A/N: Thanks for the reviews! It's more than I expected for my first attempt at this. I'll try to keep the chapters coming fairly quickly.
Chapter 3 - Surprise!
The building consisted of a large room, about 200 feet long by 75 feet wide. There were two rows of columns, all of which were covered in inscriptions. The walls were also covered in Ancient writings. There were pedestals and tables throughout, most of which were bare. Looking at the dust patterns on the tables, it looked like someone recently took many items from the room, hastily clearing out the best of the devices. There were some advanced looking pieces of equipment left on some of the tables and pedestals, all of which were inactive, except one object on a pedestal at the back of the room.
Upon seeing the treasure trove of writings, Daniel forgot all of his caution, paid no attention to the fact that there were no people in the room and started excitedly reading the nearest wall.
"This is incredible! Look at this place!"
Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow at his teammate and then quickly swept his gaze across the rest of the room. O'Neill and Carter also carefully looked around the room, Carter a little awed as well by the sight of so many advanced, unknown devices in one room.
The item that drew the attention of the soldiers was the blinking object on the pedestal at the back of the room. It was roughly the size and shape of a soccer ball, metallic, with multi-colored blinking lights around its circumference. They cautiously made their way to the object to determine its purpose.
Carter found her voice first, "Teal'c, those look like goa'uld symbols, not Ancient." She was referring to a pattern of flashing symbols along the top of the object.
"Indeed."
O'Neill knew without asking what it was, but had to confirm it anyway. "Teal'c, any idea what this is?"
"Whatever it is, it is currently counting downwards. I would guess that it is an explosive device. We have approximately 30 minutes before the countdown is complete."
"For crying out loud, do you know how to stop it?"
"I am unfamiliar with this type of device."
"Sir, I would like to see if I can stop it."
"OK Carter, you have 20 minutes. T, you and Daniel head to the gate and go back home, but hold the door open for us when you get to the other side." Looking at Daniel across the room unpacking his camera, O'Neill called out. "Daniel! Head back now."
"Jack - we need to start cataloging this place! It's amazing! It appears to be some sort of museum of technology."
"Not now - we have a bomb here."
Daniel raised and lowered his eyebrows a couple of times while processing what was just said. Ever the scientist on a quest for new knowledge, he asked the next logical question, "How much time before it goes off?"
"Not enough! Now get out of here."
"Ja-ck!"
"Now!"
With that, he quickly started panning his camera around the room.
"Daniel! Now!"
Reluctantly he picked up his gear and ran out of the room with Teal'c.
"Carter, are you sure you know what you're doing?"
Looking around the room at the writings and devices that would be lost if the bomb were allowed to explode, Carter replied, "Not really, sir. But I can at least take a look at it."
"OK. As soon as they're through the gate, see what you can do. But no reckless chances! I'm not losing the smartest person on our planet to a gould bomb."
After a couple of minutes, Teal'c signaled they were going through the gate. Carter took a deep breath and started to pry the cover off of the bomb.
Teal'c walked through the gate behind Daniel, making sure to leave the end of his Zat'nikatel remaining in the wormhole to leave it open for O'Neill and ColonelCarter. After just a moment, the wormhole disengaged, cutting off the top of his Zat and leaving a confused and concerned jaffa standing on the ramp.
