“Teal’c, you’re with Daniel. Carter with me.” Jack O’Neill surveyed his surroundings carefully noting the landscape and features of the terrain surrounding the stargate. The usual he noted without surprise- trees and more trees. It was boring in its familiarity. A little variety would be nice once in awhile. It seemed, on most missions, that a botanist would be more useful than an archeologist. Who would have ever guessed that deciduous forests were a universal constant?

At least it’s not raining, he reflected. He hadn’t thought his boots would ever dry out after their last mission. Nope, P3X-539 wasn’t that bad at all when you thought about the big picture. In fact, it was shaping up to be a nice day for a walk in the woods.

“Sir, I’d like to head north a little ways and get some samples…”

“Okay Carter,” said O’Neill, cutting her off before she could start explaining why they had to head north. “Lead the way.”

Carter nodded and began heading across the small clearing toward the tree line.

“Let’s not keep those soil samples waiting,” muttered the colonel as he followed behind. Carter glanced over her shoulder and gave him a small smile.

“Bored already, sir?”

“What gave it away?” he said cheerfully.

As they reached the tree line, he removed his sunglasses and slipped them in his pocket. The leafy canopy filtered the sunlight, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow on the forest floor. They moved easily through the trees, the sparse underbrush little impediment.

“Boredom is a good thing,” said Carter. “It’s nice not to have someone or something chasing us. Things could be worse.” She grinned widely at him as he fell into place at her side. He waited for the punch line. “It could be raining, sir.”

Rolling his eyes, he grimaced. “Don’t remind me.”

They walked on in silence. Boredom aside, Jack found himself relaxing. Carter had a point. They didn’t need to go looking for any excitement. Hell, he thought, I should be glad for the break.

They walked steadily, falling into an easy and familiar rhythm. As muscles loosened, tension fled his body. He loosened his grip on the P-90 slung over his shoulder. Jack hadn’t really been aware of the feeling; it was simply another part of the routine during an off-world mission. Every time he led his team through the gate he was plagued with thoughts of what might be waiting for them on the other side. All too often it was a lot more than trees.

The hum and buzz of unseen insects were the only sounds. It was one of those things that helped him remember he was off-world whenever they lacked the reminders of armed enemies and possible physical harm. No traffic sounds, no voices, no intrusive cell phones- it was a natural quiet. Not even his cabin boasted such solitude. Even at the lake, airplanes would buzz overhead and hikers always seemed to find their way to his little patch of personal space.

“Up ahead sir,” said Carter. Through the thinning trees Jack could see a small stream in the direction Carter was pointing. “I’ll get my samples from near the creek.”

“Ok, Carter.”

Jack shrugged off his pack and sat with his back to a tree, balancing his weapon across raised knees. Carter had her pack off as well and was rummaging through it to find the equipment she needed.

“Should’ve brought a fishing pole,” he mused aloud. “Looks like the perfect home for some nice sized trout.” The stream was slow moving and looked to be about waist deep from what he could see. Five to six feet across at the widest point, maybe. Yep, he really needed to talk to Hammond- what could it hurt?

“You know, you could help me gather these samples.” She looked at him expectantly.

“Oh, I’d hate to ruin you fun.” She shook her head at him and began working. O’Neill watched her take soil samples from several different locations, including the streambed. Several water samples followed. She made careful notations for each sample; cataloging locations and assigning numbered ID’s to each one. Picking up one of the soil samples, she pulled out a field-testing kit.

Jack watched as she tested the sample for traces of naquada. “Well?” he asked.

“It’s there, sir. Not a huge amount but it’s positive for naquada. I’ll be able to tell you more after I run tests back at my lab.” She tucked the samples into a small case. Closing the lid, she placed it in her pack. Jack stood, shouldering his own pack and glancing at his watch.

“We’ve got about 45 minutes to get back to the gate and meet Daniel and Teal’c,” he announced. “Anything else on your agenda?”

“No, sir,” she answered, shrugging her shoulders to help settle her pack more comfortably.

“Are you sure you don’t have a fishing pole with you?” He looked regretfully at the stream and Carter laughed.

