Characters: Cam, Daniel and the rest of the team
Category: supernatural, D/C friendship
Warnings: none
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: not mine. No money is being made.
Feedback: yes, please!
Summary: When Cam follows Daniel into a temple they find off world, he accidentally triggers a device that affects him in a way no one believed was possible.
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Daniel walked slowly inside the temple and let his eyes adjust to the dusk as he took in the interior. It looked Asian and on the walls hung tablets covered with what seemed to be some kind of Chinese characters. Daniel itched to find out what secrets those tablets could tell him, but it would take hours to read it all and he hadn't brought his camcorder with him either. On the other hand he didn't have time for more than a quick look anyway. He had found out about the temple from the natives of this planet just a little while ago and the team was due back to the SGC in four hours time. Now he hoped that he'd be able to talk Landry into letting him go back for a couple of days. From what the village elders he'd talked to had told him, he knew that he might find something in there that could be of value. He just wasn't sure what it was yet, but he hoped that he'd get to figure it out.
Daniel then saw that on each of the walls there were three large, circular paintings near the ceiling. He stepped up to have a closer look and realized that it was paintings of the Chinese zodiac. He was right below the painting of the Rooster, and was amazed by how life like it looked. It was sitting on top of a fence, looking straight at him with a proud posture, and if he didn't know better he'd almost expect it to start moving and crowing.
"Whoa. Someone knew how to paint."
Daniel jumped at the sound of Cam's voice and turned around to give his young team leader a dark glare.
"What?"
"Don't sneak up on me like that", Daniel replied and started to walk along the wall, stopping for a brief moment under each painting before moving on again.
"And someone seems to have gotten up on the wrong side of bed this morning", Cam said pointedly and leaned against the wall.
"Nope, I just haven't had that much coffee today."
"Right. So what do you think this place is?"
"Don't know yet. The elder I spoke to said something about people coming here when they want to find their inner spirit, but I won't know for sure until I've translated these writings."
"Do you really have time for that?"
"No, but I thought that I could ask Landry to let me go back. Maybe we can find something of use here."
"If General Landry lets you return. We have more important things to do than checking out old ruins, Jackson."
Cam started to walk across the room to take a better look at a painting on the opposite wall when the temple suddenly lit up and lights started to circle the paintings. Cam froze on the spot and cast a glance at Daniel, who'd turn around and was now staring at him.
"Mitchell, what did you do?" he asked.
"Nothing!"
Daniel opened his mouth to say something more, but closed it again when beams of different colored light suddenly shot out from the paintings and focused directly on Cam, illuminating him. Daniel now saw that the colonel was standing within a circle on the floor lined with more Chinese characters, some of which he recognized as the signs for the creatures in the zodiac. Then he heard something starting up and by the look of Cam's face he could tell that he'd heard it too.
"I think you better get away from there", Daniel said as he frantically started to search for something – anything – that even remotely resembled a control panel or a switch that would turn this whole thing off. He did not want to find out what would happen next, not until he was sure that it was perfectly safe.
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Cam snarled. He pushed and pulled with all his strength but it was like he was stuck in a block of ice. No matter what he did he couldn't move an inch. He was complete immobile.
Suddenly some of the paintings started to shut down while those beside them turned brighter and brighter. It didn't take long before one single beam of white light was shining on Cam from the painting of the Dog. The light shone brighter and brighter by the second until it was so bright that Daniel almost couldn't see Cam anymore. The next second the light flashed and then the temple was dark again.
Daniel turned his flashlight on Cam and saw him standing there, seemingly okay. He was breathing heavily and blinked rapidly with a somewhat confused look on his face, but other than that he looked fine.
"You okay, Mitchell?" Daniel asked and walked over to Cam, who gave him an affirmative nod and stepped out of the circle.
"Yeah, I'm fine", he said. Then he shot the painting on offending glare. "What the hell just happened?"
"I have no idea. You sure you're okay?"
"Positive. I'm feeling a little tingly, maybe, but that's it. Do you think it was something dangerous?"
"If what the elders told me is anything to go by I'd say no, but the only way to find out is to translate all these tablets, and if this device is dangerous, I'm not sure if we've got time for that."
"Right. Then I say we go back to the village and see if we can find someone who knows exactly what this temple is for."
They left the temple and walked back to the village in silence. Daniel kept a close eye on Cam the entire time in case any effects from the beam wouldn't show until later, but nothing happened, which was a kind of relief. Not even Daniel himself felt anything that could indicate if he'd been effected too, but then again, he had been standing to the side while Cam had taken the full force of the beam, whatever it was. Maybe they'd be okay.
TBC