Daniel sat Sha're down on the bed and knelt in front of her, close enough so that he could make out the features on her face. He tried to decide what he was going to do with her now. O'Neill and his men were certainly going to have a field day with this.

He looked up at her. She was so young, probably only about sixteen or so. If this culture was like most primitive Earth cultures, then she should have been married with a couple of kids by now. Women aged so quickly when they faced a lifetime of hard labor and harsh conditions. Those elders who had washed him were probably only in their forties and fifties.

His biology began rearing its head again and he knew he needed to do something to divert himself. Work. Work always succeeded in taking his mind off sex.

He pointed to himself. "Daniel."

She looked back blankly and pointed to herself. "Dan'yel?"

"No. Uh, I'm….Daniel." He pointed to himself with both forefingers. "I'm Daniel."

Her face lit up with understanding and she pointed to herself. "Sha're."

"Sha're." He thought that was a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.

Woman! She's a teenager. Jail bate back home! What the hell are you using for brains?

You don't want to know.

He pointed to his dog. "Maggie. She helps me see what I can't, but then you have no idea what I'm saying." He grinned stupidly at her.

Maggie lifted up her head when she heard her name. How'd she get into this strange conversation?

Sha're smiled gently and pointed to the dog. "Ma'gee?"

Daniel's heart melted and his head began to swim.

It's just the lack of blood supply as it heads south.

You're probably right, but I don't care.

Maggie stood and looked to Daniel for instructions. "Maggie, come." She padded over through the soft sand and sat between the two people, looking straight at Daniel, then at Sha're. He's mine, lady, back off.

Daniel took Sha're's hand and held it out for Maggie to sniff. Maggie sniffed her and decided that she smelled all right. She wasn't Daniel, but she wasn't offensive.

Sha're tentatively reached out and touched Maggie on the head. Maggie swung her head around to face Sha're. Sha're pulled her hand back and smiled softly at Daniel.

His guts twisted and flipped. Oh, god, I'm so in deep shit here. I haven't felt like this since my first kiss with Amy.

Maggie looked between the two people and sensed that something strange was going on. She decided it would be wise of her to pretend to accept this new person so that she could keep a close eye on her. She lolled her tongue sideways out of her mouth, grinned up at the stranger and placed her paw on Sha're's leg in welcome.

Daniel smiled, relieved that Maggie had accepted Sha're so easily.

Sha're glanced back at Daniel uncertainly. Daniel reached over and scratched Maggie behind the ear, like she loved. Sha're took the hint and repeated the movement. Maggie decided this wasn't too bad. She was getting attention from two people. This might work.

The two people sat and grinned mindlessly at each other while the dog enjoyed the benefits of their idiocy. Daniel finally sent Maggie over to the corner to sleep as he decided to see if Sha're knew any other symbols. He had to get his mind back to work. O'Neill and his men depended upon him.

He struggled to figure out how to tell her that he came through the Stargate, stuttered haltingly, until he finally decided to draw the scene in the sand. He drew a pyramid and pantomimed walking from the pyramid.

Sha're was shocked. Her eyes darted throughout the room; anywhere but on the forbidden writing this strange, gentle man was making on the floor.

He finally looked back up and remembered that she was forbidden to look at the writing. "It's… it's okay. Never mind." He stood and walked back to the doorway, wondering how long he had to keep her in here to satisfy Kasuf.

As he turned away from her, Sha're reached down and patted away the markings Daniel had made showing the trail from the pyramid. She hesitantly added a line to each side of the triangle and a circle over the top. Suddenly, she wanted to please this man more than she feared the taboos of her tribe.

Daniel turned around to see her shape bent over his drawing. He moved closer and saw that she had drawn the symbol for Earth in the sand.

"Earth? You…you know the symbol for Earth? You've seen the symbol?" For the first time since he exited the Stargate, Daniel was hopeful that he'd be able to get the men back.

She seemed to understand what he was saying and nodded hesitantly.

Excitedly Daniel reached for her hand, "Show me. Maggie, come." Turning back to Sha're he repeated, "You show me," and he led her through the doorway.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sha're led Daniel through the winding alleys to a dead-end, grabbing a lit torch on their way. She smiled shyly at him and knelt down to begin brushing the pile of sand away from a rock. When she was satisfied, she took Daniel's hand, placed it on the rock and the two of them began removing the rubble that blocked the way into a dark tunnel.

"What is this place?" Daniel asked uselessly as he followed her through the opening. They stood up and she gestured to a rock where Daniel made out a black, painted Earth symbol. Amazed, he pushed his face as close to the dimly lit rocks as he could get. Beside him, Maggie whined her protest. She wasn't happy in this stuffy enclosure. She felt trapped.

Daniel began orally translating the hieroglyphics, muttering under his breath. These were familiar to him. "I'll be damned," was the only thing his brain could process in English.

Sha're watching this strange man as he produced a language from the written symbols. When she heard him say, "Ta pa re ef," she recognized the similarity to a word she knew.

"Tapa re'ef?" she repeated.

Stunned, Daniel turned back to her. "Ta pa re ef?"

She nodded and corrected his pronunciation. "Tapa re'ef."

Daniel could have hugged her with excitement. The written language was the same, but the pronunciation had changed over the centuries. He began pointing to different symbols, saying a word and waited for Sha're to correct his accent. They spent the next few hours reading the ancient writings and carvings on the walls. They told the history of the planet, Abydos.

"Thought you couldn't speak their language." O'Neill appeared around one of the walls with Skaara trailing behind.

Daniel jumped up in surprise. "Uh, you surprised me! It's an ancient Egyptian dialect. I mean, like the rest of their culture it's evolved completely independently. Once you know the vowels…"

"Just answer the question." Damned academics always give you more information than you need, except what you asked for in the first place.

"Ah, well, I mean… I just had to learn how to pronounce it. It hasn't been a living, spoken language in more that one thousand years."

Daniel then took O'Neill around and told him the history of Abydos as told through the hieroglyphs and pictures. An alien traveler searched the stars looking for a way to extend his life and came upon Earth. The human body was perfect for him to inhabit and he took a young man as host. He began taking the humans through the Stargate to use as workers for the mines where the mineral that ran his technology was found. A rebellion happened on Earth and fearful of another on Abydos, he forbade writing.

Kawalsky peered around a corned and called, "Jackson. I think you'd better take a look at this."

The soldier led the small group around a few corners and shone his torch on a half-hidden carving. Daniel walked over to it and began cleaning off the sand that covered the carvings.

"That's it. It's what we're looking for." He continued to clean it off, feeling the carvings with his fingers. "They must have hidden it here in hopes that one day the gate to Earth could be reopened. I knew that they'd have it written down someplace."

As he continued cleaning it off, he realized that the bottom was broken off. "Wait a minute. Where's the seventh symbol? It must have broken. It's got to be here somewhere."

Daniel knelt down and began digging with his hands through the sand. He found two chunks of rock and cleaned them off, seeking the last key to their trip home. They were blank.

Turning back to the group he told them, "It's worn off. I can't make it work without the seventh symbol."

O'Neill turned and stalked past the group. "All right, that's it. Kawalsky. Brown."

XXXXXXXXXX

The four men left the city as the dawn broke over the desert, quiet after the winds. Daniel turned back to see Sha're's blurred image at the wooden gate and he followed O'Neill back toward the Stargate.

Maggie padded along-side of her master, wondering why the new person Daniel had seemed to like so well wasn't going with them.