• SPOILERS: Major ones for “Fragile Balance” and “Metamorphosis.”  Significant references made to “Solitudes,” “The Fifth Race,” “Meridian,” and “Revelations"
• SUMMARY: SG-1 is held captive by unknown keepers
• RATING: PG-13 Blood, some language, Jack-whumping and more Jack-whumping

He opened his eyes to the bleary image of two pools of blue and idly wondered what the hell had happened this time.   It had to have been pretty damn interesting for him to be on the receiving end of that particular look from Carter.

Closing his eyes again, Colonel Jack O’Neill readied himself for what was surely to happen next.

“Are you alright, Colonel?” his favorite USAF Major asked.

Unsurprised by the words, but tired of hearing them being repeatedly directed at him over the past few years, Jack sighed heavily.

“That depends, Carter,” he croaked out.

“On what, Sir?”

In an attempt to abate his throbbing headache, Jack kept his eyes closed but could still hear the concern for him in the tone of Carter’s voice.  He knew that she would be worrying about a head injury.  It was probably best to lay those worries aside.

He cracked one eye open and flashed his cockiest smile at her.

“On whether or not we’re all still locked up in an overly small metal room, Major.”

Sam smiled, and he opened his other eye in response.   She truly had one hell of a smile, and he found himself in the trance-like state that was usually brought on by its appearance.

“Yes, Sir,” Carter responded, and as transfixed by her as he was, he failed to notice for the moment that she had not answered his question.  But it was only a moment, and he mentally shook himself for his indiscretion afterwards.   Yep, diversionary tactics were definitely called for.

“Which is it Carter?  Are we actually okay for once?” he asked devilishly as he struggled to sit up straighter.

“We’re all still locked up in an overly small metal room, Jack,” came the decidedly grumpy response from somewhere to the left of the Colonel and indisputably not from Carter.   Jack twisted around to see Daniel uncomfortably squeezed in between the large form of Teal’c and Jack’s own long body.  Daniel looked stressed and miserable in the confines of the small room, and the older man realized that the archaeologist was bored.

“How’re you doing there, Danny-Boy?”

“Bored,” came the sullen reply, and Jack grinned at the expected response while glancing surreptitiously at Teal’c.   The Jaffa simply raised an eyebrow at his commanding officer, making Jack’s grin spread wider.  O’Neill did not have to ask to know that an altercation had occurred between the archaeologist and the large warrior.  Jack imagined that Daniel’s habit of being verbose during stressful situations had gotten the better of the stoic man.    He suspected that Daniel’s current sullenness was due at least in part to Teal’c having made the archaeologist aware that under the current circumstances the Jaffa required more silence than Daniel knew how to give, and that the strong warrior was more than willing to physically silence the younger man in the name of education.

Jack shook his head and choked back his laughter as he glanced back at Carter.

“So Carter, how long was I out?”   It had to have been for more than a couple of minutes if Teal’c had had the time to successfully curb Daniel’s nervous and non-stop chatter.

The Major glanced at her watch and grimaced slightly.

“Almost an hour, Sir.   Are you sure you’re alright?”

Jack skillfully hid his surprise.   Almost an hour!   Wow!  Glancing over at the seemingly open wall in front of him, he mentally saluted the invisible force shield that he knew was there.   That thing sure packed a punch!

“I’m fine, Carter,” he said grouchily.   And it wasn’t quite a lie since a dull headache didn’t really count.  He noticed the Major’s skeptical look, but decided to ignore it.

“Well, I guess we’ve firmly established that we shouldn’t approach that force shield, huh?” he announced to the group.

“Yes, Sir,” Carter responded with a relieved smile.

“So, what happened while I was in la-la land?”

“We have ascertained that this room appears to be impervious to escape,” the somewhat formal reply came from Teal’c, and Jack nodded in response.

“Uh huh,” he said absently as he looked around his surroundings yet again.  The situation unequivocally sucked.  All four of them were cramped together in a space barely fit for two average sized men, and although he had to admit that they had been in worse situations before, the pain in his knees was really starting to bug him.   All of them were forced to sit in awkward positions with their legs tucked under them or bent to their chests since there simply was not enough room for any of them to stretch out without entangling long limbs awkwardly together or touching the force shield.   Jack wished he could stretch or even stand to relieve the tension in his legs and back, but the room was too small and the four foot ceiling too low to allow him the luxury of standing upright.   When it came right down to it, they were sitting in nothing more than a box, although thankfully, it was a box that was at least dimly lit.

“Any of our hosts introduce themselves?” was his next question.  He really needed to know what was happening.

“No, Sir,” Carter responded almost apologetically.   Jack grimaced in irritation at their lack of knowledge.  The situation would be a damn sight easier to deal with if they knew what the hell they were up against.  

“Anyone have any suggestions?” he asked no one in particular.

Not one member of the group had any plan forthcoming, and Daniel looked so miserable that Jack decided to take pity on him.   Time for some morale-raising, O’Neill humor.

“Alright then,” he said rubbing his hands together eagerly.  “How ‘bout a game of rock, paper, scissors, Daniel?”

Daniel’s response was to press his face against his bent knees and moan.

“This really sucks,” the beleaguered archaeologist said in a voice muffled by his legs.

Jack smiled wanly.  He couldn’t agree more.

*****************************************************************************

It had been a simple mission, but then again the worst ones usually started out that way.  SG-1 had been sent to a relatively grey and barren planet that seemed to have suffered some extreme environmental catastrophe in its recent past.   No structure, alien or otherwise had been detected by either MALP or UAV, and the only indication that the planet had once been healthy was a fast moving river that flowed near the Stargate.   Even the river showed signs of contamination as Carter’s initial tests had demonstrated it to be highly polluted with sulfates and entirely lacking in any form of life.   In fact, the only thing worthy of note on the entire planet had been the data showing that insignificant levels of naquadah could possibly be hidden far beneath the planet surface.   And, according to the best scientific mind at the SGC (i.e., Carter’s), trace amounts of naquadah several meters below a planet’s surface, though difficult to detect, could coincide with deposits of other valuable minerals that were even harder to detect.   Under this hypothesis, the Major had spent several weeks developing a sensitive naquadah detection device that was derived from the less sophisticated equipment found on the MALPs. The plan had been to test both the precision and accuracy of one of Carter’s new naquadah-finding devices, hopefully uncover evidence to support her hypothesis regarding the relationship between naquadah and other important minerals, and then return to the ‘gate.  Nothing taxing or extreme.   In fact, Carter had insisted to General Hammond that SG-1 could handle it on their own, and that the barrage of scientists that usually accompanied such a mission was unnecessary.  Jack had silently believed that the Major wanted to try out her invention without too many onlookers peering over her shoulder since, during the instrument’s naissance she had confided in him that she had her doubts about its final efficacy. 

Regardless, it had actually turned out to be a strangely simple mission.  That is until they were walking the mile or so back to the ‘gate.  Daniel and Jack had fought in the early morning hours over something inconsequential, and the Colonel had been preoccupied with the quarrel.   Arguments between the two of them had never been uncommon, but lately the two friends had been sniping at each other over topics barely worth either of their attention.  It just seemed as if they both went out of their way to get on each other’s nerves.  This particular argument had stemmed from Daniel’s wish to help out his friend when said friend believed that he really didn’t need the help. 

Ever since Daniel had reestablished his bearings after descending, he had been preoccupied with the Colonel’s increasing self-isolation.  And Jack had to admit that he had been playing the hermit quite often lately, but it just wasn’t Daniel’s job to pester him constantly with things that he thought the two of them should do together.  Although Jack knew that the behavior was really the archaeologist’s way of saying that he thought Jack should get out more, it was just plain annoying.   Besides, Jack craved the isolation.   He needed the time to recoup mentally, and often physically from the arduous tasks and decisions he was forced to endure and make as SG-1’s team-leader.   Daniel just couldn’t fully comprehend what the Colonel’s entire job entailed.  Although Jack supposed that if he took the time to talk to Daniel about all of this, the man would understand and back down.   But Jack had never been one to discuss his feelings, and he wasn’t about to start now.   And what did Daniel expect anyway?

But he truly had regretted snapping at his friend earlier when Daniel had, yet again, asked Jack to attend a concert that evening.   Jack guessed that he still had some issues remaining over the time Daniel had been off doing the ‘glowy’ thing that predisposed him to acting out resentfully now and again towards the archaeologist.  The truth of the matter was that Jack had missed his friend terribly during his ascension; in fact, had never quite gotten over it.  And he found himself still floundering a bit with the feelings evoked by the man’s all too sudden and unexpected return.  And if he were really being honest with himself, he would have to admit that Daniel’s loss and surprise return had more than anything to do with his need for seclusion.  But, then again, honesty was overrated, wasn’t it?

Jack had just begun mulling over the idea of to having a serious, although dreaded, discussion with Daniel about the difficulties he was experiencing, when suddenly the subject of his ruminations cried out.

Jack remembered turning sharply at the sound and seeing Daniel’s flailing body plunge into the fast moving river.   The Colonel still wasn’t sure how the archaeologist had managed it; maybe he had slipped on some gravel and just plummeted uncontrollably into the water.  The “how” of it all hadn’t really mattered.   What had mattered was what the remainder of the team was going to do to save their struggling friend.

Jack had quickly taken in the scene and noted that although the river was fast, it appeared to be relatively shallow; waist-high at its deepest.  That and the fact that Daniel had been shouldering a pack filled with massive books that dragged along the bottom of the river and got caught in the heavy stones had given the archaeologist the smallest chance for a rescue. 

Catching both Carter and Teal’c’s eyes to indicate that the two should follow, the Colonel had started off at a fast run downstream.   Jack’s thought had been that Daniel’s pack would slow the archaeologist’s forward movement enough so that the others could beat him further down the river and catch him.  Amazingly, the off-the-cuff plan appeared to have some merit, because they actually had beaten the water-soaked man downstream.   Relying on Teal’c’s ever-substantial strength, the Colonel had designated the man as an anchor for the Jaffa/human chain that hopefully could withstand the force of the river water.   And actually, the plan had been working.   Jack remembered hearing Carter, second in their chain of three, groan at the effort it had taken her to hold tight when Jack had managed to grab a solid hold on Daniel’s pack. They had been within mere seconds of plucking Daniel from the water, when a bright light whisked them away from the heart-pounding scene.

One moment they had been braving raging waters, and the next they had found themselves crammed into a cell that was entirely too small for all of them.  They had all been a bit disoriented at the sudden change, and it had taken them a few moments to adjust to their new environment.  When they did, they had quickly taken stock of the situation and of the fact that all of them, except surprisingly the Colonel, had retained their packs and their weapons.   And although their MRE’s were soaked, and their waterlogged flashlights were inoperative, all were relieved when their weapons had appeared safe.

The Colonel had been none-too-pleased with the situation, and after noting the static charge of a force shield, had attempted to break through the structure with the Major’s zat.  Unfortunately, the shield had simply absorbed the weapon’s energy, rendering that avenue of escape useless.  Even Teal’c’s staff weapon had proven to be ineffective.   And since the walls of the cell were composed of an unidentifiable metal, none of the team-members had thought that shooting their way out with their guns was wise since the risk of ricochet seemed too high.

And so the Colonel, impatient and frustrated, had attempted to pound his way through the force shield with his fists.   It had been a stupid thing to do, he knew, but someone had to try it, and at the time he had felt like the man for the job.  Unfortunately, that particular breakout opportunity had yielded worse results than the pilfered Goa’uld weaponry had afforded, and now, after Jack’s substantial nap, they were still without information or an escape plan and, worse, still slightly damp from river water.

*****************************************************************************

Sam was amusing herself by listening to the Colonel and Daniel arguing over the finer points of rock, paper, scissors.   She marveled at the incredible ability the two of them had to fight over practically anything, and she couldn’t refrain from smiling.  Despite the fact that she had her eyes closed, she could just imagine the exasperated look on Daniel’s face as Jack did his best to debate the point that rock should beat paper since he knew for a fact that Daniel used more than one of the rocks he had picked up on any number of planets as paperweights, and Jack had never seen the paper fight back.  After predictably reminding Jack for the umpteenth time that the word “rock” was not synonymous with “artifact,” Daniel had begun to spout off the official rock, paper, scissor game rules.  Sam was especially interested in what she knew would be the Colonel’s impending response but realized she would never hear it as Daniel abruptly ended his argument mid-sentence, and Jack poked her in her arm to get her attention.

“Uh, Carter,” O’Neill said conversationally as her eyes snapped open.  He motioned towards the open wall with the flourish of an outstretched hand where she observed a metal sphere approximately two feet in diameter silently floating beyond the confines of the invisible force shield.  “Any idea what that thing is?”

“No, Sir,” Sam said as she glanced at the alien object nervously.

“Teal’c?  Ever see anything like it?”

“No, O’Neill.  I have not.”

Jack sighed heavily in response and brushed a hand through his greying hair.

“Well, maybe we’ll finally figure out what’s going on here,” he muttered as the sphere flew effortlessly through the force shield and entered the room.

“Sweet,” Jack said under his breath, and Sam smiled despite herself. 

The sphere hovered only for a moment prior to settling itself in the space that was a few inches in front of the Colonel’s face.   Jack stilled and looked sideways at his Second-In-Command.

“Carter?” he queried warily just before the sphere produced a metal extension that quickly encircled his neck.

“Crap!” Jack exclaimed hoarsely as his body was roughly pulled in the direction of the force shield.  He attempted to scramble away from the sphere and fought violently in its grasp. 

All three of his team members reached out to the Colonel to help him in his struggle, and, unwilling to let him go, they grasped tightly onto his arms and shoulders.  Then suddenly, Jack’s thrashing lessened, and Carter saw his eyelids begin to droop.

“What?” he asked vacantly in the instant before he slumped unconsciously, and the sphere began to exhibit some success in taking his body to wherever it deemed necessary.

“Jack!”  Daniel yelled in a panic to keep his friend near.  All three of the friends tightened their hold on their teammate, but the sphere’s progress increased and before they knew what was happening, Sam, Daniel and Teal’c were watching the Colonel’s limp body being dragged through the force shield and away from their protection.

*****************************************************************************

Daniel rubbed his eyes anxiously with the thumb and first finger of his right hand and then readjusted his glasses when he was done.   Blearily he looked down to check the time, an action made difficult by the inexplicable dimming of the lights upon Jack’s capture.  Absently he wondered why he hadn’t opted to bring one of the Air Force issued watches with the illuminated dial instead of his own basic, ‘hard-to-see-in-the-dark’ timepiece.   But understanding his motivations for bringing a non-regulation watch were trivial compared to the real issue.   It had been almost two hours since Jack had been physically pulled out of the cell.

He was worried about his friend.

Despite the fact that they were still clueless as to the reason for their incarceration, it was now certain that the motivating force behind their caged up state was nothing less than malevolent.   Daniel could not erase from his mind the image of his friend suddenly collapsing in the metallic grip of that… that…thing, and his imagination was running rampant with the possible scenarios to which Jack was currently being exposed.

The only good thing that had come from this latest disastrous incursion with the unknown was that Sam had come up with a plan.  They needed to know what they were up against in order to get out of this mess, and Sam thought that the best way to begin understanding their obviously scientifically advanced keepers was to get a better look at the technology.  So the developed plan involved zatting the metal sphere when it returned with Jack in an attempt to disable the thing so that the astrophysicist could study it. 

As far as plans went, Daniel didn’t think this was one of the team’s better ones.   For starters, it was almost certain that the zat would have little effect since it had yielded no positive results when they had originally tested it on the force shield.  And second…well, it was beginning to look like the thing wasn’t coming back any time soon.

Daniel glanced at his watch again as the anxiety for his friend surged within him, and he groaned.

“Two hours, Sam,” he said nervously.

“I know, Daniel.  I know.” 

Daniel glanced at the Major and saw the concern and anger that he felt mirrored in her eyes.  He reached for Sam’s hand, and thankful for the support, she gripped it tightly.

Two hours too many.

*****************************************************************************

It was over a half hour later when the metallic sphere finally returned, dragging an unconscious Jack O’Neill by his neck.   The thing pulled the Colonel into the room, and Daniel saw a faint shimmer as Jack’s limp body penetrated the force shield.

“Teal’c, wait until it releases the Colonel,” Sam warned, and the Jaffa inclined his head toward her in acknowledgement as he readied his zat.

