Clutching Daniel’s collar with dye-stained hands, the stranger jerked him up the first in the long rise of steps that led to the Ethyrian Stargate. Daniel’s legs moved like Marionettes, his balance hindered by bound wrists and a blindfold. As the night breezes intensified, a spidery limb slapped his face and he stumbled backward into a crack where thick vines had forced their way.

The stranger’s skin grew redder. "Don’t fight me. I swear if you stop now I’ll give you another jolt, ten times worse. Get your feet up!"

"You’re in a hurry," protested Daniel. "I don’t think that’ll help." A large rock surfaced and he fell to his side, prompting the man to half-drag and half-haul him over another wide step.

"Come on," yelled the stranger. "Move!"

Daniel twisted hard to the ground. "No!" he shouted, the word swallowed by the night, powerless, and used his weight to wrest the man from the next step. But the stranger, taller and heavier, recovered with ease and grabbed him at the neck with one hand. In the midst of the scuffle, Daniel heard Jack O’Neill calling from below.

Jack’s urgency charged the sky. "Daniel!" he cried, expelling a warning shot into the air, then the command, "Bring him back!" Stones tumbled over his feet, dislodged by the motion above him.

At the pop of the gun, Daniel dropped his upper body. "Jack, the address!" he said, digging his foot into a crevice.

Startled by Jack’s appearance, the man lost his hold on Daniel but re-caught him quickly by the belt, bringing him close as a shield, then drew a weapon and fired towards the voice. The blast grazed Jack’s ankle, disintegrating the step under him, and he scrambled to the next in a trained instant. Firing again, the stranger narrowly missed his captive, wrenched him up by the arm, and brought him nearer to the uppermost step. There the gate’s chevrons glowed like coal embers, locked and ready.

A few meters out, Jack dodged the attack and advanced to the seventh step behind chunks of an architrave which once topped the monolith columns of another era, their carved deities disdaining all who came after them. He stepped up, avoiding a tangle of dead weeds, and positioned himself behind a red granite obelisk crumbling with age. The stranger expended a trio of shots, ricocheting off the stone, Daniel’s effort waning.

"Stop, dammit. Lay down your arms!" Jack called so loudly it distorted his voice and he sent another pair of rounds into the air. In one bright burst, the top of the obelisk shattered into jagged shards and he covered his head, moving up again without hesitation. The gate shimmered, flickering down the ruins like candle flame. He leapt onto another step.

The stranger reached the top and taking one last shot, shoved Daniel in before him and disappeared into the wavy contortions of the gate. Jack raced up the next few steps, slipping on loose rocks, and ran for the torus. Stopping, he glimpsed the stare of a sullen god on a pillar. The portal had closed. Dazed in the dust about him, he dropped his weapon, and fell face down onto stone.

. * * * * *

On the other side, the energy of the exit gate converged and its lights pulsated chaotically as if the incoming power threatened to overload the system. It opened with a swish and two combating figures arrived full force, dropping forward on the ramp, both their faces streaked with a mix of dirt and sweat. The strange man stood and left Daniel on his knees, finding his place...vulnerability crept in on him; the world watched but he could not look back. The gate powered down.

"Where are we?" begged Daniel, angry. There was a smell of wet grass.

"All in bad time, doctor. Stay here." The stranger sighed and walked to a panel eye-level at the opposite end of the gate, wiping his forehead with a cuff. There he pressed a series of small windows and the gate’s humming ceased, replaced by the din of a maniacal wind nearby. He eyed Daniel as if he did not know what to do with him next or was too exhausted to deal with him further. Escorting him by the elbow, the man walked Daniel from the gateroom through narrow stairways while the wind hushed to a distant serenade. Several turns later, they approached bi-alloy doors of bronze and copper hues, a head taller than both the men. On an outside panel composed of the same swirling metals, Daniel’s captor tapped several symbols, resembling numbers, and the doors opened simultaneously.

Daniel sat within at the stranger’s urging. He unclenched his teeth. His mouth was dry. "What am I doing here?"

"Don’t rush me."

"Will you take these off?" There was no reply. "I could use some water."

The stranger did not move. "Well enough."

A trickle of liquid poured and soon a hand touched the nape of Daniel’s neck and a cup was at his lips. The drink was sour. "Thank you." Daniel tuned into the sound of a gentle shoe-scrape as the man rose and paced.

"You’re here to complete an important project. You have knowledge it would take me another lifetime to gather. Some would say I have all the time in the world here. This--that is you--are the most expedient manner I can see to return home."

Daniel wished he could stand. The rigid cuffs squeezed and the blindfold trapped heat that made his eyes burn. "Didn’t we just come from your home?"

"Please be quiet." He paused while Daniel collected his panic. "Ethyria is not my home, nor is this. It’s an adopted world although I would hardly prefer it, backward as they are, except for the gate, of course, and that’s not of their invention. Why do your people bother with them?"

"We’re a curious bunch." A draft brushed Daniel’s face as the doors opened and shut.

"My home world is Ostia. From this location, I’ve not been able to gather all the information I would need to get there. What I need from you, Dr. Jackson, is to decipher the last of the glyphs and the point of origin I need to complete the Ostian address." He deposited a sack beside Daniel and removed the blindfold. "These will help you."

Daniel’s eyes shut out the ambient light. Blinking hard, he caught his first glimpse of guard-and-warden then turned to the sack on the bed. "What is it?" he said. The room had grown and everything in it became a distraction.

The stranger leaned over a screen situated on an alcoved desk. On it were placed yellowed books and a terminal shaped like a black dome. "Our data systems also contain a good deal of compiled information," he continued. "Here are the symbols most commonly found to indicate my planet."

Daniel approached the desk cautiously. The man stepped back. "I’m sorry," declared Daniel. "I can’t see this without my glasses."

"Of course." He took the lenses out of a pocket. "I wouldn’t forget that," and placed them on Daniel’s nose.

Daniel perused the screen. "Interesting." His hands were numb. "But what about the other coordinates?"

"I’ll take care of that for now. This system operates on tactile command only." The lights flickered. Above him, Daniel noticed cylindrical fixtures attached at right angles to the ceiling.

The man pressed his fingertips into the wall but did not look up, then moved to the doorway and cautioned, "I’ll return later."

"Wait, wait. How long is this going to take? If you think you can just take someone in the middle of the night and have him happy with that," Daniel motioned with his hands. "What about these? I can’t do anything with these."

"When you find the answers, I’ll send you back."

"When I find them? That could take years! It was decades before Champollion deciphered the secrets of hieroglyphics. Some of it is just luck. I have no..."

"I don’t believe it will be so long. Neither do I care. If you want your freedom, you’ll find it. The research is two-thirds completed for you already. Stop acting the victim, doctor, perhaps you’re the chosen." He opened the doors and at the same moment they unlocked, the restraints also unlocked, landing with a clash. Daniel jostled them with his toe, then gave them a firm boot into the wall.

* * * * *

An impatient creature lumbered about his domain, jabbing buttons and adjusting the pressure levels on a main processor. Repaired to his satisfaction, he began to arrange a number of large containers in the corner of the gateroom, mumbling, "This one had better be worth it." He dropped them like sandbags onto one another.

"What have you done this time?" A voice came from behind. "I thought you might be gone permanently."

Jollard shoved an over-filled carton on a shelf. "Be quiet. When it’s time to go, you can stay."

Rennon observed a monitor. "You have another."

"Another alleged scholar, a smarter one. He played a key part in the installation of the gate on Earth."

"Earth?"

"I’ve seen Jackson at work. He’s exceptional, if feeble."

"He’s in the same room, then?"

"Of course, unless you can find a worse accommodation. This place is falling apart." Jollard spotted several bins. "What have you been doing lately? We’re down to a third. I hope hydro isn’t in this condition."

"I’m working like a wayward gridman while you’re hopping back and forth. That small load that came before you left was the last."

"Stop lying. You’ve put it away."

"Why didn’t you bring something from that last place you were on?" asked Rennon. " I’d be happy to go there."

"Ethyria. E-thi-ree-ah," Jollard sounded it out. "Seems they mean to kill us off, once and for all. You wouldn’t be happy. Won’t it be nice to show up on that regnant idiot and surprise him?"

"I haven’t taken a thing. Ask."

"I’ll ask and she’ll tell. Get us some food. I’m starting him out immediately."

