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My Friend, Danny 

Mike peeked out of the tent. He’d heard the soft voices, watched as Daniel and Casey sat cuddled together, drinking coffee. He pulled on his clothes, glanced at his still sleeping lover, then slipped out of the tent.

Casey noticed him; gave a wide, welcoming smile. "Good morning!"

"Good morning," he replied. "Must be your second cup," he teased, nodding at her mug of coffee.

She giggled. "Third, actually. I had last watch."

"Ah, that explains it." Mike glanced at Daniel. Wondered if the very ‘not-a-morning-person’ archaeologist was actually awake enough for a discussion.

"What’s up?" Daniel asked, not missing the look the man had given him.

"Well…um…Bernie and I had a little talk last night."

Daniel tensed. No doubt he was about to receive two resignations. Not that he could blame either of his friends. To be kidnapped on their second trip off-world wasn’t something that could be easily accepted. He waited for Mike to continue.

"I won’t say I wasn’t scared to death yesterday. Because I was. Bernie…I think Bernie was more pissed off than anything."

Daniel snorted, then chuckled.

"But…well, you might as well get permanent name tags for our desks. We’re staying."

He felt his heart begin to pound in his chest. "Seriously?"

Mike grinned. "Seriously. We couldn’t go back the UDub and try to teach now, not even if they offered us tenure. And a dig on Earth? Not nearly as exciting as this," he said, waving toward the step pyramid.

"That’s fantastic!" Daniel exclaimed, his face lighting up at the news.

"We’re going to talk to Adam and Tina as soon as we get back…we figured they’d know a good realtor."

"Sounds like a plan," Daniel acknowledged.

It hadn’t been until he’d actually uttered the words that it hit Mike that his comment might sound like a slight toward his old friend. "It’s not that we don’t think you and Casey would help, we know you would, it’s just-"

Casey put her hand on Mike’s arm. "It’s okay, Mike. As much as I wish we could spend more time together, our schedule is just so erratic…and different…"

Mike smiled, and patted the small hand on his sleeve. "You’re part of an SG team. I’ve already learned what that means. We’ll get together; Berns wants to have the two of you over for dinner as soon as we’re settled. It’s just that…we know we’re not going to be…well, we aren’t going to be your best friends."

Daniel ducked his head. Sometimes reality could be a real bitch. At least, he thought, heaving a silent sigh, Mike understood that his absences weren’t because he didn’t consider the man a good friend. So many years had passed, even though they’d tried to stay in touch; and they had actually managed to get together a time or two. But they’d moved on, and their lives had taken different directions. Even if their paths had converged once again, the closeness they’d once shared was part of the past, and would probably never be part of their future. Reality is a cold-hearted bitch.

"Daniel?" Mike asked, a slight frown on his face.

"I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you and Bernie are going to stay," Daniel said honestly, his smile…and his eyes…reflecting that joy. "We might not see each other every day…or even on what could be considered a ‘regular’ basis – but having you at the SGC is gonna be great."

His grin nearly split his face. "Yeah, I think so, too," Mike replied.

Teal’c appeared from behind the pyramid. He shifted the P90 he carried to his side.

"So what’d you find, Big Guy?" Casey asked.

"So far, I have been unable to locate any entrance," Teal’c replied.

Mike nodded. "Bernie couldn’t find anything, either."

Daniel frowned. "That is just too weird. There has to be a way into that thing."

Bernie joined the group at that moment. Glanced around, and realized that the general and Colonel Carter were standing beside the open Stargate.

"Sam’s making our report, and asking for one of the ships to come do a scan," Daniel explained. "I talked to General Hammond about thirty minutes ago. He seemed open to the idea. I told him Sam and Jack would be giving the team report, and told Sam that I’d talked to him about it. She said something about wanting ore analyses, and that the ships had the capability of doing that as well."

"Major Wheaton mentioned something about ore analyses as well," Bernie said, helping herself to the coffee from the pot nestled among the coals of the fire.

