The door to the briefing room was closed when Daniel arrived. He knocked and heard the general call out, "Come on in, son."
He twisted the knob, opening the door to darkness. What the…? Before he even had time to formulate the question of why the general was in the briefing room in the dark, the light flipped on to reveal a room full of people.
It looked like everyone he knew on the base was there, his team foremost in the crowd. There was a banner decorating one wall that read, 'Welcome Back to SG-1, Daniel.' The table that was usually littered with mission reports was now groaning under a ton of food. Daniel stood speechless as he was greeted with thunderous applause. He looked around the room in wonder. He'd never been welcomed back to anywhere. It felt good.
Jack stepped forward, enveloping him in an enormous hug, "We're glad to have you back, Danny Boy," he whispered so that no one else but Daniel could hear. He had to blink rapidly to keep the tears that welled up from falling. Everyone else gathered in to pound his back in congratulations. Music came on from somewhere and the party was on.
Daniel didn't think he ever remembered a better party. He ate copious quantities of food and his hand was shaken so many times his shoulder went numb.
"Dr. Jackson," the general approached him as the party was winding down and people began to return to their duty stations.
"General," Daniel did his best to swallow the huge bite of cake he'd just taken; it seemed to settle in his throat, choking him. He swallowed convulsively.
The general placed a kind hand on his shoulder, "I just wanted to let you know that you should get some rest tonight." From somewhere Jack and Sam and Teal'c had appeared behind Hammond. They watched him expectantly.
"I'm sorry?" He glanced at his teammates, but they weren't giving away any clues; although there was a little smile hovering around the corners of Jack's mouth.
"You have a mission tomorrow at 09:00, don't be late." With a pat on his shoulder, the general left, leaving Daniel alone with his teammates.
"Mission?" Daniel asked a little blankly. Had he missed a briefing?
"Hey, didn't I promise you a field trip to a temple just as soon as you were declared fit for duty?" Jack reminded him. "Be sure and pack your heavy duty sunscreen. If we bring you back with so much as a hang nail, we'll never hear the end of it from the Doc."
The morning couldn't arrive quickly enough for Daniel. When his alarm woke him he was surprised that he had managed to sleep at all. He hadn't been this nervous about a mission for quite some time.
When he sauntered into the gate room early, Jack raised a surprised eyebrow, "Dr. Jackson I presume?"
"Ha, ha, Jack, very funny." Daniel rolled his eyes.
It felt so good to be back with his team that he wasn't even upset when he had found out that Lt. Michaels would be accompanying them for this one last time, since he had done the initial survey of the planet.
The young man stood in the corner checking out his own equipment, sulking. Daniel couldn't blame him for being a little upset. After all, he knew how special it was to work with SG-1. To be relegated to SG-3 after that would be a let down.
Daniel was determined to be nice to the man. They only had a couple of days on the planet, and then Michaels would be gone. He could do this. The feeling that he knew the man persisted, and Daniel had tried to talk to him a time or two. But the other man had always found business elsewhere; finally Daniel had given up trying to figure it out.
The gate began to move and Daniel watched, transfixed, as it rotated. He stood at the bottom of the ramp, Jack next to him, a hand on his shoulder. Sam and Teal'c moved to either side of them as the gate exploded outward and then settled into place.
"Well, kids, it looks like we're off to see the wizard," Jack said as he and Daniel walked up the ramp together and disappeared through the gate. Carter and Teal'c exchanged a knowing glance and quickly followed.
Michaels watched them with loathing. If he had his way, this would be Dr. Jackson's last trip through the gate. He wanted to see the temple, and that was fine. But it would be the last thing he saw.
Picking up his pack, he ran up the gate behind the rest of SG-1, his team.
The sun was hot as SG-1 stepped through the Stargate onto PY2-443. Jack really didn't think there was anything on the planet to interest anyone, not even Daniel, but he'd promised. And it made a really good milk run for Daniel's first foray back into the field.
They'd already been here; they knew the place was deserted. They'd covered every inch of the temple. There was absolutely nothing there to get Daniel into any trouble. They'd spend two days with Daniel happily translating; playing archaeologist, then life could get back to normal for SG-1.
As they walked, he glanced over at Lt. Michaels. The man's face was unreadable as he kept pace with the rest of the team. Something about the young man just wasn't right. The colonel had actually looked into his background, but had found nothing. His school records were unremarkable, but he'd performed with excellence at the academy. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he worked on keeping up with Daniel who was setting the pace.
Daniel enjoyed the walking. The place was hot which was fine with him; it reminded him of happier times in Abydos and Egypt. And it felt good to stretch his endurance, the doctor had made sure he got enough rest over the past months; he hadn't been allowed to get tired. Now he could see the building that had been his goal for so many months, he could practically reach out and touch it. He quickened his pace.
