"So what all did you find out here, sir?" Sam asked as she followed him down the hallway. As tired as she felt, she was extremely curious about the lab that the Colonel had mentioned. She was probably getting ahead of herself and going to be desperately disappointed. There was still a chance she wasn't going to be able to figure anything out or find anything of value in the lab. But now that she had become reintroduced to optimism, she wasn't eager for it to go anywhere.

"There were a lot of empty rooms." Jack replied, his eyes roving the hall as they walked. "Or rooms that just didn't seem to have anything of value in them. We did a lot of walking and opened many doors. Many doors. We found a lab for you and a library for Daniel."

"A library?" She asked curiously. "You didn't mention that before."

"Nope." Jack said, leading into the transporter and touching a dot. "You know what Daniel would have done if he'd heard the word library."

Sam nodded slowly, understanding, "He would have dragged himself all the way."

"Which is exactly why I didn't say anything."

"You're a lot smarter than you let on, sir." Carter smiled.

"You've noticed." He led her down the hallway towards the library. "I want you to take a look at it and then I'll take you yonder to your lab." He pulled the door open and led her inside. He heard her sharply indrawn breath and smiled.

"Sir!" She gasped, her eyes wide as she glanced around the room. "This is...it's just like..."

"I know."

"No wonder you didn't want to tell Daniel about this place!" She met his smile with one of her own. "This isn't just a library. This is a library that he was willing to be left behind to study."

Jack really didn't like remembering that. It had taken a while, but he'd finally reached a place where he could respect Daniel's reasons and understand why Daniel had wanted to stay there; but he still felt a familiar twist of fear remembering that close call. He respected and understood. That did not mean he had to like it.

Sam was continuing, "Sir, he'd go nuts."

Jack snorted, "Oh yeah he would. Which is why we're not telling him for a while yet. I'd rather face his wrath at withholding information from him than have him get worse because he came tearing up here."

"That's a very good idea." She nodded, and then started wandering around the room, "I don't understand. This looks just like Ernest's planet. Look, the writing on the walls is exactly the same..."

As she trailed off to mutter to herself, Jack knew she had just flipped the switch in her brain that took her from a place where normal people lived to a place where science and reasoning lived. He couldn't let on, because it would ruin his reputation, but he loved it when she entered that mode. He'd been wary at first when he'd heard she was a scientist but over the years he'd come to respect her greatly. She'd never yet steered him wrong and had pulled their butts out of the fire more times than he could count. He eased up against a wall and adjusted his P90. She was still muttering. He listened to her and Daniel as a rule, but many times, he did tune them out. Over the years, he'd figured out how to pick out what he needed from their monologues and ignore the rest. Sam didn't let him get away with the zoning as much as Daniel did. He frowned inadvertently. Not too long ago, she had actually talked to him about that.

She had noticed that he had been doing a lot more zoning when Daniel talked and showing less and less interest in what he was saying. So she'd pulled him aside about six months ago and mentioned it to him. Jack had bristled at first, but realized she was totally right. He had been ignoring Daniel a bit too much and it had been taking a toll on their friendship. A friendship that was so laid back that Jack had a tendency at time to take it for granted. No, they really didn't need to talk a lot. But they did need to work at it and never lose that respect for one another that they'd been building on for the past five years. He'd been letting things slide too often lately. Several close calls and a few major arguments had shown him that.

He shook himself and realized he was zoning out on Carter this time. She had been across the room and was now coming back toward him, a frown creasing her expression. He jerked his head to the room at large, "So?"

"So, it's incredible, sir! I don't understand any of this, but this room is almost exactly like the place where we found Dr. Littlefield. There are a few things that are different. The pedestal that was in the center of the room back on that planet is missing here. But these walls with the writing look the same. And all these books..." She waved her hand around the room, as her excitement suddenly turned to confusion, "Why would this room be here?"

He shrugged.

"It's too similar not to have been built by the same people." She continued to hypothesize. "So was this castle originally built by the Ancients?"

