"If I eat anything else I'm not going to fit through the gate…" Sam complained, pushing her plate back with a satisfied groan.
"You liked it?" the man sitting beside her asked, smiling.
She nodded.
"It was wonderful!"
"There is dessert…"
"Oh, no, Darrin," she said, shaking her head and smiling ruefully. "I couldn't eat another bite."
"She's full, Darrin," Tara said from beside him. "Are you trying to make her stomach explode?"
Those sitting closest smiled as well, and Darrin held his hands up in surrender.
"I was just offering…"
"He thinks that just because he can eat until his jaw is sore, the rest of us should be able to as well," one of the other women sitting near at hand said.
Before Sam could reply, Daniel came up to the table looking about as excited as she'd ever seen him looking. With him were several others, all looking amused.
"Sam! You gotta see this!"
"See what?"
"Come on, I'll show you."
She frowned, looking over towards where Jack was seated, only to find his seat empty. A moment later, she saw him heading their way. Obviously, he'd seen Daniel and had decided to come see what had him so agitated.
"What's up?"
Looking surprised at his sudden appearance – and that of Teal'c only an instant later – Daniel smiled.
"I know about the people who were here before us."
"The Ancients?" Sam asked.
"No, the Earth people that were here before us," Daniel said. He gestured to one of the older men who had walked over to her table with him. "This is Rafe. He was one of the one who spent time with them when they were here."
"They were here several days," the man said. "We had trouble explaining to them what had happened – and even more figuring out how to get them back where they belonged – or even whether to send them back or not."
"They didn't know how to get back through the gate?" Sam asked.
"No," Daniel said. "They didn't. They were sent through from our end – they didn't go on their own – and-"
"Why wouldn't you send them back?" Jack asked, interrupting.
"Because the gravitational field that captured their wormhole and brought them to our world was far more powerful than any that we have seen before-"
"Some sort of anomaly," another agreed.
"That not only brought them to the wrong Stargate on this world instead of their destination, but it also threw them through time."
"Forward in time," Daniel said, practically wriggling with excitement. "They were from ancient Babylon, Jack."
"What? How do you know that?"
"Because they didn't take all their stuff when they left."
"Where did they go?" Jack asked.
"What did they leave?" Sam asked at the same time.
"Come and look," Daniel said, slapping Rafe on the back enthusiastically. "You won't believe it."
"Where did they go?" Jack repeated.
"We were unable to calculate the time they belonged in without any assistance from them," Jamal said, having followed Jack and now joining in on the conversation. "So with their permission, we sent them to a world that they would feel comfortable in – one filled with people who would treat them well and allow them far more of a life than they would have had on your world."
"Are they still there?" Jack asked.
"They have since passed on…"
"The life expectancy of people from that time was a lot less than it is for us, Jack," Daniel said sounding regretful – and with good reason. After all, it would have been an archeologist's dream to actually have an ancient Sumerian to talk to. "They only lived a few years."
"Wait a minute…" Sam said. "How did you communicate with them? They couldn't have been speaking English."
"Neither are we," Jamal said, smiling.
"What?"
"We do not speak your language any more than we spoke theirs."
"But-"
"We understand you because we have the technology implanted in our minds to translate your words."
"Living in a place where so many different people come here from so many different worlds it only made sense to develop that technology," Rafe added.
"Which makes sense," Daniel said, nodding.
Jack looked at Sam, who nodded her agreement as well. It did make sense.
"What did they leave?" Jack asked, turning to Daniel.
"The only complete cuneiform alphabet that I've ever seen."
"That's it?"
Daniel frowned.
"That's it? Do you have any idea just how amazing it is? When Babylon fell, we lost so much information – including untold knowledge about exactly how to translate their writing – cuneiform. We've been practically guessing the last two millennium – the knowledge was probably in the library of Alexandria, but look where that went – and now we have it again."
"An alphabet?" Jack repeated.
"A detailed alphabet," Daniel corrected.
"And it's that important?"
Daniel looked about ready to explode from eagerness, which answered Jack's question nicely.
"Rafe said I can copy it," Daniel told him.
Sam turned to Rafe.
"What about your hesitation to share technology?"
"This alphabet is not our technology," Jamal said, answering for him. "If anything, it belongs to you and your people far more than it does us."
"I need to get started," Daniel told them. "I need my packs, and my notebooks…"
"I will assist you, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c offered.
Daniel looked at Jack, who shrugged.
"Go for it… the worst you can…" he trailed off, since Daniel had already turned and headed for the doorway, anxious to get to his room and get his writing materials. "Never mind…"
Ah well… at least someone was getting what they wanted for Christmas.