Daniel turned to Dr. Shore next to him. "This figure ten thousand is ludicrous. I mean, Egyptian culture didn't even exist…"
"I know," Dr. Shore cut him off. "But the sonic and radio carbon tests are conclusive."
"Well, these are cover stones. Was there a tomb underneath?" Daniel's curiosity bubbled up and overflowed. He had to work on this project. It could solve the problem of where Egyptian culture developed that he'd been working on for years.
"No. No, no, no. But we found something a lot more interesting."
"Excuse me." Colonel O'Neill broke into their conversation. "This material has become classified." He turned back to the officer who had conducted Daniel through the former military complex. "From now on, no information is to be passed on to non-military personnel without my express permission." And with that, he turned and marched out of the room.
Catherine followed him down the hallway and stopped him. She asked why he was on the project.
"I'm here in case you succeed." He walked away again.
TWO WEEKS LATER
Daniel stood in front of his desk - littered with empty snack bags, reference books and an empty coffee cup – listening to a tape of notes he had made. Sighing in frustration, he picked up the coffee cup and made his way over to the coffee machine. As soon as he picked up the pot, he knew it was empty. Sighing deeply once again, he set his cup down and picked up the pot. There was a water fountain just outside the room.
"Come, Maggie. Let's go get some coffee and see if we can stay awake long enough to solve this."
He could see shape of the guard who sat reading a newspaper with his feet up on his desk. Daniel dug his ID from his hoodie pocket and waved it in the guard's direction as he continued toward the water fountain.
He had forgotten that he still had his binoculars fastened on his face as he turned toward the guard. Even from that distance, he could just make out a shape on the front page of the paper that reminded him of the shape of one of the unknown symbols on the cover stone.
Leaving the coffee pot on the water fountain, he went over and examined the paper. My god, that's it! He snatched the paper from the guard and dashed back through the double doors, leaving Maggie to run after him.
The next day, he found himself leading a meeting with General West and a dozen other military and scientific people. He led them through his thought process and explained how the symbols on the outside track of the cover stone were constellations, not words. He finished by drawing the seventh symbol on the whiteboard and stepping back, laughing nervously.
Catherine sat, fingers tented in front of her face, "He did it."
"No!" Dr. Meyers pointed to the whiteboard, "That symbol isn't anywhere on the device."
"Wha...What device?" Daniel's head swiveled between Dr. Meyers and Catherine.
Silence. General West looked at Colonel O'Neill, who gestured, "It's up to you."
"Show him."
Catherine and Dr. Shore grinned with satisfaction. They were confident that Daniel would be able to finish solving this mystery.
Someone pushed a button on the wall and the whiteboard next to Daniel slid up into the ceiling, revealing an enormous room below. Daniel pushed his glasses up and fixed his binoculars over his eyes and saw a huge metal ring, about twenty feet in diameter.
"What is it?"
Catherine stepped up next to him, "It's your Stargate."
The next few minutes were filled with confusing activity. Daniel followed Catherine into some kind of control room filled with computers and monitors. He watched in wonder as the Stargate's inner track began revolving and symbols flashed up on monitors. He happened to glance down at one monitor as an upside-down V passed by.
"Hold it!" He snatched a marker up and began transposing the symbol from the bottom of the cartouche over the symbol on the monitor screen.
Catherine picked up a phone and called General West, who gave them permission to go ahead.
Daniel stood in the center of the activity, trying to grasp what was going on around him. Some people were dashing from station to station, while others gazed through the window at the Stargate. The 'gate's inner ring rotated as technicians controlled it from computers. Daniel grasped tighter onto Maggie's harness as he felt her dancing from nervousness.
When one technician announced that chevron six was locked in place, Catherine leaned closer to Daniel. "This is as far as we have ever been able to get."
The room shook, coffee cups danced across desks and people stared in awe when the seventh symbol engaged and a whirlpool of energy shot from the gate into the room. Daniel could see the light the pool generated as it settled back into the confine of the Stargate. Even he could make out the ripples as they flowed within the gigantic circle.
Armed men dashed into the room and pointed weapons at the Stargate. A large robot - Daniel heard it being called a probe - made its way up a ramp and slowly vanished behind into the pool of energy.
"The beam's locked itself on a point somewhere in the Kaliem Galaxy." Dr. Shore announced unbelievingly.
Catherine took Daniel over to the glass map and pointed out Earth, a blue flashing point of light, and he watched as a black, hollow disk floated across the map and stopped along the far edge.
"That's right, Jackson. It's on the other side of the known universe."
The event horizon in the Stargate suddenly blinked and vanished, cutting off the probe.
Some time later, General West was in the control room, discussing what was found with some of the other officers. As a video feed from the probe was played, Daniel noticed that the symbols on the other Stargate were different. West concluded that they'd have to abort any plans of a mission through the Stargate since they had no way of deciphering the symbols and finding a way home.
"Well, I could do that." Daniel wanted this more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life. A chance to see another world! Possibly to meet and learn about an alien culture. He had to go!
West glared at him for a moment. "Are you sure?"
Daniel hesitated and looked back at the monitor displaying the alien 'gate's symbols. He knew if he couldn't come up with a new address to get them home, he and the men on the team could be stranded forever. He was certain there'd be another cartouche near the 'gate with the coordinates to Earth. This could prove his theory that Egyptian culture had sprung up fully formed.
"Positive."
Colonel O'Neill turned away from Daniel and walked past General West. "He's full of shit. Blind as a bat. How's he going to help?"
West seemed to consider O'Neill's remarks for a moment. "You're on the team." Jackson was the man who finally deciphered the code, even if he was legally blind.
O'Neill stalked off in disgust.
