That planet was plain creepy. ´Stepping into a new world´ never sounded more appropriate for Sam Carter. Even Goauld strongholds weren´t as intimidating as the thick fog that immediately surrounded her after stepping out of the gate.

"Colonel Carter."

Sam turned around to locate the direction the greeting came from. She recognized the voice of SG-5´s leader, colonel Thurman, but the lack of visual confirmation made her feel a bit uneasy.

"Colonel Thurman," she replied, when she had given up trying to find him.

"Colonel, Doctor," greeted a silhouette emerging from the mist. The voice belonged to another member of SG-5 and Sam sighed in relief.

"Glad to...find you again," smirked Thurman, when they finally could see each other. Sam just left the remark floating around and let Daniel to handle the talking.

"Well, any progress?" Daniel anxiously asked the marines and stepped down from the marble platform the gate has been mounted on. If it hadn´t been for Tealc´s swift reflexes, Daniel would have ended lying face-down in a pile of greasy, smelly mud.

"Careful, Doctor," It sounded like Colonel was trying to suppress a laughter. „This place is surrounded by swamps."

"Thanks for the warning...,"Daniel gathered his balance back and adjusted his glasses. „Thanks, Teal´c, you can let go now," he recieved a sceptic look from his warrior friend, but he was released from his grip nonetheless.

"Okay, now that we had also a demonstration of what NOT to do–shall we proceed?" taunted Thurman, and strided forward.

"How long will it take?"asked Sam, slightly annoyed by his mocking tone.

"Approximately twenty minutes to the temple," answered the younger soldier.

"If we don´t get lost," added Daniel.

"No worries, Doctor Jackson, I never get lost," said Thurman, not even taking a look if the rest is following him.

"Now that makes me feel safe...," muttered Daniel for himself.

The walk went in silence, occasionaly Thurman making a remark about something he thought was very funny and worth mentioning, but without getting any response. More so, every time he had spoken made Sam cringe her teeth. Not just the cocky comments, but the similarity with a certain someone. Even the fog and cautious movement couldn´t occupy her mind enough. She would be thankful for any small distraction, but it was all useless.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, we´re here." Thurman pushed away the last hanging lianes from the trees that have been accompanying them througout the route which suddenly revealed a magnificent view. SG-1 walked out from the forest and stopped stunned from the scenery.

Before them stood a great – no, huge – stone-like temple. Some parts were in ruins, but nonetheless a big part has been left untouched.

"It almost looks like that temple in India....," said major Gellar who was also in awe.

"You mean Angkor Vat in Cambodia," corrected him Daniel, but nodded. „Yes, the architecture is very similar, altough this looks older..."

"Much, much older."

It was Doctor Edward Merrith, who was followed by the last SG-5 member Major Rivers.

Merrith was a young, aspiring archelogist and resembled Daniel in a lot of ways. He shook hands with Daniel, obviously delighted to meet the man himself.

"I´m honoured to meet you, Doctor Jackson. I have been to all your lectures you had at the University..."

Daniel nodded and waved his hand. „I still have a lot to study myself. As this here..."

"Yes, yes, it´s a mystery. The preliminary examinations show that the temple is more than 3000 years old. It does look like the Angkor, although the interior is very different. The inscriptions are in an unknown language and – "

„I´m sorry to break it up, but could we continue this chatter inside?" Thurman cut them off and without response took a carved path that lead to the temple.

Sam, watching out for mis-stepping, caught up with Thurman. „Colonel, has this place shown any life-forms?"

Thurman stopped and looked at her. „No, nothing. besides a few leeches, there is nothing. Ghost planet, you can call it."

"What about radiation? How about the stability of this place?"

"Colonel, with all due respect, we are not a bunch of idiots who just came here jumping into action. We´ve been here for already 14 hours, and the last two of them were spend with direct research. Or do you not believe in our competence?" Thurman tilted his head to side and pierced Sam with his disgruntled look.

"No, Colonel, I would have never allowed that." Sam replied and made sure that it didn´t sound apologetic.

"You know....there is truly something about you.....Colonel." Thurman stooped a bit to Sam who widenen her eyes confused. „E-excuse me?" Thurman looked like he was about to say something more but he was interrupted by a hurried voice coming from the entrance hall.

"Sam! Could you come here for a moment? I think you would be interested in thi– " Daniel walked in to the small chamber and immediately backed away. „Oh, sorry, didn´t want to....disturb you..."

"It´s okay, we were just clearing up mission reports," Sam repleid quickly and turned to Daniel. „What did you want to show me?"

Daniel blinked. „Uh, yeah, sure...it´s this way." He pointed behng his back and lead her. When they left the chamber, Daniel asked, trying to sound uniterested. „Everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure..."

"Well, you don´t sound so sure..."

"It´s okay, trust me, we were just discussing safety arrangements."

"If you say so."

They came into a remote part of the temple, a large, oval shaped cascade room that spiraled downward. The walls have been covered with hundreds of larger-than life sized statues. Some of them were damaged, some were covered in moss, but the rest looked like they were just waiting for their awakening.

"This place is sure...creepy." Sam said gazing around at the statues. Their hollow looks didn´t make her feel good. Her scientific part knew it was irrational to imagine anything, that they were just statues, but the rest of her wanted to go back.

"Yeah...well, hopefully this won´t freak you out."

"Huh, what?" She turned around and finally spotted it – in the centre of the room, which was a good few tens of meters under them was a huge, marble altair. The altair looked fairly untouched, despite few damaged parts. The sculpute that depicted a young woman being surrounded by dead bodies, cut-off libms and heads whith horror-sticken faces was made of a glossy, grey stone. The woman also held one of the heads and stared into its dead glare with a satisfied, almost laughing expression. But what made her gasp in shock, was the appearance of the statue itself – a striking likeness with a one young, blond Colonel, who was staring at her own image.

End Notes: Well, hopefully this chapter wasn´t too boring....Thanks for reading and reviews!