Hot. . . so hot. My bones are on fire, melting. Burning . . .hot . . .

"Sir?"

Argh . . . don't move! Searing heat eating me up from the inside warring with the pain. God it hurts . . . shoulder hurts. Don't move, don't move. Why is it so damn hot?

"Sir, I don't know if what we are about to try is a good idea or not, but you have the right to know . . ."

Stifling darkness is closing in on me. A fog of scorching pain wraps itself around my brain, suffocating me. Can't talk. Can't see.

" . . . you might not survive it."

Carter...Carter's trying to tell me something. Trying something... might not make it...got it. Trust you. Can feel a hand on mine. I fight against the scalding pain to make my hand squeeze her fingers. Do it Carter.

"Okay Teal'c." Her voice floats in the inky air.

ARGH! Lightening lances through me, piercing me.

Voices burst through the darkness. A cacophony of minute voices, building to a crescendo. Drowning out the pain. Crowding out the darkness. Dampening the fire. Voices swirling, speaking, demanding to be heard. Voices inside and out talking . . .

"Again."

No! God no! A burning fist slams into me.

"You have to . . . again."

Darkness swallows the blistering jab that threatens to destroy me. I sink into that blissful nothingness. Then I feel a faint sensation of cool fingers at my throat.

"No pulse."

Carter? What . . . but I have no time to worry about what she is saying because other voices are clammering to be heard. Louder and louder, they insist on speaking. . .

"Good morning campers. This is truly a strange feeling." I hear the echo of the voices. They well up in my bones, jump from nerve ending to nerve ending, swelling into my brain, pouring out of my mouth. I can't stop it. I can't stop them.

"Colonel?" Carter sounds unsure, as if she too hears the otherness in those words.

"Yes, he is here." The words sing out in the darkness. Dimly I can see past their presence to those in the gate room. General Hammond is looking up at me with a worried expression. Daniel is behind his right shoulder. Carter is to his left. Teal'c is standing behind them, staff weapon in hand. The gang's all here.

"Who else are we talking to?" General Hammond asks.

"We . . . are also here." The voices echo in my head and in my ears.

"My name is . . "

"Hammond. Yes. O'Neill knows." They swarm through my brain, through my memories the same way they swarm through my skin, my blood. I can feel them push against me, wanting to know, to make contact.

"Then you should also know we mean you no harm."

"You awoke us." They watch the general through my eyes. They are suspicious. They sift through my memories, judging his words, his character.

"We have only recently become aware of your existence."

"You would have returned us to our former world." From within, the voices scream accusations. Their frightened chorus threatens to drown out Teal'c's words as he speaks.

"We believed you were a threat to us."

"We feared you," Daniel adds. The voices focus on the archeologist. They worm through my mind, weighing his words, his sincerity.

"And your fear would have destroyed us. Millennium ago, our world was dying. We could no longer live there. For this reason, we created the orb." The voices seek to explain, to connect with those outside.

"Where you slept for one hundred thousand years," Daniel continues the thought.

"Yes, Daniel." Joy surges through them at being heard, being understood.

"Waiting for someone to come along, like us, and take you back through the Stargate."

"So it was written on the orb. Once exposed to the atmosphere of a living world, we went forth..."

"And multiplied," Daniel concludes.

"So it was written." Vindication. Exaltation. The voices screech with the fullness of it.

"Auto Self-Destruct in four minutes," the voice of the computer chimes from above.

'No! Not yet!' I push back against the voices. They have to see. They can't stay. We can't let them. We'll all die.

"We cannot go back." Their solemn answer echoes in the darkness.

"And we cannot allow you to stay." General Hammond's brow is creased. He doesn't want to destroy the voices, but his first priority is the safety of Earth. Somehow, I know the voices understand.

"O'Neill feels this as well. However, you have allowed us no alternatives."

"General, we're almost out of time," Carter reminds him as the self-destruct ticks away the seconds.

"This place, admittedly out of our ignorance, is about to be destroyed by an explosion," the general explains.

"Such energy only serves to nourish us. We will multiply and consume your world." The voices are not concerned with the imminent blast. They relish the possibility. They are hungry.

"If you would allow us to restore our communications, we could stop that from happening. We would survive."

"O'Neill desires this as well. He wishes to live." Yes, I scream back at the voices. There has to be another way. Help me. Help us all. The voices whirl through me, seeking a way. "But what of us?"

"P4G-881!" Daniel shouts, eyes blazing. "It's primordial, lots of oxygen and sunlight like this world was millions of years ago."

"Sir, we can't open the Stargate without the computers." Carter's warning cuts through the excited chatter of the voices.

"You would send us there through your Stargate?" The voices ask. They are curious, cautious.

"We would." General Hammond's answer is firm.

"For what reason?"

"So that we both may survive."

The voices curl themselves around the words, digesting them. They argue the pros and cons, screaming their fear, their excitement, their suspicions, their hopes.

"We'll take you there ourselves. Please!" Daniel's plea sounds tinny, as if he were at the end of a long tunnel. Then there is nothing but the voices in the dark.

The world contracts to a pin point of bustling energy. I sense movement, but I can't see anything, can't feel anything except the tingling along my skin as the voices race through me. Gripped by their sense of urgency, my heart hammers as I struggle to understand what is happening. A sharp shock reverberates through me as my sight suddenly returns. Sensations rush back, crashing against me. My senses reel from the onslaught. I feel myself falling backwards, my head hitting the metal ramp. The voices are gone.

Concerned faces appear above me. Daniel and Teal'c look down at me, worry in their eyes. Carter hurries over to kneel by my side. Hands reach out to touch me, support me.

"Nice work," I whisper as they help me sit up. Once again, voices fill me head. Familiar and reassuring, the voices of my teammates swirl around me, filtering through me to fill the empty spaces inside.

"It is good to see you alive and well, O'Neill."

"Welcome back, Jack."

"I thought you were gone for good, Sir."

"Wild horses," I reply, grinning at Carter's confusion. Teal'c smiles back, remembering the joke. Yep, I'm back and no alien orbs or undomesticated equines are going to tear me away from where I belong.

finis

© February 11, 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.