The smile on Annika’s lips widened when she stepped into the cool room. Daniel was still in the same spot as when she’d left. Except instead of standing he was now crouched low. Gently she caressed their bond. He was totally engrossed in the symbols and it took a few seconds for him to respond. She could feel his excitement, not because the walls were revealing ‘meaning of life stuff’, but because he was doing what he loved, what he’d been trained to do. And the way his emotions danced back to her, she also knew it was because she was there with him.

Sha’re had never shared his love of the written or rather inscribed word. She had learnt the glyphs on Abydos telling of her ancestor’s arrival to the desert planet, but it had only been used as a tool to incite the uprising against Ra. She hadn’t wondered about the person who had carved out the words. Hadn’t bothered to notice the tiny quirks and nuances in the symbols that identified the author as clearly as handwriting of modern times. For Annika it was a new love. Until Daniel, she had never had any inclination to learn about ancient history. She’d always thought she got enough doses of the past from her visions. She didn’t know if it was Daniel’s love of archaeology being transferred through their bond, or if just being exposed to the artifacts had awakened a latent desire within herself, or a combination of the two. What ever it was, Annika was beginning to love the ‘dull rock portions’, (as Jack called them,) of their missions.

"Hello, My Angel." It was said absently, though she felt another tickle beneath her heart. "How’re your translations going?"

"I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours," she grinned.

His lips tilted into a smile. "I admit it’s a challenge."

"The Goa’uld or the Ancient parts?" Annika knew that despite their division of who’d translate which language, Daniel wouldn’t have been able to resist reading both scripts of the wall he was working on.

"Ancient…" His finger traced a line of script. "The Goa’uld used it as a place of worship and ritual sacrifice. It’s just self-promoting bull."

"Bow before me I am your God type thing?"

He nodded.

"Mine too. There a few references to Nirrti as well."

"Nirrti? Well that might explain why there’re no people here. When she finished up with her experiments she tended to wipe out the local population." He gestured back to the walls. "The Ancient…it’s telling a story. Sort of like a daily log, but every few sentences there’s an odd phrasing that’s completely unrelated to the rest of the text."

"Like a code?" Her curiosity was piqued.

"Yes. I just haven’t been able to work it out yet." He sounded slightly frustrated. "There are four phrases that so far have each been repeated twice." He jotted down a series of glyphs that Annika presumed were the unusual ones.

"Maybe you should take a break," she suggested, trying to do as Ferretti wanted. "We’ve been at it non-stop for twelve hours now."

"Have we really? Doesn’t time fly…?" Daniel scribbled down a bit more. "I’ll just be a few more minutes."

Annika stifled a grin at the vague tone. It was an automatic response and she wondered how many times Jack had heard the same platitude. "Whistler wants us to get some rest."

"A few more seconds."

Time for plan B. Annika had never been under the illusion that tactic would work anyway. Yay! Time to play! "Have you studied the altar yet?" she asked, sitting herself down on the golden top and untying her boots.

"Nuh uh."

"It’s really quite interesting." She kicked off her shoes. The thud of rubber hitting the stone floor went unnoticed.

"Uh huh." He was only half listening, the glyphs in front of him holding most of his attention.

She unbuttoned her BDU shirt and tossed it towards their packs and then maneuvered her bra off without removing her t-shirt. "Much more interesting than the code you’re trying to break."

"I’ll be there in a sec."

Annika focused her will on the lacy garment, making it hover in the air. It drifted towards the oblivious man, floating over his head then down between his face and the wall. She saw him give a start at the unexpected appearance of the intimate apparel. Then there was an immediate shot of desire and his head swung around to face her. Annika coyly looked at him, with her bare feet dangling over the edge of the ancient table. "Have I ever mentioned that one of my fantasies is to make love in a temple?"

