Sam was herding the rest of the science team home. They were done here. The rest of the analysing had to be done on base with more sophisticated equipment. She watched the equipment being carried through the gate as a young man with sunny blond hair and a geeky posture approached her.

"Major Carter?" he addressed

Sam turned to the man expectantly. Teal'c quietly approached from behind.

"Dr. Jackson found a chamber and asked for your help" the man said

Sam nodded. She suddenly found Teal'c beside her. Curiosity ignited in her. Maybe Daniel found some sort of piece of technology or something that contributed to the study of the white-bluish liquid.

Silently Sam and Teal'c left, following the young man to the chamber. They were led through the narrow passage ways that were made with the same smokey-white coloured alien metal and filled with the accustomed alien lettering. They entered the small room and found it was empty.

Daniel was no where in sight. In fact the room was empty.

The two soldiers lifted their weapons and checked the room but nothing sprang out to attack. The young man scratched his head in confusion.

"I know he was here. There was a crystal here as well"

"A crystal?" Sam questioned

"Yeah. On a large pedestal! It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..."

That would probably get Daniel to ask for her but it might be responsible for his disappearance as well. Sam wished she could read the writing on the walls. It might have helped to know what happened to Daniel. Right now he was missing and she had to report that to the General.

"Found anything?" she asked Teal'c

"I have found nothing Major Carter" Teal'c murmured

"Keeping looking, I'm going to report to the General" Sam told him

Teal'c nodded and Sam pushed past the young man to reach the exit of the temple.


"Ahhhhh... ahhhh...ahhhh...OW!" Jack yelped

"Hold still Colonel" Janet's frosty tone came

"What does spinal fluid have to do with anything?" Jack complained

"Everything Colonel" her tone was crisp

"AHHHHH! That hurt!" Jack growled

"It was meant to hurt sir" Janet replied coldly

"Can we stop for a moment? I'm not a pin cushion! And if you take any more blood from me I'll look unattractive to vampires!" Jack snapped

"I want to get these tests done as quickly as possible Colonel"

"Somehow I doubt that- hey! Careful with that! OWW!"

"Sorry Colonel" Janet's tone was still icy and showed no remorse and continued her attack with the needles

"Ahhh! OW! OK! Look... I'm uh, I'm sorry... Ok?" Jack grumbled knowing why Janet was doing this to him

Janet didn't respond.

"I was hungry and the Infirmary food isn't exactly five star..."

Janet drove the needle a bit more sharply. Jack flinched a bit.

"Ahhh... look I know it was...silly of me that I did that"

Janet finished with the needle and moved on with another needle which she poked or more likely stabbed it in his rear.

"YEEEEYOOOW! Jesus! Ahhhh! Ok! Ok! It was stupid of me! I should have asked someone!" he gabbled and then added as an after thought, "But I knew you'll never let me eat real food... OW! What?"


Sam followed the passage to the main room of the Temple. She knew that Daniel had a nack of getting into trouble. He was literally a trouble magnet, even if he doesn't mean to find it.

"Major Carter!"

She turned at Teal'c voice. He was crouched beside the doorway into the room. She approached him and knelt beside him to get a look at what he had found. Unknowingly the young geeky archaeologist hovered behind them.

"What is it Teal'c?"

"It appears this maybe a button to open the door" he stated and proved his analysis by pressing one curvy symbol

Immediately the door slid shut with great velocity. Sam rose and looked at the door closely. It had different symbols to the one on the walls.

"That's how I opened it" the nameless archaeologist explained, "I thought this was a dead end. I recognised those symbols at the bottom to be different to the rest. I touched them and this opened..."

Teal'c looked up to Sam, "Indeed. This lettering is not like the others"

Sam gave him her attention, "Do you recognise them?"

"Indeed. Its an ancient form of Goa'uld that has not been used in a millennia"

"You know what it means?" Sam asked

"I cannot read this dialect but I am sure this is a Goa'uld trap"

"What? Are you sure?"

"Positive"

"How?"