“Sorry,” she said. “Maybe if you’re good someone will buy you a pocket fisherman for your birthday,” she teased.

“Well,” said Jack, repositioning his cap with one hand, “that would be better than nothing.” They started walking back the way they had come.

“How do you even know there’s anything in there to catch? You might not want whatever it is anyway,” she warned him.

“You don’t get it,” he said. “If you caught something every time they’d call it ‘catching’ instead of fishing!”

“Oh yes, Teal’c told me you’d tried that bit of logic with him. He didn’t get it either.”

“This from someone whose idea of fun is a weekend in her lab with a bunch of soil samples?” Carter gave him an indignant look.

“That’s not fair!” she argued. “That lab work is important--”

“O’Neill, do you read?” Teal’c’s voice interrupted. Jack reached for the radio tucked into the loop on his jacket’s left shoulder.

“Yeah, Teal’c. What’s up?”

“Daniel Jackson believes he has found something important.” Jack sighed and rolled his eyes. Carter just smiled.

“Of course he has. What else is new?” Only Daniel could take a perfectly ordinary routine mission and make a production out of it. “What is it this time?”

“A road.” Teal’c’s tone revealed nothing.

“A road? And this is important because…” Jack’s voice trailed off. He knew what was going to happen next.

“Jack!” Daniel sounded excited. “It’s a road! Or at least what’s left of one. There could be people here! Even if there isn’t anyone around anymore we might find something to tell us who they were. We have to check it out!”

Jack closed his eyes, feeling the tension start to creep back into his body. “Negative. Meet us at the gate,” he ordered. “Do not go anywhere until we meet up with you.”

“Jack--”

“Daniel!” Jack didn’t quite yell but he did turn on his best pay-attention-now-Daniel voice. “You wait for us. We’ll be back in half an hour. Understood?”
“Fine,” came the reply.

“Teal’c, if he tries anything you have my permission to zat him, okay?” Jack released the radio and resumed walking. “A road?” He glanced at Carter, wondering what she made of Daniel’s news.

“It’s possible, sir,” she confirmed, catching his sideward glance. “The U.A.V. picked up nothing but trees but we probably missed something farther out.”
Daniel better keep his head, thought Jack. You’d think the man would have learned to be more cautious after all they’d been through. Daniel had never really shaken his habit of letting his excitement and curiosity get the better of his judgment when something caught his interest.

The casual pace they’d set earlier quickened as they made their way back to the gate. Jack marshaled his arguments so he could head Daniel off before he could get started. They couldn’t just go haring off on some wild goose chase this time. Hammond expected them back. This mission was supposed to be short and sweet, just grab some samples and get back to base. A quick look around and that was it.

Daniel came running up to them as they entered the clearing.

“Jack, the U.A.V. missed it completely! I was lucky to find it at all--”

“Right,” sneered Jack. “Lucky.”

“Jack!” Daniel was working himself into a real fit over this, Jack realized.

“How far?” he asked, enjoying the way Daniel’s mouth snapped shut in surprise.

“Perhaps four kilometers south of our present position,” supplied Teal’c.

“Show us,” Jack ordered. “That’s all I’m promising for right now,” he warned. Daniel nodded and began leading them south, Teal’c following right behind him. Jack gestured for Carter to head out and they began walking too.

“Just remember, sir,” she said as he caught up to her. “It could be raining.”

* * * * *

It sure as hell did look like there had been a road. Even he could see that the path through the trees was just a little too regular to be natural.

“See Jack? As soon as I saw this I figured there had to be something here.” Daniel gestured toward the gap in the tree line. “That’s when I found the paving stones.” He pointed toward a patch of ground where the soil and loam had been scraped away, revealing a base of square-shaped flat stones set closely together. They were regular in size; each about a foot and a half across, and they obviously hadn’t formed that way naturally. Someone had made them. “A lot of the stones have been dug up,” added Daniel.

Jack wondered if he was supposed to grasp the significance of this revelation. “Dug up?”

“Well, not all of them,” admitted Daniel. “Not enough to allow all of the trees to come back in and wipe out all traces of the roadway. But you can tell where the roadway was because the trees there aren’t as large as the others.”