Daniel forgot about the walls. Forgot about the hidden code. All his mind could focus on now was the beautiful sight of the woman perched on the altar, watching him, waiting for him. Oh, yeah. It is definitely time for a break. "Fantasy?" His voice was a little hoarse as she very slowly lifted her shirt over her head.

"Yep." Her response was muffled by the material.

Those glorious mounds bounced free of all barriers, leaving only the khaki pants of her BDUs.

"Care to make it come true?" she asked huskily, her violet depths seducing him. "You did say we could play later…and, well, it is later."

"So it is. And we do have a temple." He slowly walked towards her, devouring her with his eyes. "I’m pretty sure that I could be persuaded to participate." He tucked his glasses into his top pocket when he was but two feet from her.

The soft sexy chuckle that tumbled from her throat made his stomach do flip flops.

"Glad to hear it, because I have no plans of going solo." Another toe curling laugh when Annika felt a shot of desire at that idea. "Did I just discover another of your fantasies?"

"Perhaps," he evaded, his hands stretching out to run over the small expanse of her bare waist, his thumbs moving in alluring circles over her ribcage. "But right now, this is your show."

"I’ll file it away for future reference." It came out a bit breathlessly as his fingers traveled up to cup the breasts that she had so tauntingly displayed.

"You do that." He bent his head to capture her lips. So soft and sweet, and all mine to enjoy. His tongue danced with hers, eagerly delving into her mouth, loving how her hands crept up to cup his jaw prolonging the kiss when he started to pull away. He’d only been planning to move his taste fest to the creamy stretch of her neck, but he indulged in a few more of those sugary kisses.

Annika curled her legs around Daniel, drawing him closer so his bourgeoning arousal pressed against the apex of her thighs, her heels running up and down the length of his inner leg from behind. He gave a slight swivel of his hips encouraging even closer contact through the cotton of their BDUs, causing a gasp to blow from her lips.

Daniel took hold of her hands, placing a soft kiss to each palm before extending them out to either side of her, making her lie down. "An altar’s offering was made to be worshipped," he murmured. His fingers trailed up her arms, sending fissions of heat rippling through her, moved across her shoulder to the valley of her breasts, then up to brush the tips of her nipples. "Let me worship you." His mouth closed around one pink nub, his tongue swirling around the areola, feeling it pucker beneath his lips. His roaming hands lovingly massaging the soft flesh, coaxing her other nipple to imitate the one he was suckling.

"As I’ll worship you," she promised, her back arching in an automatic reflex to her lover’s ministrations. Annika let loose the growing fire that she’d been barely holding at bay, letting it filter through her. Anticipation heightening her nerve endings, every caress, every gentle nip and suck made her body tingle all over. Daniel was the only person who could make her feel like this and she’d been slowing going out of her mind with desire with every passing hour they’d been working here. Oh, Gods, it wouldn’t take much to send me over the edge. And Daniel knew every little button of hers to push. Her hips were ever so slightly tilting up and down, rubbing against the rapidly growing shaft still nestled between her legs. With Daniel’s mouth encasing her breast, she felt as much as heard his low groan at the stimulating act.

Daniel smiled against her skin when he sensed how quickly Annika was building up to an orgasm. It was true that they both were insatiable when it came to making love, taking any opportunity to indulge. However Annika had been right. There was something about this Ancient building that had their senses in overload. He didn’t stop to question it, though he probably should have. His mind was clouded by the sight of Annika writhing beneath his caress. She’d never been so close to soaring so soon before. The sensuous bucking of her hips against his groin was becoming less controlled. The mere idea of her cumming before they’d even managed to remove all of her clothes was a turn on for him. He pushed against the clothed vee of her legs, increasing the tantalizing pressure and was rewarded with a soft mew echoing in his ears. He doubled his attention to the creamy mounds he was teasing, determined to hear that wonderful song of rapture. Letting the hard little nub fall from his mouth, he gently blew on the moist area, saw it pebble even more at the breeze his breath created. His tongue drew a playful path across the sensitive underside of her breasts, kissed his way back up her neck to her lips, his hand slipped beneath her to cup her behind, grinding her to him.

