Carter looked around as Teal'c and Jackson joined her. The lighting was dim, but they could make out shapes along the opposite wall and several monitors on the wall to their right. The monitors flickered to life as Daniel touched a lone pedestal style console with his right hand.

"Can you make any sense of that?" Carter asked as lines of script glowed a luminescent green. The stench that had been so strong seemed to have dissipated with the opening of the door.

"Some of the letters and figures look familiar, but I won't know until I study them further," Jackson said his interest piqued by the strange combination of letters and pictures.

"Colonel Carter, perhaps we should investigate further," Teal'c said and motioned toward the large doors that were slowly opening across from the monitors.

"Daniel..."

"I'm good here, Sam," Jackson said and opened his pack.

"We'll check in with you every 15 minutes," Carter told him.

"Yeah, yeah," Jackson said and began scribbling down the symbols he was familiar with.

Carter and Teal'c moved to the fully opened doorway and looked inside. A corridor stretched out before them, lit at twenty foot intervals by strips of fluorescent bulbs. Teal'c was the first to step through, while Carter covered him with her weapon. The lighting grew brighter as they began walking along the strange tunnel.

"Where do you think this leads?" Teal'c asked.

"I have no idea, but I think it's headed north, away from the city. It's strange that we didn't see this from the outside," Carter said.

"Perhaps it is cloaked like the puddle jumpers in Atlantis?"

"Maybe, or else the Talosians have some technology we don't know about," Carter told him and stopped to look around. "Do you hear that?"

"I hear nothing," Teal'c answered.

"You sure?"

"I am," Teal'c told her and watched as she moved toward the nearest light. "What do you hear?"

"I'm not sure," Carter answered and tilted her head slightly. "It's gone now."

"What did it sound like?" Teal'c asked when they moved forward once more.

"I'm not sure...maybe the sound of wings flapping," Carter answered.

"Could it be the serpent Colonel Mitchell saw?"

"I don't know...maybe. Let's just keep our eyes and ears open."

"My eyes and ears are always open, Colonel Carter."

"I know...it was just a figure of speech," Carter told him. "Have you noticed there are no doors and windows?"

"I have," Teal'c answered and turned to look back toward the door they entered through. "How far would you say we have traveled?"

"I don't know..not far. Why?"

"Where is the door?"

"Back...maybe we traveled further than we thought," Carter said.

"I do not think that is the reason, Colonel Carter," Teal'c said. "All is not as it seems."

"Maybe we should go back?"

"I do not believe that is possible," Teal'c said, but followed Carter back the way they'd come.

"Daniel, can you hear me?" Carter asked into her mic.

SG1SG1SG1SG1

Daniel Jackson studied the symbols and letters, marking them down as they appeared, and checking the ones that were familiar to him. They made no sense in the pattern that flowed across the scene, but given time he knew he could figure out what it meant. He'd heard Carter and Teal'c talking as they stepped through the newly formed door, but he concentrated on what was before him.

"Daniel, can you hear me?"

"I hear you, Sam. Is something wrong?"

"Is the door still open?"

Jackson turned and was surprised to find the door had disappeared, leaving only the wall that had been there when they first entered. He stood up and made his way toward it.

"Daniel, is the door still open?"

"The door isn't here, Sam," Jackson told her.

"Can you find a way to open it?"

"I'm not sure where to start," Jackson told her and turned to look at the monitors. Nothing had changed, but that didn't mean anything as he walked back to the panel Carter had destroyed. "Sam, I'm going to see if I can find the panel that controls the door."

"All right, Daniel, Teal'c and I are going to keep searching the tunnel. Maybe there's another exit."

"Just be careful...the exit might just lead somewhere you don't want to go," Jackson said.

"We'll keep checking in at 15 minute intervals unless we find something."

"I'll let you know if I find another entrance. Sam, you and Teal'c be careful," Jackson ordered.

SG1SG1SG1SG1

Mitchell woke to a pounding headache and a dryness in his throat that made him think he'd been sleeping for days. It reminded him of the way he felt after waking from the drug given to him by the Sodan warrior who'd saved his life. He sat up and rubbed at his temples before rotating his shoulders. Something didn't quite feel right, but he couldn't quite grasp what it was.

Cam tried to move, but his body felt weighed down. He tried to stand, wavering on unsteady feet as he stumbled toward the door. There was no sign of Layonna, and right now that was fine by him because he wasn't sure what he'd do to her. The wounds on his back burned,reminding him of fire ants crawling beneath his skin.

Mitchell stepped outside and looked around, not surprised to find darkness still surrounded the circle of cabins. He remembered the horrific cries from the last time he was awake and hoped if was just a bad dream. He walked to the hut next to the one he'd been in and shoved open the door to find a lone figure stretched out on the bed.

"Teronis," Mitchell called the Talosian's name, but the figure didn't move. Cam stepped closed to the bed, frowning when he saw rippling waves and bony protuberances between the man's shoulder blades. "What the hell?"

"Pl...please, help...help me."

"Teronis, I want to help, but I need to know what's happening. What is this?" the colonel asked as the man arched his body and tried to come off the bed.

"I do...don't know...it hurts...burns..."

"Let me take a look," Mitchell told him and pressed him back to the bed. The dim light cast by the single lamp in the corner only made what he was seeing that much worse. It was like something out of a low budget horror movie where they didn't have enough money to pay the electricity bill, let alone hire an actor to play the lead role.

"Cal...Callisia...find Callisia," Teronis whispered, his body jerking as his spine seemed to move as if with the ocean tides.

"Where is she?" Mitchell asked, gasping as the burning sensation in his back intensified.

"I tri...tried to find her, b..but the serpent...it took her...can't..it hurts."

