Chapter 2 - P4X-559

SG-1 was in the gear up room getting ready. Teal'c was quietly putting his pack together while listening to Daniel's non-stop, caffeine enhanced chatter.

"Can you imagine what we'll find? I mean, if the site is everything Zimbar claims - A building of the Ancients, complete and in tact, writings as well as multiple devices?"

As he continued, Sam shook her head and chuckled to herself as she reflected on the difference between the two men she loved as brothers. She wondered if Teal'c was really as interested in all Daniel had to say or if it was just that all of those years of deep meditation allowed him to tune the enthusiastic man out completely.

She turned back to her pack and opened one of the side pockets. Yup, it was still there. She had first started carrying the yo-yo in her pack after P3X-584, years ago. She found that then-Colonel O'Neill would agree to longer stays for her and Daniel to 'play' with rocks and doohickeys if he wasn't bored. After his promotion to General and off of SG-1, she continued to carry the toy in her pack. She found it comforting to have it with her and would pull it out during watches off-world sometimes, not to play with, but just to have something to remind her of the General.

If the site WAS everything Zimbar claimed, she'd want as much time there as possible. Since most of her equipment was going to the planet packed on the FRED, she determined she had room in her pack for the big guns. She dug into the bottom of her locker and pulled out the gameboy and solar battery charger and put them in her pack as well.


As SG-1 entered the gate room they saw General O'Neill all geared up and just about to leave the control room as the gate started to spin.

"Now remember, Walter..."

"Yes, sir?"

Holding up his index finger to emphasize the point, acting so much like a parent talking to his child, "No parties while I'm gone." The poor Sergeant stared at him trying to formulate a proper response to his CO. "Especially no parties with cake."

"Y-yes, sir, I mean, no, sir - no parties, sir."


O'Neill strode into the gate room rubbing his hands together. "Ready for some fun, campers?"

The members of SG-1 tried not to smirk at each other over the fact that the leader of the SGC seemed almost as enthusiastic about the mission and going off-world for a diplomatic mission as Carter and Daniel were at the prospect of studying new things.

After the kawoosh of the wormhole settled into the familiar blue puddle, they sent the FRED with all of the equipment through and then walked through themselves.


On the other side of the wormhole things were strangely quiet. The MALP they had sent through earlier hadn't shown any people up and about. O'Neill just attributed that to the early hour. He also figured that if these scientists were anything like his, they were busy working in the building, oblivious to their arrival.

Looking around, he could see the gate was near the end of a large clearing about 20 feet from a steep drop-off to a small streambed about 15 feet below. About 500 feet away in the other direction across a field covered with flowers of all colors was a large greenish building. This was presumably the Ancient site, since it was the only structure around. Around the edges of the clearing were lots of trees with some tall hills to the east and to the west, even taller hills.

As they started walking towards the building, O'Neill couldn't help thinking that if it were more of an emerald green, he'd feel like Dorothy walking through the poppies to Oz. "Well, off to see the wizard!"

When they were halfway through the field, Teal'c suddenly activated his zat as if in preparation to shoot.

"What's wrong, T?"

"I am uneasy at the quiet, O'Neill. It seems that if Zimbar was correct in his assessment of this site, we should hear people working."

"Well, when archaeologists aren't digging or uncovering something, we do tend to be quiet when studying what we've found. I don't imagine they've had to do much digging here", Daniel offered.

Looking around again, O'Neill spoke up, "Yeah, but still, just the same Daniel, you do tend to set up tents or shelters or something to stay in while doing your studying, I don't see anything but that building. Let's be careful."

With that, they cautiously walked through the rest of the field and entered the building.