Chapter 4

Past Imperfect.

SG-1 blinked away the blurring effect of travelling through the rings, their eyes growing used to the dim light in the tunnel they found themselves. "Tok'ra tunnels?" Sam's voice alerted them all to the incongruity of their current location.

Each finally noticed what Sam had been the first to see, the crystalline structure of the dimly glowing Tok'ra tunnels covering the floor, the walls and the ceiling. Jack frowned. He felt slightly nervous as he looked around at this unexpected location. The end of the tunnel where they found themselves was rounded, a stub chamber grown from the main tunnel. Cautiously, he gestured for the others to follow him as he headed in the only direction given to them considering that the chamber was empty of everything except the pattern of rings engraved in the floor.

Suddenly the rings lit up. Jack reached to the concealed knife in his boot, throwing it to Teal'c. As Sam drew her own one, Jack reached into his waistband to retrieve his pistol. Daniel reached for the only weapon he had; his trowel. Taking aim, Jack squinted through the light of the active transporter, ready to shoot the newcomer.

The light faded as the rings vanished back into the floor, leaving a very disoriented Jeanie gaping at the room and the experience she'd just gone through. "Jeanie!" Daniel's voice cut through the air, as he stepped forward.

Taking a few deep breaths, Jeanie took a very slow glance around the room, her wide eyes finally stopping on the man who's voice had greeted her. They travelled down to the brandished trowel and, in an attempt to drive off her own fear, she put on an air of affrontry. Her hands rested on her hips and her eyes turned steely. "Daniel Jackson, don't you dare threaten me with that trowel!"

Daniel blinked, then apologetically pushed the trowel behind his back, avoiding that harsh glare from his friend. Meanwhile in the background, Teal'c raised an eyebrow, the ghost of a smile gracing his lips, while Jack and Sam were trying desperately not to laugh. Jeanie took a better look around the room. Begining to feel nervous again she sheepisly asked "Where the hell are we?"

Daniel cast a pained look at his three team mates, then looked back to Jeanie. "Well... Ummmm." he hesitated, not really sure what he could or couldn't say. He looked at Jack, silently asking what he could or couldn't say. As his colonel regained his composure, Daniel glanced at Jeanie. "Jack, she's here. We really should tell her what's happening."

"Yes... Colonel... I think you should." snapped a now nervous, but irritated Jeanie as she passed Daniel and approached the other three.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Peachy." was all he said, before gesturing at Daniel and sighing.

"Jeanie, you see..." Daniel hesitated, then took a deep breath. "The thing is, we did recognise the writing that you sent me. That strange writing. We've seen it before. In Egypt."

"DanielJackson speaks the truth" rumbled the basso voice of Teal'c, filling the small chamber easily.

"It's where we first met Teal'c," Daniel continued, undaunted. "And we found something like those rings there, too. Where it led us... well let's just say that it was unprecedented, but also seriously dangerous... so much so that the military have been involved." He stopped, sighing. "So now you know why I haven't published in a few years. I mean, can you imagine? All those theses that I wrote, all those seminars I held, with my theories? They weren't that far off base. Except... well, we still don't know who built..." he raised his arms gesturing at the cave, "all this!"

Jeanie now turned to look at Sam and Jack. A sudden dawning of comprehension painted her petite face. "So I was right. You two aren't scientists."

Sam smiled and stepped forward. "Actually, I am. I'm an astrophysicist, just like I said... but I'm also a major in the US Air Force."

Daniel cleared his throat and proceeded to re-introduce his companions. "Jeanie, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill and this is Major Samantha Carter."

Jeanie turned to look at Teal'c, "and what about you?"

Before Teal'c could reply, Daniel moved closer, laying a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Teal'c and I are both civilian advisors. The military aren't exactly.. 'clued up' on archaeology and dead languages."

Jeanie laughed hesitantly as she tore her gaze away and looked at Jack. "So should I be saluting or praying that you won't kill me, now that the secret's out."

"Actually," murmered Jack, tucking his pistol back into his pants, "you won't need to worry about that, until we return to the surface." A wolfish smile touched his thin lips, but there was no humour in his dark eyes. "For now, we need to work fast in case someone's home."