“I can?” Jack snatched his cap off and ran a hand through his hair. He could feel a headache coming on. He took a deep breath. “Daniel.” Jack stepped directly in front of him and looked him straight in the eye. “Could you please…” he began, trying to keep his voice calm, “tell me why this is so important at this particular moment?”

“Uh, we need to find out who built it- or who dismantled it. There might be people living here, Jack! A roadway suggests there was a fairly advanced civilization on this planet at some time. It’s fairly close to the gate so whoever they were they must have had some knowledge of it. Aren’t you in the least bit curious?”

“Oh yeah, I’m just not certain why you feel the need to solve this little archeological mystery today.” Think about that one for a moment Danny, thought Jack. Remember what we came for? “Your road isn’t going to go anywhere on its own. We’ll come back.” Or at least you will, he amended in his head. Let some other team baby-sit the archeologists while they played with Daniel’s rocks. He wasn’t about to let Daniel begin a full-scale excavation when they were due back- he glanced at his watch again- in two hours. Once he got started, they’d have to pry him away by force.

“Don’t you think we should at least--”

“No,” said Jack firmly, cutting off whatever suggestion Daniel was trying to make. “Make your pitch to Hammond. I’m sure he’ll give a follow-up mission a go.”

Daniel looked at the uncovered paving stones at his feet and back up at Jack. Jack raised both eyebrows and cocked his head to the side. Well, what’s it gonna be? Don’t make me pull rank and get your shorts all twisted in a knot.

“Daniel, you don’t have the equipment you need to do anything properly,” interjected Carter. “Besides,” she added, “we really didn’t pack for an extended stay.” Way to back up your CO, thought Jack, shooting Carter a grateful look. Carter had more patience with Daniel’s moods than he did. Listen to her, Danny.

“I suppose your right,” said Daniel to Carter.

“Great!” Jack settled his cap back into place, tugging the brim down so it shaded his eyes. “Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute! I need to take one of these back so I can run some tests.”

“What?”

“One of the paving stones…” Daniel explained. “I need to date it.”

“The whole thing? Can’t Teal’c just blast it so you can take a smaller piece?”

“Well,” said Daniel slowly, “you could do that if you wanted to destroy any hope of finding some clue about who might have made it and how they did it.” Jack bit back his first impulse to remind Daniel that answering those questions was why he wanted to come back in the first place. Is it really necessary to drag the rocks home with us?

Daniel stood- knees braced, arms folded, back ramrod stiff. Not backing down this time- are you Danny?

“Fine,” snapped Jack. “But I’m not carrying the damn thing!” Without waiting for Daniel to respond, Jack turned and walked away.

* * * * *

General Hammond flipped through the pages of the report in front of him, listening as Dr. Jackson explained his proposal of a follow-up mission to P3X-539. The young man had spent the last several days preparing this briefing and was obviously anxious for a decision. He spoke animatedly, gesturing with his hands, and was unable to stand in one place for more than a few moments. Hammond listened with interest but was keenly aware of the body language of Jackson’s fellow team members.

Teal’c’s gaze was focused solely on the archeologist. Hammond knew that Teal’c was fully aware of the content of the briefing yet he gave Dr. Jackson his complete attention. Major Carter also seemed to show an interest in Dr. Jackson’s theories. Not only did she listen, she asked questions and even added her own thoughts occasionally. Colonel O’Neill, on the other hand, was a different story. Jack, do you do this just to annoy him?

O’Neill leaned back in his chair, one elbow resting on the glossy surface of the briefing table. His copy of Jackson’s report sat in front him- unopened. At the moment, he was idly rolling a pencil back and forth across the table. O’Neill had already recommended letting Dr. Jackson continue his research in the company of another team. He’d made the recommendation the same day they had returned. ‘Send someone who shares Danny’s affinity for old rocks along with him,’ had been the exact phrase he’d used.