Suddenly, the sphere lifted Jack and dropped his slack body unceremoniously onto Daniel.  Daniel hauled his friend into his lap and had only a moment to note that Jack’s complexion appeared to be alarmingly pale in the feeble light available to them before the flare of zat fire blinded him.  The archaeologist ducked his head into a protective position over Jack and rode out the chaotic sparks that the zats produced in the air around him.

Abruptly, the whine of zat fire ended, and Daniel looked up to find the metal sphere vanished and a faint look of disgust on Sam’s face.  The concerned archaeologist swiveled his head around to look at Teal’c whose impassive visage provided no clue to what had just occurred.

“What happened?” he asked, the question sounding stupid to his ears.

“Nothing,” Sam spat out.  “Absolutely nothing.   It just dropped the Colonel and then flew out of here as if the zat fire didn’t even exist.”

Daniel muttered a common Abydonian curse and then turned his attention to the crumpled form that was presently residing in his arms.

“How’s he doing, Daniel?” Sam asked as she pulled the Colonel’s legs into her own lap in an attempt to make the stricken man more comfortable.

“His pulse is racing, but he’s breathing on his own,” Daniel said hurriedly.  “It looks like there could be a puncture wound on his neck, but it’s hard to tell in this light.  I can’t see any other sign of injury.”

“Perhaps the wound on O’Neill’s neck is an injection site, Major Carter,” Teal’c suggested calmly.

Sam nodded at the Jaffa’s words and took a deep breath.  “He’s probably been drugged.  It would explain why he passed out when that thing came for him.  Daniel, keep an eye on his breathing.  I’m going to see if I have something in my pack that might be useful.”

“Okay, Sam,” Daniel consented even though he suspected that Sam would find little to help their leader.  But she needed to keep busy and while Jack was unconscious, there was nothing better for her to do.

Luckily, Jack began to rouse only moments later, and Sam ceased the ineffective rifling through her scant supplies. Astonishingly, as consciousness returned to the Colonel, the room began to brighten again.

“This is just so weird,” Daniel murmured before turning his full attention to his friend.

Jack’s face wasn’t pale, it was positively, shockingly white, and the first true sensation of fear settled firmly into Daniel’s gut.  Jack was sweating profusely and his gaze was far from focused.  Determined to bring his friend fully back to consciousness, Daniel addressed the man directly.

“Jack?  Hey, how’re you doing?”

Jack’s mouth moved silently for a moment before he closed his eyes as if attempting to direct all his will on successfully responding to the simple question.

“Dunno…Daniel,” Jack eventually whispered weakly, and despite the vagueness of that answer, Daniel was relieved to see that his friend had regained some of his focus.  “Everyone else…okay?” Jack asked painfully and reopened his eyes.

“We’re all fine, sir,” Sam answered for all of them.   “Colonel, I need you to tell me what happened.  Do you remember anything?”

Before he could answer her question, Jack’s body convulsed violently, and he groaned involuntarily.  Sam grabbed his legs so that his boots wouldn’t kick her in the teeth, and both she and Daniel supported him through the paroxysm.   It seemed to be forever before Jack’s muscles finally relaxed.

“’m okay….okay,” Jack choked out, and it sounded to Daniel as if the ill man was trying to convince himself of that highly questionable statement.

“Sir, do you remember what happened to you?” Carter relentlessly repeated her inquiry.

But Jack was obviously disoriented and didn’t appear to have understood her question.

“Ah, what?   What?” he muttered confusedly.

“O’Neill, Major Carter requires information on what transpired when you were taken from this room,” Teal’c said patiently.   Surprisingly, the sound of the Jaffa’s voice seemed to get through to Jack, and he attempted to answer the question.

“Don’t remember.  There was a machine…I think.  Was there?  I’m not sure…something’s…different.  Dunno.   Something’s not…not right.   Where’s that buzzing coming from?   Headache…I dunno….”

The man was becoming visibly upset as he rambled, and Daniel wiped some of the sweat off Jack’s brow in an effort to soothe him.   “Okay, Jack.  It’s okay.  Why don’t you rest a bit?”

Jack feebly nodded and closed his eyes, only to snap them open as another, more violent spasm took over his body.

“Jack!” Daniel exclaimed.

“God!” Jack breathed, and looked around the small space in a panic.  “Daniel….” But before he could say more, the Colonel’s body convulsed so intensely that further communication became impossible for him.

“Sam what’s the matter with him?” the archaeologist asked as panic began to overwhelm his thought processes.

“It’s alright, sir,” Sam soothed as she suddenly recognized how the Colonel’s body was about to respond to whatever violence had been inflicted upon it.  “Teal’c help me pull him into that corner,” Sam indicated as she turned Jack on his side, the clenching of muscles beneath her grasp making the simple task difficult.  Teal’c did as she asked, and suddenly Jack felt the hairs on his arm and the side of his face raise in response to the energy of the force shield that was now so near to him.  He barely heard the soft assurances of his teammates as the pain of another sudden spasm wracked his torso, and he vomited violently.  Shame coursed through him as he lost control of his body, and as the foul smelling contents of his stomach erupted from his mouth.  But as the pain in his head escalated to a blinding intensity, he slowly became less aware of what was happening to him, and the shame dissipated along with consciousness.

Sam watched as the Colonel succumbed to unconsciousness, and indicated that the others should keep on supporting him as the retching continued.

“Make sure he stays on his side!” she exclaimed.   All they needed was for their leader to die from aspirating vomit, she thought despairingly.   Without consciously thinking about it, she and Daniel continued to maintain a steady stream of comforting words even though Jack’s ability to hear them was uncertain.   Teal’c added his own kind of support to the unaware man as he shifted his hulking form uncomfortably in the confined space to put a soothing hand on the back of Jack’s neck.   Eventually the spasms ended, and Jack’s body slumped quietly against the three worried teammates.

“God, what happened to him?”  Daniel was the first to speak in the silence that had subsequently fallen between them.

“I don’t know,” Sam said.  One part of her active mind dimly noted that the light in the room had reduced again, and she shook her head discouragingly.   “I don’t know.”

*****************************************************************************

In the darkness, Jack experienced a sharp sensation of falling, and his whole body lurched as awareness returned.

“Why the hell does that keep happening?” he heard Daniel say, his voice sounding harrowed and upset.

“Calm down, Daniel.  It’s okay.”  Ah, that was Carter.  “I think he’s coming around.”

“Ya think?” Daniel’s echo of the older man’s classic line was enough to stimulate Jack to make an attempt at opening his heavy-lidded eyes.  It was a struggle, but Jack managed to make out the blurry form of Daniel’s face hovering somewhere above him.

“Jack?”  Daniel again. 

Better say something.

“H ..hey,” it was a whisper.   Actually it wasn’t even a whisper, and Jack had a moment to wonder where his voice had gone off to before his vision cleared, and he got a closer look at his colleagues.  

Poorly concealed anguish was written all over Daniel’s expressive face, and Carter’s brimming eyes offered the same emotion.   Twisting painfully around, he managed to see that even Teal’c looked as if he was affected by some strong feelings.   What the hell had happened?

“What?” he asked in that same, alarmingly breathless whisper, and then closed his eyes as incessant buzzing began to reverberate in his head. Where was that coming from?  For that matter, where the hell was he?

When he opened his eyes a moment later, Daniel looked as if he was about to say something. But Carter forestalled what the archaeologist obviously felt the need to verbalize with a meaningful look and a gentle hand on the young man’s shoulder.  Christ.  What in hell was going on?

“What?!” he tried to ask the question more forcibly this time, but his strength gave out and not even a whisper rewarded his efforts.  Suddenly, the buzzing noise in his head reached a fevered pitch, and he closed his eyes again with a silent moan.

“Rest, Sir,” he heard Carter command him, and he didn’t have the strength to point out that he was the one who was supposed to give orders, not her.  Instead, he let himself fall back into the welcoming darkness where no worries afflicted him.

*****************************************************************************

The Colonel had been calling out for hours before briefly returning to consciousness.  His voice had shouted itself hoarse long before cogency had returned, and Carter was not surprised that Jack could barely whisper to them.   After he returned to unconsciousness, Sam grabbed Daniel’s hand again, and squeezed it comfortingly.   But this time Daniel did not return the gesture.

She wished he had, because she needed the reassurance as much as she knew he did.  Daniel had not been around those months after his ascension.  From the way the Colonel had acted back then, she had thought that the loss of Daniel had barely registered with him.  He had been adamant in his desire to get back to work, and as far as she knew, he had never once allowed himself to experience the grief that had been her constant companion.  In fact, his apathy of that time was something she still had not been able to forgive.  

Until now.

Because she had been wrong.   Oh so wrong.

Because for hours, lost in the throes of what seemed to be a delirious re-living of those months after Daniel had been lost to them, Jack had cried out for his friend.

Over and over he had begged for Daniel’s safe return until Sam felt as if her heart would break, and Daniel would crumble under the guilt that she knew he was feeling.

They had to get out of here.

Daniel spared a moment to draw a shaky hand through his cropped hair, before forcing a smile.  Sam noted that he drew Jack’s body closer to him in an unconscious effort to offer protection to his best friend.  Then, Daniel shook his head, and allowed a shaking hand to float in the general direction of the low ceiling in a characteristic, Daniel-like movement that was meant to indicate his confusion over the now dimmed lights.

“I mean, seriously, why does that keep happening?” the question was asked in a tone of forced casualness, a distraction from the emotions running rampant through his head.   Sam was going to offer some speculations, but Teal’c beat her to it.

“I believe that the lights only brighten when O’Neill regains consciousness, DanielJackson.”

Startled by the obviousness of the answer that had eluded her up to this point, Sam paused for a moment to mull over Teal’c’s assertion.

“He’s right, Daniel.  The light always dims when the Colonel is unconscious, but whenever he’s awake, its level increases.”

“Well, that’s odd, isn’t it?” Daniel asked.

“Indeed,” Teal’c responded.

Sam closed her eyes tiredly.  Indeed, indeed.  Everything about this situation was odd, and she wanted out of it.

The problem was figuring out a way to get out.

*****************************************************************************

Two hours later, when Jack roused again, he was surprisingly lucid.  Remembering where he was and recognizing that he had been unconscious for quite some time spurred him to do his best to struggle to sit up.  He needed to take stock of the situation, and that was best done in an upright position which generally lacked the vulnerability a supine one offered.  

Jack’s body had a different take on the situation; however, and after failing miserably to lever his torso off the ground, the man fell back heavily on a warm, yet peculiarly un-flat surface.   What the hell was he lying on anyway?   The warmth that emanated from beneath him certainly wasn’t coming from the metal he knew covered the floor.

“Jack?”

Ah.  That explained it.  Daniel.   And why exactly was it that he usually found himself laying on Daniel at times like these?  Could someone please explain that?

Before he had time to summon up the energy to respond to Daniel’s query, Jack was clued in that he must be sprawled over at least half the team by a tense shifting under his legs and another voice.

“Sir?   How are you feeling?”

Yep.  That was Carter for you.  Didn’t she ever get tired of that question?

“Peachy, Carter.  Would you two mind helping me up?” he asked crankily.

“Sir, I don’t think that’s a good idea.   You’ve been displaying some strange physical symptoms, and I think it might be best if you….”

Jack quickly cut her off before she could express serious thoughts of coddling him.

“Carter, all I asked to do was sit up.   I’m not planning on running any marathons,” he said irritably.

But even after using his least endearing tone of voice, the Major surprisingly hesitated to follow his order.   He allowed himself a brief moment to wonder what exactly had happened to him that such concern was warranted from his Second before, exasperated, he looked up at Daniel.

“Oh for cryin’ out loud!   Daniel, c’mon help me up.”

Daniel also hesitated in obliging the Colonel, and Jack saw him eyeing Sam warily.  So that’s how it was going to be, was it?  They were going to gang up on him!  Time for the big guy’s support.  He opened his mouth to plead his case to Teal’c, but the Jaffa seemed to be in on the mutiny as well.

“You have been quite ill, O’Neill.   I do not think it wise for you to change your position.”  And Jack just knew that if he had the strength to twist in the direction of the Jaffa’s voice, he would see a disapproving eyebrow reaching gallantly for the ceiling.

“When did I ever claim to be wise?   C’mon, just help me up.”

Sam sighed and nodded to Daniel.   Irritated that his request still needed to meet the approval of his Second before it was carried out, Jack was nevertheless relieved when they finally began to help him up.

“I am the Colonel after all, aren’t I?” he muttered as the room spun and dipped before his vision.

“Yes, Sir,” he barely heard Carter’s affirmation because his vision grayed, and he suddenly felt both hot and cold at the same time.   He must have lost consciousness momentarily, because before he knew it, he was opening his eyes again to find himself slumped heavily against Daniel.

But he was sitting up.  And that was all that mattered.

“Sir, are you alright?”

Carter again.   That damnable question…again.  But it was okay, because he had regained some semblance of control by sitting up.   It didn’t matter if he had to struggle to keep the meager contents of his stomach where they belonged, or that his whole body was shaking like a leaf.  He had gotten his way.

“Fine, Carter.  Stop hovering and tell me what’s going on,” he said past clenched teeth that were the only things holding back the gastric juices that were creeping up his throat.  His eyes were closed, so he neglected to see the concerned look that passed between Carter and Daniel.   They wanted to respect his privacy, and the momentary glance at each other expressed their common desire to keep the Colonel’s previous delusional state to themselves.   Another silent exchange with Teal’c sealed the pact between the teammates.

“Sir, some sort of alien technology took you out of here approximately eight hours ago.  You’ve pretty much been unconscious ever since the technology returned you five hours ago,” Sam’s tone of voice was clipped and entirely professional.   Daniel could detect none of the intense emotion he knew she was feeling and nodded his head in silent acknowledgement of her prowess in concealment.

Yet regardless of Carter’s seemingly flawless act, the Colonel opened his eyes and pointedly looked at his Second in an attempt to descry what it was he sensed she was hiding.  If Carter’s specialty was astrophysics, and Daniel’s was ancient cultures, then Jack’s was SG-1.  With his eyes closed he could determine when his Second wasn’t telling him the entire truth.  And even though Carter was currently making a valiant effort of keeping her voice and expression neutral, Jack was acutely aware that she was attempting to conceal something from him.

“And these ‘strange physical symptoms’ that you mentioned before?” he asked the Major in an attempt to gain more information, overt or otherwise, from her.

“Convulsions, sir.   Vomiting, dizziness…delirium.”

Aha.  Her slight hesitation between the words dizziness and delirium told him pretty much all he needed to know.  What part of his past had he involuntarily shared with them this time?   There were plenty of things that he routinely kept hidden from his team, parts of his past that he secreted away and never mentioned unless he found himself in situations that warranted disclosure.  

Or in situations where he had no control over his rambling mind.

Situations like the one he currently found himself in.

This was so not good.

By the strained looks on his team’s faces, the memories he had unwittingly shared with them must have been some doozies.   He looked over to Daniel who avoided Jack’s gaze and managed to look more miserable than Jack felt.   Crap.  Jack just knew that when they got out of this little fiasco, Daniel was going to want to talk about whatever he had unknowingly blabbed about.   Another one of those conversations where Daniel asked horribly perceptive questions, and where Jack did verbal cartwheels to avoid answering them.

“I see,” Jack said resignedly and closed his eyes again.

“Sir, is there anything you can tell us about what happened to you?  Anything that you remember might help us understand where we are and how we can get out of here.”

“I don’t remember anything,” Jack ground the words out between tight lips, and he shuddered as he experienced another bout of nausea.

After a moment, O’Neill heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes with a tired hand.  “I do remember some sort of flying gizmo.  What the hell was that thing, anyway?”

“We’re not sure, Sir.  Whatever it is, it’s strong and completely invulnerable to our zats.  We think it injected you with some sort of sedative before it managed to drag you out of here.”   Sam grimaced slightly.   “We weren’t able to stop it from taking you, Sir.  It was too strong,” she added apologetically.

Jack opened his eyes and looked at her pointedly.   “I’m sure you all did everything that you could.  It wasn’t your fault.   Any of you.   Let’s concentrate our energy on getting the hell out of here.”  Doubtful mutterings of assent followed the Colonel’s declaration, and he knew that when they made it out of this place, they all were going to end up in MacKenzie’s office.   Maybe they were actually better off staying in this cramped little room, he thought wryly as the buzzing in his head increased in intensity.

