The couple was now trying to work out what, if any, use the pictures embroidered into the tapestries could be to their selective memories. Dan had determined that the borders just repeated the same messages on all of the wall hangings.

The first was a grey ring with symbols decorating the inner edge.

"They’re not a language I recognize," Dan murmured, "at least not at the moment."

The centre of the ring looked like rippling water and people were walking through it.

"It appears to be some sort of doorway." Ann fingered the picture.

Dan immediately shook his head. "No, a gateway."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Are you always this literal?"

He chuckled, "How do I know? It’s just doorway doesn’t sound right…neither does gateway…" Dan rubbed the bridge of his nose where his glasses sat, deep in thought. "Not gateway…gate…something gate…" He wracked his mind, he knew he’d thought of the word since waking up in this crazy room. "…Stargate!" he announced triumphantly. "It’s called a Stargate."

"Do you think that’s what SG-1 is?" Ann asked, thinking about the cryptic clues from the border. "We have to find Stargate number one?"

"I’m drawing a blank."

A  A  A  A  A  A

Terree stalked out of the office, glaring at the Handler who owned the subjects that he wanted. Wanted but would never have. The Seniors had denied his request for dual ownership and demanded that he not refer to topic again. Ever. "They want your latest update," he snapped. "I’ve been instructed to relieve your position until you’re done." And that’s what I’ve been reduced to, he thought bitterly. A fill in, never to be given the opportunity or responsibility of any serious research. He’d been told in no uncertain terms that he was too emotional, too erratic, too unscientific and until he learned to control those inadequacies he would only be given menial duties on the larger studies being conducted.

His colleague gave a slight nod and then left without a word, walking sedately down the hall, the perfect example of how a Bassat should act.

Terree glared after him. He glanced at the subjects. They were simply standing looking at the stitched pictures. Now that there was no chance of him ever being actively involved with these subjects they had lost their appeal, despite the knowledge they had of the cave. The Seniors had ‘graciously’ allowed him to retain his current subjects for his own personal experiments. Now all he wanted was to focus on those, not watch subjects four-twenty and four-twenty-one watch a wall hanging.

His gaze swung down the hall to the closed door of the Senior’s office. That meeting was likely to last for a few hours. There were many theories to be discussed, decisions on which ones to pursue. Due to the unusual aspects of these subjects they would have to be kept separated from the other subjects at least until it was learnt how they were able to control the hallucinations. While the Handler had technical ownership, the studies would necessitate long-term use of the observation room. That meant the Senior’s required full details of every study to be conducted to justify the extended use. He glanced back at the subjects. They were still studying the wall hangings. No one would know if he left for an hour or two to pursue his own experiments. It wasn’t like the subjects could get out. If by chance they found the keypad controlling either the door into the room in which he now stood, or the one leading to the cells of the Reviled, the probability of them entering the right sequence to unlock the doors was so remote it may as well be impossible. After three failed attempts the keypad shut down, requiring someone from the outside to reinitialize the locks.

After another glance at the closed office door Terree glided down the hallway, leaving the subjects unobserved.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Ann and Dan moved on to the next hanging.

"Okay, this is familiar," Ann frowned. It was an odd looking animal with a rooster’s head, though the ‘beak’ was almost a snout, and the body was snakelike.

Dan heard her mumble something. "Say that again."

"Hmmm?" She was outlining the comb of the animal. "Oh, the words ‘demented Fraggle’ come to mind."

"What’s a Fraggle?"

Suddenly Ann jumped back from the wall, her hands cupping her ears. "OW! Holy shit! What was that?"

"What was what?" Dan automatically reached for her and Ann without hesitation sought the comfort of his arms.

"You didn’t hear that?" she asked incredulously, shaking like a leaf. "How could you not? Someone…no, more than one, yelled out ‘help’."

"I didn’t hear it." Gently he rubbed his hands soothingly up and down her back, trying to clam her down.