"Oh, gods!"

Daniel felt her thighs involuntarily tighten around his waist, her body quiver as her release pulsed through her. He had to battle to stop himself from exploding right along with her. Watching her eyes glow, feeling the depth of love through their invisible bond, was as much of an aphrodisiac to him as any physical stimulation she gave him. Her arms encircled his neck, and he pulled her upright as he straightened. "Temple’s pretty potent, isn’t it?"

"Oh, it had little to do with the temple and everything to do with you." She nuzzled the base of his neck, her hands working the buttons of his shirt. "Let’s say we even up the score."

His shirt was peeled off, allowed to drop to the altar base unheeded. Then she wiggled backwards on the table top, urging him to climb up with her. He leaned against the altar, making quick work of his boots, tossing them aside with his socks, while Annika maneuvered his t-shirt up, patiently waiting for his hands to be free so she could draw it over his head and arms.

Annika explored his body from behind, her lips kissing along the broad breath of his shoulders, the soft curve along his spine. Her hands snaked around him, roaming over the washboard ripples of his stomach and up to his chest. When her mouth traced the path towards his neck, he twisted his head to catch her lips. Without breaking the kiss, she guided him back and he swung his legs up so he was lying along the altar’s length.

She straddled him, her fanny shimmying down to torment his fully aroused shaft still trapped within his trousers, and he couldn’t stop his gasp at the contact. The touch of her fingers, the teasing raking of her nails over his sensitized skin wreaked havoc with his throbbing libido.

Breaking off the kiss, Annika blazed a direct trail of feather light kisses down his chest, making his muscles twitch the further down she went like a wave. Nimble fingers undid the button and zipper of his pants and eased the BDUs down. He lifted his hips to assist her and she slid his boxers off, before settling herself between his legs. She continued that maddening whisper of her lips around his inner thigh, her breath a warm caress to his freely erect manhood, tormenting him with what was to come.

Annika’s eyes flickered up to see Daniel had risen up on his elbows to watch her, the blue of his eyes deepening with pent up passion. She purposefully maintained eye contact as her tongue darted out to swirl around the tip of his velvety rod, making it swell even more. His breathing became slightly ragged when she zigzagged her way from top to base, dipping lower to suck gently on the twin orbs beneath. When she finally did take him fully into her mouth, she felt his whole body quiver. How she loved doing this to him, for him…and if truth be known, for herself. Nothing gave her more of a thrill than to feel him grow harder and harder with every swish and whirl of her tongue. Hearing his short shallow breaths, feeling the tensing of his muscles at the onset of his orgasm, feeling his love and unadulterated ardor beneath her heart that she was willing to perform this act. Daniel had admitted early on in their relationship that Sha’re hadn’t enjoyed giving nor receiving oral pleasure, and that fact that Annika did, elated him. As she eagerly bobbed up and down on him, all she could think was Sha’re hadn’t known what she was missing out on. And if the promise in Daniel’s eyes were anything to go by, he would return the delectable treatment she was so happily giving him.

As much as much as she enjoyed tasting the saltiness of what was about to be expelled, she had other plans. Daniel’s gravelly moan echoed in her ears, his head thrown back and Annika let the swollen member fall from her lips, timing it so that it spurted out covering his chest and stomach.

Feeling the heat of his own essence hit his torso surprised Daniel. It wasn’t often Annika let it happen. Normally she eagerly swallowed down every last drop. Languidly he gazed down at her, curiosity tilting his head.

The smile that flashed across her face was wickedly indulgent. A trickle of the rapidly cooling liquid decorating his skin started to drip down his side, and his muscles jerked at the sensation. Before he could stop it from dropping to the altar, Annika’s finger caught it. She retraced its path over his abdomen anointing his skin. When it was relocated to her satisfaction, she placed the finger to her lips, slowly sucking the residue off. "Mustn’t waste any."