“Jack, how are you feeling right now?”   Daniel looked frightened, and concern was etched into every line on the younger man’s face.   Jack closed his eyes so he could at least pretend not to see all of that worry.  It was distracting him from getting a handle on the current situation.

“Peachy,” he breathed in response to Daniel’s question.

“Sir,” Carter’s voice held a warning to it that left him feeling peeved.  “We really need to know what your condition is.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Carter,” he responded grouchily.  “I can’t explain how I feel.  It’s as if, well, something’s different.  Not right.”   The buzzing became louder again, and O’Neill thought that he could almost make out words.  It was peculiar…almost as if he were hearing someone else’s conversation on a bad cordless phone connection.  “And I’ve got this sort of ringing in my ears,” he added as an afterthought.   “It’s…annoying.”

As she watched, Sam saw the Colonel’s eyes suddenly glaze over.

“Sir?”   Carter tried to regain Jack’s focus, but he seemed to be quickly losing his grip on lucidity again.   All of a sudden his body shuddered, and she gripped his shoulder forcibly.  “Sir!”

“God, where is that screaming coming from?” Jack managed to stutter out between his suddenly chattering teeth.   They were the last words he spoke before his body convulsed violently yet again, and blood suddenly began to flow from his nose at an alarming rate.

“Lay him down again and try to keep him still!” Sam ordered, and Daniel complied unquestioningly.  Teal’c reached over the archaeologist’s shoulder to lend a hand in positioning his leader, and the three teammates rode out yet another series of convulsions before Jack’s body finally relaxed and his muscles ceased their abnormal twitching.  Daniel grabbed a bandanna from one of his pockets and managed to control the bleeding from Jack’s nose while Sam checked the rest of him out.

And as they focused their efforts on stabilizing their injured commander, they all had the same thought spinning around their minds.

They so needed to find a way out of here.

*****************************************************************************

The sole thing keeping insanity at bay for Carter was the simple fact that she was really going to have to pee sometime in the immediate future.  This was complicated by the even simpler fact that there wasn’t a bathroom, private or otherwise, in sight.  

Normally, privacy wasn’t a big issue for Sam; she was, after all, a member of a close-knit team, and privacy was often a luxury they could ill-afford.  But for some reason urinating in the presence of the guys when all of them were so tightly packed in such a cramped space seemed, well, wrong somehow.   It would feel as if she were polluting all of their personal spaces.  With that thought, Carter involuntarily wrinkled her nose at the acrid smell coming from the general direction of the Colonel’s previously discarded stomach contents.  That aroma was bad enough.  She wasn’t going to contribute more foulness to an already foul situation if she could help it.

Sighing, Sam shifted as well as she could to try to ease the pressure off her over-taxed bladder.  She was a Major in the United States Air Force, and she refused to become undone by the need to urinate.  She could hold it for a little while longer.

Course of action determined, Sam allowed her thoughts to stray into dangerous territory.

Four hours ago, the sphere had come and had dragged Jack’s unconscious body out of the room yet again.  And although Jack had been returned after only an hour in the latest chapter of their incursion through this nightmare, he had not regained consciousness since that time.  In fact, the Colonel had not uttered a word or even twitched a muscle.   If it were not for the faint, thready pulse beating at the man’s throat, Carter would have believed him dead.

Sam shuddered with the thought and looked up at her teammates in an effort to alleviate her feelings of impotence.   She could not tolerate this inability to do anything that would help the situation for much longer.   If she could just take action or even conceive of some kind of plan that would at least give them the smallest hope of escape, she could handle this all better.  But these were other luxuries not afforded to her, and instead she sought out comfort from the two conscious members of her team.

Sam studied the two men who shared the burden of powerlessness with her.  Daniel was practically catatonic in his fear for Jack, and he focused all of his energies on protecting his friend from further harm despite his keen awareness that nothing he could say or do would help.  Sam knew exactly how the man felt, but despite her sibling-like affection for Daniel, she could not bring herself to distract his attentions from Jack by offering him what she knew would be only hollow support.  

Instead, she looked to Teal’c whose tranquil stillness had always been a source of comfort during past trials.   But she could see cracks of anxiety appearing through the steady Jaffa’s normally peaceful disposition, and that was when the first feelings of despair hit her hard.  If Teal’c harbored doubts, then how would they ever get out of this box?  How would they save Jack when he was so obviously in desperate need of immediate medical attention?  How would anything ever be all right again?  What were they going to… .

“Carter…”

It was the slightest of whispers, but that sound coming from her Colonel’s mouth was enough to distract her from her hazardous thoughts.

“Sir!” she exclaimed, surprised.

“Jack!” the surprise in Daniel’s voice mimicked her own, and she smiled at the archaeologist briefly before returning her attention back to the incapacitated Colonel.

“We’re going to make it out of here,” Jack gasped in a resolved whisper.  Carter felt a surge of pride at the determination that shone in the man’s eyes, and she was suddenly reminded of their unplanned detour to Antarctica.   That situation had seemed hopeless as well, and yet both she and the Colonel had survived it.   This one would be no different.

“Yes, Sir,” she consented with deliberate confidence.

Jack managed to curl the corners of his mouth in a poor imitation of a smile before he continued to speak.

“What happened?”

“You were taken away again by that metal sphere,” Daniel explained.  “It brought you back an hour later, and you’ve been unconscious until now.”

“Ah,” was the Colonel’s only response.   He slowly closed his eyes, but Carter’s urgent voice caused him to snap them open again.

“Sir, we really need to know what’s happening to you.   Do you remember what they did?”

The Colonel’s gaze suddenly became evasive as he mumbled a guarded “It’s a bit fuzzy,” to Carter’s question.

“Can you tell us about it, Sir?   Before, when you were delirious you mentioned that there was some sort of machine.  Can you describe it?”

“I’d rather not, Carter,” Jack whispered with a grimace as he closed his eyes again.  Sam grabbed his upper arm to regain the man’s attention.  She was rewarded with an irritated look from her stubborn commanding officer that was quickly lost when Jack suddenly averted his eyes again.

“Sir, we really need to know what we’re up against if we’re going to help you.”

“I’m fine, Carter.  Just leave it alone.  Instead of wasting that million dollar brain of yours on meaningless stuff, why don’t you figure out a way to get us out of here!”   Jack’s tone was scathing, and Sam reacted to it almost as if he had punched her in her stomach.

“Sir…” she began, but was interrupted by Daniel as he held up a hand and gave her a warning look over the top of Jack’s head.   Obviously the perceptive man had noticed something going on with his friend that she had missed.   Still stinging from the Colonel’s previous remark, Sam was more then willing to let Daniel take a turn.

“That’s just it, Jack,” Daniel began soothingly.   “We don’t have enough information to come up with a plan.  And since you’re the only one who has been out of this box, you’re the only one who can shed any light on our situation.  Any information you have could help get us out of here.” 

And you know that, Daniel thought worriedly to the sick man.  What had happened to Jack to make him so reluctant to debrief them on their options?    Daniel just hoped that by emphasizing the need for those under his command to escape, Jack would be more apt to relinquish information regarding his current physical condition.

“Indeed, O’Neill.  DanielJackson is correct,” Teal’c’s resonant voice caused Daniel to respond with an inward sigh of relief.  Teal’c tended to be Jack’s final voice of reason.   If Jack were having any doubts, then Teal’c’s support of Daniel’s position on the subject would surely sway the Colonel.

Jack opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but then abruptly closed it with an audible click of his teeth.   Daniel felt a fresh surge of frustration as he realized that Jack wasn’t going to give up any information regardless of the state of his team.  “Jack,” he exasperatedly began to speak, but this time he was the one interrupted.

“Daniel, wait,” Sam said as she studiously watched her commanding officer.  Confused, Daniel looked down at Jack, and saw that the man seemed to be listening to something. 

Sam hesitatingly placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder in an attempt to draw his attention back to her.  “Sir?” she questioned.

Jack’s head wobbled a bit on his neck as he returned his gaze to his Second.  The faintest smile touched the stricken man’s face, and his eyes shone brightly in their sockets.

“I understand now,” he said right before blood started gushing from his nose again.

*****************************************************************************

In another small cell, not far from where SG-1 were currently crushed together, a solitary young woman sat rocking her slight form in an attempt to offer herself some aura of comfort.  Her arms were wrapped around her bent legs, and her head rested on her knees while one hand furiously twirled her long, black hair.  She sighed purposefully and closed her eyes, but still maintained her rocking.   Unconsciously, she stopped twirling her hair and thrust the end of one of the long strands into her mouth where she reflexively chewed on it.

After a while, her rocking ceased, and she opened her eyes.  Angrily, she kicked out at the cell wall and uttered a discouraged sound.  Realizing where her hair was, she spat it out of her mouth with disgust.  Chewing on her hair was a nervous habit she had demonstrated when she was a small child.   She had broken the habit during early adolescence, but she supposed its return was understandable given her circumstances. 

Although, she thought wistfully, her mother would probably proclaim that no circumstances warranted the re-emergence of such a tawdry habit.  The young woman huffed in amusement as the memory surfaced of the impatient look that used to appear on her mother’s face every time she had given in to her impulses.

“Darlin’, you have just got to control yourself, or you simply will not have any hair left,” her mother would say in her charming Southern drawl.  The young woman supposed that onlookers would have found her mother’s words harsh, but the woman had always softened them by gently plucking the tresses from her young daughter’s mouth.   Afterwards, her mother would chuckle and then draw her peculiar, but lovable child into a warm embrace.

The girl suddenly wished that her mother were here to soften the frustration she felt at the reappearance of her tacky habit, and to draw her into an embrace that would protect her from this strange place.

Although, the girl supposed that she could do without the inevitable “I told you so,” that would surely accompany the woman if she somehow miraculously appeared before her.  Her mother always claimed that her daughter’s strong personality traits and outspoken nature would land her in trouble one day, and boy, she mustn’t have been kidding.  

Sudden homesickness overwhelmed her, and the young woman had to concentrate on not giving in to tears.  She had a feeling that if she started crying right now, she might never be able to stop.  And, well, that just wouldn’t do.

Another of her mother’s claims had been that, in spite of all her peculiarities, her daughter was a rather practical kid.   Grudgingly, the young woman knew her mother was right, although she would never admit it to her face.   In fact, her mother was always right, but it wouldn’t do to speak of it out loud.  The woman would never let her hear the end of it!

Regardless, this practical kid needed to find a way out of here, and her only current hope lay in an errant Air Force Colonel who absolutely refused to hear her. 

“God damn it, Colonel!  I don’t belong here!” She yelled the words loudly and relished their echo.  Shouting was a release, a comfort.  She gripped the ends of her hair again and looked down at their tattered state.   She groaned to herself.   “Colonel!   Get me out of here right now, do you hear me, you stubborn jerk?!”  This time the words were directed inward, but they were still shouted.  

“I’m getting split ends here, for cryin’ out loud!!”

*****************************************************************************

Jack impatiently batted Sam and Daniel’s hands away.

“Cut it…out!” he groaned.  “I’m alright.”

“Jack, maybe you haven’t noticed, but there’s blood pouring out of your nose.”

“Huh?”

“Sir, you have a pretty bad nosebleed,” Carter confirmed.

Jack brought a hand up to his nose, and felt the slick fluid slide between his fingers.  “Oh,” he said dumbly.  “Well, just…” but he cut his words off and cocked his head again as if listening to someone.

“Sir?”   Carter glanced up to Daniel as she lost the battle for the Colonel’s concentration again.

“What’s going on, Sam?” Daniel asked worriedly.

“I don’t know, Daniel.  He keeps fazing in and….”  Carter was interrupted by a low groan from the Colonel.   She returned her attention to him and was shocked by the waxy pallor of the man’s face.  Blood, contrasting starkly with O’Neill’s pale skin, continued to flow heavily from his nose.

“Colonel?” she asked concerned.

Jack ignored her.  “Teal’c!” he gasped.  “Teal’c, there’s a girl.  Her name’s…” Jack squinted in concentration as if he were trying to remember something long forgotten.  “Lucy…her name’s Lucy.   You need to go get her.”

Daniel’s eyes frantically moved back and forth from Jack to Teal’c.  “Jack, what are you talking about?  What girl?   And how’s Teal’c supposed to get to her if he can’t go through that force shield?”

Jack pointedly ignored Daniel and turned his full attention to his Jaffa friend.  “Teal’c…she’s in a cell just below ours.  She’s….” Jack again interrupted himself and began muttering incomprehensibly.   “Yeah, yeah, yeah, not a girl.  I got it,” he paused and closed his eyes in pain as the blood began to flow from his nose at a more disturbing rate.  “Nineteen is girl in my book,” he muttered.  Sam looked up at Daniel with dread in her eyes.  She didn’t have to verbalize her thoughts to Daniel, because he shared them.   Whatever this was, it wasn’t good.

“Trust me, Teal’c.  Just trust me.  And you’ll need to take Car…Carter with you.  Daniel st…stay here…with me,” Jack gave one last painful groan, and then his body became lax as he again gave in to unconsciousness.

Sam eyed the Jaffa apprehensively.  “What do you think, Teal’c?”

The big man bowed his head and paused to consider O’Neill’s words.  Once he lifted his face, Sam could see that his eyes burned in resolution.  “I trust O’Neill,” he said gravely.  And then, without a second’s hesitation, he moved forward into the force shield.

*****************************************************************************

Lucy allowed herself to relax.   He had heard her!!   Finally, the dense lout had heard her!   She smiled and concentrated on the Colonel again and was alarmed to sense nothing of him.  ‘Wha?’  Lucy narrowed her eyes in deeper concentration, and the end of her hair managed to make its way back into her mouth.  She chewed it convulsively, and only stopped moments later when she sensed the faintest indication of the Colonel’s presence.   He must have lapsed into unconsciousness again, but he was still alive.  She smiled and, disgusted with herself, spit her hair out of her mouth.   If she ever saw her mother again, she was really going to hear about the hair.  But hopefully the Colonel had been able to talk to the others.   Hopefully Teal’c was on his way right now.  Oh please, oh please.   She so needed out of this place.  

She was still learning about Colonel O’Neill, but what little she knew of him she genuinely liked.  And she grasped enough to know that he was a strong-willed, stubborn son of a bitch, and that the odds were in her favor that he had gotten her message through to the others despite his weakness.  He deserved to be spared from the pain she vaguely sensed he was feeling, at least for a little while.  Besides, he was going to have to conserve his energy if they were all going to get out of this place.

“Rest, Jack.  Just rest,” she mumbled affectionately to him despite his absence.

*****************************************************************************

Teal’c heard his teammates’ warnings change to expressions of surprise as he closed his eyes and edged his way through the force shield without incident.  Somewhat astonished himself, the Jaffa stood and quickly turned around to face the others still held captive within the cell.

“Okay, what just happened?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know,” Sam responded and realized that she had been saying that a lot lately.

“O’Neill was correct in his assessment of the force shield MajorCarter,” Teal’c answered simply.  “ I suggest we follow the remainder of his instructions and find the girl, Lucy.”

Carter eyed the spot where she knew an invisible force shield was supposed to be activated.  “Uh, yeah, alright,” she said uneasily, remembering the clout the Colonel had taken when he had attempted to thwart the field’s energy those many hours ago.  “Daniel, do as the Colonel said and stay here while Teal’c and I go scout around a bit.   We’ll keep in contact via radio, okay?”

“Ah, Sam, I don’t know about this.   What if Teal’c was able to pass through the force shield because he’s a Jaffa?   Maybe you won’t be strong enough to handle the effects of that thing.”

“I felt no ill effects from the shield, DanielJackson,” Teal’c called helpfully from his position outside the cell.

“Well, we know it’s not his infant Goa’uld helping him out, Daniel, because he doesn’t have his anymore, right?”

“Right,” Daniel conceded.  “But….”

“Daniel, if this doesn’t work, then, well, the worst that’s going to happen is that I get a little beauty sleep,” Sam said with a smile.  “And quite frankly, I could use some,” she muttered.

Daniel smiled in response to her quirkiness, and nodded his support.  “Okay, Sam.   I’ll look after Jack.”

“Good.  Here goes nothing,” she said.  Grabbing her P-90 and taking a deep breath, she crawled through the force shield without incident.

“Thank god,” Daniel mumbled with relief.

