Daniel and Sha're watched from behind the columns in the pyramid as O'Neill's team stumbled out of the wormhole, some more gracefully than others. One looked shell-shocked and went to sit on the steps of the gate. The happy couple looked at each other and smiled as Daniel decided to let them sweat just for a minute. The team was brandishing their weapons and looking around the 'gate room suspiciously, even though they had received word it was safe to come through. Would they never learn?
And neither would the Abydonian boys, it seemed, although they were protecting their home instead of visiting another world with guns drawn. He moved to greet his guests but Sha're held him back for a moment, a sly look in her eyes.
"'Stop,' yes?" she asked. Daniel nodded, smiling, and kissed her soundly.
Holding hands, they darted out into the middle of the room, Sha're shouting "Cha'hari! Stop!" in the direction of the soldiers from Earth and Daniel holding up his hands and glaring down the boys until they lowered their weapons. After the general hubbub died down and it appeared that no one would be shot, Daniel turned to face Jack. /Welcome back,/ he signed, then watched as Jack strode past him to Skaara, who saluted him. Jack saluted back and the two embraced.
"O'Neill! Is much good to see you here, yes?"
To say that Jack was surprised to hear Skaara speaking English would be an understatement. The kids had picked up some English by the time the team left Abydos, but Ferretti and Kawalsky had focused on teaching them cuss words. At a loss, he turned to Daniel.
"How you doin', Daniel?"
/Same old, same old. You?/
"Ah, I can't complain. Just glad to see everyone's okay and not shot up by a mad alien."
/You know, Jack, here you're the alien with a gun./
Ferretti decided to break into the conversation. "Greetings from Earth, Dr. Jackson."
Daniel returned his grin and mock-saluted him.
"Brought you a little something, Daniel," Kawalsky said, handing the younger man a little notepad and pen.
Daniel smiled and wrote, -Good, I ran out of paper a month ago. Now where's the rest?- Kawalsky and Ferretti howled with laughter, slapping Daniel on the back as he grimaced, suggesting he hadn't really been joking. Sha're looked over the paper for a few moments then wrapped her arm securely around her husband. She was not as happy as her brother to see O'Neill, but would not begrudge her husband this pleasure. O'Neill greeted her and she nodded and smiled in return, carefully watching the interplay between him and her husband.
/So, Jack, why are you here?/
O'Neill didn't answer right away, just looked around at all the young men holding guns and the small village set up in the middle of the 'gate room. "What's up with the guard detail? Did something come through?"
/No, we're just being careful. Why?/ It was interesting to watch him try to sign one-handed. He always ended up finishing his thought using two hands, signing around Sha're, but he did not seem to mind her presence in the least.
At this point Captain Carter's voice, which had been steadily increasing in volume in her wonder at the DHD, broke through their conversation. "This is how they controlled it! It took us 15 years and three supercomputers to MacGyver a system for the 'gate on Earth!"
Daniel glanced questioningly at Jack, who just rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Captain?"
"Look how small it is!" She was only becoming more excited.
Jack glanced heavenward again and blew out a long breath, trying to stay patient. Daniel smirked, remembering when that sort of look was directed at him.
"Captain!"
Carter finally looked up from the DHD to glance at her commanding officer, who indicated that she should join him where he was talking to a man dressed in native robes… wearing glasses? That must be Doctor Jackson! she thought. Sam had wanted to meet him since she first read the account of how he figured out the Stargate. She had been overjoyed to hear that he had not actually died on Abydos.
"Doctor Jackson, I presume," she said as they shook hands. "I'm Doctor Samantha Carter."
"I thought you wanted to be called 'Captain,'" Jack interrupted as Sha're narrowed her eyes at the interloper. Not once had she been jealous in the time she and Daniel had been together, but none of the Abydonian women dared to look at Daniel in the way this Doctor did. Sha're tightened her grip on Daniel and her hand drifted to cup his hip in that way he liked. She smiled when his hand squeezed her shoulder in return.
/Jack./ Daniel signed, getting Jack's attention. /What is going on here?/
Sam looked from Daniel to Jack, startled. Seeing this, Daniel rolled his eyes in Jack's direction, who just shrugged. Kawalsky and Ferretti, who had been following the introductions, grinned at each other, enjoying that Carter's look of surprise.
"Six hostile aliens came through Earth's Stargate. We've got four dead and one missing."
"One of them looked like Ra, Daniel," Kawalsky butted in again.
/Well, they didn't come from here. The boys take shifts guarding the gate all day, every day. We would know if they came from here./
"Well, they had to come from somewhere, Daniel. We're gonna have to look around."
Seeing no way around this and not wanting to argue, Daniel acquiesced. /Fine. I think I can help you find out who it was, but we're going to have to wait until the sandstorm is over. Why don't you join us for our evening meal?/
Dinner was an interesting affair. The Abydonians knew some English, but not enough for fluent conversation. Daniel had to translate much of what they said into American Sign Language, which Jack would then interpret in English. Given this rather stilted method of conversation, Jack and Daniel ended up doing most of the talking amongst themselves while Sha're and Carter followed along. Kawalsky and Ferretti hung out with the Abydonian boys, who were now young men, communicating using a complex mixture of English, ASL, charades, Abydonian, and fart noises. Some languages really are universal, Daniel mused.
