Major Samantha Carter checked the load on her P90 before clipping it to the harness on the front of her flak jacket. Glancing up she grinned at Jonas as he entered the gate room. "You ready?"

The Kelownan nodded with a smile, settling his flak jacket with its attached backpack a little more firmly on his shoulders. It was their first mission since Jonas had been hospitalized with anaphylactic shock more than two weeks earlier. Despite the best efforts of SG1 and others on the base, the person or persons responsible for the attack had still not been found.

Jonas had lobbied hard to be allowed to go back to active mission status when Dr. Frasier had given him a clean bill of health, and privately Sam agreed that the Kelownan was probably safer off world with SG1. She had backed him up with the colonel and with General Hammond too.

The truth of the matter was they really couldn't afford to sideline a resource as valuable as Jonas. His quick intelligence, and his rapidly growing ability to translate on the fly was almost on a par with Daniel's, and on a planet like P9Z-994, that might mean the difference between success and failure.

The MALP images of the planet had shown an abundance of Goa'uld architecture in a fairly good state of repair, indicating the place had not been abandoned long. One of the altars near the gate had revealed what appeared to be dried up offerings of flowers and fruits, implying an indigenous population.

Col. O'Neill had initially been in favor of leaving Jonas behind on the pretext that until they had spoken to the natives, they had no idea how dangerous the planet would be. Jonas had argued persuasively that while he was not an actual linguist, he had an ear for language, and if the natives did not speak English, he had a better chance of communicating than any of the rest of the team.

Sam thought Jonas was taking the wrong tack with the colonel, knowing the implication that he, as a relative newcomer, would know more than Earth's premier first contact team would irritate the older man. Before she could intervene though, General Hammond had ended the discussion saying curtly, "Colonel, this mission requires an archeologist or linguist. If you don't feel Mr. Quinn is up to the task, I will assign someone else."

Recognizing the reprimand in the general's comment, O'Neill had backed down. Sam noticed that Jonas was wisely steering clear of the colonel, lining up with both herself and Teal'c between the Kelownan and the grimly silent commander.

The seventh chevron locked on the stargate, and the ancient rings filled with a violent explosion of brilliant matter before settling down to a fluctuating pool of cool blue energy. At Colonel O'Neill's silent signal, the four teammates ventured forth through the wormhole.

As they exited through the other side, the four fell into a defensive position. Sam sensed rather than saw Jonas at her side spinning to cover the team's six. She felt a sense of satisfaction that the Kelownan was able to hold his own.

"All right kids. Let's move out. Teal'c take point. Carter you've got our six. Jonas… just… keep up." O'Neill added as an afterthought.

The team spread out, heading for a large temple structure some two miles distant. Sam waited until her teammates were a good fifty yards ahead before starting out, all senses alert. The caution proved unnecessary as they covered the distance without trouble. If there were people on this planet, they seemed to be nowhere in the immediate vicinity.

At the temple steps, Sam became aware of just how silent things were when Jonas' exclamation of awe echoed loudly off the buildings. "Wow! This is fabulous!"

The Kelownan had already pulled his digital camera from his pack, and started meticulously recording the symbols on one of a pair of large colorfully decorated pillars flanking the temple steps. Sam grinned over at Col. O'Neill who watched the younger man with a bemused expression.

Catching Sam's look, he rolled his eyes heavenward, shaking his head. "All right, Carter, you're with me. We'll set a perimeter watch. Teal'c, keep an eye on wonder boy. Keep him out of trouble."

Sam threw a glance at Jonas to see what he made of the Colonel's crack, but if the Kelownan had heard, he was hiding his reaction, continuing on with his filming. Shaking her head, she followed her commander.

The two Air Force officers cautiously made their way around the block long building. As far as Sam could tell, the area was deserted. Still, as they came to the corner of the structure, O'Neill held up a hand, motioning her to silence. She waited on guard as the older man took a cautious peek around the corner, then a longer look.

Sam frowned as O'Neill's shoulders slumped, and a little groan escaped his lips. She asked quietly, "What is it, sir? What's wrong?"

O'Neill threw her a look of disgust before stepping out. "We were at the back door."

Sam followed her commander's footsteps and came around the corner, gasping at what she saw. "Holy Hannah!"

