“So, Carter. What the hell are those things?”

“I need more than ten seconds, sir.”

Jack turned his face innocently to his lead scientist. “Why?”

Sam smiled, moving ahead with her sensors. Those little triangular objects - mini mini pyramids, about two and a half feet high - were jutting out of the soil all around them. The MALP had shown as much, but could not shed any more light than Carter's instruments had in the ten - now forty - seconds since their arrival.

“Daniel? What about you?”

“What about me, Jack? I've been here as long as Sam.”

“Right. Put that together and it's twice as long as me.”

Shaking that confusion from his head, Daniel continued studying the objects. The entire dry field was covered with them, almost as far as the eye could see and fading into the distance, placed exactly two and a half feet apart. It looked almost as though they had been planted in perfect rows, a bountiful crop of glossy pyramidlets. Were they, perhaps, protective coverings for a food crop?

“Well, they all contain naquadah, sir.” Of that, Carter was certain. Naquadah, and something else, something she didn't recognize. “And they're giving off an intense electromagnetic energy.”

“Are we safe?”

“As far as I can tell, Colonel, yes.” The readings were noticeable, but there was something else, something she had no way to determine, to calculate. Something Earth equipment was not able to identify.

“Then why the hell do I feel like my lungs exploded about forty seconds after we got here?” And that was about ninety seconds ago.

Sam thought it had just been her. “Really, sir? I - ”

“I feel like that too.” Daniel looked unwell, holding his chest, nearer his stomach, and grimacing. “It started a few seconds ago.”

“Carter?”

“Yes, sir. I feel like there's an iron weight in my chest.” And it's sinking.

“Teal'c?”

“I am fine, O'Neill.” There was, however, a strange and uncomfortable tingling in his gut where Junior used to be. “I believe.” Jack saw the Jaffa gently place a hand on his belly.

“Crap. Dial us out, Daniel.”

“Jack - ”

“Now.”

As Daniel approached the DHD, the sensations grew worse. Barely able to stand, he reached out to press the first chevron. Nothing happened. He pressed a second; the DHD did not respond, but his legs felt as though gravity had coalesced and attacked from behind.

Dropping to his knees involuntarily, Daniel gasped for breath. Some tight vise was squeezing his lungs, or his heart, or both.

“Daniel!” Sam and Jack made it to his side at the same moment, but found themselves unable to assist. As soon as they reached him, they were hit with the sensation of ultimate, extreme pressure emanating from within.

“O'Neill! Did you see that?”

Jack could barely turn his head, never mind reply.

“O'Neill! Major Carter!” Rushing to the DHD, Teal'c called out, “Behind you, across the field.” He pressed Earth's first chevron once again, while facing the crop behind him.

Not too far in the distance, strategically placed in the middle of … nothing, partway into the field, a doorway shimmered and disappeared. As Teal'c continued to press chevrons that did not respond, his own abdomen beginning to grate and convulse, all eyes were now on the doorway stuck in the middle of nowhere but growing brighter, surrounded by the tiny pyramids.

With seven chevrons pressed but nothing happening to the gate or wormhole, not only was the doorway now remaining visible, but the soil from which the mini pyramids were jutting shone, changing… to tiles showing their glossy bluish purple hue. The same colour now as the mutatimg sky above, its partitions laid out in concentric circular patterns perhaps four stories high.

“Whoa,” Jack panted, not really caring that they were actually indoors. All he wanted at that moment was to breathe normally and halt an impending heart attack.

“We're inside,” Daniel commented unnecessarily. Trying to rise, he was grabbed by Teal'c and helped to stand upright.

“We can't… go…. check it out,” Jack groaned, not only his chest but now his head on fire.

“And we can't go home,” Daniel reminded him, taking a few unsteady steps in the direction of the doorway. He felt the internal pain slightly, slightly ease.

With Teal'c's help, Sam also stood, taking a few paces towards Daniel, who kept on going.

“Daniel!” Jack called as loudly as he could bear.

“Jack! Get away from the DHD. It feels worse there. There might be - ”

“Coming.” Anything, to feel better. Pulling himself up to a crouch, Jack half crawled away from the DHD. Daniel was right; the pain was easing, just a bit. “Wait up.” Looked like they'd be checking out that doorway after all.

The pangs eased minutely as they moved forward, never disappearing completely. As Teal'c and Daniel reached the portal seemingly carved into thin air, Daniel reached out tentatively. His hand disappeared through the opening.

“Hey!” Jack shouted. “How do you know you'll get that back?”

Daniel pulled his hand back from the field of invisibility, looking to make sure it was intact, shaking it to satisfy himself that the feeling was still there. “Because.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“Are we going in, sir?”

“We don't have any idea where that leads, Carter.”

“No sir. But the only way out of here is …” she looked back towards the stargate. “Non-functional.” It still hurt to walk upright, but here she could at least resist the urge to roll up in a ball on the floor and die. Hanging out by the DHD seemed the greater of two possible evils.

“I'll go. If I come out in five minutes, we'll all go.”

“Sir, I don't think that's such - ”

“If I don't come out, when the SGC checks in on us in six hours, tell them to send a naquadah generator and start up the gate manually, then get the hell out of here.”

“Yes sir.”

And leave you stuck in there, wherever there is? “If we can last out here for six hours,” Daniel opposed that unimpressive plan.

“I'll make it an order, Daniel. One you'd better follow.”

“Jack - ”

“I get the last word here.” And Jack stepped through the doorway.

As three team members stared at the gap in space that had gobbled up their leader, crouching to relieve the pain, not a sound was uttered. No one moved, not a breath was audible. For the first time, the absolute stillness in this massive arena became acutely apparent, a detail that should have been obvious when they'd arrived. Not a bird, not the crack of a twig. The air was as still as the triangular lumps themselves. Still as indoors.

