"What exactly do you mean by The Festival?" After the brief shock at their first encounter, Hammond had led them back inside the control center and into the area that he adopted as his office. Dr. Fraiser, after hearing the news of their visitors, quickly joined him.

"It is The Festival of Life."

"I'm sorry, but we have never heard of this festival before. What exactly is it?"

"The Festival is where we return to our homeworld and give thanks for our continued survival."

"Your homeworld?"

"Perhaps I should explain. Firstly, I am Hdeon, the highest priest of the order of Mynecek. My people originated on this planet. For many generations my people took whatever they needed from the planet, with no regard for the balance of life. Gradually, the balance of life was upset. Eventually, it reached a point where the planet would no longer support my people. The air and the water became toxic to us, and we were forced to abandon our home and move to another one. When we reached our new home, we remembered the lesson of our homeworld. Our technology and society developed along a different path than before, a path destined to maintain the balance of life rather than upset it. With those new ideals, our society was able to flourish. Every five years our society gathers on the homeworld to pay homage to the sacrifice this planet made to help us become a better people. That is called The Festival."

"What exactly do you do during this festival?"

"It is a festival of life. All the noble families will bring there most prized possessions. They will be scattered all over the planet. This represents my people giving back to the planet. After several days, the harvest will begin. This will be symbolic of the planet giving to my people."

"How long will The Festival be going on?"

"Unfortunately, this world is still poisonous to us so we can only stay ten days."

"Hdeon, how many people come to this festival?" Janet quietly asked.

"Anyone can come to The Festival. Why do you ask, do you wish to participate?"

"As interesting as the idea is to me I was thinking along another line. I was thinking about why we were here."

"What do you mean, Dr. Fraiser?"

"The reason we are here is to stop an organism that could destroy our planet. The only way we could destroy it is if we left. We came here because we thought the risk was too great to introduce to another culture. I would hate to think that we might cause a plague on your world when your people come here for the Festival."

"You need not concern yourself with that. As I said, the planet is still quite poisonous for my people. Only a select few, the order of Mynecek, can survive on the planet without special equipment. And then we can only stay for ten days before the toxins become too much and we die. The rest of my people will need special equipment to survive on the planet during the festival. It is an extremely small risk that a plague could be caused, and one that my people are more than willing to take if the planet desires it. If you will excuse us, we have much work to do before The Festival can begin." With that, the aliens rose and left the building, on their way to The Festival grounds.

"What do you think about this festival, Doctor?"

"I have no idea, sir, but I sure wish SG-1 would get here.



Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c cautiously looked around the cave. Thankfully, this earthquake was not nearly as bad as the one before. The only thing that seemed to be coming from the ceiling was dust. Daniel quickly looked over Sam while Jack finished tying the bandages. Good, she didn't appear to have any more injuries. "All done. Let's go!" Teal'c bent down and began to carefully pick Sam up when suddenly he stopped. "Teal'c, what's wrong?"

"I hear something O'Neill."

"What?"

"I am unsure. It sounds like thunder."

"Teal'c. It can't be thunder. There wasn't a cloud in the sky."

"No wait Jack. I think I hear it too." Suddenly a low rumble echoed through the cave. As it got louder, the cave began to shake.

"Oh man. Another earthquake!"

"No. I think it's another cave-in. And it sounds like it's coming from somewhere up ahead." They waited for a few minutes as the roar grew louder and then gradually disappeared.

"Teal'c, go check it out." Teal'c nodded and took off toward the tunnel. A few minutes he came back, a grim look on his normally stoic face.

"Daniel Jackson is correct. Another cave-in has occurred. Unfortunately, it has blocked our means of escape from this cave."

"What!" both Jack and Daniel exclaimed at the same time.

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. "Alright. Here's what were gonna do. We're gonna find some place to set up camp for the night and make sure Carter's okay. Then we are gonna find some way to get out of this place. Any questions, comments, or concerns? No. Then let's do it. Daniel, did you explore any more of this cave?"

"Yea Jack, but we didn't find anything interesting."

"Teal'c, you and Daniel do some more exploring. Try to find us a safer place to camp. Be back here in thirty minutes." Teal'c and Daniel quickly took off. Jack knelt down and checked over Sam's wounds one more time and before checking her pulse. Satisfied that she didn't seem any worse, he began to check their supplies. They had plenty of food, thanks to Daniel's quick grabbing technique, so they wouldn't need to ration it unless they were really stuck in here. Water might become a problem. Daniel had grabbed all of their canteens, but they had used almost a third of the water to clean Sam up. Unless they found a water source, they would need to start rationing water tonight. Daniel had also grabbed some blankets, so they shouldn't freeze. That just left medical supplies. They had already gone through a lot of bandages trying to get the bleeding stopped. And he knew from experience that Sam would be in pain when she woke up. Just how much pain he couldn't tell. He didn't know how long they would be able to stretch their medical supplies. He just hoped no one else got hurt.



Janet Fraiser was starting to relax. Since they had arrived at the planet, there had been no new reported cases from the organism. It looked like they had managed to leave it behind in the mountain. The few people who were sick, were almost ready to be released. The visitors, she never did catch the name of their race, were quietly going about there business in the clearing on the other side of the Stargate.

They were friendly enough people, but Janet couldn't shake the feeling that they were hiding something. No, that wasn't it. It was more like they weren't telling them something. Something important. Anytime anyone from the SGC asked, they mentioned the festival, scattering possessions, the harvest, and other things they already knew about. Then they again reminded them that they were welcome to attend, respectfully bowed, and returned to the work they were doing, some sort of purification ritual or something.

It seemed to Janet that they knew everything about the festival, except what was going to happen. She wished for the umpteenth time that day that SG-1 was here. Not that the little group of aliens was all that threatening, but more for her personal questions. Daniel could've spent five minutes talking to Hdeon and learned more than everybody here has in the last day. He could have explained to everybody exactly what was going to happen, why it was going to happen, and what to wear. Shaking her head in frustration, she turned her attention to her patients.

"Major Vasquez, Captain Adams. You to are free to go. Take it easy for the next few days and come see me immediately if any of the symptoms come back. Lieutenant, if your vitals are still good in the morning, I can probably release you tomorrow." She smiled as the two Air Force officers quickly said goodbye to their teammate and whisked out the door. What was it about the infirmary that had everyone wanting to leave?