Annika raised herself on all fours, positioning herself over him. Her head dipped down, kissing the length of his neck, licking at the few drops that had reached that far. Then inch by inch she proceeded to clean off the life force that had dried on his body. Making sure that not one bit was missed by her tongue, swirling all over his chest. Gliding over his nipple she halted, sucking gently, running her teeth over it until it tightened beneath her lips.

Despite the blessed release of a few moments ago, Daniel’s body very quickly stirred into a second round. Tiny rivers of fire tingled through him wherever her tongue traveled to pool around his groin. A delicious ache, that like a dam filled to overflowing, would soon need to burst free. Oh, but I have yet to drink from My Angel’s sweet well… When she moved higher to lick clean another stray drop from his collarbone, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her down on top of him. His lips sought hers and he relished the taste of him still lingering in her mouth.

Rolling them over, his hand sought the waistband of her BDUs and with practiced ease, undid the button and zipper. He hooked his thumbs beneath the cotton of her bikinis tugging them off with the trousers, taking the time to stroke the full length of her legs from hip to ankle. Then he kissed his way back up, lightly trailing over her calves, pausing to explore the hollow of her knee, caressing the soft inner skin of her thighs. Steadily moving ever upwards he gave a happy sigh before dipping his head to nestle in the curls surrounding her slick entrance. When his tongue slipped between the wet folds, her body gave a jolt and a husky little moan hit the back of her throat. No matter how much she squirmed in wanton need, he wouldn’t be rushed, teasing her with tiny nips and sucks, bringing her to the brink before easing off.

"Gods, Daniel, please!" Annika begged, raking her hands through his hair in an attempt to get him to finish what he had started and was so frustratingly and wonderfully delaying.

With a grin Daniel increased his rhythm, swirling around the little pearl burning for release. There was that delightful little tremble of her thighs a second before his name sang from her lips, her hot juices flowing for him to leisurely lap up. Giving her a moment to catch her breath he scooted his knees under him to kneel in front of her.

Their eyes locked on each other, neither needing words to express the love that hammered in their hearts, the molten yearning for the final act of their joining to be complete.

If they had been paying attention to their surroundings they would have noticed the wire thin blue light that lit up the base of the altar. The first of the lights at the short ends of the rectangular platform activated when Annika had been taking such delight enticing Daniel to orgasm. The longer bars had flickered on when Daniel had eagerly set his attention to making Annika soar.

Unaware of the alterations to their surroundings, the two lovers had linked hands, Daniel helping Annika to sit up. She shuffled forward on her knees, being drawn into the warm circle of his arms. Their lips met in a kiss that only fuelled their passion, gentle yet demanding at the same time. A mutual sigh of pure pleasure rolled from their entwined tongues when Annika lowered herself onto his erect shaft.

She playfully tugged his lower lip with hers. "There’s not a thing in the universe that could feel half as good as this."

"Couldn’t agree more," he replied huskily, his embrace tightening. "We were made for each other." He felt her inner muscles flex around his buried member and he instinctively pushed deeper into her.

Annika responded in kind, meeting him thrust for thrust. "Destined to love," she gasped, in between kisses.

Their movements became more and more fervid as they spiraled towards the climax of their fusion.

"Forever and ever." It came out in a ragged whoosh. He shifted his hold to her waist to maintain the rhythm they had set as they pounded against each other, each bucking of their pelvis’s building the delicious tension that consumed them.

"Amen!" she cried out, feeling Daniel tense beneath her, his guttural groan mixing with hers as he gushed into her, sending her once again over the edge.

It took a few seconds for either of them to realize that the trembling assaulting their bodies was not solely due to the power of their union. The moment Daniel’s creamy whiteness exploded within Annika there was a soft hiss, drowned out by the lovers’ rapturous cries and the altar began lowering into the floor. By the time it took for two haggard breaths to be sucked into heaving chests, the altar had descended into a hidden room. It was the soft grating noise of the stone floor…now roof, grinding shut above their heads that made them aware of their current predicament.