Then Jack stepped back out, and sound resumed.

“Thank God. Sir.”

“What's in there, Jack?”

The colonel scrunched up one side of his face. “Stairs. And by the way, I could see all of you.”

“What's at the bottom of the stairs?”

“Doorway. I didn't go through and couldn't see in.” Dumb non-move, now that he thought about it. So he'd proven that one could reverse back through this portal, hopefully not some conduit to an alternate universe, but there could be big ugly bad guys behind door number two. Or big beautiful bad guys, which would be just as bad or maybe worse.

“So we go in?”

“I don't see any other choice, do you Daniel? You could stay out here and wait…but you know, I felt a lot better in there than I do out here.” Even the momentary relief was a pleasure.

Daniel motioned his arm forward. “After you.” While the pains had eased moderately away from the stargate and DHD, they were still in abundance. Any relief would be welcome; whatever lay beyond the stairs could be dealt with later.

In single file, SG-1 plodded through the doorway and down the stairs beyond. They did, indeed, feel the pressure and aches dissipate.

At the bottom of the long flight of crescent-shaped stairs, another doorway appeared, its opaque field or shield blocking the view ahead.

“Same as before, kids. I go, you wait.”

Same as before, SG-1 ceased to move, anxiously awaiting the return of their CO. It took only seconds.

Jack popped halfway out. “All's clear.”

“What's in there, sir?” But O'Neill had already disappeared through for the second time.

Sam's eyes widened as she stepped through the doorway. The single, seamless, circular wall of the large cylindrical room was pitch black, covered with trillions of specks of light. Above, the ceiling was in total darkness, and they could only assume it was there at all. The room itself was lit only by a blueish glowing mist emanating from the floor - a floor filled with even smaller, holographic replicas of the glossy pyramids in the chamber above. Reflected within each of these was a smaller blue sphere. Were the spheres being protected by the pyramids? Sam passed her hand through the nearest one.

“Hey! Don't do that.”

“I feel no ill effects, sir. As a matter of fact, I…”

“Feel fine down here. I know.” Mostly.

“Almost, sir. Better, anyway.”

“Yeah, me too,” Daniel nodded. He was having no trouble standing upright, already studying the dots of light intently as he slowly circled the room.

“No other doorway. Dead end?” Jack couldn't see how anything here could help them get home. His spirits fell.

“I see only one way to leave this room, O'Neill.” The way they'd come in.

“Sir, I'm only reading minimal traces of naquadah in the walls.”

“Meaning?”

“I have no idea. But it's probably why we feel better down here. I'm not getting the same sort of EM readings from these holograms.”

“So nothing to actually help us, then,” the colonel scowled.

“Hang on, Jack. Look.” Daniel was tracing his finger around some specks of light, as Sam sidled up to him.

“What do you have, Daniel?” she queried.

“Planetary formations, Sam. These lights look like they might represent constellations. I think…” He paused, frowning, tracing more of the lights as Jack and the others peered from behind.

“You think…” Jack prodded.

“These groupings are circular. I can make out seven formations in each... this has to be a gate address. These are all gate addresses!” Daniel moved swiftly from one grouping to the next, small circular patterns of light the size of his palm. Each circle of seven lit symbols was spaced six inches from the previous one; each small pattern, a gate address, tens of thousands of them embedded into the cylindrical wall of this room. “I don't recall ever seeing this one. Or this one. I don't recognize any of them so far. I can't even identify these contstellations.”

“Meaning what? Whoever built this place was indexing all the planets? Making up new ones? What?”

Daniel shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“But they must have something to do with these, Daniel.” Sam was walking among the holograms, not knowing what to look for, but knowing there was something there she had to find.

Out of the corner of his eye, Teal'c saw movement. He turned abruptly. “Do that again, Major Carter.”

“Do what, Teal'c?” Sam stopped her meandering, gazing instead at her teammate.

“Whatever you just did. Repeat your action.”

“I was just wandering around.” Sam backed up to where she'd been just a moment before, passing through the holographic pyramid behind her.

“There!” Teal'c pointed, and both Daniel and Jack turned to look. As Sam stepped forward again, one small patch of light on the wall to their left blinked out, then on again. It was barely noticeable amidst all the other lights. If one wasn't looking directly at the spot, it would have been easy to miss.

Daniel walked through the holographic field, staring intently at the walls, as SG-1 tried to find other groups of light doing the same.

“Hey, over there.” Jack was pointing. “I see it.”

Following the line of vision, Daniel backed up; there, on another spot on the wall, another very tiny patch of light blinked out. It stayed out until Daniel moved away from the hologram with which he had interfered.

“So each of these holograms corresponds to one of the groupings of light,” Sam began.

“And each one represents a gate address. A planet,” Daniel continued excitedly. "So, the spheres inside the pyramids represent planets."

“And this holographic field is a replica of the real one upstairs.”

“Good. So.” Jack queried. “Each of the pyramids up there represents a planet. Why can't we dial out?”

There was no response from his teammates.

_____

It had been over an hour, and Jack was becoming restless, the misty darkness causing his annoyance to escalate. They were still no closer to solving the point of this place, nor to going home. If the SGC called in, they would be out of range. Going back upstairs to wait was out of the question. And so, all was swell and normal in the land of SG-1. “Aren't your eyes hurting?” Daniel and Teal'c had been staring at those pinpricks of light the entire time; Carter had been studying the holograms. One very noticeable happening, though, was the occasional holographic pyramid flickering, for anywhere from ten seconds to ten minutes. Usually two would flicker at a time, sometimes more. Sometimes the wall lights would flicker out right along with them. Were they unstable? Did it make a difference? Was it something SG-1 had done? If all the lights were to go out, would they be left in total darkness? Something else?