"If this Temple protected something of great importance they may used this, as a decoy, to lead them inside and they would have found the crystal, believing it was the rare prize to be claimed"

"Of course" Sam agreeing with his story, "They would see those symbols on the door and find a way in somehow"

"We must somehow reactivate the device. We must go after Daniel Jackson before it is too late" Teal'c said urgently

"I've got to and inform the General" Sam said

"There is no time. Daniel Jackson maybe in grave danger. Goa'uld traps are merciless and are swift in deliverance. More time we waste, the less chance Daniel Jackson has of surviving" Teal'c argued his point

Sam finally nodded and turned to the archaeological scientist.

"Go back to the gate and inform SG-3 and the General of the situation" Sam commanded

The man nodded and ran off down the hall. Teal'c pressed the Goa'uld symbol and it slid open to reveal the crystal in place.

"What should we do?" Sam asked

"We shall go into the trap ourselves. I believe the true danger lies in the destination of where this leads"

With that Teal'c stepped inside the smokey-white room. He approached the crystal with Sam behind him. As soon she was inside the room gave a low rumble. Then the white crystal glowed. Its power glided down the pedestal and onto the floor, which inturn activated. The platform descended down into the pitch darkness.


"Doctor Fraiser?"

Janet approached General George Hammond swiftly, "I'm still waiting for the latest blood works to come through but beside all the abnormalities I can give the Colonel a clean bill of health"

General nodded, "Good. Thank you Doctor"

"See fit as a fiddle!" Jack jumped up from his seating position puffing his chest out

"I would like to keep him for overnight for observation"

"What!" Jack started to protest, "You already used me as a pin cushion! What more do you want!"

"But I'll be happy if he stayed restricted to base and gets plenty of rest" she said sternly more to Jack then to the General

The General nodded, "Thank you Doctor"

The General left. Janet turned to Jack.

"Now I mean it Colonel. Your body changed dramatically and its still recovering from the effects of this change. If you don't get any rest I'll personally make sure you're back here and doing another round of tests to 'reconfirm' the substance in your blood" she felt like she was instructing and threatening a kid

Jack visibly paled at the mention of another round of tests. The last round was horrible enough! He swore Janet was a sadist... well at least with needles.

Janet sighed. It was funny how the Colonel behaved like a child when it came to the Infirmary. Another reason for letting him go was for her benefit. A complaining and whining Colonel started to get on her nerves for the past two days. She knew how she would get if he'd stay any longer, plus keeping the nurses away from him since they liked patting and poking him, was hard enough. The Colonel didn't fancy the attention and grew even more annoying and nerve racking.

"Alright, alright! Don't stress doc! I'll catch a few Z's and even take a cat nap... or a rat nap... or what ever I am" he finished lamely, "The point is you don't have to worry about me"

"Lets hope so Colonel" Janet replied briskly

Janet turned and walked away

Jack muttered, "Neopol-"

Janet turned back and gave a harsh glare that made her more intimidating for her petite size. What's more intimidating is that she wasn't as short as she use to be since he was now actually shorter than she was. He shut his mouth at her glare and turned to jump down and escape from her wrath.

He didn't want to be a lab rat again.


Daniel wandered through the pitch black halls of his environment. It felt like halls or tunnels since he could run his hands along both sides. He moved cautiously in the direction this tunnel was leading. It twist and turned in an endless run.

Daniel was left down here by the elevator. Well he thought he did. The last he remembered was waking up here in the tunnel. The time between the alien elevator and the dank tunnel was blank. All he could do now is follow the tunnel and see if there is a light at the end.

He eventually came upon a large room. It was lit up by dim light from the egg shaped lights that were apart of the alien decor. He was right in his analogy that he was in a tunnel, or a cave or sorts. His eyes adjusted to the light as he walked into the cavern.

The room had no other entrances or exits than the one from the tunnel he came from. There was nothing interesting, other than the lights and a large pool of liquid. He shone his torch light that was attached to his vest on the liquid.

It was black. Well he gathered it was black. It was kept in a pool similar to the pool they found the white liquid in but this one was larger. Daniel shone his light into the pool and the light didn't reflect back. It was like shining the light into the night sky, there was nothing to reflect it back. So he thought it was a hole so he picked up a nearby rock and threw it in.

It was swallowed in the blackness with a 'th-lunk'. It was defiantly liquid... but not reflective...