Jeanie glanced around at the faces, finally coming to rest on Daniel's face again. "So you don't know if it's safe here, right?" Daniel nodded. "Then what's our plan?"

Daniel smiled a little, then watched as Jack and Teal'c slipped away. "They're going to scout the area, to make sure that we're alone. Then you, I and Sam will look through anything we can find. We're looking for any kind of information; more writings, pictographs... that kind of thing."

"Oh." murmered Jeanie. She moved to touch the wall. "What is this? It feels almost alive..."

Sam moved up, to just behind her elbow. "We're still unsure of it's composition, but it's exactly what was found in Egypt. Some sort of quartz."

----------

Daniel, Sam and Jeanie had made themselves comfortable, while they waited for Jack and Teal'c. Sam kept a sharp eye on the corridor, just in case. The sound of Jack whistling a jaunty tune echoed down the corridors a mere ten minutes later. "Well..." he said as he rounded the corner, "the bad news is that it looks like we're alone. The good news is... we've hit paydirt! There's a whole slew of pictures on the walls and some dead guy near a collapsed tunnel."

Daniel jumped to his feet. "Where?" As Jack gestured, Daniel was off, his feet carrying him towards the exit.

Jack volunteered a bit more information as he lead the way. "Looks like he was some sort of priest from his robes, but you guys are the experts. Why don't you all take a look?"

Jeanie was already following Daniel at a more sedate pace, listening to his receeding footsteps, almost drowned out by her own and Sam's.

The tunnels glistened, shedding their own small amount of light on the passage of their guests, providing ample illumination on the skeleton they found Teal'c guarding. The years had leeched him of all flesh. The bones were shrouded in tattered rags of what looks to have been robes laced with some chain-mail segments over the heart and the lower abdomen. Clutched in one hand was a small tablet of what looked like stone. In the other hand was an S-shaped lump of metal which Jeanie did not recognise. Daniel was already kneeling beside the corpse, carefully prying the tablet from brittle bones.

The legs of the skeleton were twisted, broken in places. Jeanie leant in, examining the injuries carefully. "The bones haven't regrown. Both Fibulae were snapped. It was almost surgical in the precision, and they were broken at the same place on each leg." She looked up at Sam, "this is probably what killed him."

A hollow, cracking sound was heard, followed by a curse as Daniel's ministrations caused the skull to topple from the shoulders of the dead priest. Jeanie turned her attention back to what Daniel was working on, not noticing that the lump of metal had disappeared.

Daniel sat back on his heels, looking down at the small tablet in his hands. It was no bigger than a PDA in size - little over 4 inches in height, and two in width - but it was thinner, as if carved from a small chunk of slate. Jeanie could not quite see the writing on it, but she could see Daniel holding it as his lips moved in translation.

Time seemed to slow for Daniel, as he worked on the contents of the tablet. The others drifted away to explore the rest of the complex, leaving Daniel and Jeanie to complete the translation.

----------

"Here are the last words of our Lord's most faithful of followers.

"By the reckoning of time as our Lord has taught us, it is the year 937 after the sealing of the great pyramid, 938 years after our liberation from the father of our Lord's father.

"We have been betrayed. The priests of our Lord Har-sa-iset have been betrayed from within. Our Lord lies dead.

"The one known as Heru-akhen - he who is in service to our Lord Her - has betrayed us. He was the one man to whom Lord Horus had entrusted faith and knowledge. It was our Lord's closest advisor who betrayed us. I heard him, at the end, laughing with glee for the destruction he had wrought. 'Know the strength of he who has become Heru-ur!' he exhalted, as he shattered my legs. He has taken our Lord's head to the Chappa'i, collapsing the tunnel behind him and damning those of us left alive."

------

"Daniel!" The tone of urgency in Sam's voice cut through Daniel's musings and he looked up from the tablet, rising to his feet to meet her as she approached him.

"Sam?" he queried, standing and sliding the tablet into his pack. "What is it?"

She brushed her hand through her hair, then smiled. "I found something you might want to look at." She paused as he cocked his head to one side, then glanced at Jeanie. "Ummm..." it was too important to hide now. "We found a holograph and lots of crystals. And you just have to see what's on them!"