"It would help to know if this planet has had any value to the Goa’uld in the past, or if whoever made that thing," Daniel pointed at the pyramid, "were the first or only people to come here. And I’d sure like to know where they went. I just don’t believe they’d come here, build that thing and leave."

"You think they’re somewhere else on the planet?" Casey asked.

"I do," Daniel nodded. "They left that…almost like a calling card. But I’m guessing they knew living near the Stargate could be dangerous."

"Well, if anyone is out there, we’ll know in a few hours," Sam said, walking up to the fire. Jack was beside her, his arm draped around her shoulders.

"General Hammond agreed?" Daniel asked excitedly.

"Yes, he did. He said you were quite persuasive in your argument about the mystery the pyramid presents. And not knowing as much as we can about it could prove to be a problem later," Sam replied.

Daniel nodded. There had been at least half a dozen times that structures found by SG teams, and left ‘unexplained’, later turned out to be something of which they should have been aware. Every time it had happened, a Goa’uld was involved. He glanced at the pyramid. There had to be a Goa’uld who had taken all those people, most probably with the aid of slave traders; so many cultures were represented in the markings. They needed to know who, why, and what had happened to those people. They also needed to know what was inside that pyramid.

"Okay, Radar, where’s the oatmeal?" Jack asked, rubbing his hands together.

Casey looked up, squinting as the morning sun became brighter. "In my pack. In the tent."

"Gonna get it?"

"Guess I could." The seer remained seated.

Jack waited for a few moments. Noted that his companions had exchanged amused glances. "Um…gonna get it some time this morning?"

She sighed dramatically. "What the hell did the four of you do before I was part of the team? Skip breakfast?"

"Usually," Daniel responded immediately, just before taking a sip of his coffee.

Casey rose to her feet. "It’s not because of my radar that you need me. You need me to keep your asses from starving to death." The sound of laughter followed her as she made her way to the tent she and Daniel shared. It was only a minute or so before she returned, a large plastic bag filled with smaller, foil packets in her hand.

Teal’c had already filled the larger pot that he carried with water, and was putting it on the fire. The small ladle that had been inside the pot was nestled in a napkin, and was on the ground beside the pit.

"Major Wheaton said that every team in the mountain likes being assigned to work with SG-1, because…" Bernie paused, frowned slightly, "how did he put it? Oh, yes. Because, and I quote, ‘Mrs. J always brings breakfast and snacks’. Apparently they believe that they’ve reached nirvana if you bring along your cookies."

Casey blushed, and ducked her head. "Just making sure I get something to eat that I like," she murmured.

Daniel put his arm around her shoulders. "Case, takes good care of all of us, that’s for sure."

Sam nodded her agreement. "Remember the first group of pilots, when we had to check out those ruins before we played war games?"

"I remember," Jack said. He would never forget that particular mission…and meeting Zeus for the first time.

"They were so excited about the oatmeal," Sam continued. "Then, after lunch, Casey handed out candy bars."

"I believe that several of the pilots gave their hearts to Casey Jackson at that moment," Teal’c said, his cheek twitching slightly.

Daniel snorted. "No doubt." He noted the worried frown that flickered for just a moment on his wife’s face. "Quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Lucky for me," he said, pulling his wife closer, "I’m the guy who won her love."

Casey looked into his blue eyes…could see his love blazing there. "I dunno, Stud Muffin, I think I’m the lucky one."

"You two are just disgusting. Married how long, and still carrying on like that?" Jack teased.

When the water was hot enough, the foil packets were opened, water ladled into them, and plastic spoons used to stir the oatmeal. The group was quiet as they ate, each enjoying the warmth of the meal, even as the sun continued to rise and warm the air around them.

It only took a few minutes for the trash to be dealt with, the tents zipped to keep the majority of insects out, and the fire carefully banked.

Lined up in front of the pyramid, seven people stared at it in silence for several minutes. The colorful walls remained mute, and offered nothing more than what had already been discovered.