“Kind of.”

“Take a break.”

“Then it'll take me even long 487!!! Jack, I know this one!” Daniel's enthusiasm wasn't enough to cause Jack to rise, or even smile.

“Finally. And?”

“And this one! I think I'm in the right galaxy now.” Oddly, this wasn't a map. Nothing seemed to be in the expected place, but Sam would know that better than him.

“These are different galaxies? Why would whoever built this place need to catalogue all the galaxies? I mean, I like to sleep under the stars too, but there's a limit to my mad -”

Both Sam and Daniel, and even Teal'c, hit on the realization at the same time. “That's it, Jack! This place was constructed by the gatebuilders! The Ancients, or, or some even older race. This is a database, Jack!” Daniel swiveled around, more than once, staring at the cylindrical wall around him. All the stargates in the universe, right here at their fingertips. Here for charting. This would take him a month, 24/7.

"It's all been downloaded into our system already, Daniel."

"No, I don't think so. Not if these are the gates for every planet in every galaxy, even those that used to exist and don't any more, or maybe even planets that were meant to have a gate but never did - "

"So, of no use to us."

"Jack, I don't think you had the chance to download everything you wanted to into our computers; they stopped you before you were done."

“Daniel… let me remind you we have no way of getting home.”

“Uh, I think we do.” Daniel seemed to be searching wildly for something familiar. “I have an idea.” He placed his right palm flat on one of the circular groupings - a perfect palm fit - then placed his left on another. “Is anything happening?”

“Such as?”

They peered around the room for almost a minute before Sam spoke. “Daniel, there's a flickering hologram way at the back.”

“There as well.” Teal'c was pointing to another at the opposite end of the room.

Which meant nothing in and of itself; holograms had been flickering for almost two hours.

“Watch them again.” Once more, Daniel pressed his palms flat on the same areas of light.

“Same ones, Daniel. Are you doing that?”

“One more time, Sam.” Again, the two holographic pyramids with their embedded spheres seemed to melt and fade away, then redevelop.

“When you connect one address to the next, it affects the pyramids.” Sam was absorbing Daniel's theory. “Why?”

“Because… it represents one gate connecting with another?”

“A wormhole opening?”

“Maybe.”

“In theory? Or reality?”

“I need more time. Help me find the coordinates to this planet, guys.”

“Daniel, that could take days,” Sam cautioned.

“So we'd better get started. Jack, get up and help.”

“Oy.” Peer at those little dots of light? He'd go nuts. Or blind. Probably both.

_____

They found it, and it only took two more hours, thanks to Sam's calculations based on the probability of this gate being central to the rest. Dead center opposite the doorway, straight ahead, slightly brighter than the others. It did not seem, however, to be activating or affecting any of the pyramids on the floor.

“Take a break, kids.” Jack's eyes were watering from the strain. “We still have three hours down here.”

“In a minute. Teal'c, Jack said he could see through the doorway on this side. Go upstairs and look out at the stargate, and tell me what you see. Please.”

Teal'c nodded his acquiescence, and departed the room.

Daniel placed a palm on the symbols for this planet, and the other on a nearby set. After a few seconds he removed them both, and waited.

Teal'c returned, a satisfied look on his face. “You were correct, Daniel Jackson. The stargate did indeed activate.”

Sam smiled. “Good going, Daniel.”

“Now what?” Jack questioned, perking up. Finally, this was meaning something.

“Now, Jack, we find Earth.”

_____

“So, tell me why those keep flickering? I know you're not doing it,” Jack looked on, puzzled.

“Sir, quite likely those are the gates presently in use.”

“Somewhere?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jack watched for another minute. No wonder it was always happening in doubles; two gates connecting, somewhere in the galaxy. Or universe. Clever kids. “Great. Now take a break, that's an order.”

“Jack, we need to find Earth. We can gate out of here using another address, but if we press the coordinates for a planet we don't know, it's like gating there blind without MALP intel. We need to keep looking.”

“No we don't.”

“What?” Daniel shot Jack a puzzled look, watching the other man casually remove an MRE from his pack. “Why not?”

“Because when the SGC calls in, in oh, two more hours, we watch and see which hologram flickers. Or which light patch goes out.”

Carter and Daniel stared at their CO. “How long have you been planning to say that?”

Jack looked at his watch. “About forty minutes.”

“Sir, that will only work if we're facing the right direction when it happens. This is a pretty big area to cover. Not to mention we'll have to know exactly when the gate upstairs activates." Lights and holograms were flashing out nearly every few minutes, at irregular intervals. If they got distracted with the wrong activation, they'd never notice Earth's.

“Teal'c can watch the gate from the stairs; our radios work that far. Or he can wait up there a bit, let them know what's going on.”

“About that, sir. I don't think Teal'c has much more protection than we do. I think I know why we were getting sick.”

“I'm listening.”

“That's the real thing up there, Colonel. The original, true Stargate database. Only it's not just a database, it's the power system for the whole network of gates. The energy interconnecting it serves the DHDs throughout the universe, which in turn power the individual stargates. We were walking through that, Colonel, like walking through thousands of high voltage power lines. We not only disrupted the energy fields - during which time likely no gates anywhere could work - it was passing through us in megawaves. If we stayed up there any longer, it likely would have killed us. Teal'c isn't immune, it just took longer for the effects to register in his system.”

Silence lingered as her teammates digested her words.

“So we don't have time to manually dial out, do we.”

“I wouldn't take the chance, sir. Our best bet is to open the wormhole from here and make a run for it.”

“Hazmat?”

“No, sir. If it doesn't work we'd be in trouble. We're talking about enough energy to power a galaxy... or three... of stargates.”