XXXXXXXXXX
Daniel was tossing reference books into his suitcase when someone came up behind him. Judging by the welcoming thump of Maggie's tail, he knew it was someone the dog liked.
"Jackson." Catherine smiled down at the guide dog.
"Hello. Hi." Daniel smiled at her. Catherine and Dr. Shore had been the only two people who made him feel as though he were welcomed on base. None of the military had any use for him and Dr. Meyers clearly resented him for correcting his translation of the cover stone.
"I have something for you."
"No. I…" He waved her hand away.
She grasped his hand, "Yes. I found it with Stargate when I was a child. It has brought me luck." Prying his hand open, she dropped a golden disk into it.
Daniel fingered the disk. The Eye of Ra was engraved on it.
"You can bring it back to me."
Daniel realized that she was giving him her blessing. She trusted that he would be able to bring the team back from the other side.
He looked back up at her and nodded solemnly and slipped the necklace over his head, tucking it beneath his shirt.
Before he knew what had happened, he found himself following a group of military men up a ramp toward the open Stargate. A bit bewildered, he grasped Maggie's harness and motioned for her to go forward. Hope I packed enough dog food.
He stopped at the event horizon and touched the flickering waves of light. It wasn't wet. He'd known it wasn't water, but it looked and acted so much like it that it was still a surprise when it didn't feel like water. He touched it again, pushing his hand through to the wrist. Tingles ran up his arm and down through his spine. Not an unpleasant feeling, just different. Closing his eyes, he gave Maggie the forward command and let her lead him through the 'gate.
The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, Maggie whimpering and nosing him in concern, and Colonel O'Neill was hovering over him.
"Jackson! It's all right. It's over." He turned to one of the soldiers, "Stay with him."
Daniel pulled Maggie close to him, running his hands over her body to be sure she was okay. She shivered, but licked his face in assurance. He struggled to his feet, freezing and slightly sick to his stomach. Glad I don't have to do that every day for a living.
The event horizon shut down, leaving them in the dark. Daniel dug into his pocket and found his binoculars. Slipping them over his eyes, he tried to examine the stone walls surrounding them by the light of the flares the others had lit.
O'Neill wasn't letting him have any time to look around for a cartouche containing the symbols to go home. He groaned in frustration. The chance of a lifetime and he had to be here with some gung-ho military type who's only goal was to move forward.
The team made their way through the stone passage toward a light at the end. Daniel found himself in a large room, lit by sunlight pouring in windows cut in the stone. Square pillars created aisles and held up the roof. Daniel recognized the basic construction as Egyptian, but also noted some differences. He ran a hand over one of the pillars. Not Egyptian limestone. He wasn't aware of any square pillars in Egyptian architecture. They were always round, based on the shape of plant stalks. Fascinating.
Daniel could spend weeks in this one room, but he knew his job was to look for carvings. He saw none at first glance, but he knew he needed to get closer to the walls to be sure.
O'Neill continued to lead the men toward the door. Daniel replaced the binoculars with sunglasses as they moved quickly through the doorway. Maggie stayed close to Daniel, unsure about the quick movements of the strangely dressed men surrounding her master.
Daniel tried to see as much as he could while following O'Neill down the ramp leading to…to nothing that Daniel could see. He could hear the sand on the ramp as his booted foot ground the sand into the rock. He knew that within a few hours he'd have sand in every crack and crevice of his body. He was pretty sure that's why desert people always seem to wear robes and not pants. Less material in direct contact with your body to grind the sand into delicate places. Robes also allowed the air to circulate and help keep your body cooler.
He followed the colonel up a sand dune and turned around to see the shape of a pyramid silhouetted against the sky. He heard O'Neill mutter something about three moons, but he couldn't see those.
XXXXXXXXXX
Daniel and Maggie continued to search the temple building for writing, but found nothing. No carvings. No paintings. O'Neill was not going to be happy.
"Jackson! Start working on the Stargate."
"I…I'm going to need more time. I mean, there's bound to be more structures here or some other traces of civilization." Daniel knew that pyramids were never built in isolation. There were always temple complexes attached and they were cities fairly near, so that people could continue to serve the pharaoh buried within.
"Not this trip. Just get back in there and reestablish contact."
"It's not that easy. This is a replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza. We're not going to find any hieroglyphic inscriptions or carved relief. I mean, we've…we really need to look around." Daniel shrugged and waited for O'Neill's angry outburst.
"Your job here is to realign the Stargate. Can you do that or not?"
Daniel hesitated a few moments, knowing he was letting everyone down. "I can't."
O'Neill closed the distance between them. "You can't or you won't?"
"I can decipher the symbols on the Stargate, but I need an order of alignment. Now those coordinates were marked on tablets back on Earth. There must be something like that here. And I just…I need to find it."
O'Neill shifted and Maggie watched him carefully, sensing his growing threat to her master. The colonel smirked and walked past him in disgust. Jackson had just signed all their death warrents.
Kawalsky walked up to Daniel. "Find it? What do you mean, find it? You didn't say anything about finding anything."
"Well, I assumed the tablets would be here. I mean, right here."
O'Neill turned back to face Daniel. "You assumed?"
Kawalsky began yelling in Daniel's face, "You're a lying son of a bitch!" He shoved Daniel, knocking him to the ground. "You didn't say a word about finding anything."
Maggie stood up and faced the soldier. She lowered her head and pulled back her lips, showing her teeth. She took a couple of stiff-legged steps toward the man who had harmed her master. "Maggie! Come." Daniel commanded her and kept her from moving any closer to the angry officer.
O'Neill moved between Daniel and Kawalsky as the soldier moved to continue his attack on the blind man. "Kawalsky. Set up a camp down here. Organize our supplies."
"Sir?"
"You've got your orders."