A/N: Wow I can tell when the story's picking up because of the surge in reviews! Thank you all so much for the input – it's MUCH appreciated! A lot of people have been guessing as to where Jack's been transported to – and how… all will be revealed in good time!

First, a few responses:
Flatkatsi: Yes I did see the Australian JAG – it was nearly as bad as that Australian helicopter pilot in Mission Impossible 2… let me know if my characters ever get that stupid!
Matt1969: I actually thought about naming 'Stacey' Sheila instead – but then thought better of it. About Uluru, you're completely right, and I'm actually going to go into it in the chapter after this one.

This chapter is dedicated to BookWorm because she helped me out with some factual stuff – thank you!

Chapter IX – Swirling green

Jack felt as if the full force of gravity, plus a few million G's, had crashed down onto him as the bright blue patch of ground touching his palm spread to envelope his entire body in a concentrated beam of energy. A roaring noise filled his ears and he reflexively closed his eyes with dizziness as he felt himself almost being pushed into the ground. When the noise abated and he felt as if his feet were no longer somehow inside his head, he opened his eyes cautiously.

He was definitely no longer outside, halfway up Uluru in the cold desert air. Instead, as he looked around, he appeared to be in some strange cavern, about as large as the gateroom in the SGC. There didn't seem to be any sort of light source, but the iridescent blue that had engulfed first his hand and then his entire body seemed to glow off every surface in the space he found himself in, barring the four tunnels that led away from the cavern.

Even more strangely, every space of wall, except for the small patch next to which he was standing, seemed to be covered with glowing markings of numerous different languages. There was even a section of the wall which was covered with pictures, or at least pictograms – much like the cave paintings seen all over the world. He walked cautiously around the edge of the cavern, in search of anything marked in a language he knew, but found none. A patch seemed to be in Goa'uld, another looked like it might be Ancient, and he thought he recognised another as Asgard – but none of that helped, considering he couldn't actually understand those languages.

As he reached the end of his loop, he noticed a strange inconsistency in the ground at one of the tunnel openings. As he approached, he realised there were two lumps on the ground, about the size of two bodies. Quickening his pace, he moved towards them and knelt down, instinctively looking around for any sign of danger. What he found was not encouraging. He fossicked among the clothes scattered among the bodies to find two sets of dog tags.

"Major Fletcher and Colonel McGregor, I presume," he murmured to himself. Checking their pulses quickly he sank into the ground as he realised that Major Fletcher was dead. McGregor was alive, but in bad shape and unconscious. It looked like a wild animal had tried to flay them both. Shocked by the state these two officers were in, Jack jumped to his feet and moved into the centre of the cavern, pointing his P90 in all directions, looking for the source of this destruction. He didn't see anything, but as he moved he noticed that the middle of the space wasn't as empty as it had first seemed.

His shoulder had brushed against something almost causing him to jump into the air. He whirled around and shone his flashlight in the direction of the disturbance only to see it refract through what appeared to be some kind of translucent orb, suspended in mid-air. He walked around the orb, which was about the size of a basketball, eyeing it with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. He felt the same compulsion he had felt on the outside to reach his hand out and touch it.

Transfixed by the wobbly light filtering through it, he reached out his hand to the orb. As soon as he made contact, his palm was as if fused to the smooth, spherical object. Instantly a flurry of green whirled around the room, like a hurricane around the eye of the storm, before they settled to form a giant image in the dead space above him. The distinctive shape of Uluru hovered over him before it zoomed in around his head to the spot where he and the others had been standing. An 'x' on the image marked exactly where he had transported from, and seemed to be showing him the schematic for operation of the system. Amazed, Jack found himself wondering exactly where he had transported to. As if reading his mind, the holographic-like image pivoted so it was a bird's eye view of the transportation site and then seemed to zoom a thousand times over, into the earth, to a depiction of the very cavern he now found himself in.