"Uh oh." Daniel gazed bemusedly around the unfamiliar room.

"Where’d the temple go?" Annika blinked at the walls of the small chamber.

"I think we’re underneath it," Daniel surmised. He gave her a tight hug and then clambered off the tabletop. "Well, this is a bit inconvenient."

"To put it mildly," Annika snorted.

"Could have been worse." He was already moving closer to the glyphs to investigate. The look she gave him was one of disbelief and he shrugged, "Could have happened during rather than after."

She grinned, "Now that would have been an inconvenient interruption."

"The Goa’uld never gained access to this room." His voice animated as he surveyed the writing free of Goa’uld inscriptions. The fact that they were naked and trapped in a room with no apparent exit was temporarily forgotten.

While Daniel started translating, Annika scoured the altar and platform for clothes. She came up with Daniel’s BDU shirt and his trousers. Nothing else. It seemed that all of Annika’s clothes had inconveniently been left topside. She heaved a sigh. It would be mortifying to have any of SG-2 walk into the temple and find her underwear strewn around the place… Uh oh. If SG-2 found her clothes and no sign of either Daniel or herself, they’d immediately alert the base. When they eventually did get out of here, she, and undoubtedly Daniel, would die of shame.

She tossed the pants towards Daniel who absently caught them and pulled them on, his eyes never leaving the walls. Annika nearly drowned in Daniel’s shirt, but at least it covered the important bits. As she rolled up the sleeves, her eyes focused on the boarder decorating the altar. She recognized it as script. "Daniel, look at this." She pulled out his glasses from her shirt pocket.

The archaeologist spun around to investigate. Sliding the frames on he quickly scanned the tiny writing. "Well, I know how we activated this mini elevator."

She waited patiently for an explanation.

He gave a wry smile. "The right tribute of the seed of life will reap rewards."

For a moment Annika stared blankly at him and then realization hit. "You mean this is our reward for…"

"Trying to get me to take a break." A low chuckle escaped.

She folded her arms over her chest and huffed, "What’s so amusing?"

"This is a classic example of karma biting us in the ass."

Against her wishes her lips twitched. "This is gonna give Jack at least a month’s worth of quips." Hope filled her voice. "Maybe we can convince Whistler not to tell."

Daniel gave a snort of laughter and her hopes were crushed. "We may be able to get him to carefully word the official report, but you can bet the second he gets Jack alone he’ll give him a blow by blow account."

"Crap," she groused. "We are never gonna live this down."

"Nope." He planted a light kiss to her temple. "You’d better Casper on up and let Ferretti know we’re okay and I’ll start working on a way out."

"Okay." Annika sat down with her back against the altar’s base and centered her breathing. A second later her astral self emerged. "Back soon."

A  A  A  A  A  A

There was a gentle tap on his shoulder. Ferretti spun around, instantly alert. When he saw the ghostly image of Annika, his heart plummeted. His first thought was, I am a fuckin’ dead man. If the colonel’s ‘kids’ did not step through the Stargate in thirty hours time, Jack would shoot him dead.

"Whistler, we’ve hit a little snag," she whispered.

"What?" he kept his voice low.

"We…um…sort of activated a device," she explained. "We’re trapped in a room below the temple."

Okay, not so bad. Ferretti allowed himself to breathe. "What did you do? We can open it from this end."

The woman turned as red as her hair. "Don’t think that’ll work."

"Why not?"

"Whistler, look at what I’m wearing." She hovered uncomfortably.

He studied the apparition. All she had on was a BDU shirt that barely covered the tops of her thighs. His eyes widened, when he realized that his first guess of Annika’s persuasion had been spot on. "Were you…?"

