Chapter 18
Jack and Teal'c made their way slowly back to the cavern where Daniel and Sam were sure to be still hard at work. They had not found anything of real interest on their walk, as long as it had been. Xanthus was small compared to modern day standards, but it was still quite a journey to walk its circumference.
The idea of looking for anything of interest had been more of an excuse to get away from the cavern than a viable excursion. As much as Jack and Teal'c appreciated Sam and Daniel and their work, it wasn't exactly fun to be around them when they were in full scientific and linguistic mode.
"Think they're done with the worst of it by now?" Jack asked Teal'c conversationally, keen to not get back before necessary only to have Daniel say that he had only scratched the surface.
"Daniel Jackson is very proficient in his work if left uninterrupted, and Major Carter knows better than to do so. I believe it is safe to return, O'Neill." The Jaffa gave his commanding officer a small smile of understanding.
"Alrighty then. Let's go."
As they entered the hall, Jack could practically feel the concentration of the archeologist. They could see two flashlights, one beaming steadily at the wall of Ancient script, the other on its end on the floor providing light for the figure who sat there feverishly scribbling in a notebook and flipping pages in another book lying open on the floor.
As Jack and Teal'c came closer, Sam, still holding her flashlight, acknowledged them with a silent nod, not wanting to distract her friend for an instant. Lunasa stood there too, watching with great interest. Daniel still sat with his legs folded and his work in his lap, occasionally looking up at the wall to double check that a cipher was correct and murmuring under his breath, but still apparently oblivious to the arrival of his two teammates.
Suddenly Daniel got up and turned around to Jack as if he had known the colonel had been there all along.
"I think I've figured it out," he said with a triumphant look on his face.
"Do tell."
"Ah, ok…It's a direct translation of this," he pointed to the unreadable symbols that preceded the dividing line. "But there's an introduction of sorts first." His hand swept along the first column of text from left to right as he explained. "It says here that the Ancients came to this planet many centuries ago and discovered the device. They formed a… a research group with the Nox, the Asgard, and the Furlings.
"As they studied it and the artifacts that they found in the city, they realized that it was created by a race that they had never encountered, but had somehow formed a language structure that is loosely similar to the Furlings'.
"Working together, they found this cavern with the instructions on how to use it, and this incredible log of the planet's geographical history. This unknown race somehow used the device to record each earthquake, volcano, and just about every other major event that affected this planet, including the events that affected the people here at the time! The four races somehow managed to create this translation."
"That's swell!" Jack smiled in mock enthusiasm. "That's really great, Daniel, really it's terrific. But how do we use it to get home?
"Well, that's the tricky part… I'm a little concerned that the Ancient translation is a little off…"
Jack glared, eyebrows contracting.
"It's a little cryptic," Daniel went on hastily. "On the device there were three hand prints, one on each side. According to this text each hand print is a switch to activate a different function of the device. One, it says, 'takes one to where he has not yet been.' The second 'takes one to where he truly belongs.' The third, and the one I think I touched, 'takes one back to where he has already been.'"
"So it did take us someplace else," Sam said she worked out the implications in her mind. "The Stargate could be anywhere."
Daniel winced and did a very poor job of hiding it.
"What now?" Jack demanded.
"A part of the writing is a historical account of what happened to the race that made the device. It explains that the race was peaceful, and they built the device to study the planet's history, that much I had been right about. The problem was that the Gould came and demanded that they show them how the device worked. When the people refused…the Gould wiped them out."
Lunasa stifled a gasp, surprising the others. She had been so quiet they had almost forgotten she was there.
"That…that is what they will do to us? They will destroy us?" Her voice shook as she spoke.
"What the Goa'uld cannot have, they destroy so that no one may have what they cannot," Teal'c said.
"But they're not going to do that here," Jack said earning mildly surprised looks from his team. "Because we're going to come back with help to defend you against Zippy. That is, once we get home…" Jack turned his attention back to Daniel.
"Right…well the strange thing is that…well, it says here that the Gould took the Stargate with them to help keep another Gould from finding the device. I guess they hoped they would be able to solve the puzzle…eventually…"
"Wait a second. They took the gate with them?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Then how about explaining how we got to this planet?" Jack said, becoming confused.
"The Ancients must have brought another gate here later, or maybe the Gould brought it back and left it. I don't know! The problem is that the last mention of it says that Gould took it with them."
"So we don't know where to look for it." Sam concluded.
"Yes we do." Jack said defiantly. "It's under that lake. All we have to do is go back and let Daniel undo what he did. The gate will be standing again and we'll be home in no time!"
Daniel looked skeptical but decided to keep quiet. Far be it from him to ruin Jack's optimism…if you could really call it that…it was more like denial…
"Let's pack it in for the night, campers. We'll set out first thing in the morning."