"Dammit!" Daniel, sitting up in bed, threw the papers he was holding onto the covers. "It's just pictures," he muttered. "I don't think I can go any farther with this."

They were allowed to get up now, and only the male nurses approached them. Janet was still in charge, and Sam visited often, but they tried to stay as far away as possible, given the circumstances. It irked Jack, and probably Daniel too, although he didn't show it. Jack had finally ordered Sam to get Daniel's notes. "He's the only one who can do anything now, even if he can't," said Jack cryptically. Janet, despite her usual misgivings to working while ill, had given in almost gratefully this time: she would never say so out loud, but she was starting to feel out of her depth. Medicine hadn't helped them at all; nor had rest: this was, as far as she could tell, uncurable. But she was damned if she was going to give in. So she'd let Daniel look the papers over.

Jack was sitting by Daniel's bed, in the chair usually reserved for members of the SGC waiting for their wounded or sick to wake up. But despite feeling congested and dizzy, he, too, was more than ready to get better, and so, was trying his best to help Daniel with his culture stuff. Something familiar caught his eye. "Hang on," he said, putting his hand on the archaeologist's shoulder to keep him from shuffling the papers more. "What's this?" He drew a printout of a photograph from the pile. It was a highly decorated box, with a picture of a man—definitely a man—very naked, and being subjected to some sort of...was it lightning? Daniel didn't know. That was one of the more bewildering pictures.

Daniel looked over at Jack, puzzled. "What? I couldn't figure that one out."

"Here," Jack said, running his fingers lightly around the box. "Looks Arabic."

Daniel looked closer, and did, in fact, see it. "Yeah..." he said fascinated. He gazed at it a second longer, then looked up at Jack. "I didn't even see that!" He turned his attention to the photograph.

Sam had been watching interestedly from the other side of the infirmary. She approached cautiously, staying about six feet back. "Find anything?" she asked.

Sam was starting to look a little the worse for wear, Jack thought. Kinda like Daniel on a caffeine high, when he hadn't slept in about a week. But, he reminded himself, Carter hadn't slept in a week. Daniel had ignored her question, so Jack decided to ask a question of his own of Sam. "You okay?" he asked.

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Better than you," she replied. "Daniel?"

The man sighed. "It's too small to read. I need my laptop, or a larger picture of this." He tossed the sheet back into his lap.

Sam nodded. "I'll get your laptop right now." She turned and left the infirmary.

"Jack?" asked Daniel.

"Yeah?"

"How'd you know it was Arabic?" The younger man was clearly puzzled as to the sudden revelation that his friend wasn't as stupid as he acted. Well, Daniel knew Jack wasn't stupid, but he never indicated he knew stuff...

"Uh...I've been to the Middle East, Daniel." His tone was clipped. Don't go there, it said. Daniel understood and backed off.

"So...can you read it?" At Jack's steady gaze, he stammered, "Just—just...if there's two translators, it'll go faster..."

Jack smiled slightly, and shook his head. "I can speak some of the dialects, and I can recognize the writing, but I can't put the two together. Sorry."

They lapsed into a slightly uncomfortable silence. Jack picked up the other pictures and squinted to see if they contained any hidden writing, but didn't see any more.

About five minutes later, Sam came with Daniel's laptop. "Here it is," she said. "Hope it helps." She handed it over, then retreated back to a 'safe' distance.

Daniel turned on the computer and opened the picture up, blowing it up slightly more than it was in the photograph. "Yeah..." he said. "I can translate this." He gazed at the picture for a while, moving his fingers in order to manipulate the picture on screen, and then frowned. "That's weird," he murmured.

"What?" Jack asked warily.

"Well, it's in Go'a'uld. I mean, the writing is Arabic, but the language is clearly Go'a'uld." He sighed. "And it's a dialect I don't know well enough. We should really get Teal'c in here."

"I'll get him," Sam volunteered.

Daniel winced. "You don't have to, Sam. I feel guilty treating you like a messenger..."

"Don't," she said, smiling slightly. "It's in my best interest. I'm going crazy just sitting here." She winced at the way that sounded. "I mean, I do want to be here for you guys...but –"

"Just shut up, Carter, or you'll choke on your foot. Shoo! Go get Teal'c and then we can get better and have a party with ice cream and pizza and beer. Okay?"

"Uh, okay, Sir." She stepped out of the infirmary once more.

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An hour later, the box was translated. Teal'c and Daniel had been conversing in hushed tones for a while now, and Sam was next to Jack, who was back in bed upon his discovery that he could do no more for his intrepid archaeologist.

Apparently there was a room on the planet that was meant to cure men. They could be re-infected, but usually the treatment held off the purple buggers for a few days. The treatment was painful, but didn't harm the participants for longer than it took to cure them.

The reason for the room, Daniel found out, was so the species didn't die out. The males had to be well enough to mate with the women, so there had to be a way to cure them for that purpose. Daniel postulated the room was somewhere around that temple: probably a hidden room.

They prepared and planned for the trip there.

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