Rennon picked up an empty crate and threw it aside. "And how will you persuade this one?"

"A few jolts if necessary, or a little jaunt outside for some fresh air." Jollard laughed. "Just keep him alive."

Daniel touched his wrists. The restraints had left their wear in red, chafed skin. Entwined in his pant legs were bristles of orange wunnet and the violet dye of sofara grasses which even soaring through wormholes could not remove. Both knees had been ripped by scraping over stone.

The room, excavated out of a white-veined black rock, was a utilitarian chamber furnished with built-in platforms of bed and benches like the desk. Its curved walls formed an ellipse and over its bumpiness, growing through finger-wide cracks, a red moss laced the surfaces like an accessway diagram. Across from the bed, Daniel investigated a button on the wall and a washroom was revealed behind a sliding door, teeming with moss-red. All the comforts of home.

He sighed and returned to the bed, rubbing his eyes under his spectacles. A yawn blossomed, shaded with anxiety, and he reclined himself with one foot on the sack, recalling how his captor had interrupted a work session in a two-thousand-year-old library. He had been pleased by the condition in which three, tub-sized slabs had been preserved. One contained an account of an ancient engineer who struggled with the whimsies of a claustrophobic queen. The translation remained incomplete.

Perhaps the stranger had not expected him to turn around just then, but he did and was stunned and subdued before speaking. With his motor control lagging, he found himself traveling in darkness not of the night, falling over sudden dips and bumps in the terrain. Taking a man’s sight away from him was a simple way to keep him humble. He had realized he was at the gate when the stranger began to enter an address into the dial home device, or DHD. The premeditation of the abduction led him to believe that he had been watched for a time.

A host of Ethyrian midge flies stung his lips and a war of nausea spilled over him, his stomach churning with it. Sand collected in his mouth and he spit it out again and again, gagging on dust and pollen. The doors opened, squealing like a wounded creature, and he opened his eyes. He was sore, stiff. Lights twinkled over him.

"You. Here’s your food." Rennon dropped the bowl on several stacked books and departed.

The smells of jasmine and freshly ground pepper burst out. Daniel checked his watch. 13:01. The hands were frozen. Ignoring the bowl, he dozed in short periods, awakening to the odd blend of aromas and nightmares.

Jack recognized voices before he opened his eyes.

"I think someone’s waking up."

"Uh-huh."

"That’s good to hear."

"Sir, how’re you feeling?" Sam Carter smiled for the first time in four days. Standing beside her, bearing the steady features of a seasoned leader, the General asked the attending nurse for a doctor.

Already a question and my mouth doesn’t work, thought Jack. Teal’c remained quiet in a chair near the wall; his bored demeanor belied a tested devotion.

Jack’s brain throbbed like a well-used soccerball. Faces were fuzzy. "Where’s Daniel?"

"We were hoping you’d know," said Sam. "It’s been a few days. We found you right under the Ethyrian gate. Dr. Frasier says you have a concussion and a pretty good cut on you head."

"I called for you," remembered Jack. "You came?"

Sam nodded. "We heard the action on the way."

"Jeez, somebody snatched him, I couldn’t stop it. He pulled him right through the gate."

"Do you know who it was?"

"We have to find him." He lifted his head. The machines kept him down.

"Wait, wait, you’re not ready for that yet." Her hand was on his shoulder.

"Well, have you looked for him?" said Jack, frustrated.

"Yes, sir, but we haven’t found anything. We hoped you’d know something."

He swallowed, fixed on nothing, and started. "It was stuffy, couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d go lecture Daniel on the evils of all-night archaeology. When I got there, he wasn’t. I heard voices from the other side of the wall--that’s when I called you--I called you?"

"Yes, sir."

"I followed the voices--I could tell one was Daniel--and this small light. I caught

up with them at the gate. It was already activated and the guy opened fire on me. I couldn’t get near him in time." Should have tried harder.

"You didn’t see the..." Sam began.

"Noooooo, major," he emphasized. "I didn’t get the address. I went straight for Daniel. I thought I could stop the guy. But I couldn’t… I didn’t. Why haven’t you found him?"

"Teal’c and I brought you back right away. You were in pretty bad shape. When we returned Cemma and his council members were waiting for us at the gate. They haven’t let us past it. It’s a stalemate."

General Hammond interrupted. "They are none-too-happy about your shooting-fest. Cemma has requested that we leave as soon as possible."

"They are not a hostile people," said Teal’c.

"We’re banking on that because we’re not leaving until we conduct a proper search," assured the General.

Jack requested a drink and Sam obliged. "We haven’t even had a chance to get near Cemma’s township or the old library," she added. "We need to question anyone who might be a witness, might know something."

The water ran smoothly down Jack’s neglected throat. "General?"

"I’ll work on it. It might help if you talked to Cemma, Colonel, he seems to trust you."

Machines are for wussies. "Where’s Dr. Frasier?"

"Answers. I need ‘em," Jack demanded.

With Cemma’s permission, delicately bestowed, he led the investigation beginning in the ancient library. There Daniel’s papers rested on a folding table, a reference manual turned to page 101. With limited mission time, research was primarily conducted later at home. A backpack lay on a pile of debris and only a toppled stool gave any indication that something atypical had occurred.

"Colonel O’Neill, I believe I have discovered something." Teal’c’s formal speech

left little room for miscommunication.

From the adjoining chamber, Jack called outside to Sam. "We may have

something. Least I hope so." He whispered the last to himself and stripped the itchy bandage off his forehead. Sam arrived carrying an MP-10 tucked under her right arm, adjusting her cap to allow in a light gust.

"Over here," directed Jack. "We got us a cache of goodies." He looked over a messy pile of food, clothing, and a microbook missing from camp since the first day of their arrival. All were located near the rear of the library amidst the rubble of a collapsed arch. The computer’s power was exhausted and a wrinkled, tanned tarp covered the entire collection.

"It appears to be stolen. This bread appears to be of the type the Ethyrians consume," remarked Teal’c, "and the clothing is that of a woman’s. Ethyrian men do not wear red."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Observant."

Sam knelt and sorted through the find. "I agree. Someone’s been pilfering these people. Maybe we should see if anyone can identify these things."

For Jack, answers were snails in coming. "Let’s give it a try."

Rennon placed his weapon into its carrier and grabbed restraints from his belt. "Jollard wants these on."

"Jollard?" Daniel repeated. "So that’s it. He’s not much on introductions." He raised his hands as if pushing away. "I don’t need those."

A backhanded blow whipped across Daniel’s temple, delivered without compunction, restraints in hand. They left a mark on his skin.

"I don’t have time for your opinions." Rennon secured his prisoner’s wrists. "This way."

Daniel adjusted his glasses and felt they had been bent, then obeyed.

Spherical lamps led the way down a passageway with a slight declivity. Several meters separated each light and the way was virtually dark. It took time for the eyes to adjust and only the sight of the next lamp allowed one to walk forward in faith. At the fourth turn, Jollard appeared out of stone.

"Reminiscing again? Be careful. You can go. A collector on T33 is out of sync. You might have to salvage something again."

"I’ll get on it, I’ll get on it. Don’t worry." Rennon grinned at Daniel. "He shouldn’t be any trouble." He lit a flashlight and retraced his steps. The way was now black.

"These aren’t necessary," said Daniel. "I’m not a soldier, I’m a civilian."

"You dress like one, consort with them, carry weapons. What is there to keep you from being like them? Your degrees?"

Daniel’s eyes hardened. "We’re part of a team. Every member is valuable. We’ve come together for exploration, discovery." He studied his captor. "You seem to know a lot about me."

"Explore or exploit?"

"We don’t interfere with the cultures we encounter, least we try not to. We help when we can and..."

"Then you’ll be able to help me."

"I’m lost here, Jollard--that’s your name, right?--Why didn’t you just ask for my help, our help?"

"Why would anyone help us, in this wasteland?"

"Well, maybe not me, personally, but others, from Earth. We can still do that. I can overlook all this." He displayed his hands. "I’ll tell them it was a mistake, there’s got to be someone who..."

Jollard grabbed the rod that joined the restraints and rushed Daniel along the corridor, his stride rhythmic, certain. "I don’t have time for your mitigation," he said. "This place is falling apart. If I don’t get back, we’ll all die here." He stopped and swept his hand across the rock wall, disintegrating chunks of moss-red. "Look, look at this. It invades every cell and cranny, the only life that could possibly survive." Shaking it first, he stuffed a chunk into his mouth and squeezed another into Daniel’s palm. "At least it’s edible. Try it."

