nothing could heal but death itself, Daniel gasped as he felt a hand on his own.
 
"Daniel." The sound was soft, almost a whisper. "Get…yourself out… of here… safely."
 
With a voice unable to remain steady, Daniel shot back hoarsely, "I'll get us all out of here." Pulling his hand free from Jack's he leaned over, tensing his back, reaching under the ring. Trying to lift the stargate, he met only resistance.
 
He could not budge it on his own.
 
"Daniel." Jack's hand dropped to his side, his eyes closing. "Yourself. Promise me." You'll be alone here; we're leaving you alone in this godawful hellhole.
 
"I won't leave you here!" Daniel's panic and fear caused him to nearly shout.
 
"Promise…me. Please."
 
No, I'd rather die. "Jack - !"
 
"I'm dying, Daniel."
 
"Ill get hel - "
 
"Please."
 
Freezing at the plea, Daniel acquiesced to the power and weight of the ring. Letting go of his futile grip, feeling but not acknowledging the new pains in his back, Daniel slumped back over his friend.
 
One way or another, Jack was leaving.
 
Daniel's two words carved a trench in his gut deep enough to bury himself in. "I promise."
 
With a slight nod, Jack's eyes closed fully, his hand lifting to Daniel's cheek before falling back once more to the ground.
 
"No!" and now it was a sob. "Please! Oh god, please." Hands on Jack's face, on his arms, begging him to awaken, to take another breath. "Come on, Jack? Come on." But holding Jack's chin wasn't going to make wishes come true or fears evaporate.
 
Daniel dropped from his knees to the ground beside his friend. Then stretching himself prone he let the tears stream into the ground, his body uncontrollably shaking.
 
_____
 
He had no idea how long he lay there. The lighting never changed, day never became night. He never looked at his watch, never opened his eyes to a view he could not bear to see.
 
He knew what lay beside him, and he wanted to die.
_____
 
Slowly reality forced its way into his consciousness, and Daniel awoke knowing he was not going to meet death any time this day. Not this way; not of a broken heart nor of scorching, searing memories.
 
Gathering up his own body of tightened muscles and agonizing chest pains, he pushed himself off the metallically earthen rocky soil and heaved out a choked breath. Staring into the vast pits before him where stargates stood uncaring, unbothered, he still could not bring himself to look at the destruction beside him. Senselessly wasted beautiful lives that he could not save, and what gave him the right to still be alive? Why was he always the one to survive?
 
He should have jumped under that coverstone at the age of eight.
 
He should have been beside his friends instead of stalking off alone into the quarry.
 
He should have…
 
Daniel took a deep breath and turned his head.
 
Two gates remained horizontal, lying across his best friends, trapping them, and no one was looking back.
 
And the yellow clouds swirled high overhead while raw naquada sparkled off the quarry edges surrounding him. Far off, unseen, an elevator rose to another plane, the only obvious way out of here.
 
Daniel closed his eyes, squeezing them shut and forcing deep breaths. He'd made a promise, but that was only so his friend could go in peace. It was not a promise he intended to keep.
 
He needed to bury them. Needed to send them off to a new existence with prayers, wishes, hope.
 
There was nothing here but rock. Nothing beautiful, nothing a soul would want to take with on an everlasting journey.
 
Daniel reached into his backpack, fumblingly removing a tissue and a roll of duct tape. Gingerly, painstakingly and lovingly, he folded the flimsy white tissue into a fan, doubled it over and spread the layers. Slicing a piece of tape off with his pocket knife, he pressed the sticky strip around the tissue's base. Then he ruffled through his pack once more.
 
Finding a pen, he shoved it deep into the center of the tissue, a stem for his creation. And then he reached within himself to find some courage.
 
Crawling over to Sam, he laid the childlike rose across her chest. These had been proud icons on his parents' urns, but now seemed far too inadequate. No longer a child, he still could offer nothing more.
 
Bending, he kissed her forehead, ignoring the blood still wet and coagulating. "My dear Sam," he whispered, and kissed her again. "All my love."
 
For moments he lingered beside her, watching her…sleep. Sleep. No woman could sleep with blood dripping down her face. There was pain in her features, surprise and shock at being caught offguard by something horrible. At least her eyes were closed.
 