Daniel knelt down to examine the corner where the covering plaster had been carefully removed, revealing more Aztec symbols. He ran his fingers over the exposed worked, then tapped carefully. "Stone," he muttered to himself.

Mike and Bernie squatted down beside him. "We think it’s possible that the entire lower level has been covered with this plaster," Bernie said.

"Possibly." Daniel eased his fingertips between the stone of the lower layer, and the plaster. Smiled and winked as his wife when Casey slipped his dig kit into his other hand. With the competence of experience, he began to cut the plaster away from the stone. He looked at the carefully removed pieces. The markings were still clear, making further translation possible. "Sam, could you send a message to Beth?"

Sam nodded. "Sure. What do you need?"

"Tell her I need a storage container for plaster wall pieces." He tried to calculate the length of the wall. "Tell her to send a dozen, and plenty of bubble wrap."

"You got it," Sam replied, already walking away from the group.

"Case?"

"Yep."

"As soon as those containers get here, I need these pieces wrapped and packed."

"Okay."

Daniel glanced at Bernie and Mike. "Okay, let’s get this top layer off." He paused, then frowned. "Bernie, you did a walk around this, didn’t you?"

"Sure did. Airman Sanders was with me," Bernie affirmed.

"You didn’t notice anything different about this level on the other sides?"

The archaeologist shook her head.

"Okay, I need for you to tap around on each side. I want to know if this is the only side that’s been reworked. It will sound like this." Daniel demonstrated by tapping gently where the plaster remained on the wall.

"Got it." Bernie scurried to the side of the pyramid, dropped to her knees and began tapping. She slid forward, and tapped again. Slid forward…tapped. Slid forward…tapped. "Well, this side is stone," she called, tapping a bit harder to confirm her discovery.

"You think this is the only side that’s been changed?" Mike asked.

"I think so. What I need to know is why. Do we have video of the wall before you started taking this off?" Daniel asked.

"Yep," Mike assured him.

"Okay, we’ll get Bernie to tell us what this says. Then we’ll have to see what the original says."

"Is that the only level that’s been changed?" Casey asked.

Daniel looked up, then glanced at Mike.

"We didn’t check the others. We’d just discovered this when-" Mike broke off, cleared his throat. He looked over his shoulder for a moment, then back down at Daniel. "We hadn’t had a chance to find out."

"Well, let’s find out." Daniel began tapping the next level, Mike was tapping the level above him. "Teal’c, can you reach that level?"

"I can, Daniel Jackson."

"You should be able to tell if it’s stone or plaster," Daniel said.

Teal’c nodded, and began tapping on the next highest level.

The men moved completely around the pyramid; the result, they agreed, was that the levels were stone. Daniel stared at the three upper levels. "Casey, if Teal’c gets you up there, can you check those levels? You’ll have to climb to the top two."

"Sure." She’d just settled her boots on the ledge offered by the ‘steps’ of the pyramid when Sam came back, followed by Beth Meyers and Adam Warnke, all three pulling along large composite containers.

"We aren’t staying," Beth said, as she came around the bushes that hid the pyramid. "Oh, my goodness!"

Jack grinned. "Yeah, seems every rock reader who’s seen that thing so far has said the same thing."

Beth chuckled, then moved closer. She watched Casey as she carefully moved along, tapping the wall gently. Her smile changed to a frown as she began to study several of the marks she could see. "Daniel?" 

"Yeah?"

"Did you see the Celtic markings up there?"

He was on his knees, carefully pulling a piece of plaster from the wall, doing his best not to break the chunk into smaller pieces. His head flew up. "Say what?"

"There are Celtic markings up there," Beth said, pointing to where Casey was working.

"I’ll be damned," he muttered. "Any plaster up there, Case?"

"Nope. It’s all stone." Casey tapped again, on a tile with what she thought was a very pretty blue tree. At least it looked like a tree to her! She tapped again. Suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of stone grinding against stone.

