Disclaimer: 'Stargate SG1' and all the characters associated with the show belong to someone who isn't me. As I doubt that the owners would be willing to trade their rights for some magic beans that aren't in any way magical, this is not going to change at any point in the foreseeable future.


Chapter Nine: Into The Labyrinth

Two hours later

"How much longer is he going to take?"

Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes at General O'Neill's aggrieved demand. "As long as it takes."

Their expedition into the temple had thus far been short and uneventful, as the doorway that led from the entrance chamber where they were now congregated to the temple proper had been blocked and, truth be told, his own patience was growing shorter with every passing minute that Daniel spent trying to decode the symbols to open the doorway.

He had no intention of letting General O'Neill know this, however.

"So what do you think the natives are going to do once they find out that we can't actually fix the mirror - with all due respect to duct tape, I don't see it getting the job done." Sam added, seeing that Jonathan was about to object.

"Hopefully, that'll be your problem and we'll be back in our own realities." Major O'Neill told her cheerfully. He shook the GameBoy he had borrowed from one of the airmen, frowning. "The batteries are running low. You didn't happen to bring…"

Colonel Carter handed him a fresh pack of batteries. "Here."

"You're the greatest." He accepted them with a grin and a quick kiss.

"I don't have any more with me, so you might want to take it easy." She cautioned him, unsuccessfully hiding a smile.

"If Jackson doesn't hurry up we could be here for a very long time." General O'Neill warned.

"Anybody want a snack?" Jonathan asked cheerfully, digging out a bar of chocolate and breaking it into chunks, passing it to his fiancée and her counterparts before offering it to the guys.

"I don't see you helping." Jack pointed out.

"I brought chocolate."

"Not you." Jack glared at Jonathan.

"I'm sure Dr Jackson will figure it out soon." Samantha said, giving General O'Neill a small, sympathetic smile.

"If it doesn't, I say we break out the C4."

For the first time since Jack had met Jonathan, he could believe that they had something in common.

"I wouldn't recommend that." Colonel Carter said seriously. "The people here are convinced that this temple, or at least the mirrors inside it, are all that is keeping them safe. Blowing up part of the temple might cause a panic."

"How exactly are a bunch of mirrors supposed to protect them?" Jack demanded.

"If they were made by a member of the race that built the stargates then the technology would be way ahead of us." Sam said thoughtfully. "Who knows what they were originally designed to defend against – it might even have been the Goa'uld. Maybe the material they are composed of is somehow resistant to their weapons."

"And with the mirrors locked away, that's helpful how?" Jack pressed. "In words people who aren't Carters can understand." He cautioned, well accustomed to bewildering technical explanations.

"I can understand her just fine."

Jack shot Jonathan a quelling glare. "You're an honorary Carter."

His counterpart merely grinned, putting an arm around Dr Carter's shoulders. "Not for another few weeks."

Whatever reply to that statement that Jack might have made was lost in Daniel's triumphant cry.

"I think I've got it!" Carefully pressing several of the symbols in sequence, the archaeologist was rewarded with a grating noise as the stone doorway raised, allowing them access to the inner chamber.

"Well done." Jack praised, smirking slightly when his friend gave General O'Neill a look that screamed 'so there'. Shouldering his pack, he led the way through the doorway, motioning for the others to follow him.

At the rear of the group, Sam and Teal'c had scarcely crossed the threshold when the door shut with a heavy thud.

"That can't be good." Major O'Neill said, pulling a torch from his belt and turning it on, an example followed by the others. "Wow!"

The light from their torches almost blinded them, not surprising given that the room in which they had found themselves was completely lined with mirrors.

"So which one is the one to send us home?" Major O'Neill asked.

"Is there an exit through which those of us already in our home dimension may leave this place?" Teal'c made his own enquiry.

Sam prodded one of the mirrors gingerly. "All of the mirrors seem to be dormant. I wonder how we're supposed to activate…" The mirror she touched emitted a cacophony of sound, with light emanating from it, the room seemed to lurch and the rest of her sentence was abruptly cut off.

When the slight ringing in her ears had faded and her vision returned to normal, she found herself standing in a long hall, lined with more mirrors.

"Are you injured, Major Carter?" Teal'c reached out a hand to help her to her feet before doing the same for Jonathan, who groaned, holding a hand to his head.

"I think I was just run over by a truck."

"No truck." Sam said. "The mirror must have been some kind of transporter."

"Oh." He took a second to digest this. "So where did everybody else go?"

Sam's eyes widened at his words, her stomach knotting in horror when she saw that their group had been reduced from ten to three.


Elsewhere

"Is everybody in one piece?" Colonel Carter asked, looking over the two who had found themselves in the same chamber as she was; a hexagonal room with mirrors covering just about every inch of the walls and ceiling.

"I'm okay." Samantha was slightly pale but her voice was steady as she replied. "That was worse than my first time through the stargate."

"You got sick too?" Colonel Carter commiserated.

"Yeah." She looked slightly green. "Not pretty."

Major O'Neill wrinkled his nose. "Uggh. If you're going to spew, could you aim away from me? Please?"

"That's the least of our problems." Colonel Carter cut across the conversation, gesturing towards the empty space around them. "It looks like we're on our own here."


"Carter?" Jack winced as his shout echoed through the hall in which he had found himself. "Carter?" He called again, more quietly.

"Here. I don't think I'm the Carter you're looking for, though." Dr Carter told him, sitting up.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"I'm fine too, thanks for asking." Daniel said dryly. "Sam's not here, and neither is Teal'c. the only other person here is…" He nodded almost imperceptibly towards the fourth member of their group.

'Great.' Jack suppressed a groan. 'I just had to get stuck with that guy, didn't I?'

TBC.

Author's Note: More of the mirror maze next chapter. In the meantime, please review. For those reading 'Three Men And A Little Theoretical Astrophysicist', I'll try to update that within the next few days.