"Yep," Annika cut him off, her tone strained.

"Is that what triggered the…?"

"Yep."

"Okay," Oh, yeah, I am a dead man walking…well, standing. "So repeating the…er…circumstances is out."

She shook her head. "Unless two of your team are out of the closet."

"Not likely." He bit back a bark of laughter. "We could get Jack and Sam…"

"Don’t you dare!" It came out a strangled hiss. "We have a whole day to find a way out. We were hoping that we could keep this quiet for the time being. Daniel is working on it. We just didn’t want you to worry."

Not worry? The base’s resident genius was trapped in a hidden room, that could hold any number of unpleasant surprises and Annika was telling him not to worry. Yeah, like that is even a fuckin’ option. Jackson had spent more time in the infirmary than whole teams put together, the guy had a built in radar that drew ‘accidents’ to him. "You’re not hurt, are you?"

"Does severe embarrassment count?"

At her quip Ferretti relaxed slightly. Okay, maybe not a dead man. Maybe Jack will only put my nuts in a sling. He started striding to the temple to confirm the situation. As he did so he glanced at his watch. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Drifting beside him, she sighed. "Considering the circumstances, fire away."

"How long have you been trapped in there?" He was leading up to his query. He’d caught the tail end of a conversation between Jack and Daniel in the locker room and it had made him curious. He’d been waiting for the opportunity to clarify what he’d heard and this was a golden moment.

Slim shoulders shrugged. "A couple of minutes, maybe five at most. We figured you should know as soon as possible."

They entered the temple and Annika gestured to the now bare platform.

He acknowledged the missing altar. "And when you first went back in, you let Rock Doc finish the wall he was translating?"

"No, not really." Annika zipped around the room, gathering the remainder of Daniel’s and her clothes, tucking them into their packs.

Ferretti hesitated. He had no friggin’ right to ask, it really was none of his business…but dammit, Doctor Jackson wasn’t the only one who was incurably curious. "I…ah…heard Jack and Daniel talking the other day."

"Uh huh."

"And, well…um…"

"Whistler, spit it out," Annika grinned. "Rest assured that if I don’t want to answer your question, I’ll tell you to take a flying leap." She waggled her fingers. "Maybe even make you take a flying leap."

"For the last two hours you’ve been…er…" Ferretti searched for a diplomatic description, "doing the deed?"

Annika didn’t skip a beat. "I know, it was a quickie, but I’m kinda tired too."

The major simply blinked at her. He would not let his jaw drop. He wouldn’t. Two hours was a quickie? Sweet Mary and Joseph, so what would constitute an all out sex romp in their world?

"Did that answer your question?" She was enjoying seeing Ferretti’s face turn a distinct shade of pink. She’d made two tough military men blush in one day. That had to be a personal record!

"Ah, yes," he choked.

"Because I could elaborate," she continued on like they were discussing the weather. "Let’s see…first Daniel ravished me, and then I paid equal attention to him…"

"Stop!" Ferretti covered his ears with his hands.

"…Then he performed some more wickedly delightful acts. That man is quite talented you know…"

"I’m not listening." He started singing loudly to drown out her voice. "La la laaa, la la la laaa!"

"But you started this conversation," Annika reminded innocently.

"Yeah, well, that’ll teach me to open my trap," he grumbled.

"Next time mind your own business," she sniggered. "I’d better get back to Daniel."

"Keep us updated," Ferretti ordered.

She gave a mock salute as she drifted down into the stone floor.

A  A  A  A  A  A

When Annika merged back with her body, Daniel had already moved on the next wall. Though her body had been conscious while she had split, she remained sitting, keeping out of her fiancé’s way while he deciphered the text.

"Going quicker than topside," she noted, coming to stand next to him.

His arm automatically draped around her shoulders. "It’s the same author, but this time he gets straight down to business." The exhilaration in his voice was clear.

"What’s it say?"