"Radar, what the hell did you just do?" Jack demanded, trying to determine where the sound was coming from.

Just inches above the ground the – on the left side of the pyramid from where Daniel was kneeling – the first three lower sections of the wall were sliding apart, creating a wide opening.

Beth nodded. "That’s a Celtic Tree," she said, pointing to the tile Casey had just tapped. "The Celtic word for ‘oak’, which is what the drawing represents – an oak tree – is daur. Daur is the origin, the root, for the Celtic word door. The Celtic Tree was a symbol of strength, sometimes used as a symbol for community, and was always linked to the ‘Otherworld’."

"Mike, did you see any symbols that could be interpreted as doorways or openings or anything like that?" Daniel asked.

The older archaeologist shook his head. "No, I don’t believe I did."

Bernie had finished her examination of the lowest level of the pyramid, finding nothing but stone. "I didn’t find any references to doors or openings either," she said.

Daniel frowned, watching as Casey clung to the side of the stone structure. "Come on down, Angel, I don’t think you’re going to find any plaster up there."

Teal’c reached for her, grasping her legs, then allowing her to slide down against him, until she was able to put her feet safely on the ground.

"Thanks, Big Guy."

"You are welcome."

Doctor Warnke had been examining the tiles as well, looking for any symbols or letters him might recognize, but found nothing that would indicate any of the cultures with which he was most familiar were present. He peeked into the interior of the pyramid. "Sure is dark in there," he intoned.

Daniel laughed. "Yeah, figures. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to go back to the SGC and get a few lights."

"Bet I would," Adam grinned, already walking in the direction of the ‘gate.

"I’ll go with him,’ Beth offered. "I’ll tell George what’s going on, then I’ll come back and help you pack this up."

"Thanks, Beth. I appreciate it," Daniel said. He waved as the two archaeologists hurried toward the Stargate. For a moment he wondered just what General Hammond would say when his wife informed him that the team would be staying for at least another day, and that she and Doctor Warnke would be returning to the planet, if just for a few hours.

Jack finished walking around the perimeter of the pyramid. "Daniel, tell me you’re not going to try to take this whole damned thing back with you."

"Nope. I just need good images of all the sides," Daniel responded. He grinned from ear to ear when Casey, Sam, and Teal’c immediately grabbed the cameras that Mike and Bernie had packed.

Mike grinned as well. He’d witnessed the way SG-1 could, and did, work together on a dig. They’d done the same thing in the caves near Wenepo, Washington, where they’d discovered caves that had once been inhabited by Salish Indians; a group who had been victimized by a Goa’uld. "Looks like they’ve done this a time or two."

"A time or two," Daniel said, still grinning.

Sam looked over her shoulder. "Might want to keep your radio nearby and on," she told Jack. "I’m not sure how long it will take for the ship to get here."

"Which one?" Jack asked.

Sam shrugged. "The general didn’t specify. I can go find out."

Jack waved a hand dismissively. "Not necessary. We’ll find out soon enough."

With a nod, Sam went back to recording the tiles of the pyramid.

"So, how long do you figure we’re going to be here?" Jack asked, stepping closer to Daniel, watching as he carefully removed another piece of plaster.

"I dunno. Two or three weeks, why?"

"What? How long? Are you kidding?" Jack sputtered.

Daniel laughed, joined by his teammates. Even Mike and Bernie were chuckling. "You should see the look on your face."

"Oh, ha ha," Jack said, rolling his eyes.

Daniel sat back on his heels. "We’ll get this plaster off, and see what the wall beneath it says. Take a look at what’s inside. Shouldn’t take more than a few hours to get everything we need. We can translate just as easily from photos and video…at least if the film is all good. Lucky for us-" Daniel broke off and grinned at the look on Jack’s face. "Okay, lucky for me – and everyone else who will be working on this – Sam, Case, and Teal’c do excellent work when it comes to filming."