"Maybe later."

Tugging the piece up towards Daniel’s mouth, Jollard insisted. "Try it."

The moss grated like sand on Daniel’s teeth, reminiscent of his recent

experience. "It’s fine."

Jollard walked on. The height of the ceilings gradually lowered and in places the protrusions of rock stood in the way of smooth passage.

"Why are you here?" asked Daniel, quickening his pace to keep up, watching out for his head. "What’s your story?"

The ceiling was less than a decimeter over him, but Jollard stiffened his spine and reeled about to face Daniel who pulled back, misstepping on the uneven ground. Jollard coiled his finger around the rod, biting his top lip, and in stale breath he warned, "I need you to work harder and I’m tired of your questions. I could forget why I brought you here, leave you here to starve. I could use the gate to find another like you to do the work, before this place collapses. I chose to keep you well. Do you understand?"

The doctor’s eyes challenged the staleness, the stronger grip; he yanked his hands away. "What is it you want me to do?"

* * * * *

On a small screen in her quarters, Halease monitored her husband while he tinkered with another faltering circuit. Switching views, she entered visually into the gateroom and saw that Jollard had fallen asleep on the counter amongst the clutter of cables and filament.

She left and climbed up. Jollard was awake.

"Could you help Rennon on that matrix? He’s got his hands full downstairs." Her arms were crossed to assert herself though she was not a weak woman, but only thought so. She kept her back to the DHD.

"I hope you’re ready to go home." He pushed the items to the side, separating them by use.

"I hate it," she said, allowing a peek at the gate. "It took me too long to recover last time. I won’t risk it again."

"Common terror. I’ve been there many times. We can try a sedative -- there must be some in supplies. Or you can stay if you need to. I’ll leave you together. All three."

"Nothing in battle ever scared me like that device," she said. "You’re intent on this?"

"I am. The doctor’s working on it."

"Maybe you should let him go."

Jollard gathered a pile of junk in his arms and headed to the stairs. "I suppose that’s still an option. I won’t have any use for him once we’re gone." He hesitated. "I wish you’d go along with this. It would be so much easier."

Halease shook her head. "Well, he could use this, couldn’t he?" She held an AVL, audio-visual link. "I don’t need it much. If he finds anything he can..."

"Call me? I suppose. Generous of you. Have Rennon get it to him. But I don’t want him annoying me with nothing." He exited to auxiliary processing, an unruly filament poking his chin.

Halease placed the device on the counter, entered several codes, shut it off, and returned downstairs.

* * * * *

Daniel touched the petroglyphs etched on the walls of Jollard’s cavern with both hands and summoned up knowledge acquired in a lifetime of study. It was a rare place due to the dearth of moss-red. Details of an image, when tediously coaxed out in an old-fashioned rendering, surpassed any electrical recording and seemed to imprint themselves on the mind. And although not all Earth-type technology was available here, there were plenty of locks.

Over the next few weeks, the processing of data progressed like a glacier. Here and there were references to data that had been deleted. Coercion was unforgivable; his curiosity was intact. He recalled a quote from Einstein: "I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious."

But Einstein never worked in a grimy shirt or a belt that grew looser by hours. He despised the stiff bed, lack of windows and sense of place, missed the sun, stars, the stale conference room coffee. He had learned to recognize Rennon’s approach by the slight vibration of a draft beneath the door when an outer entry opened. Now and then, he was escorted to the cavern, upon request if necessary, but the mark and passage of time was lost to him.

"I need to see Jollard," demanded Daniel. This time Rennon’s tray carried a fish-like purple creature minus eyes and a mushy scarlet paste on the side. "I can’t eat this any longer. Look at me."

Rennon snorted in scorn. "Is it staying where you swallow it?" He placed the tray on the bed.

Daniel rubbed his stomach. "What I manage to get down."

"Then you’ve no problem. Just don’t waste it." He pointed to the moss-red. "There’s always that."

"Look, whatever your name is. I’m sorry I don’t know it. No one’s told me--not that I haven’t inquired--I still need to see him."

"You’ve found something then?"

For the first time, Daniel saw the man come alive. "Yes, yes, maybe. I may, I may have some questions. Really."

Sourness returned to Rennon’s face. "If you’ve not made progress, then don’t bother us about it." He unlocked the door.

"I’d like to know who did the prior research here."

"You don’t need to know that any more than I need to know what you need."

Daniel blinked thrice. "Well, I think I understand that. Who was it?"

"Another gourmet."

With a spoon, Daniel picked at the fish-thing, sampling its liver-textured innards in a single, tiny bite. He spit it out, then cautiously tried a thumbnail-sized drop of the condiment. Catsup and caviar? Tapioca and barbecue sauce? Nothing could describe it, but he swallowed what he could. His belly growled for the tenth time and the moss-red took on an inkling of desirability, more colorful and lush than before.

The draft entered seconds before Jollard. "You should be working," he rumbled.

"I...um...stopped to enjoy this...meal." Daniel finished and sat at the terminal. On the screen was a view of the gate. "I need to see this. Live, in person," he said. "Maybe there’s something I’m missing."

"That image is a perfectly adequate representation. Is that all you wanted?"

"Maybe your power problems are affecting the display, but, I find them a little difficult to see clearly. Or is that the way they always are? I’m just thinking, maybe the link has been weakened somehow with the fluctuations." Daniel pointed at the lights.

"Have you found anything?"

Daniel brought up another image, a symbol. "This, this could be it."

Jollard remained at the door, then extracted his weapon. "All right, let’s go." When Daniel put out his wrists, his warden waved them away. "Quickly."

The gate was a galleon anchored near the island on which Daniel was marooned. Without DHD coordinates, a galleon with a hole in its hull. His attempts at nonchalance were as difficult as keeping his stomach from growling. He considered his options: Break to an exit, attack, wait.

"Take a good look. It’ll be the only one you get." Jollard relaxed on a well-cushioned stool by the west entrance. He propped a foot and ran his fingers through his hair. The wind blew unsatisfied.

The DHD did not stand at the center of the room but to the left as one entered through the gate. Daniel began a simple sketch of the device, almost identical to the others he had seen. Gates and DHD’s placed indoors were indistinguishable from those outdoors though the latter were constantly subject to the elements. Indestructible. Some familiar constellations were indicated but which were the important ones? A key bit of data he had gathered featured one ubiquitous possibility: the symbol of a double planetary system, or perhaps a planet and its large satellite companion, represented by two circles of unequal size and two asterisks, possibly a binary star system, to the side. Sometimes the stars were placed to the right of the planets; other times the left, as if they orbited like Jupiter’s moons.

On the stool, Jollard yawned and pried the side of his weapon with a curved tool, then banged it with his hand. Glancing, Daniel examined all he could of the room he had not seen upon first arrival: the exits, the computerized panels, an obstacle course of crates, and Jollard, who poked at bits of hardware.

Daniel walked to the back of the gate. It bore no unusual markings or indications that it was anything but similar to the Earthgate. The double planetary/binary star system was there, too, with lines connecting the four bodies to form a lop-sided "C." A sharp tap turned his attention to Jollard whom he did not see until he appeared through the ring.

"Show me what you’re looking for," ordered Jollard.

Daniel fumbled for words. "All right this, this ‘C’ here is a definite possibility. Well, it’s not really a ‘C’, actually, it just looks like one to the eye."

"Are you done?" asked Jollard, not waiting for more. Overhead, the same type of cylindrical lamps that decorated Daniel’s cell blinked and flickered, then went out.

Daniel stepped to the side, hitting the gate with his foot.

"Hold your ground, doctor, you’ll only hurt yourself." Jollard retraced his steps to the control center.

In the dark, Daniel dropped his materials and on all fours, fumbling his way with stiffened arms.

Jollard found his flashlight and sprayed the beam back and forth across the room. "Come now, let’s not play. You’ve no place to go."

Over a speaker, Rennon’s voice, with its odd inflections, arose: "I’m working

on it."

"Yes, yes. Come to the gateroom as soon as you’re done. I’ve got another problem here." He scattered the light towards Daniel’s last position and prowled about the room, cat-like. All the time in the world.

