Chaos Theory: Chapter Two
Jade could never get over the rush of wind and sound that accompanied one after exiting the Stargate's dizzying journey, and she finally exhaled, being last to come through as the Stargate shut off behind her.
"Okay, Andros... let's go."
She turned at Colonel O'Neill's order, and she nodded, hustling over towards SG-1.
They were in the middle of a large, wooded clearing, three suns in the process of setting. Jade cursed silently, and she reached a hand in her pocket ot pull out her palm pilot, putting on its internal light. Once it was dar, she'd be working by flashlight and PDA.
Jack waited until the whole group was together, and he signaled them to walk, the team traversing to the same temple structure that had been seen through the MALP. Once they had reached the structure, Jack signalled again, this time for Teal'C and Sam to stay on guard, and Jade shot him a glance, wondering if she could investigate. For moment, Jack didn't notice her, and then he looked over to her.
"Well, get going! Investigate! What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?"
Jade simply jumped and nodded, turning and beginning to make her way to the large temple, a set of characters on the front of the door. She looked down to her palm pilot, and began to tap it as she mentally translated the Hiiragana before her. Jade could hear footsteps behind her, and she quickly flicked her eyes over to see Daniel looking up at the temple.
"Dr. Jackson..." Jade said quietly, still concentrating on recording all the text in front of her, which so far had simply equated to a warning. "You've studied over twenty languages... you even read Mandarin on a planet where you encountered an Ancient." She stopped recording, and she stepped up to the door, pressing indicated characters on a small keypad for the door. "Why was I transferred if you should know all this?"
"Well, um... that's the thing." Daniel took a step closer, shrugging as he watched her work. "That was much closer to modern, and even then I was having a hard time with it. I'm much better with Egyptian or something closer to the Cradle."
"No interest in the Far East?" Jade asked, turning and arching her eyebrow before opening the large door before her. She shrugged and smiled, turning back to the dark room and pulling out a flashlight. "To each his own." She took astep in, and Daniel, in his insatiable curiosity, follow as she swung the beam of the flashlight across the room, alighting on a seemingly archive of written tomes on the circular walls. "Jackpot..."
"Wow..." Jade whispered as she searched the top of the wall, reading downward. "This is amazing... the dialect is ancient... but it's so old... it actually translates easily from modern." She swung the flashlight again, slowly arching it down the darkened walls, and she finally flashed it towards Daniel, who shirked away from the light and put his hands to his eyes.
"Hey!"
"Ha! Got you!" Jade chuckled, happy as a school girl, and she walked back to the entrance, poking her head out to look at Jack. "Colonel O'Neill! There is a lot here. This might take a while."
"Great..." Jack said, fakely smiling and feigning enthusiasm. Once Jade had popped back into the temple, he shifted his P-7 in his hands, and he turned to look at Carter. "Great..." He sighed, completely unthrilled.
Jade turned back to the walls, and once again, she took out her internally-lit PDA, beginning to record on it as she held the small flashlight in her mouth.
"Do- um... do you want help?" Daniel asked, gently plucking the flashlight out of Jade's mouth and holding up for her.
"Sorry, Dr. Jackson... you could ask anyone else I've worked with... I get very..."'
"Absorbed in your work." Daniel finished as Jade continued to jot things down. "I know. I'm the same way."
Jade smiled and looked at her notes again, her smiling slowly fading as she continued to work. Daniel, who was now standing at her shoulder and holding the flashlight, looked over to her, seeing her concerned look.
"What is it?"
"What I've translated... it talks about this place being the "land where dead legends walk and living myths die..." and it's also talking about- this is odd." Jade looked up from her notes, and she took the flashlight from Daniel, darting the light from spot to spot, character to character on different walls. "Dr. Jackson, these are all talking about Suzano-oo, the Shinto god of Chaos. It's thought that Shintoism was developed through cult worship-"
"That the gods themselves were no more than tribal leaders. Yeah, I've heard it."
"Well, apparently, it seems that everyone's wrong, Doctor." Jade said, turning to look at him. "It seems that these ruins.. are Suzano-oo's tomb."
Daniel stared at Jade, his mind putting the pieces together. That could mean a lot... the tomb of a dead god... that almost definitely meant the Asgard knew about this... or that the System Lords did.
Suddenly, just as Daniel was about to reply, Jade turned and began to walk back towards the entrance.
"Colonel O'Neill!" She cried, almost to the entrance. "We've found somethi-"
Several things happened at once.
The sounds of energy staff blasts filled the sizzling air from outside, the sound of O'Neill yelling for Daniel and Jade to stay in the temple, and a scream from Carter all seemed to fill Jade's senses. But, that wasn't all. The door to the temple seemed to slam shut in Jade's face, and she yelped, jumping back as she and Daniel were encased in near darkness, save for the flashlight and PDA in Jade's hand.
"Dr. Jackson..." Jade whispered after a moment's near silence, save for the shouting and firing outside. "What's just happened?"