Daniel reached blindly on the ground beside him. Retrieving a sparkling fragment of naquada, he slipped it into her palm. "Two jewels," he whispered.
 
Forcing his heavy body to move, he shuffled back halfheartedly to his supplies and ripped three pages from his journal. With swimming vision and unsteady concentration he unevenly folded each page - now wet with uncontrolled tears and drops of blood from a teammate - into the angles of three rough origami airplanes. Jack had taught him this on a mission, one dull and long night during second watch. What better tribute to two Air Force officers and a man who had been flying alien cargo vessels since before Daniel was even born.
 
Carrying out the dozen steps was arduous with his hands shaking so badly and concentration sucked into scattered fragments. The resultant asymmetrical mess would have been embarrassing, had he cared about appearances.
 
Staring at what he had created, Daniel refused to accept the futility of the gesture. Somehow, somewhere, these good people would have to know what it symbolized, and how much he had loved them.
 
His heart in his throat, pounding hard enough to choke him, his stomach churning and screaming at him not to look, he once again crawled over to Sam. Laying the crudely fancy airplane beside the flower, he whispered, "Soar high, Sam. Fly into the future with hope and my love." Blinking back the tears didn't work.
 
Stepping over to Teal'c, he laid the pitifully unsophisticated offering across his friend's back. "Rest in peace, my friend." The large warrior lay so helpless, his lack of movement seemingly too artificial in this unreal environment. Alien that he was, how could the two so different men, from such different backgrounds, be saying goodbye in a situation such as this? This was just so wrong.
 
Daniel paused, looking around. God, this was too hard. He'd rather be dead than be doing this.
 
Several minutes later the third rumpled airplane facsimile lay on Jack's chest, Jack's hand in Daniel's. "Thank you for seeing in me what no one else wanted to." The tears spilled freely down Daniel's cheeks, and the last survivor rolled onto his side and wept some more.
 
_____
 
Time was stilled; the aching pains in his chest kept bringing Daniel unwillingly back to reality. Which reality he was in he had no desire to know, for it was one he wished had never existed. One he could not undo.
 
He remained on the ground, uncaring of his future, unknowing of how to return home even if he wanted to.
 
_____
 
Surrounded by stargates that had brought death instead of safety, cruelty instead of hope, Daniel lay with his eyes open, staring up into the mist high above, listening to the stillness unbroken even by a lone, lost cricket. Perhaps they were indoors, or this land was too dead and too old even for insects to have survived.
 
This was the last place he would ever visit; that was the only thing he knew with certainty.
 
Listlessness and depression dragged him downwards.
 
Words spoken to a friend in loving desperation lifted him up.
 
Forcing himself into a seated position, Daniel thought again of his promise to Jack, words that had been filled with emptiness when spoken. Fulfilling it was the only gift he could ever again have the chance of giving. I owe you that much. He also owed his friends a proper burial, and it was this more than his own survival that spurred him to move.
 
"I said I'll get you all home, and I will." Daniel stood, avoiding the dismal sight beside him.
 
There was an elevator over an hour's walk away that he had no way of activating. There were stargates already completed, but no DHD. No alternate power source, but far too much combustible naquada in the ground surrounding him anyway. Daniel searched his brain. Plant fuel? Batteries? He doubted a supply of double As or rechargeable NiMHs would really pull off the job.
 
He'd get them out of here. He'd get home, get help. Maybe get the elevator working. Without Sam? Without Sam.
 
Without Sam.
 
The anguish inside him stabbed and bled.
 
Aimlessly he walked. Walked past the standing stargates, past the mold machines, of which there were several more further on. There was no motivation to stop and look; he knew what those pieces of equipment did, and what they did not do was offer a way home. No, Daniel needed something that would power up a stargate safely, a DHD, or whatever these people may have been using so long ago.
 
The further he wandered, the easier it became to believe he was just an archeologist, to remember what it had been like to find ancient artifacts, grow excited at every new development and discovery. He walked farther and farther from the sight of three close friends lying crushed and broken in a completely silent world.
 