Three crates approximately chest high provided Daniel with a place to crouch and he thanked the wind for covering further mistakes. Break to an exit, attack, wait.

"Doctor Jackson, please don’t try it. Where would you go?" said Jollard. "You’d select one of those places your people have discovered, I guess. They’ve forgotten you by now. Rennon will be joining us in a moment and you can’t hide from both of us for long."

A heart beats so hard at times, as if the walls of flesh surrounding it can be seen pumping on the chest, like that of a cobra poised in defense. Daniel’s muscles, primed by the additional flow of blood, tensed to act or react, his pulse spiraling. The wind masked strong breathing that overfilled his lungs and dilated pupils followed the phantom beam as it floated in all directions - Jollard familiar with the arrangement of furniture and crates. Sweat trickled into his collar and he could almost see an escape... if the man came close enough...if he could distract him somehow...

But the light returned, breaking the jumble of Daniel’s thoughts. His eyes reacted to them by reflex and when he looked again, a weapon was pointed at his forehead. Retreat.

"The wind drives the power systems," Jollard explained. "But we’ve some difficulty with a collection of weathered mechanisms. Get up."

* * * * *

The boy and girl hid under long, untended rows of talach trees once part of a farm near the Ethyrian Stargate. Not long ago, someone had abandoned the soil that produced bad crops for the opportunities of the city, BamorAL. Muzzling their giggles, they watched the visitors scurry in and out of their tents.

From the periphery, a bobbing head attracted Sam’s vision and she peeked at the highest stone ruin. "Colonel, did you invite anyone to observe?" She moved her eyes.

"Impossible. No one wants to come near this place." Jack walked away. "I’ll be checking with the lieutenant." He disappeared beyond the temple.

Sam made a chair out of a tall stump, opened her backpack and dug inside. She reached in up to her elbow and grabbed a package.

Through the prickly keplin shrubs, Jack climbed carefully up the stones and crouched near the boy and girl, their minds attentive on Sam’s antics as she ripped open a foil wrapper with the grace of a starving man.

He stepped out. "Hello. I’m Jack."

Spinning around, the children jumped back then started down.

Jack stood in the way. "Whoa, whoa," he calmed them, holding out his hand. "We won’t hurt you."

The girl jumped, landing on Jack, then pounded his head with her fists.

"Ouch! Come on, stop that!" he said.

"Hey, hey. It’s okay! Want some of this?" Sam called from the other side, parading a chocolate bar in the air. The girl ceased her attack and spied the candy in its bright magenta wrapper.

"Yeah, it’s good stuff," assured Jack. Sam backed away and the visitors followed.

"Come on." Sam escorted them into the encampment. "This is Jack. I’m Sam." She showed them a place to sit. "Nice to meet you." She handed them each a piece.

They accepted. Two smiles formed and they unwound criss-cross on the ground.

"You must be from town." Sam knelt beside them and Jack rested on the stump, rubbing his head. "You don’t have to be afraid of us."

The boy nodded between forceful chews. "We aren’t afraid of you. We know you. Cemma knows you, too."

"Good, I’m glad we got that cleared up," commented Jack. "You are?"

"Ione. This is my cousin Nahtia, she lives with me."

Licking her fingers, Nahtia watched a soldier at the DHD when two other children appeared in the brush.

Sam signaled to them. "Join us."

"They won’t come," advised Ione. "They’re afraid."

Jack shifted his weight. The stump was bumpy. "Ah, we’re nice guys."

"Not of you, their mothers," Ione said. "They followed us."

"Oh, really," Jack said. "You need permission to come here?"

Nahtia shooed the shy children away and they turned and left, scowling. "Mother says there’s danger. We’re supposed to stay in the quadrant but we like to play. Do you have more?"

A sparkle dotted Sam’s eyes. "Yeah, yeah, sure." She grabbed her backpack. "What do you do here? Not much to see except the gate," she said. Jack leaned forward.

"Well," continued Ione, "we climb the stones and it moves sometimes and..."

"Ione!" interjected Nahtia, bumping him on the knee. He coveted the next chocolate bar.

"...we like the berries off the trees. But they don’t taste as good as this."

"Chocolate." Jack joined them on the ground, crossing his legs. "You’ve seen the gate work?"

"We have," answered Ione. "Nahtia wants to go through it. But she can’t do it, she can’t do it!"

Nahtia’s cheeks and forehead flushed. "Because you are always talking and talking and talking!"

"She thought she could follow the man but she couldn’t play the light game right. It only ate him."

"You!" cried Nahtia, "are useless. It’s not a ‘light game,’ and it doesn’t eat people. They wouldn’t come back. It’s a key. It opens the circle, you crow-min!"

"Okay, okay," said Jack. "Ione, both of you, this is very important to us. Someone took our friend Daniel through there and we’ve been looking for him since. We think he’s in a lot of danger. You’ve seen someone here--someone went through?"

Ione scrunched his brow and gazed aside into the treetops, ignoring Nahtia’s frown. "We haven’t been here, we’ve been away."

"I know, but when you were here, what did you see?" asked Jack.

Nahtia relented. "There’s a man who comes and goes. He carries things through--fruit, clothes."

"Did you know he was hiding supplies in the library?" asked Sam.

"Library?"

"It’s the building with all the writing in it, back there. You haven’t been in there?"

A giggle erupted from Ione. "She’s afraid of that, too."

"Stop it!" said Nahtia. "We haven’t seen anything hiding."

Ione teased again: "Afraid."

Jack’s heart beat faster and he turned to Sam. "That’s gotta’ be the same guy. You two have tried the DHD?"

"DHD?" they questioned in unison.

"Dial home device," said Sam. "Can you show us how you play your light game?"

"It’s not a light game. Only Ione calls it that," said Nahtia.

"Whatever," urged Jack. "Let’s take a look at it."

At the DHD, the glyphs of the constellations lit one my one as Sam dialed. "This is the address for our planet. When I press this…"

"The seventh symbol is the last. Then it opens on the middle one." Nahtia indicated the center globe and stepped resolutely forward with Ione close beside her, prodding her sideways. "You have black fingers-don’t touch!" she said while Sam stopped the sequence and initiated a new one. "The man presses these..."

"Go ahead, do your best, " Jack advised. "Don’t rush."

Ione jabbed his elbow into Nahtia’s belly, attempting a head start.

"Stop you!" said Nahtia. "Black fingers can’t do it."

Ione spit on his palms and rubbed them on the front of his pants. "I do. Why do you know everything?"

Nahtia slapped his hand away and nudged him sharply with her shoulder.

"Kids, kids," asked Jack. "Remember my friend?"

Still shoving, Ione’s black fingers copycatted Nahtia’s movements until the set was nearly complete.

Sam quickly scribbled into a notebook and an airman taped the proceeding.

"Wait, wait," she said. "Not the last. Which is it, Nahtia?"

The girl pointed. "This."

"We don’t want to activate it now, okay?"

Jack called for his aide and left the group.

"Do you have any more chocolute?" inquired black fingers.

"Chocolate," corrected Sam. "Over here. Plenty."

* * * * *

In the cavern, Daniel’s multiple requests into the AVL to return to his room were unanswered. Rennon was preoccupied as usual. Giving up, he eased onto the floor against the passive rock, legs drawn in, arms enfolded about his sketchbook. The petroglyphs had provided little useful information in the days past and Daniel knew he wasted his time and energy.

A vibration startled him and a new face beamed from the AVL. She spoke. "No questions. We have to act quickly. The doors are open. Please go. I’ll give you coordinates along the way." A map appeared on the compact screen.

Daniel forgot the sketchbook and stood. "Wait, where’s..."

"Don’t talk. Go!" Her image vanished.

A highlighted ring on a diagram of the installation marked Daniel’s location, and a zigzag path showed the way to the gate.

He approached the door and poked his head out, listening. Scanning the layout, he followed two flights of stairs and strode several meters past his cell, then came upon a room that smelled of disinfectant. On a counter, stacked balls that resembled pomegranates spilled their long tails like blue raffia over the edge. He opened the opposite door, referred again to the map, and turned right to another egress. A familiar draft rushed across his face; it sent an unsettling twitch through his shoulders. His glasses slid further down his nose and he placed them into his chest pocket for safekeeping.

