Chapter One

There wasn't much difference between one desert planet and the next.

When SG1 stepped through the stargate, Jack's first impression was that they could have been on Abydos and it wouldn't have surprised him, if not for the fact that the gate was in the middle of nowhere instead of inside a pyramid. And in the near distance, maybe half a mile away, he could see a wide river snaking its way across the barren landscape. But aside from those two things, there was nothing noticeably different between the two worlds. There was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see, and he wondered if Daniel felt as comfortable there as he did on his adopted home planet.

Jack, Sam and Teal'c fanned out on the dais as Daniel went to check the DHD. Jack noticed almost immediately that the people on the planet didn't use their gate much, if at all. The desert sand had blown and drifted up around it, half-burying the dais and almost completely covering the stairs, and the DHD was so buried that Daniel had to kneel down just to be able to reach it.

"This looks like a happening place," Jack remarked.

He got two of the three responses he was expecting. Sam grinned at him across her shoulder. Teal'c looked back at him in that way he had of making people feel really, really stupid. But Daniel, who should have fired back some snide little comment of his own, didn't even look at him.

Jack shook his head. Things were not starting well.

He watched Daniel stand up from the DHD and decided to try again.

"All good there, Daniel?"

Daniel nodded without speaking, and Jack had to stop himself from sighing. That had been pretty well the same way their conversation the day before had gone, too. Jack had talked, and Daniel had nodded at him, or shook his head, or rolled his eyes without speaking. Jack had wondered at the time if it was an intentional thing he was doing, or if he wasn't aware of it.

But they were supposed to be working their way back to normal, and Jack had never been one to give up easily.

"Okay, so, Daniel, how far, and which way?"

The look in Daniel's eyes made two things perfectly clear to Jack. First, he was fully aware that he wasn't talking and second, he wanted it that way. Daniel hadn't stopped talking to Jack because of some deep-seated defense mechanism or any other involuntary psychological thing. He'd stopped talking to Jack because he was mad at him. He was giving him the silent treatment.

Daniel was throwing a temper tantrum.

The parent in Jack was telling him to yell at Daniel to knock it off, but the commanding officer in him saw Sam and Teal'c standing there, watching to see what he was going to do. And the friend in him had to admit that Daniel had a right to be mad at him. So he bit his tongue, rubbed his forehead, and sighed.

"Daniel?"

Daniel shook his head and looked down at the ground, and when he looked back up, the open defiance that had been in his eyes was gone. He didn't look angry anymore; he just looked tired. Resigned. Defeated.

Jack hated it.

"Two miles," Daniel finally answered, gesturing at one of the hundreds of indistinguishable dunes that surrounded them. "Two miles west."

Jack nodded once and motioned Teal'c forward with his hand. "All right. Teal'c, you take point. We walk west until we run into something."

Sam jogged down the few visible steps of the gate platform in time to catch up with Daniel, who'd already turned to follow Teal'c out across the sand. Jack took his place at the end of the line, far enough back to stay out of the conversation but still close enough to hear it.

"Aren't you excited?" Sam asked. "I couldn't believe it when I read the mission briefing."

"Believe what?"

"We're walking right into the Old Kingdom!" Jack had to smile at Sam's enthusiasm, and he didn't even care if it was real or if she was just putting it on for Daniel's sake. If anyone would be able to break through the pissed-off – and injured – child on the surface and get through to the scientist underneath, it would be Sam. "Everything you've ever studied, Daniel, and it's here. Why aren't you more excited?"

Daniel smiled, a small one at first, but when he looked at Sam and saw the wide grin on her face, it grew.

"Okay, yeah. Yeah, I'm a little excited."

"A little? Come on, Daniel."

"Okay, a lot," he admitted reluctantly. "How much of the cultural information did you read?"

"All of it," Sam answered immediately. "I think it sounds fascinating. What's the one thing you think we absolutely have to see while we're here?"

"Oh, that's easy." And just like that, Daniel was Daniel again. Jack owed Sam, big time, for doing in two minutes what he'd failed to do in two weeks. "The MALP took pictures of what looks like a Sun Temple, and if the estimated size calculations are right, then it's at least twice as big as the Temple of Amun at Karnak. The implications are astounding, really..."

Jack's smile got wider with every word that came out of Daniel's mouth. Plain, boring desert or not, the place might not be so bad after all.

Jack didn't know if the implications were really astounding, but the size of Daniel's temple certainly was.

SG1 was lined up against the top of a dune on their stomachs, still half a mile from the edge of the village and looking down on it. The village itself was in a valley of sorts, a natural depression in the center of a ring of dunes that rose above it. And in the center of the village stood what had to be the largest structure that Jack had ever seen.