His weak legs acting like rubber, Daniel tripped, falling, for a moment uncaring of whether he would ever get up again. Then forcing himself up onto his hands and knees he crawled over to perch on the edge of a recumbent stargate, and surveyed his surroundings. This quarry or laboratory or factory or workshop or whatever this place was had no birds, no bugs, no leaves; nothing growing, nothing colourful. Above him rose an ugly yellow mist, and below was a silver and gray bed of glittering rock, partly chipped away, partly smooth and nearly polished with time. He could hear his own breath echo but there was nothing else to indicate that any form of life was trapped or living voluntarily within.
 
The silence was unnatural, unforgivable. The silence of a world with no life; none but his own.
 
The last living creature, stranded with a quarryful of looming alien transport devices for his only eternal company.
 
He didn't want to die here of dehydration while his friends rotted farther afield. He had to get them home to where they could be given the memorial they deserved; where people would learn what had happened and not just label them MIA.
 
Finally Daniel stopped staring and forced his eyes to see, his mind to react. Comprehension dawned that he had been doing nothing yet hoping for everything, expecting a miracle. He hadn't been searching; he'd been running away.
 
He had friends awaiting transport out of this place, waiting for Daniel to get them home to a friendlier, more beautiful world.
 
But there was no DHD to get them home.
 
No way of powering up a brand new, never-used stargate.
 
No power to blow him to bits if a spark hit a vein of naquada.
 
What should I do, Jack?
 
Closing his eyes Daniel lowered his head to his hands. He was worn, so tired. Too tired to walk. Lowering his body too willingly to the ground within the stargate enclosure, he lay there, remembering how Jack had done the same hours before. 'They could be lawn ornaments. Swimming pool rims, or something.' "God, Jack. What am I going to do?" In the silent surroundings Daniel's voice sounded hollow, vacuous. Illusory. How he'd give anything for none of this to be real.
 
He had to clear his head. He had to try some other direction, go back up and face the mire and the yellow mist, had to see what else was out there.
 
Alone.
 
Daniel forced his heavy limbs to move, forced himself to his feet.
 
In resignation, Daniel made his way laboriously back to the vicinity of the accident that would play forever on his mind. It would wake him in the night, haunt his dreams. Haunt his days in the mountain, for wherever he looked, whatever room he entered, memories would taunt him, torture him - if he ever got back.
 
Daniel could not bring himself to look at the fallen stargates. Tears once again threatened to drown his vision.
 
But he'd made a promise to Jack, a promise he would fulfil even if it killed him.
 
In the slim hope and last chance that perhaps no power source was needed at all, that somehow, miraculously, these gates would have all the power they needed residing within, built for a race that did not use DHDs, Daniel grasped the nearest ring and began to heave.
 
The strain seared through his arms.
 
"God!" Turning that thing with two people had, in the past, been tough, but dialing now on his own proved to be many times more difficult.
 
But not impossible. Daniel again pulled; he pulled and strained until the first chevron that destined him for Earth locked into place.
 
Nothing happened; no light, no power, no surprise. He knew better than to really think a machine would work without power.
 
Yet, while a large energy source was necessary to power up a stargate, maybe a smaller power source would work in conjunction with a large supply of naquada? Especially since naquada served to magnify and enhance the elements of natural power.
 
Scouring the vicinity, Daniel collected the largest fragments of naquada that he could manage to carry or drag. While many of the chunks were far too heavy, he found smaller pieces at the base of the molding machine. Dropping his jacket to the ground and placing the fragments on top, he used his sleeves as a grip to pull them the necessary distance.
 
Within two hours he had stored a small pile of naquada blocks up against the nearest completed stargate.
 
The next step was going to take more courage than he thought he had.
 
Closing his eyes and finding a spot within himself where motivation lay in hiding, Daniel summoned up enough determination to get this task completed. Thoughts of taking his friends home, out of this dreadful technological wasteland, spurred him on. With a deep breath he opened his eyes, and then Daniel stepped gently over to Teal'c, unable to keep from looking at the silent body, the ruined back, the fallen warrior.
 
He slipped the staff weapon, still in Teal's grasp, out from under the gate.
 
Holding it in shaky hands, Daniel silently apologized to Jack should this blow the whole quarry, himself along with it. That was no longer - never had been - one of his concerns. "I suppose if it does I'll never know," he said out loud to a deserted wasteland. "Hopefully." It was only the breaking of Jack's trust that would hurt.
 