Before him, a narrow flight of steps stretched upward to a single exit, walls closely bordering the sides like those in the pyramid of King Khufu. The corridor glowed faintly from a single source at the top and the wind sang solo, an eerie concoction of screech and hum, the latter perhaps from the movements of machinery or the gate. Daniel listened for signs of occupation and started up, his fingers breaking off tufts of moss-red as he passed. The crumbs of the plant stuck to his palms like dander and he wiped them unconsciously at his ribs. An untimely sneeze threatened to explode. In his ears, Jack O’Neill spoke to him as if he were there: Don’t panic. Watch your back. Gesundheit.

Access was encoded. Whispering, he cursed a favorite when a double-beep sounded and five digits sprung up on a sub-screen. He entered the numbers and walked into the source of the noise. Automatic lamps revealed twenty-foot high ceilings and he wondered if his rescuer lit the way for him. Scattered about this room were fuel-exchange hardware, food processors, and a derelict vehicle equal in size to a golf cart. He hurried through to the opposite end, referring again to the diagram. Another short stairway and he reached the gateroom.

He tenderly cradled the coordinates, dialing the first three glyphs. The center ring turned. He checked behind and around as he pressed. Alone. The wind soured any idea of hearing an approach. Two more glyphs. No one. The chevrons on the torus blushed and locked, the gate shook. Another glance behind. He was alone. Another push and a locked chevron. A check to the left and the AVL dropped to the floor. The seventh and final Ethyrian address coordinate, then the activator, the central globe on the DHD. He pushed.

A violent shock pierced through Daniel’s arm, stretching through his torso like a machete into every nerve. It flung him into the air and he landed square on his back, striking his head on the floor. On the heels of the landing, flashes like sheet lightning assailed him which dissolved the ceiling, contorting it like a mirage. He reached to muffle a menacing whine that rang through his ears, but found he could not lift his arms.

"You know, we don’t fully realize how vulnerable we are until we’re on the outside looking in and see how facile it is to attain dominion over others. It does take a good deal of work though. One step ahead." As Jollard spoke, the gate droned in deceleration mode. "Your friends are likely as exhausted as you and losing hope. It happens that way, people say they care but give them a bit too much personal suffering and they would rather move right on with their lives. Too difficult. People need a finality." He walked across the room to the control area and studied an indicator. "That’s why death can be a good thing."

Daniel wiggled two fingers and tried to move the third. The gate carried on its slow-down. "Why does it have to be this way?" His voice was hoarse and slight and his body remained part of the floor but he forced a small turn, letting the movement of his eyes do the rest, to see Jollard. "I think you’re an educated man if not a reasonable one."

While the gate went silent, the wind reclaimed its superiority.

At the controls, visual feeds of various areas of the habitat were displayed. Jollard watched closely; no one was present. "The only thing that makes sense to me is that I need to go home. "

The room pitched and Daniel squeezed his eyes to shut it out. He raised a knee and crossed arms that tingled over his chest. "They must be after you, the Goa’uld." He paused to focus. "No, they wouldn’t bother with another miscreant when they have enough of their own." His voice gained clarity.

The images repeated themselves and Jollard’s outcry overcame even the turbulent rush of the wind. "The Goa’uld don’t know if they’re coming or going. They don’t even take the time to secure these gates!" He raised Daniel to his feet and held him tightly around the neck. "I don’t need you anymore, Jackson, I’ve suffered enough. I need finality as well as anyone else."

Daniel’s mind sent the message to strike but his limbs, heavy as marble, could not respond. Forcing an arm behind him, Jollard kicked at Daniel’s heels and ankles, dragging him to an exit partially hidden by a discarded gridiron cover. Passing through, they traversed a flight of stairs that surpassed the length of all the others, the shaft growing colder as they climbed, the wind roaring like a waterfall. At the top, a short platform built before a reinforced double entry greeted them and on Jollard’s tactile command, the inner horizontal hatches retracted.

"Good-bye," said Jollard, hurling the doctor into the chamber. The hatches closed. Peering through a small hexagonal window, he traced a word on the glass: HOME.

Daniel watched Jollard’s mouth speak without sound and the outer hatches opened, one ascending, the other descending. With fury, the wind stormed into the chamber, consuming the air in one sweep. Daniel gasped.

Scarcely more than an Earth twilight illuminated the onslaught of stones, the size of peas to walnuts. As they struck, Daniel crawled and huddled against the inner hatches, the howling gale pinning him against it. His jacket whipped about like tissue paper and he jerked it over his head, glasses flying out of the pocket. Pebbles swarmed about him, ants on a rampage, stinging his hands, arms and back, pinging as they hit the hatches. He could not block his eyes enough to prevent the toxins in the planet’s troposphere from burning them and the smell of copper created a sensation on his tongue worse than foil. The hurling gravel tore holes through his clothes where drops of blood then seeped.

So he labored for breath, his life transpiring in reverse: playing chess with Jack the night before a mission, living with Sha’re and her people, college days as a graduate student experiencing the step pyramid of King Joser, the death of his parents, his fourth birthday party. And a misplaced, unwanted visitor: Osiris, the god of the underworld, guarding the sarcophagus in which he slept, enduring the inescapable blackness of a sealed tomb, abandoned for four millennia. The god wrapped its cloak around him, urging him to come forward, to allow the peace of departure, the comfort of his company, and for an eternity, struggle was the world.

Finally, from outside him, outside the tomb, the pain lessened. He heard desperate inhalations previously unheard and the mad currents of air that had bombarded him ceased as a hissing filled the chamber and the two hatches of the inner doors parted. Daniel rolled inside.

Jollard fanned the powdery red air. "Leaves a hideous flavor, doesn’t it? Just a formidable minute or two. Now you’ll understand reason, I hope." He spoke to the wall, "Come get him," then bent near Daniel. "It’s odd that some of those who have known suffering will save others from it, in search of higher glory, yet others who have known the same suffering are inclined to inflict it upon others. It’s fascinating when people don’t behave as we expect them to, even ourselves."

Jollard’s words struck Daniel like the pebbles of the outer planet. He shifted nearer the wall and backed against it, shrinking by bits, head bowed. He held one hand to his smarting throat and the other grasped the fabric of his jacket like a child hanging to its mother’s skirt. He wanted to run.

Unaffected, Jollard droned on. "Sometimes the strongest are the most cowardly in the end, and the weakest will stand up in the worst circumstances. In any case, it’s such a disappointment. They change right before our eyes, or what was there all along makes itself known while we’re too busy taking care of ourselves the best we can. Forget about your friends." He rose. "When you’ve your wits back, we’ll resume the work, all right?"

And Jollard departed without a heart, as was previously so.

Fighting for air between coughs, Daniel induced longer inhalations that echoed down the stairwell, fusing with the wind. The lights dimmed twice, dealing with problems of their own, then failed. Unmindfully, a moan permeated the abyss and Daniel felt every indignity of subjugation at once. Particles of sand scratched the undersides of his eyelids and solitude provoked already red, stinging eyes into a release of welcome and unwelcome tears.

* * * * *

On the overhead walk, Halease hid and listened. Rennon worked on the floor, exasperated, to repair an auxiliary terminal.

"Where is she?" Jollard’s light entered before him.

"What’s wrong now?" said Rennon.

"She gave the doctor the Ethyrian coordinates and let him go. Where were you?"

"A hundred guesses." He shook his head and fidgeted with a frayed connection. "She would. He’s away then?"

"No, of course not. The D.L.S. worked like it’s supposed to. I sent her a word to take care of it. Make sure one of you does. He’s on the main landing."

Rennon’s face asked the question.

"He’s moving. I’ll be trying out those coordinates."

When Jollard left, the wind dominated the quiet that followed.

"You heard him." Rennon produced an implement, resembling a screwdriver with four prongs, from a box. "Better get to it."

More quiet, then from overhead. "I’ve made it worse."

Osiris departed and Daniel awoke in the temple of Imhotep, the god of medicine, and sought his advice. A sore throat and the pungent flavor of copper soiled his tongue. His chest ached, and he could neither lie back nor smile, even with cause. Jollard had altered him without striking a blow. The lamps hung unlit but someone had placed a hand-held light, like the one Rennon carried, on the bed beside him so that he might not be consigned to the blind.

Daniel grabbed the lamp and sat up, holding a hand to his waist. Sporadic coughing seized him. The caustic atmosphere had likely damaged his lungs. Perhaps Imhotep’s prescription would be solely to summon the courage to continue. In the mirror, bloodshot whites glared at him, ghostly like a campfire fright. He placed the light on the sink and showered with care, allowing the greenish, viscous liquid--he had yet to determine its composition--to pour over softly.

