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The darkness was stifling. Strange colors, strange glistening hues, lit briefly by their flashlights, soaked the walls of the giant cavern. A dampness. A feeling of age, of a history ingrained within the roughened surface of the stone. A feeling of immense oppression, and of despair.

Daniel couldn't shake the feeling. He gazed around him, his eyes drinking in the sight, the sound of gently trickling water against the far side distracting him for a moment. He flicked his flashlight up and walked forward, a step behind Sam Carter as she took readings and searched the cavern with eyes more trained than his to look for signs of danger.

"Okay, boys and girls, what've we got?" O'Neill's cheerful voice broke the silence, sending an echo around the chamber, breaking into Daniel's morbid thoughts, an assault on his solitude.

"It's pretty much as the MALP recorded, sir. Fresh oxygen atmosphere, so there has to be some sort of entrance somewhere, refreshing the supply," Sam replied, her voice authoritative, yet guarded. Daniel knew her well enough to know that she never committed to anything unless she was sure. Sam wasn't sure.

She started forward, continuing to look down and monitor the readings. "No life signs in the vicinity, as we expected, but there's the writings to consider," she added as she reached the nearest wall and allowed her fingers to trace across the carvings hewn there. The rock felt hard, rough. The inscriptions hadn't been worn down much over time, they looked almost fresh, they could have been scratched out that very year, and yet the area around the Gate looked unused, deserted.

Daniel took out his notepad and pencil and crouched into a comfortable position next to the nearest column of letters, his flashlight flicked into an upward position as he squinted through his glasses at the inscriptions. This was his thing. They could fight, solve physics problems and make strategic decisions. But when the writing was on the wall, who did they call for? Daniel smiled to himself, a satisfied smile, and settled down for the duration.

Sam smiled gently, knowingly, as she turned to see him drop down next to the wall. She knew he would be in his own world now and decided it was best to leave him to it. Based on previous missions this could be a long process.

"Carter, scout out the north side and see if you can find anything. Teal'c you check the south, behind the Gate. I'll keep a weather eye out here," O'Neill ordered as he set his pack down at the DHD. There was a feeling about the place he didn't like. He didn't usually go by hunches, but the feeling was something he felt he'd experienced before and it gave him the creeps just trying to remember it. Damn the writings. Trust Carter's inquisitive, persistent eyes. He wondered if General Hammond would have sanctioned a scouting party, if it hadn't been for something Carter had spotted on the MALP's video playback. Inscriptions, carvings. Signs of civilisation. He didn't like the idea of gating into a cave but, hey, what the heck, they'd done worse.

Sam moved to the north of the Cavern, her flashlight picking out each crevasse, each change in direction of the mostly curved rough surface. She moved her hand slowly towards each crack, feeling for signs of air. If the air supply was through a small crack and the cavern was sealed then they'd take down as much of the inscriptions as they could and go home. A part of her, the intrepid explorer part, wanted to find a way through, and a part of her wanted to get back through the gate. She couldn't put her finger on what was wrong with the cave. Just that it wasn't right.

And then she found something. A twist in the contour of the chamber, which was masked by its darkness. Hidden from sight, it was narrow but certainly passable. Sam could feel the gentle current of air as she put her face toward the crevasse, which now came into view. She was now out of sight of the others and out of sight of the gate. She weighed up going through it alone and then changed her mind.

"Colonel! I've found something," she shouted as she returned to the chamber.

"Teal'c, stay with Daniel," O'Neill barked as he jumped to his feet and moved towards the figure of his officer. "Okay, Carter, what's up?" he said as he reached her.

"An entrance maybe," she said shrugging, as she led the way back to the crevasse. "The air supply is definitely coming through here. Whether there are more openings, I don't know. This one's passable with difficulty but it could lead to the surface," she said hopefully.

O'Neill put his face to the cold air which was filtering through and sighed, looking at Carter's face, her expression of 'Hey, it's your call. Do we go or what?'