He took a deep breath and fired.
 
A massive charge filled the air, the naquada pile glowing brilliant white and then golden before fading out, its energy transmitting to the round ring, its locking mechanisms now illuminated.
 
But instead of that single chevron lighting up, something else was happening. As Daniel stood, locked in place, waiting for an explosion the size of which he had never dared fear, a vortex blinked soundlessly to life in the center of the stargate. This gate, and all the others that were fully upright and complete. A dozen event horizons lit up with wormholes from unknown territory, and Daniel could do nothing but stand and stare.
 
Time rushed forward in dimensions of nanoseconds; thoughts jumbled together like waves surging in a storm. Were these outgoing wormholes? Leading to where? Were they incoming? Should he dare try going through?
 
But before he could make a decision based on theory or desperation, bodies began stepping through every one of the open wormholes. People gesturing to one another, smiling; dragging DHDs, tools, machinery, speaking in a whispery, almost windy tone, sounds not quite decipherable, unlike any Daniel had ever heard. Men, women, in tailored clothing and footwear of a substance he could not identify… Daniel found himself trembling uncontrollably, and was forced to lower himself to the ground, in full view of a hundred unfamiliar faces.
 
And then all movement stopped. The men and women looked around, leaving their equipment where it had been dropped. They looked up, staring at the yellow vaporous mist; they looked down, gingerly toeing the soil. They looked at Daniel, eyes widening in surprise.
 
They looked like people who hadn't seen this place in a very long time.
 
_____
 
Still trembling where he sat, Daniel remained a quiet observer. He heard little language, yet the people seemed to understand each other. There were infrequent sounds, tones, almost musical notes. The beings touched; they moved gently, elegantly. The disturbed looks on their faces could not hide the perfection, absolute perfection, of beauty and grace. Even in shock and uncertainty their demeanor seeped of serenity.
 
Several approached Daniel, and he looked up with wide wet eyes. A hand reached out to touch his quivering shoulder; sudden sparks of electricity tingled through his body, forcing an involuntary gasp and shudder. The hand pulled back.
 
Now keeping their distance, they stepped away from him in unison, and through the gap Daniel could see others lifting the collapsed stargates off of his friends. Unsteadily he jumped to his feet, wavering; whatever they were about to do he needed to be there. No matter what, he would get his friends home, aliens be damned, though none had seemed provocative or unfriendly.
 
The first gate was maneuvered out of the way and lowered down beyond his teammates, setting Jack free. The second structure was then lifted, allowing Daniel to see the full extent of the damage done to Sam and Teal'c. His lips quivered, and he feared losing control.
 
The aliens were staring down at the roughly handcrafted paper offerings, gifts from the eyes of a child. They understood. With sorrowful, shy glances they approached Daniel, arms outstretched, but he backed away.
 
And while many others wandered off in various directions to explore and discover their world's fate, still more moved closer to his fallen comrades, and all Daniel could do was trust. Trust beings from a foreign world who had likely been stuck in the stargate for hundreds or even thousands of years. Stuck like Teal'c had once been, waiting for someone to open the wormhole and free them. Waiting for centuries, caught in the process of building stargates and procuring DHDs from allies who had never found out what had happened to them. Waiting to return to a world that had long since been damaged, an unfriendly environment welcoming them back, a home no longer as they'd known it when they'd seemingly stepped into the wormhole only moments before.
 
Daniel couldn't help but feel a loss for these people; he was not the only one here mourning something precious.
 
And he watched as they surrounded Jack, their hands above his body, their eyes closed in concentration, naquada fragments surrounding him and placed upon his lifeless body. Daniel watched others do the same to Carter and Teal'c, and all he could do was stand there pathetically and pray.
 
_____
 
It took a long time. For the two hours that seemed like centuries Daniel hovered in the background sensing the auras and energy flow from these beings, and all he could think of was the Nox. These people weren't becoming invisible, but they were definitely trying to heal.
 