Once dressed, he walked out to find the face of the stranger who had helped him in the escape attempt. Her expression conveyed regret.

"I’m sorry," she began. "I didn’t know about the barrier. I tried to be there, but it wouldn’t have helped. Are you all right?"

Daniel was fascinated, pain in his side advancing like a fault line. "Um, I’m sorry, too." He cleared his throat. "Who are you?"

"I’m transmitting on a reserve source, I can’t be long. I’m Halease. Some of the systems have reached critical. You look critical yourself. I’m so sorry. We may be able to keep things going a little longer."

"You--we--tried. I’m...all right."

"I warned him--I’m sorry he’s my brother right now--The weaker a creature is, the kinder you must be with it."

Thick eyebrows arched. "Weak?" The line progressed into his back and he fought to concentrate.

"I know it isn’t true but that’s how he thinks of you. He’s been here too long."

"Why..."

"We were banished, thrown out. This was a mining complex. There was a long war. My brother was convicted of treason. The regnant council sent him here to live, and die. At first they sent provisions, but we’re on our own now. Rennon was condemned as well and I came after. I paid everything I had for the return coordinates just to find out they were mostly wrong. I was found out and sent, too"

"Why haven’t you gone through? There are plenty of habitable planets."

"I might. But I feel the gate killed me before. It did. And Rennon is my husband, he won’t leave. My brother is the only one who knows how to operate it accurately. It wasn’t so terrible, until of late. The generators are ancient. We may end up on an alien planet after all."

"You’re already on one aren’t you, Halease?" Daniel stretched his back. "Why did he pick me?"

"You happened to be there, that’s all. Once he stole and accessed the data in your system, he knew you could do it." She cast her eyes downward. "You weren’t the first."

"I know. Someone did a great deal of work."

Halease hesitated. "My brother let his anger get away from him."

"You’re saying...this someone is dead?"

"Jollard told me he left through the gate. He was one of us, from our planet. But he wouldn’t have left without me."

"I see. I’m sorry." The fault line slithered into Daniel’s neck. "Guess I am the ‘chosen’ one," he said, extending his legs. "Why does your brother need to go home? He could have gone anywhere else, somewhere else, including my Earth. With our help anyway."

"There are some he wants to repay, he has a family as well. But we have no idea if they haven’t been sent away too somewhere or are even alive. Please don’t provoke him."

"Me provoke him?"

She turned away. "Incoming, I have to go." One last apology and she was gone.

Daniel pushed a few keys on the dome, but Halease did not return. A fit of coughing ensued and he supported himself on the desk. When it ended, he lay his head on his arms and imagined he was home in his warm bed, assured of an ordinary day upon rising.

The silence of Imhotep lingered.

* * * * *

In hydroponics, Halease rationed a mixture of nutrient-rich chemicals.

Rennon entered from the hallway. "Where’s your brother? He hasn’t answered and we have problems."

"We always do. We have power."

"Not for long." He watched her pour the brown liquid into a tall receptacle. "Don’t bother with that. They’re bound to die anyway."

"I can’t keep track of him. He’ll answer when he wants to."

"I wish you’d stayed. It didn’t help for you to come here."

She walked to next receptacle. "There weren’t any more safe places."

"So you’ve maintained. He still deserves our respect."

"That’s not certain anymore. Our world is dead to us."

"He didn’t mean to."

"To what? Satisfy his own needs? That justifies nothing. In war, it’s different. Here I expected some…decency." Her words resounded into the hall.

"You’re not beyond your own desires, Halease, and Cread knew the rules, including the one about husbands and wives."

Halease spilled the mixture over a rim and it streamed into the pots below. "Like the doctor? Does he know the rules?"

"Your brother didn’t mean to kill anyone. I, on the other hand…"

"I trusted you’d do something."

Rennon withered and looked aside. "It wasn’t in me. How could it be?" He allowed her to finish the watering. "Don’t worry, the doctor will get back. So will we."

Daniel did not rest. His light would go out soon and morbid thoughts of abandonment did not respond to logic. He tried Halease but the system did not activate. He tried the door. No change.

Rubbing his hands together, he blew on them while a shiver coiled through him like a spring. From afar, the wind called more clearly than in earlier days; absent was the hum of the machinery usually in the undertow of sound. Another fit of coughing befell him, punctuated by another shiver. Slipping his jacket over his battered back, he noticed his breath could be seen, faint as his sanity. His toes were cold within their heavy military boots and there was a tint of blue under his fingernails.

He inspected the moss and found it faded to a carnation pink. Following the line of growth with the lamp, he grabbed a clump, expecting it to disintegrate. Instead, it clung to the walls like old gum. He tossed the light on the bed and hurried to the doors, beating them until his fists hurt. In minutes, he grew dizzy and short of breath, his head pounding, and collapsed.

* * * * *

"It’s no use, we’ve got to leave," Rennon pleaded as Jollard alternated positions and tracked the various displays on the boards. "Three of the turbines are down, the reserve is down too. It’s in cascade now. They weren’t designed for these conditions."

"What’s that?" asked Jollard.

"I mean it’s a wonder we’ve lasted this long. The vanes were worn when we got here. They never cared how long we’d last. Two of the shafts are out, impossible. We’ve got to pick one of your planets and get out of here."

"That would change everything, we’d have to start from scratch--new coordinates."

A warning flashed across the monitors and a synthesized voice followed:

WARNING. SYSTEMS IN FULL DECLINE UNDER FAIL-SAFE SHUTDOWN. LIFE SUPPORT NETWORK REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS IN SECTIONS 1A1 THROUGH 4A2. OPERATING AT 75 PERCENT OF NORMAL FUNCTIONS. NITROGEN LEVEL AT 68 PERCENT, OXYGEN LEVEL AT 15 PERCENT. RECOMMEND ALL PERSONNEL IN CRITICAL AND NON-CRITICAL AREAS BE EVACUATED IMMEDIATELY.

It began to repeat and with each repetition, percentages decreased. Danger signals brightened and blinked on the panels with nothing to celebrate.

"I can stop this, reroute to the main sections," said Jollard.

Rennon tried to pull Jollard’s hand away. "There’s no more coming in! We’re at 20 percent with the light. R.I.J. has shut off all non-essential sections."

He was ignored.

"I’m finding Halease, we’ll take that last place you were at, Ethyria." He pronounced it flawlessly. "I hope the gate’s still operational."

"Let ‘em through, Airman," ordered Jack. Nahtia entered like royalty, Ione after her. "They let you two out again, huh?"

"Cemma says we shouldn’t be too harsh," said Ione.

Ethyria’s suns cast a gleam through the canvas and smoothed the lines on Jack’s forehead. "But someone knows you’re here, right?"

Nahtia eyed Jack’s rifle, propped carefully in the corner against a table. "Why do you keep those?"

Ione reached toward the weapon.

"Don’t touch, very dangerous." said Jack, interceding. "We need them sometimes, we go to some places where not everyone is as friendly as you are." He shrugged. "It’s for protection."

"They’re dangerous?" asked Nahtia.

"It kills."

The tent was warm and Ione removed his outer shirt. "You carry dangerous for the dangerous."

"I guess you could say that," agreed Jack.

"Will it get Daniel back?" Nahtia’s red vest dominated the colors of the military drab around them.

"Well, it doesn’t always work like that. Not all the time. Sometimes it’s not enough."

Ione tossed his shirt on the table and it slipped to the grass. "Not enough to bring Daniel?"

"No. But we’re working on it."

The Airman reappeared into the tent. "Colonel, telemetry station is ready for the M.A.L.P., sir."

"I’ll be right there. I’ll see you guys later, okay? Airman, make sure these two get home all right."

"Yes, sir, I’ll see to it."

On Jack’s suggestion, the boy retrieved his shirt before departing.

"Dial, Major," Jack directed Sam. He hoped Nahtia’s memory relied on more than pride.

The M.A.L.P. probe readied for deployment while Sam pressed the first glyph on the DHD, moved through the remaining six, and then pushed the center with her hand outspread. The intrepid, six-wheeled M.A.L.P. rolled forward smoothly and disappeared into the ripples.