O'Neill moved back into the chamber and looked over Daniel's shoulder, eyeing his scribbling and his intense gaze. He was lost in his own world, his own thoughts. O'Neill shook his head and smiled. He admired Daniel's tenacity. He just knew he wouldn't have the patience to try and unravel what was carved there. If anyone could, it had to be Daniel.

"Daniel, you got anything for me?" he asked resting his hand on Daniel's shoulder to pull his attention to him.

"Uh? Oh, sure...well actually not yet." Daniel pulled his eyes from his writing, reluctant self-sacrifice written all across his face. "Jack, I've only just scratched the surface. It's an ancient dialect, similar to Babylonian but there's some anomalies which don't add up," Daniel answered and then immediately returned to his notepad, his eyes dropping back to the page, his pencil racing.

"He's gone," O'Neill muttered. Sam smiled to herself behind him

"Teal'c, mind our friend, here. We're about to try a topside visit, maybe. Radio silence unless there's a problem. Understand?"

Teal's understood but his eyes narrowed. He didn't like the chamber one bit. Not one bit. But he was a Jaffa, a warrior. His Commanding Officer was giving him an order. He wasn't about to disobey it, even though his heart yearned to be going to the surface if he could, just to get away from the stifling atmosphere.

"I understand, Colonel O'Neill," came the muted response.

Sam put her helmet back on and watched O'Neill do the same, then they moved back towards the rear of the chamber, shouldering their M-16 rifles..

"Teal'c doesn't like this place anymore than we do, sir," Sam commented as she flicked her hand flashlight on and shone it into the crevasse.

"Yeah, well the sooner we leave this place won't be soon enough for me either, Captain," O'Neill replied, grimacing.

"Shall I?" she asked, pointing her flashlight into the passage.

"I think on this occasion, the ladies first rule is shelved, Captain," O'Neill joked as he grabbed her flashlight and manoeuvred past her. He started to inch through the narrow space. He could feel every piece of rock, every jagged edge, poking into his ribs and every other part of his body. Carter's breath clearly echoed behind him as she inched her way through, keeping her eye firmly on the beam of light.

The end of the crevasse opened out into another chamber, smaller than the previous one. The space was oppressive, the roof of the chamber low at this point.

"Some kind of ante-room?" commented Sam. O'Neill shrugged and ran his hand along the surfaces again.

"More inscriptions," he said as his fingers felt the finely carved lines. "Better not let Daniel in this one or we might as well make camp," he joked as he moved around the room, shining his flashlight into every corner. Sam turned to look behind them, to the passage and then took a step backwards. She pointed her flashlight at the wall.

"Colonel," she said quietly and pointed the light for him to see what she could.

"Jeez, what was this place?" he muttered as he moved in to look. Large rings in the wall, one on one side of the entrance to the passage and one on the other. A large bore chain hung redundant from one.

Sam swallowed. "A holding cell of some sort?" she offered unhappily.

"Sweet," was O'Neill's only comment. He swung his light upwards and pointed.

Above the passageway, just tucked under the roof of the cavern about seven feet up, there was an obvious tunnel running along the top of the passageway back towards the Gate chamber.

O'Neill shrugged, looking at Carter who gave him the same look. It was the only visible exit from the smaller chamber.

"Looks like we've got some crawling to do, Captain," he said, his heart sinking. He didn't like this one bit.

"I think ladies first on this, Colonel. Not much choice," Sam said with determination and positioned her rifle securely across her shoulders.

O'Neill nodded reluctantly. He knew he had to leg her up there first. He cupped his hands and hoisted her foot upwards. She grabbed the ledge and hauled herself into the small tunnel.

O'Neill jumped, his hands gripping the ledge and then he pulled himself up to follow her.

The tunnel was small but smoother than the passageway, almost man-made in its design. There was no light source, just pure inky blackness.