As Sam made motions to return through the corridors, Jeanie and Daniel followed. Eventually the corridor opened up into a large chamber... a huge chamber. The ceiling rose above them to a dome. The roof showing little sign of it's age, only one long crack running down the opposite side. As Daniel scanned the ceiling, his eye was drawn to a large sphere hanging down from the centre. He frowned, walking around two pedestals to stand beneath it. It was about a foot across, but so high up that he could not see it clearly. Even the beam of his torch only revealed a smoke- grey surface that gleamed faintly.

Sam had made herself busy at one of the pedestals, quietly explaining things to Jeanie and Teal'c.

Daniel approached them, eyes riveted to the sphere as he murmered the question weighing on his mind. "What is all this?"

Sam just grinned, then slid a damaged green crystal into one of the gaps in the pedestal. A mist enveloped the room, forcing everyone to squint as a diffused light built up to surround them. Then suddenly it was gone.

The room appeared to have changed. Gone was the crack in the opposite wall, but there were now people here. One walked 'through' Daniel, who yelped, but the sound was ignored by these new.. apparitions. Daniel walked around this man. He was very tall, for an Egyptian, standing nearly six feet. He had a regality and poise that few throughout history had been reknown for.

Daniel examined the man, from his hawk-nose to his gentle brown eyes. There was a sense of exceptional intelligence in this man, something which reminded Daniel of Shifu. "This must be..."

-----

"Lord Horus!" the warning rang out. Horus looked up from his console, cursing as he dropped the crystal he had been holding. "Ra's forces are entering the compound on Thera, Great Lord!"

"What about the Lady, Ha'tan?" he called, frustration evident in his raised voice.

"The 'Lady', my love, is about to leave..." a soft, sultry voice answered him from behind him.

The tall, white-clad figure of Horus turned, a smile gracing his lips as he watched the woman approach. She was clad in simple clothing, non-descript and well designed for camouflage. The various shades of brown made her tanned skin seem darker somehow. Her long, flaxen hair streamed behind her, settling in an animated cloud around her shoulders.

"Egeria..." he murmered. He turned, reaching for the open box beside him. Inside the box, a multitude of crystals of all colours gleamed, caught and refracted the light, casting strange shadows across his face. He closed the lid, then turned, solemnly handing the box to her. His thumb caressed hers gently and he leaned forward to steal a final kiss from her. "Take this, my love. You know what to do."

She nodded, then strode away from him quickly to hide the tears that threatened to fall. It was time to leave the past behind. Time to forge a new future... a new destiny.

Horus staggered as a round of bombardment shook the complex. He had no time to worry for his lover. Now he needed to save as many of his people as he could before Ra exacted revenge.

-----

Daniel blinked as the holograms faded, as disoriented as the rest. "Woah!" came Jack's single comment, startling the rest of the team.

"Sir..." Sam said as she turned to him. "This appears to be some sort of holographic archive! It could be invaluable in trying to piece together exactly what happened here."

"Ummm..." interrupted Daniel "Actually, we do know what happened. One of Horus' lieutennants betrayed him." All eyes were on the young archaeologist now as he continued, feeling a little self-conscious. "It was Heru-ur," he finished.

"Heru-ur would make sense, DanielJackson." Teal'c mused. "It is he, after all, who took on the name and role of Horus, after the death of the Harceisis." The SG-1 team members all nodded, each finding themselves lost in a plethora of thoughts. Jeanie was staring agape where the figures had just recently appeared, stunned and over-awed into silence.

Sam reached for an unblemished, pink crystal, swapping it for the green one. Again, the mist appeared around them, the light growing as the hologramatic history loaded. This time, however, Sam had decided to experiment with the controls in front of her, as she had seen others in the background of the previous recording doing.

------

"Heru-akhen, my friend..." Horus smiled, clasping an arm around the shorter, bald man beside him. "How do you like our new home?"

"It is too cold, and these crystal walls leave much to be desired in the way of aesthetics." the familiar figure murmered sourly. The face of Heru-ur was unmistakable.

"Come, now... You know that we can change that. This is it, my brother. This is the home that we dreamt of for all those years, while we gathered allies and like-minded people to work with us! The Goa'uld will have no choice now but to fear us. Can't you see?" The innocense that sparkled in those intelligent brown eyes seemed slightly out of place.