Jack slumped back down against the wall, MRE in hand. Great. “So. We have only one chance to notice which lights are flickering.”

“Or keep looking now, Jack.” Daniel hadn't taken Jack up on his orders to sit and eat. There'd been a reason for that.

Sam kept her final thoughts to herself. With one of them having to keep a palm, or palms, on the gate addresses, only three of them would be able to leave this place. And unless this planet's address was in more than one location, Earth's would be too far for one person to reach the two simultaneously. And that meant only two of them would be able to leave. Right now, she'd keep quiet and allow her CO to finish his meal peacefully. She was pretty sure Daniel had already realized their predicament. She moved to the other side of the wall and continued to help him in the search.

_____

Jack had, however, already figured that out as well.

When the gate activated, Teal'c was at the top of the stairs waiting, and he made the long arduous dash to the stargate. “General Hammond,” he panted, speaking into the MALP receiver, already feeling the ill effects of being in such a strong naquadah-enhanced EM environment. Perhaps his symbiote would once have aided him; tretonin, however, worked to keep him healthy but not so immune. “We are unable to use the DHD. We are, however, in the midst of finding a way to power the stargate using another means. SG-1 has discovered a database we believe may have been constructed by the Ancients.”

“Teal'c, this isn't like the one Colonel O'Neill stuck his head into, is it?”

Teal'c leaned on the MALP for support, his face pale. “It is not, General Hammond.”

The communication was distorted, with far too much interference. “Teal'c, are you alright? Where are the others?”

“I am…” not well. His insides were pierced by agony. “I am not feeling too well. Major Carter claims the electromagnetic waves are causing physical disturbances. I must go back immediately.”

“Teal'c - ”

“Do not send backup, General Hammond, but please activate the stargate two or three more times, as soon as possible.” Teal'c turned and ran, hoping he could make it back to the doorway, thankfully still lit up from the gate activation.

“Teal'c!”

But Teal'c was already nearly tumbling down the stairs.

_____

Jack's head shot up in concern as Teal'c barged into the chamber. “Teal'c? You okay?”

Teal'c leaned against the wall, eyes closed, chest heaving. “I am beginning to feel much better, O'Neill.” Then he remembered something important. “Continue to watch the walls. The SGC will activate the stargate within a few minutes.”

They waited, and watched.

"Got nothing."

"I requested that General Hammond engage the stargate two or three more times."

"Okay, Daniel, Carter, cover twenty degrees clockwise this time. Teal'c, go back to the stairs and let us know when the gate activates."

Teal'c did as ordered; three minutes later their radios buzzed to life.  "Now, O'Neill."

"Nothing's happening," Daniel complained.

“There!”

“Got it!” Both Jack and Carter noticed at the same time. Jack dashed over and slapped his hand down on the spot where Earth's coordinates had just gone out. They remained off for about two minutes, as Sam taped a piece of masking tape to the spot and drew an arrow. Yes, the chevrons matched those of Earth... and the grouping was at least eight meters from that of this planet.

"Found the pyramid." Daniel was now standing beside the one holgram that had continued to flicker the entire time.

_____

“No argument, Carter. You have to go back and figure out a way to get us out of here.” Daniel's palm on this planet's lights, and Jack's palm on those for Earth, had opened the stargate. One hand on the lights for this planet, however, and someone standing in the pyramid representing Earth, had not. Aside from being markers, if the holograms themselves had any use, it was still a mystery. They definitely could not be utilized to activate the gate.

Ultimately, Sam knew the colonel was right. She had to come up with something that could press on the lights. Something with a timer. Something adjustable in height, with a retracting arm, something they could leave behind with no breach of security. Something that would not hinder or prevent their own use of the stargate. Two such contraptions; one for each set of symbols. At present, though, she had no idea what that would be. “Yes sir. But it might take a few days.”

“Oy.” Days here. “Just work fast.”

“I will, sir.”

“Daniel, go with her.”

“No.”

“No? What no?”

“I have to stay here and try to find some other planet we've been to. If I can find familiar coordinates in close enough proximity to this address, then I'll hold them both open and you can gate there and from there, home.”

“No.”

“We'll discuss this later, Jack. I'm staying. Anyway, if we're here more than a couple of days, Teal'c might have to come through to bring us supplies. He's got a few minutes on us.”

Grudgingly, Jack had to concede that Daniel knew more gate addresses than any of them. “Fine. Teal'c, go with Carter. Tell them what's happening and help her figure something out.”

Teal'c bowed his head. “It will not take days, O'Neill.”

Jack grunted. “Thanks.”

“Sir…”

“Off with you, now. Go. Quicker you get out of here, the sooner Daniel and I can go home.”

“Yes sir.”

With Daniel's palm on the circle of symbols for this planet, and Jack's on that of Earth, Sam and Teal'c dashed up the stairs.

The two men held their positions for as long as they deemed necessary… nearly ten minutes, even though they assumed their teammates were already long gone. Hoped they were, for ten minutes up there was eight too long.

“I'll go up and have a look,” Daniel offered. “Just to make sure they're okay.”

“I'll go. You stay and do whatever it is you stayed to do.”

Was that Daniel's imagination, or did Jack sound irritated with him?

_____

Jack stood watching from the doorway for a few moments before speaking. "All's well."

"That's good," Daniel mumbled, his face mere inches from the wall, studying the patterns closely.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing, unless you can recognize any of these coordinates." Without changing the direction of his scrutiny, Daniel motioned towards the wall.

"So I guess I do nothing." Only silence responded, as Daniel ignored the distraction. "I'll watch your back."

"Mmm hmmm."

"Never know what might come charging through here."

"Nope."

"Or when a holographic pyramid might try to jump you."