A muffled voice, sounding incredibly panicked, brought Jack out of his wondrous stupor. He snapped his hand back from the orb and the green images disappeared leaving the strange blue glow of the room. It took him a couple of seconds to realise what had happened, and a couple more to understand what the strange voice was – it was coming from his pack.

"Colonel? Sir? Do you read?" Sam sounded on the edge of complete panic as her voice pleaded through the Tok'ra communication device.

Jack fumbled for the object out of one of the many compartments and brought it up to his mouth. "I'm here Carter." The wonder in his voice was obvious. "Well, I think I know where I am anyway, a loooooooooong way underneath you guys."

On the surface, everyone had gathered around Sam, who was kneeling at the spot Jack had disappeared from, her hand pressed to the ground, trying to understand what had happened. His hand had first turned an almost electric blue, contrasting against the darkness of the night, before the bluish white light had engulfed him completely. It wasn't unlike what they'd observed of Asgard beaming, but it was definitely distinct from the technology they had encountered thus far.

Sam nearly collapsed with relief as his voice filtered into the air around them, sounding as clear as if he were standing right there. "It's good to hear your voice sir," Sam gushed into the gadget. "Have you found the others?"

"Ah… in a way." Jack's eyes darted to the corner of the room where the two bodies lay. "It looks like something attacked them. Major Fletcher's dead, and Colonel McGregor doesn't look good – he's unconscious."

Stacey emitted an anguished squeal at this news, but managed to keep herself in check as Sam motioned for them all to remain silent. The other Australian members of the contingent were looking equally shocked and spooked. Never in their life had they been in a situation anything like this, and for the most part they were currently wishing they'd never been briefed on anything to do with the Stargate programme.

"Sir, can you tell us how you transported down there?" Sam's mind had remained completely focussed on the task at hand. She was determinedly trying to replicate Jack's actions but had thus far failed to transport herself anywhere.

"You think I did this on purpose Carter?" Jack's voice wailed through the gadget. "I have no idea how I got here. All I know is that there was this weird vibrating sensation coming from the Earth." He cast his mind back to the almost hypnotic-like trance he'd felt while crouching on Uluru. "All I did was press my palm into the ground, but I couldn't tell you where – it was like something telling me to do it."

Sam looked around hopelessly. She hadn't felt anything coming from the ground, and all her instruments indicated now, was the same sporadic energy readings that had appeared before Jack's disappearance. When he'd been crouched down exactly where she was now, the readings had focussed and spiked with the bright light that engulfed him – but presently there was only confusion again.

"Sir," she said with exasperation, "You must have done something – the same thing those two men in there with you must have done…"

"Carter I… don't… know…" Jack enunciated carefully. "You're the brains – not me."

Down in the cavern, Jack looked around him again. Everything was so eerie and yet he felt as if the area around him was familiar somehow. His line of sight crossed the floating orb again and he felt himself move towards it.

"There's this really cool thing down here though." He said chirpily into the communication device. "It seems kinda psychic – whatever I think about, it shows me using some floating green hologram thing." He placed his hand on it again.

"Sir I don't think you-"

"Carter I've already used it and nothing's happened." Jack snapped into the gadget before Sam could finish her sentence. "It might be the way outta here." He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to guide the device. When he opened his eyes, the swirly green was assembling into the shape of Uluru again. This time, however, when it zoomed into the rock, it didn't focus on the cavern, but moved through one of the tunnels to a smaller space where what looked to be a great big beast was sleeping. Jack gasped in shock as he saw how big the thing was. He abruptly broke contact with the orb and moved towards the pictograms on the side of the cavern.

"Hey Carter, is Doug there with you?" He came to the spot on the wall he was looking for – a picture of something that looked like bigfoot. He'd seen this before, in the caves on that planet when Baal had nearly captured them.

"Colonel?" Doug's apprehensive voice quivered through the airwaves.

"Ah Dougie." Jack exclaimed warmly. "Is it possible this Turramulli thing is actually in the cave?" The light tone of the voice belayed the increasing sense of apprehension within him.

