Trapped. Caught. Imprisoned. Mitchell had been in numerous tough situations, but this was something completely new. Stuck inside an alien research facility, a room filled with alien devices and things, but strictly decided not to touch any of them. Just leaning against a wall in this place might be lethal. There was no furniture in the room aside from the tables around the large block of ice, and since the tables were full of stuff, he thought it best to stay away from them. As for the pedestal under the ice slab, it was too near to the device itself.

He could either sit on the floor or, when he grew too anxious, pace around the room, keeping a safe distance to the walls.

Mitchell had tried to think of possible ways of getting out. He had walked around the room so many times already that he was afraid he'd start wearing a canyon to the floor. At least that'd make it more interesting. He had already examined every inch of it, and it was all the same, a kind of dark-brown rock, just like the walls.

The ceiling was different, glowing with white light. He had located a circular area in it that wasn't glowing, and looked different from the rest. It might be a hatch of some kind, but it was so high up that reaching it would require either a ladder or some amazing acrobatics, a real human pyramid. And that would be very hard to do without touching the walls.

He tried to cling to the faint hope that the people from the SGC would come and get them out. SG-1 was already late from their first scheduled check with the folks back at home. Mitchell hadn't asked Carter, he could guess on his own that the walls were more than just regular rock. They'd probably not let a radio signal through. Their radios had stayed silent since they got stuck in here.

Even if Stargate Command figured out that something was wrong, they wouldn't be able to get through. Since they'd not been sure how the iris on this gate worked, SG-1 had taken the Ancient GDO with them. It was still in Jackson's backpack. So, unless the tech crew at the SGC first managed to find a way to override the iris and then to break through the Ancient isolation walls, they'd not be getting any help from the outside.

The walls were doors. The most reasonable, logical way out would be through them. Shooting them would be stupid, with the huge risk that they would reflect anything shot at them and send things ricocheting around the room. So, getting the doors to open would require them to figure out the right order. Or, rather, would require Jackson to figure it out. If he could.

Jackson wasn't looking too good. He had hardly said a word after he'd translated the Ancient text. He'd asked Sam to dig out a bunch of books and notebooks from his backpack. A real library. Mitchell could hardly believe he always carried all that around. And now Jackson was sitting on the floor, books scattered all about him, his injured right hand resting on his left shoulder. He used his left hand to awkwardly leaf through his older notes. Every now and then he'd turn to look at one of the walls and frown or shake his head to himself.

Teal'c had sat down next to Jackson, hardly saying much either, but offering his silent support. He really had a talent for that.

Mitchell had always considered himself a patient man. He'd never have gotten where he was now without years and years of hard work. When he had been injured in the battle above Antarctica, he'd went through countless hours of strenuous exercise, first learning to walk again, then struggling to regain the strength he had had before the crash.

Now, he really didn't feel all that patient. This silence was maddening. And they hadn't even been here that long yet. A few hours. Time seemed to be moving so slowly when there was nothing to do but wait and think.

Carter was still trying to figure out the ice device. Now that they'd decided not to touch anything, she kept her distance and concentrated on scanning it with every bit of equipment she had. So far, she'd only come up with the fact that it really was powered by a Zero Point Module, but they were too afraid to try and screw it out. She and Teal'c had discussed the possibility that the device was related to the quantum mirror that could transport people to alternate universes. Even if it was, they'd probably need a controller to activate it.

If the thing was the quantum mirror's big brother, it would offer one possible way out. If Jackson couldn't figure out the texts, then they might have to try that. On the other hand, they might just end up in another room just like this, just as closed and sealed.

Trying to think of something even remotely useful to do, Mitchell walked to the nearest table and stared at the things on it. As if he could understand anything about any of them. Especially without even touching anything.

"But maybe, just maybe, I was a bit too strict to say that we shouldn't touch anything at all," he thought aloud.

"Sorry?" Carter said, turning her face away from the silvery casing at the side of the mirror to look at him.