"Daniel, slow down," Jack said, easily matching his stride. "It's not a race. We'll get there."
"We've only got 48 hours, Jack. I don't want to waste them walking," they couldn't get to the temple fast enough for Daniel.
His friend smiled and shook his head, but Jack kept pace with him the entire way.
They made it to the site in record time. With a quick look to Jack for approval, Daniel disappeared inside, leaving the rest of the team to set up camp.
--SG-1--
Daniel pulled a bandana out of his pack, tying it around his head. The day was hot and there was no breeze of any kind so the air inside the temple was stifling. He'd been hot and sweaty already from the walk from the gate, now his BDUs were sticky and clinging uncomfortably. Dumping his pack in the corner, he took off his vest and shirt and folded them neatly over it.
He hadn't told Jack, but the video that Michaels had made of the structure all those months ago, hadn't been very clear. All the out-of-focus tapes had done for him was to wet his appetite. From the scrolls he found that the people who had come to PY2-443 were of Hebrew descent, but they hadn't told him much more. If they really were from a pre-flood Earth, there was no telling what secrets the place might hold.
He took a quick drink from his canteen and set to work. Two days was only going to scratch the surface of what the temple had to tell him.
It hadn't taken them long to set up camp, so now they sat outside while Daniel was inside doing whatever he did. Michaels sat throwing rocks, trying with each successive throw to get the rock a little further, each stone hit the earth with a little puff of dirt and a thud. Jonathon imagined that it was Daniel out there he was throwing the stones at – Daniel alone and unable to defend himself.
He felt like he should be doing something, but there was simply nothing else for him to do. Captain Carter was off taking more samples. Something of interest to the SGC had been found, so she was taking back more varied samples this time. Teal'c went with her to watch her back, not that there was anything to watch for. The place was absolutely deserted.
The colonel just puttered around the camp, not really doing anything either. Occasionally he would wander into the temple to make sure his teammate was still inside and safe. It was just wrong to see the man reduced to Daniel Jackson's keeper.
Michaels threw another stone, it hit with a satisfying thunk. He couldn't believe that he had been demoted from trusted team member to flunky whose major responsibility was setting up camp. By all rights it should be him inside the temple.
At the least, he should be showing Daniel what he had found, but the other man hadn't even looked at him when he'd gone inside. Maybe that hurt most of all. He had thought they were friends and brothers all those years ago, but Daniel showed no signs that he even knew him.
As the sun began to its descent into evening, Carter and Teal'c arrived back at the camp. After they had put away their day's labors, they helped the colonel prepare their meal. They exchanged amused glances as the sun continued to set and Daniel failed to emerge.
"I'll go get him," the colonel said with a sigh. "Hey, Michaels, dinner," he called out as he went.
Jonathon pocketed his stones, grudgingly going to join the others for dinner.
The hours passed without Daniel even being aware of it. He was too absorbed in the story that unfolded before him on the walls. He had no idea how long he'd been working when he heard a throat being cleared behind him. "Hey, Jack." Daniel spoke without even turning.
"So, Daniel, how you doing?"
"Fine, Mom. You?"
"Having fun?"
Daniel could contain his excitement no longer; it came bursting forth, "Jack, do you know what we've found here?" His hands brushed the walls lovingly.
"A temple?"
"Very good, Jack…"
"Are you going to come eat supper?"
"Supper?" Daniel blinked up at his friend in surprise. He finally noticed that the light in the room had dimmed considerably. He'd thought he was having trouble reading the writing on the walls, but he hadn't stopped to wonder why.
"Yes, Daniel. Supper. Why don't you come have some and tell us what amazing things you've found here?"
"No, really, Jack, I'm not hungry. I want to finish this section…"
"Daniel, you're going to come out and eat if I have to have Teal'c carry you. Now, I promised the Doc we'd make you eat and sleep and all those important things you do to maintain your health." Jack knew he was in super-mother-hen mode, but he couldn't help it. They'd just gotten Daniel back. He was going to do everything in his power to ensure that Daniel got through this particular mission without even a hair on his head being mussed.
"Jack!" Daniel glared at him. He relented a little when he realized that his friend wasn't going to be swayed. "Maybe I can eat my dinner in here? I just want to finish this one little section." He was using the wheedling tone again.
Jack refused to listen to it this time. "What's so important about that section, Daniel?" Jack thought he was showing an incredible amount of patience with his friend.
