AN: I'm hopping back and forth between SG1 & PotC & as inspiration takes me.
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CountryPixie: We know Daniel's not crazy, don't we?
SoloFalcon: Thank you! Yes, more is coming.
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Part 1 - ARC OF LIGHT
Chapter 3 - Divide and Confound
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"I'll make a note of that for you, sir."
O'Neill nodded, frowning as he turned to the Jaffa. "Teal'c, you take point and I will - oh, for crying out loud, DANIEL! What the hell are you doing?"
"Jack?" The young man blinked, gracefully swiveling his head while still tilted back. He kept one flat palm pressed to his hat.
"What's up there that's so damn interesting?"
"Nothing," Daniel returned absently, lowering his head to adjust his lopsided hat.
O'Neill rolled his eyes. "And still I ask," he berated himself. "Never gonna get that."
"Jack, um, are we sure this is PCX-388? I thought this was suppose to be a thriving community."
Jack took a deep breath. "Daniel, we've already passed the 'where-is-everybody' part and moved on to the 'let's-go-see-what's-behind-the-rock-wall' plan of action while you were busy not helping Carter with her sample gathering. Sooo, if we are all the same page now, let's move out!"
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Daniel looked briefly chagrined as he fell in behind Carter. He couldn't resist, however, another glimpse skyward. Sam waited at the foot of the steps patiently. "Ready?"
Ahead of them, O'Neill and Teal'c strode briskly across the brown field, unaware of how far ahead they'd already gotten from their two teammates.
"O'Neill," Teal'c started, easing his longer strides for Jack to catch up to him. "I believe this place is elevating my hackles."
Jack stared at him for a confused moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I know. I didn't want to spook the kids, but there's something sorta odd about this -- oh, I don't know -- emptiness? Feels kinda… off, if you ask me. Listen to those hackles and keep your eyes pee- uh, open, all the same."
"That is my intent, O'Neill," Teal'c assured him.
Jack slowed his pace, falling behind the Jaffa as he looked around their surroundings more suspiciously than before. "If Carter's right and there is some kind of power source operating around here, I'd hate to think what it might be used for if this place really is as deserted as it looks."
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"Well, I don't see an any entrance," Sam remarked, cupping her right hand above her brows as she walked beside the archeologist. "but Teal'c or the colonel will -- Daniel? You're not pouting about that… light beam, are you?"
"Er, no." Her companion dropped his gaze from a cloudless late afternoon sky to meet hers, offering an apologetic grin. "No, but I just thought… I mean, shouldn't there be, well, residual or static charge after-affects still visible in any power surge strong enough to penetrate a wormhole?"
"Not necessarily." Carter ruefully tapped the handheld device in emphasis. "Your presuming that it would naturally come from the atmosphere. Daniel, look around you. Is there anything natural about this planet that you've seen so far?"
Daniel shrugged uncomfortably. Sorry, Sam, for not helping in the sample collecting."
"Colonel's way of keeping you out of trouble, " Sam replied, deftly catching his elbow as he nearly tripped over an embedded rock. "C'mon, we better start moving faster," she advised. "They're already close to the wall."
Daniel recovered his balance, shrugging free. "Oh, hello." He frowned at the graph in Carter's palm. "Hey, Sam, has it been doing that stock market thing a lot?"
"Stock market?" Carter repeated. She pulled the device closer, ignoring Daniel's curious eyes briefly following it. "That's not, I've never seen it register that high before! Wait! No, it's dropping off again as if, as if a door just closed."
"Well, how about an entryway?"
Sam looked up quickly. "What?" Daniel nodded, grimacing as he turned to point to the wall where neither the colonel nor Teal'c stood waiting or waving to them.
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TBC