"We don't know that the Ancients were the ones who built the other meeting place. It could have been the..." Jack hesitated. "What was the name of the other group? The one's we haven't met yet..."

"Furlings." Sam answered.

"Yeah. Them. I really need to ask Thor about that place and the Furlings next time I see him." Jack mused. "I get the feeling they were the red-headed step children of the great races."

"Could be. We haven't really found anything else about them." Sam nodded, "Anyway, I suppose it is possible this place was built by one of the great races. Or it could be they just built settlements on various planets to meet with one another. It's all speculation at this point, of course. Daniel could figure it out."

"Yeah." Jack nodded, meeting her suddenly concerned eyes. "About that. How do you think he's doing?"

"Not great, but better than I expected after I saw him last night." Sam felt a chill. "I was really worried last night."

"He wasn't looking so great, I'll admit."

"Sir, you all looked terrible." Sam countered, feeling her heart grip again thinking about how her teammates had looked. "He...I thought he was dying. And you and Teal'c..."

"Weren't looking so spry ourselves." Jack admitted. He could see tears forming in her eyes.

"When you collapsed...I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who to help first and what to do for any of you." She said hurriedly, looking more upset by the second. "I didn't know how you'd been injured. I didn't know how to help. And Daniel..." She took a deep breath. "I don't know if I could handle it if any of you..."

He grabbed he shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. "Hey." Jack interrupted her. "We're all ok."

"This time."

Jack dropped his hands and studied her, realizing just how stressed she really was. "Sam."

"I didn't know what to do, sir. What happens when I fail? What happens when I make a mistake I can't fix?"

Wow. Ok, this had taken a turn he hadn't been expecting. "Sam, what's going on with you?"

She shook her head and tried to brush away the tears.

Of course, watching her struggle, Jack was reminded of what Daniel had been saying about her not having recovered from K'tau and the thing with Orlin. While he'd been initially planning to address these issues with Carter, he hadn't expected her to be quite so upset. Obviously, the stresses of this trip were only compounding the unresolved issues she had been bottling up. He decided it was time he try to help her pick up the pieces. She looked like she was right on the edge; more so than he thought he'd ever seen before.

"Carter. Talk to me."

"Sorry, sir." She shook her head and looked at him steadily, "I'm just tired. I'm not myself."

"Yeah. And I think you've got a good excuse. But that's not all of it. You're doubting yourself." He said pointedly.

Her eyes flicked away.

"We all make mistakes..." He started.

"Did any of your mistakes nearly destroy an entire planet?" Sam snapped at him.

There was a lot of anger in her eyes, but mostly he just saw blinding self-doubt. He took one tentative step closer and spoke softly. "No. I don't think we really need to compare mistakes, Sam. Or close calls. Or near misses." She looked up at him and he could tell she was trying to gather herself and set aside her turmoil. "If the four of us sat down and tried to see who was the biggest screw-up of the bunch, I don't think we'd really enjoy the process...or accomplish anything."

"I know." She said softly. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Stop apologizing. This isn't a lecture. But I'm worried about you." There, he'd said it. And it was the truth. He was worried about her. Actually, thanks to the recent incident with Apophis, he was worried about Teal'c's state of mind too. And Daniel...well, worrying about Daniel was a full time job. He could add it to his resume.

"Really, sir, I'm ok. Just overtired."

"I think there's more to it." Jack wasn't entirely sure he wanted to keep going. He'd never really tried to dig into Carter's psyche like this. But he was in charge of the team and they were his responsibility. "Blaming yourself for what happened, almost happened, on K'tau is not going to make you stronger. It's going to destroy you."

He saw that spark of anger in her eyes again.

"Are you telling me I should just get over it?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you." he said gently. "You can't hold on to stuff like this. If there's one downfall about the members of this team, it's that we're all too good at trying to destroy ourselves."

She was studying him silently. He could almost feel her anger dissipating. She finally nodded. "You're right."

"Of course I am. I'm in charge."

