STARGATE SG-1 29 Hall of the Two Truths Read Free Page A

now we can be back to the gate in an hour. Tonight’s Simpsons is not a rerun.”
    “Sir —”
    “Jack —”
    “Carter. Daniel.”
    Daniel looked at Sam and knew she was thinking the same thing.
    “We can’t leave yet, Jack. There’s so much more here that I haven’t even begun to try to translate. General Hammond gave us forty-eight hours.”
    “General Hammond didn’t know it was a planetarium, Daniel. Besides. What more could we possibly learn from this?”
    They’d let go of the tarp and it drifted over the device.
    “Well, first of all, it’s obviously Ancient technology,” began Sam, pulling the tarp off to uncover it. The ambient light was fading rapidly and the pinpricks of light were becoming brighter. “And I still don’t have any idea how you turned it on. Studying it may help us, if and when we encounter future Ancient tech. I’d like a few more hours with it, sir, especially now that we know what it is.”
    “And I’ve only begun to decipher the Ancient writing on these walls, Jack. Yes, I know I can take lots of pictures and do it back at the SGC,” he forged ahead when he saw the objection forming on Jack’s lips. “But that’s never as good as doing it on-site. Besides, we’re running out of light and I can’t finish taking pictures until morning now anyway. I get too much reflection with the flash.”
    “Night is quickly approaching, O’Neill,” Teal’c pointed out. “It would be difficult to navigate a return to the Stargate without adequate light. The path to this location was quite circuitous.”
    There. If nothing more, they had a practical reason to remain, but Jack was still hesitating. For a minute Daniel thought he was going to order them back to the gate anyway, but finally Jack threw his hands up in the air.
    “Fine. Fine. We’ll stay.” He turned his back and walked away. “But tomorrow,” Jack waggled his finger in the air, “we’re out of here by noon, and not a second later. So, translate, study, take pictures — whatever. Just be done.”
    Daniel shot a satisfied look at Sam, expecting her to share his relief, but her eyes were following Jack’s retreating back, and there was a troubled expression on her face. A moment later, though, it was gone, and she turned her attention back to refolding the tarp.
    Noon. Daniel figured that would give them about six hours of good light. At the very least he could finish photographing and mapping the ruins. Even if it was just a planetarium, the Ancients must have had some reason for building it.
    Six hours. It probably wasn’t enough time, but it was what he had and it would have to do.
     
    Teal’c walked silently beside O’Neill as they followed the path back to camp. It had been a wise decision not to attempt returning to the Stargate now. He did not know if this planet had any orbiting bodies, but at the moment no moon was present and the darkness was swiftly descending. Trying to find their way by means of the poorly marked trail would have been hazardous at best. Remaining at camp for the night was the correct choice, even if it made O’Neill less than pleased.
    “A planetarium.” O’Neill was muttering in a low voice, his head shaking.
    “You do not think it is a valuable discovery.”
    O’Neill glanced over at him. “On the list of really cool things I’d like to have from the Ancients, it’s near the bottom. Right after ‘toaster oven’ but before ‘electric toothbrush’ — although, come to think of it, an electric toothbrush would probably still be more useful.”
    “Perhaps tomorrow will yield a new discovery.” Teal’c saw O’Neill give a cursory look over his shoulder at the two shadowed figures that still moved amidst the ruins.
    “Yeah. Well. Let’s just say I’m not holding my breath.”
    “You have been reluctant to come on this mission from the very beginning.”
    “You noticed,” O’Neill said dryly.
    “I do not understand why.”
    “Would you like the short list or