"Look, Sam," Daniel said. "Mastabas."

"What are mastabas?" she asked.

"Burial vaults. And over there?" Jack looked to his right, past Teal'c and Sam, and saw Daniel. He was pointing into the village, showing Sam the different structures he'd identified. "See how the houses are different? How they're sectioned off? They really do separate the classes, but there's no walls between the sections. Just the streets."

"What's that in front of the temple?" Sam asked, reaching into her pack and pulling out her binoculars.

"It's a black pyramid," Daniel answered breathlessly. "I'll have to see it closer to be sure, but from here it looks exactly like the Fifth Dynasty pyramids at Abusir on Earth. I can't believe this is all here!"

Jack smiled to himself once more. Daniel was acting like a child again, but more like a kid in a candy store on Christmas morning than one who'd been kicked repeatedly while being told his puppy had been run over by a car.

It was a vast improvement.

Teal'c had obviously noticed the change that had come over Daniel since their arrival, because he was looking at Jack and nodding his silent approval. Sam was doing a damn good job of pulling Daniel back out of himself, Teal'c was on-board with the situation even if he didn't know the specifics of why they were there, and Daniel was having a blast. The best part was that they were less than an hour into a four day mission, and things were going so much more smoothly than Jack could have asked for.

And he'd been worried.

"Uh... Colonel?"

Jack looked back over at Sam, saw her pulling her binoculars away from her eyes, and the look on her face brought all of Jack's worry right back.

"Report, Carter."

"Locals, sir," she said, passing the binoculars to him. "You might want to take a look."

"Well, we knew it was inhabited," he said as he held the binoculars up to his eyes. He gave them a few seconds to adjust their focus on the group of people he'd picked to look at.

Crap.

"There should be a variety of different professions," Daniel was saying. "Farmers, craftsmen, scribes, priests..."

"Jaffa."

Jack handed the binoculars to Teal'c with a frustrated huff. "Just once," he said. "Is it so much to ask Just one time I want the mission guys to say there's no Goa'uld and have there actually be no Goa'uld. Why is that so damn hard?" He saw Teal'c's forehead furrow above the binoculars. "T? You know who they work for?"

"I do not," Teal'c answered as he lowered the binoculars. Daniel reached for them, and Sam passed them across to him. "I do not recognize that symbol."

"Neb-Hut," Daniel said suddenly. He lowered the binoculars and looked at his teammates, all of whom were looking at him questioningly.

"Neb who?" Jack asked.

"Neb-Hut," Daniel repeated. "Nephthys, if you prefer."

"Are you certain, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"Well, that's her symbol," Daniel insisted, handing the binoculars back to Sam, who held them up to look through them again.

"I have not heard of a Goa'uld by this name," Teal'c said.

"Well, I'm not really surprised, given what we know about her husband." Daniel shrugged and turned to look back down on the village.

Jack waited for more of an explanation, but there didn't seem to be one coming any time soon. "What do we know about her husband?" Again, there was no answer. "Daniel?"

"Yeah?" Daniel answered distractedly.

"Who's her husband?"

Sam nudged Teal'c in the ribs with her elbow, handed him the binoculars, and pointed to something in the distance. Jack could see her whispering something in Teal'c's ear as he investigated whatever it was she'd pointed out.

"Um..." Daniel glanced around and looked incredibly nervous all of a sudden. He really didn't want to answer that question for some reason.

"Daniel?" Jack prompted.

"Seth?"

Jack didn't say anything at first, just looked at Daniel and blinked. Sam and Teal'c were absorbed in a private conversation between them, and didn't seem to be hearing a word they said. Daniel simply flashed Jack a shy smile and shrugged.

"Are you guessing?" Jack finally asked.

"What? No!" Daniel protested. "No, I know. Nephthys was Seth's wife."

Jack dug his elbows into the sand dune they were leaning against and massaged his forehead with his fingers. The news just kept getting better and better.

"So, just so we're clear here. The mission guys said there were no Goa'uld here, but they sent us to a planet full of Jaffa. And now you're telling me that these Jaffa serve the widow of the snakehead that we just killed?"

Daniel bit his lip and nodded his head, then turned away quickly.

"Well, that's just peachy." Jack pressed his hands against the dune and pushed himself down it. "Come on, kids. Time to go home."

"O'Neill."

"Colonel, wait."

Jack stopped where he was and turned back to his team. All three of them were scooting down the sand beside him, and he waited for them to reach him. They formed a small circle seated on the side of the dune.

"What?"

Sam glanced quickly at Teal'c before speaking. "Teal'c and I don't think we should leave, sir."