“Holy Hannah,” Sam muttered to herself while standing and stretching her aching back muscles.  Standing now outside of the cell, she had a better idea of just how small the room was.  It was plenty small.  Miniscule, in fact.  Looking up to Teal’c, she wondered how the big man had handled being confined in that modest space.  

“Sam, maybe we should at least get Jack out of this cell while we can.  Obviously the force shield isn’t working right now.  Why take our chances keeping him in here?”

Sam nodded her agreement, and motioned Daniel to move through the cell entryway.  Once he had made it through to the hallway, both of them reached in and pulled Jack towards them.  When the Colonel’s body neared the area where the force shield had been, Jack groaned and Sam looked down at him in concern.  While studying his strained face, she noticed with alarm that the outer hairs on Jack’s head had begun to stand up as if exposed to a strong static charge.   She stopped pulling immediately.  

“Wait, wait, wait!” she cried in a panicky voice.

Daniel pulled his hands up and off of Jack in alarm.   “What?  What’s happening?”

“Something’s going on with the force shield.   Look at the Colonel’s hair.”

Daniel looked in the direction she indicated and also noted that his hands were still hovering harmlessly in the space where the force shield lay.  “I don’t get it,” he said.  “It still doesn’t seem to be affecting us.”

We don’t have time for this, Sam thought as she looked anxiously down the corridor.  “Alright, alright,” she took a moment to struggle against her emotions and tried to calmly consider the events of the past few hours. “Something strange is obviously going on here, and it seems like the Colonel is working off information that we don’t have.  I think we should stick to his plan for now.  Teal’c and I will try to find this girl he was talking about, and if she’s not here then we’ll all try to make our way out of here together.”

She watched as Daniel also struggled with his emotions and came to the same conclusion that she had.  “Okay, Sam.  I’ll stay and keep an eye on Jack.” he said apprehensively. 

“It’s okay, Daniel.  Just stay on the radio, and let us know the moment the Colonel’s condition changes.  We’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“Okay, Sam,” Daniel repeated.   Slowly he eased his aching body back into the cramped space.  Scooping Jack away from the force shield he held back a moan as his back muscles angrily protested the movement.  “Just make it quick,” he muttered to the retreating forms of his teammates.

*****************************************************************************

Having been given a few minutes to stand and move without restraint, Daniel looked back longingly at the spacious ceiling of the hallway from the confines of the cell.  Joining the SGC seven years ago had definitely complicated his life, but in some ways it had simplified it as well.  When in his pre-SG-1 existence had he ever felt that a situation would be improved exponentially by the simple act of standing?!

The beleaguered man sighed heavily, and forced his thinking in optimistic directions.  At least he had room to stretch his legs now that Sam and Teal’c were out and on the prowl.  And the fact that Sam and Teal’c were able to scout about was also just cause for optimism.   If he really thought about it, the entire state of affairs had improved ten-fold.

But none of it eased the aching pull pounding through his lower back muscles.

Grimacing and reaching around to support his back, Daniel leaned over Jack and attempted to clean up the unconscious man’s face.   The nosebleed had finally stopped, but it had left a crimson mess in its wake.

While he worked, Daniel began talking to himself about the puzzle of their current situation in an effort to make sense of it.   The cadence of the archaeologist’s self-questioning and considerations caught up with the tattered remnants of Jack’s consciousness and caused the man to stir and slowly crack open his heavy-lidded eyes.

“Daniel…you’re…babbling,” Jack’s tongue felt thick and heavy as he tried to move past the lingering fuzziness of unconsciousness.

“Jack!”  Daniel ended his ministrations and shifted so that his friend could see him better.

“Daniel, what’s…going on?” O’Neill asked haltingly.

“I was just about to ask you that,” the archaeologist replied with a hint of apprehension.

Jack blinked once and managed to focus his attention.   “What the hell are you talking about?” he asked thickly.

“Jack, what exactly is going on with you?   You’ve been rambling incoherently about some girl, and you’ve yet to tell us about that machine which is doing…well, whatever it’s doing to you,” in his exasperation, Daniel was talking loudly and Jack winced at the younger man’s tone.

O’Neill blinked again and studied his friend carefully.   Daniel was looking pretty rough, and his whole body language spoke of a twitchiness that the archaeologist only demonstrated when he was under great duress.

“Daniel, it’s going to be okay,” Jack said as he tried unsuccessfully to lift himself to a sitting position.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?!” Seeing the Colonel’s weakness, Daniel helped the sick man sit up and gentled his tone.    “Jack, it’s not okay.   You’re not okay.   Listen, we can’t go anywhere for a while, at least not until Sam and Teal’c get back.  Why don’t you tell me what’s going on while we wait?”

“Huh?  Back up a minute.  What do you mean ‘until Sam and Teal’c get back?’  Where did they go?”

“Jack, you sent them off to find some girl.   Don’t you remember?   They’ve been gone for about fifteen minutes now.”

Jack’s face was the picture of concentration as he tried to get a handle on recent events.  “Lucy,” he whispered almost to himself.

“Yes!  Lucy.   You said her name before.   Who is she?”

“I’m not sure, Daniel.  Things are pretty wonky for me right now,” Jack admitted as he drew in a long shaky breath and dropped his face into his hands.   After a moment; however, he lifted his head and narrowed his eyes.  “She’s a college student,” he said on an outward breath.  “Huh.  I don’t know what she studies, but given my poor odds it’s probably some science.   Carter’ll love her,” Jack mumbled and leaned his head back until it thumped dully against the metal walls.

“Jack, how do you know her?  Did you meet her when that sphere took you away?   And…wait a minute.   You said she’s a college student?   Jack, are you telling me that this girl’s from Earth?!”

“Yeah, I think so.  Kind of makes things a little more complicated, doesn’t it?” Jack said with some of his characteristic humor lacing his tone.

“How is this possible?”

“I don’t know, Daniel.  But she is human, she’s young, and she’s scared out of her mind.  We’ll know more when Carter and Teal’c get to her.”

“Alright, Jack,” Daniel soothed as his friend became agitated.   “They’ll get to her, don’t worry.   In the meantime, why don’t you tell me what’s been happening when that thing takes you out of here?”

In an uncharacteristically self-conscious maneuver, Jack began fingering the bottom edge of his shirt.  Abruptly casting his gaze downward, the Air Force Colonel seemed intent on avoiding eye contact with Daniel.  “Like I said, Daniel, it’s fuzzy.  I don’t remember much.”

“That’s okay.  I just need to have some idea about what’s been going on,” Daniel insisted.

Jack shrugged painfully and appeared to consider his words carefully before speaking further. “I know it sounds crazy, Daniel, but I think Niirti has a hand in all of this.”

“Niirti?  I thought she was dead.”

“Well, you know how resilient those Goa’uld are, Daniel,” Jack said cynically as his hands continued to tug at the bottom of his shirt.

“Yeah, but what makes you think this has something to do with her?”

“You read the mission report of our trip to P3X-367 right?”  Jack closed his eyes after noting Daniel’s nod.  “And you remember that machine Niirti used on Carter?”

“Yeah, Sam said it was painful.”

“Well, she wasn’t exaggerating.”

Concerned now, Daniel squinted at his friend.   “Jack, what are you talking about?”

“I got a glance at the machine on -367, and this one looks amazingly similar to it.  Hurts like hell, too,” the admission to pain was mumbled, but Daniel caught it.  

Reeling from the information and yet not being able to make any sense of it, Daniel forced his thoughts to slow.   “Jack, did you actually see Niirti?” the archaeologist asked after a moment.

“No, I don’t remember seeing anyone.   I always wake up in the machine because, well…just…well…because,” the Colonel finished lamely.  

Daniel closed his eyes as he imagined pain so terrible that it could knock a person right back into consciousness.   It was then that a dangerous thought occurred to him.  “Jack, Sam was exposed to Niirti’s machine only once, and you guys came pretty close to losing her.”

“What’s your point, Daniel?” Jack growled.   He knew the point, but he didn’t want to linger on that time in their lives when he had been helpless to do anything to prevent his team from getting hurt.

“Jack, you’ve been in that thing three times.”

“Yes, Daniel.  I know that, and there’s nothing we can do about it now.   Let’s focus on getting out of this mess first, and we’ll worry about me later.”

“But Jack…”

“Daniel, let it be.  I’m too tired to let this part of our discussion go any further.”

The archaeologist opened his mouth to protest but then abruptly closed it.  If Jack felt so poorly that he actually admitted to being tired, then Daniel would honor the sick man’s request.  “Alright, Jack.   Okay,” he conceded.

Silence reigned for a few minutes, and Jack fell into a light doze.  A vague thought plagued Daniel for a little while, and he concentrated on identifying it.   Something about Jack’s account wasn’t quite right.  He contemplated the events until the contradiction in the story hit him like a bolt of lightening.

“Jack!” Daniel yelled into the quiet room.

Jack visibly jumped and groaned as his aching muscles protested the hasty movement.  “For cryin’ out loud, Daniel!  What?” he groused.

“Sorry, sorry.  I was just thinking.  If you didn’t actually meet anyone when you left this cell, how do you know about Lucy?”

The Colonel looked puzzled for a moment and began fidgeting with his shirt again.  “I don’t know, Daniel.  I just know that she’s….” Jack didn’t finish the sentence.  Instead, he clutched at his head, and Daniel saw with alarm that blood had again appeared in an awful gush from the older man’s nose. 

“Christ,” Jack moaned.  His body slumped carelessly as he continued to ramble on in a tone that one would use to quiet a small and frightened child. “Shh, shh, shh.   Yes, I know.  It’s all going to be okay.  Just take it easy on me, will you?”  Jack suddenly raised his gaze to Daniel and smiled slightly.   “Carter and Teal’c found Lucy,” he whispered just before his eyes rolled back into his head, and his mind again became enveloped in darkness.

*****************************************************************************

The hallway in which Teal’c and Sam found themselves was extraordinarily long and filled with numerous cells similar to the one that had only recently housed them.  It was with relief that the two team members noted that all of the cramped rooms were unoccupied since they would not have relished rescuing and caring for an entire population of prisoners while attempting to do the same for themselves.   When they reached the end of the plain hallway, they paused as Sam stepped up to study the smooth, opaque crystals they found there on a wall panel.

“MajorCarter, this device looks familiar to me,” Teal’c said as he raised his staff weapon.

“It’s Asgard technology, Teal’c,” Sam said wonderingly.   She shifted some of the jewels around, and a doorway opened directly in front of them.  As they stepped inside the small alcove present behind the door, Sam noticed more Asgard crystals and narrowed her eyes in suspicion.   “I don’t understand what the Asgard have to do with this, Teal’c.  Do you have any ideas?”

“I do not, MajorCarter,” Teal’c said simply, but Sam sensed a note of displeasure in his tone.

The Major nodded in agreement with the Jaffa’s mood and studied the crystals presented to them.  “Where did the Colonel say this girl is?”

“In a cell directly below the one we occupied.”

“Okay, let’s see,” Sam manipulated the crystals in a series of complicated patterns and suddenly a bright light surrounded them.  Seconds later they were standing at the end of a different, darker hallway.  “Yep, definitely Asgard technology,” Sam muttered as she considered her easy success in operating the transporter technology.

Eyeing Teal’c meaningfully, Sam stepped into the corridor.   Grateful that the hallway was empty, she motioned for her teammate to follow her as she began to traverse the long floor.  The corridor was lined with cells similar to the ones they had seen on the upper level and, thankfully, they were also unoccupied.

Sam was just giving in to her serious doubts about the existence of the girl, when she heard fervent whispering coming from a cell several feet in front of her.

“Hello?” Sam called in a quiet voice.   She heard the litany of words stop and the fast shuffle of a body moving around on the floor of one of the cells.

“Carter?!  Hurry up and get me out of here!” a young voice called softly in a sharp Southern twang.

Sam had only a moment to feel shock course through her at the sound of her name coming from a stranger’s lips when her radio crackled to life.  She almost yelped as the loud static assaulted the funereal silence of the hallway.

“Sam, something’s wrong with Jack!” Daniel’s tone through the radio was decidedly panicked.

“Daniel, calm down.  What’s happened?” Sam called into her own radio as she moved quickly towards the occupied cell.  She glanced behind her to see Teal’c following, and with a nod of her head she indicated that he should advance before her to the imprisoned girl.

Meanwhile, Daniel was still talking frantically to her through the radio.  “I don’t know, Sam.  He was conscious for a little while, and we were talking when all of a sudden he just started speaking to someone else.”

“What do you mean, Daniel?”

“I’m not quite sure.  He just grabbed his head and then the nosebleed started again…I can’t stop it, Sam.  He’s losing a lot of blood…from a nosebleed for god’s sake….”

“Daniel, calm down!” Sam repeated more forcefully.   She needed him to stop panicking if he was going to be any use to the Colonel.  “What did you mean when you said he was talking to someone else?”

She heard Daniel take a long, shaky breath over the radio before speaking.  “It was like he was trying to calm down a little kid,” he said breathlessly.   “He was just using a soothing tone, and then all of a sudden he looked at me and told me that you had found Lucy.   Then he just passed out.”

“Lucy?!”

“Yeah, it’s the name of the girl he told us about.”

“I know that, Daniel,” Sam snapped impatiently.   “It’s just…when did all of this happen?”

“Just now!  Just this instant!”

Sam pulled a shaky hand through her already mussed up hair, and moved down the hallway where Teal’c was kneeling and looking at something.  Or, more likely, someone.  When she heard a quiet voice call out the Jaffa’s name, she picked up her pace.   Once she reached Teal’c’s side, she looked down to see the relieved face of a young women looking up at her from the cramped position of another small cell.  Closing her eyes to ease the effort of thinking, Sam took a moment to try to put together all of the pieces of this strange puzzle.   Something bizarre was going on here.

“Major, get me out of this place!” Sam’s eyes snapped open as she looked down at the demanding young woman.   Something really bizarre was going on here.

Sam briefly closed her eyes again in another attempt to get her thoughts in order.  Suck it up, Major, she told herself.  She’d seen many strange things in the course of her stint at the SGC.   This situation was explainable, and she couldn’t let its weirdness affect her ability to act.

“Are you Lucy?” she asked the young woman.

“Yes,” the girl seemed about to say something else, but Sam interrupted her by keying her radio.

“Daniel, we just found her.”

“What?!” Daniel’s exclamation was squawky over the radio.

“Daniel, we have Lucy here.”

“Okay, good.  I think.  Sam, something really strange is happening.  Jack couldn’t explain how or why he knew this girl, and….”

Anything else Daniel had to say was over-shrouded by the loud protestations emerging from Lucy.  “For cryin’ out loud!  I’m not a kid!  And I’d also really like to know what’s going on, but first, can y’all get me out of this…this…box?!”

Sam pressed both hands into her eyes as consternation surged within her.  She just needed everyone to calm down!

“…said she’s from Earth, Sam.   She’s probably really scared.”   Daniel’s words finally registered in her brain.  Oblivious to the events occurring on this lower level, the archaeologist had continued speaking.

Surprised by Daniel’s disclosure, Sam glanced down at the young woman and took a closer look at her.  Lucy’s eyes were dilated with barely contained fear, and her whole body vibrated with what Sam imagined was an overriding need to run.   The Major inanely studied the girl’s Converse sneakers and wide-legged jeans and wondered how this obviously innocuous human had managed to get herself mixed up in an escape attempt from an alien prison.

‘But then again, how did I end up getting myself mixed up in this escape attempt from an alien prison?’ Sam thought grimly, all the while appreciating the irony of the question.   She was an Air Force Major who possessed an imagination that allowed her to see the universe from the unique perspective that only an exceptionally talented astrophysicist possessed.   She had traveled to numerous planets and had the memories of many thorny adventures that she and her team had somehow, miraculously survived.  And now, here she was staring at a short, too young woman, who obviously had no experience in extraterrestrial matters, and whose hair was inexplicably wet at the ends.   But the girl also evidently had a better handle on what was happening than Sam could hope to possess at the moment despite all of her wacky past experiences.

“Alright, let’s get you out of there,” Sam addressed Lucy and even managed to stir up what she hoped was a comforting smile for the young woman.  “I have questions, but they can wait until we’re all out of this mess.”

Lucy shifted her legs so that she was sitting tailor-fashion and nodded.  “I understand, Major,” she replied with forced calmness.

“I’m guessing it’s a fair assumption to say that you can’t get through the force shield, right?” Sam asked.