That got him a small smile. She sobered. "So. If I accept this then I expect you to live by the same rule. The next time things fall apart I don't want to worry that you're going to blame yourself and close yourself off to us."

Jack wanted to ask when he'd ever done that; but he could think of several examples already. For a moment they just stared at each other. "So we good?" he finally asked.

She smiled.

Jack returned her smile. "Good." That had been a good therapy session. And a lot easier than trying to hash out issues with Daniel. "Why is it that Daniel is never around when I'm sounding so eloquent?"

"You wouldn't want him to know your secret, now would you, sir?"

Jack nodded, then a thought hit him, "Any idea what he was so worked up about, by the way?"

"That he wanted to tell you? No." She frowned, "Whatever it was, it must have been pretty significant. The minute he heard your voice, he was grabbing my radio. He looked extremely worried, sir."

"Maybe he was just remembering something from a long time ago. He was really confused. He thought he was hung-over after Janet's party."

"That was weeks ago."

"I know."

Sam shook her head, coughing into her sleeve, "I don't know. Maybe. What if it did have to do with right now, though?"

"Sam, he hasn't been out of my sight..." Jack started, then hesitated. "Ok, maybe he has been out of my sight a few times the last few days. But he didn't say anything about this before we got to the castle, so he couldn't have found something out before we got here. He would have told me. Once we got close and split up to find a way into the outbuilding, he was out of my sight for under ten minutes, I'd estimate, before he got hurtled into a wall. What could he possibly have found out in that time? We were getting slammed by the hail and wind. What could he have seen?"

"I don't know, I don't. But it seems like he did see something." Sam said. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see if he remembers."

"If he remembers." Jack repeated somberly. "I'm getting a bit worried about that, actually. He still hasn't acted like he remembers anything about this trip, has he?"

"No. But he may just need a bit longer." Sam said, not convincing either of them. "He's got a severe head injury and hasn't really had a lot of time to recover yet." She hesitated, hating to give voice to her fears, "Sir, I'm concerned he may have damaged his ear drums, or his neck. The vertigo is pretty significant."

Jack didn't like the sounds of that one bit. "Dizziness is expected after a concussion."

"Yes. But that extreme spinning sensation that won't stop even when he's lying still with his eyes closed is more than just dizziness, sir." Sam countered. "The Dramamine seems to help, but I can't do much more for him at this point. We don't have any way of knowing how much damage he may have done. We're just going to have to watch him closely and try to make him rest."

Jack snorted. "On any other day that could prove to be a problem. But he looked pretty content to not move a muscle this evening."

"I don't know how long that will last."

Jack nodded, "Knowing him, not long enough. We'll take it one step at a time." He glanced around the room once more. "It would be really helpful if he could give us some idea of what happened on this planet. And how to get home." Turning his gaze back to Carter, he said, "Let's head to your lab. There's nothing much we can do here right now."

She nodded and followed him out. They walked slowly back toward the transporter. Halfway there, they were startled by a scampering sound coming around a corner. Jack lowered his P90 as a horde of the rats came running toward them. Sam gave a small exclamation and backed up out of the way. She wasn't fussy about a lot of things, but rodents didn't really thrill her. There were about ten rats and they just kept running down the hall without giving any indication of even seeing them. Jack frowned and looked back the way they'd come. Animals running in one direction typically meant that something had been chasing them.

He motioned to Carter and received a nod in reply. They headed in the direction the rats had come from. He wasn't sure he wanted to run into whatever had been chasing the rats; on the other hand, he didn't want to have a surprise later. They stopped on either side of the doorway and cautiously peered inside. It was a good-sized room that had huge windows facing out over the city below. They had explored it earlier and found it offered a magnificent view of the city, but nothing else to help them. There was a lot of broken furniture in the room, some areas of crumbling stonework around the edges and one door. It led to the room next door, another empty room. Teal'c had examined it earlier. Now, Jack peered into the room and once more found it to be empty. They stepped inside and Sam headed straight for the windows.

"Sir, this is amazing!"