With a nod, Jack began to wander around the pyramid. He stuck his head into the opening, but couldn’t see a thing. It seemed as if the light from outside just couldn’t penetrate the darkness within the structure. He sighed silently, sending up a prayer to the Glowy Jellyfish that there wouldn’t be anything inside that would cause trouble, heartburn, or a reason for an extended stay for the team.

Thirty minutes later, Beth and Adam had returned, two airmen carrying the boxes that held three sets of lights and stands. "George thought we’d need these," Beth explained, watching as the young men sat the boxes on the ground.

Daniel ducked his head and bit back his grin. He figured the general had given his wife what she’d asked for; no doubt Beth had been succinct in exactly what she needed, and the reason for the request. He grabbed his flashlight. "Let me take a look first."

He hadn’t taken two steps before Jack and Teal’c were beside him, their own flashlights in hand.

Jack put an arm in front of Daniel, preventing him from stepping inside the pyramid. "Nuh uh. Teal’c, take a look and see if you can locate any traps."

Teal’c nodded. He flashed his light around the opening, then carefully stepped inside. He played the light against the walls, searching for anything that seemed out of place, or might indicate danger. "I see nothing," he said, after a few moments.

Daniel stepped inside, the beam from his own flashlight moving against the walls. Which were, he realized, covered with hieroglyphs. "Oh, wow," he said softly. He looked at Jack. "We need to get those lights in here and set up. We’ll probably have to move them a time or two, to record all of this."

Jack nodded. With a whistle and a wave, he directed the young airmen to bring the boxes and to help set up the lights. The boxes, which also contained batteries that would provide power for the lights, remained outside the opening. The airmen had the lights set up, and the power cords attached and plugged in, all in a matter of minutes. "Carter, do you know how to pack these things?"

"Yes, I do," Sam said.

"Okay, guys, you can head back to the SGC. Tell General Hammond I’ll have a report for him within the hour," Jack said.

"Yes, sir," one of the airmen replied. GDO in hand, they headed for the Stargate.

Mike and Bernie were nearly beside themselves, waiting for a chance to see inside the pyramid. 

"Danny?" Mike asked anxiously.

"C’mon in, Mike. Bring Bernie and Beth. We’ve got a lot of filming and reading to do," Daniel replied.

Standing just inside, doing his best to stay out of the way, Jack watched the archaeologists work. The inside of the thing seemed a hell of a lot bigger than the outside, he thought, although it could have just been an optical illusion.

The radio on his shoulder began to crackle. "General O’Neill, this is Colonel Mitchell on the Daedalus. What can we do for you?"

Jack grinned. "Hello, Colonel. Hold on for instructions."

"Roger that. Holding on," Mitchell’s voice replied.

"Yo, Danny! Daedalus is here."

Daniel hurried to where Jack stood. "Have them start scanning…" He paused, and frowned. "Tell him to locate the Stargate, and begin scanning around. Go out…hell, tell them to scan as far as they can."

Jack relayed the request.

"Looks like the Stargate is on an continent. Not quite as big as England," was the report from the Daedalus.

"Just scan the continent for now," Daniel said. "Tell them to look for anything that might be roads, trails, ruins…anything that might indicate a settlement of some sort."

Again, Jack relayed the information. Received word that the scan would take at least an hour. "We’ll be here," he responded.

Still inside the pyramid, Daniel was focused on one particular section of the wall. It was, if he was correct in his translation of what appeared to be an old Norse language…the story of the people who had built the pyramid. "This can’t be right," he muttered to himself.

"What?" Bernie asked.

Daniel rose to his feet. "Not sure yet," he replied. He stuck his head out the door. "Is Beth still here?"

Jack, who was sitting comfortably on one of the boxes the large lights had arrived in, nodded. "She’s still wrapping pieces of rock up."

Stepping into the bright sunlight had him blinking quickly. "Beth?"

"Right here, Daniel," was the immediate reply.