Daniel was practically vibrating with excitement, "Jack, it's the story of Cain and Abel exactly as it is in the Bible. I mean, what are the chances of finding something like that on another world?"
Jack opened his mouth to answer and then realized he had no clue, "Well, Daniel, I guess I don't know. Why is that important?"
"Jack, these are supposed to be among the first people. And they're from a completely different culture than we've found before. Imagine what we could learn." He looked at his friend expectantly.
Jack shifted from one foot to the other, "I'm trying, Daniel, I'm not coming up with anything."
"Jack!" The colonel could be deliberately obtuse sometimes. He thought he was making his people think harder when he did it. Mostly Daniel found it annoying; he knew the man was smarter than that. "This section," Daniel's spread fingers indicated a section of writing, it just looked like so much chicken scratch to Jack, "talks about the 'Children of Enoch.' Supposedly they were the descendants of Cain. Now according to the Bible, Cain slew his brother Abel…"
"Slew?" Jack asked just to slow him down. His friend was on fast forward mode, talking faster than Jack could listen.
"Murdered, killed, in cold blood."
"Yes, I know what it means, Daniel. What does it mean? Why is it important to us?"
Daniel blew out an impatient breath, "Cain was afraid of the vengeance of his people after he slew his brother, so God brought him here where he founded a new city."
"Here?"
"PY2-443." Daniel threw out a hand to encompass the temple and the whole planet.
"Are you saying…?"
"Jack I don't know what I'm saying, but these people obviously came to this planet through the Stargate. It says here," he indicated another section of the chicken scratch, "that this temple was built to celebrate the Festival of Enoch. Every year there was a 'Test of Cain' and it was held here."
"Well, it doesn't look it's going to be held here this year," Jack commented wryly. He gestured to indicate the dusty and deserted temple. "So, where did they go?"
"I don't know, but it says here," Daniel brushed the stone to show Jack the text he was referencing, resting his fingers on the wall briefly, "that the people grew in the grace of their Lord and he took them to a new place…"
He was interrupted by a scraping noise. They spun on their heels to watch the back wall of the temple disappear into the ground. It was replaced by a vista of a green, verdant valley.
Cautiously they approached the edge to find a sheer drop-off at their feet. The wall literally dropped away to the valley floor thousands of feet below. Daniel hastily backed up. "Wow."
"What was that?" The rest of the team arrived with Lt. Michaels in tow. "We heard a sound…" Carter stopped in astonishment at what she saw. "Wow!"
"Alright, what caused that?" Jack looked at his team expectantly, waiting for his answer.
"That wasn't here before," Michaels asserted.
"No, no it wasn't," the Colonel agreed. "Why is it here now, Daniel?"
"I don't know." Daniel went back to the wall he had been working on, intently studying the place he had touched. The light was fading and it was hard to see. "Does anyone have a flashlight?"
With a disgusted noise, Michaels fished a flashlight out of his vest pocket, handing it to the other man.
Taking it with an absent thanks, Daniel didn't notice the other man's glacial expression. He trained it on the area of the wall he had brushed with his fingers. "Look," he leaned in closer, his nose practically touching the stone, "look here. There's a depression, it's talking about the Test of Cain, about how only the worthy would be tested."
Michaels couldn't believe it. The other man had not only found hidden mechanisms he had completely missed, but he was translating the words on the walls as if they were English. The other team members were buying everything he was saying like it was gospel. How did they know he wasn't just selling them a load of goods to save his precious reputation, to keep his place on the team?
He couldn't stand the sound of the other man's voice a minute longer. He stalked over to the newly revealed vista to inspect it. There was no green valley on the outside of the temple. They had scouted all the way around it for miles. All they had found was deserted roads and a barren landscape.
Thinking that it was some sort of projection, Michaels tentatively reached out, expecting to touch the wall or find a force field. There was nothing there, just air. Obviously the people who had built the temple were a lot more advanced technologically than he had assumed.
He plucked a stone from his pocket, tossing it through the opening. He watched as it fell to the valley floor.
"Hey, Michaels."
He looked back over at his shoulder to the colonel.
"You coming for dinner?"
Captain Carter and the Jaffa had already gone back outside. Jackson was collecting his pack, putting the shirt and vest inside of it and slinging it over a shoulder.
"In a minute, sir," Michaels answered.
The colonel nodded and left the building.
Daniel walked over to stand next to Michaels, to look over the vista one last time. "I wonder what's projecting this?" he mused. "This isn't what's outside."
Michaels knew he would never have a better chance. He could tell the others that Daniel had tripped, he'd tried to catch him but he was just too far away. It was a dammed shame.
Before he had a chance to think about it, Michaels shoved the other man as hard as he could…
To be continued...