So when the first movement was of Jack lifting his head and muttering "Where's Daniel?", the partially obscured man couldn't help bolting between the aliens to grab his friend's hand. Nor could he stop the sudden surge of emotion when the brown eyes gained clarity, gazing at him in awareness of what had just occurred, and the voice asked, "Wasn't I dead?"
 
Daniel could only nod, his eyes filling.
 
"Help me up." Jack waited for Daniel's hand at his back before pushing up on his elbows, noticing the oddly-constructed four-inch paper shape that dropped to the ground. Pausing, he glanced at Daniel. He knew - and understood - what had happened here.
 
Finally Jack looked around, the aliens having stepped back. "Who are these people?"
 
But still Daniel couldn't bring himself to speak; his chin was quivering and he knew that any attempt at logical conversation would put him over the edge. The long emotional day had taken its toll, and the sudden, unexpected relief was trying to release the barriers.
 
His hold on emotional control blew wide open the minute Jack pulled him into a hug.
 
He didn't care that aliens were watching him lose it. He didn't care - much - that he was quietly sobbing into Jack's now quite alive shoulder. And he didn't care that he, too, was still alive, because now it didn't matter any more.
 
_____
 
Sam was kneeling by Daniel and Jack, while Teal'c quietly observed from behind, his eyes on friends as well as aliens. Carter did not intrude; she just waited. Waited for Daniel to compose himself, waited for him to realize that she too was now well. Sam pressed at the corners of her eyes, continuing to cradle the reddened tissue creation against her now-healed chest.
 
Finally, with Daniel's sobs subsiding, Jack released his grip. He met his friend's eyes, his own wet, and tried to smile. Daniel swallowed, dragging the heel of his palm across his upper face.
 
Now free to look for his other two teammates, it was only a fraction of a second before Daniel noticed Sam behind him. With not a moment's hesitation she pulled him into a tight hug of her own, and once again the tears slipped out freely.
 
_____
 
She wouldn't let go of the offerings, now crumpled and torn, saturated with her own dried blood. They symbolized more to her than a goodbye; they spoke of a friend left alone on an alien world who wanted more than his own safety, wanted for her own soul to be at peace. She loved him for that.
 
Watching Daniel interact now with Teal'c, Carter was interrupted by a hand stopping inches in front of her. It held a cloth, wet. "Sir?"
 
O'Neill motioned towards her face, patiently waiting for her to take the hint. Sam realized she was still covered in blood, oblivious to her disturbing appearance. As she wiped away what she could, Sam noticed Jack's vision drifting to the disrupted land where the stargates had fallen.
 
Blood covered the indentations in several places, ground in and trampled, diluted footsteps marking the paths between where the three members of SG1 had lain. Jack looked towards Daniel.
 
"He was alone with us …our bodies... for almost nine hours, sir," Sam announced. Jack glanced up as Carter lifted her eyes from her watch.
 
"Your watch is damaged, Carter. I've got fourteen." Again shifting his scrutiny towards Daniel's direction, he couldn't shake the observation that his friend still seemed dazed. Lost.
 
"I think he may still be in shock, sir."
 
Jack nodded, eyes lingering on the blood on Daniel's hands.
 
Clarity came full force as Carter suddenly realized what had been bothering her from the moment she'd opened her eyes and looked up into the faces of those who had been trapped in bubbles of patience and time. "Sir, don't these people remind you of someone?"
 
"Yes, Carter, they do. Who?"
 
"Ayiana, the woman we unfroze in Antarctica."
 
Jack stared at her. Then he stared at the folks around them, those who had healed him, brought him back from death.
 
"She healed us then, too, sir, before draining her own energy."
 
"I know. And yes, you're right."
 
Daniel heard. He had not been around to meet that woman, but he had read the reports. A healer. Beauty and perfection, even after so long buried in ice. "But, you said she was at least three million years old!" His eyes were wide.
 
"We think so."
 
"So these people… are of her race? They might have been trapped in the stargates for millions of years?" That was oh so much scarier than even thousands. They were perfection; prototype of the human race?
 
"Speaking of which… how did they get out, anyway?" Jack cornered Daniel with a questioning look.
 
"I opened a wormhole."
 
"With?" Jack looked around, noting the now present DHDs. Surely Daniel could not have found those and dragged them here?
 
"A staff blast."
 
