They approached the ruins cautiously. It was Jack's nose that gave them the first hint. A slight shift of the breeze brought a scent that he wished that he would never encounter again, but the realist in him told him that it was unavoidable in his line of work. It was the smell of death.

The way Teal'c's grip shifted slightly on his staff told Jack that he had smelled it too. They moved forward slowly.

Most of the ruin was just that: a ruin. Most of the structure that had stood there had collapsed long ago. Nothing remained but rubble. Jack moved toward the only part of the structure that was still standing: a circular wall about four metres high, and twenty in diameter, covered by a dome. There was an arched doorway that led into the dark interior. The odour got stronger as he approached it.

"Carter, Daniel, wait here," said Jack, when they reached the door. He held his P90 ready, and waved for Teal'c to follow him as he stepped through the entrance. He stepped to one side as soon as he was inside, to make room for Teal'c to follow him, and so he wouldn't be silhouetted in the doorway.

The odour inside was stronger still. Jack was very glad that it had been several hours since breakfast, and he now intended to put off eating lunch…maybe skip it altogether. He removed his sunglasses, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim interior, after the bright sunshine outside. He listened for any sign of motion, but could only hear the slight rustling of Teal'c moving beside him.

The room seemed less dim to him now. It was illuminated by narrow beams of sunlight shining in through slit windows, high on the walls. Jack could make out the lumps on the floor that were scattered around a central column: the bodies of the four men, and two women of SG-12.

Jack continued to sweep his eyes around the chamber. The walls were covered in carvings: he recognized the runes used by the Asgard. There were more carvings on the floor: patterns that had had a thousand years of accumulated detritus swept away from them by SG-12's archaeologist.

He turned his attention back to the bodies. He could see no external sign of what had killed them. There were no marks visible on their uniforms: no holes, no burns, no signs of blood.

He moved closer and knelt by one of the bodies. It was laying face down on the floor. He rolled it over. The body was still stiff from rigour mortis, and he could see the lividity bruising on its face. He recognized Major Simpson, the commander of SG-12, but he tried not to think about that. This was a body, a thing, not the guy that Jack had won twenty bucks off in a friendly wager over who would win the Stanley Cup last year. He tried to keep the thoughts about what he would tell Simpson's wife out of his mind while he took a closer look at his remains.

Even up close there were no obvious injuries. It looked like Simpson had just died. Jack considered the possibilities: poison; disease; alien weapons, such as a zat. From the look of things it would probably take an autopsy to determine what had killed these people.

Jack quickly checked the other bodies. They all looked about the same: like they had just dropped dead; crumpled where they were standing. "Do you have any ideas about what happened here?" he asked Teal'c.

Teal'c had been examining the bodies as well. He shook his head. "I do not, O'Neill. Whatever killed these people acted quickly, though."

Jack agreed. From the way the bodies were spaced, it looked like they had all died at pretty much the same time. None of them had had a chance to react to whatever killed them. Two of them had been carrying their P90s, but both still had the safeties on. He stood up, and checked his watch. Nearly three hours had passed since they had first come through the gate. It was almost time to check in with the SGC.


The SGC dialled in on schedule, and Jack reported what they had found to General Hammond by radio. Without having any idea what had killed SG-12, the General didn't want to risk bringing their bodies back to Earth right away. They didn't want to import any sort of deadly virus. It wasn't likely that a virus had killed them: no disease would strike them all so quickly, at the same time, but there was no point in taking any risks that they didn't have to. He informed Jack that Dr. Fraiser, and SG-4 would be sent through as soon as possible, with the equipment she'd need to perform the preliminary autopsies, in the field.

SG-1 moved SG-12's bodies back to their camp. All six were placed into the tent that had been set up as SG-12's main field lab. It was grim work, but they completed it quickly. Daniel wanted to get back to the ruin as soon as they were done, to examine the room that they had been found in more closely. Jack ordered Carter and Teal'c to stay at the camp, to wait for SG-4.


Jack watched Daniel as he slowly circled around the room. He was carrying his mini digital video camera, recording everything that was written on the walls. He didn't know why Daniel bothered: they already had a full set of images that had been taken by SG-12. He supposed it was just habit.

When he was finished photographing the walls, Daniel turned to the pillar in the centre of the room. "So, did you notice anything strange about this?" he asked Jack.

Jack looked at the pillar again. It was a little over a metre tall, and maybe half a metre in diameter. It flared out slightly at the top. It had similar writing to that on the walls etched into its surface. The stone, or whatever material it was made from, seemed to be a lighter colour than that used for the walls and the dome, but other than that, there was nothing unusual about it. "It's a pillar."

Daniel slowly circled it, photographing it from all angles too. "It wasn't any any of the imagery that SG-12 sent back to the SGC."

"You mean, they didn't take any pictures of it?" asked Jack.

"No, I mean it wasn't here, in any of the pictures they took," said Daniel. "There were several that showed the middle of this chamber, and this pillar wasn't here." He knelt down to take a closer look at something on the side of it. He reached out toward it with his hand.

"Don't touch it!" ordered Jack.

Daniel lowered his hand, and looked around. "Hmm? What's the matter Jack?"

"Nothing. Just we have a pillar that wasn't here before, and there were six bodies around it. I suspect that there might be some connection, so keep your hands off it!"

"Oh, right." Daniel took a closer look at the floor at the base of the pillar. There was a bit of a depression there. He looked back up at the flared top. "It looks like the pillar was recessed into the floor. SG-12 must have done something to bring it up." He took a note pad out of a pocket, and started to copy down some observations.


Daniel had become engrossed in some carvings near the door. Jack knew the look on his face. It would take a squad of Jaffa attacking to pull his attention away from them.

"Daniel." He got no response. "Daniel!"

"Hmm, what is it Jack?" asked Daniel, but he didn't take his eyes off the wall.

"So, can you read it?"

"Ah…no, not yet. The alphabet used here is clearly derived from the Asgard, but the words don't match any language that I know. It could take some time to translate it." He reached out and traced his fingers over a pattern of runes. "This could be a variation of 'Thor' or it could be some other word that's just close to 'Thor' in spelling…"

"That's great," said Jack. "Anything there about what killed SG-12?"

"Not that I've found yet," said Daniel.

"Well, keep looking…and don't touch anything."