On the surface, Sam gasped audibly as she realised the implication of what Jack was saying. If that thing, Goa'uld or not, was trapped in the cave with him, then it was probably the cause of Major Fletcher and Colonel McGregor's respective states.

Doug's hand shook as he thought about what Jack had said. "Umm. Well if the myth is true, then I guess Uluru could be what was in Dreamtime Quinkin Mountain…" he swallowed with a great effort as he continued. "I guess it follows that you could be in Turramulli's cave – according to the myth he hibernates there during the winter months only to come out at the beginning of the wet season in December."

Jack let that piece of information sink in. "Right." He said grimly. "That's not exactly what I wanted to hear." He paused for effect. "You're sure this isn't something completely different and that this scary looking beast isn't elsewhere – or at least completely fictional?" He wasn't serious, but it didn't hurt to ask anyway..

"Colonel," Jonas had grabbed the communication device from Doug's hands and was clenching it tightly. "You need to get out of there – now."

"Way ahead of you Jonas!" Jack had moved back to the centre of the room and touched the orb again, this time concentrating hard on the task of leaving. The swirling green mist formed a representation of the inside of the cavern and zoomed into the blank part of the wall next to where he had appeared. A handprint appeared briefly on the wall before disappearing.

Jack stepped back and looked to the empty patch of wall, moving over to it. He brushed his fingers against the wall and felt the same strange vibrations that had occurred on top of Uluru. Closing his eyes, he let his senses guide him until he pressed his palm flat onto the surface of the wall, and waited.

His hand turned the same iridescent blue but nothing happened. There was no sensation of gravity, or even of a lack of gravity – as he had expected. Irritated, Jack opened his eyes just as the iridescent blue spread from his arm to fill the entire room, blinding him for a moment. When the light had subsided and he could see again, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Carter!" He exclaimed, with a strange mix of happiness and annoyance. "How'd you get here!"

Sam was intensely disoriented. One minute she had been crouching on the ground from where Jack had disappeared, the next she'd felt an impossible weight bear down on her entire body. The shock of arriving in the cavern caused her to lose balance and she collapsed somewhat inelegantly onto the ground, blinking rapidly with confusion.

Jack pulled his hand from the wall and knelt down beside her, concerned. "Hey," he said softly, touching her shoulder. "You ok?"

It took Sam a while to realise where she was. "Uhhh… yeah, I guess." She shook herself out of her disarray and straightened her back before leaping to her feet. "Why'd you do that?"

Jack stood up and threw his hands up into the air, looking at her defensively. "You think I know what's going on?" He protested wildly. "I was trying to get back to the surface, and instead you crash-landed right next to me!"

Sam was only half-listening to him as she took in the cavern around her. "This. Is. Amazing." Her mouth was gaping and her eyes looked like they might actually pop out of their sockets.

As they both appreciated their strange surroundings, Jonas' voice resonated through the Tok'ra gadget. "Jack? Are you there? Is everything alright?"

Jack nearly dropped the gadget he was so surprised, but managed to hold onto it and speak into it. "Yeah Jonas… Carter's fine too – thanks for asking."

"Oh thank god!" Jonas gushed, "We hoped she'd just been transported like you!"

Jack offered the gadget to Sam, who had been gesticulating wildly at him in an effort to get him to hand it over. She took it, proceeding to walk around the room as she spoke excitedly to Jonas.

"You wouldn't believe this!" She exclaimed. "There are writings on almost every part of the walls… The space is probably bigger than the gateroom… I don't understand most of the languages, but wait!" She stopped abruptly in front of a section. "There's a bit here in Goa'uld – I think I can make some of it out!"

As she tried to read the old dialect, her heart began to sink. "Uh sir?" She turned and motioned for Jack to approach. "It looks like this is Turramulli's cave." She concentrated on the wall again. "Sorry, this is a strange dialect and I don't know all of the words – Jonas should really see this." She traced her finger over a line to reassure herself that she'd understood. "Apparently he was banished here by the Timara…"

Jack was now standing just behind Sam, leaning over her shoulder – not that anything had changed… he still couldn't read what was on the wall. "That would be the Asgard, right Carter? This is an Asgard thing?" he asked.