"Bored, Jack?" Daniel finally turned around, smirking.

"Nah. I love doing nothing in nearly pitch black rooms. Very kelno'reem'ish."

"Teal'c uses candles."

"We've got spots of light."

"Which I have to get back to." Daniel turned back to the wall.

"Yup, right. I'll just sit here and wait."

_____


“Jack, you can leave now.” Daniel still faced the wall, stretching to look up, as his voice jerked Jack from his reveries.

“Come again?”

“I just found Oannes. I can reach both planets' coordinates at the same time. You can gate there, and then home.”

Jack stared at his archeologist as though misunderstanding. “You mean you can go, Daniel.”

“I need to record more of these gate addresses.”

“So record them. Get them on film, that should take a couple of hours. Then leave.”

Daniel was silent, studying one section of wall for a bit too long to be sincere.

“Good, then it's settled.” Without the expected rebuttal, Jack settled himself down, head resting against the wall. The darkness of this room was about as welcome as a night in a haunted house. It was making his eyes burn. All the little pinpoints of light were adding to the psychedelic disco ball effect of his brain-strain. How had the Ancients tolerated this place? Maybe they'd built it, set it on automatic, and then high-tailed it out. If not, they weren't as smart as everyone thought they were.

“No.”

“Huh?” Had he asked a question?

“I'm not leaving you alone here.”

Jack scowled. “Yeah…, figured that was your plan all along. You know, I wouldn't have been alone with Teal'c.”

“And good conversation to pass the time?”

“So, what, you wanted to make sure I had someone to talk to?”

“Something like that.”

Jack couldn't help a small smirk; Daniel wouldn't have noticed in the darkness. But he had to admit, the company was a bit more interesting this way. Although, Daniel had been too preoccupied to say much of anything so far, but at least Jack could get a rise out of him if he tried hard enough. Two, three days in this place with Teal'c? Jack pictured himself sitting there the entire time, mesmerized by billions of pinpoints of light, with Teal'c standing, staring silently at the doorway. Not that Teal'c wasn't a good person to have around in times of stress and conflict, but…

“Besides which, if anyone comes through to bring us supplies, you know it has to be Teal'c.”

If Hammond lets him. “We won't be here that long.”

“Right.”

“Doctor Jackson, that wouldn't be doubt I hear in your voice now, would it? Anyway, you're on your way home.”

"I'm not."

"Daniel, I'll be fine here for a few more hours. Go."

“Jack, Sam has to invent something that will keep these patches pressed, on a timer that will allow us to get back through the gate, but not so long as to keep our gate occupied. I mean, we don't want it to stay open indefinitely. She - "

"It'll shut down after thirty-eight minutes."

"Under most conditions and when dialled with a DHD. If this place is the hub of stargate power, we don't know how long it might take to shut down. That nuclear-powered drone would have kept the Russian gate open for ten years, and there's far more power than that upstairs. So," Daniel breathed in deeply, continuing to emphasize his point, "as I was saying, Sam has to make her invention exactly the right height, or expandable, like a very tall tripod with legs and an arm controlled by remote - ”

“Okay, I get it. Days.” Jack sighed, pushing the thought out of his brain. “Meaning, I'm not leaving you here, either. Daniel, why did they bother putting a DHD up there, if the controls are down here? In a place that makes people sick?"

“I've been thinking about that. Sam said everything here is wired up to that DHD, that it acts as the main power source to everything we see here, functioning as the central conduit. So when we cut off the current by walking right in front of it, it made us sick. Maybe the Ancients weren't affected by it the way we are. Maybe they could even bypass the energy field somehow - ”

“But if the DHD won't work, how did they come and go? Or did they all just go?” Jack waved his hand in front of him, towards the ceiling.

“I'm just guessing, Jack, but I'd imagine in a place of such importance they'd have at least one person monitoring." 

“Boring job to do alone.”

“So maybe two.”

“Or maybe it was set up to need no caretaking at all. How would the last person have left?”

“They were Ancient, Jack. Or... some race as advanced. Maybe they just floated over the EM fields. Maybe they ascended.”

Jack looked around. “There'd be clothes.”

Daniel shrugged. “Unless they were like the Asgard and didn't wear any.” Which might explain why they sent him back to Earth the way they did.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded, “you're right; can't really see me and Teal'c having this conversation. Hey. You okay?” Daniel had been rubbing his eyes, and now his forehead.

“Getting a headache.”

“Take a break, Daniel. Those lights are enough to give me a headache just watching you.”

This time, Daniel acquiesced. He sat down by Jack, and rummaged through his pack for something to eat. His eyes were seeing little red spots, millions of them, a slight afterimage discomfort. Again he rubbed his eyes, but the red spots just kept bouncing around.

_____

God, this was boring, and they hadn't even been alone here four hours yet. Jack had played pacing games in and out of the holograms - until Daniel had told him to stop possibly interfering with someone else's gate operation; had tried to peer through them to see what he could see; had tried connecting the wall dots in his head to make shapes of animals. He was running out of ideas, and it hadn't even been four hours, for crying out loud. Not only that, but he couldn't tell if it was the boredom, the lack of decent food, the dark lighting, the bright dots of light, or something else entirely… but he wasn't feeling all that well.

And judging by the look on Daniel's face and the way he'd been slowing down, neither was he.

“Daniel, there has to be something beyond those walls. Something powering this place, lighting it up. There has to be the rest of the planet out there.”

“Of course there does.”

Jack's eyebrows lifted in surprise. “And you're not curious about it?”

“Of course I am. But we have no way out of here. I don't know about you, but I'm really not up to going exploring upstairs.”

Daniel's eyes were too red, and his face was pinched. “Daniel, rest. Leave it.”