"I know. Best view in the place."

She glanced out the window, seeing the violent storm had not abated much at all. It was a phenomenal sight to behold, even if it was still a bit scary. There were trees, even as she watched, being snapped in half. She felt the Colonel join her at the window.

"That is not good." He said. "If this keeps up, we're never going to get out of here."

She nodded. Even if the Death Glider hadn't been destroyed by the storm, there was no way they would be able to fly in this maelstrom. Of course, that left the question of where exactly they could possibly go anyway. She turned from the window and took a quick glance around the room. Frowning, she asked, "What do you think they were running from?"

"Good question. Maybe they just needed the exercise."

They started to head out, and Sam noticed something set on the wall. "Sir, this looks exactly like something Teal'c and I saw in the underground control room. Back when we took the rings down." She pointed at the wall where a marble the size of a fist was inlaid into a decorative framework. "Daniel said he'd seen one back at the tower too."

Jack joined her in studying it. "Ok. So what is it? Any idea?"

Sam pursed her lips and pulled a device out of her pack. "I'm not sure, sir. Daniel theorized it might be some sort of a monitor; maybe like a camera." She looked at her monitor. "It is giving off some energy readings. Not a lot, but it is powered."

"But no way of knowing what it is?"

"Not at this point, sir." She shook her head, "I don't have enough information."

"Great. So someone could be watching us."

Sam nodded grimly.

He did not like the sounds of this at all. Bad enough this crazy world had it out for them. Worse still if someone was actively observing them. Again, nothing they could do about it right now anyway. Just have to be on their guard. He shook his head, "Ok. So onward?"

They headed out again. They didn't run into any more signs of life as they returned to the transporter. Stepping out again, on the floor where the lab was, they glanced up and down the hall cautiously. Clear. Jack led her down the hallway and into the lab. He smiled again as she sucked in a surprised breath. It was actually a pretty breathtaking sight, he had to admit. Whatever civilization had lived on this planet, they had been incredibly advanced. He didn't know much about this kind of stuff, but he and Teal'c both knew enough to know when they were staring at advanced technology. He glanced at Sam who was already flitting around the room like a firefly in a field in summer. Her despondency from earlier had completely vanished by now.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think it's amazing, sir! I don't even know where to begin."

"What about over here?" Jack motioned with his finger. She joined him and he led her to a small alcove. "This looks important to me."

Sam narrowed her eyes. It looked important to her too. "Sir, this could be what we've been looking for all along."

"Our way home?"

"A way to stop the weather."

He frowned looking the machine up and down, "What? How on earth would you have figured that out just by looking at it?"

Sam smiled. "I'm only speculating. But it is the most intricate device in this room. It has its own alcove here and we know that Dougrae had been experimenting with the weather. Again, it's a guess."

"Ok. So we assume for now it is the mechanism to control the weather." Jack looked back at the device. It looked like an industrial sized dishwasher to him. "How do we get sunshine and 70s? Where's the setting for spring, Carter?"

She laughed, ending in a coughing spell. Straightening up, she looked at him and said hoarsely, "Sir. There's a lot here. I'm going to need some time to figure all of this out."

"I know." He looked at her steadily. Pale features. Still sick. She needed to sleep. "It's going to take time. That's ok. We've got time. I just needed to see what you thought."

Sam stepped back into the main part of the lab. "I think that there's a lot of possibilities here." She looked back at the array of computer terminals and wiring spread across the room. The room itself was about twice the size the conference room back at the SGC. There were three high windows set into the stone walls, letting in the same limited light that had been illuminating most of the other rooms in the castle. There were the same pale purple crystals in sconces along the walls that had been outside in the hallways. Another one of the marble-like devices was set into one wall. Three walls were lined with computer terminals. None of the monitors were on at the moment. Seeing all the equipment reminded her of what she'd seen when flying to the city.

"Sir, I forgot to tell you, when we were in the Death Glider I saw something unusual." She turned to look at him. How could she have forgotten? "There was a barrier."

He motioned for her to continue.