There was an entire processional of tall pillars leading down from the massive steps of the building to what looked like an alter several hundred yards away. There had to be two hundred of the colorfully marked pillars flanking the wide mall-like corridor, each decorated from top to bottom with the same writing as the two at the back that had Jonas so captivated.

"Okay, so, here's what we're going to do. We're going to go back there and tell him there's absolutely nothing over here," Jack said in his best authoritative voice.

Sam grinned, shaking her head. "Sir, we can't do that."

"Sure we can, Carter. He's got two of those damn things to play with. He sees the rest of this and it might do him a harm."

"A harm, sir?"

"Yes, Carter, a harm." O'Neill replied firmly. "We're only going to be here for a few hours. If Jonas sees all of this, he'll hurt himself trying to get it all on tape."

Sam just stared at her commander, her skepticism plain on her face. O'Neill ignored her for as long as he could before sighing, "Aw, dammit."

Smiling, Sam clicked on her radio. "Jonas, Teal'c…"

"Sam! These pillars are amazing! It tells the story of a meeting between the Goa'uld Tatenen and…

"Jonas, wait. I think you need to come here."

"What? No, Sam, these pillars are important!"

"Trust me on this. You need to come here. Facing the building, go to your left, and bring Teal'c."

"Sam, whatever it is, it can…"

"That's an order, Jonas." O'Neill broke in, a tone of exasperation coloring his voice. "T, drag him if you have to."

Sam couldn't keep the grin off of her face, anticipating Jonas' reaction to the sight of what would be an archeologist's wet dream. The grin faltered for a moment, realizing she wished Daniel was the one rounding the far corner, an indignant look on his face at being herded by Teal'c. But as they approached, and Sam saw Jonas' open curiosity, the smile returned full force.

"Sam? What was it you wanted to… oh." Jonas' reaction was everything Sam could have hoped for. As soon as the Kelownan saw the pillars, he stopped dead in his tracks, a look of pure drop-jawed wonder on his face.

O'Neill let him stand there for a few moments before barking, "Jonas, you have three hours. Carter, you help him out. T, let's go look around. Oh, and Carter, stay out of the temple."

"Yes sir." Sam reached into her pack for her camera as O'Neill and Teal'c headed away, across the front of the temple.

"Sam, three hours isn't going to be enough," Jonas complained quietly as he moved to the closest of the pillars.

"I know, but it will have to do for now. There's a trick to it, Jonas. Don't read, just film. Start at the top, and film it from top to bottom, moving in a clockwise motion. Concentrate on getting clear images, not on what it says."

The Kelownan swallowed hard, nodding. "Okay, that sounds good. You'll take those over there?"

"Sure," Sam responded and headed across the mall to the other side. "Remember, no reading."

When she reached the far side of the mall, Sam set out to record the pillars. As she had instructed Jonas, she pointed the camera at the top, and slowly scrolled down, making sure she was going slow enough to capture the details of the writing. When she finished one swath, she moved to the right before starting again, making sure she overlapped the previous swath slightly.

When Sam was back where she started, she glanced over to see Jonas' progress, and nodded slightly to herself when she saw he was already on his third pillar. She made a point of checking her surroundings, not wanting to become so caught up in the filming that she was caught with her pants down.

Satisfied that there was no threat, Sam turned to the second pillar, and began her slow careful transit. Within the first thirty minutes, she had finished her fifth pillar. She glanced again at her friend across the way, and sighed when she saw he was still on his fourth pillar, and had in fact stopped filming to stare at the writing.

"Jonas!" Sam called sharply. The Kelownan started, then looked over at her. "Film, don't read. You can take all the time you need when we get home."

As if coming out of a trance, Jonas nodded and lifted his camera again. Sam watched him for a few moments then returned to her work.

Throughout the afternoon, Sam worked steadily, but grew increasingly exasperated at her teammate's behavior. She had been thinking of ways to convince O'Neill to stay longer, overnight at least, but Jonas continued to fall further and further behind the pace that she set. By the time she was at her twenty-fifth pillar, Jonas had stopped yet again to stare at the writing on the eighteenth pillar.

When the colonel appeared saying it was time to pack up the picnic, Sam ignored Jonas' pleas to their commander. When he turned to her for support, she just turned away shaking her head.