Daniel closed his eyes and nodded. Slowly, he lowered himself to the floor, suspecting he wouldn't be getting up again for a while.

“Daniel?” Jack was fully aware of his teammate's laboured breathing, as the man agonizingly sat down. “What's going on?”

“I don't feel so well.”

“Head?”

Daniel nodded. “And stomach.”

“That's it, you're going home.”

“Not without you.”

“Daniel… look. Something in this room is affecting us, I feel it too, but there's something else with those lights. How do we know you haven't been staring into radioactive lasers or something equally destructive for the past few hours?”

The red spots were growing brighter; his vision, blurry. Something was indeed going on with those lights, and he'd known it for a while.

“I'll stop now.”

“Yes, you will.” Jack continued to watch as Daniel lay down, head on his pack. With arms crossed on his chest, the man seemed to fall asleep within minutes.

Carter had better find a way out of here soon, for the both of them.

_____

Daniel shot up, straight into a sitting position from sleep. “Jack?”

“Hey. Calm down. How're you feeling?”

“How long was I asleep?”

“Just over forty-five minutes. Answer the question.”

Red areas were swimming in front of his eyes; he could barely see the room or the holographic shapes at all. The lights on the walls were glaring red and green, bouncing around like molecules of boiling water. Jack was a wispy navy blue, his outline expanding and contracting dizzyingly. The pain in his chest and stomach was acute. “God.” Daniel lay down again, but the pains didn't ease. “I swallowed swords.”

“Daniel… I'm pressing Oannes. You're leaving, now.”

Daniel didn't argue. He'd come back, as soon as possible.

“Can you stand?”

“Give me a minute.”

Jack gave him five, anxiety increasing with every passing moment. Loyalty was one thing; dead company another. “Up. Come on.” Lending a hand, he helped raise Daniel to his feet. “Look, you're going to have to make it on your own up there. Ready?”

“I'll be alright.”

“Good. Go.” Then Jack pressed the coordinates he knew to be Oannes, hoping to hell all was still relatively well with that place. All Daniel needed was a minute there. He stretched, and managed to reach the pattern for this world. This was a yogic position he didn't want to remain in for too long, though.

Daniel moved as quickly as he could, up the stairs and into the main chamber, the open wormhole to Oannes awaiting. Lucky for that glow, for he could hardly see anything else through the red and green pulsating blurs. He just hoped the DHD on Oannes hadn't been consumed by fire since he'd last been there.

It seemed like an hour, but Jack knew he'd only been holding the gate open for maybe three minutes. He couldn't see his watch. That might not have been long enough for Daniel to make it to the gate. He grimaced, the stretched position awkward and uncomfortable. Still, he continued to put pressure on the necessary points of light; if he didn't hold them down long enough, Daniel would have to come back down to rest, then go through it all over again.

Five minutes was probably long enough. If he could manage, two more ought to add the insurance he needed. He could do it. Think of something pleasant; something that wasn't his arms being pulled from their sockets. No way would the Ancients have used this place in this way; they'd be laughing their heads off if they could see the primitive Tau'ri now.

Time's up. Seven minutes, or so, would have to do. Jack released his hold, shook his arms, and looked at his watch. Look at that; nine minutes. He headed up the stairs to make sure Daniel had got through. An uneasy feeling swept through him at the thought of Daniel back on that planet, alone. What if the DHD had been swallowed up by some thermal vent explosion? Daniel would be screwed. Damn.

His heart jolted when he saw Daniel lying immobile, about twenty feet from the stargate. “Crap!”

Dashing into the room, Jack already started feeling the effects of the naquadah-enhanced EM field, and Daniel had been up here for almost ten minutes. “Daniel.” He felt for a pulse, then reached under his friend's arms to pull him toward the doorway.

A doorway that was no longer visible. All around him spread an outdoor field, sky above, stretching into infinity.

“God. Damn it.” Panic froze Jack's thoughts for only a second, then he dashed to the DHD. Pressing the coordinates to Earth had somehow opened the portal the first time; it would work again now.

The acute pain in his chest and abdomen was nearly unbearable, standing in front of the DHD. But no way in hell was he going to pass out; he'd be killing them both. Managing to slam each of the chevrons, he turned around; the doorway was visible, the ground once again floor and the sky a ceiling. Grabbing Daniel under the arms and around the chest, pulling as quickly as he could, he dragged his friend backwards into the stairwell and dropped to the ground, unable to move further.

_____

“Jack? Jack?”

“Oy.” Groaning, Jack moved his head and looked at his watch; he'd been unconscious for nearly half an hour. Then he remembered why he was lying there on the stairs between two slightly shimmering doorways in the first place. “Daniel?” He sat up groggily, his chest not hurting nearly so much any more.

“I couldn't wake you.”

Daniel's expression was one of fear, his eyes wide and not quite so bloodshot. His nose had been bleeding, judging by the smear on his cheek.

“Sorry. Took a nap. You didn't get through.” The tone was soft, almost accusing, yet sympathetic.

“I tried, Jack.”

“I know. You doing any better?”

“Yes. This stairwell must be insulated against both of those rooms.”

“So we're stuck in here? Until Carter comes up with some clever invention?” Days?

“Shouldn't be too much longer, right?” Daniel attempted a smile.

“Daniel, these rooms have to be on some planet. There has to be another doorway out there.”

“When you had the Ancient's database downloaded into your brain, Jack, there was no way out of that room either. It had been completely sealed around the stargate.”

“Why would they do that? There had to be a way out we couldn't see. There has to be one now.”

Daniel frowned; he didn't like where this was going. “What are you planning?”

“The energy's concentrated around the DHD, right? We didn't feel as bad the farther we got from it and the gate. I'm thinking I'm going out to check the far walls of that room - "

"No."