"I was just thinking... If this really is a lab where they studied that huge block of ice, and this stuff on the tables is their research equipment, why would they booby trap it?"

"I think you've got a point. The walls would both keep the rest of the world safe in case something went wrong with the experiments, and deal with any unwanted visitors. So they might not have need extra protection... On the other hand, maybe they would have set extra safeguards on their equipment, such as requiring the person handling them to have the Ancient gene."

"Yeah... But what if one of the things on that table really is the key to that mirror-whatever-device-thingy, and it turns out being our best chance for getting out? I think we really need to know if it's safe to touch that stuff. And I guess there's just one way to be sure. Keep an eye on me, will you?" he asked, and reached out his hand to touch the nearest plate.

He didn't feel anything special. Nothing happened. He grabbed the plate and lifted it from the table, turned it around in his hands. Nothing.

He had wasted hours walking around the room when all this stuff had been waiting here all the time.

"All right, people. I think this might actually be safe. Carter, care to take a look at this stuff?"

Daniel had managed to translate most of the text written in the language of P4T-3G6, also known as Vis Uban, the world where he had descended. He'd only spent a short while there. Luckily, the language was actually a creole mixing Latin and a Semitic language he couldn't name, but which was close enough to Arabic that he understood most of it. Still, it didn't help at all. The text was a fable, telling a simple story of a donkey and an oraf, which was apparently some kind of a bird. It could've been written a thousand years ago, or just yesterday. He couldn't say. He simply didn't know enough of Vis Uban's recent history and the culture of the nomads who now inhabited it.

At least he had translated it. That had to count for something. And he did know that the nomad named Shamda had told stories much like this one, so it wasn't as if he had never heard of anything like this.

He turned to look at another wall, one of the scripts he just couldn't place. The signs were abstract as far as he could see, no clear references to actual objects, and looked simple and geometrical. And didn't say anything to him.

They knew the Ancients could travel in time. There was possibly a timeship right behind one of the doors. Maybe some of these texts were from the future. Then he'd have no way of knowing the exact order.

For a while, he had started feeling better. He'd stayed on the floor, doing nothing but thinking and reading his notes. He'd actually managed to calm down. The painkillers had taken the worst edge off from the burning in his hand, leaving just a dull ache. One thing they couldn't do away with was the horrid smell of burnt flesh. And now that a few hours had passed, he felt it was all coming back with a vengeance. He had to keep his thoughts away from it. He was afraid he'd panic, and then everything would feel all wrong again.

Teal'c had left his side, and was now talking with Sam and Mitchell about something. They seemed to be quite eager about it. Daniel hadn't been paying attention. He had tried not to think of them either. He had come to the unpleasant conclusion that the most likely reason for this lockdown had to do with the large central device, since that had probably been the main object for study in here. That would make it clearly Sam's fault that they were stuck, since she had tried to get that ZPM from the base of the device. And the last thing Daniel wanted to do was to start blaming anyone. So he just ignored that as well.

"Daniel?" Sam had suddenly emerged in front of him.

"What's up?"

"I think you should take a look at this. It's like a hand-held computer, there's lots of text in Ancient in it."

She gave him a rectangular artifact that looked like a tablet, except that the text wasn't carved on the surface, but looked as if it had been printed on it. It had a set of buttons that allowed the reader to scroll and switch pages.

"I thought we weren't supposed to touch anything?"

"Mitchell tried the things on the table, and it seems it's safe, after all. Didn't you notice that?"

Daniel shrugged. No, he really hadn't been watching, not even listening. Now that he listened, he could hear Mitchell's voice coming from behind him.

"Wait, T -- there's something on the floor. What's that, a trash can?"

Daniel turned to look, and saw Mitchell crouched next to a silvery bowl. It had a few stones set on the outside, near the rim. He pressed one, causing a loud zap that made Daniel start. With that, he felt his pulse speeding up, which was exactly what he had been trying to avoid all along. Sam had told him that arrhythmias were a known complication of electric shocks. And that was supposing that whatever had hit him had been regular electricity, not some odd Ancient weapon. He'd felt perfectly normal when he had just stayed still and cool. Well, except for his hand, of course.

