Chapter 16

The next morning Lunasa joined the team on their daily excursion to the cavern, and as promised a dozen men and women were milling about outside it, waiting for them to arrive.

As they approached, the people gathered around them, looking apprehensively at Jack, Daniel, and Sam, but most especially Teal'c, who still carried his staff weapon with him everywhere out of habit.

"My friends," Lunasa called to those assembled. Her voice was strong and clear, drawing their attention to her, "Thank you for coming, we need your help. As I said last night, there is a plant covering some writing at the back of the cavern. This writing is different from the rest, and our friends," she indicated the four members of SG-1 who stood just behind her, "believe they can read it for us. We have to remove it from the wall."

With that she organized several people to carry torches that would eventually trade places with those who worked to clear the wall. A few more were assigned to bale the debris out of the cavern and into a pile outside the entrance. Several people cast nervous looks at the team as they passed into the cavern. If the citizens of Xanthus were trying to hide whatever doubt they still had they were doing very poorly indeed. The four gave each other dark looks as they took notice.

Yet as they watched Lunasa interact with the volunteers, it became clear that the faith and respect they had placed in her, for whatever reason, was stronger than their fear of the newcomers. Why else would they have come?

The day passed uneventfully as everyone focused on their work. When some took their leave, explaining the duties to which they had to attend, more came to take their place. The work progressed at a rate five times faster than the team had managed alone. When evening fell the wall was moss free and ready to be translated.

Daniel, of course, wanted to stay and begin the translations immediately. Armed with his Latin dictionary and his notes from his previous encounters with Ancient technology, the young archeologist stared avidly at the writing directly behind the dividing line.

"This is amazing! It looks like these notes where made a long time after the rest…." Daniel's voice trailed off as he started to consult his dictionary, which Jack snatched roughly from his hands.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but it can wait til tomorrow."

"Jack! Just give that back and give me a few minutes…"

"Ha! If I leave you here for just 'a few minutes', I'll end up coming to look for you in the middle of the night, and probably find you slumped over somewhere asleep with a wild animal sniffing at you because there's no coffee around here!"

"Jack…"

"Aht! That's it! No more! We're leaving! Now!"

And with that, Jack put a firm hand on Daniel's back and prodded him until they were outside, ignoring the further protests.

The next morning Daniel was up and ready to go and sat at the breakfast table reviewing his notes while he waited impatiently for the others to finish eating. Jack took his time on purpose, earning a warning glare from his friend.

Lunasa insisted on staying behind, claiming that she had work to attend to. The team decided not to press the matter after she promised to join them later if she could.

When they finally set off Daniel couldn't get there fast enough.

"I can't wait to take a crack at this," he babbled enthusiastically to no one in particular. "Two different languages from two different cultures in one place…Of course, I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising since we found the writings of four different cultures at Heliopolis."

"Do you still think the first one is related to the Furlings, or the Nox?" Sam asked, genuinely curious.

"I have no idea which, but there is a definite similarity."

"Well, just don't take forever trying to solve that riddle just yet, Danny boy. We can always make a return trip to let you play around here some more," Jack said warningly. He knew all too well how easily his archeologist could get sidetracked from their main goal: in this case, getting home.

When the group reached the cavern they decided to split up. Jack and Teal'c, both feeling a need to stay physically active, were not keen on the idea of sitting outside on guard duty again, so they opted to check out the outer rim Xanthus while Sam and Daniel proceeded into the cave.

"How can I help?" Sam asked, knowing perfectly well that there wasn't much. Daniel had the linguistic expertise. She had the technical expertise. Daniel had to work his magic before she could work hers.

"Well, you can hold a flashlight steady for me. I know it's not much but it will free up my hands and make things go a lot faster," he said apologetically.

They had reached the beginning of the Ancient writing and Daniel was gazing at it as if he was a kid starring a wall covered in bins of every kind of candy in existence.

"Sure thing," Sam replied, hiding her disappointment well. She didn't know what she had expected. "Just let me know when you hit the technical stuff. I can't wait to find out what makes that thing tick!"

Daniel just stood there, gazing silently with an expression of rapture on his face.

"Daniel?"

Sam placed a gentle hand on Daniel's shoulder. Startled, his head whipped around.

"Wha…huh?"

Sam grinned at him. And I thought I got sucked into my work! "Let's get to work."

"Oh, right."