 "Those pyramids are just reflecting off a bunch of mirrors or something. It can't be endless. I'll come back as soon as I have to.”

“You won't know where the doorway is.”

“Yes I will. You'll wait at the top of the stairs and watch for me. Then you stick your arm out or something.”

Daniel heaved a sigh. “You sure about this?”

“Positive.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Head back as soon as you start to feel sick. Or, I mean, feel too sick.”

“Sure.”

“Jack!”

“Yeah, whatever. Keep an eye out.” Jack stepped out of the doorway and made a dash towards the other side of the room, end of the far field, in and out of the two-foot high pyramids, starting to feel the pangs worsen and knowing he'd have to turn back any time now. Daniel watched from the doorway, his body out, one arm in, trying to quell the queasiness in his stomach.

And then Jack completely disappeared.

Alarmed, at a loss for what to do, Daniel gaped in shock. Frozen to the spot, he was afraid to go back into the stairwell.

He had only one thought, and no plan to go with it; go after Jack. Running down the stairs and into the dark room, Daniel grabbed his pack along with Jack's. Dashing back up the stairs, he exited the doorway, dropping one pack in front of it as a marker. Then, with the other slung over his shoulder, he ignored the surging pain in his chest and took off towards the far side of what again looked like an outdoor field.

_____

Suddenly the scene changed; Jack stared at the garden around him, the dead garden, rows of dried flowers sticking out of parched soil, trees gnarled and nearly petrified where they stood. Behind him, the un-glass walls of this large conservatory were cracking and crumbling. What the hell had happened and where was the room in which he'd left Daniel?

“Daniel?” Just in case. The sound echoed as if he were in a hollow cave.

A surge of fear overtook him, with the thought that he'd left Daniel alone and stranded, in a medical danger zone. Stepping backward several paces, trying to identify the way to get back, the garden faded.

“Jack!”

Jack spun swiftly at the call, relieved to see Daniel rushing towards him. They were outdoors, the pyramids glinting in the sunlight.

“Geez. You scared the hell out of me, Jack. What happened?” Daniel was panting, his face pale.

“Come.” Without another word, Jack took a step forward, and disappeared.

Daniel followed.

_____

Immediately he began to feel better. Daniel lowered himself down on a stone bench and took in the long-dead growth surrounding them. “Where are we?”

“I'm guessing we're about to find out. I think we should keep moving.” Jack held out his hand. “Ready?”

"Give me a minute."

Jack gave him five.

"Now?

Daniel nodded. Together, solemnly, the two men scoured the room. On a whim, Jack stuck his hand through a wall. It vanished, up to his wrist. Quickly he pulled it back out.

“Thought you hated when I did that, Jack.”

“I do. Shall we?” With a quick glance at his friend's exasperated yet slightly amused expression, Jack walked into the wall.

The first words from Jack's lips when Daniel appeared beside him were, “I'm sensing Tollan traditions here. You sure we're talking Ancient?”

“Not positive, no. But I'm sure the Tollans aren't the only ones to have mastered the mysteries of quantum physics.” Daniel looked around. This medieval courtyard had been blasted nearly to bits. Debris lay in piles across their path, cracks in the ground verified the instability of the area.

“Careful.” Jack stretched his arm out to stop Daniel's forward movement. Too many holes to fall into, and who knew what lay beneath all that debris.

“Jack… how much of this do you think is really real? I mean, are we outside, or what?”

“In other words, what the hell is this place?”

“And how far does it go?”

“It has to end somewhere.”

“What if the whole planet is like this?”

Jack threw him a withering look. Don't even go there.

“Okay, keep exploring,” Daniel nodded.

One more through-wall, and they found themselves in the centre of an enormous, circular, empty room. White walls rounded upwards to meet the low ceiling, a shallow dome, just a foot above their heads. Jack reached up to knock on it.

“Solid.” Even though it seemed to fluctuate and waver, just slightly,  with the movement radiating outward from his touch like a water drop in a pond.

“What's it made of?” Daniel smoothed his own hand along its surface, watching the circular ripples. “Feels like plaster.”

“Or something.”

Right. Daniel had no idea either.

“Are those windows?” Jack pressed forward; the entire upper section of the round room was transparent, as though constructed of glass. Daylight was streaming through. How did they keep emerging in the rooms' centers, instead of by the walls? Reflecting mirrors, making the areas seem twice the size?

Reaching the wide expanse of window, they gazed out upon a sight too odd to assimilate, yet. It took a moment for their brains to adjust to the view.

Way down below… several hundred feet… a landscape spread out for miles beneath them. A parched, dry desert, its cracked ground pock-marked with dark, brooding crevasses. There were no real buildings, just a couple more squashed domed structures farther off, looking like massive manmade jelly fish the way they hovered on stilts far above the land. One more, even farther away, was lopsided and about to topple.

“What are we looking at?” Jack squinted at the scene.

“Way stations? On a long dead planet?”

“Yeah? How do we know that scene's real? For all we know it could be holographic, or indoors like everything else. "

“We have no way of finding out, and I'm not walking through this window.” Daniel gingerly tapped the window; his fingers did not disappear through.

“Like I'd let you?” Jack scowled at his friend, swatting Daniel's hand away. “I'm no scientist, but if that room downstairs is the switchboard for the universe, wouldn't the sky be filled with satellites and all sorts of big things?”

Daniel hesitated, considering the idea. If that landscape really was indoors, something very impressive and unimaginable likely could be filling the real skies of this planet. "I have no idea."

"And it's irrelevant anyway. So, now what?”

“Jack… why is the database in such good condition, when everything else here is in ruins?”

“Maybe it's not. Maybe it's broken, which is why the DHD doesn't work.”