"Great! As if this day isn’t whacked out as it is," she grumbled. "Now I’m hearing voices. Maybe we’re patients in a nut house."

"I don’t feel crazy," Dan felt obliged to point out.

"Yeah, crazy people always say that." Ann felt his amusement at her grumpy comment through his embrace.

"Did you hear anything else?" Dan asked softly.

She was surprised by the question. "You believe me?"

"Why would you lie?" he shrugged. Nothing about this day was normal, so Ann hearing voices was just something else to add to the list of mysteries that was steadily growing longer.

Ann’s stomach did a somersault at the trust in his voice. She smiled at him while thinking about what she’d ‘heard’, closing her eyes in concentration. An image flashed behind her eyelids. It was like she was watching the scene from above. Three people. A blonde woman, a dark skinned man and an older man, gathered at the front of a cell. The dark man was stretching out his leg through the bars, trying to reach something across the hallway, his cellmates holding him steady. He was trying to touch a clear (glass?) wall. She looked through the wall. It was a bare, clinical room with two flat metal beds. A man and a woman were in the room, the woman jumped back in surprise… She gasped recognizing them. It was Dan and herself.

Dan felt the shock ripple through her. "What?"

"I saw us," she whispered weakly. "But this room was different, it looked like an examination room not this gothic recreation. There were three people behind here," she waved to the tapestry, "they’re the ones who called for help."

"You saw us." He didn’t sound doubtful. For whatever reason it did not sound crazy to him. In fact the more he thought about it the more right it felt. "You didn’t happen to see a hidden door, did you?"

Ann looked startled for a moment, as though she wasn’t used to being believed, then closed her eyes, drawing forth the image again. This time she focused on the transparent wall, searching for anything that resembled a door. To the side of the room there was a barely perceptible seam but there were no handles or slots to indicate how it would open. If the door was controlled by technology, she thought, it would be in close proximity of the door itself. At a right angle to the glass on the joining wall she saw two panels each with a series of glyphs. Well, can’t get to those, they’re on the outside. Inside the room, she estimated the adjoining panel should be ‘behind’ the Stargate tapestry. "There’s a control box…" She recognized the glyphs. Ann opened her eyes, "Dan, if those tapestries somehow disappear, would you remember the symbols in between the words?"

Dan hesitated. "Uh…considering our current circumstances I wouldn’t want to bet on it."

"Is there anyway we can make record of them?"

"Hang on." He released his arms from around Ann and assessed what they had. No writing implements of any kind…His gaze landed on the tray of food. One of the pieces of fruit still had part of its stalk attached. He prodded a hunk of cheese. It wasn’t a soft cheese. Using the stalk he could engrave the symbols. "Okay, just give me a second to copy them down."

A  A  A  A  A  A

The other members of SG-1 wore frustrated expressions as their viewing window remained dark.

"What happens if your friend doesn’t believe what she saw?" Foltan asked.

"We’re back to square one," Sam sighed. "We could be there now. We’ve got no way to know what Annika did see." She once again focused on the panel at the end of the hall. Maybe she was approaching the problem from the wrong angle. The downside of having a technical mind was that she searched for complex solutions. As Thor would say, she needed a ‘stupid’ idea. She glanced at Jack. He wasn’t stupid, no matter how often he pretended to be, but he had the uncanny knack to break the situation down and think simply. How many times over the years had he innocently asked a question that lead to the ultimate solution? Too many to count…Okay, think like Jack…

Jack pressed a hand to his eyes, trying to ease the pressure of his still throbbing head. "Carter, didn’t the Doc say that rue stuff helps headaches?"

"Yes."

"Chuck me a couple, will ya’ please?"

And there it was…that simple question that had nothing to do with solving their problem, and yet… Plan B started to take shape, as she handed over the capsules and water canteen, downing a couple herself. "Foltan, have you been able to tell if the buttons need a lot of pressure to activate?"

The Tok’ra shook his head. "No, like I said the Bassats always blocked the view."