She explained how the Glider had reacted as if it had run into a wall. "It showed up on the monitor. I could see sunshine beyond it, sir. Something was keeping the sun out..."

"And the storm in." Jack finished. She nodded. He said, "That is not natural."

"Well, I wouldn't think so. There's a lot of stuff we've seen out here that hasn't been natural for Earth, but I still think that this was a manufactured force field or barrier."

"Goa'uld?"

"Possibly. We've encountered several types of force fields or energy fields before. Aris Boch had one."

Jack shook his head, "Don't remind me."

"The point is, there may be any number of alien races which utilize technology like this." She glanced back at the room. "There may even be a control in here that would turn it off."

"And would that be a good thing?"

"I don't really know, sir." She turned at a sudden sound behind her. The Colonel had just pulled out a chair and dropped into it. She frowned. "Sir?"

"Pull up a seat, Major." He shoved a chair toward her with his foot.

Sam sat down and frowned, "Sir, what's going on?"

"We need to talk."

"Ok." She was completely mystified. He'd just had a talk with her. She thought they'd gotten everything settled. Looking at him, she could tell he was dead serious. Sam couldn't remember him ever before doing anything like this.

Jack sighed. "What do you think about all of this?"

"It's a mess."

"That it is." He agreed readily. "And I can't help but think that there's something very wrong going on here."

"I agree."

"I can't help but think that we're in the middle of something much bigger than we've been thinking."

Sam frowned again, "Like what?"

"That's what I don't know." Jack squeezed his hand in a fist. "But something is wrong here. I feel like we've been fed a pack of lies. A pack of lies from silent walls and deserted ruins. No one is speaking, but all I'm hearing is lies." Until he'd said it out loud, Jack hadn't even realized how tense he really was. He saw his tension reflected on Carter's face.

Sam studied him for a moment. She wasn't sure what to say or do. She didn't know what he was talking about; but then, her mind was still muddled. Taking a deep breath, she asked, "What exactly do you mean, sir?"

"I'm not totally sure, Carter." Having said it aloud, he felt somewhat more confident that he wasn't crazy. But still. He wasn't sure what he was worrying about. He decided to start with the facts. Quickly, he recounted what he'd found back down in the lower part of the city. There had been evidence of a once bustling culture in ruin, layers of various cultures, death and destruction at every turn, and a lot of links that didn't lead to anything all the way along. He spent a few minutes catching her up in more detail on the Jaffa, Sidrok, and the non-Jaffa guy Daniel had met in the forest. He explained part of his theories.

"So we're theorizing that the people here rebelled against Dougrae?" Sam asked, "That there was a battle between the Kamyen Obyet and the Jaffa that Dougrae had taken over from Montu? And that this guy Sidrok and the other guy, the guy who was talking about home were survivors of the battle?"

"That's the only thing I can think of at the moment." Jack acknowledged. "It makes sense. If Dougrae had usurped Montu's reign over the Kamyen Obyet, like the journals and writing Daniel's been reading imply, and then took over this place, whatever this place is, it would make sense that the people he basically kidnapped would eventually try to get rid of him."

"Like we said before, they'd had practice." Sam nodded.

"Right."

She frowned and shook her head at him. "So? That's what we've been going on all along. It makes sense. What doesn't?"

Before Jack could answer, they were startled by a creaking sound outside. Both of them spun toward the door and raised their weapons. Jack motioned to her and she slid to the opposite side of the door that lead out to the hall. There it was again. To Jack, it sounded a lot like a door opening and closing. But there weren't any doors right outside the lab; he was sure of it. They froze at the lab doorway and listened. Nothing. Nothing except the distant roll of thunder and pouring rain. Jack met Carter's eyes and she nodded. He slid down low and risked a glance out into the hall. Nothing. No alien monsters, rats, or people. Just the same empty hall. He frowned and shrugged at Carter.

Standing up, he led the way out into the hall. They did a careful sweep of the area and still came up empty. He'd been right; there weren't any doors at this end of the hall. He looked at Carter, "You did hear it, too?"