"I’ve read something like this before. It’s almost an exact replica of the temple on the Bassat’s planet."

"It’s related to the mystery weapon?"

He gave an emphatic nod, his eyes gleaming. "It seems that there was a third person entrusted with hiding the instruction manual. It’s somewhere in here."

Annika immediately began scanning the room looking for a hidden alcove. "Where?"

"No idea. But we can’t leave until we find it."

She agreed. Annika let Daniel continue on with the translating since she only knew a few Ancient symbols. Instead she considered what they knew of this mysterious weapon and the strange occurrences they had no explanation for. Even for the Ancients, it was baffling.

Daniel felt the serious turn of her thoughts. "What are you thinking about?"

She sighed. "Don’t you find it a bit odd?"

He grinned. "You may have to be more specific."

"Why didn’t the temple light up for Ferretti and the others?"

Daniel tilted his head in concentration. "I don’t know."

"And knowing the Goa’uld, I can’t imagine that it was the first time someone had sex on the altar."

"Probably not."

"So why now? Why with us?"

His brow furrowed in thought. "There have been numerous references to ‘the right ones’," he speculated. "Maybe we’re the right ones."

"But how did the Ancients know thousands of years ago who we are?"

"I’m not sure they knew ‘us’ specifically, although they may well have, the Bassat temple told of a seer who predicted someone would need the weapon again. But I think they programmed the temple to look for specific markers."

"The Bassat temple didn’t light up until all of us entered."

"Maybe all of us were supposed to find that particular temple."

"And only two of us for this one?"

His lips twitched. "The…er…altar only required two bodies."

"So using the theory that all five of us are ‘the ones’, then it could have just as easily been Jack and Sam to activate it."

Daniel nodded then gave a snort of laughter. "Lucky for us, we were the ones to come here. I don’t think Jack and Sam will be making love off-world anytime soon, not after last week’s mishap."

"Pity. They don’t know what they’re missing."

For the next three hours, Daniel finished deciphering the walls, while Annika turned her attention to the altar, looking for any clue on either a way out or the instruction manual’s location.

Daniel ran a frustrated hand through his hair when they came up blank. "Can you sense anything?"

Annika closed her eyes, opening herself up to the room. After a few seconds she shook her head. "Only that it’s here. Somewhere. I could try to focus the energy, see if meditating will help."

He nodded then began rereading the text, looking for any anomalies he might have missed.

She climbed on top of the altar, positioning herself so she was in the dead center of the chamber and slowed her breathing. With every breath she inhaled the energy buzzing in the air. Annika concentrated on the man who engraved the symbols.

Daniel had taken a few steps back, studying the first wall. Maybe he was too close. Instead of reading the individual glyphs, he looked at it like a picture, seeking any sort of visual pattern.

A slide show of images flashed through Annika’s mind. The construction of the room, the careful placement of the crystals to activate the altar, the small rectangular object he clutched to his chest, then placed inside a small niche in the wall to her left. His hand waved over the entrance and the compartment slid shut, the seam indiscernible to the naked eye. Around the room three glyphs glowed a bright blue, activating the fail safe device, then the lights flickered out. Annika’s hand slowly rose, pointing to the spot that was identical on each of the walls.

Daniel didn’t need for her to indicate the three symbols. The glyphs were arranged in an alternating square pattern. The outside box was slightly bolded, then the next one was plain, the third bolded and so forth, until there was only one glyph highlighted in the middle. He could have kicked himself it was so straightforward.

"Do you think it’s as easy as simply pushing the glyphs?" Annika asked.

"Well, we have already passed a ‘test’ to get in here." Daniel was studying the symbol closest to him, but he kept his hands by his side. "This one says, soul…" He moved to the next one. "…Heurist…" and then the third. "…Lover."

"Odd combination." Annika slid off the altar to stand beside him. "The question is, are they significant or coincidental?"