Jack stared at Daniel. "Didn't we say something about the possibility of stray sparks exploding this whole place?"
 
Daniel shrugged. "It worked."
 
"Ecgh!" Jack groaned in frustration, then ruffled Daniel's hair. What else could he say to the man who'd given them back their lives?
 
"Ecgh?" Daniel squinted sideways.
 
"Ecgh," Jack agreed. "Do you get the impression these folks weren't expecting their home to look like this?" he asked, changing the subject.
 
"It might have been beautiful millions of years ago."
 
"Can you understand what they're saying?" Jack's eyes focussed on Daniel.
 
"Jack - I can't even distinguish individual sounds!" Daniel stared in disbelief that his CO would even ask.
 
"Calm down; I figured it only takes you four minutes to learn a language and you've been watching these people for at least an hour."
 
"Three hours," Daniel admitted. Lowering his head he grinned, understanding the compliment. "I didn't find any written language here, and there was none in the pyramid. Historians have always assumed that cultures without written language were more primitive than us."
 
"A bit egotistical, would you say?" Jack continued to watch the smoothly flowing actions around them. The aliens were surrounding a stargate, having slid a DHD into position.
 
Carter was frowning, deep in thought. "We saw sets of cubes in the pyramid, Daniel. Maybe those were mind information chips."
 
"What?" Jack grimaced, already non-comprehension intruding into this pleasant bit of conversation. Having been brought back to life by advanced ancient aliens certainly hadn't strengthened his scientific comprehension abilities.
 
"I don't know, sir. Maybe they didn't need a written language, if they had a way of collecting their thoughts and transferring them into the cubes."
 
"That would definitely come in handy when submitting reports, Carter." Bringing the topic back to one which he could understand, Jack watched curiously as the aliens clustered around the DHD. "Didn't you say powering up these gates could be dangerous?"
 
"There shouldn't be any electrical flaws with a working and tested DHD, sir. They must know what they're doing."
 
"Perhaps it was for safety reasons that they constructed the DHDs offworld," Teal'c suggested.
 
"So where do you suppose they're going?"
 
"To check on the other worlds they used to frequent?" Daniel guessed. "The one they came from? They have no idea how long it's been or whether their allies still exist."
 
"And in all that time, no one came looking for them?" Judging from what had happened to Teal'c, the activation of these particular stargate connections would have disintegrated all their molecules.
 
"The planet they were coming from may have suffered a catastrophe of its own, sir. Obviously the first few they've just tried are no longer accessible. And these gates might be on a completely different system than the one we came through up above."
 
After watching several more ineffectual attempts at establishing a wormhole, Jack's nonchalant comment earned him two scientific stares. "They'll never dial out."
 
"Sir?"
 
"That planetary shift thing. It's been millions of years, right?"
 
Suddenly a wormhole burst forth, and a lone individual gracefully stepped through to whatever awaited him on the other side. No others followed.
 
"I guess they took that into consideration..." Daniel muttered.
  
"So now they wait." Jack whistled under his breath. "Carter, how do you suppose they got stuck in the first place?"
 
"I have no idea, sir. Teal'c was trapped after an energy blast hit his side of the gate; maybe the same thing happened to these people as they were returning home with their equipment."
 
"And they were coming home through a dozen stargates?"
 
"My guess, Colonel, is that they never expected them all to activate at once, and that's what may even have initiated the malfunction."
 
"Or they may have gone through the one on the surface, and tried to return through these in order to bring their DHDs and other equipment here more easily. Maybe it was an experiment." Eyes turned towards Daniel. "Well, we don't really know, do we?"
 
Jack shook his head. "No. The only thing that matters is that one works and can get us home. Only one turned on for them right now; why?"
 
"It was connected to a dial home device this time, O'Neill."
 
"That's what I was thinking." Jack nodded, pleased with himself for coming up with an appropriate answer to his own question, watching as the vortex flew open a second time. The lone man reappeared, smiling, humming a few notes, and activity resumed more cheerfully than it had before.
 
"Sam," Daniel sucked his lip, "What if those bubbles in the pyramid were preserving the essences of all those who went through the gate? So that if a gate had opened while they were trapped, their essences would have been replaced or transferred back into the gate?"
 