"Could you come here please? I need your expertise."

Beth hurried around the side of the structure. Noted the look in the eyes of the younger archaeologist. "Did you find something?"

"I’m not sure. I don’t think I’m translating this correctly."

Following Daniel into the inner room of the pyramid, Beth paused long enough to take in the walls…which were covered with pictographs, hieroglyphs, runes, and at least a dozen languages, none of which she recognized immediately. "Oh, my," she said softly.

Daniel smiled. "Yeah, it’s amazing, isn’t it?"

"Show me what you’ve found," Beth said, anxious to see what had brought such a look of concern to the man she technically worked for.

Motioning with one hand toward a large section of writing – which was distinct from the marks around it, as well as encased in a frame…more or less…of carved birds – Daniel led her forward.

Beth tugged at the glasses that hung around her neck on a lovely gold chain – a gift from her husband – and slid them onto her nose. "Definitely Celtic. From the letter shapes and sizes, I’d say around 1200 AD or so." She began to read, her finger moving below each word. "In the before time, we were taken from our home. Demons from Hell took us…men, women, and children. Even the old mothers and fathers were not spared. We were few, and had no weapons, nothing with which to fight against the Demons, or the huge monsters made of metal who fought for the Demons." She paused and frowned. "That would be an apt description of Jaffa, especially if they never removed or opened their helms."

"I agree," Daniel replied.

"When at last the cave in which we had been thrown was opened once again, we were shoved out, into the bright sunlight. Where we were, we did not know. But we were no longer alone. There were others…many others. All bore the scars of their imprisonment-"

"Slave tattoos," Daniel said softly. "Not all Goa’uld use them…but there were several of the older Goa’uld who did."

She looked over her shoulder. "Which ones?"

"Um…Ra, although he hadn’t branded the people on Abydos, for some reason. I don’t think he worried to much about them being able to escape from the planet where he dumped them," Daniel said. "Cronus. Moloc. Imhotep. Sokar. Tilgath. Those are the ones I can think of immediately."

Beth nodded. "All bore the scars of their imprisonment. The scars were not the same, but we understood that the others had been taken, just as we had been. None spoke with the tongue of our ancestors."

"This is just not making sense," Daniel murmured.

Crossing her arms over her breasts, Beth turned to face the blue-eyed man. "Why would a Goa’uld take so many people, tattoo them…and with different tattoos, according to this…and then just dump them all in one place?"

"I don’t know," Daniel said. "Nothing about this place is making sense. Every civilization represented here is from Earth…from Western North America, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Nowhere else. And these civilizations are separated by hundreds or even thousands of years."

"Well, you have Celts here, too," Beth reminded him gently.

"Yeah. How crazy is that?"

Bernie had been listening, and rose from where she’d been sitting trying to make sense of the Aztec glyphs she’d located. "Here’s more to fry your brain," she said.

Beth and Daniel turned to her.

"I just found the same story."

"Same here," Mike said.

Daniel shook his head. "This is just absolutely too bizarre."

"What this is describing is dozens of different groups of people, all who had been given a tattoo, then at least disembarked in the same place," Beth said.

"Could it have been like a slave market?" Bernie asked.

Daniel crossed his arms, one finger tapping against his lips. "It’s possible."

"But the time differences," Mike sighed.

"Cryogenics," came a soft voice from beside the door.

"Case?" Daniel asked.

She shook her head, signifying she’d not had a download. "It’s the only thing that makes sense. It would also allow several ships, with multiple cargo bays, to take dozens of people from different places, and them not know about each other."

"She has a good point," Bernie said, nodding slowly.

"I agree," Mike said.

"Well, so do I," Beth added. The older woman turned back to the wall. Found where she’d stopped reading. Finished the text that was in the ‘frame’. "Daniel, did you read all of this?"

"No, not all of it. Why?"