The major rifled through her pockets, looking for one of the energy bars. They had repacked their stash in readiness for a quick getaway.

"Hungry, Carter?" Jack was amused. He passed on the remaining capsules to Teal'c who also swallowed some of the herb.

"No, sir." She ripped the packaging off and then broke the bar up onto five equal pieces, then squashed the chewy bits into small balls. "Who do you think out of all of us has the best aim?"

The men exchanged looks.

"I’d be guessing Teal’c," the colonel replied. "Why?"

Sam tossed one of the edible balls to the Jaffa. "Do you think you’d be able to hit the glyphs from here in the sequence Annika had us remember?"

He considered the distance. "From this angle, the trajectory may be difficult, however I shall attempt to do so." He moved to the barrier and slid his arm through the bars. Taking careful aim he pitched the ‘ball’ at the panel, hitting the first glyph squarely in the middle, lighting up the button.

"Way to go, T," Jack grinned, as Sam passed over another piece.

The next three shots also hit their mark. The last throw however, was slightly off, hitting the join of two buttons. There was a warning beep from the panel and the lights flickered off.

Sam immediately began breaking up another energy bar. "Here, try again."

Teal’c nodded.

This time all five balls hit their mark. The team held their breath as the lights flashed for a second and then wonderfully the bars lining the front of all the cells began to blink out. As soon as they could they stepped out into the hall.

"Wanna come with?" Jack smirked at Foltan.

"Hmmm. Now let me think about that." The large man dripped sarcasm.

"A Tok’ra with a sense of humor. That’s a first," the colonel grinned, before heading to the end of the hall. "Okay, now let’s work on getting them out."

Sam was already examining the second panel, "You didn’t happen to see the other sequence Daniel and Annika were supposed to memorize?"

Jack and Teal’c shook their heads, just as the glass door slid silently open.

A  A  A  A  A  A

"Okay, it’s done." Dan scratched out the last symbol.

Ann was confused by the two very different images of the room they were in. Both couldn’t be real. She felt a surge of anger. She was sick of all the unanswered questions, sick of the entire situation. I want the damned truth, and I want it now! No more riddles! No more friggin’ games!

The room was suddenly filled with a flash of purple light, making them squint. Four short pops echoed in their ears, then everything from the tapestries to the canopied beds shimmered and disappeared.

Dan gazed around their now clinical surroundings. The heavy oak door had transformed into a smooth panel, lying flush with the wall made of the same glassy but opaque material. A panel with twelve symbols was at eye level next to it. The opposite side also had a ‘door’ and panel. He recognized the glyphs from the piece of cheese still in his hand. Hesitantly he poked the metal bed that he originally thought so comfortable and warm. "Well, what do you know? It was all an illusion."

She gave a worried frown. "Or this is the illusion."

"The food is still here." Dan gestured to the tray that now sat upon the second metal bed. The faint smell of burnt circuitry wafted through the air. He glanced upwards, seeing four small devices in each of the corners. One of them was still sparking. "I think this is real. Must have been a power surge or something."

"How convenient." She sounded suspicious. "I ‘see’ that this is how the room looks and magically it changes."

"Lets see what’s behind door number two." He held out his hand to her. "Ready to leave this Fun House?"

Ann nodded, clasping his fingers, loving how safe his touch made her feel.

Dan tapped out the sequence from the tapestries and the door slid open. To their surprise four people were standing by the threshold. A blonde woman was examining an identical control panel outside the door, a large black man stood rigidly at her side. An older man was leaning against the wall and another large man was standing behind him. They all seemed just as shocked to see them.

"Perfect timing!" The older man’s face lit up into a grin. "Come on, let’s get out of here."

Dan and Ann stepped back, warily.

"Who are you?"

"Can we explain on the road?" He beckoned them out. "Time could be an issue here."

The couple took another step back. They didn’t know who to trust except each other. Ann whispered in his ear, "They’re the ones I saw in my head."

