4 After Icon: Part Two
'The Chamber'
A/N: Spoilers for Season 8 (After Icon where SG-1 goes to a world where Daniel is wounded by the base being taken over and after my part one, but this is before the next show.) so be forewarned. This is the fourth in my series of what happens between the shows in Season 8.
I am sitting at my computer with blue camo military pants on (my BF calls them my Stargate pants) waiting for ideas. Ohhh there's one!
Eastern Kentucky
The next morning Keira called Daniel at his hotel room to wake him up for the morning exploration. She picked him up and headed for the Park. A few minutes after they got there, word spread that a few people had went down the stairs ahead of them. This distressed Daniel as the Park Rangers assured him that no one would be down there without him accompanying them.
As the group entered the cave they heard yelling and flashlights waving in the distance. When they got out in the sun, Daniel seen two people who were being carried who had large burns on their arms. He instinctively veered his attention to each person's eyes trying to decipher if maybe one of them were taken over by a Goa'uld. I have to see if everything below is still undisturbed.
"Put them in my jeep! Lets get them to the hospital!" A Park Ranger hurried and noticed that the two wounded people were Grotto members. The Ranger knew they were extremely professional and confident-explores and wondered at what must have befallen them.
"What's going on?" Daniel and Keira questioned in unison.
Another Grotto member stepped forward, "We told them not to go down there without you as you said. They just wouldn't listen. We heard them yelling, and we went down for them. There was a fire and they had some how burned themselves. If it's ok with you, we don't want to go back into that chamber down the stairs till the fire's out. We're explorers not archeologists and the military type."
"That's fine. I have some people coming out who will be able to help put the fire out...I think."
Daniel turned to see another car pulling up. It was Jack, Teal'c and Sam.
"What's up Daniel?" Jack asked as he peered into the cave and seen a squirrel jump from tree to tree.
"We found something." Daniel almost whispered.
"Yes, a cave out in the mountains. Who knew?" Jack smirked.
"No, we found a something a little more interesting, General." A Ranger had taken his words as an insult instead of just funning around like SG-1 had been accustomed. SG-1 understood that he kept things light for sanity's sake since the fate of the world was always in the balance. He just expected them to update him. Jack always let the people in their specialty handle their end if he knew they were trust worthy and confident in their work. He did not want to find himself understanding every little detail that would distract him from doing his job well. Besides, he did not want them to expect him to try and compete with all their ideas. He was of the mind that you do your job and I'll do mine, then we can work together and get the job done.
He introduced Colonel Carter, Teal'c and General O'Neill to everyone then they ventured into the dark cave. Daniel got them up to date on how Keira had thought the disk was a key and they contacted him to come look. Daniel told them everything else except for what was down in the chamber below the room. He handed the disk to Jack as they entered the new room in the cave that was where the door was.
"Daniel, what's in the room?" Sam's curiosity was about to cause her to explode and run down the stairs.
Daniel could see the level of interest that dwelled in each of their eyes, "Follow me, I'll show you."
They descended the marble staircase that did not have a rail, so they walked slowly on the slick steps. The members of SG-1 and the General held their own flashlights as they looked at the markings on the walls. Daniel explained the Cherokee called this place the earth teacher as was evident by the writings on the walls they scanned. All of them knew, but could not tell the others who were outside of the cave, that the staircase was made without conventional equipment. It was very similar in appearance to the chambers and tunnels the Tok'ra made in their secret bases. The Tok'ra could make an entire base of operation tunnels in mere moments.
Finally, they approached the end of the stairs, and Daniel shone light on Egyptian markings that had Native American symbols under it that was just over the threshold.
Daniel read it out loud for the others to know and understand, "Beyond the bolted door, the one of whom I knew so well."
Everyone else was speechless as they took the final steps into the chamber where heat emanated. The first thing Sam found herself fixed on was at the center of the room. Teal'c peered at the floor and the ceiling, which appeared to be made of gold and silver engravings that shimmered in the fire. The chamber was at least the size of the Gate room at the SGC. Jack held his gun up as if a predator was stalking the group. Only Teal'c slightly picked up on the energy being radiated thru the chamber and understood it to be a warning and a safeguard. Jack only hoped that Goa'ulds did not start flooding the room with putrid water and try to attach themselves to their spines to take over their bodies.
What seemed to hypnotize Sam was an object she recognized that had a pillar of flame ascending a few feet from the center of the object, a sarcophagus.
"Please tell me there isn't a snake head inside." Jack was starting to wish he had brought more men.
"From the writing I have made out, I don't think it is a Goa'uld. At first, I thought it was a son of Ra from the way the Natchez Indians described their gods. There are sets of engravings that are completely foreign to me. I have never seen anything like it. That was the 'Squirrely' part of all of this." Daniel took another step toward the sarcophagus and told them not to touch it, or they would be burned like the others.
He demonstrated by tossing a rock at it. A second after contact the pillar of fire that extended up about two feet and was about five inches in diameter shifted to incorporate that section of the large golden rock oversized coffin looking container. True it was known to restore life and repair bodies, but this was the first time touching one could cause immediate death or burns.
They knew the last one found had stored Hathor for possibly thousands of years. Working on containing the fire was the first course of action for Teal'c and Sam. Daniel on the other side of the coin started to try and translate the remainder of the writing on the sarcophagus and walls that was possible to do so. He was starting to wonder where his friend was.
