Thanks for all the nice comments, makes me feel a bit steadier about posting this next bit. Here you go.
The shimmering surface of the wormhole cast a soft blue glow over the gate room, illumination the faces of SG1 as they prepared to leave for their mission to P5C-169. Sam readied the new hand held scanner she had recently finished designing. She would need it to find the deposits of haquada that made this mission so very important.
Daniel checked the digital camera in the bag slung over his shoulder. MALP data from the last 24 hours had shown that the planet had an unusually short daytime cycle, only 6 hours each of daylight and darkness. They couldn't stay long, so he would need to take plenty of video of the ruins to study while back on Earth. He also, covertly, checked his pockets to to make sure his allergy medication was within close reach. Sam was brilliant, and he trusted her implicitly, but sometimes things just happed, especially when it came to himself and SG1.
"So, Jack IS coming with us today, right?" Daniel adjusted his backpack as he glanced upward at the control room window.
"Indeed, Daniel Jackson," replied Teal'c "O'Neill merely had some task he needed to perform before our departure."
"Here he comes." Sam said, frowning at the dorway as Jack came bounding in, grinning. "Uh oh. He's got that look again."
"Hmmm, yes he does." Daniel exchanged sideways glances with Sam, he'd seen that mischievous smile many times before, usually when he was about to end up the butt of one of Jack's jokes. "Jack, where have you been? You're holding us up."
"Sorry campers, just had to retrieve something I
thought we might need." Jack walked up beside Daniel and handed him a brand new, never been opened, box of tissues. "Be prepared I always say." He slapped Daniel on the back and walked toward the gate, snickering.
Daniel looked down at the box in his hands, then back up at Jack striding up the ramp. "You know, Jack, sometimes you can act like such a child." He shook his head, sighed, and followed the rest of his team through the gate.
The view from the platform on which the gate rested was magnificent. Bright blue sky, with a few fluffy white clouds, massive verdant trees scattered hither and yon over the landscape, and as far as the eye could see, there were flowers. Literally millions of flowers, of all shapes and sizes, in every conceivable color, blanketed the ground. A gentle breeze blew across the land setting the flowers to swaying, causing sounds, not unlike tiny golden bells, to rise to the ears of SG1 as they stood, peering in awe at the beauty surrounding them.
"My God! It's gorgeous. From the video on the MALP, I thought it would be beautiful, but I never could have imagined anything as grand as this. And the air, it smells so..... so..... there aren't even any words to describe it." Sam took a deep breath of the fragrant air, closing her eyes in sheer contentment.
"This is what I always imagined Heaven would look like. It's absolutely stunning." Daniel also took a deep breath, hand hovering over the pocket holding his medication, just in case. Instead of the sneezing fit he was expecting, the only reaction he had was pleasure at the incredible aroma of the perfumed air. "I've always thought flowers were pretty, but this is the first time I've ever been able to really appreciate them like everyone else."
Teal'c walked down the stairs and forward a few dozen steps until he was knee deep in a patch of ruby red flowers. "Truly it is magnificent. In all of the time I traveled the galaxy with Apophis, never did I encounter any planet that could possibly compare to this one."
"Well, I've changed my mind." Everyone looked at Jack questioningly. "Here, right here, is where I'm going to retire to. If we can just find a lake or pond with anything in it that even resembles a fish, I'm never leaving." He looked around at the curiously empty landscape. "There is one thing that bothers me about this place though."
"If it's such a paradise, how come there aren't any inhabitants?" Daniel posed the question that was troubling them all.
Jack glanced at him, then at the rest of his team, "Exactly."
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more to come later