The man sighed, taking in their defensive postures. "Jack," he thumbed his chest then pointed to the others. "Sam, Teal’c and Foltan," he pointed at them, "Daniel and Annika. Now come on, this is a rescue."

"But we opened the door," Ann protested.

"We were working on it," Jack flapped a hand at the blonde woman called Sam.

Dan was repeating the names in his head. Daniel and Annika. Now that did ring a few bells. He studied the grey haired man, taking in every detail of his appearance. His gaze landed on a patch on his arm. The symbols SG-1 were embroidered on it. He nudged Ann and her eyes followed his, widened when she realized the significance. "You’re SG-1?" he asked.

"We’re SG-1." Jack waved to include Dan and Ann in his statement. He stepped into the room. "Well, he’s not," he indicated Foltan. "He’s just along for the ride."

Ann wanted to trust these people, she really did, but this had been such a friggin’ confusing couple of hours. "Give us proof. Or we’re not going anywhere."

"Proof? Oy!" Jack raked a hand through his hair. "You lose your memories but you remember how stubborn you are," he groused. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"We don’t have any proof," Sam followed the colonel inside. "We’re all part of a team and we’re all close friends."

"What are our roles?" Dan asked.

"You are the teams archaeologist, linguist, diplomat, moral compass. We’ve been working together for over seven years now."

"And me?" Ann asked. The more she heard, the stronger the impulse she had to believe.

"You’re the newbie," Jack quipped. "Team psychic, see auras, throw things with your mind, have a nifty trick to make things invisible, tend to go astral at the drop of a hat."

Dan and Ann exchanged looks. Each knew what the other was thinking. The descriptions sounded right. A tad unbelievable in Ann’s case but then this day had been pretty unbelievable too.

Jack misread the look. Took it to be the total opposite and he searched for a way to make them believe. He inwardly winced at the only idea he could come up with. The colonel lunged towards his best friend, praying that Annika’s protective streak would kick in, praying that Annika didn’t accidentally kill him in the process.

Ann saw Jack grab for Dan and reacted instinctively. Before he could make contact, her hand shot out and Jack was propelled back, pinned to the wall.

"See, I knew you would do that," he gasped. He’d been lucky. He could feel a tightness to his chest where Annika’s invisible grip held him immobile. Jack thanked his lucky stars that she hadn’t gone for his throat.

"Ann, let him go."

She felt Dan’s soft squeeze of her hand. Slowly she lowered her hand and Jack slid down the wall.

"Can we go now?" Jack motioned for the two to precede him.

After a moment of hesitation Ann and Dan let themselves be led from the room.

"Foltan, do you know where that’ll take us?" Jack nodded to the metal door.

The Tok’ra nodded. "That’s the way they took me to witness…" his voice broke off. "It comes out at the back of the village. The Bassats use it so the villager subjects don’t see us. The area is open but after about twenty meters beyond the door is forest."

"Finally, something’s going our way."

Teal’c cautiously twisted the handle and the door swung open on silent hinges. After taking a moment to make sure the coast was clear he beckoned to the others. Quietly they hurried out making straight for the tree line. Jack, Sam and Teal’c protectively flanked the two civilians who were gazing around curiously.

In the shadows of the trees they halted.

"Okay, we’ll stick to the forest, head for the temple and get the rock, then back to the Stargate," Jack kept his voice low, constantly scanning the area with his eyes. "Teal’c, take point. Carter, cover our six."

They moved as quickly as possible trying to keep the noise down to a minimum. All of them knew that without some sort of weapon to defend themselves their only hope was to remain hidden.

Jack wished that they’d had time to find their packs and guns. He felt more vulnerable than a cat in a dog pound. Any second now he expected to hear that ear splitting screech again that had knocked them out.

They were about halfway to the cave by Jack’s estimate when a series of loud horns echoed from the village. Didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what it meant. "Forget stealth," he barked. "Run!"

