The place was located deep within a lush forest. Bits and pieces of plants covered the writings that were quickly fading from exposure. Had the team waited any longer most of them couldn't be recognized. Daniel was rubbing a piece of paper, being held by Teal'c, with a charcoal block to engrave the etchings for study. He had taken video of everything for reference. Stone samples had been collected for lab study to find their origin and date them. The writings themselves were a mix of Ancient and Gou'ald. Half of the ruins were Ancient. There seemed to have been a destruction of half the temple and rebuilding of it in a more modern time.
"What's the problem Daniel?" Sam asked walking up behind him. Daniel motioned to a notebook open on one of the downed blocks.
"You might want to read that. It's interesting." He was busy and didn't want to be disturbed. The pile of rubbing paper next to him kept growing as Sam reached for his notebook. She scanned the pages of his messy scrawl. Ancient writings cover most of the ruins with Gou'ald mixed in… Translation is hard to do with mixed writings… Unusual dialect in both languages. Daniel's notes continued for another page or two then his translations of the scripts on the walls. The great gods came to us in fair and honest ways to do trade. They enslaved us… The classic translation, so Sam scanned it until something caught her eye. The gate the ancient malevolent gods came through we have locked deep within the temple. If you enter the room it is in, you shall not be able to leave.
"Hey, someone mentioned this in the village, but the gate isn't in a room. It's in the open."
"I know, that's what I found strange." He stood up dusting his hands and pants off from the dirt he had been sitting in. "Do you remember the Nox? They had the ability to hide things from view and appeared to be a relatively simple species."
"That's true… So you think that these people might be like the Nox?"
"It's possible. The simple life is better then the modern one in some senses. Better food, more community involvement. The natural order is still maintained."
"I don't see what is so great about living in the wild. No guns… no war…"
"Exactly sir, it's peaceful and quiet. Kind of like your pond?"
"Okay, quiet is nice, but what does this stuff have to do with us?"
"Well sir, it means that if these people are like or even related to the Nox, they could possibly trap us here without us knowing."
"She's right Jack."
"Well then, why don't we go and ask them if they are Nox?"
"How would that go Jack, 'Oh, hi. We were wondering if you happened to be an alien race that has the ability to make things invisible and if you had any hostile intentions toward us or anyone else?' Ya… that's going to go over so well."
"Hey, its an idea. I don't hear anyone else coming up with anything."
"O'Neil, perhaps we could check to see it the gate was still there?"
"Okay, so T-man has an idea."
"I agree with Teal'c. It would be a better idea Jack."
"Fine. Let's go make sure the gate is still there."
The four members of SG-1 left the ruins after Daniel collected his notes. They arrived to find the Stargate still there and perfectly functional.
"I suppose that rules out hostile intentions…" Jack said to himself. "Well, what kind of people are they then?"
"We were going to ask you the same thing…" A male voice said from behind them.
By the way…. I have no idea where this is going. Be warned. It may change.