Deciding the way out wasn't here, Daniel turned to leave. What stopped him in his movements was a bubbling sound. It was small at the start and then it grew more intense, giving suspense to the arrival of someone or something.

Daniel turned facing the bubbling liquid. Then defying gravity the liquid rose out of the pool in a body of water. It looked hollow but foreboding. Daniel backed away from it, watching it take form and shape as of a human. Once the details of the 'person' was filled in, the blackness disappeared and replaced with dull but recognisable colours.

There stood from the liquid a man in a dark hood. It was pure black, but at least it reflected the dim light in the room but it did nothing to reveal who this person was.

"Um... hel-"

"You dare defile the sacred temple?" the person's voice came at an inhuman hiss. Dispite its alien form it was a distinctively male

"-lo" Daniel finished

"You have been ambitious to come down here creature" he continued, "You sought to find power"

"What power?"

"You know what power I speak creature. The power of the Creators" he spat

"I didn't come down here to seek your power..."

"You creatures are an arrogant race and ambitious for power. You will not hesitate to strike me down to gain what you believe is yours"

Daniel frowned, "Wait a sec-"

"But I have yet to see a creature, like you, to act in innocence in order to gain what power the Creators protect. You are lower than your predecessors that came here before you. This makes you more ambitious for what this temple holds"

"What? What are you talking about... wait a sec... you think I'm a Goa'uld?"

A chuckle emitted from the hidden features of the face, "You are more disgraceful then I thought. Perhaps it is good that your kind needs to be humble in order to obtain great power. Still I can see through your deception, I will not be led into your plans"

"I'm not a Goa'uld"

"I notice you don't even use your real voice, you offend me. You come upon me with no Jaffa, no grand entrance and in your hosts voice. At least your predecessors had more Goa'uld honour if Goa'uld had such a thing"

"That's because I'm not a Goa'uld! If you can tell me where the elevator is, I can go. Leave you in peace"

"Nice try parasite but you know what I protect here. You will bring more of your kind and will attempt to destroy me with your weapons. No, I cannot be deceived so easily"

The arms raised from their folded position and dead purple skinned hands appeared from underneath and stretched forth. The dark liquid from the pool climbed up in a spiral threads like a spout from a tornado but upwards. It reached his arm then to his hand.

Daniel tried for a last ditch effort of appeal, "Look I'm not a Goa'uld! I hate them. They are my enemy too! Is there some way I can prove that to you?"

The hooded man halted his action

"Yes there is one way you can prove the possibility that you are not a parasite. It is extremely painful but it will ultimately prove you are not Goa'uld"

Considering Daniel's options he took the chance.

"I'll do it" Daniel replied

The black man looked at him oddly with a tweak of his hooded head.

"This is... extremely painful. If you are Goa'uld it will kill you"

"I'm not Goa'uld so I have nothing to loose and considering my options between this and death, I think I'll go with this"

"Then brace yourself"

The stranger bent his arms, gathering the liquid to his palms. He converted it to energy. Then he snapped his arms straight and the power pushed away and energy released. In a flash the dark light shot right into Daniel.

The dark fog engulfed Daniel and was blasted by a great force, knocking him to the ground. Pain flared in his muscles. Deep unimaginable pain seeped through his muscles. He screamed jolting as his muscles cramped up from the trauma. The energy seemed to go further than his muscles, bringing pain to his organs, tissue... his entire physical self. His scream went up a few notches.

Images appeared in his mind. Pain, death, suffering, bloodshed and images from his own life and all the failures he seemed to have conducted through out it. From the most turning point events to the forgotten lies or incidents. He felt every emotion, behind every image, as if he was then and there experiencing them all over again.

His mind and body was bombarded with pain, inflicted by this dark energy. He convulsed on the ground, his body couldn't take anymore and was on the verge of a complete shut down.

Darkness welcomed him to the place of nothingness. A place he gladly took and he released himself from the never-ending pain that assaulted him.


To be continued...

I know a bit of a dark chapter than my previous... but it all plays in the grand scheme of things What will happen to Daniel? Will Jack ever recover from his recent blood tests from Janet? Will anyone help him? Stay tuned to find out.

Please review!

Pretty please?