4 After Icon: Part One
'Artifact Discovery'
Spoilers for Season 8 (After Icon where SG-1 goes to a world where Daniel is wounded by the base being taken over, but this is before) so be forewarned. This is the fourth in my series of what happens between the shows in Season 8.
Hey: Daniel was on that planet for about three months. He needs a break! (Oh instead of Daniel, it is actually Solara, but that is another original fiction I made about this same thing, never mind.)
SGC: Jack's Office
Teal'c and Sam were in Jack's office talking to him about their reports on the Calcoonians and the Grand Protectorate for a time then got side tracked.
"How did you get these pictures?" Jack held a copy that Sam had sent him on the Internet.
"The one with you drooling as you slept at your desk, and the other of you trying to strangle that plant that almost took over the base?" Sam was smiling to the point that Jack thought her face could crack.
"No, I am talking about the picture with me almost flipping a Hummer, into several lanes of traffic, where you can see the fear in the other driver's eyes. And the one that looks as if I am patting Anise on the bottom." Jack mused and wondered what new pictures she had on her refrigerator this week. Is Pete looking at these pics of me too?
"Well, I'm off." Daniel Jackson had two large bags obviously filled with books.
"Daniel, where have you decided to visit on your break, Egypt?" Sam wondered out loud.
"Actually, I got an email from a National Historical Park in Kentucky, where they claim to have found a Native American artifact that has Egyptian written on it." Daniel appeared to be in high spirits about the news.
"Now Daniel, do you remember when this happened before and that Hat Goa'uld tried to take over the SGC? You will be careful and let us know if anything 'Squirrely' happens, right?" General Jack O'Neill was trying to add in his General tone with his regular carefree self.
"Her name is Hathor. Yea, like last time, but not." Daniel was almost beaming at this point. Then his memories of his having helped Hathor make Goa'uld changed the expression on his face. He remembered Hathor was found in a sarcophagus and then came to the SGC. She used her powers to control the men on the base and the women were forced to defend themselves and take control back.
Teal'c could see Daniel's expression change and knew what he was thinking. "Hathor used the seductress power of hers over as many human men as she could. Anything that happened when she was here was not your fault, Daniel Jackson."
Daniel nodded his head while looking at Teal'c.
Jack repeated what he said before, "Remember, 'Squirrely'." Jack waved his hands in the air and raised an eyebrow, which made Sam hold in a chuckle.
East Kentucky
By the next day, Daniel woke up in his hotel mentally ready for his appointment at the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. He went to the front desk to see if his car had arrived. They had his car keys there, but Daniel decided to go next door for fast food, orange juice and a hash brown. As he drove thru the town of Middlesboro, he was amused at all of the stores that lined each side of the road and wondered if any sold artifacts.
His eyes lifted to the mountains that formed a circle around the town. He remembered that he was told the land was originally flattened out by an impact from space. In the early morning light of the sun, he could see a thick mist that seemed to pour over the mountain chain like a container of cream. What else is hidden here?
After several introductions and avoiding the Stargate in conversation, Daniel was in his car driving up a winding road that would lead to a cave. And what lovely scenery it was.
"The deed to the cave was held by Lincoln Memorial University for quite sometime being called Cujoes Cavern. Now, we have changed the name back to what it was originally called in Dr. Thomas Walker's journal. He was the first white man to view the cave, and called this place, Gap Cave." A pleasant Park Ranger in her thirties explained.
"How much of this cave system has been explored and charted?" Daniel was becoming completely fascinated with the idea that proof was found to prove that Native Americans were involved with Egyptians or the Goa'uld.
A Grotto Member spoke up as he was one of the people to find the object in the new room of the cave system, "Over the last thirty years or so, there have been about seven miles of the cave explored. We help out the park by exploring the cave system once a month. The artifact we discovered was in last month's trip when a new room in the cave was found. We have been back every week since then looking around for more. Just three days ago, we found a place we think the artifact belonged. There are similar markings on a protuberance on one of the walls. Here we are."
The team entered the cave mouth into the darkness that was fought back by several places of lighting and flashlights. Daniel welcomed the slight drop in temperature as he entered and gazed around. Oh, the joys of discovery.
After a while of tracking thru the ancient cave, Daniel became more curious about the artifact they found and could not remain silent anymore, "This artifact with Egyptian and Native American writing on it, where is it?"
"We had some members come in earlier today, and they have it in the new room we found. Oh, I never fully explained it to you. It is a circular disk with Egyptian on one side and Native American on the other. There is a local girl named Keira who thinks it is a key to open some kind of door. At first I thought this was a little silly, but then I looked at the wall closer. She showed us that the disk fit into the markings on the wall.
Once inside the new room they discovered, Daniel was ushered to the markings on the wall. He was also handed the artifact and he put it into place.
"Tried that already, interesting is it not?" Keira strode up to Daniel.
"Oh, yea very interesting. Have you deciphered the words on the wall and the disk yet?" Daniel turned to find a pair of impossibly clear green eyes with little specs of gold as Keira stepped into the light. Eyes of emeralds, he thought.
"My uncle is an archeologist. I have taken a few classes and gone on a few digs. The Native American language on the disk appears to be from the Adena and Hopwell of about 1,000B.C. to say 400B.C. It shows markings of the shamans that dressed as wolves and often broke out teeth to have a more wolfish appearance. This one on the bottom is the Natchez symbol for sun and wind, which was commonly etched into pots for burials. All of them made mounds for burials and other key interests, not unlike the Egyptians who mummified bodies in pyramids. See here, there is a depiction of a mound in the center of the disc."