Now, apparently nothing bad had happened. Nothing at all. Mitchell wasn't hurt, and Daniel really needed to calm down.

He watched Mitchell drop something, an empty chocolate bar wrapper, into the bowl, and press the button again. Another zap, but this time, Daniel had known to expect it.

"All right. A pretty effective trash can. Zaps away all the trash. Or how about this. Maybe it's an Ancient chamber pot."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow in that expression that Daniel had seen more often than he could count.

"Just a thought," Mitchell shrugged. "At least it does away with that one problem. Seriously. That's a good thing."

Apparently Mitchell had, just like Daniel, come to the conclusion that they might need to spend a long time inside these walls. A very long time. Unless he could figure out the texts. No, don't go there, Daniel told himself, and took a deep breath. He was still holding the Ancient computer, and it too had a lot of text for him to translate. All in Ancient, so he should be able to do it quite easily.

He looked at the page that was open right now. It seemed to describe an experiment that hadn't been successful. Activated the -- that unknown word again, which he thought pointed to the large device -- but there was still not enough power. He turned the page, and read a description of something else, a bit of time travel with the timeship. And something about gathering samples from an interesting planet. Then he came across a page with the victorious announcement that we have finally been able to generate enough power to keep the device active, and it works just as expected. This is undoubtedly the greatest discovery of the Duodecim so far.

He'd probably find an accurate description of the device, what it was and what it did, if he'd read through everything in here. It'd take some time, since there was a lot of text that had nothing to do with it. It was obviously a diary, a log, kept by one of the Duodecim, describing what they had been up to. An extremely interesting piece of information, except that he wasn't sure it'd help them get out.

Daniel pressed the page-turning button until it would go no further. The last page.

The rumors of the plague have been confirmed, and it is spreading fast.

The plague. If this place had been here at the time of the plague, then it was much older than the Avalon caves.

We have not been contaminated yet, but only hours ago a party came through the stargate carrying the disease. We have gathered to the Dodecagon with our belongings, and initiated the containment.

We have not been contaminated yet, but only hours ago a party came through the stargate carrying the disease. We have gathered to the--another word he didn't know, though he had a good guess for its meaning--with our belongings, and initiated the containment.

"Sam," he called out, "What do you call a geometrical shape with twelve corners? A duodecagon?"

"Dodecagon, actually."

The text had said Duodecangulus,but the meaning was clear. The twelve corners, which obviously pointed to the shape of this room. The modern English version actually sounded better to his ear. "Dodecagon. I think that's what they call this place."

Once we are ready, we will travel through the device, and escape the grim future that awaits all our race. There has been dispute and disagreement among us. Some think we should not leave, that we should offer our knowledge and try to help, but we are among the last who are not infected, and with the party waiting for us in the stargate room, we cannot open the doors again without becoming infected ourselves.

They had turned on the lockdown millions of years ago, but when SG-1 had come through, the doors had been open. Either the Duodecim had not left after all, or then someone had opened the doors after that. His heart leaped, and didn't quite catch its previous beat. Of course, that made him more anxious, and made it race even faster. He pressed the elbow of his injured hand against his chest, willing it to slow down, and tried to concentrate on the text.

There was a row of small circles in the text, indicating a break, but no new date.

We are finally ready, and we have agreed on what we will take with us. It is not much, for already we are testing the limits of what the device can transport. I shall leave my book behind, in case some survive the plague and wish to know what became of the Duodecim. Now we must go, and take with us our legacy, the memory and knowledge of all that we have achieved. Perhaps one day we will return and rebuild this galaxy, this time, this universe.

On behalf of the Duodecim,

Feiara

Author's Note: Just in case someone's worried: I don't do deathfic. I hate deathfic. No one dies in my stories. Suffering, hurt, torture, whumping, whatever, you can expect lots and lots of it (poor Daniel, really), but there's no dying. So worry not.