“Yes,” the girl answered and stretched aching limbs to emphasize her desperate wish to escape the confines of the cell.   “If I get too close to it, I can feel a static charge.”

Sam narrowed her eyes in thought and moved her hand closer to the shield.  “And yet I don’t feel the same effects,” she said with curiosity.

Lucy shook her head.  “You wouldn’t.  Listen, I don’t know much about what all is goin’ on around here.   I went to sleep about three nights ago and woke up here.  I haven’t seen or heard much of anything except a few strange voices now and again, and some weird, round, flying metal thing-a-ma-jigs that make my head all woozy.   But what little information I’ve manage to gather indicates that this cell was designed especially for me.”   Lucy shook her head again when Sam opened her mouth to ask another question.  “Like I said, Major, I don’t know the details.  But I do know that I want out of here, so could you help a girl out and get crackin’ on the problem?

Sam found herself smiling at the girl’s candid tone.    “Okay.  Teal’c, stay with her.  I’m going to have a look at the panel at the end of the corridor.   Hopefully I’ll be able to release the force shield from there.”

Teal’c inclined his head to indicate his understanding, and Sam ran to the far end of the hallway.  When she reached the wall panel, she began shifting the opalescent stones and watched as one by one the entrance to the empty cells shimmered as invisible force shields were activated and deactivated.   Silently she prayed that she would find the correct combination to open up Lucy’s cell before one of the orbs came and spotted them.  They needed to get out of here as fast as possible.  A civilian had somehow managed to get herself mixed up in an almost inconceivably complicated plot, and to top that off, the Colonel’s life was in immediate danger.   The thought of Colonel O’Neill brought her up sharply, and as she continued to move the stones she keyed her radio to check in on Daniel.

“Daniel, how’s the Colonel doing?”

“Um, well, the bleeding’s slowed a bit, but, Sam, we have to get him out of here.  He’s really weak, and I don’t know how much more he’s going to be able to take.   If that flying alien thingy comes back to take him away, well….” Daniel’s hanging statement frightened Sam badly.

“Daniel, when the Colonel was conscious, did he happen to tell you what happened to him outside of the cell?” Sam continued to try different combinations while Daniel grimly recounted the events that Jack had described to him.

“Well why couldn’t he have told me all of this when I asked him?!”  Sam yelled angrily into her radio.  “Somehow I think that I have a right to know if Niirti’s still alive and using that damnable machine again!”

“Sam, calm down.  You know how Jack is.  He probably just didn’t want to upset you.”

“Well, that doesn’t make any sense.   I’m his Second-In-Command, Daniel.   I need to know these things!”

Silence beat its way through the radio waves for a moment before Daniel responded.

“Sam, I think he’s afraid.  He’s been in that thing three times, and I think that he’s still painfully aware of how close they came to losing you when you were exposed to it just once.  I think that if he considers too closely the fact that someone is screwing around with his DNA, the very thing that makes him who he is, he’s not going to be able to put on the brave face that he needs to show whenever he’s in a mess like this.   And he doesn’t want to see us as afraid for him as he was for you on P3X-367.  I also imagine that all of this is complicated by the guilt he’s probably dropped on himself for not being able to protect all of you back then.”

“Well, he told you about all of this!   Why not me?”  Sam realized she was being petulant, but couldn’t help herself.

“Sam, it was like pulling teeth to get the little bit out of him that I did.  He’s trying to take control in the only way he knows how right now.”

“Well that just doesn’t make sense!” Sam growled.

“Well, when did anything Jack ever do make sense?   Listen, despite what he would have us believe, Jack O’Neill is a very complicated man.”

“More like a stubborn ass if you ask me, Daniel.”

“That too,” Daniel agreed.  “Hey, are you guys coming back soon?  I’d really like to stand up again before I forget how.”

“I’m almost done here, Daniel.   We’ll be back in no time.   Just hang in there.”

“Gotcha.” Daniel said and signed off the radio.

 Sam shook off her bad temper, and refocused her efforts to deactivating the force shield surrounding Lucy’s cell.  The truth was, she was scared for the Colonel.  Not only had her experience in Niirti’s machine been agonizing, but seeing its victims turn into watery non-beings while at the same time being aware that she had been the next to go had been indescribably horrific.  To have one’s body decay on such an intrinsic level had been the ultimate betrayal, and she supposed that she was in the unique position of understanding how the Colonel felt.  After witnessing his seemingly limitless optimism when they had crash-landed in Antarctica, she guessed that any situation that totally negated the possibility of a positive outcome was devastating to the Colonel.   In fact, he was probably trying to protect them all by hiding just how frightening his situation was.  

“MajorCarter!”

Sam poked her head out from behind the panel to see Teal’c moving towards her with Lucy following closely behind.   The little woman was practically dwarfed by the bigger man’s bulk, and she literally bumped her freckled nose into the Jaffa when he stopped abruptly in front of his teammate.

Teal’c looked down at Lucy with the slightest, amused smile adorning his face.  Seemingly unembarrassed by her clumsiness, Lucy laughed at herself and caught her balance by grabbing onto one of Teal’c’s massive arms.  Teal’c seemed pleased with himself as he slightly bowed to the stranger in silent respect.

“Okay, let’s get back to the Colonel and Daniel,” Sam said.  And with that she thrust all of her timorous thoughts to the back of her mind where she could examine them later.  “Daniel said the Colonel’s not doing well.  He’s bleeding and unconscious again,” she reported to the duo standing before her.   Lucy seemed to pale considerably at the information, and once again Sam wondered about the girl’s role in the events to which they were currently subject.  Shrugging off her uncertainty, Sam turned to the stone panel.

As she moved to readjust the Asgard stones in the sequence that would bring them back to their original floor, Daniel’s voice frantically called to her through the radio.

“Sam!  That thing just came back, and it took Jack with it again!  I’m going after it!”

*****************************************************************************

“Daniel!  Daniel!   Talk to me!  What’s going on?!” Sam yelled her frustration into the radio as Teal’c, Lucy and she exited the transporter alcove and ran down the long hallway of the upper level.  But either Daniel was ignoring her or could not answer, and she cursed his impetuousness.   It wasn’t that she thought that Daniel had made a wrong decision by chasing after the metal sphere and Jack, but she did wish that he had waited a moment to think his actions through.  

Choking down her ire, Sam practically slid to a stop at the cell where she had last seen the Colonel and Daniel.   She was unsurprised by their absence but without any further information from Daniel, she was unable to determine their exact position.  Taking a deep breath, the Major allowed her brain to take over.  She mentally began shuffling through various ideas and quickly judging their merit. 

Nothing was coming to her, and she was just about to tell Teal’c to move out in the hopes that they would possibly stumble across the other two members of SG-1 just by luck, when Lucy stuttered out a plausible course of action.

“I…I think that…I think that I know where they are,” the girl said as she edged closer to Teal’c and nervously shoved a piece of hair into her mouth.

Well, that explained the wet and tattered ends of the girl’s hair anyway.

Sam grabbed the barrel of her gun tightly in her left hand and in an unexpectedly maternal action pulled the edges of Lucy’s hair out of her mouth.  Forcing a bright smile, she then clutched the girl’s slightly shaking shoulder in an offer of comfort.

“Hey, it’s alright.  We’re going to be okay.  Believe it or not, we’ve been in worse situations than this.”

“No, you haven’t,” the girl whispered peculiarly.   Her hazel green eyes shone with alarming intelligence, and Sam had a moment to be shocked again at Lucy’s uncanny knowledge of SG-1.  Maintaining eye contact with Sam, Lucy breathed heavily for a few moments before speaking.

“I don’t understand it, but I have some sort of connection with the Colonel.  I know where they’ve taken him.  Right now Jack’s…well…he’s conscious and wishing he weren’t,” Lucy abruptly stopped talking and closed her eyes momentarily.  She sensed that there were secrets here, and Jack would want her to tread lightly.   She sighed wearily at his guarded nature before continuing.  “But he’s alive, and I think I can take y’all to him.”

“Lucy, I don’t understand.  What do you mean ‘some sort of connection with the Colonel?’   Do you know what’s going on here?” Sam pressed the girl for answers.

“I told you that I don’t understand it, Carter!” With the exception of the obvious Southern accent, Lucy’s irritated tone mimicked the Colonel’s exactly, and Sam found herself becoming more confused by the moment.

“MajorCarter, perhaps we should locate O’Neill and DanielJackson before attempting to find answers to these questions,” Teal’c’s never ending pragmatism was a blessing, and it helped Sam clear her thoughts and take action.

“You’re right, Teal’c,” she agreed.   “Lucy, you’d better lead us to him.   Stick with Teal’c, and I’ll watch your six.”

The girl nodded her agreement and headed towards the end of the hall opposite to where they had entered just moments ago.   All the while she maintained her tight hold on Teal’c’s arm, and Sam had no doubt that her instructions to stick with the Jaffa would be carried out precisely.

*****************************************************************************

Looking into what appeared to be a laboratory, Daniel crouched within the shadows of a very short wall and watched as the metal sphere deposited Jack on a platform that was standing in the center of the room.  He cursed when he saw that Jack had remained unconscious, and looked about himself in a desperate attempt to find something…anything…that might aid him in the rescue of his friend.

Where the hell were they anyway?  

The room was circular in shape, and its perimeter was lined with a series of short walls like the one Daniel was currently squatting behind.  A large, sun-like sphere hovered over the sizeable platform that was currently bearing Jack’s unconscious body and which took up the bulk of the small room’s space.   The sun-like contraption extended from the room’s ceiling, but Daniel couldn’t make sense out of how it might operate.  The apparatus looked like it could be Ancient in origin, and the archaeologist supposed that this was the machine that he had read about in SG-1’s mission reports depicting the encounter with Niirti on –367.

But he didn’t see the control device that Jack, Jonas and Sam had all described, so how was the thing being operated?

And more importantly, who was operating it?

In an effort to ascertain who the instigator of all of this trouble could be, Daniel made a closer study of the room’s minimal décor.   Since the surroundings were vaguely reminiscent of the other Ancient environs he had previously observed, Daniel deduced that the advanced aliens were involved here somehow.    Whether one of the Ancients had survived all of this time like a prehistoric fish hidden in the dark bottom waters of the oceans or whether some other individual from another race was abusing the technology again, Daniel was forced to accept that Jack had been exposed to some pretty sophisticated equipment.

Regardless, Daniel’s primary goal at the moment was to get Jack out of the machine.  The device hadn’t been turned on yet, and the fact that his was the only other obvious presence gave Daniel some small hope that he could prevent another torture session from occurring anytime soon.

Leaning forward as far as he dared without exposing his presence to any possible detection equipment, Daniel called to Jack softly.  He needed Jack conscious if he had any hope of getting the downed man out of this place.

“Pssst, Jack!  Hey Jack!” 

Jack remained unconscious, and Daniel cursed softly.  

“Jack, you’re such a stubborn ass!” Even the insult caused no reaction from the Colonel.

‘Alright, you asked for it, Jack.   Time to take out the heavy guns,’ Daniel thought frivolously.  “Hey, Jack,” he whispered sharply.  “Guess what?   I bought us both really expensive season tickets to the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra.   Just think, starting next week they’ll be having concerts once a….”

Jack’s body shuddered once, and Daniel almost leaped up in surprise.   He hadn’t actually expected the plan to work!

“Huh?” Jack asked dimly as he peered in Daniel’s direction.  “Daniel?   Wha?”

“Jack!  Yeah, it’s me!  Are you awake?”

“Think so,” Jack mumbled.  “’Less you’re a dream.”

“No, I’m not a dream, Jack.  Listen, I don’t know if there are any gadgets monitoring you, but I’m going to come over there in a moment.  I’m going to help you up, and we’re going to get out of here as fast as possible, but I need you to stay conscious and walk as best you can.   Do you think you can do that, Jack?”

“Yeah,” Jack said thickly, and Daniel couldn’t help but doubt the truthfulness of the man’s answer.  Jack’s whole body was quivering with uncontrolled muscle spasms, and he looked incredibly ill. 

Pushing back his doubts, Daniel took a deep breath and prepared himself for whatever was going to come next.   “Okay Jack.  I’m coming over right….”

The archaeologist was interrupted when a force shield sprang up, and holographic images of DNA were projected around the room.  

He had been too late!  He had taken too long!  Crouching down in his meager hiding spot, Daniel closed his eyes and leaned his head against the sterile wall. 

And while he quietly despaired, Jack began to scream.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” Daniel’s stressed mutterings were a muffled lament to his own tardiness.  If he had just acted a minute earlier his friend would have been spared this agony.  Maybe even a fraction of a minute would have saved him from this.   He should have ignored his caution…when had he become so cautious anyway?  Wasn’t he the one who was known as SG-1’s errant go-getter?  Wasn’t he the one who always caught flak from Jack for indiscriminately touching too many relics?  For running in the direction of un-assessed ruins?  For throwing caution to the wind? Why hadn’t he just pulled Jack off that platform when he had had the chance? 

Why, why, why, why….

As he gradually recognized that his mind-ramblings would do Jack no good, Daniel forced himself to calm.  Opening his eyes, he found himself slowly rocking with his hands pressed up against his ears in an unconscious attempt to block out the extraordinary sounds coming from Jack. 

Composing himself further, the archaeologist decided on a course of action as he slowly realized that Jack’s screams were lessening and that the machine seemed to be powering down.  Wiping wayward tears from his eyes, Daniel observed the platform and waited impatiently as the holographic images faded.   He shifted position slightly and carefully scrutinized the space around the platform for the faint, golden shimmer that would indicate the deactivation of the force shield.   He would proceed without hesitation now that he understood the consequences of inaction.  He couldn’t allow Jack to be in harm’s way another time.

When the indicative shimmer occurred, Daniel launched himself in Jack’s direction.  He had almost reached the fallen, but surprisingly conscious man when several startling events occurred simultaneously.

Before Daniel could actually lay hands on Jack, one of the floating, silver spheres moved to threateningly hover within the stricken man’s vicinity.  Jack caught sight of the nasty device at the same time and murmured a hushed warning to his friend.   In the same moment that Daniel froze in alarm, he heard the scuffle of movement directly behind him.

“Daniel!  Be careful!”  It was a hissed warning from Sam, and he had only a moment to wonder how she had managed to find them, when he noted a short door slide open directly in front of his line of vision.

The unexpected and hurried entrance of an Asgard shocked Daniel badly.  Silence thundered within his mind as he wondered blankly as to the alien’s purpose here.   His pulse beat heavily, rhythmically through his head, and it was as if he were entranced by some spell of fairytale making.  What was happening here?  

It wasn’t until he glanced back down to Jack that he noticed the grim acceptance of something intangible in the other man’s face.   Jack understood something now, but Daniel still did not.

“Jack?” Daniel asked worriedly in this suddenly quiet room. 

Jack didn’t answer, and it was then that Daniel understood that the room actually was not quiet. 

Shock and dismay had silenced his senses, and it wasn’t until Jack closed his eyes in that same silent acceptance of something that Daniel senses opened and he was assailed by the mass of noise occurring around him.

Sam was screaming instructions to him, and gunfire blasts were resounding loudly through the small room.  Faster than Daniel could ever recall seeing him move before, Teal’c raced towards the Asgard, while simultaneously the metal sphere hovering above Jack exploded in a flash of sparks.  Thankfully, Daniel had the presence of mind to pull Jack out of the way of the falling contraption.  With adrenaline powering him, he was able to quickly lift Jack into a standing position and half-walk, half-drag the man back towards their companions.

Sam still had her P-90 aimed into the room, but she had stopped firing it and was frantically talking to a strange girl.   The girl was nodding furiously in response to whatever Sam was saying, and only stopped when she saw Daniel and Jack stumbling in her direction.

“Jack!” the stranger cried, horrified.  

Daniel felt Jack raise his head in response, and he noted that unbelievably, the man was smiling reassuringly at the tiny woman.

Daniel had a moment to see that the girl was not convinced by Jack’s quiet assurances before she began to scramble from safety to help them.  But before she could even pass the cubicle wall behind which Sam had staked her rescue attempt, the woman recoiled sharply as if she had been slapped.  Daniel sensed, more than saw Jack shake his head negatively once, and the woman moved back closer to Sam.  He had only moments to register that the girl must be Lucy, and that she looked pretty pissed at Jack’s apparent insistence on her safety before they were beside the two women.