Jack shook his head and blinked in confusion. "Did you not hear what I just said? What Daniel just said?"

"No, sir. I mean, yes, sir, we heard. But we don't think there's a Goa'uld here."

"Jaffa, Carter." Jack insisted. "Where's there's Jaffa, there's Goa'uld."

"Not necessarily, O'Neill," Teal'c said. "I did see the symbol of this Nephthys on the heads of several men in the village, but I see no armor. There are no staff weapons. These Jaffa are not in a state of battle readiness."

"He's got a point, Jack," Daniel put in. "They're walking around in their normal clothes."

"The Jaffa on Chulak aren't always in armor, either," Jack pointed out.

"You are correct. But these Jaffa do not carry symbiotes."

"How do you know that?"

"They wear no shirts, and they have no outward signs of a womb."

Jack took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair as he considered Teal'c's words carefully. "So what does that mean, exactly? How does that mean there's no Goa'uld here?"

"It does not prove that there is not one, but it does not lend support to a theory that there is. If they have no wombs, then this means there are no symbiotes for them to carry."

"Also," Carter said, "there are no resources here that a Goa'uld would be interested in. Not just naquadah or trinium, sir, but nothing. There's no gold, no silver, no minerals that would be in any way valuable."

Jack took a deep breath and let it out, and Daniel took the opportunity to speak up.

"And it's not on the Abydos Cartouche. This is one of Sam's cold-dial planets, which means that the Goa'uld most likely don't even know it exists."

Jack gestured at the dune, indicating the village behind it. "Then how did they get here?"

"The Ancients?" Daniel said. "The Asgard? It wouldn't be the first time we've come across a culture that's been planted by one of the benevolent races."

Jack nodded briefly. "Wouldn't be the first time that people we thought were good guys turned out to be the bad guys, either."

Jack snapped his hat against his leg before he put it back on. He was considering their words, weighing them against what his own gut was telling him. He wanted to tell them they could just stay, because Daniel wasn't the only one who needed a nice, easy mission for a change. They all needed this. And four days in the sun, with no real mission and no real responsibilities, sounded great.

But there were Jaffa in that village, symbiotes or no, staff weapons or no. The soldiers of their enemy. And he couldn't just ignore that.

"If there was a way to talk to one of the villagers without strolling into a village full of potentially dangerous Jaffa, then maybe..."

"Greetings, travelers!"

All four members of SG1 turned their heads toward the sound of the cheerful voice.

There was a man standing on the crest of the dune above them, with his arms open wide and a large and very friendly smile on his face. He wore a long white robe, and he had a leopard skin draped across his shoulder. When he saw that they were all looking at him, he spoke again.

"Greetings."

Daniel shook his head, confused. "How do you... you speak our language."

Jack glanced across at Daniel and cocked an eyebrow, unsure whether he'd just asked a pointless question or made a very obvious statement. Daniel simply shrugged back at him.

The man on the dune smiled. "It is the language of the Violet Mother. She has taught it to us since we were children," he explained. "So you do understand me?"

Daniel nodded quickly, and Jack could hear the excitement in his voice. "Yes, yes, we understand you perfectly. You speak the same language we do."

"You have come through the Chappa'ai?" the man asked. "You are travelers from a distant land?"

"Yes, we are," Daniel answered. He pushed himself to his feet as he settled into a familiar and comfortable role, that of team diplomat and communicator. "We were just discussing whether or not we could enter your village."

"Yes," the man responded with an enthusiastic nod. The longer he talked to Daniel, to wider his smile grew. "Yes, you must come. The feast will begin at sundown, and the people will be elated that you have arrived."

"There's no need for a feast," Daniel began, but the man interrupted him.

"Nonsense! The feast will be held as it is every year on this night. The coming of the morrow is highly anticipated by all."

Daniel seemed to accept that answer, because he nodded his head with a smile.

"Oh, of course. If it's an annual event, that's different. I'm Daniel," he said, reaching out a hand for the man to grasp. The man backed away quickly, almost in fear, and Daniel let his hand fall to his side. "These are my friends – Jack, Sam and Teal'c. Are we all welcome in your village?"

"Yes, of course you are," the man said. He was looking Daniel up and down, not predatorily but certainly more familiarly than Jack was comfortable with. Almost possessively. "I am Niuserre. I am Wer-Meu of the goddess, the divine Nephthys."

Jack saw Daniel freeze at the word. It didn't last long, only for a second, but it was more than enough for Jack.

"Daniel?" he asked. "What's Wer-Meu?"

"Priest," Daniel explained with a smile. "He's a priest. The high priest actually."