Sam crawled forward on all fours, her jacket flashlight her only means of keeping from bashing into the sides. On more than one occasion she was grateful for her helmet as her head came into contact with protrusions from above, strange dips in an otherwise, seemingly flawless surface.

The air came cooler now, fresher somehow.

"Whoa," she said as she rammed her shoulder hard up against the side of the tunnel, its sudden ninety degree turn, invisible in the small amount of light her flashlight offered.

"You okay, Carter?"

She nodded in the dark and mumbled a "Yes". Gee, she wished she hadn't done that, she thought as she reached up to massage the bruise.

"I think we're moving away from the Gate chamber," she advised O'Neill who moved up closer behind her.

"Any sign of life?"

Sam shook her head, flicking her recorder nearer to her face to see it in the gloom. "Not so far. I.." and then she took in a breath.

"There's something ahead, sir, not far from here. Life readings," she said, apprehension tingeing her voice. O'Neill could hear it and he didn't blame her. Having seen what he'd seen in the antechamber he wasn't sure he wanted to meet anyone who might be responsible.

O'Neill flicked the radio to his mouth. "Teal'c, he hissed."

"Yes, O'Neill." Teal'c's steady voice gave O'Neill a sense of comfort, knowing that his two friends were safely at the Gate should anything happen to any of them.

"Got a feeling we're gonna be meeting some of the natives. How far's Daniel got?" he said.

Daniel's voice echoed back through the radio into the stillness of the tunnel.

"Jack, there's something here you've got to see," he said, and then he paused. "Where are you guys anyhow?"

"Somewhere above you we think. What's up?"

"Colonel, we've got company," Sam interrupted, her voice quiet, her hand resting gently on his arm.

O'Neill swung around, his eyes fixed on the face which poked around the corner and eyed them with displeasure, the weapon it held pointed directly at them, the hum of what it was capable of discharging, dangerously close.

Daniel stretched his arms and massaged his neck and looked at the radio in despair. Perhaps they'd entered some sort of dead area for transmission. Damn it, he desperately needed to talk to his friends again.

What he'd translated so far of the inscriptions made for heartbreaking reading. He felt vindicated that his initial assessment of the chamber was of oppression and despair. And yet it was so much more than that. It was a statement on a world, the like of which he'd not encountered before. Not even in their travels to other Goa'uld strongholds. It had been a few minutes since Jack had stopped transmitting. In that time he'd translated a final fragment of text, the majority of which he'd managed to decipher. It told him one important fact. A fact he needed his friends to know. A fact, which had made his heart sink.

He picked up the radio and switched it to transmit again. He turned to speak to Teal'c and then noticed him scanning around the chamber, his staff weapon readied.

"Daniel Jackson, we must conceal ourselves at once," he said and jumped down from the steps to the Gate.

Daniel immediately gathered up his pencil and notepads and joined Teal'c in the far shadows at the back of the chamber. He'd long since stopped questioning Teal'c's sense of urgency. It had saved them on too many occasions.

Daniel could feel Teal'c's tense body next to him. He could hear his steady breathing. He glanced up and watched the Jaffa's eyes stare intently at the far end of the cave.

Teal'c put a finger to his own lips and kept his eyes fixed forwards.

Small movements from the far side. A strange sound of scraping. Rock on rock. Then a moment filled with silence. Suddenly, two strange looking creatures came into view, weapons scanning the cave, and peered in their direction. Then they moved forwards. Daniel felt sure they couldn't be seen in the darkness. Nevertheless he instinctively attempted to make himself smaller somehow, withdrawing into the shadows. He put the radio slowly to his lips. If he had to, he could warn the others.

O'Neill's finger lifted slowly from the radio to hear Daniel's voice, urgent, warning.

"Jack, Sam! You've got to get back. This whole place is..."

The static, which ensued, filled the small space and made Sam's heart ache. O'Neill stared at their strange visitor and swallowed.

"Guess we forgot our hall passes, Carter," was all he could think of saying.

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