The rest of the walk to the cave Ian didn't say a word. He hadn't wanted to in any event, and he was pretty much pissed off now and figured it'd be better if he didn't talk to any of the villagers just then anyways. The last thing he'd wanted was to talk about himself – especially to these strangers, and about Cassie. He wasn't sure how Jack – or the others – had taken his response to the questioning about his relationship with Cassie, and he couldn't – and wouldn't – ask. Not here. Not even on Earth. All he could do was fume, and the more he fumed the angrier he got at Braxton for bringing it up in the first place.

As if he sensed the anger and frustration Ian was feeling, Jaffer had moved up a bit and was walking on Ian's left, his head occasionally brushing against Ian's thigh, or hand. He didn't do anything – they were walking, after all and there wasn't much chance for cuddling or ball playing – but even angry, Ian would slide a hand along his ears every now and then, automatically caressing the soft fur. Dogs just had that effect on him. On anyone who liked dogs, actually. And while it wasn't soothing enough to keep him from seething, it was enough to keep him from spontaneously combusting.

And the villagers watched in barely concealed awe as he was surrounded by his protectors; the two fierce animals and the Jaffa, even as they answered Daniel's questions about their people.

OOOOOOOOO

"There it is."

Braxton came to a halt after several minutes of hacking their way through some very overgrown brush and other vegetation. Not only were there large, tough weeds growing up from the ground, but also there were thick leafy tree branches, and all sorts of vines and stuff hanging down from above. The ground had gotten a little rocky – although it was still fairly level – and there were some mounds that could be small hills or simply piles of rocks.

The mound that they were standing in front of now was the biggest that they'd seen on their walk. Roughly two stories high and several hundred feet across, it was impressive in a forest that held nothing so large – although hardly the biggest mound that Daniel had ever seen. He was excited, though, and made no attempt to hide that.

"Is it man-made?" he asked, as they stepped forward.

The entrance of the cave was small and overgrown with weeds and brush and rubble from where rocks had fallen in from the ceiling.

"It's always been here," Braxton said, shrugging.

As the archeologist stepped up to the entrance, Jack scowled.

"Watch yourself, Daniel…"

"I will."

He didn't tell Jack that he was used to going into caves and places like this – he didn't have to. And it wouldn't have done any good, at any rate. Jack would have said that to him if he were walking over a perfectly flat meadow.

"You must be careful," Braxton said, agreeing with Jack. "The ceiling is unstable. Pieces fall all the time."

"I'll watch out for them."

Daniel was already reaching for his flashlight.

Peter had walked up to the entrance with Daniel, and Jack noticed that while Daniel hadn't looked up once to check for falling rocks, the villager definitely was.

Jack turned to Braxton.

"Is there anything else around here?"

"Another cave, you mean?"

"Or anything…"

"One of the villages relocated to this area about the same time we moved ours," Taylor's father told them, watching as Daniel vanished into the cave, Peter and Teal'c following to give him light and watch for falling rocks. Jack (the dog) stayed with Jaffer for now, since Teal'c had gestured for him to remain out of the way, not knowing how large the cave was, or if there would be ample footing for the dog as well as the humans. "But they are a day's walk away, so we probably will not see any of them."

Jack nodded. That was fine with him. The less company the better as far as he was concerned.

"Jack!"

Daniel's call interrupted anything Jack might have been planning to say, and he bolted for the entrance of the cave, uncertain if the cry had been excited or troubled. With Daniel, you just never knew sometimes. Right behind him was Braxton and Ian and Jaffer and Jack (the dog) scampered into the entrance before anyone could tell them otherwise.

Jack and Ian both stopped as soon as they entered the cave.

"Wow."

Daniel looked over at them, amused to hear such a tone of awe from Jack, who was hard to impress when it came to any kind of archeology.

"Isn't it amazing?" He asked, looking up at the walls, try8ing to take everything in at once.

The cave was dark and damp inside, with the inner walls actually sweating moisture. The floor was littered with rocks that had fallen, and one side of the cave area showed signs of a cave-in, with a large pile of rocks. The ceiling was high and the cave was big enough that they couldn't easily see the rear wall – although the light from the flashlight Ian shined that direction found it, it just couldn't illuminate it enough to make anything visible.

But the far wall wasn't what they were looking at. The wall that Daniel had been looking at – and now Jack and the others – was interesting enough to keep anyone's attention. Including the villagers, and they didn't even know what they were looking at.

There was a crudely chiseled picture of what had to be a ship. It looked like a ship, anyways, complete with three masts and what might have been sails if you used your imagination. And Daniel had plenty of imagination to use. There was a picture of what was probably supposed to be a map, representing the Old World (since that was what it was labeled as – in English, they all saw) and an ocean and then another piece of land, labeled with only the word Roanoke.

"I was right…"

Jack stepped closer to the wall, running his hand along the surface. It was, indeed, chiseled in. Under the rough map was something that was even more proof that Daniel was right:

HMS Pelican

1587

Landed safe, contact made with natives. All well with Roanoke. Gov. left for supplies. The sky opened up and we found ourselves here in this odd place along with some of the natives, who have no more idea of what happened than we do. Assumed it was another section of the new world, until the strangers arrived and proved otherwise. Aliens!

Civilization lost. Weapons rusting. Tools rusting and worthless. The natives with us great help, but we-

It ended there, however. Part of the wall had sloughed off – undoubtedly a victim of the moisture bleeding down the insides of the cave. There was rubble on the floor at the base of that section, but it was only small pieces. And when Jack picked up a piece of it, he could see that there were several letters on the small piece of rock, but no way of knowing what it was supposed to say.

"Aliens came…" Daniel said, reading the paragraph again. He looked at Teal'c, who was his best guide when it came to getting into the minds of the System Lords. "It doesn't seem like a Goa'uld attack, though. They wouldn't have just left the people someplace else, would they?"

"You understand this, Daniel?" Braxton asked, amazed.

Daniel nodded.

"They're not pictures, Braxton." He said. "Well… some of them are – this is." He pointed to the map. "But this…" and now he was pointing to the engraved writing, wishing that whoever had chiseled it would have written more – or deeper. "This is writing. English writing. The symbols are each a letter, which spell out words."

Ian had been looking at the other walls, though. He'd read the wall and didn't need to see it again to know what it said. Which made more room for the others. Shining the light on the far wall, he stopped, surprised.

"This isn't English…" He looked over at Daniel, who had turned. "It's Ancient."