"Knowing the Ancients, it’s probably significant," he concluded. "Did you sense any sort of booby-trap?"

"No," the psychic answered. "I got the feeling of assurance…no, that’s not the right word." She struggled to find the right description. "Double checking."

Daniel shrugged. "We’ll never know if we don’t try." He hit the single glyph.

The couple waited with baited breath for something to happen. After a few seconds when the walls didn’t begin closing in on them and the floor didn’t fall out from under their feet, they heaved a sigh of relief. All that had happened was the symbol started glowing blue.

Annika stepped up to the next wall and tapped the required symbol.

Nothing happened.

With a frown she pushed at it again, with the same results.

"Why won’t this one light up?"

"I have no idea." The archaeologist tried the third symbol, which also remained frustratingly un-illuminated.

Annika glared at the single blue light that seemed to be mocking them. "So why did you light up?"

She could almost hear Daniel’s brain ticking over, a hundred different possibilities being considered and rejected until he came up with a logical reason…

"You’re my lover."

Okay, not quite the brilliant epiphany I was expecting. "Nice of you to notice," she said dryly.

"I’m your lover."

"Right…" She drew out the word. At the moment she was two steps behind her fiancé.

"That." He pointed across the room to the lit symbol. "Says ‘lover’."

She caught on. "Which one did I hit?"

"Heurist."

"Isn’t that something to do with trial and error?"

Daniel nodded. "Heuristic is a method of teaching that encourages students to discover solutions for themselves."

"Okay, so a heurist is the teacher." She was thinking out loud. "You’re a teacher…" She gave a huff of half-hearted indignation. "…And you’re using the heuristic method on me right now."

With a grin he waved his hand in a circular motion, encouraging her to continue on with that thought.

Annika couldn’t help but roll her eyes. "Smartass," she groused, but finished up the ‘lesson’. "…So you should have hit that one as well."

"Pretty sure either one of us could have hit the ‘lover’ glyph," he chuckled.

"But both of us have a soul." Annika moved on to the final word. "And your soul is about as pure as they come. Your aura tells me that whenever I look at you."

Daniel tried to ignore the flush of his cheeks at the compliment. "I don’t think that’s what it means. Soul is another word for chi. You use your life-force on a daily basis with your abilities."

"In other words, we need to swap places."

He nodded and they switched. When they tapped ‘their’ glyphs both lit up. With triumphant grins, they turned to the fourth wall to witness a small panel slide silently open to reveal an object about the size of a cell phone.

"That’s an instruction manual?" Annika peered at the device that had a smattering of Ancient inscribed on the top.

"It looks similar to a few of the holographic devices we’ve found. We shouldn’t have a problem activating it." Daniel removed it and the panel slid shut.

Annika’s gaze eagerly swept the room and he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I was kinda hoping that when we moved the device, an exit would magically appear," she admitted. "Like in the Bassat temple."

"Now that would just be too convenient." He tucked the holo-device into a side pocket of his BDUs and looked around the room again. "The Ancients must have left us some sort of clue as to how to get out. The information is here, we just need to find it."

Daniel’s comment tugged at her mind. "The Ancient who did this, he loved words. He blabbered on up there." She gestured to the temple above their heads. "The buttons to open the compartment were specific symbols, hidden within the script."

"He liked word games." Daniel caught her train of thought. His eyes lit up. "The odd phrases that kept being repeated on the walls topside." He began skimming the script. "I know I’ve read them down here as well."

In less than a minute he’d located one of the phrases and without hesitation he tapped the symbols. He was rewarded with one side edge of the altar platform lighting up. Annika scrambled onto the altar as Daniel found the second phrase and another side lit up. Within five minutes he had identified the last two sets of symbols and he leapt onto the platform just before it began to ascend.

"Going up," Annika imitated a department store elevator attendant. "Next level, clothing, restaurant, camping equipment and exit. Thank you for shopping at Ancient Basement, we hope you have a pleasant evening."