"Oh, just be quiet!" Sam told Daniel "I'll try that meditation thing Teal'c does, Kel No Reem." She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Daniel saw the deadly gas winding its' way up their thighs as it filled the room, no doubt inhaling even a little of it would be fatal. Sam didn't know how, but she soon found herself thrust into the life of Jolinar. Maybe the lingering symbiote memories sensed her need, it was impossible to say.
She saw worlds, people and events, all whizzing past her at lightning speed. Jolinar had lived so long, experienced so much, and it was all going by in a headlong rush. Suddenly it came to a stop, and she was able to latch onto one thing. A deep and consuming love, so much akin to the one she held for Jack. But this love was allowed to ignite and spread, and the passion burned deep. She saw moonlight kisses on worlds she had never been to. She scented the aroma of the lover she never had. She felt that love being consummated. Sam was lost in sweet memories that were not were own, but not for long. Once more she jolted forwards, ever on and forwards, until she was struck with the deepest pain there is. Pain, agony, and then blackness. This was the end. After that memory there were no more, she was cast into a dark void. As she faded away from the world, Jolinar's life, her life, was now over.
When Carter had suddenly fallen over, Daniel quickly caught her before she tumbled into the noxious death-clouds below. He could only presume that she had somehow succeeded, and hoped that it would work. In mere moments, he felt her go limp. She had no pulse. She was not breathing. "Sam!" Daniel gave her a slap in a futile attempt to revive her. "Wake up Sam!" The door to the room opened and the gas started to recede back into the walls. There was no sign of life in Sam, he held a lifeless corpse in his arms. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" He shouted as he ran from the deadly room, in case the door closed again. He caught a glimpse of the writing on the wall but kept it out of his mind for now.
Once out of the room and on the right side of its' entrapping door, he laid her down and tried to revive her. There was nothing he could do, for the problem was not with the body. Sam's consciousness had been buried deep within her psyche, and with Jolinar's death it had not resurfaced. The body was a husk without a soul or mind, and was fading fast.
"Sam..." A silent tear found its' way from the depths of his heart, through his eye, and shattered onto the cold floor below. This was all his fault, he knew. Not only did he lead them into this maze, but he brought Sam into this room. All his fault, he brought only pain to his fellow members of SG-1. He didn't belong, he wasn't military, not cut out for this sort of thing... Sam's corpse silently accused him of a million flaws. Daniel leaned forward to deliver the kiss he never had the courage to give when she was alive. Now it was too late, and he would never have the chance...
When he was but a fraction of an inch from her delicately sweet but now lifeless lips he recoiled abruptly as he heard a familiar shout from behind him. "Daniel, what's wrong?" Jack shouted as he ran up with Teal'c. From his vantage point he hadn't seen what Daniel was doing, only assumed that he was trying to revive their comrade in arms.
Daniel had a sudden revelation. Maybe it was not too late! "Teal'c, quick, shoot her with your Zat gun!" He blurted out at the Jaffa. Not one to question, Teal'c took it out in a flash and delivered an electrical blast of energy. It was no good, Sam still lay lifeless on the floor. "Again, Teal'c, do it again!" Daniel shouted.
"Surely you do not mean that Daniel Jackson, two shots are always fatal." Teal'c spoke to the archaeologist.
"Do it Teal'c!" Jack ordered. He didn't know the situation, but was not about to lose a member of his team in some dirty Goa'uld's dank, stinking maze. With a second jolt, the Major's eyes opened in a dazed look and she leapt up off her feet. Everyone was dead quiet for a moment, shocked.
"I'm okay." Carter said and the sighs of relief were so loud that they could be heard echoing down the corridors far, far away.
"So we can see, Major Carter" Teal'c boomed out with his deep confident voice.
"How...how did you find us?" Daniel asked the two of the new arrivals as he regained his composure.
"Oh, you know, the usual. Assorted heroics, ingenious puzzle-solving. Nothing really." Jack told him.
"O'Neill fell into a pit, and I was forced to rescue him. When I saved him from certain doom and we followed the exit, we came upon you Daniel Jackson." Teal'c told his side of the story, which was quite a bit more accurate.
"Umm, sir," Carter began, a bit shaken from dying, but understandably so, "We have a problem." She looked at her watch, "By my count we've been here for...well...I think we have 8 seconds left." She said.
The walls began to shake, and they could fell the temperature rising. They all reached for their time-travel devices (And prayed that they worked). The devices had started glowing a pale rose colour, and they all pushed the button. Their perception quickly vanished, as their bodies were taken from the four dimensions in which they normally travel. They were whisked through seemingly random currents that ran unseen in other dimensions all around us, and were sent flowing back through time. At their new place in time, they were re-assigned new positions in the three spatial dimensions. They were about to try the game once more.
From his unique position of observation, Atum let out a maniacal laugh. These fools thought him more of a fool than they. They honestly thought he had no greater motive, the idiots. His plan was working just as he knew it would, and he had many surprises yet in store for these dolts. It was quite a bore being the mastermind he was at times, really, always knowing exactly the moves these pawns would make. An insidious grin twisted onto his face.