"Because according to this, there was ‘a ‘great fire in the sky’, the Demons fled in fear, taking their monsters with them. While we watched, a cloud of white began to fill the valley where we had arrived. When we awoke, we were in a land lush and green.’ Daniel, doesn’t this fit what was found outside?"

"It does."

Beth shook her head. "Well, this planet does seem to be ‘lush and green’."

"Particularly if you’re from a more temperate or desert area."

"Depending on where these Celts were taken from, this would seem ‘lush and green’ to them," Beth said.

"So, did these people build this pyramid, together?" Mike asked.

Daniel shook his head. "If they did, we should be finding traces of a village, or at least a large camp. It would have taken months, maybe even years, to build this place."

"We haven’t really done any digging around here," Mike pointed out.

He nodded, giving a sigh. "Don’t know if we’ll be able to do that…at least not right now. A dig like that could take weeks," Daniel said. "I need to do some research, and find out if any of the Goa’uld we know about have used cryogenics."

"Would they necessarily have to use it? Couldn’t it have just been the slave traders?" Bernie asked.

Daniel shook his head. "The slave traders we’ve run into don’t have ‘top of the line’ equipment." A face flashed through his memory. "At least nothing that can’t be used for security."

Jack poked his head into the room. "Any of you thinking about eating lunch today?"

The four archaeologists laughed. "Yeah, we’re coming," Daniel grinned. He dropped his arm around his wife when he moved close enough.

"So, we’ve found a real mystery here, huh?" Casey asked.

Looks that way," Daniel replied.

Sam and Teal’c had already started a pot of coffee, and one of hot water. Adam, who had been getting photos and video of the exterior, and Beth joined the group around the fire.

Casey opened her MRE, took a bite, then wrinkled her nose. "Just once I’d like to have beef tamales that actually taste like beef tamales."

"What do those taste like?" Jack asked, shoveling a spoonful of beef stew into his mouth.

"Chicken. And not even good chicken. And whoever made these ‘tamales’ has never seen or tasted real tamales," Casey retorted. "We should have sent those guys," referring to the Airmen who had accompanied Beth, "back through the ‘gate to pick up a few pizzas."

Beth began to laugh. "I would love to see George’s face if that happened!"

"You and me both," Jack chuckled.

"Why? We have a perfectly good Stargate. It’s possible to get pizzas delivered to the front gate. What’s the big deal of taking a jeep to the gate, getting the pizzas, and then using the Stargate to come back here. Thirty minutes, tops."

"Only if you order them from here," Sam grinned. "Otherwise you’re looking at forty-five minutes to an hour."

"I still don’t see the problem," Casey grumped.

"I think it’s a matter of importance," Jack said. "Do you know how much it costs to run that thing?"

Casey grinned. "Well, now that Sam has the entire SGC running on those ZPMS, it’s not costing the government anything."

Jack frowned.

"She has a point," Sam said.

"Indeed," Teal’c added.

Daniel shook his head. "Won’t happen. Do you know how many teams would be sending orders for take out through the ‘gate every day?"

"That could cause a bit of…confusion," Sam admitted.

Beth grinned. "Well, I’ll suggest it to George."

"Yeah, we’ll hear about it if you do," Jack grumped. "A nice email explaining why SG-1’s crazy idea is not going to be implemented."

"It’s still a good idea," Casey muttered.

"It’s an idea, Radar," Jack admitted. "How good it is depends on which side of the argument you stand."

"General O’Neill, this is the Daedalus." Colonel Mitchell’s voice announced through the radio. "We’ve done a preliminary search. Nothing yet."

Jack looked at the disappointed faces of the archaeologists. "Can you do a more in-depth search?"

"Yes, sir."

"Sir, use full spectrum analysis as well as infra-red," Sam said into her radio.

"Will do, Colonel."

Daniel rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Something told him that there would be no sign of any roads, nothing that could have been walls or settlements. He looked in the direction of the pyramid. Someone wanted the story of the peoples who were represented there to be known. But who? And why?

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