“And I think it’s a possibility that we might find people somewhere- we just have to go looking for them. If it was simply abandoned, then who salvaged the stonework in the roadway?” Dr. Jackson punctuated the question with a jab of a finger toward the artifact he and Teal’c had carried through the Stargate several days ago. Ah, thought Hammond, there it is. He looked at O’Neill, who had now picked up the pencil and seemed engrossed in deciphering a way to reattach the eraser tip that he had evidently removed. I hope you don’t have plans for the next few days, Jack.

“Thank you, Dr. Jackson,” said Hammond. “Your briefing was very thorough, as usual.” The younger man nodded and returned to his seat. “Colonel O’Neill, your team will leave at 0930 tomorrow for a three-day mission to P3X-539. You’re to determine if there is, in fact, any sort of native culture inhabiting the planet. I think Dr. Jackson is correct, we should assess the potential risk any long-term mission might have to face.”

“What?” O’Neill sat up; abandoning both the pencil and eraser tip as the words registered in his brain. “Sir,” he added belatedly. That’s right, Jack, thought Hammond. I’m sending your team back through first.

“You have your orders, Colonel,” said Hammond briskly. “You’re dismissed.” Jack’s shoulders drooped slightly and he frowned, glancing toward Daniel. The younger man ignored the look entirely; he simply began gathering up his notes and papers without acknowledging O’Neill’s scrutiny.

“Thank you, General.” Daniel’s tone was pure innocence. Hammond wasn’t fooled by it for a second. Jack’s eyes narrowed as he watched Daniel shuffle the order of the papers in his folder.

“Yes, General…” said Jack, “Thank you….” Suppressing an urge to grin, General Hammond stood.

“You’re welcome, Colonel.” Score one for the civilian. He was actually rather proud of Dr. Jackson. Sometimes Jack needed to be gently reminded of the way things worked around here. Major Carter hid a smile at her CO’s pole-axed expression behind one hand. Hammond nodded at his team and headed for the doorway. As he turned to go to his office, he could just make out the words of a rather frustrated Air Force colonel.

“I am not carrying any rocks!”

* * * * *

Jack stood at the bottom of the ramp, geared up and ready to go. Carter and Teal’c stood near the doorway of the Gateroom and they were also prepped for their departure. The F.R.E.D. was loaded with supplies and Carter held the remote control in her hand. The only thing missing is the archeologist that got us picked for this mission in the first place. Jack checked his watch. Two more minutes Danny. I swear…

As if on cue, Jackson came strolling into the Gateroom. He, too, was completely geared up, pack in place, P-90 in hand. He could have been a poster child for whatever military branch that wanted to claim him. That’s a pretty unsubtle point you’re making there Danny- even for you.

“Are we ready?” Daniel walked past Jack and stood near the F.R.E.D. at the base of the ramp. Ok Jackson, you win. Point taken.

“Right on time, Daniel,” Jack said with a complete lack of sarcasm. See, Danny? Truce time.

Klaxons rang and the Stargate’s outer ring began to rotate as Davis activated the dialing computer. Jack watched as each chevron snapped into place.

“Chevron seven, locked.”

He blinked reflexively as the wormhole engaged. Carter looked at him, the question in her eyes remaining unspoken. He nodded and she sent the F.R.E.D. rolling up the ramp. Jack followed, pausing at the top to watch it slide into the shimmering energy.

His grip on the rifle tightened and he took a breath. Pulse quickening, he squared his shoulders and got ready for the final step that would send him careening through the wormhole. This part never gets old, he thought. He turned and checked his team a final time. Is it like this for you guys? Jack turned back to the Stargate, focused his thoughts, and stepped forward.

* * * * *

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud!”

Jack O’Neill scrambled to get his pack off his shoulder and open the flap. “Damn it!” Someone out there in the universe must really have it in for me, he thought.

The rest of his team stepped out of the gate a heartbeat later. As the wormhole disengaged, Carter burst out laughing. Jack sighed. Where the hell is… His fumbling fingers felt the smooth rubbery texture he was searching for- ah, there it is.

“Don’t say it Carter!” Jack pulled the poncho over his head and glared at the sight of the tree-covered landscape currently being draped in steady falling sheets of rain.