The others also realizing their escape had been discovered, immediately started to sprint.

"Shouldn’t we head straight for the Stargate?" Foltan asked, keeping pace with the colonel.

"Nope, need to grab a few things."

"We’ll be safe when we get within twenty meters of the temple," Sam had closed the distance so she was running directly behind the others. "The Bassats can’t enter it."

"How do you know?" the Tok’ra demanded.

"You’ll have to trust us." Jack made sure Daniel and Annika were keeping up. "Now shut up and run."

Within a few minutes they could see the field leading to the cave entrance. Barreling through the tall grass Jack saw a flash of grey in the periphery of his vision. Crap!

They were about twenty-five meters away from the entrance of the temple when the noise Jack had been dreading echoed across the plain. Dammit! They were so close! Fighting the sudden pain that wracked his body he grabbed for Sam’s hand who was now running beside him. With all the strength he could muster he propelled her forward within the twenty meter radius of the cave. Before he went down, his last thought was that at least she had made it to safety.

Dan and Ann saw the instant effect the ear piercing squealing had on their companions. Teal’c had made it within the twenty meters but it was clear that the barrier that kept their captors out only dulled the effects on the body. It was all he could do to remain upright. Foltan had collapsed a meter away, while Jack pushed Sam passed the invisible line before falling short himself by a couple of meters.

The couple didn’t stop to figure out why they had been unaffected, but immediately Dan skidded to a stop and ran back for the older man. Grabbing him by the arms he quickly dragged the unconscious man towards the others. Ann did the same for Foltan, pure adrenaline allowing her to move the man so much bigger than herself. Once across the line they turned back to see the grey shadow closing the distance between them. As soon as it crossed that magical line a body shimmered into view to reveal the creature they had seen from the tapestries. The screaming abruptly cut off and it stumbled to the ground, clutching at its stomach with one hand, its eyes with the other.

With their bodies no longer being assaulted by the sound waves, Sam and Teal’c were able to help move Jack and Foltan into the temple, though their muscles were shaking with the effort by the time they reached the inner sanctuary. As soon as they all crossed the threshold the ancient lights once again flickered on.

Ann peeked outside to see what had happened to the creature. It had managed to crawl a couple of meters away and lay panting on the ground. There were suddenly another dozen of the grey clouds lining the barrier, and then one by one their bodies appeared. She gave an involuntary shiver. Even from this distance she could see the cold hatred in the creatures’ eyes. Another group joined them. She heard a couple more of those God-awful screeches and she hurried back to check on the others. "Did you guys…er…feel those screams in the last couple of seconds?"

Teal’c looked up from where he was arranging Foltan into a comfortable position. "I did not."

Sam shook her head.

"We’re drawing quite an audience. About two dozen so far."

Sam had laid Jack’s head in her lap and was stroking the wisps of hair from his face. "The temple walls must be shielding us."

Ann felt a pang of wistfulness. She snuck a sideways glance at Dan and from the expression on his face knew that he had witnessed the loving gesture. He shot her a lopsided smile, knew what he was thinking. "Er…Sam…are…?"

Teal’c cut her off, "You are both injured."

Her eyes straight away raked over Dan’s body searching for any sign of his injury, her question temporarily forgotten. Dan did the same to her. Neither thought it odd that they cared more about the other than themselves. Ann turned pale when she saw that Dan’s feet were stained red. From his sharp intake of breath she surmised she had sustained similar wounds. During the sprint through the forest, the adrenaline had stopped them from feeling the numerous cuts from the rocks and twigs their bare feet had ran over.

Sam fished out the med kit from Jack’s BDUs and tossed it towards them. "There are bandages and antiseptic cream."

Teal’c handed over his canteen for them to first clean their wounds.

Dan immediately sat down and tugged Ann down beside him. Before she could protest that his cuts appeared worse than hers he gently lifted one of her feet and began washing away the grit that had imbedded itself in the cuts.

