Teal'c noticed a small control flashing on one of the screens by the wall of the laboratory. Pressing it, the screen came to life and began scrolling an alien text.
"Daniel Jackson, is this a language you recognize?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the archaeologist/linguist. Daniel walked over, avoiding debris, and began reading. A moment later, he nodded.
"Yes…" he paused, raising both eyebrows in surprise, "This is a variation on Ancient Babylonian, but it's interwoven with Latin. It looks almost as though someone was writing in code."
"So that anyone who knew one of those languages but not both wouldn't be able to read it?" Sam asked.
"That would be the purpose of a code, Carter." Jack replied dryly.
"Right. Sorry, sir." Carter blushed.
"Wait, I think I can…" Daniel stroked the screen and then tapped out a sequence on the code-pad that was displayed. A diagram appeared, and he grunted in satisfaction.
"Is that," Sam asked, pointing first at the diagram and then the device on the table, "that?"
"I believe it is." Teal'c nodded.
"If I'm reading this accurately, and I think I am, then we really shouldn't try and take the grenade with us. It's not entirely stable, and…" Daniel began, looking at Sam.
"Right. Sir," she looked at Colonel O'Neill, "if that device went off inside the wormhole, it could destabilize or completely detach our connection to Earth."
"And then?" O'Neill asked
"And then, sir, any number of things could happen. Anything from dumping us all on another 'gate planet, to dumping us each separately, to scattering our molecules across the known universe."
"That doesn't exactly fit my criteria for 'fun', Carter." O'Neill's sarcasm was lost on his friends, who had gotten used to his 'no holds barred' attitude years before.
"Hmm… it says here," Doctor Jackson pointed absently, "that the device is meant as part of a bomb. It builds up and releases energy until it is needed, at which point it is used for its purpose. The only one that can connect this piece to its mate is one who is, uh…"
"Spit it out, Daniel." Jack exclaimed.
"It's Go'auld now, Jack. Teal'c, does this make any sense to you?"
"It is most peculiar." Teal'c agreed.
"What? What is it?" O'Neill demanded.
"It says that the only one who can 'bridge the gap is a man not born from his mother'." Daniel said at last.
"How is that even possible?" Carter asked.
"Where's the other piece?" O'Neill wanted to know, looking around the room.
"This claims, in Ancient Egyptian, that the device's 'other-self' is located within the 'boundary existing on the mirror-planet', awaiting disassembly and destruction. This one was apparently supposed to be examined and destroyed as well. The devices are incredibly dangerous. Not by themselves, but when put together. The other device is accessible by…"
"By…?" O'Neill prodded.
"I don't know. I've never seen this language before. Or this one… these two…" Daniel flipped past text until he reached something he could translate.
"There, Daniel Jackson. More Go'auld." Teal'c pointed out.
"Yes, but only a short bit. It refers to the boundary between the two labs as being breached easiest on a… mental level?" Daniel looked to Teal'c for confirmation, which was received with a short nod.
"A more accurate translation would be… imagination." Teal'c's low timbre rumbled.
"Broken on an imagination? What the hell does that mean?" O'Neill asked.
"It might mean something more abstract, Jack." Daniel replied, removing his glasses and massaging the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his forefinger.
"Like saying that they required more study to find out how to get to it?" Sam offered.
"Right… well, no. But something like that." Daniel said, pushing his glasses back onto his face and peering at the text again. He flipped through a bit more text, and then his eyes widened and he grinned briefly.
"Find something?" Jack asked.
"I think so. Sam, go over to the device, and press these two symbols at the same time." Daniel instructed, pointing to two strange, 'squiggle'-like symbols. Sam nodded, and started to approach the device.