Daniel held the disk and ran his fingertips over the center, "I know of the Hopewell. A friend of mine sends me things about them from time to time. They were great artists near where Ohio is today, I believe. The Natchez, back when I was in college, were a great part of various papers I wrote. They had a sun theocracy. They believe that the sun is actually a god, and he sent his son down here to give out rules then went to dwell in a stone that was worshiped in a temple. The leader was called the Great Sun, believing himself a descendant from the deity." Daniel stared at the disk in silence, and Keira allowed him to concentrate without asking him any questions. He finally started looking at the wall again.
"The marking on the part of the wall sticking out has similar symbols for sky, earth and leaders. Now, the outer part of the wall has obscure words in Cherokee. This one says 'e lo hi' which means earth and 'di de yo s gi' which means teacher, earth teacher.
"Yes, I believe you are correct." Daniel shifted his gaze to the other side of the disk.
"I don't presume to understand the Egyptian as well as you do." She found herself enchanted with his excitable energy at the disk.
"The hieroglyphs on the disk are separate and were used in Egypt in 3100B.C. These three symbols together mean 'sky'. The picture of the rabbit means 'exit'. The half circle with another above it means 'hill, with rising sun behind'. The heart with a 't' on the top stands for happy or beautiful. And the final depiction of a line with two circles over it means 'bolt of a door'. Not having been in order like it would have been on a wall makes the translation kind of shaky. It means from the sky to a hill at dawn is a beautiful locked door. And the other side says something about sky, earth, leaders and a mound. The wall says earth teacher."
Daniel could not say what was on his mind. The thought of a Goa'uld on earth back in Egypt then lived with the Adena and Natchez Indians. It may have later landed in Kentucky and made the disk. Daniel was starting to feel astounded. His thoughts started to wonder. The Natchez thought their leader was a sun god's son, could that be a son of Ra? He gave them rules then went to a sacred rock they worshiped and thought he dwelt in, could that be a sarcophagus? Most of the Natchez were killed in war and the survivors had to mingle into other tribes; one of them is the Cherokee like the writing on the wall. The Cherokee spoke of an ancient fire that was from the burial mound of a great chieftain, could this disk open the door to that room?
Daniel held the disk in place and spoke the words on the disk in Ancient Egyptian. There was a flash of bluish light and a burst of crimsoned energy as the wall started to rise up into a hidden compartment. To everyone's astonishment and fear, the wall was opening upward, which showed a marble staircase that descended into fathomless depths. Only Daniel, Keira and the leader of the Grotto ventured into its abyss.
By five in the afternoon, Daniel remerged out of the opening of the cave and wandered alone. Everyone was taking a break for dinner and had decided to come back in the morning. Daniel drove his car back to the Visitor's Center and used an office phone to call the SGC.
"Hey, Jack." Daniel began.
"Hey, what ya find?" Jack had lots of paper work for a Friday and welcomed any distraction.
"I think you all should come on out and have a look around. It is really lovely here." Daniel continued.
"Na, we have this weekend off, and I plan on going fishing. I'll tell the others. I don't know what they are doing." Jack seemed passive.
"Jack, do you remember anything about squirrels?" Daniel hoped to hint not knowing if the line was secure. Never know.
"Aren't they those fuzzy rats with long tails and a nicer coat? They run around all over the woods by my house. If I want to look at them, I'll do it while I fish." Jack mused.
"No! You told me to remember 'Squirrely'. They have a plane called Glacier Girl. The plane is a P-38 from World War II, and it went down in Greenland during the war. They found it inside an ice cap and took it apart then put it back together. They actually flew it for the first time after they restored it on October 26th, 2002. It is on display at the airport here in town. You really must bring everyone and come down here to have a look. It really is 'Squirrely'."
"Squirrely, did you say. Ok, we will be in town by tomorrow morning to look at this plane of yours." Jack hoped he was not making up the part about the plane, but he knew he must have found something in the Park.
Next, Daniel drove to the top of the Panicle area, which they told him showed three states from the top. As he walked the narrow trail to the main attraction, he saw a large rock off of the path that was over a cliff. On top of the massive rock that leaned on a tree, he noticed Keira sitting on top of it eating an apple and writing in a journal.
"Hey, do you know any good places for dinner around here?" Daniel spoke in a most joyous voice. He still had images of what they found in his mind, and he would have preferred to stay down in the cave the entire night. He knew once Jack, Sam and Teal'c seen what he found they would all fall back in amazement as he did.
"Yes, there is a Chinese place here in town that is very good. Would you like to go have a bite with me?" Keira smiled at him with admiration.
"Sure, do you know of any other findings like this in the area?" Daniel asked politely while sitting next to her admiring the view, which was of rows of mountains and a river.
"There's actually a cave farther down below here that has a few things I discovered. Hey, do you want to get the food and bring it back here. That way I can show you the other cave, its not that large, and have a picnic. We could swing by my apartment; yesterday I make a wonderful dried pear-chocolate caramel pie. We could pick it up after the food." She inquired while brushing the long sandy brown curls of her hair out of her face.
Daniel paused and thought she resembled his wife that passed away, "Yea, that sounds excellent."