She bit her bottom lip to mask the hiss of pain as he removed a small pebble that had dug itself quite deeply into her heel.

He stopped and tenderly caressed her cheek. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you."

Ann raised her hand to capture his, holding it in place. "I know that," then she gave mischievous grin. "But just remember that I get to do yours when you’ve finished with me."

His low chuckle echoed around the room.

"This feels sort of familiar," she whispered, "but not with feet."

"No, not feet…" Dan agreed softly, a quizzical frown creasing his brow. His other hand traced a line down her arm. "This." They both felt the fission of heat at his touch. With a sigh he shifted his attention back to the cuts on her feet.

Jack had come around. Quite content to remain a while longer with his comfortable ‘pillow’ beneath his head, he absently ran his thumb over Sam’s hand that was resting on his chest. He watched Daniel and Annika attend to their wounds. Even without their memories they were almost as love sick as they normally were. It just proved to the colonel that those two were destined to be together.

Foltan woke up just as Annika was tying off the bandage to Daniel’s foot.

Jack reluctantly sat up, though Sam scooted to his side and they sat almost leaning into each other. "Well, I don’t think any of us will be able to make a break for the ’gate, even if we could get passed the picket line." The major had filled him in on what Annika had observed.

"Where precisely is this stone we came for?" Ann asked. She had scanned the room earlier but had seen nothing that resembled a stone.

Teal’c who’d been patiently waiting for the colonel and Foltan to return to consciousness, strode up to the pedestal and waved his hand across the dome three times. The dome flipped up and the sides split open.

Dan helped Ann to her feet, and arm in arm they hobbled over to peer inside.

"Wow," Ann admired the huge diamond, then curiously eyed the other objects nestled within. "These seem a little out of place."

"Well, you put them in there," Jack couldn’t help but tease.

"I did?" Violet eyes went wide.

"Yep."

She critically assessed the items. "What was I thinking? Hiding guns would have made more sense considering our current circumstances, not footage of the walls."

Sam was surprised. "You remember what’s on the camcorders?"

Ann gave a helpless shrug, but Dan answered. "Anything we remember is by accident. Pops out when we least expect it." His sight focused on the small square box. Letters flashed in his mind. "GDO…Garage Door Opener."

The redhead frowned. "Garage…did we drive here? I hope it was in a friggin’ tank. We could ride right over those freaks outside."

Jack and Sam couldn’t help the snort of laughter that escaped from them and even Teal’c was fighting back a grin.

"No, we didn’t drive here," Sam had caught the frustrated look on her friend’s face, and tried to sympathize with her memory loss. It couldn’t be easy for either Annika or Daniel. "We need this to…er…open the ‘garage’ on the other side of the Stargate." She saw Jack about to crack up again and gave him a sharp elbow nudge.

Ann didn’t need to be a genius to realize that they had remembered something not quite right again. She gave the pedestal a irritated kick. "Dammit, I’m sick of not knowing anything!"

"Foltan," Daniel rubbed a calming hand against the small of her back. "From my understanding you’ve been here longer than the rest of us."

He nodded, "About six months by my calculations." He wandered over to also look at the pedestal’s contents.

"From what you’ve picked up, is creating memory loss a common thing that these…" He looked over at Jack, silently asking for the word.

"Fraggles?" he tried helpfully.

Dan shook his head, though he felt the spark of recognition from Ann. "Not the word I looking for."

"Bassats?" Sam suggested.

"Nooo…"

"Perhaps the term you are seeking is basilisks, Daniel Jackson." Teal’c supplied the term that the archaeologist first identified the creatures as.

Dan frowned a little, at hearing his full name…That sounded almost right…pushed the errant thought away. "Yes, basilisks…do to their prisoners?" he finished his question.

"Yes, but not until they have interrogated their captives, learning as much about them as they can." Foltan plucked out one of the camcorders. "These are recording devices?"

Sam nodded, retrieving the other recorder and GDO.

Dan was still trying to figure out why their memories had disappeared.

