Jettisoned from the strange dimensional flows they coursed through, SG-1 found themselves once again found themselves standing around in the chamber they had first entered. They had nothing to show for their time spent in the labyrinth thus far, save a few near-death experiences. Before they fully recovered from the transition back into our spatial dimensions, they were greeted by a holograph of Atum.
"Well, well." His proxy started, "You survived your first trip through, and all of you alive. As much as I'm sure you'd all love to do this over and over, I think it only fair to change the rules a but. I think now I will immolate this place in, say, oh forty minutes. After that I will give you twenty. If by then you still have not escaped, when you return in time you will be greeted by the self-same inferno that you just fled. Your petty lives may be able to linger here until you die, but I have far much more important things to attend do, so the show must really get on, so to speak." He gave them another of his dark laughs before his hologram cut out and they were left to ponder their situation.
"He can't just change the rules like that!" O'Neill protested.
"I believe he can, O'Neill." Teal'c disagreed.
"What happened to him being honourable and not lying?" Carter asked Daniel.
"Well, he didn't really." Daniel sighed, "He only said we'd have an hour that first time. He never promised us a thing for this time any other attempts."
"I guess we're only good for one hour's worth of entertainment, and occasionally two." Jack muttered. The group cast a despairing look about their surroundings. Hieroglyphs Daniel had half-translated carried grim warnings all round, the gate was blocked and only one option lay before them.
"Well, we may as well head out again. The clock is ticking." Samantha thought it time to get a move on. SG-1 reluctantly hobbled along like convicts on death row knowing that they left their cell only to go to their demise.
Daniel was thinking to himself. He knew he had seen something earlier...but what? He scanned the walls around him. No, the answer lay not there, but almost, something similar...Ah! He remembered pictures he had glimpsed on the walls of the sacrificial chamber. When they were halfway to the door into the first hallway, he finished his mental translation, and related his findings to his peers.
"They said what?" Jack asked him when he was done.
"'As a final act of defiance before we were destroyed by the evil God, we left behind a map detailing the method of escape from our city'" Daniel repeated himself, slightly exasperated.
"So somewhere in this labyrinth is a map to get us out?" Sam felt her hopes rising.
"But we have absolutely no idea where it is, so finding this map is just as hard as finding the way out, so it is entirely useless." Jack didn't see how this could help them at all.
"There must be something more, these ancient civilization is trying to help us." Daniel was grasping at something just beyond his reach. He knew there was something more he was missing, but didn't know what.
"It was no doubt put there by Atum himself in order to mislead us." Teal'c dismissed the option of escape.
"How could I've been so stupid!" Daniel shouted as realization dawned upon him.
"I don't know, presumably just like you always do it." Jack said.
"No, no ,no..." Daniel was smiling broadly, "Don't you see? It didn't just say they left something, but that it was left. I believe that if we take all left hand turns from this room, which I now see as one fo the places where they once worshiped their true God, we will come upon the map!"
"Well, why didn't you say that in the first place?" Jack grumbled, "Let's go!"
They took many left turnings, and they had little occurrence to mark them as unusual. This fact lead them to believe they were on the wrong track; surely if this way was important it would be guarded. They would have turned back, but Teal'c's sense of direction, which was very well honed, told him that they were moving in an enclosing spiral, and that they were nearing the centre. So they pressed on.
They came in time to a fork in the road. The way left, where they wanted to go, was barred by a massive stone door. The way right, however, was freely open. There was an inscription on the door blocking them that Daniel translated. "'One must go right'" he said quickly.
"That's all?" Jack asked, wondering if he had got the abbreviated version. These pictures had seemed quite verbose earlier.
"Uh, yes." Daniel checked it over again.
"I will go." Teal'c stepped forward to go to the right.
"Watch your back there Teal'c, it could be dangerous." Sam cautioned the fearless former first prime. He gave her an arched eyebrow and a tilt of his head, clearly not understanding the idiom but relentless in his resolve to go forward.
The three humans of SG-1 saw their loyal ally walk forward four or five paces down the hall. He then turned, unsure of how much farther to proceed. As he turned to face SG-1, a stone door identical to the one on the left slammed down and cut him off. It's partner that was blocking the left route slowly ascended and granted passage.
"Didn't the people who built this place ever hear of normal doors? You know, a handle, maybe a little window, some hinges..." Jack spoke dryly.
"Let's go sir, fifteen minutes have already gone by." Samantha told her commanding officer. They went no to far down before they encountered the same situation once more. This time Sam spoke up. "I think I should go this time. Daniel will probably be needed to translate something to get the map."
"Well, I can go just as easily." Jack pointed out.
"Permission to speak freely sir?" Sam inquired.
"Sure." Jack granted.
"It has already been shown that you wouldn't last a minute in this place without Teal'c to pull you out of a pit or save you from an Unas." She smiled.
"Alright then, you go along. But I won't feel sorry if the Unas gets you for dinner." Jack spoke back to her. She was really something. Carter didn't even look back when she heard the stone slab behind her slam down.
When Daniel and Jack came to the room with the map in it, they saw they had a problem on their hands. Not only them, but Sam and Teal'c were about to be faced with difficult situations...