A/N: Yikes! No reviews for my last chapter? Well, I hope you enjoy this one, anyway; it's time to meet the natives. –your humble author

Chapter Five: The Unwelcome Wagon

Jack stepped out of the Gate and headed in the direction of the artifact, only to notice he was alone. Daniel, who had been thrown out of the wormhole, sat gasping on the ground, trying to control the shivers that wracked his body. Gate travel got better with practice, but at that moment, Daniel's muscles felt like they were frozen. That was a bad thing for two people who couldn't afford to stay still.

"C'mon, Danny, I know it sucks, but we gotta start movin' unless you want company. Shake it off; it'll pass."

The archaeologist stood on unstable legs and nodded at Jack. They made their way towards the rock, moving at a pace Jack thought Daniel could handle. He was worried about his young friend and voiced that concern.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"What's wrong?"

"That's kind of a loaded question. As of when I woke up, everything."

Jack couldn't suppress a sardonic grin. "I guess it's been a rough few hours. At least everything will seem normal when you get your memory back."

Danny stopped. "If I get my memory back," he corrected. "Maybe the psychological explanation behind your Daniel's amnesia is that he didn't want to remember anymore. He's been through a lot of pain."

"I won't believe that."

"Even if it's the truth?"

"It's not the truth."

They continued in silence. Jack felt guilty and angry at the same time. He didn't want to sound harsh. After all, the poor kid had just woken up to find seven years gone by. Seven very eventful years. Conversely, there was some young punk in his Daniel's body, bemoaning what he had become. Jack didn't know a lot of other people as brilliant and compassionate as his friend, and damn if he was going to let anyone say otherwise.

"Here it is," the Colonel mumbled, still lost in thought. Daniel, however, was lost in wonder.

"This is amazing," he whispered, moving slowly to examine the giant rock that was laced with pictures and inscriptions. For a second, Jack saw the man he knew.

"Do you remember anything?"

"I…no. I'm sorry. But this—it's incredible! Do you have any idea its significance? These writings and the pictures here—I…it's…wow!"

Jack frowned. "Do I really need to remind you what we're doing here and what's at stake? You see that hole burned into that tree over there? That was meant for your head."

That was enough to quell Daniel's excitement and the younger man sat down to look over the artifact, aware for only a moment that Jack was tapping his watch. As soon as his attention was on the stone, Daniel was gone—seeing nothing but the object before him.

Jack was busy guarding their perimeter and checking his watch, so he didn't notice the growing look of surprise on Daniel's face. When they had finally spent as much time as Jack deemed safe, he called for them to leave. "Let's get moving; we'll recon the point where they were last. Daniel?"

Daniel's surprise had turned to confusion and he was very focused on the script in front of him. "But I think I may have found something that's very…unusual. You see these symbols here? I think I recognize these."

"Are you getting your memory back?" Jack asked hopefully.

"No, but that's what's so unusual; I'm pretty sure I remember seeing these in Iraq last summer."
"Iraq? You weren't—oh. Sorry, I forgot about our little time difference. What were you doing in—" Jack stopped and held up a hand. He had heard movement. Pointing his gun in the direction of the sound, he pushed Daniel behind him. "Come out. Slowly," he demanded.

Obediently, a small, cat-like creature walked out of the woods and stared at Jack, who lowered his weapon and rolled his eyes. "Look, it isn't safe to stay in one place too long. We're gonna head towards the area where Carter and Teal'C were last heard from. Tell me everything you know on the way."

Daniel followed the Colonel and explained the situation, glad to finally know something of relevance. "We were doing a dig in ancient Ur when fighting broke out between the Kurds and the local police. It was pretty bad, so the Kurds decided a student from Egypt would make a good bargaining chip. I agreed to be that chip."

"You agreed to be their hostage?"

"The local police were brutal and I had become pretty good friends with the Kurds; I only did what I thought was best."

"That would seem to be a problem for you." Jack shook his head at Daniel's inquisitive look. "Go on. So you agreed to be a hostage."

Daniel frowned, curious what the older man was talking about. "Well, I stayed in a tent with the eldest member of the tribe, Serhat bin Rojdah Al Acun . He was at least a hundred and I spent most of my time just listening to his stories and accounts. After a few days, he pulled out this ancient cartouche that had what looked like warped Sumerian cuneiform. He told me that he found it when he was a boy and his great-grandfather said it came from the days when the gods ruled."

"Gods? Like the Goa'uld?"

Daniel stopped and turned to Jack. "That's the thing—he said it was from the days when the gods ruled with snakes. Snakes have been prevalent in religion all over the world, so I didn't think much of it. But the writing on that rock was the same as the glyphs on Al Acun's cartouche. The only explanation for how they got here is…"

"The Stargate."

They continued their walk in silence until Jack asked, "Okay, so the Goa'uld were in—where did you say it was?"

"Sumer—better known as Sumeria. But the thing is, Ancient Sumeria predated Ancient Egypt. So these Goa'uld didn't start out in Egypt, but began in what most people agree is the cradle of human civilization."

Jack struggled to digest the information. Archaeology, anthropology, history—whichever Daniel was talking about—it was not his area of expertise. Often, between Carter and Daniel, he wondered how he even stayed abreast of a situation. "So, can we assume whoever attacked us is from Ancient Sumeria?"

"Well, their descendents, yes. Al Acun went on to tell me that a great battle ensued between some warriors and priests and the gods. It only lasted a short time and the gods were victorious, but a number of the warriors and priests disappeared. After that, the gods also vanished, taking everything that represented them, including the remainder of the warriors and priests, and abandoned the Sumerians. I assume now that they started over again in Egypt." He shook his head in awe. "It's tablets four and five of the Enuma Elish, but with a twist of science fiction."

"The Ena-what? Wait—never mind. This is all very complicated."

"Yes, but it's so exciting! I never dreamed how important Al Acun's story could be; this goes so much farther than my own theories. I mean, I knew something wasn't adding up in Egypt, but this is truly a miraculous find."

The Colonel shook his head. It seemed that, no matter what mental age, Daniel just could not grasp the danger of a situation. "Getting back to the problem at hand, what do you think is going on here?"

There was a long pause while Daniel pondered the question. "I think," he said finally, "that these warriors and priests learned how to use the Stargate and came here when they began to lose the battle. That explains why the Goa'uld, who would have wanted to reassert their power, didn't publicly execute them. That also means that these people who attacked Teal'C and Captain Carter are very anti-Goa'uld. And probably quite primitive if they didn't understand what was going on in depth."

"On a scale of one to ten, how sure are you about all this?"

"Um…a two."

He mumbled something under his breath, apparently not too satisfied with Daniel's answer. Pushing past some foliage he entered the clearing where Teal'C and Carter had been either killed or taken. They both stopped and looked around. There were no bodies, adding to the hope that the missing team members were alive, but the clearing looked like a war field. There were large holes in a number of the trees and burnt soil where some sort of weapon had hit. A little farther out, Daniel stumbled on Sam's gun. "Here," he said, handing it to Jack, "I'm pretty sure this didn't belong to the people who attacked you. I mean, us."

Jack holstered it and bent down to examine the ground where the gun had been found. A few feet away were some droplets of dried blood that continued intermittently toward the woods. "Carter was injured and they carried her off—probably took Teal'C as well. We should be able to find them if we follow the blood trail. C'mon, let's go. Daniel, c'mon. Daniel?" Jack turned around to find Daniel standing with his arms up in surrender and a group of fierce looking warriors pointing weapons at both of them. Jack put his arms in the air. "Or perhaps these nice gentlemen will take us."

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