"It was perhaps fortunate that you did leave these here and lost your memories," Foltan began thoughtfully. "If you had been able to give them the information they required in your first interrogation…"

Jack gave a snort of laughter. "Never woulda’ happened. Daniel’s the most stubborn sonofabitch I’ve ever met. You too," he glanced at the redhead. "They wouldn’t have got a word out of them, except for a few prime insults."

"We are?" The comment distracted Dan from his thoughts.

"As I was saying," Foltan continued. "They would have treated you like any other subject, begun experimenting straight away."

Ann gave a shiver, "In that case I’m glad we’re a blank slate."

Jack, Sam and Teal’c gave her a sharp look.

"What?" she asked uneasily.

"Before we embarked on this mission you used similar words to describe Daniel Jackson and yourself," Teal’c supplied

"It’s possible that Annika’s blocked the memories," Sam speculated. "Your subconscious mind tends to do react unexpectedly when either of you two are…threatened."

"You’re saying I’ve done this?" Ann’s voice was incredulous.

They nodded.

"So how do I stop the block?"

Sam sounded regretful. "That generally depends on you."

"Perhaps once we are no longer in peril your memories shall return." Teal’c suggested, trying to ease her frustration.

"Well, I don’t see that happening anytime soon," she grumbled. Her fingers outlined the edge of the diamond. "Wonder if it’s solid…" Ann prodded the jewel. It tottered for a moment and she grabbed it with both hands before it toppled over.

Almost immediately there was a low rumbling noise and the room began to shake with such force they were thrown to the floor.

"Ooooh, shit!" She tried to replace the stone but the pedestal had snapped shut.

After a few moments it stopped.

"Everyone in one piece?" Jack asked.

From their sprawled positions on the floor they all checked in with the affirmative then warily scanned the temple for any damage, not willing to risk standing up just yet.

"What’d I do?" Ann was on the verge of tears. She hadn’t meant to cause a mini earthquake.

Dan felt her distress and tightened his arm around her. He had instinctively drawn her close as soon as the tremor had started, shielding her with his body. "It’s okay, no one was hurt."

"Way to go, Annika!" Jack smirked. "You did your job."

"Huh?" Worried eyes looked over at the team leader. "It’s my job to knock us on our ass'?"

"Nope." He waggled his fingers to his side. "You found us a way out."

They scrambled over to him to see what he meant.

Jack simply sat up and dangled his feet over the edge of the square opening that had revealed itself. A metal staircase led down into the darkness.

"Wonder where it leads." Sam was already pulling out a glow stick from her pocket. She snapped the inner core, creating the pale green light and threw it down. All it lit up was more steps.

"Don’t know," Jack quipped. "Don’t care. Wherever it goes, the Fraggles won’t be expecting us."

The others could find no flaw with that logic.

They headed down. After about twenty meters of gradual decline the steps tapered off into a passageway.

Teal’c took note of the direction. "It appears to be heading towards the Stargate." Though his voice was lower than his usual tone, the sound echoed loudly.

Jack agreed then whispered, "Let’s drop the talking." He cast a look upwards. "Don’t know how good a Fraggle’s hearing is."

The other’s nodded and the rest of their trek was done in silence.

Ann and Dan walked hand in hand, flanked in by the other members of SG-1. From somewhere in the back of his mind Dan knew that it was an automatic protective gesture on their behalf. It irked him as much as touched him. He realized that at the current time, Ann and he were the most vulnerable of the group, but he also knew that before this he had worked damned hard to become one of the flankers, rather than be a burden to the team. He caught a quick look from Ann and gave her a smile, which she returned. That tingly warmth erupted from beneath his heart and he did his best to ignore it. Stifling a sigh, he wished that he could talk. He only had one question, knew that Ann was almost bursting from wanting to know the answer. These people would know, but there hadn’t been much of a chance to ask. He swore at the very next opportunity he would ask it.