"I know it does," Mitchell said and realized he really did know how much it hurt. God, help him, but there was something happening to him and he knew he had to find Layonna and force her to tell him how the hell he could leave this place. He stood up, crying out as something moved beneath his skin, as if his body was being restructured with each breath he took.

Cam wished he knew what to do to help Teronis, but there were no answers, not here...not until he found Layonna or the way back to his own realm. He exited the cabin, his gut churning as the pain threatened to overwhelm him. He leaned against the outer wall as what little as still in his stomach came up in a noxious stream.

Mitchell knew he had to escape the Mastyque before the changes he'd seen in Teronis magnified in his own body. He looked toward the surrounding darkness and let his instincts take over. Layonna had told him he would not survive in the darkness, but something told him the answers he needed were there. Without thinking about it, Cam moved toward the back of the cabin he'd been in and forced his way through the thick brush.

The foul smell hit him instantly and he covered his mouth and nose with his left hand while brushing back the scaly branches with his right. There was no sound, just the sickening stench that did nothing to alleviate the nausea churning through his gut. He had no idea how much time passed before he stumbled through the thick brush and fell to his knees on a narrow path.

Mitchell dropped to the ground, rolled onto his back, and tried to ignore the pain the move made. He stared up, past the gnarled trees with dead branches, to the luminescent sky above them. There were no stars, but a sliver of pale green shone through and cast a pulsating glow across the landscape. Cam knew he should keep moving, but he wasn't sure he had the strength to get back on his feet.

"You were warned, Colonel Mitchell!"

"Been there, done that!" Mitchell shot back as Layonna appeared above him. At least it looked like Layonna, but Cam could see right through the image as if she was a ghost. He turned onto his hands and knees, clutching his gut as he finally made it back to his feet.

"The changes have begun, Colonel Mitchell, you will die if you leave The Mastyque."

"Then I guess I'll die because I'm not staying here to become one of those things. Why are you doing this?"

"It is the way of my realm. If we do not then we will die. We will not allow that to happen."

Mitchell leaned on his knees as he fought back the pain and dizziness. There was no way in hell he would become whatever it was she wanted and he knew it was time to get moving. He forced his legs to support him and started down the narrow path, pointedly ignoring the woman who wanted to trap him here.

SG1SG1SG1SG1

Carter and Teal'c continued along the corridor, searching for anything that might tell them where it would end. They'd been walking steadily, sometimes up hill, sometimes down, yet their surroundings didn't change. There seemed to be no end to the tunnel, until Sam drew up short and turned to look at her companion.

"Do you feel that?" Carter asked and watched ass Teal'c tilted his head slightly before acknowledging the change in the air temperature.

"Perhaps we are near the end," Teal'c suggested and took the lead. The cool air intensified, bringing with it the overpowering stench of decay. He blinked in an effort to clear his vision as they reached the end of their journey. He stopped and studied the area as Carter moved to the single pedestal set in the center of a large high-domed room.

"Teal'c how far would you say we've traveled?" Carter asked and looked around.

"I am not sure," the big man answered.

"What would you say if I told you we're back where all of this started?"

"We could have traveled that distance," Teal'c said and joined her at the console, surprised when he saw what she had. The clearing where they'd met with the Talosians was seen through a large bow-like window.

"At least we know what's inside now," Carter said and stepped around the pedestal. A door formed next to the window, but there seemed to be no way to open it.

"Sam? Teal'c? Is everything all right?"

"We're okay, Daniel. We reached the end of the tunnel."

"Is there an exit?"

"There's a door, but we need to figure out how to open it. We're back at the meeting place we had with the Talosians," Carter explained. "Have you had any luck getting the door open on your end?"

"Not yet. I'm beginning to see a set pattern here, but it's hard to say whether it's the reason the door opened or not. For all I know I could be keeping it locked."

"You keep at it from your end while Teal'c and I check this out."

"Have you seen anything that could tell us where Mitchell is?"

"Not yet," Carter answered.

"Damn...okay, next check in is in 15 minutes and we need to send a message back to the SGC."

"I know...it might be up to you to get back to the gate if Teal'c and I don't get out of here," Carter said.

'All right, Sam, but be careful."

"You too, Danny," Carter said and moved back to the pedestal as Teal'c began searching the perimeter for an opening.

SG1SG1SG1SG1

Mitchell stumbled along the path, ignoring the growing discomfort as he tried to find a way back home. Several times he had to stop to catch his breath, and hope that what he was feeling in the wounds was not the same as what he saw on Teronis' back. Somehow he knew the answer was back there, in that circle of cabins, but he needed to escape before it was too late.

The screeching sound he heard above him made him stop and search the sky, but he could see nothing against the weird discoloration. He turned his head to the side and grabbed at the nearest stunted growth as his stomach heaved and sweat beaded on his brow. He felt someone watching him, and knew Layonna was close, but he didn't give a damn as he forced one shaking leg in front of the other.

"It will bring you back, Colonel Mitchell."

"Go away, Layonna."

"Come back with me now or the creature will bring you to me."

"Call it off, Layonna!"

"I cannot do that! You belong in this realm now just as the others do!"

"No, I don't," Mitchell ground out.

"Even now you feel the changes. Can you feel the strength flowing through your veins? You will be so alive when the changes are complete."

"No, I won't let it happen."

"You have no choice now, Colonel Mitchell!"

Cam heard the creature swooping toward him and lifted his arms to protect his head. He heard the woman speaking, but he did not understand what she was saying as the talons dug into his shoulders and lifted him from the ground. He struggled to get free, but the serpent continued its upward journey and flew back to the circle of cabins. It lowered him to the ground with a gentleness that belied it's image, leaving Mitchell in a circle of Talosians who were in varying degrees of change.

TBC