* * * * *

In 4A storage, Halease tested the output of the oxygen unit with deep breaths. Little suitable air existed on the surface and what was pulled from the atmosphere into the subterranean habitat was extracted and converted by the power of the wind. She crowded several of the units into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, then hurried toward food storage. She took what she could carry and proceeded to level two. Stationary communications were inoperable and the AVL silent to her requests to Rennon and Jollard. No time, no energy for recharge.

She dropped her light in the rush and while she recovered, Rennon surprised her at the bottom of the steps.

"Keep going," he said, "to the gate. We’re out of luck. Ethyria’s the best choice."

Halease handed him a unit. "You’ll kill us. We need Jollard."

"You managed to help the doctor."

"And I failed. Where’s my brother?"

"On 2C, still trying. He won’t leave."

Halease shook her head. "I can’t worry about him now." She turned to leave and Rennon caught hold of her bag.

"Where are you going?"

"I’m getting him out." She jerked away and gulped more oxygen. Her fingertips were chilled and the unit was difficult to place. "He can help us." The percentages continued to shrink.

"Leave him! He’s done nothing for you," demanded Rennon.

Halease touched the exit door. "Neither have you."

Aiming her weapon downward slightly, Halease placed four concentrated bursts into the center of a door to Daniel’s room. "If you’re near," she said, "move away." Silence.

Minutes later, the weapon was three-quarters drained. Halease peered into the fifteen-centimeter hole on one knee. Her light found Daniel on the floor. She removed an oxygen unit from her pack and threw it near his shoulder.

"Dr. Jackson, wake up," she said. "Get it!"

His eyes opened drowsily.

"Please!"

The unit remained where it fell.

WARNING. SYSTEMS IN CASCADE SHUTDOWN. OPERATING AT 60 PERCENT OF NORMAL FUNCTIONS. NITROGEN LEVELS AT 59 PERCENT. OXYGEN LEVELS AT 10 PERCENT. RECOMMEND ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY TO LEVEL ONE.

"What are you...we’re getting out of here!" Jollard knocked the weapon from her hands, sniffing oxygen and carrying a rifle he had acquired on the anarchic planet of Sionis where the inhabitants preferred its power source implanted within their bodies.

"If you’re not going to help then leave me alone, I don’t have much time." She picked up her bag and searched for a second weapon from the collection of stolen artifacts. The hole in the door measured close to 30 centimeters.

Jollard pulled a switch on the rifle and aimed at the door.

"No, not that way, it’s too much. It’s not like you don’t…" She forced the Sionis aside. "…know that." She unlocked the next weapon to resume. "Please go away. I need you but not this way."

"I see a bit of the old Halease is still here," he said, replacing the switch. "Die for him then, reach a higher glory." He opened the flap on the bag, removed several items, kissed Halease on the cheek, and headed towards the gateroom.

* * * * *

Rennon returned to the boxes stacked haphazardly at the rear of the room, taking oxygen now and then, and prepared for departure. With his light on a crate, he gathered packages and blankets onto a large dolly at the top of the ramp. Crossing the room, he loaded medical supplies into a metal container and came upon a tense Jollard.

"She won’t come, go get her," he ordered.

Rennon shook his head. "She won’t leave without him."

"I’ll finish here."

"All right...but..."

The light skidded off the crate and crashed to the floor. Behind them, the gate trembled, its self-contained energy impervious to the crisis. The center ring circled with a shriek and an amber chevron locked, creating a cyclopean night-light.

Jollard struck his brother-in-law in the shoulder. "What did you do?"

"Nothing...I wasn’t ready..."

Another chevron locked and the systems continued to display the shrinking environmental levels. Jollard pounded key after key but the gate carried on the sequence.

"It’s not us," concluded Rennon. "Someone’s coming."

The last chevron was in place and the gate activated, its power exploding into the room, dividing the men in opposite directions. Running, they protected their heads from the debris that scattered and settled in bits and bangs about the area. The dolly had disappeared and from the portal rolled the M.A.L.P. probe, inching down the ramp with its image-capturing lens under high-powered illumination.

* * * * *

Halease squeezed through the hole in the door, just large enough for her, crying ouches when the hot alloy singed her clothing and met her skin. She paused briefly when the gate activated. Within the cell, she found the air was thinner than in the common areas. Taking several deep breaths for herself first, she placed the oxygen under Daniel’s nose and waited for his chest to rise, then picked up her weapon and carried on her task.

* * * * *

"Ambient temperature, minus 5 degrees Celsius, atmosphere 57 percent nitrogen, 10 percent oxygen. Carbon dioxide levels increasing. Argon and water vapor negligible." The young technician recited the telemetry of the probe as a grainy picture twitched on his display. "It appears the gate’s activation has struck something at the destination point." He spoke to Jack. "You’ll need air, Colonel."

Sam agreed. "We’re ready for that."

The tech adjusted his headgear. "No indication of life forms in the immediate area."

The probe’s view was expanded; the screen widened. Jack scrutinized the picture. "But plenty of people-stuff. Let’s go."

"Wait.." said Sam, "…there’s a…." She touched the tech on the back lightly. "Increase the volume." As he did so, the recitation of another warning was received over the speakers. Sam listened for a moment. "An alarm. Their levels are comparable to ours."

Jack’s answers were coming closer. "Like I said, let’s go."

Ione and Nahtia emerged from hiding, their heads dancing amongst several soldiers and a few others that defied their elders’ wishes. Side by side, Jack, Sam and Teal’c received well wishes and final instructions from the staff then stepped through the Ethyrian Stargate.

* * * * *

Halease attended to Daniel. He coughed between breaths, eyes fluttering but then returning to rest. The hole in the cell door was over 50 centimeters.

"You need to sit up," she urged, tapping his face. He did not budge. She lifted him by tugging his jacket with both hands, but he rose halfway then fell back with a thud. Daniel groaned.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that."

"Sam?" he called. "P8S-214?"

She tugged again. "Ahh...Get up!" she urged. Then she altered her tactic, this time placing her arms under his shoulders and pushing him into a sitting position. Daniel’s head flopped against her neck.

She shook him wildly. "Wake up! Ugh, you smell like boiled moss. So heavy...where do you come from?" She stretched for the oxygen and activated a diagnostic with one push. It confirmed that he was receiving a sufficient supply. She shook him again.

Daniel wrinkled his face. "Do it again, Sam," he muttered.

* * * * *

Jollard braved the litter scattered by the explosion and sneaked in for a better view, out of sight. At his right, Rennon avoided the extension of the probe’s searchlight at the bottom of the ramp. They watched as the intruders disembarked through the gate: Teal’c first, then Sam and Jack, who placed himself at point as the gate switched off.

Sam adjusted her oxygen intake but kept her attention on their surroundings. "Looks like we found the rat’s nest."

"Needs some tidying up," returned Jack.

Teal’c disregarded their need to comment upon everything. "It appears the probe’s arrival did precipitate a collision." He tiptoed over the remains of something purple.

Jack led the way toward the east exit. "Probably. Okay kiddies. Heads up, no pushing."

With the flashlights mounted on each MP-10, the team zigzagged through crates and at the bottom of the stairs found the doors ajar.

Sam tried forcing them, then stepped aside. "No power. Maybe we can..."

Teal’c pressed his shoulder into the opening and shoved. The space widened in three small lurches, large enough for each of them to pass.

"Good work," complimented Jack. "Szzzz. Glad we brought our long underwear."

Sam fit through the easiest. "And air. Looks like this place was occupied, sometime. Seems pretty empty now. No telling how long the alarm has been operating."

Traveling further, they entered the kitchen where raffia tails spilled off the counter.

"What is this place?" Jack wondered, tugging at a tail. "That wind is sounding spooky." He suddenly raised his head and turned back. "Someone’s at the gate."

* * * * *

From the hole in the cell door emerged a muddled Daniel headfirst and straight to the surface.

"Are you all right?" Halease asked, offering assistance.

"Ow, ow, that hurts... yes." He steadied himself.

"Come on. We’re at half-levels now. Kitchen is blocked, have to go this way."

Daniel wavered and locked his knees to recover. He sensed a familiar vibration in the pit of his belly. "The gate."

"I thought they’d gone already."

"Apparently not." Daniel coaxed his thinking with a headshake. "What’s going on?"

"The WTG’s-- the generators--are exhausted. Life support is failing."

