Foster was the first one to come to the open cells. Daniel reached out his arm and snagged the man's shoulder, dragging him back into the shadows before he went into the middle of the courtyard which half a dozen cells faced. "Eyes ready."

The three of them slid slowly out into the open, each with their weapons trained on the cells. They made it around the courtyard and were perplexed. "Where are the prisoners?"

Daniel bit his lip and looked back at the false door they had entered by. "I don't know." There were two other corridors filtering off the main room, and Daniel was sure they each brought them to more cells.

"I'm still seeing the life signs as near us," Blanc said. Daniel had almost forgot the device in his sudden sinking thoughts.

"Ok, so we go down one and see if the life signs are still near us. And if we don't find Doctor Carter, we will just go back and try the other one." He suggested they take a few minutes to recoup; they took out their canteens and power bars for a small meal break.

Finally, they began trekking down one of the corridors, lighting the small wall torch lamps as they went by. Not only did this cast light around them, it also was a breadcrumb trail of sorts; it brought comfort to Daniel. As they continued to walk deeper down the darkness, they came across stairs downward, and had to be careful as walked down, the sound of dripping water was heard and was covering the stone walkway, making parts of it slippery.

Blanc was the first to reach he bottom of the stairs. He turned back toward Daniel and smiled. "We found them, Doctor."

Daniel breathed a sigh as he took in the four caged fronts of four prisons. There were only two prisoners in each, easy to see into them. Daniel peered into the darkness of one cell and could make out the shadow of a pair of boots. Switching on his light he carefully aimed it at the shadows.

"Sam," he breathed as the light found its target and revealed the military issue black combat boots which every team of soldier wore. Tentatively he moved the light around the cell, until he found a cot, laying on its side. Squinting, he tried to make out if anything – anyone – was behind the cot.

"Foster, can you come here with the key?" Daniel said, still trying to peer into the shadows. On many rescue missions they had discovered a skeleton key of sorts, which opened any of the Ori cells. It had saved time and many prisoners when they needed to get back to the 'gate quickly.

Foster fit the key into the antique padlock, so rusted Daniel was sure one well-placed kick would have dislodged it. Of course, if this was really Sam's cell, wouldn't she have tried that? The lock clicked and slid off, letting Daniel and Foster enter the dark cell. Blanc stood outside, gun trained on the other cells.

The flashlights lit the cell up like a well-placed lamp. The boots were military issue, and as Daniel stooped down to look at them, he heard a noise behind him. Looking up at Foster, he slowly shifted his weight so he could turn around.

The blue eyes shone even against the dirt-streaked face. Hair and clothes was also dirty and disheveled, if Daniel didn't know that there wasn't another person in the cell, he would have thought she was a victim of a prison attack.

"Sam?" he croaked. Slowly rising he held out his hands and took a small step. He didn't know what the Ori had done to her. Other rescued prisoners and soldiers often told of how they were treated in the hopes they converted, but wouldn't go into details. The last thing he wanted was to break her fragile state.

"Daniel?" she answered licking her lips several times.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Daniel handed her his canteen of water, and watched with a pained expression as she sucked down the liquid. "I have an energy bar, if you want that." He offered her one, and she tore the wrapping off, shoving part of it into her mouth as she tried to slow her chewing. Daniel felt tears well up as he watched her shaking fingers break off another piece of the bar.

"Thank you," she said, looking at Daniel. Crossing the small void between the two friends, Sam clung to Daniel and whispered "thank you" over and over as she threaded her fingers into his shortened hair.