“Lucy, hurry now.  We’ve got to get back to the transporter,” Sam instructed.   All business, the fierce girl nodded and strode assertively out of the room.  Glaring meaningfully, Sam rushed ahead of the teenager to take point.  “I’ll go first, Lucy.   Just follow my lead and stay close,” the Major said as she hefted her weapon into firing position again.

Taking a moment to look for Teal’c, Daniel saw the Jaffa now heading back in their direction with the Asgard in his secure grip.   Several spheres followed the two aliens, and Daniel practically yelped at the sight of them.

“Time to go, Jack,” Daniel mumbled, and his tired companion nodded in understanding.  The two men followed the women out of the room and into the hallway.   “Sam!”  Daniel called.  “There’s more of those spheres heading our way!”

By now, Sam was at the end of the long hallway playing around with crystals that Daniel had not had the opportunity to see before.  He immediately recognized the Asgard technology and again took a moment to wonder at the alien’s presence.  His mind was quickly coming up with ideas, and he didn’t like any of them.

Daniel pulled the now exhausted Colonel into the direction of the more defendable alcove which had suddenly appeared after Sam shifted a few of the gems, but he did not have enough time to reach the area before the spheres descended upon them.  Oblivious to Teal’c and his Asgard captive, the machines focused their attentions on the Colonel and Daniel.  Sam yelled out for them to duck, and Daniel followed her directions succinctly.   Luckily they were within Sam’s firing range, and Daniel was both surprised and relieved to see the attacking spheres plummet uselessly to the floor after only a few efficient blasts of Sam’s rifle.

Daniel fought to pull his increasingly weakening teammate to the relative safety of the hallway recess, but it was slow going.   He looked behind him to see Teal’c running with the struggling Asgard and realized that the Jaffa literally had his hands full and would be of little help to him.  Stalwartly moving in Sam’s direction but making little progress, Daniel was surprised to suddenly find Lucy at his side.   He heard Sam’s aggravated curses from halfway down the hall, and Daniel knew that the Major was angry with herself for allowing the inexperienced and impudent civilian slip past her.  

But the archaeologist also recognized that his teammate’s inability to protect Jack was an additional source of her frustration.   The Major’s first priority had to be keeping the civilian safe, and so her military training prevented her from helping the Colonel.  This dichotomy between her emotional and professional wishes added fire to Sam’s profanities.

Lucy grabbed Jack’s free arm, and with her help they initially made better progress.  In fact, the trio was almost to the alcove when Jack suddenly slumped to the floor.   Blood was pouring from his nose, and Daniel was shocked to see a little trickle of crimson now flowing from the man’s left ear. 

“Stop…thinking,” Jack thickly muttered with a pointed look at Lucy.  Lucy looked distressed, and Jack moaned again before his eyes rolled, and he gave in to unconsciousness.   Muscles in the Colonel’s upper torso and arms twitched uncontrollably, and now Sam had no other option but to abandon her post and help Daniel move Jack.

“C’mon!  It’s okay!” Carter yelled to Lucy, and within moments all of SG-1, including Teal’c and his struggling captive, were tightly packed within the niche.   “Which way, which way?!” Sam muttered as she looked to the glowing crystals on the panel in front of her.   Moving the shimmering stones in a seemingly random pattern, she looked up to quickly scrutinize the hallway in front of them.  It was quiet out there now, but she sensed that they didn’t have much time.

“Sam…” Daniel warned.  He also was acutely aware that they were quickly running out of time.

“Give me a minute,” Sam muttered absently.

“I’m not sure that we actually have one,” Daniel countered. 

Sam’s frown deepened, but she wasted no more time by giving in to the distraction he unwittingly created.  Moving the crystals again, she searched for the combination that would get them the farthest distance away from the nightmare that circumstances had flung them into.

“Ah!” she cried triumphantly when she recognized the correct sequence.  “I’ve got it,” she said.   She grabbed a few of the Asgard crystals and maneuvered them in a complicated pattern, and then Daniel’s senses became overcome by a white flash of light.

*****************************************************************************

“Uh, okay,” Daniel gasped when he got his breath back and managed to take in his surroundings.  During their time affected by the blinding light, their immediate environment had abruptly transformed from the previous cold and sterile milieu to the warm and breezy greenery of a temperate forest meadow.

“Umm, Sam, where are we now?” having accepted the fact that they were obviously no longer on the barren planet of their original mission or in the maze-like complex of miniature cells, Daniel managed to mask his anxiety and confusion with a conversational tone.

“I’m not quite sure,” Sam replied.   “It seemed like there were a lot of levels to that place, so I was just aiming to move us as far upward as possible.”   She shrugged matter-of-factly.   “Looks like that compound is underground.  We seem to be on the surface of a planet.”

“Do you think there’s a Stargate?” Daniel asked hopefully. 

“I don’t know where we are, but…”

“Just wait!  Just one minute!”  Lucy straightened up and addressed the two teammates in what she hoped was her most authoritative voice.  “What the hell are you talking about?  Planets and stargates, and god damn it, what in the name of all that’s holy is that thing?!” she hollered and pointed at the Asgard. 

Her mother would have her hide if she ever heard her well-bred, Southern daughter talking like this, but somehow Lucy thought she was in the clear.  It seemed doubtful that talk of her unbecoming language would reach her mother from way out on what was looking more and more like a planet other than Earth.    And although her mother had powerful connections in their small town, Lucy was pretty sure that the authority of the Mayor of Selma, North Carolina ended somewhere halfway up Earth’s stratosphere.

For his part, Daniel could barely suppress an amused smile at the sight of the disheveled and bristling figure before him.   He wondered at the girl’s steady resilience to her newly acquired experiences.  Most civilians would have been cowering in abject fear if they found themselves in the girl’s place.  Lucy, on the other hand seemed to be dealing with things head on.  Daniel found himself liking her despite the disconcerting enigma she represented. 

“Lucy, where did you come from?” he asked in an amazed voice.

“Huh?” Unsettled by the seemingly irrelevant question, Lucy’s interrogation lost its momentum.  She crinkled her nose, and the freckles covering her face smeared together.  “North Carolina,” she answered without recognizing the rhetorical nature of his question.   “What does that….”

“You must not do this!”  Both Daniel and Lucy turned from each other as all of their attention was dragged to the sound of the Asgard’s complaints.   “You cannot interrupt our work!   We must finish!   You do not belong here!”

“Be silent,” Teal’c warned the little alien.  

“No, Teal’c.  Maybe we ought to listen to what he has to say,” Sam suggested.   “I mean, he obviously knows what’s going on, and we obviously don’t.  Let’s hear his explanations,” Sam’s clouded expression belied the pleasant sounding tone of her words, and Daniel shivered.  She was not one to be crossed when she was feeling pissed.

“I will say nothing further,” the Asgard replied primly.

“Well that works for me too.  For now,” Sam said, and the implication of the questioning that would come later sent a visible shiver through the Asgard.

“You pe..people…ah…huh…gab too mu..much.”   The stuttered words came from Jack who was lying in a broken heap at their feet.  “Mo…move out, Ma..major,” he commanded.

“Jack?”  His friend’s return to consciousness had startled Daniel, and he turned his full attention to the man.

“Not…now,” the Colonel dismissed Daniel’s concern, and though his vision was decidedly wonky, he managed to make out the form of his Second-In-Command and direct what he hoped was an eloquent glare in her direction.  “Major….” The word was weakly uttered on a harsh exhalation, but its note of command was apparent to them all.

Looking grim, Sam nodded.  “Yes, sir,” she replied gravely.  “Daniel, can you help the Colonel walk?  We should move away from this meadow and into some cover,” she said and indicated the surrounding forest with a simple movement of her head.   After Daniel nodded affirmatively, she turned her gaze to Lucy and offered the younger woman a meaningful look.   “Lucy, you deserve an explanation, and we’ll talk.  But we have to find a safe place to have this particular conversation.  I don’t know how, but you seem to be privy to knowledge regarding the Colonel and the rest of us.  Do you know enough to trust us?”

Lucy eyed Sam with that same acutely intelligent look she had shown before and nodded solemnly.  Sam patted the girls’s shoulder in response, and then watched as, seemingly of their own accord, Lucy’s hands drew hair into the young girl’s mouth.  Smiling gently at Lucy’s strange habit, Sam pulled the young woman’s hair out of her mouth, and put a friendly arm around the stressed girl’s shoulders.  “C’mon.  We’ll be alright,” she said with forced optimism as she directed her team towards secure cover. “Like I said before, we’ve been in worse spots.”

Lucy’s openly incredulous expression made Sam aware that the girl still wasn’t buying into her assurances.  Truth be told, she, herself was actually having a hard time recalling a time when they had been worse off.

Sam grimaced and led her team into the cover of the forest.

*****************************************************************************

He was startled back to consciousness by the sounds of gunshots and the muffled curses from someone near him.   He opened his eyes blearily and was assaulted by the harsh light of a bright orange glow and the sudden pressure of a hand on his arm.

“Jack?”

The word sounded watery, and he vaguely understood that there was something wrong with one of his ears.  The glow disappeared suddenly and then returned just as quickly, and he wondered at this until he realized that his own reflexive blinking must have caused the transitory absence of light.  He opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to say something, but no sounds emerged.  He wasn’t even sure what it was he wanted to say anyway.  His fingers scrabbled in the dirt as he tried to gain his bearings, but though he felt the pressure of the ground underneath his hand, his brain wasn’t able to process information well enough to ascertain where he was.

Dizziness overwhelmed him, and he returned to nothingness.

*****************************************************************************

“…doing to him?!”

This time it was shouting that brought him back to a questionable awareness despite the muffled quality of the sound that was caused by the injury to his ear.  Words flew over his head, but it took him some time to make sense of them.   Apparently someone was upset, and he wondered why.

Focusing, he managed to open his eyes again.   This time he was able to determine that he was lying on his side facing the comforting warmth of a fire.   He could barely move his head, but when he did he saw that Daniel was ranting at what appeared to be an Asgard.

“Thor?” he whispered, befuddled.

No one seemed to notice him, and he took another limited look around his surroundings.  Despite the glow of the warm fire, the room they were in appeared to be dark.    Where were they now?

He looked back to Daniel, and now saw that Carter had a placating hand on the distressed man’s arm and was doing her best to calm him down.

“Dan…iel?” Again the word came out only as a whisper, and he resigned himself to being unnoticed for the time being.

Stretching his neck to its limit, he turned his scrutiny to the far corner of this strange place and saw Teal’c placidly observing the drama that was unfolding before them.  Huddled within the safety of one of the big Jaffa’s encircled arms was a girl whose bright eyes were staring intently in his direction.   The prickling of a distant memory caused him to try to make a closer observation of this stranger, and as he took in the girl’s slight form and casual civilian apparel a wave of sadness for her broken innocence flooded through him.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said in that same, hushed tone.  But this time it seemed he was heard and understood.

“Neither should you,” the reply was silent, yet it boomed loudly within his mind.  He felt the trickle of something flowing from his nose and flinched involuntarily at the intensity of the sound.

“Shhhh.  It…hurts,” he said.

“I’m sorry, Colonel,” This time he heard the reply outside of his head, and he realized that the girl had moved to his side.   When had she done that?   Where was Teal’c?

“How are you feeling, O’Neill?”

Ah, that was Teal’c but where was he?

Belatedly he realized that the complete darkness he was experiencing meant he had closed his eyes again.   He quickly came to the conclusion that if he opened them the situation would probably make a bit more sense.   At the very least, he might be able to pinpoint Teal’c’s position.  When Jack opened his eyes, he was startled to see the Jaffa looming over him in concern.   If he hadn’t been so immeasurably weak, he might have jumped in his surprise.  Instead, he allowed a slow smile to grace his face.

“Peachy.”  It seemed that now he was talking loud enough for his teammates to hear him, because Teal’c smiled gently in return. 

The sounds of scuffled dirt announced Daniel’s presence, and he weakly turned his head in the direction of the archaeologist.

“Hi, Daniel.  You’re…not…looking well.  What’s…up?”  The words were difficult to coordinate between thought and utterance, and he struggled to maintain control.  He needed time to understand what was happening.

“Better than you,” Daniel shot back automatically.   “Jack…”

Jack refused to respond.   Instead he settled on glaring disapprovingly which immediately erased the somber expressions of apprehension that their faces expressed.   He didn’t have time to waste on concerns that couldn’t be helped now.

“Carter?”

“She’s guarding the Asgard,” Daniel responded immediately as he stretched forward and cleaned up the warm liquid under Jack’s nose.

“Thor?”

“No, his name is Gefjon.  But we haven’t been able to get anything out of him.   Sam thinks he has something to do with Loki.”

A burst of mental noise signified what he suddenly understood to be the sounds of distress from the girl, Lucy, and he winced.  Weakly bringing a hand up to his head, he groaned audibly.

“I’m sorry.  Oh, I’m sorry, Colonel.  I didn’t realize I was the one doing that to you until now.  I’ll stop…I’ll stop,” The pressure of a small hand on his arm accompanied Lucy’s frantic, verbal rambling.

“S’okay.  Shhh, it’ll…be okay,” Jack comforted the girl and feebly reached over to grasp her hand reassuringly.  A pulsation of pain went through his head again at the contact, but he endured it as best he could.  Instead, he smiled for her, and nonchalantly dropped her hand.  “Daniel?”

Daniel was staring at the teenager with a look of perplexed concentration.  Jack recognized this particular look and knew what it meant.  He’d seen it more than once.  The intelligent young man was coming up with a hypothesis for a problem that had been bothering him for some time. 

Even in their exceptional line of work, it was a rarity to come face to face with an alien telepath, not to mention a human one.   Daniel was probably eating this up.   Unfortunately, it also meant that Jack would have to speak a little louder in order to get the preoccupied man’s attention.

Summoning strength he didn’t think he could possibly have, Jack raised his voice.

“Dan…”

Surprisingly, Daniel’s face immediately turned back to him.  The swiftness of the movement indicated the concern the archaeologist had for the Colonel’s condition, but Jack chose to ignore it for now.

“Yes, Jack.”

“Loki?”

“Yeah, Sam thinks that Gefjon is interested in you because of your ‘significant step forward’ status.”

“Great.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Daniel replied.

“We…need to…know more.”

“Yeah, but we haven’t been able to get any information out of him besides his name.  The only thing he keeps babbling about is how the rest of us don’t belong here, and how we mustn’t interrupt the experiments,” Daniel spat out the final word with distaste.

“S’okay, Dan...ny.  S’okay.”  Jack mustered up what little resources he had left and took a closer look at the Asgard.   They needed information, and they needed it fast.  His team was on a planet of unknown designation, a civilian was in their midst, and he, himself, was severely debilitated.  They needed to understand what was going on before they could proceed.

Sneaky little bastards, he thought as he recalled his encounter with Loki.  Loki hadn’t even had the decency to deal with him forwardly, the coward.   And now he was faced with a similar antagonist.

Another coward.

Resolve coursed through O’Neill as he suddenly understood what needed to be done.  Cowards had a tendency to talk when persuaded in just the right way, and although he didn’t relish coercion, he could sanction it in dire situations such as these.   For many reasons, he wished he could take on this responsibility himself, but his physical condition rendered that course of action unfeasible.

Instead he turned to Teal’c.

“Teal’c,” he whispered.

The big man leaned closer to his friend and leader.

“Yes, O’Neill.”

“Take ov…er the quest…tioning, will ya?”  

“Yes, O’Neill.”

Jack knew that Daniel wouldn’t be happy with this decision, but he had no time to argue with the man.  Pain and weakness abruptly overwhelmed him, and the light from the fire fractured until it was suddenly replaced by inky darkness.

****************************************************************************

As it turned out, the interrogation wasn’t as messy as it might otherwise have been.  Daniel couldn’t even argue against the ethicality of Teal’c’s technique since all the big man had needed to do to get the Asgard talking was lift him uncomfortably high into the air.  Apparently Gefjon was even more of a coward than Loki had been, because this slight encouragement was enough to persuade the little alien to sing like the proverbial bird.

And the song was not a pretty one.  

As suspected, Gefjon was a member of a covert factor of Asgard society interested in reestablishing stability in their genetic template.  Numerous generations of Asgard had been conceived asexually, and the cloning procedures used had drastically weakened their genetic vitality.  Gefjon hurriedly explained that Jack was only one of the few possible humans whose genetic code might be able to contribute to Asgard genetic stability, and apparently, so was Lucy.  In fact, Lucy’s genotype seemed to represent even more of human evolutionary advancement than Jack’s did.