"Of the goddess, Nephthys," Jack added.

"Yes, she who is always with us, looking down on us and protecting us. Our goddess is kind and gracious and good."

Jack rolled his eyes, but then took the chance to ask the one question he really needed answered. "But is she here?"

Niuserre looked at him in an incredibly condescending manner, and Jack bristled. Daniel got beaming smiles and enthusiasm, but he got arrogance?

"The goddess is all around us," Niuserre said. "Do you not see her in the sand that blows past your feet? In the clouds that float across the sky? In the river that flows and gives life to our land?"

Jack leaned forward slightly, so that he could speak directly into Daniel's ear. "Is he for real?" he whispered.

"He's a priest, Jack," Daniel whispered back. "He has to believe in her, but he's not talking about her like she's real. She's an ideal, a perfect image in his mind."

Daniel was so earnest in his belief, and Sam and Teal'c in theirs, that Jack found himself wavering. It went against every instinct he had, but when he looked at it logically, his team had to be right. There was nothing on that planet to attract a Goa'uld's attention, and nothing to indicate that this Nephthys person had ever been there. He didn't like the priest guy much at all, but he seemed harmless enough. And even if he wasn't, SG1 was heavily armed and more than willing to defend themselves – and each other – if necessary.

What could four days really hurt?

"All right," Jack admitted reluctantly. "I'm thinking we might go ahead and give this a try. But if there's a Goa'uld hiding under the bridge waiting to eat us, Daniel, so help me..."

"It's a desert. There are no bridges." Daniel flashed him a quick smile before turning back to Niuserre.

"There's a river," Jack countered under his breath.

Daniel ignored him.

"Niuserre," he said. "If I may, we are from a very distant land, and we do not know the name of this one."

"Oh!" Niuserre actually flushed from embarrassment. "So excited was I at your arrival that I forgot to call it by name." Niuserre spread his arms again, gold trinkets and jewelry clinking as he moved.

"Greetings, weary travelers. Welcome to Iunu."

Daniel smiled thinly and held up his index finger, asking Niuserre for patience. "Give us just one minute, please."

He spun around and walked quickly to Jack, grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. Sam and Teal'c climbed to their feet as well, and the four of them formed a tight circle. Niuserre was still standing on the top of the dune, looking down at them, but Jack doubted that he could hear their conversation.

"Yes, Daniel?"

"Iunu, Jack. Iunu!"

"Bless."

"No!" Daniel's frustration was real, and Jack felt bad for causing it, but at the same time, it was the first time Daniel had talked to him normally since they'd arrived. "Iunu is another name for Heliopolis."

It was obvious from Daniel's expression that he was expecting them to immediately fill in their own blanks, but Jack wasn't seeing whatever it was he was supposed to see. Teal'c spoke up, saving him the effort.

"That is the name Ernest Littlefield gave to the planet he was stranded on."

"Yes," Daniel confirmed with the nod of his head. "Yes, it is."

"And it wasn't on the Abydos Cartouche, either," Sam added.

"Nope."

Daniel's grin was enormous, and Jack thought at that moment that he'd do just about anything to keep it that way.

"You think they're related?" he asked.

"I don't know," Daniel admitted. "But it's a lot of coincidences, don't you think? Two planets with the same name..."

"But the people that lived on that planet originally didn't name it Heliopolis," Sam pointed out. "Dr. Littlefield did."

"Because it was a center of knowledge and learning," Daniel said. "What if the locals named this place the same thing, for the same reason?" He turned and looked at Jack directly, blue eyes staring intensely. "What if there's a device here, Jack? A device like the one Ernest found?"

Jack considered that for a moment. He remembered the lengths Daniel had been willing to go to just to study that first device, the fact that he'd been more than willing to be stranded on Ernest's planet forever just for a chance to learn everything it contained. And he remembered his own experiences with another knowledge repository left lying around by the Ancients.

"What if there's one of those head-sucker things, too?"

Daniel shook his head. "Then I won't use it. Obviously. But if there's a holographic device like Ernest's? If we can find one on a peaceful planet, and I have the time I need to study it... Jack, think about it. The benefits of that knowledge, the things we could learn. And if there's a chance, even a small one, and we can take advantage of it?"

Jack nodded slowly. He had to admit that Daniel had a point. He didn't have to like it, but he did have to concede it.

"All right," he said. "All right, Daniel, you win. We'll stay. But the first sign of weirdness, and I mean any weirdness, we're out of here. Got it?"

Daniel nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I got it."

"Okay. So, go make nice with the priest guy."

Jack couldn't help but smile when Daniel turned and ran to do just that.