Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and I'll never make enough money for that to change.
Inspired by a snippet from "The Three Musketeers." Which is to say that when this takes a really weird turn, it's not entirely my fault.
Thanks to polrobin for the beta.
Jack O'Neill stepped out of the open, shimmering vortex of the Stargate and headed down the steps, clearing the tiny platform for the team that would follow. "Wow," a female voice said from behind him. "It's really beautiful."
"Just like the pictures."
A bland smile on her face, Sam Carter moved to his side. "I didn't see the video feed from the MALP, sir. I was in my lab. Working."
I have better things to do than stare over Walter's shoulder all day, the smile said. And it was probably true, Jack thought – but he sure didn't. And neither, most of the time, did Teal'c, who'd already seen the images and took in their surroundings with mild disinterest.
"I saw the pictures," the team archaeologist spoke up, "but I don't think I quite got it. The symbolic nature of it all."
"The huh?"
"Well, you know," he insisted. "The city built on water. The seven spires."
Slowly, Major Carter circled the island – tiny and clearly man-made, the perfect circle wasn't much wider than the gate itself. But surrounding them were much larger land masses, the strikingly blue water spanned by long, low bridges that met the mainlands through massive arches and long staircases. Seven bridges, seven arches, seven enormous spires atop them.
Jack shoved his compass back in his vest. "And not a damn one of them on a cardinal direction."
"I doubt that's what they're based on, Jack," Daniel said.
"Perhaps there is some astronomical significance," Teal'c mused.
"Or," Sam said, "the Colonel used to be right and there's been some sort of shift in the planet's magnetic north."
The archaeologist narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't encourage him."
She only grinned in response.
"She can take my side any time she damn well pleases. Which way?"
"Um, well... I'd really like to take a look at those," Daniel said, gesturing past the southerly spires to the tall, clearly Ancient structures behind them, "but first, we should probably talk to the locals. You know, just in case."
Sam glanced down the bridges to the empty plazas surrounding them and said, "And where would you recommend we do that?"
"Yeah, where is everybody?" her CO asked.
"There." One long, dark finger pointed toward a young woman in the distance as Teal'c asked, "You believe them to be Ancients?"
She certainly didn't appear to be anything special – as with most of the cultures SG-1 had encountered, she wore rustic clothing in shades of brown. It wasn't what anyone would have expected of a race as powerful as the Ancients.
"I think we shouldn't judge," the younger man decided. "You never know."
"But I've got a pretty good idea." Jack's sarcastic drawl earned a sharp look. "Lead on."
