As they drew closer and the lights of the village made Jamal's torch unnecessary, they could see that the village was surrounded by a high fence with a gate made of huge wooden doors. Huge wooden doors that were wide open.

"Are you the only people on your planet?" Daniel asked, looking at the doors as they passed through into the village.

"Yes. We're spread out over the entire planet – aside from some uninhabitable areas. Why do you ask?"

"Because gates like these would be good for repelling unwanted visitors…" Jack said, catching Daniel's reason for questioning immediately.

Jamal smiled.

"The gates – and the fortifications themselves – are left over from a time long past. A time of great strife that my people have thankfully grown out of."

Which made sense, since the gates were wide open – and unguarded, Jack noticed.

"What do your people – what is that?" Whatever Daniel had planned on asking was completely forgotten when they entered the village itself and the team got its first glance inside the walls.

Against the inside of the wall to the right of the gates was a large pod-looking thing sitting on the ground and glowing a muted blue.

Jamal turned to see what he was looking at.

"It is a power source. There are four of them in the village, and they supply the energy for our lights, heating and cooking devices."

"Where-"

"My people prefer not to discuss our technology, Daniel," Jamal said, gently. "It is one of the reasons that while you are welcomed here and will be treated well – but they will be glad to see you leave."

"But-"

"The technology isn't our own," Jamal said. "It's left over from our ancestors."

"It's Ancient technology?" Sam asked, looking at the pod with renewed interest.

"Yes."

"How does it-"

"Daniel. He just said they didn't like to discuss it."

Jack might normally be interested – if it had been a weapon or something he definitely might have given it more thought – but he wasn't happy being where he was just then, and he really didn't care what made the energy pod thing tick. Or who built it in the first place. Besides, as far as he was concerned, Ancient technology was a pain in the ass. He'd had it stuffed in his head, and it sucked.

Daniel gave Jack a pained look, but Jamal smiled.

"Jack is right, Daniel. Please, come this way."

They were walking along a cobblestoned street, now, with tidy little buildings rising up on either side around them. From the upper windows of these buildings there were people looking down at them as they passed, and occasionally one of those people would wave in silent greeting. All they could see were curious glances; nothing hostile – which was a welcomed sight, really.

"The elders are gathered in our central meeting building," Jamal said as they walked further into the village. "They will only want to give you the ceremonial greeting and then we will be free to get you settled into temporary quarters that will serve as your domicile while you are with us."

"How long is that going to be?" Jack asked.

"How long until the wormhole is stable once more, do you mean?" Jamal asked.

"Yeah."

"Several hours – probably closer to a day or two. We will make certain it is stable before sending you through it. Otherwise you may end up in a far more hostile environment. "

"How are you going to make sure it's stable?" Sam asked. "We weren't even aware it wasn't safe when we went through the first time. How can you guarantee that-"

"We will be able to tell," Jamal interrupted. "You'll have to trust us."

Of course, that was pretty much what they were doing already, so they didn't have much choice really.

OOOOOOOOO

The central meeting building really was in the center of the village – at least as near as Jack and Teal'c could tell. After walking for almost a half hour through the village, they stopped in front of a fair-sized three-storied building that was lit up brighter than any of the other buildings they'd walked by that evening. It wasn't the biggest building they'd seen that evening, but it was close. As they walked up to the door, it opened, and a woman peeked out, smiled, and then beckoned them all inside.

Brightly lit inside as well, SG-1 found themselves inside a huge open room, which was filled with people. Gaily dressed in warm colors, these people were holding cups or plates of what was probably food, and it looked more like a cocktail party than anything else. Conversations came to a halt as the team entered with their escort, and the people shifted positions enough to make a small aisle in the center of the room, which was where Jamal guided them.

Waiting for them were three people. Two women and one man. Each of these were dressed in similar clothing to the others – although the fabric seemed to be just a little better quality. It was obvious why they were called elders; each of them were older than anyone else in the room by far.

Jamal bowed to the three, and then smiled.

"Elders, may I introduce our guests to you?"

"You may," said the woman to the left, who looked to Jack to be about nine hundred and ten.

"This is Jack," Jamal said, gesturing to O'Neill. "And his friends, Major Carter, Daniel and Teal'c."

"That one is Jaffa," the other woman said. Like Jamal had before, she didn't seem all that concerned about it; she was just pointing it out.

"He is not aggressive," Jamal said.

"He's part of our team," Jack told her.

"Where are you from?" The man asked, glancing at Teal'c momentarily, but no more concerned about his presence than any of the others.

"A planet called Earth," Daniel answered.

"Their people are called the Tau'ri by mine," Teal'c said, speaking for the first time.

There were murmurs through the watching crowd at that announcement, but the three elders held up their hands for silence and received it immediately.

"You are welcomed here," said the man in the center of the women. "Jamal will show you to rooms that you may call yours as long as you are here, and when you have had a chance to refresh yourselves, we would welcome you to return here for a meal and some entertainment."

Daniel bowed slightly; in imitation of the gesture of respect that Jamal had shown when he'd introduced them.

"Thank you. We accept."

"This way," Jamal said, gesturing for them to follow him as once more the crowd of people moved to make them a path. "You'll like your rooms, I'm sure."

"Oh?" Jack asked, wondering how he could be so certain.

"You are not the first Tau'ri we have sheltered, Jack," Jamal said, smiling.