“The DHD doesn't work because it's the conduit for the entire gate system. It can't be used to dial a single gate. No, there's something else.” He paused. “What if the Ancients went to extremes to protect it… making everyone sick who attempted to use the system, or even come through the gate. Camouflaging the rooms to make trespassers think there was nothing more, nothing alive and working. Make them believe that the land had been destroyed. Or … maybe they destroyed it themselves so no one would be tempted to stay?”

“Designed destruction?”

“Yes. What if they intentionally engineered the planet to look this way?”

“Bit of a stretch.”

“Why? If this was the site of their most important database or power plant, they'd want to protect it. Keep everyone away.”

“Like a lost city?”

Daniel turned to Jack, his eyes wide, his brain fast forwarding… then rewinding. “Jack, the coordinates to this planet were dead center of our own computer database. The nearest planets with stargates didn't support human life.”

“So you're thinking they were all destroyed together?”

“Um, no. I'm thinking the Ancients intentionally put gates on planets they knew didn't support life, to deter travelers from this area of the galaxy."

“To safeguard this one. Smoke screen.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay, let's say you're right. Who were they protecting it from? The Goa'uld? Teal'c didn't get as sick as the rest of us.”

“Not right away. Anyway, the Goa'uld weren't a threat when the gates were built. Who knows, there may have been some other, even worse adversary at the time, something we don't know about. Or maybe it was just a precaution for some future unknown danger.”

“Well, Daniel. Whatever the reason, and it's all speculation, we still have no way home. We can stay here with no food and feel good… except we have no food so how long will we feel good, or go back and…” his voice trailed off. They knew what they'd be going back to.

“And wait for Sam to get us home. Think they called in yet?”

“Oh I hope not, seeing as we're not there. What are the odds of us finding our way back?”

_____

Retracing their steps was not difficult, and within a half hour the two men found themselves in a field covered with metallic pyramids sprouting from the bare soil, still an odd image no matter how many times they'd witnessed it. How many were real, and how many were reflections they had no way of knowing, without skirting the entire perimeter. Already the internal pangs were beginning. Daniel searched with his eyes for a backpack lying on the ground, but from this position it was hidden behind any of the many rows of pointed objects.

“Where's the doorway?”

“I left your pack in front of it.”

“We don't have time to look. I'll go to the gate.”

Although his eyes searched as they ran, Daniel could see no trace of the pack. Another illusion? Reluctantly, he followed Jack to the DHD, his stomach churning with sharp arrows. “I'll dial,” he groaned, cringing as he stepped in front of the device, desperate to remain upright. That gravity bolt was attacking his legs again, and the queasiness made a fast appearance.

Jack feared he was about to unglamourously pass out, as he dragged himself to the stargate and sat down on its edge. Maybe he shouldn't be doing that, what with Daniel dialling the gate, but if for some reason the thing worked this time, at least Daniel would make it home. As for himself... he really couldn't move. God. Jack doubted he could make it back to the doorway, to the temporary but so very essential protection of the stairwell. He could see Daniel having as hard a time as he was. Leaning back to try to ease his burning chest and pull some extra air into his lungs, he draped a leg over the base of the gate. What the hell? His leg... "Daniel!" he called, before pushing the rest of his body through.

As Daniel forced his head up at the shout of his name, Jack disappeared.

Daniel jolted upright, the pain in his abdomen momentarily earning second place in his concerns. “Jack?” he called gruffly, to no avail.

The weight of his pack was too much; dropping it and forcing himself forward, he dragged his feet to the gate as quickly as he could and crawled through the empty hole, tumbling to the ground on the other side.

The field immediately disappeared; Jack was there, standing beside him, before a vast expanse of metallic, two-foot high blueish spheres… in a room with another DHD.  As Daniel gaped in astonishment, he heard his friend's voice. "Did you get hurt?"

"What?" Breaking his gaze away from the massive room, Daniel realized he was still lingering on the floor. "Oh. No." Accepting Jack's hand, he pulled himself up. As he stood there taking it all in, realizing he no longer felt physically ill, a loud sound from behind startled him out of his stupor.  One chevron on the stargate was lit up, and Daniel swung around to find Jack at the DHD, grinning.

"I wouldn't stand there if I were you."

Daniel's eyes went wide, his expression puzzled. “The real thing?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“But, but, what about the gate? Teal'c and Sam went through.” Daniel moved to the DHD, peering over Jack's shoulder.

“They went through all right.” The vortex exploded, and then settled. Jack pressed the code on his GDO. “The real wormhole opens on this side though.”

“Reflections? They went through the back? I didn't know that was possible.”

“Daniel,” Jack looked around. “Tell me what we've seen today that we thought was possible.”

“Oh. Right. So a complete camouflage. Or two stargates, back to back? Think there could be people on this side?”

“Ancients?” Jack's gaze met his friend's. "Furlings?"

Daniel bit at his lip, his eyes bright. "Maybe their descendents.”

“Well, another time, Daniel. Right now, we need to debrief. Stop Carter. Eat.”

As Daniel looked longingly at the walls of the room, filled with panels and raised circular patterns of thousands of stargate addresses, he nodded. “We'll come back.”

“Oh, Daniel?” Jack lightly tapped his teammate's arm. He hated to stifle that enthusiasm and animation so soon. “Just one quick question… do you really think the real database, the real power plant, if that's what this place is actually meant to be,” he nodded around them, “would be so close to the gate?”

Jack saw Daniel's eyes cloud over. “Another smoke screen?”

Jack smiled ruefully. “You tell me.” Then he stepped through the beckoning wormhole, with Daniel following forlornly right behind.

---

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Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of MGM, etc. I've written this story for entertainment purposes only.