"'Beware the Pandorica'?" Jack repeated blankly.
"Well, I could be pronouncing it wrong," Daniel said as he turned back to the ancient text, "It could be PandorEEca, for all I know; or PandorAIca. Maybe even-"
"Daniel."
The archeologist silenced himself, facing the Colonel.
"What does it mean?"
"Well," Daniel faced the wall again, "It's a warning, obviously. The Pandorica, judging from these symbols here, is that box-" he pointed at the object that had piqued Jack's curiosity earlier. "-and apparently whatever's inside is very dangerous."
"What makes you say that?" Jack asked, not particularly curious but feeling he should voice the question anyway.
Daniel gave him a surprised glance, as if he hadn't actually anticipated the Colonel's stupidity.
"Jack, these walls are covered in alien languages," he said, waving his arms for emphasis, "That's hundreds, maybe even thousands of different very advanced species all saying the same thing!"
Daniel then began to ramble on about something that was probably important, but Jack was no longer listening.
His boot had accidently bumped something that had lain hidden beneath the dust, so he bent over and picked it up.
Whatever it was, it wasn't very large, not even the size of the knife that was a part of Jack's gear, and it fit nicely into his hand. There were a few buttons along its metallic side, and on one end, the top, Jack assumed, had strange prongs that joined together at the tip, and at the center of these tips was a light which was off at the moment.
"Well, that's odd," Jack commented, interrupting Daniel mid-twenty-letter-word.
His teammate turned away from the all-important wall of script and stared at the strange object in O'Neill's hand.
"What's that?" he asked.
Jack shrugged.
"Dunno," he replied, "Found it on the floor."
Daniel came closer, drawn by the peculiar find.
"What do you think it is?" he asked.
"Dunno," Jack said again.
The two fell silent.
Daniel looked at the object, then at the box. A thought drifted to the front of his mind.
What if…?
He turned back to his friend.
"Jack," he began, "Do you think-"
But Daniel got no further, for Jack, surprised by the archeologist so loudly breaking the silence, pressed one of the object's buttons.
A foreign, vibrating sound emitted from the device, and its tip glowed bright green. The sound wasn't very loud, yet both men felt it in their chests, as one feels the powerful rumble of a fighter jet as it goes roaring past.
Jack jerked his thumb off the button, and stared at Daniel, who stared right back as they waited tensely with bated breath for the ceiling to fall, or for the floor to vanish, or for a giant boulder to appear.
Nothing happened.
Daniel gave a relieved sigh.
"That was close," he said.
Jack nodded.
"Y'think?"
Daniel started to turn away, but stopped. He looked down at the floor, then up at Jack.
"I can't move," he said.
Jack tried to lift a leg, but couldn't. His feet, like Daniel's, were stuck to the floor.
He looked up at the man, alarm spreading across his face.
"Jack," Daniel said, "What the hell did you just do?"
Jack had no chance to reply, for the room suddenly began to shake violently.
Earthquake!
Jack's instincts screamed at him to run for cover, but with his feet glued to the floor that was a distinct impossibility.
Dirt streamed out of cracks in the ceiling and walls, stirring up the inches of dust laying on the floor, and soon officer and doctor were coughing harshly in the choking air.
The cracks grew in the ceiling, and soon chunks of rock were falling all around.
Jack's desperately wanted to run for cover, but he knew he couldn't.
Any thoughts of himself, however, were instantly forgotten when of the falling rocks struck Daniel on the head. The archeologist collapsed, laying oh so still as blood oozed from the gash on his head.
"Daniel!"
Jack could only helplessly watch as his friend began to die right before his eyes.