"Daniel," Carter stared wide-eyed. "you could be on to something. We've documented the energizing powers of pyramids, and the crystal structure would have enhanced any preservation or healing technology."
 
"Could not the crystal and naquada both be factors in the healing abilities of this race?" Teal'c inquired.
 
"Yes! And maybe the pink substance surrounding the pyramid also has therapeutic qualities!" The excitement in Carter's voice was accelerating.
 
"Well I suppose I could have thrown you all in and found out," Daniel quipped, "but I didn't think of it."
 
"Whoa, slow down, kids. None of that matters at the moment. They're oh so way beyond us in gate technology that we have no way to use any of this." Jack hesitated, squinting at Carter and giving his words a second thought. "Do we?"
 
Before Carter could reply a wormhole engaged for the third time, and the aliens began picking up their belongings, carrying them towards the functioning stargate. As the beings took turns stepping through, two women turned back to SG1. Approaching, they reached out their arms, stopping only three steps from Daniel.
 
This time he allowed himself to be touched, trying not to flinch at the tingling sensations.
 
"Careful buddy, she's a bit old for you." Jack may have uttered the words in jest, but he kept a wary eye on his companion. Yet he trusted these people; after all, they had healed him and his team from being …dead.
 
"Daniel?" Carter watched the hand on her friend's shoulder, observing Daniel's calm stoic expression.
 
And then dizziness overwhelmed him, and Daniel staggered backwards from the touch. Collapsing weakly, he was caught by strong arms and lowered to his knees.
 
"Daniel!" With an angry glare, Jack stepped between his teammate and the women. With puzzled expressions, the women retracted their arms and bowed their heads.
 
Shaking off the sensation of being pulled into a void, blackness and light and weightlessness, distance and harmony and strength and sorrow all overpowering his mind until the tender grasp had been disconnected, Daniel's head began to clear.
 
"Daniel. Talk to us. What just happened?"
 
"Nothing," Daniel admitted slowly. "I understood nothing." Shaking his head, the young man frowned. "But apparently she did."
 
"Ayiana learned to understand English within hours."
 
"Well…" Daniel bit his lip ruefully. "I didn't have that much time."
 
Returning to the others patiently awaiting them at the stargate, the two women joined those final wayfarers in stepping through the sparkling event horizon, leaving SG1 alone again in a dismal, silent, deserted gray and yellow atmosphere. A single DHD had been left in place.
 
"They left us a way home," Jack observed gratefully. "Let's hope it gets us home."
 
"It will," Daniel nodded, still staring after the group, so ghostlike now that they had come and gone. Noticing the dubious looks from his teammates he added, "I just know." Helped to his feet, Daniel absent-mindedly dusted himself off.
 
"We've just encountered an ancient advanced race, and lost them in one day," Carter stated regretfully.
 
"I observed the address to which they retreated," Teal'c's nonchalant comment caused heads to turn towards him.
 
"Cool," Jack smirked, a corner of his mouth turning upwards.
 
"They didn't invite us."
 
"Not yet," Jack grinned at Daniel. Placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, he quietly suggested, "time for home. You've had a long day."
 
"So have you guys."
 
"Yeah, but we were dead through most of it."
 
Daniel hesitated, his focus plastered on the shiny metallic ground. "Um..."
 
Feeling a hand on his back, Daniel knew he'd unintentionally caused concern. "Do you mind if we look around a bit more?"
 
The request caught Jack by surprise. His eyes widened, forehead creasing. "You've gotta be kidding." But realizing that Daniel was definitely serious, and noting that Carter was looking at him with her own brand of undisguised hope, he almost relented, his eyes lingering on Carter's blood-soaked jacket . "Thought you might want to get cleaned up a bit." Unpredictable scientists. He smirked. Gotta love 'em.
 
Sam's gaze slowly drifted down to her clothing, as if in realization of her former condition.
 
"Carter, I'd say you're still in shock." Jack motioned towards his archeologist. "Daniel too."
 
"Sir... one hour?" Carter's wistful expression informed him that her state of mind, not to mention dress, was sufficient for a short investigation, while they were still here. She'd had very little time to look around before... the accident.
 