They carried their oxygen and lamps through the passageway with Daniel stumbling once or twice like a straw man. "I noticed," he said.

* * * * *

"There goes the rest of the light. It’s re-routing here. We’ll need to enter manually." Jollard abandoned the boards and with notes in hand, began a sequence of glyphs on the DHD. "Crow-min’s rags!" Jollard borrowed more than supplies. "Why doesn’t it lock in?"

"Try again." In the dark, Rennon re-gathered supplies, throwing a sack into a container on a platform. "She should have been here by now."

After another attempt the gate locked, prepared for the final activation.

"That’s enough, we don’t have any more time," said Jollard. "She’s made her choice."

"I can’t go yet. Leave the sequence."

Jollard rolled the platform forward. "Fine. But this comes with me."

"You there!" Jack’s outline was barely visible to the men.

Shoving the platform away, Jollard scrambled and armed his rifle, firing randomly, then ran for the DHD. As he passed, a blast from Teal’c’s weapon stopped him

short and he retreated into hiding. Rennon followed. The team split instantly, scurrying to the stacks, Sam opposite the gate.

Jack lowered himself below the line of fire. "Stand down," he shouted, appreciative of his oxygen reserves. "We just want to talk!"

"We just want to get out of here!" replied Rennon. But near him, an unrelenting Jollard barraged the strangers with the rifle and his declaration was lost in the commotion. He ran for cover as the Sionis’ blasts penetrated the stacks half-deep.

Restored balance hurried Daniel into the gateroom from the west, Halease leading. He watched as Sam advanced in the gate’s last glow to a favorable position with her sidearm prepared. "They’ve come," he said calmly. Scattered at Jollard’s feet were three objects that resembled harmless yo-yos.

"They’re explosives," warned Halease. "He’s a fool. They could damage the gate."

"I doubt it," assured Daniel. They slipped in closer as Jollard selected an explosive and prepared to throw, aiming in Sam’s direction.

Daniel seethed, the blood flooding his face and scalp, eyes ignited in rage. Attack! And he bolted out, sprinting past Rennon and nearly struck by fire. His horrified cry of "No!" bounced off the walls and returned to him stronger, convinced of its power, its necessity, driving him to reach Jollard faster than he ever would have imagined he could. He caught the man by the heel, pulling him down in one confident tug. Jollard lost the rifle and the explosive hurled off its planned trajectory and disintegrated before the base of the DHD, a brilliant flash within smoke.

A few meters away, Rennon dashed for an exit in the confusion and was wounded by Teal’c.

The wind was the backdrop for Daniel’s indignation. He pinned Jollard to the floor like a soldier, beating him in an unknown madness. The air around him burned.

"Don’t you dare!" he asserted in a torrent of unbroken speech. "That’s it, that’s it no more you son of a bitch you fucking stupid bastard you can’t treat people like this you won’t hurt anybody else ever again. I’m gonna’ kill you dammit god dam it you shouldn’t...be...allowed...to...go…on!"

Jollard protected his face with his forearms. "Get off me!" he yelled. They both struggled for breath between words as the oxygen units disengaged.

From behind the DHD emerged Sam, coughing and dazed. Jack helped her into retreat, then trained his light toward a familiar voice. He ran ahead, bumping into crates in haste, in dimness, and tossed his weapon aside. "Daniel, Daniel! Stop it, It’s over!" he implored, and he reached under Daniel’s arms, locking his own over Daniel’s chest, tugging as the doctor’s hands squeezed around his opponent’s neck. He was knocked off balance, but regrouped faster than his gray. "It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s over. It’s over! Let go!" Then exerting more force than he cared to, he heaved Daniel upwards and broke the grip; they landed like logs on one another, Daniel’s legs and fists flailing, unrelieved. "Stop it," ordered Jack. "That’s enough!"

Daniel hardly knew who was with him and he was up on his knees in a second. "Let me go, let me finish it. He’s killed her!"

Jack placed himself between the two men. "Daniel no, listen to me. Listen! She’s okay, she’s all right." He faced Daniel and braced him by the shoulders. "Look."

Sam showed from the shadows, assuring them with a wan smile.

A few wary seconds stilled Daniel. The wind’s song returned. Slowly, he released his grasp on Jack’s sleeves and pushed away, settling on his heels, then the floor. "Oh my God, oh my God what am I doing? " he asked, realizing reason had failed him. His chest weighed on him like concrete, face drained. "I can’t breath, I can’t breath."

"Calm down, get a hold of yourself." Jack administered his share of oxygen. "Here, here. Take it easy."

"I need some...of that," demanded Jollard. He bled from the mouth and nose, unable to get up. Halease tossed a unit to him and knelt down.

A limping Rennon was kept under guard by Teal’c. "It is good to see you again, Daniel Jackson," he said.

Jack recovered his MP-10. "Boy I’ll bet you’ve got a story to tell. Sam, you okay?"

Her eyes were wide. "Okay."

"Then let’s get out of here." Jack offered a hand up but Daniel refused and stood, taking quick breaths and glaring through Jollard. Sam clung to the edge of the DHD and dialed.

"We need to go, we’re almost out of air," said Jack, his tone softened.

Halease helped her brother forward, then hesitated before the gate. "I can’t do this," she said, and retreated down the ramp.

"You have to Halease," said Rennon. "There’s no other way."

Daniel started after her, this time accepting Jack’s support. "Come on," he said, "I’ll help," and he held out his hand. Jollard leaned on a railing, silent.

The gate was ready. Daniel and Halease vanished into the glimmer first, Jack last.

WARNING. FAIL-SAFE CONFIRMATION. LIFE SUPPORT IN FULL SHUTDOWN. ALL REMAINING PERSONNEL...

Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 filled Daniel’s quarters.

"Oh, I missed this," said Daniel, resting sideways on a pile of pillows. "Sorry about the music, Teal’c. I know this isn’t your...music."

The Jafar nodded gracefully while Jack joined them next to the bed.

Daniel relished the good air. "Where’s Sam?"

"She’s fine, fine, taking a few days leave." He rubbed an earlobe. "Cemma and his people have agreed to allow Halease and the others to stay on Ethyria."

"That’s what she wanted. But they don’t know what they’re getting into with him."

"I don’t think Jollard has had much of a change of heart, I just think he’s had the wind taken out of his sails." Jack picked up a section of get-well fruit from the nightstand and offered some to Teal’c.

"Why that?" asked Daniel. Teal’c stopped mid-chew on the dried apricot.

"We sent the M.A.L.P. through to those coordinates."

"Jollard’s planet?" asked Daniel.

"Yeah, we’re pretty sure that’s the one from Sam’s calculations and your research."

Daniel waited.

"Looks like it’s gone--least half of it is. Blown away. Telemetry returned no life signs." Jack grabbed another piece. "We think they destroyed themselves."

Turning down the symphony, Daniel leaned forward, his memory bidding him elsewhere. He spoke carefully. "I wasn’t even supposed to be there."

There was an uneasiness in Jack. "You about killed him."

"I had to stop him." Daniel swung his feet over the bed and watched Teal’c cross the room. "I let him draw me right into it."

"You had strong reason, he was a cruel master," said Teal’c, tossing the fruit into the bin.

Daniel sighed, feeling weary again. "I don’t think reason has much to do with it."

* * * * *

Ethyria’s talach trees shed their jade blossoms while Jack and Sam gathered and packed their belongings. The petals floated onto their hair like warm snowflakes, sticking briefly before falling. Through the rows, walking alone, Nahtia arrived with her usual confidence.

Jack took her hand and shook it. "Thanks for helping us find our friend. He might have been lost a lot longer without your help."

"He’s home now?" She seemed unacquainted with the custom and threw a puzzled look at Sam.

Jack nodded. "He is."

"Cemma says it’s a great hardship when one of the family is lost. I’m happy you found him. Are you going home now too?"

"Yes. I have...things to do."

"Will you be back?"

"I might. You never know."

Nahtia smiled. "Will you bring more chocolute?"

"Well, as a matter of fact." Sam produced two large boxes from her pack. "Here’s a little going-away present. One is for Ione. Where is he today?"

"Talking and talking and talking," answered Nahtia, taking the gifts, "…too much to eat."

A last goodbye and the Ethyrian Stargate closed after Jack and Sam.

© January 15, 2001 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Thanks to readers Anna and Julie and to tech helpers Marty and Ellen C.