This chapter is another short one. Thank you as always for reading.

~Peglea, 10 days after Jack and Vala's disappearance~

Sam and Daniel wandered around the rest of the Peglean carnival feeling faintly shell-shocked. Of all the ways that Jack might have chosen to send a message... the Simpsons!? But it was so unique that there was no doubt who it had to have been that introduced those particular characters to the planet!

The group from earth had all seen the contents of the yellow tent. And even now, several hours later, Mitchell and Sharp were likely to break out into laughter with no warning. Even Teal'c's lips had been observed to have an upward tilt.

They'd learned that the Peglean word clown meant cartoon. And on Peglea the Simpsons had become entirely children's entertainment, with none of the satirical overtones or adult themes of the original show—in other words, just good fun!

"This still doesn't help us figure out when General O'Neill and Ms. Mal-Doran arrived in Peglea's past," Major Liam Douglas, SG5's 2IC commented, as they gathered to discuss the development.

"I'd guess it was pretty early," Jen Hailey said. "This carnival is all about their arrival and early days here on the planet, and the Simpsons are part of the celebration." She couldn't suppress a slight giggle at the idea.

"I agree," Sam said. "Daniel, is there any way we can pinpoint the first time the Simpsons appeared in their history?"

"I can ask the archivist, Dennon, when we find him."

After a while they encountered Shavnon again, and he led Daniel off to find Dennon. Dennon turned out to be the Peglean version of Daniel, and the two were soon deep in a discussion of cultural influences and language evolution.

It was a while before Daniel got around to asking the question he'd intended to ask. "When did the cartoon characters with the yellow skin first appear?"

Dennon gave him an odd look. "I do not really know," he replied. "They have been part of our culture for many hundreds of years."

"But someone must know," Daniel insisted. "They're included in your Safe Home celebration. So they must have been with you early."

Dennon looked puzzled and shook his head. "I am sorry, Daniel. They are always included in any celebration, for the amusement of the children. The children love them so much, you see."

Daniel felt his hopes sag a little. "You have such thorough records. Everything in your history and culture is documented. Surely someone must have written down their origin."

"Indeed. You are probably correct. I will help you search the archives if you wish. After the celebration is finished."

"Of course," Daniel agreed, anxious not to offend. "How long does the celebration last?"

"Twenty-nine days. That is the amount of time it took for all of our ancestors to come through the Great Ring."

"Twenty-nine days? I don't understand."

"For a long time our ancestors moved from planet to planet, searching for a home. They passed through many worlds, some friendly, some not. On each world they asked if the people there knew of an uninhabited planet where they might settle. When suggestions were made they sent scouting groups ahead to find out if the world would be a good place for our people. The scouts who came here spent a number of days exploring the area around the Great Ring to make sure there were no antagonistic native inhabitants, and that the land was good for crops, and safe. The entire process, from the time the scouts arrived until the last of our ancestors were finally here took twenty-nine days. Thus we celebrate for twenty-nine days."

"I see," Daniel said. "How many days have you celebrated so far?"

"This is the fifth day."

"So... twenty-four days to go..."

Dennon nodded. "Yes."

"I see." Daniel could not keep the disappointment out of his voice.

Dennon looked at him closely. "This is important to you."

"Yes, very important. It may help us find our missing people."

"You are welcome to visit the libraries at any time, Daniel."

"But you said, after the celebration..."

Dennon smiled. "I only meant that I am not free to help you search. But the libraries are open and there are archivists there. You may certainly ask them for help."

"Thank you! May the other members of my team come with me?"

"Of course. Knowledge is free, Daniel. And it is the responsibility of the archivists to make sure it is available to those who want it. At the main library, ask for Elleree. She is the best person to help you. Tell her I sent you."

Daniel extended his hand, and the Peglean took it. "Thank you, Dennon. We are most grateful."

"Good luck in your quest, Daniel."

Daniel rounded up SG1 and SG5 and explained to them what he wanted to do. "In the town, we can visit the main library. Dennon told me to ask for a woman named Elleree. Hopefully she can give us some ideas about where to look."

"Daniel," Mitchell pointed out, "You're the only one here who can read their language."

"Well, Jennifer reads a little," Daniel glanced at Hailey. "But we may be able to find something in the pictures. The Peglean books are richly illustrated. If they wrote about the Simpsons, they must have included pictures of the characters."

"So we're going to search the archives for cartoons?" Sharp asked, not bothering to suppress his grin.

Daniel shrugged good-naturedly. "Yes. I think that's exactly what we're going to do."

Mitchell laughed, and several of the others chuckled. Even Sam smiled, although she saw less humor in the situation than her teammates. For once, she was simply grateful for Jack's devotions to the television series!

The group set out for the town. Once there, it was a simple matter to find the main library—it was on the central square along with the government buildings.

Elleree was a tiny woman with blonde fur and bright green eyes that lit up with excitement when she understood what it was the visitors were looking for. "Oh, such fun will be the search!" she exclaimed to Daniel. "So you wish to know when the clowns first appeared?"

"Yes," Daniel agreed. "That's the question we'd like answered."

Elleree turned to her associate archivist, who had been standing nearby. The two of them spoke together rapidly—the words so quick that Daniel had a difficult time following the exchange. He broke in, trying politely to get them to slow down—and eventually he began to nod.

"Thank you," he told the archivist. Then he turned to the others. "There are two more researchers they believe will be able to help us. They will find out if they are available to come here. In the meantime, I asked them if we could start looking through some of the earliest history volumes. We may find something in the pictures."

The others nodded agreement. Shortly afterward, two library assistants arrived with several volumes, and the teams were shown to a quiet room with two long tables.

On the wall was a large mural, which caught everyone's attention. It showed a huge stormy sky, with lightning and rain, looming above the town—they recognized some of the building in the central square. One building was in the process of being constructed, and only the walls were up. There was scaffolding around the structure. The moment captured in the painting depicted a massive lightning strike, directly on the wall of the building. People who had been on the scaffolding were being hurled from their places by the resulting impact. The effect was incredibly intense and real, and they half expected to hear the crash of the thunder.

Daniel stared at the painting. "That's this building," he said. Then turned to their guides and repeated himself.

"Yes," one of them told him. "That happened when the library was still under construction. The storm came out of nowhere, as they do. A dozen people were killed, and many more injured. This was painted to honor them. The library had to be rebuilt."

"That's a very impressive mural," Daniel said to the assistant, after he had told the others what was said.

The books were distributed on the table, and the teams settled down to examine the early history of Peglea II. Each one opened a book and began turning pages from the beginning. Soon they were all absorbed in the beautiful illustrations.

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