Daniel's distant gaze was enough to let the CO know that there was more here than his teammates were expressing; Daniel needed something else...
 
And Jack realized that this teammate, his friend, needed to leave this planet with better memories than those he'd been exposed to for the past several hours. He needed to be able to think of this place for its curiosities, its treasures, but those were still buried under reminders of loss. Daniel needed to leave here with hope and optimism.
 
"One hour. Stay away from tall-standing objects; I guarantee no one's going to come by to save us next time."
 
So as Teal'c knowingly met O'Neill's eyes and ventured off protectively to watch over Sam, Jack trailed just behind Daniel, who slowed to let the CO catch up. With a sideways glance, Daniel acknowledged Jack's presence at his side.
 
No words were exchanged as they strolled amiably. Finding themselves at the large molding equipment, its base now void of small naquada blocks awaiting melting and subsequent pressing, Daniel paused, gazing through one of the doorways, the blackness unhampered, his flashlight remaining untouched in his pocket. And he stood there, staring at nothing, waiting for the ghosts to speak but knowing they had already left.
 
"We'll have a team come back here and study this place."
 
Daniel nodded absently. They did not need more stargates on Earth. Earth did not need more internal conflict, more wars, more nations meddling in outer space.
 
"I don't know what else to say."
 
Daniel turned, his eyes slowly focussing. "What?"
 
"To you. I know what you witnessed, Daniel. I'm pretty sure I know what went through your mind."
 
Blinking, Daniel let out a breath. "I know what you went through. You lay there dying, Jack."
 
Jack nodded. "Scared the crap out of me."
 
"And hurt like hell?" At least it had happened so fast that Sam and Teal'c hadn't had any time to feel either the physical pain or the fear of death.
 
"Yeah." Jack peeked into the darkened doorway. "Understatement."
 
"I can't imagine the pain of going through that, Jack."
 
"Including the part where we all left you alone to watch us die in the middle of nowhere?" Jack couldn't bring himself to face his friend. "The way your parents did."
 
The frankness lurched in Daniel's throat, his eyes suddenly burning; the experience had been too recent and too intense to have settled the way he'd hoped. Clearing his throat, he sought a way to change the subject. "Jack, I - "
 
"I'm sorry."
 
"Don't."
 
"Daniel -"
 
"Don't." The archeologist swallowed. "I don't want to lose it here."
 
For some reason, Jack needed to press on. "There was no one there for you back then, Daniel. And there was no one here for you today. I am sorry."
 
This time the tears stayed put, blurring his vision, trying to recede. "But you're alive."
 
"Thanks to you."
 
"No. Thanks to aliens who by all means shouldn't even be alive themselves."
 
"And they're alive because of you. If we hadn't come here, Daniel, they would never have been set free." And if I… had been around, I would never have let you blast that stargate open with a staff weapon to set them free.
 
Daniel opened his mouth to respond, but realized he had nothing to say. Jack was right; maybe he had done something good. Maybe in the panic and desperation caused by his teammates' apparent deaths, he had forced an action that they would never have attempted as a team.
 
"I wanted to die along with you."
 
"I knew that."
 
Daniel frowned. "That's why you made me promise - "
 
Jack was already nodding.
 
"Okay."
 
"Okay." Jack motioned towards the cavity looming before them, all ghosts put to rest. Aware of the vastness of a long deserted technological plain, the yellow mist swirling overhead and hiding some sky or ceiling or who knew what far above them, the silence of a dead planet they should not have been lurking in, Jack wanted nothing more than to take a shower and forget about having died that afternoon. He squeezed his friend's arm. "Still want to look around?"
 
Slowly Daniel shook his head. "Not really. Not today."
 
"Carter, Teal'c." The CO activated his radio. "Ten minutes, back at the DHD. We're leaving."
 
"Yes sir."
 
Upon their approach, they could see Carter begin to dial the gate. From behind, Jack noticed a childlike red tissue rose sticking up from a side pocket of her backpack. He glanced at Daniel, but the man seemed oblivious, lost deeply in his thoughts. As the vortex shot out from its round frame, the last event horizon beckoning invitingly, Jack fingered the creased bit of paper in his own pocket. I understand, he projected silently towards the man beside him. And thank you.
back home
 
comments