Heru-ur nodded. "Of course, my Lord."

The honorific seemed to elicit only a frown from Horus, as he stopped pacing and turned to look into the eyes of his second in command. "What has come over you of late, my friend? It's almost as if you resent what we have done here..."

"No, of course I don't." he lied. "It's just that I'm a little uneasy without proper doors to give me privacy. And living under the ground is not exactly... my idea of comfort."

"AH! So that's it. I had forgotten your claustrophobia. You know that you have my permission to leave, whenever you wish. You could go to Akrotiri or, through the Chappa'i, to any world you choose." The smile on Horus' lips had become more gentle, "I had forgotten just how we had met." The memory of freeing Heru-akhen from slavery in the mines was something that he had nearly forgotten. Almost.

"Thank you... Har. I do appreciate it. And I think I might do just that." he smiled a little. "That planet Cimmeria would be a pleasant place to spend the rest of the afternoon. I could finish that bit of writing that I was doing for you and the accolytes." To the untrained eye, it seemed that Heru-ur was speaking honestly when he said that he was happy to do this. Even the embrace that followed was something that looked natural. But to Teal'c, who was looking directly into the holographic eyes of Heru-ur, it was obvious that this was just another deception.

-----

The hologram cut out again, leaving all five looking at empty space.

"MajorCarter..." Teal'c asked, "is there any indication of a date on these records?"

"No. There's nothing to say what order they come in." she muttered, looking down at the controls. "I can't even tell if there's more on these than we've already seen. I really wish that Dad and Selmak were here. They probably know a lot more about this than I do." Her hands moved over the controls, as she peered at the indicators.

-----

This time the scene displayed was of a different room - smaller and more like an office. To one side was a communications console. Filling the rest of the room was a desk and a comfortable-looking chair.

"Great Lord, Ra has contacted us. He wants to speak to you."

Horus frowned as he looked up from his reports, then moved closer to the aide who had summoned him. "What does he want?"

"I do not know, Great Lord. He would not speak to me. He wanted only to speak with you." The aide bowed, before leaving the room.

Horus rolled his eyes, moving to the communication sphere and activating it.

The deceptively young face of Ra filled the small sphere. His long black hair framed a face that was filled with such a malevolent evil and hatred that it made Horus flinch slightly upon meeting those eyes.

"Har-sa-iset. Have you reconsidered your refusal to serve me?"

"Ra, get out of this system before I activate my defenses again. I will not let you enslave these humans again."

"You are a fool, young Harceisis. Every passing moment brings this planet closer to my domination... closer to your death." The hissed words were filled with an overwhelming belief in his superiority.

"Ra, you forget. I have created the one thing that will mean you and the rest of the Goa'uld cannot return. The rebellion I have set in motion will continue, even if I do not."

"You put too much trust in your petty humans. That is your failing."

Horus smiled a little, dark eyes burning with the fire of belief. "Those 'petty humans' are what spawned you, Ra. Remember that. And remember this; the planet of the Tau'ri will never be yours - now or in the future. These humans will protect it and destroy you if you try."

"Horus, you are a fool! You are little more than human yourself! You will be dead before the end of the month." Ra's eyes glowed with his barely- contained anger.

"Maybe. But I have accepted my mortality, Ra. I do not fear death."

"You will. I look forward to introducing you personally... again and again."

The communication and recording ended at the same time.

------

"I don't know about you guys..." interrupted Jack. "But I'm getting hungry. Shall I go back to the dig and get us all some food?" the nods of gratitude from each person was all the answer he needed. He was bored, this was a good excuse to let the scientists do what they did best.

-----

As the light from the rings cleared, Jack thought he felt the ground move under his feet. At first he thought it was the remnants of the ring travel. As he stepped from the platform, there was no mistaking it. The whole floor was vibrating, leaving his teeth rattling in his skull.

Suddenly, the entire room lurched violently, sending him sprawling to the floor. His head rebounded off the corner of the alcove. The island's volcano was starting to speak, like some ancient god awakened from it's slumber feeling grumpy at the disturbance.

The eye of the carving in the niche behind him blinked with a red light that was not visible before. The light flickered off and on, as if it watched over Jack O'Neill's unconscious form.

TBC