Daniel watched the enigmatic young woman carefully during Gefjon’s explanations, and he idly wondered if she was successfully processing all that she was hearing.  He didn’t doubt how unsettled he would have been if he had found himself in her shoes.  Even as prepared as he had been for his original introduction to the possibility of alien life, and despite all of the excitement and curiosity that the discovery of the Stargate had initially produced in him, he had been just a tad anxious those first few weeks at Cheyenne Mountain.  Back then, it hadn’t been every day that the opportunity to explore otherworldly cultures presented itself, but at least he had been somewhat ready for the nature of events that followed when he first had crossed through the Stargate.   Not only had this girl been unexpectedly abducted and imprisoned by an alien race, a member of that same race was now telling her that she could be a veritable savior to their people.   It couldn’t be an easy thing.

Even so, it wasn’t until Gefjon explained that Lucy’s genetic code had provided only a partial success to their techniques that Daniel noted any change in the girl’s seemingly calm demeanor.   Gefjon continued his explanation by stating that he and his cohorts had believed, despite Thor’s insistence otherwise, that the Colonel’s genetic background combined with Lucy’s would produce an individual that would, in fact, be the key to all of their reproductive difficulties.  Lucy visibly paled at the statement, glanced quickly at the unconscious Colonel, and then just as quickly away from him.  She then barked out a short, sarcastic laugh and suddenly exclaimed, “Well, Mama always did want grandkids,” before putting her head in her hands.

Sam put a comforting hand on the young woman’s shoulder, and Daniel moved closer to her when he realized that Lucy’s laughter was continuing on in a way that bordered on hysterical.  He drew her into a gentle embrace and listened as Sam continued asking the Asgard questions.

“My mother’s never going to believe this,” he heard the scared woman mutter to herself while attempting to choke back her laughter and regain control.  He smiled wistfully at the comment and, unexpectedly, drew her closer and tenderly brushed his lips across the top of her head.

“You were using Niirti’s machine to break the protection that the other Asgard had placed on Colonel O’Neill’s DNA, weren’t you?” Sam asked Gefjon who was still dangling from Teal’c’s outstretched hand.

“Yes, yes, we were.  And we’re close to success…you must let us continue,” the tiny alien’s rambling became a plea.  Teal’c shook the Asgard slightly, and the creature in his grasp obediently ended his superfluous stream of words.

“Jack will die if you put him back in that machine, and you know it!”  Daniel accused, remembering the heart-rending scream that had been wrenched from his friend while he had been exposed to Niirti’s machine.

At the strange look that passed over the creature’s face, cold realization crept down Daniel’s spine, and he shivered involuntarily.

“But you don’t know that, do you?” he said while staring coldly at the alien.  Gefjon turned away from the man’s face, and rage suddenly suffused through Daniel.   “What kind of hacks are you?!” he roared.  “How can you expose these people to such pain and not understand the consequences?   How can you….”

“Only Colonel O’Neill was exposed to the genetic manipulator,” Gefjon interrupted serenely.

“What?”  Daniel’s confusion at the Asgard’s statement interrupted his tirade.

“It was only necessary to manipulate the protected sequences of O’Neill’s DNA.  The female’s DNA is not locked and is also sufficiently advanced to meet our purposes.   It was necessary to make only minor adjustments to her genotypic constitution, and that was easily accomplished without using the genetic manipulator.”

Daniel was at a loss to say anything in the face of the Asgard’s calm insanity and could only grasp Lucy tighter as she gasped in surprise at the emotionless reference to her experiences at Asgard hands.

As Daniel struggled to find words to express his fury, Sam broke the sudden quiet with a voice discolored with rage.

“Daniel, you’re right.  They are hacks,” she said, and the archaeologist noted that beneath the anger, Sam’s face was alive with dawning comprehension.   “Gefjon, earlier you said that we didn’t belong here,” the Major continued and indicated Daniel, Teal’c and herself.  “You made a mistake, didn’t you?!  We aren’t supposed to be here!”

“We do not make mistakes,” Gefjon insisted, arrogantly.

Sam smiled viciously, and Teal’c shook the Asgard in an expression of his own well-controlled anger.

“But you did, didn’t you?” Sam insisted before turning her attention back to Daniel.  “When we were transported to that cell, only the Colonel’s pack and weapons were missing.  These Asgard made a mistake with the transporter; probably because we were all touching at the time, or maybe because they’re just that bad at what they do,” she explained to the archaeologist who suddenly realized that she was correct.

Her hypothesis even provided an explanation for why the spheres had been used to transport Jack during their captivity.   These Asgard probably had not trusted themselves with the transporter technology.

“It is imperative then that we keep Lucy and O’Neill away from these Asgard as they can cause them both considerable harm with their incompetence,” Teal’c declared, and Daniel wondered at the Jaffa’s need to state the obvious.

“You’re right, Teal’c,” Sam said, and continued her interrogation in an attempt to gain further insight into these creatures who had been influencing control over them.

“How did you get the machine?” she asked, bluntly.

The Asgard shrugged awkwardly in Teal’c’s grip before answering.  “It was a simple matter,” was all the explanation he offered.

Despite her now chronic frustration, Sam let the inadequate response stand.  Her question had been driven by curiosity only, and it mattered little how these Asgard had wrested control of the machine, only that they had used it on the Colonel.

“What will happen to Jack?” Daniel whispered.   His question was directed to Carter since his revulsion of the Asgard was now so complete that he could not easily bring himself to look at the small alien.

But Sam was interrupted by a startling noise emanating from the Asgard.  Despite his disgust, Daniel found himself focusing his attention to Gefjon in an attempt to discern the meaning of the unexpected outburst.  Surprisingly, it appeared that the Asgard was laughing.

“Do not worry about your friend.   He will be found and taken back to our laboratory where his genomic secrets will finally be revealed.”

“What?” Sam was confused by the alien’s change in demeanor.  Only moments ago, he had been begging them to let the experiments on O’Neill continue.   Now baffling confidence emanated from the Asgard.

Teal’c shook Gefjon forcibly, and the alien immediately began his frantic babbling again.

“Genetic gatekeepers.  They’re here now in great number.  They are programmed to sense specific genotypic patterns, and they will stop at nothing to return these two,” Gefjon motioned to the unconscious Colonel and the now alarmed Lucy with his chin.  “It is inevitable.”

“What?” Sam asked again and felt uncharacteristically stupid at the utterance.

But no one noticed her discomfort, because suddenly all hell broke loose.

*****************************************************************************

Before Daniel could fully comprehend what was happening, he found himself instinctively pulling Lucy to her feet and bounding into a defensive position at the back of the cave they were occupying and which, up until this very moment, had been serving as shelter for the weary team.   Looking up, the archaeologist saw the glint of the fire reflected off numerous metallic spheres that were identical in appearance to the ones that they had encountered both in the Asgard complex and throughout their flight from it.  Through trial and error, they had learned that neither Teal’c’s staff weapon nor the zats were effective against these attackers, and only the ballistic weapons worked in stopping them to any degree. 

Daniel pushed Lucy behind him and then started firing at the swooping spheres with his handgun.  He glanced desperately around in an attempt to visualize the positions of his teammates and had a moment to see Gefjon capering around their campfire in demonic delight before he lost sight of the alien in the melee that followed.  The Asgard must have squirmed free from Teal’c’s grasp in a well-timed escape attempt.  

Since Sam and Daniel had possession of the only useful weapons against so many of the spheres, he imagined that Teal’c’s principal objective had become the protection of Jack.  Seeing all of the spheres hovering around the fallen Colonel, Daniel could easily understand how Gefjon had escaped the Jaffa’s attention.  

The echoes of gunfire chaotically reverberated throughout the cave, and thereafter Daniel had all he could do to protect Lucy and himself as the spheres swarmed over them.  But even as he fired desperately at the technology, a part of Daniel’s agile mind was busy analyzing the situation.  The machines seemed goal-oriented, and after quickly glancing around the cave one more time and seeing the many spheres concentrated around Teal’c and Jack, Daniel realized that they must be the genetic gatekeepers that Gefjon had mentioned earlier. 

And their goal was to return Jack and Lucy to those horrific experiments.

Well, there was just no way in hell that that was going to happen now, was there?

Adrenaline poured through Daniel, and he was momentarily distracted by the sweat trickling down the back of his neck in response.   As the fight-or-flight hormone coursed through his bloodstream, his pupils involuntarily dilated, and his aim improved.  Sam must have made the same connections as he had, because she also was making every shot of her P-90 count.  And Teal’c, practically over-run, but obviously not over-wrought, was swinging his staff weapon at the spheres with some margin of success.  Even as Daniel watched, the Jaffa hit one of the spheres with a blow that would have made Babe Ruth proud.

The assault lasted only minutes, but to Daniel’s exhausted mind, it seemed to go on for hours.  Thankfully, he and Sam managed to dispense with a majority of the machines, and Teal’c’s homerun technique had handled the remainder.   But their ammunition supplies had been severely depleted by the skirmish, and that would be a troublesome issue to deal with if they were forced to defend themselves again.

He saw Sam, wide-eyed and disheveled, take a deep breath as she attempted to regain her bearings.

“Daniel, help me gather our things together; we need to get out of here right now,” the Major instructed.  She then turned toward her Jaffa teammate.   “Teal’c, can you carry the Colonel?”

“Yes, MajorCarter,” Teal’c responded and bowed slightly at the waist in his trademark motion of respect and affirmation.

“Sam, where are we going?” Daniel queried as he hectically collected items and organized them into various packs.

“We need to find the Stargate,” was the only statement that the Major offered as she hurriedly moved to lead her team away from further harm.

“Sam, we don’t even know if a ‘gate exists on this planet.  How….”

“Daniel, we have to get away from here…now.   The Colonel isn’t going to hold out much longer, and those things will be coming back soon…probably in greater force if our bad luck holds.”

Daniel paused in his packing to scrutinize her carefully.  “I know that, Sam.   It’s just that….”

“Keep packing,” the woman gruffly commanded in response to his inaction.  As he moved to follow her orders, he listened closely to her.  “I’ve been thinking about this.  When we were on P5Z-997, our mission was to locate naquadah deposits.”

“Yeah,” Daniel responded simply.   Where was she going with this?

“Well, I may have come up with a plan.   I figure that the Stargate must be nearby since there appear to be no Asgard ships in the vicinity, and Gefjon’s group has to travel off-world somehow.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Daniel replied, optimistically.

“ Well, I’ve still got the new device that I was using on –997, and if I have a little time, I may be able to rig it so that it locates significant naquadah loads over longer ranges.  And since Stargates are made of naquadah….”

“We should be able to locate it with your gadget!” Daniel excitedly finished for her.  Trust Sam to be shooting high-powered weapons while simultaneously crafting a life-saving plan.  “Brilliant!”

Sam’s face flushed in response to his praise, but she managed to maintain a business-like aura.  “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to Macgyver the equipment together, but if I’m going to have any shot at it, we’ll have to get out of here.   I’m going to need a little bit of time, and that means we’re going to have to put some space between ourselves and those gatekeepers,” she said as she stood up and wiped the sweat from her brow.   They had managed to pack things in record time, and she was pleased to see that Lucy had even attempted to help.   “Everybody set?”  

Her team nodded in readiness, and Teal’c carefully lifted the Colonel to cradle him in the ample bulk of his arms.   The Jaffa would not risk a fireman’s carry with their now fragile team leader despite his knowledge of how negatively the proud O’Neill would respond if he became aware that he was being held like a child.

Honored at their continued trust in her, Sam looked on the rag-tag team with pride.  “Alright,” she said, resolutely.

They left the shelter of the cave together.

*****************************************************************************

“…think it’s finally working!”

“Huh?” Jack was startled awake by the excited words, and his body jerked as it tried to orient itself. “Wha?”

“O’Neill, you must remain still,” the words were booming, and their source hovered somewhere over his head.   Despite the fact that his leaden eyelids obstinately remained closed over his eyes, he vaguely determined that his body was being moved without any effort of its own.

“Teal’c?”

“Yes, O’Neill.”

“Teal’c?  Are you…carry…ing me?” he asked his friend suspiciously.

“Indeed,” Teal’c responded softly, almost reverently.   Jack also sensed a touch of contriteness immersed within the Jaffa’s tone.  “Has your condition improved, O’Neill?”

“Peachy,” Jack automatically whispered the word without realizing that he had not actually answered Teal’c’s question.   

Jack’s headache flared to operatic heights, and he knew that Lucy must be somewhere close and worrying over him.   He opened his eyes, and his vision and consciousness wavered. Then he suddenly found himself somehow on the cool ground, dry heaving into the dew-filled grass.  After his stomach calmed, he experienced a brief moment of clarity and chanced to notice that the moonlit dew gave the forest floor a gossamer sheen.

“Diaphanous….” he murmured before Lucy again lost the delicate control she had over her thoughts and an overload of sound penetrated his head.  Sparkles of white light rained over his vision, and he closed his eyes again in a futile attempt to escape their overwhelming brightness.  Involuntarily, his body curled into itself while he unsuccessfully attempted to protect his aching head by tightly covering it with his arms.

After a while it was over, and he opened his eyes.   In his line of vision were the concerned looks of his three friends and the worried face of a stranger.

He gave his team the flicker of a crooked smile and was relieved to feel somewhat in control of his motor functions again.

“Hi, kids.  Miss me?” he croaked out wearily.  The feeble quip wasn’t enough to completely assuage their fear, but it would have to do.   He glanced at Lucy and turned the tattered remnants of his charm on her.  “’S okay.  ‘M alright,” he mumbled to the girl as he gently patted the ground next to her feet.   It was the closest he dared give her in the way of physical comfort since he had the idea that if he actually touched her he might not; in fact, live to regret it.  But Lucy seemed to get the message, and she returned the smile.   “Yes, Sir,” she said softly.

Jack’s smile for the girl lingered until Carter caught his attention.

“It’s good to have you back, Sir,” his Second-In-Command said seriously.

“Where are we now?” he didn’t know how long consciousness was willing to grace him with its capricious presence, so he pressed her immediately for the information.

“We’re on the way to the ‘gate, Sir.”

“The ‘gate?  How’d…that hap…en?”

“You’ve missed a lot, Sir,” Carter said while looking kindly down on him.

“Tell me ‘bout it,” he muttered, and the Major smiled in response to the perceived quip. 

“No, seriously.  Tell…me…about…it,” this time Jack carefully enunciated each word in a strangely playful attempt to turn his quip into an order.   Despite the pain he was in, Jack smiled inwardly at the flustered response he got from Carter.   God, either she was way too gullible or he was in worse shape than he thought.

“I’m sorry, Sir.  I didn’t realize….”

“Never mind, Car…ter.  Just tell me…what’s happened while I was…napping,” Jack decided to give her a break.  These were not the best of circumstances for any of them, and it really was unfair of him to be teasing her right now.

“Yes, Sir.”

Jack listened as carefully as he could while Carter briefed him on their situation.  Despite the fact that he was feeling better than he had since this particular roller-coaster adventure began, Jack still sensed that his health remained very desperately compromised.  Holding onto consciousness was difficult and concentrating on anything near impossible.   He still couldn’t hear well out of one of his ears, and his vision was anything but normal.  But the most disconcerting aspect to his condition was the abject weakness he was experiencing. 

Jack O’Neill considered himself an independent and physically strong man, and it was consequently hard for him to rely on others for support.  He was the durable one that was supposed to keep his team safe at all costs, and now Teal’c was carrying him around like he was a helpless child, Daniel was hovering around him in that way that did nothing but make him even more painfully aware of how feeble he was, and Carter was just plain worried.  It was like this every time he got injured, but O’Neill could never get accustomed to it.  On some level he knew that his team was just responding out of concern for him, but he just was not comfortable with playing the role of an invalid.

Jack abruptly realized that his thoughts had wandered, and that he had stopped listening to his Second’s report.   Closing his eyes in an effort to regain his concentration, a disturbing thought suddenly hit him.  

“Carter….” he said as nonchalantly as his weakened voice allowed.  In his debilitated state, he did not even realize that he had interrupted the Major.   She said nothing to make him aware of his indiscretion, but worried about his behavior.  In these circumstances, his disregard for her report on their mission status was atypical for him.

 Unsure what the interruption could mean about the Colonel’s condition, Sam paused to meet Daniel’s alarm-filled eyes.