After about fifty minutes of walking down the straight passageway it changed into another set of steps, these ones leading up. The ceiling turned from sheeted metal to large stone tiles. At the top of the flight there was stone hatch with a lever. After a questioning look at the team leader who nodded, Teal’c pulled it down. There was a slight grinding noise as the hatch was released. Teal’c and Foltan pushed aside the stone tile and then the Jaffa hesitantly raised his head out to assess where they were.

"O’Neill, we are at the base of the Stargate." The black man sounded relieved.

"Okay, campers, lets go home."

Cautiously they climbed out, constantly scanning the area looking for anymore of the grey shadows.

Sam dialed up the DHD.

Dan and Ann watched the wormhole billow out then settle inside the ring. Though they both were amazed at the spectacle, their awe was overridden by a wash of familiarity. They knew this, had done this before. Eagerly they started towards event horizon. Behind that shimmering ‘water’ were the answers to all their questions. Once they stepped through everything would be okay, instinctively they knew this.

Jack called them back and reluctantly they stilled their desire to run through the rippling wall. Sam explained that they had to send a coded message to let the base know who was coming through. Like impatient kids the couple shuffled from foot to foot, waiting for the all clear to get going.

Sam grinned at them. "Okay, go for it."

Teal’c was already waiting directly in front of the wormhole and beat the couple through first. Without pause Dan and Ann leapt through the Stargate, followed quickly by Foltan, Sam and Jack.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Terree was sulking. His body ached from crossing the cave barrier. As soon as he was able he had summoned the others, to tell them where the escaped subjects and Reviled had gone. Instead of being praised for finding them once again, he’d been formally reprimanded in front of half the Bassat population that had gathered in front of the cave. Not only that, but his personal subjects had been confiscated as punishment for leaving subjects four-twenty and four-twenty-one unobserved. He couldn’t believe how unlucky he had been. The odds of them guessing not only the sequence to unlock the observation room door but the other combination to free their companions was so utterly remote that he found it almost impossible to comprehend that somehow they had done it. He didn’t believe in Gods, like some of the subjects did. But he found himself wishing he did so he could have someone to blame other than himself.

After the humiliating experience of having the Seniors rebuke him, Terree had scurried off not wanting anyone else to witness his shame. He sought refuge at the Chaapa’ai. It was the one place he had any chance of redeeming his sorry tail. The odds were against him that anyone new would step through the galactic gate, but without his subjects he now had nothing better to do with his time. Deciding he would assume a vigil until the next group of unsuspecting explorers arrived, he made himself comfortable at the bottom of a nearby tree. He could be extremely patient when he deemed it necessary and right now certainly qualified.

He was just settling himself, when he heard a soft grinding noise. Curious he looked for the source. He tried to hide his shock as he saw one of the stone tiles from the first step leading up to the Chaapa’ai, slide off its base into the grass. His heart thumped in erratic glee when one of the escaped Reviled hesitantly poked his head up, warily scanning the terrain. Terree started to lift his wrist device to inform the Seniors but he paused halfway. An idea formed in his head. If he could find out where these Reviled came from, it could result in a constant supply of them for the symposiums. The Bassats could make regular trips to capture them. Surely that kind of information would atone for his errors in judgment today. He glided closer to the dialing device, making sure that he kept to the shadows of the trees. Silently he watched the group emerge from the underground passageway. The female Reviled began tapping out the sequence to their home planet. Terree frowned when after the Chaapa’ai backwash settled into the ring, the Reviled leader stopped the two subjects from stepping through, and gestured to the female Reviled. She pulled out a small box from her pocket, aimed it at the gateway and typed in a short sequence.

That warranted further investigation. From his observations he deduced that it was some form of warning signal to the other end. He’d need to obtain one of those boxes if his plan was to succeed. He waited until the final member stepped through then dashed towards the Chaapa’ai before it shut down. Without hesitation he jumped through the silvery mass, maintaining his invisibility for when he reached the exit.