"I don't think so sir." Sam shook her head slowly and looked around the room again. "This is unlike anything we've ever seen of the Asgard. I'm tempted to say it's Ancient." She looked at the writings again. "Besides, there's reference here to a partnership of sorts… I don't think this is the work of just one race."

"Hello? Sam?" Jonas had almost been shouting into the communication device but neither Jack nor Sam had noticed, too intrigued with their discovery.

"Yes Jonas." Sam hurriedly replied. "Sorry, I got distracted – it looks like this is Turramulli's cave. There are references to a banished goa'uld by that name, and a quantity of naquada which should be nearby."

"Indeed that is encouraging, MajorCarter." Teal'c had obviously taken control of the Tok'ra gadget. "Should we not now transport down to join you?"

Both Jack and Sam froze on the spot and looked at each other. It occurred to them simultaneously that they had no idea as to how Sam had got there.

"Did you touch the ground? Feel some weird vibration thing?" Jack asked Sam.

She shook her head slowly, before speaking into the device again. "Um actually Teal'c, we don't even know how I got here."

Teal'c considered this for a moment before speaking again. "Perhaps the transportation device works in a fashion not dissimilar from goa'uld rings, and you were transported when O'Neill attempted to return to the surface due to your position."

Jack took the communication device and moved back towards the blank space on the wall, motioning for Sam to follow. "Ok T, we're gonna try this again." He barked authoritatively. "But this time everyone stand back, ok?"

Everyone on the surface recoiled from the space from whence four people had now disappeared, and waited. In the cavern, Jack brushed his fingers against the wall again and felt the vibration underneath his hand. He pulled Sam close to him, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pushed his hand into the wall, his eyes closed with concentration.

Nothing.

He there was no rushing noise in his ears, now sensation of a wind around him, not even the thump of someone else landing next to him. He could still feel Sam's body pressed up against his, tense with anticipation. Cautiously, Jack opened his eyes one at a time, only to be greeted with the same eerie blue space.

"Damn." He muttered, before disengaging his arm from around Sam's waist to speak to the surface again. "I dunno what to tell you guys – it's broken or something."

Before Teal'c could respond, Jack heard a strange shuffling sound coming from one of the tunnels that branched off from the main cavern. He froze to the spot and foisted the Tok'ra gadget onto Sam, who quickly silenced it. They both stood there, completely still, for a good 30 seconds before they heard another sound, like something trying to move across the ground.

"Turramulli?" Jack mouthed to Sam, who's eyes merely widened in apprehension.

Both raising their P-90s into position, Sam and Jack moved slowly and deliberately along the cave wall to the tunnel and turned the corner to see what was there. They didn't immediately see a living being, but instead saw what looked like an Asgard stasis pod. A low moan caused them to both look at the ground, shining the lights of their P-90s on a small, injured being.

It wasn't Turramulli.

Jack moved closer and knelt down beside the humanoid creature's small frame. Not human, he thought, too weird. Not Asgard either, he added mentally, not weird enough. He looked up to Sam who was still standing in the entrance to this smaller space. Apparently she recognised the being: again her eyes were wide open and her mouth gaping…

TBC

A/N: Hahaha! I know I'm evil!
But basically, there's way too much to write in the rest of the scene and the chapter would be too long so I've had to split it! This is a pretty good spot cos you all STILL don't know what's going on (even if you think you do, I'd be impressed if you guessed it correctly).
Hopefully I can do a pretty fast post, as I don't have to worry about my thesis for a couple of days!

Please review – my motivation is your support!

PS, Bookworm: bet I scared you there for a bit when it was only jack in the cave, huh? I WAS going to have them both get transported at first but then thought it'd be fun to tease you a bit! Hehehe.
Any ideas as to what the 'being' is?