"I did. Sounded like a door."

"Great." He looked at the walls. "So that probably means we've got ghosts in the walls."

Sam had already walked up to the wall nearest her and started running her hands along the wall. "Sir, this is paneling of some sort. It is possible there's a passageway."

"It is a castle." He mumbled, running his hands along the other wall.

Thirty minutes later, they met back together outside of the lab. Jack shook his head, "I got nothing."

Sam frowned, "Unless we were hearing something else, it has to be here."

"And there has to be a way to get to it."

"Maybe not. This is a highly technological castle, remember. The mechanism may only work from the other side. Or it could be remote controlled..."

"Or something." Jack agreed. He didn't like it. Didn't like the thoughts of someone stalking them in the walls. Suddenly, he didn't like the fact that they were all split up again. But he couldn't do much about it at the moment. So he shrugged, "Ok. Let's head back. Nothing we're going to be able to do right now about Casper."

They headed back down the hall, then Sam grabbed his arm. "Sir, look."

He followed her pointing finger to a slit of light down the hall. A door stood ajar. Again, their weapons came up and they approached cautiously. As they got closer, Jack realized it was one of the doors he and Teal'c hadn't been able to open up on their trip earlier. He frowned. As if they didn't already have confirmation that they weren't alone in the city; now it was absolutely clear. Sam stood at the ready as he cautiously pushed the door open. There was no one in the room, but the room was lit brighter than anywhere else they'd been so far. They stepped inside and gazed curiously at the odd sight before them. It looked like another type of lab; although much smaller. But it had that medical-sanitized look to it. There was one desk and some sort of computer terminal. Over against the far wall stood five barrel-like structures.

"What do you suppose these are?" Sam paused by the structures. They were each over seven feet high and were crystal clear and empty. Each one had a door and all but one was closed. She walked up to the open door and peered inside.

"Hot water heaters?" Jack quipped, looking over his shoulder. They did kind of look like hot water heaters.

She shot him a slightly annoyed look. "Somehow I doubt it, sir. But they do look like some sort of individual pod or chamber."

"For what?"

"Not sure." She ran her hand along a line of text on the front of the door. "Sir, does this look Russian to you?"

He peered closer. It did. He nodded and tried to decipher it. "Well, all I can make out for sure is the word life."

"Life?"

"As in living, breathing, existence, yes." He pulled out a notebook. "That's all I can get, though. I'll write it down the rest of it and Daniel can earn his keep."

Sam nodded and one he finished scribbling, asked. "So, back then, sir?"

They were both exhausted. There wasn't much they were going to do at this point in the day. "Let's go. We need another good night's sleep."

"That would be great."

So they stepped back out into the hallway. They were almost to the transporter when the dead silence of the hall vanished in an explosion that threw them off their feet...

Jack caught Sam as she flew backwards and together they slid down the wall to land in a heap. She was coughing violently, but as far as he could tell, she was ok. He was shaken, but not injured. The blast had occurred some ten feet ahead of them. Had they been even a few seconds quicker in returning to the transporter, they'd be dead. He pulled her to her feet, meeting her eyes briefly. She nodded at him. Raising his P90, Jack headed cautiously forward. A few seconds later, he reached the scene of the detonation. Wind and rain were buffeting him and as he peered around the wall, he realized that the explosion had taken place in the empty room across from the transporter. The huge windows had been shattered and the storm was pouring inside. Most of the wall that had separated the room from the hallway was rubble.

He shook his head and looked at Carter, "Someone was out here."

"And they were trying to kill us." She returned his look, a tinge of fear in her eyes.

There was, of course, no one in sight. He headed to the transporter, feeling the rain soak his jacket again. There were a few pieces of rubble against the door of the transporter. Together, they managed to pull them aside so they could get inside. Sam looked at him, "It's a good thing that the door was closed. The explosion could have destroyed the control panel of the transporter."

"Maybe that was the plan." He said somberly, and stepped inside.