Carter was still a combination of shell-shocked and star-struck by the time that dinner—and the sandstorm—was over and Jackson casually informed her that she was wrong about the Stargate going to only one location. "But we ran hundreds of permutations!"
He apparently didn't see much point in debating, because he stood up and started signing to Sha're. Colonel O'Neill quietly said to Sam, "He wants to show us something outside." He instructed half the team to stay in the 'gate room before everyone's attention was drawn by Sha're giving Daniel a long, steamy kiss. The Abydonian boys whooped and Ferretti gaped jealously. Sam just smirked to herself and thought, Message received. Daniel was off-limits, not that she was thinking about him that way, anyway.
When Sha're released Daniel, he was gobsmacked and took a minute to collect himself, fixing his glasses and straightening his robes. Sam was startled to hear him clear his throat before he led them out of the pyramid.
Although she had been on Abydos for a few hours, it was not until they went outside that it hit her: she was on another planet. Outside a pyramid. She had been through a wormhole, which had only been theoretical before now. It was almost too much. "This is incredible," she said, looking around in awe at the unbelievable view before her. Jackson looked back to flash her a smile before continuing on and leading the small group to a building hidden by shifting sands not far from the pyramid.
As they entered the room, Carter's mouth once again fell open as she stared at the massive statues and writing covering the walls of the huge room. Daniel gestured that she should look around at the walls and as she wandered, she could hear O'Neill's half of their conversation.
"Have you been able to translate it yet?"
/I think so./
"So what does it say?"
/I don't think it says anything. I think it's a map./
"What? How can this be a map?"
/Well, not a traditional 'map, obviously, but these symbols are on the Abydos Stargate./
"So these are…"
/Addresses, yes. I haven't looked at all of them, obviously, that would take my whole life!/ He looked excited at the prospect.
"Well, Daniel, we don't have that long."
Carter rejoined the pair at this point, looking questioningly at Colonel O'Neill, as she had missed the pertinent part of their conversation.
"Daniel here thinks these carvings are 'gate addresses."
The doctor in question looked at her expectantly. Carter glanced from the younger man to the elder, and back again, before stating hesitantly, "I don't think that can be, Doctor."
Jackson raised his eyebrows and signed a "go on" gesture to her.
"After Colonel O'Neill and his team came back, my team tried hundreds of symbol permutations using Earth as the point of origin but none of them worked."
Daniel fumbled for a minute in his robes, looking for his new notebook, before O'Neill tapped him on the shoulder and told him, "I've gotcha. Just talk." Daniel sighed in relief and smiled at him gratefully before continuing.
/I tried the same thing here but none of them worked. But I assumed the ones I tried are destroyed or buried or… something, but some must exist./
Carter shook her head. "I don't think so."
Jackson was winding up, signing more emphatically and making larger gestures at the walls. /Then where did your Ra person come from? I don't know anything about your science, but couldn't the planets change? … Drift apart or something to make these addresses not work?/
By the end, Sam didn't need O'Neill's interpretation- she knew what he was getting at as soon as he signed 'drift apart.' She grinned widely at him. "I knew I'd like you!"
/You mean I'm right?/ He seemed very confused, which Sam didn't understand, considering the extent of his genius. She had to admit, though, that it was an adorable expression on him.
"According to the expanding universe model, all bodies in the universe are constantly moving apart."
/So in the thousands of years since the Stargate was built-/
"All the coordinates could have changed, yes."
/But Earth and Abydos?/ Sam had to feel a little bad for O'Neill, he was starting to sound bored and she was pretty sure he was only interpreting the gist of what Daniel was saying.
"Abydos is probably the closest planet in the system to Earth. I mean, the closer they are, the less the difference in relative position due to expansion. The further away, the greater the difference. In a few thousand more years, it won't work between Earth and Abydos either."
As Daniel began to sign, Jack scrubbed his face with one hand and interrupted. "Okay, scientists! Is there any way you can finish this up back at the base? You know, where there are things like paper and computers? And can you actually use this to get useable addresses?"
The two scientists looked at each other, then started nodding excitedly at Jack, both talking at the same time.
/If we adjust for the displacement…/
"All we need to do is figure out a few points and I can work up a formula to put into the dialing computer…"
"Stop!" O'Neill yelled as Kawalsky snickered behind his back. "So that's a yes, then?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Then why don't you get as much of this on video as you can and we'll head back to the Stargate in… 20 minutes?" Seeing them about to protest, he re-worded that. "Twenty minutes. Maximum. Then we go back and figure out where the aliens came from."
Carter and Daniel looked at each other again. Like, looked looked. It was getting a little scary.
"Yes?"
"Well, sir, it's probably going to take some time to figure out how to fix the coordinates so that we can use them. And this is a huge number of addresses. They could have come from anywhere, sir." Daniel nodded, corroborating Carter's statement.
When they arrived back at the 'gate room, everything was chaos. The Stargate was just disengaging and there had clearly been a fight, with the soldiers from Earth and Abydonian guards on the losing side. Daniel immediately went looking for Sha're and Skaara, only to be told that they had been taken through the 'gate. He could not believe that once more, his whole life had changed in a few short minutes.
After listening to Colonel O'Neill and his orders, Daniel Jackson, savior of Abydos, realized he had no choice but to return to Earth and search for his wife. To keep the people of Abydos safe, he ordered the Stargate buried for one Abydonian year. It was with a heavy heart that he left his newfound home behind, prepared to search the galaxy for Sha're, keeper of his heart.