After an hour of scribbling and drawing in his notes, Daniel heard a familiar voice from above getting closer and Jack turned his gun to the bottom of the stairs, "Hey, Daniel are you down there?"
"Come on down." Daniel replied, "Yea, lets take a quick break shall we."
"We shall." Jack acted in his macho way as he lowered his gun.
In walked a young lady with a few bags of food. With her head down and hair in her face, made them all think of Daniel's wife that passed away. Sam shifted her head to look directly at the girl while putting her things down.
"Keira, I would like to introduce General Jack O'Neill, Colonel Samantha Carter and Teal'c." Daniel pointed them out.
"Hello, it is very nice to meet all of you. Are you guys hungry?" Keira smiled and the light flickered in her crystal green eyes that momentarily mesmerized the group.
"Are we?" Jack reach for the bag she handed out to him.
"Indeed." Teal'c took a bag as well and bowed his head slightly in thanks.
"Thanks, you live around here?" Sam was curious about the girl who was similar in appearance to Daniel's ex. I wonder if I am the only one who thinks she resembles her a lot, all but the color of her eyes. She glanced at Daniel and picked up on the way he was looking at her and knew he thought the same thing.
"Oh, yea I have an apartment here in town. Have you guys found anything new?" Keira opened her own bag and took a bite out of an identical pizza pita she made.
After a few minutes, Sam recognized Keira as someone she had text messaged from a message board. "Hey, is your username on the internet, Kiraflower75?
"Yes, how do you know that?" Keira started smiling.
"I instant messaged you when I was on a message board for Patrick." Sam had forgot that Jack and the others were listening. "Oh, I know who you are now. Yes, love that movie when he said, 'I can't fight what I am!' And that part where the other says, 'And like a thousand other commanders on a thousand other battlefields throughout history, I wait for the dawn.' That was so interesting." Sam spoke the first quote with a sinister growl and the second with a sense of power.
"Don't forget the other movie. Randolph turns to see Christabel and says, 'I shan't forget...'" Daniel joined Keira and she quieted and watched him continue quoting.
"I shan't forget the first glimpse of your form...illuminated as it was by flashes of sunlight. I have dreamt nightly of your face. To walk to the landscape of my life with the rhythm of your writing...ringing in my ears." Radiant passion filled his being as he waited for the proper response from the crystalline eyes that sought out his with a flicker of understanding.
Keira stepped closer to Daniel with one hand over her neck. Then Keira became serious and spoke with a remarkably seducing tone, "I shall never forget out shining progress...towards one another. Never have I felt such a concentration of my entire being. I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you." She let her eyes escape Daniel's gaze for a moment as her eyes grazed over the sarcophagus then back to him. "No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed."
The onlookers turned and started fiddling with things trying not to gawk at their close friend.
The two escaped in a moment of light. Their perceptions mingled and they found themselves in a massive white room without walls. They're senses were unable to convey the actual surroundings as they could only know they were the only two beings in existence. The only thing they could hear was the pounding of their hearts and the flicker of a fire invisibly near by them. Daniel and Keira were in each other's arms as they embraced for a kiss.
"I wonder." Jack splashed part of the bottled water he was drinking at the sarcophagus thinking the water might diminish the fire's effects.
Keira could sense the danger that caused her to be pulled back into reality, "No!" She slammed into Jack knocking him to the ground as the fire consumed the entire area he had been standing. Daniel almost fell back with the force and heat of the flames that danced in the air. Teal'c and Sam shielded their eyes.
"Are you ok?" Sam grabbed Keira to put out a small flame that was on her shirt.
Jack looked up at Daniel, "It was only water."
"One of the things I came to tell you was not to use water. The Grotto members who were burned had tried splashing water on the flame. It's strange, but the fire burns more when it is touched by water." Keira had bumped her arm badly and knew it would bruise.
Jack noticed her long exquisite hair had been scorched at the ends, "Thank you. And I'm sorry about your hair."
"It's ok. I'll just cut a few inches off." Keira pulled her hair into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She held the ends secure and flipped it over her shoulder. Keira removed a pair of scissors from her pack and clipped a few inches off. When she flung her hair free, no one could tell she had cut it because it was already full and long.
Daniel had an epiphany, "Like Greek fire, I think it operates in a way like Greek fire. The more fire the more flame. The water chemically feeds the fire so the cave can feed the fire continuously."
After a few more hours of testing and translating, they discovered a way to turn off the fire. Daniel and Keira pressed in a series of engravings that cut the water off from contacting the bottom of the sarcophagus. They isolated the spring that was slowly feeding the flame. After testing it a few times for the flame to return, Daniel attempted to open it.
Keira stepped back feeling a little paranoid as the sides of the top of the sarcophagus parted to display a figure inside. Daniel looked into Keira's eyes that resembled transparent emeralds. Keira leaned against Daniel's steady arm as a light violet hand draped in gems, emerged from the ancient golden sarcophagus.
A/N: I guess I will make a Part Three to this one. Yes/No?
Please Review is my only wish, it will expand my universe!
What ya think about the new character Keira (Yes, I got her name from the girl on Pirates of the Caribbean. The movies that were mentioned were Nemesis and Possession)?
Who do you think is inside the Sarcophagus? Give you one hint. It's not a human or a Goa'uld.
Smile,
Leia