“Hello?  You there, Cart…er?”  Jack sensed some sort of silent interaction taking place, but the shock of his thought kept him from opening his eyes just yet.

“Yes, Sir,” the Major finally responded.

“Carter, am I correct in assu…ming that we may have to pre…prepare for the eventu…ality that…ah…that this is an Asgard planet?” he asked with forced formality.

Silence descended, and his initial worry increased in its intensity.

“Holy Hannah,” his Second finally whispered.

“What?  What does that mean, Sam?”  Daniel must be exceptionally rattled if he still hadn’t put two and two together, Jack thought. Actually, Carter must be in the same boat with the archaeologist, because surely she should have thought of this particular scenario well ahead of him.

“Wait for it…” the Colonel said with amused sarcasm returning to his tone.

After a moment, the expected response erupted from Daniel.

“Oh god!  We’d need to dial an eighth symbol, wouldn’t we?  We won’t be able to dial Earth with only seven symbols if we’re on a planet outside of our galaxy!  Unless…Sam can….”

“I can’t, Daniel.  I’d need to know what galaxy we’re in, and even if we could figure that out I’d need a computer to determine the cosmological parameters of the eighth symbol.  And who knows if the GDO’s would work that far away anyway.”

Jack experienced another onslaught of fatigue when his fear was confirmed, but he resisted it and forced his heavy eyelids to open.   Staring tellingly into his Second-In-Command’s distressed eyes, he responded in the only way he knew how.

“So, we’re sort of…having a…bad day then, right?” he asked, sardonically.

*****************************************************************************

The Stargate, when they finally found it, did require an eighth symbol.

Sam had discovered several symbols on the DHD that were different from those found on other DHD’s with which she was familiar, and neither Daniel nor Teal’c could ascertain a helpful pattern to the new symbols.  Consequently, Sam had begun to systematically dial glyphs in the hopes of contacting Earth or a planet of one of their allies by chance, but all of her attempts up to this point had failed.  Sam knew that the probability of successfully contacting a planet within distance of Earth was astronomically poor, but she couldn’t help but continue in her endeavor.

The Major grimaced when she looked over to where the Colonel was lying, barely conscious.  Daniel was supporting the man by allowing him to lean against his chest in a protective embrace.  O’Neill’s muscles had begun convulsing again, and the archaeologist was attempting to contain the uncontrollable twitches.  She knew that her commanding officer was in a fair amount of pain, but he had refused any medical relief.  Although the sight of the man in agony had distressed Sam greatly, she had given in to his wishes on this account without argument.  In truth, she thought it greatly unwise to give him medications without fully understanding the consequences they would have on his compromised system.   Obviously the Asgard had manipulated his cells on a chromosomal level, but some of the symptoms Jack was displaying suggested that one of the effects of that manipulation had been to his brain.   It seemed ill advised to give the sick man morphine when his brain functions had been affected and when they had no way of monitoring the narcotic’s effects.  So if the Colonel was willing to deal with the pain, she was willing to support him in his decision. 

As she watched, the Colonel’s body suddenly shuddered and a low moan escaped from the ill man’s mouth.  Sam flinched at the sound and knew that the staunch O’Neill had to be in a great deal of pain in order to express it in such a way.   She caught Daniel’s eyes, and the two scientists shared an intense stare with each other.   Sam broke it by casting her gaze back to the DHD.  She glared at her adversary and was again reminded of Antarctica and how, at that time, her ability to figure out a way to get another DHD running had been the Colonel’s only hope.   She had failed him then, and it looked as if she was going to fail him now.

Sam kicked the DHD in frustration and fear and closed her eyes in a fierce attempt to concentrate.  Pessimism and despair weren’t going to get them out of this situation.  She needed to keep trying.

As she began pressing symbols again, she cursed herself for not having memorized the combination of symbols that had tracked across the computer screen when the Colonel had gated to Thor’s planet that time he had had the Ancient’s knowledge downloaded into his brain.   If she could remember the symbols, maybe there was some hope for all of them yet.

But she just could not remember.   At the time, she had been so concerned for her CO that she had only noticed the dialing of an eighth symbol and had not performed a concerted study of the identities of all of the symbols.   And after the entire incident, she had not considered memorizing the Asgard address simply because it had never occurred to her to do so.  Besides, if she ever needed them, she could easily look them up on the SGC computer.  

The only problem was that they currently weren’t at the SGC to look up the symbols, and they needed them…now.

“Daniel, are you sure you don’t remember the symbols to Thor’s planet?” she asked the archaeologist while impatiently trying another selection of eight glyphs.

“No, Sam.  I told you already that I was so worried about Jack that I barely even saw them.   I’ve been wracking my brain this whole time, and I just can’t…Jack?” Daniel paused as Jack’s body abruptly shuddered and relaxed.  Lucy leapt up from where she had been huddled next to Teal’c and moved as closely as she could to the suffering man.

“S’okay.  ‘m a…wake,” Jack slurred.

“Are you well, O’Neill?” Teal’c asked.  

“Huh?  Who?”

Sam immediately grew concerned for the Colonel when he responded in such a confused manner.  It appeared that the man’s disorientation was increasing steadily, and Sam bit her lip as she began to think about all of the possible damages his brain may have incurred.  She chose to ignore her fears and hoped that she could at least make him understand something of the dilemma that they were in.

“Sir?  You were right about the eighth symbol,” she stated, and deliberately watched him to see if there was any recognition of their dire circumstances in his eyes.

Jack took a moment to digest the information before clasping a hand to his head and gasping in pain.  “Oh, god,” he moaned, and it took him a moment to get the pain back in check.  Daniel gripped him tighter, glanced at Lucy and wondered if she was the source of this new onslaught of hurt.   

As if reading his thoughts, Lucy shook her head silently.  “It’s not me,” she stated anxiously.  “I’ve got that under control now.” 

Daniel had a moment to wonder what “that” was before Jack’s body relaxed again.  Daniel sensed that Jack was still conscious but had managed to rein in the pain enough to function again.

Sam also noticed the Colonel’s eyes clear a bit and felt hope return as the man stubbornly forced himself to focus on his surroundings.

“Carter?  What’s…going on?” he managed to gasp out between heavily indrawn breaths.

“Sir, the Stargate requires an eighth symbol, and we haven’t been able to identify it yet.  Right now I’m trying to find the combination through trial-and-error, but I haven’t gotten very far.  But Sir,” she added as an afterthought, “maybe you can help.  I was thinking that if we could recall Thor’s Stargate address, he would be able to help us out of this.  Do you happen to remember it?”

The Colonel choked out a desperate burst of laughter, and tears collected at the corner of his eyes in response to his mirth.   “Me?  Carter…I bare…hmmmmm…barely ‘member my…own name right now.   ‘Sides…they…took…took all of that infor…mation away from me.”

Carter bowed her head and returned her attentions back to the DHD.  She had to get them out of here.

“Perhaps we should return to the Asgard complex and attempt to contact Thor’s people from there,” Teal’c suggested.

Sam cocked her head to the side in thought.   Despite the dangers involved, the suggestion held some merit.  But she doubted that the Colonel could travel much farther even if he were carried.   They would have to leave him near the Stargate.  Maybe Daniel and Lucy could wait with him.

Carter’s musings were interrupted by Jack’s voice.

“Show her,” he directed Lucy.   He seemed to have lost all focus on anyone other than the civilian, and it was almost as if a silent conversation was taking place between them.  Blood spontaneously emerged again from the Colonel’s right nostril, and Daniel wiped it away in what was becoming a habitual manner.

“I don’t think I should, Sir,” Lucy responded in a soft voice, but her gaze was firm. 

“Go ahead.  I’ll be alright,” the Colonel assured.

Lucy looked unconvinced but nodded anyway.

And then suddenly, Sam heard her own favorite song being sung inside her head in Lucy’s sharp, Southern twang.  

The shock of it forced her to sit down abruptly in the fragrant grass that surrounded the DHD.  “What?  What?!” she exclaimed in confusion.

“Sam?  Sam?   Are you okay?” Daniel cried out in alarm from where he was sitting but Jack’s weight restrained him from running to her side.

“She’s fine, Daniel.  She’s fine,” Lucy comforted the man by placing a gentle hand on his arm.  Jack winced away from her close touch, and the teenager smiled wistfully.  “It was just me, Sam.  Just me.”

“Holy Hannah!”  Sam responded while pulling a hand through her already untidy hair.

“You are telepathic!” Daniel crowed as his suspicions were finally confirmed.

“Yeah, I guess I am.  It’s slowly been developing over the past few weeks with…what do you call them?  The Asgard?”   Her question was directed to Daniel, and she continued only after he nodded affirmatively to her.    “Yes, it started with those…aliens,” Lucy stumbled over the word, but smiled and continued on.   “That’s how I knew that the prison cells were connected somehow with only the Colonel’s and my genetic codes.   Those…those monsters told me by accident.  They didn’t even know I knew!”

“Wait a minute.  The prison cells were tied into your genomes?  What are you talking about?”  Daniel asked.

Sam grimaced as she realized that she had not told Daniel of the series of events that had occurred at the civilian’s rescue.

“I don’t understand it all,” Lucy said, impatiently.   “But the cells were sensitized to our physiology through our chromosomes.  That’s why you were able to walk through the…what was it?…force shield, and the Colonel and I weren’t.”

“That would also explain why the lights dimmed every time O’Neill was unconscious or taken away from the cell,” Teal’c elaborated.

Daniel closed his eyes at the news, and the guilt he felt threatened to overwhelm him.  “We could have gotten him out at anytime,” he whispered.  “We could have kept him from being hurt,” he looked up and saw the same recognition and feeling swimming in Sam’s eyes.

The two were brought up shortly; however, by Jack’s shaky, but commanding voice.  “Stop it, the both of you!” he snapped.  His eyes burned fiercely into Sam’s before his head fell back weakly onto Daniel’s chest.

Beside him, Daniel saw Lucy shaking her head.   “He’s right.  You couldn’t have known, and there’s no reason to blame yourselves.”  She shuddered visibly before continuing.  “Besides, we’re out of there now, and that’s improvement enough.”

“Well, what about Jack?” Daniel asked.   “It seems like you two have a strong mental connection.”

“Yeah, I can’t understand that.   I could only get bits and pieces of information from the aliens, but I think as soon as the Colonel was brought into the compound I could sense he was there.  I tried to get his attention, but it didn’t seem to work at first,” Lucy’s fist balled up in remembered frustration.

“That buzzing noise…must have been…her,” Jack murmured as he recalled the pain it had caused.

“I think you were taken to that machine a couple of times before I got through to you, Colonel,” Lucy said.

“That would make sense, Sir.  It probably took a few tries to begin breaking the protective DNA sequence that Thor had inserted into your chromosomes.  When they got through that problem, they also probably had to stimulate some dormant genes.  That’s when Lucy was able to get through to you.  It seems reasonable that two advanced humans would be able to communicate with each other telepathically, especially given the amount of genetic rearrangement you’ve both undergone.”

O’Neill didn’t seem appreciably interested in the Major’s explanation, and only pain and fatigue seeped through the expressive muscles of his face.  Lucy; on the other hand, appeared quite agitated by the news.

“But I didn’t know I was hurting him.   I really didn’t.   It doesn’t hurt me; it’s just a little draining, that’s all.  Really, Sir.   I didn’t know,” Lucy said.

Daniel saw Jack turn his full attention on the girl.   “You stop it, too,” he commanded tiredly

“He’s right, Lucy.  Without you, we’d all still be sitting in that damned cell,” Daniel said while watching the girl wipe away a wayward tear.   “Let’s just keep the blame for this situation on those Asgard where it belongs.”

Lucy nodded, but took a moment to calm herself down before continuing.

“At first, I only knew the rest of you were here because the Colonel was aware of you.  But now, I’ve slowly become able to sense each of you.  It’s harder, and nothing is really clear, but it’s there.”

Daniel was taken aback by the idea that someone could possibly be examining his thoughts.  It was an unsettling notion.

“Lucy, have you been reading our minds?” he asked the woman uneasily.

“No!  No I haven’t!  I told you that I’ve just been able to sense things.  Little things.  Once I realized what was happening, I tried to block them.  But that takes work, and sometimes your thoughts break through.”

“Well then how did you know you could communicate with me telepathically?” Sam asked, with just a note of healthy military suspicion coloring her tone.

“That was the Colonel’s idea,” Lucy said dryly, glaring at Jack. “He thought it was possible and suggested the experiment.

Jack shrugged and looked smugly at them all.   “Hey, it was…worth a shot!”

“So you’re telling me, that you and the Colonel are able to communicate telepathically?” Sam asked incredulously.   She was still attempting to wrap her mind around the fact that her commanding officer who was famous for his “dumb” act, actually possessed higher thought processes than she’d ever before observed in another human.

“Yes, it’s easiest with him, but it hurts him badly.   I’m trying not to do it anymore,” Lucy said, frowning at the Colonel. 

Sam’s thoughts were piling up one right after the other.  She was becoming increasingly worried that Niirti’s machine had caused the Colonel irreparable damage.   Remembered images of otherwise healthy bodies transforming into watery nightmares caused her to shudder involuntarily.   But she forced herself to gain control of her thoughts, and as she pushed the disturbing images aside, she stumbled across a startling idea.

“Lucy, do you think that you could contact Thor?   Telepathically, I mean.”

“I honestly don’t know, Major.   The Colonel believes I can,” she replied motioning towards Jack.  Sam wondered just how much Lucy and the Colonel had telepathically communicated with each other, but the Colonel’s smug look offered no answers.    “But I don’t know who this Thor person is that y’all have been talking about,” Lucy continued.    “But maybe, if you don’t mind, I can get an image of him from your memory.  Afterwards, I might have enough information to make an attempt at contacting him.  But really, this is all very new to me, so I just don’t know.”

“Well, I’m willing to give it a try if you are!” Sam said, excitedly.  She finally felt just a tiny bit hopeful.

“Alright, but only if you don’t mind.   I’ll have to pick your brain to do this, and I mean that quite literally,” Lucy said, smiling.

“It’s all right, Lucy.  What have I got to lose?” Sam replied, and then thought ‘Except my mind.’  Lucy’s smile broadened, and Sam had a moment to wonder if the girl had picked up on that last thought.   Shrugging, she asked, “What do I do?”

“I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to do!” Lucy exclaimed with a huffed laugh.  “I’ll try to do all of the work.  You just sit there, and try not to think too much.”

“Yeah, like that’s…gonna happen,” Jack called softly from where he was still leaning against Daniel.  Sam shot him a brief, but dazzling smile before returning her attention to Lucy.

The girl closed her eyes, and Sam had a moment to think ‘Just like that?  No preparations or anything?’ before she felt a slight tickling sensation just behind her eyes.  It wasn’t uncomfortable, and it was gone before she even had a chance to truly recognize that the feeling was probably caused by Lucy’s shuffling through her memory.

Up until this point, the Southerner’s efforts had been barely noticeable to any of them, including Sam.   But as Carter watched now, the young woman’s body trembled violently, and sweat broke out on her brow.   She stayed like that for only a little while before opening her eyes and shaking her head negatively.

“It’s just not enough,” Lucy said desolately.   “I don’t think I could create a strong enough link with you and your memories of Thor.”  She shook her head and looked insistently at the Colonel.   “I told you, Sir.   I’m just not able to connect with them the way I can with….”

Lucy’s eyes widened, and she closed and then re-opened her mouth in an outward display of surprise that was almost comical.

She’s thought of something that will work, Sam realized suddenly.  But why did she look so frightened all of a sudden?  And then abruptly she knew the answer to her question and looked to her commanding officer in a way that mirrored Lucy’s frantic glance.  

“The way you can connect with me, right Lucy?” O’Neill’s voice was steady for the first time in an immeasurable frame of time.

Lucy nodded, and Sam bowed her head in despair.

*****************************************************************************

“Sam, you can’t let him do this!   It’ll kill him!” Daniel hissed to her despite being aware that Jack was cognizant of his every word.

“She can, and she will,” Jack said weakly.   “It’s an order, Major,”

“Colonel, you could die,” Sam pleaded.   She knew how weak the man was, and also knew from the information that Lucy had given them that his physical response to the effects of Niirti’s machine had been further complicated by his proximity to Lucy.  But she also recognized the very determined look the Colonel now had in his eyes, and knew that her arguments were more than likely useless.

“I’m aware of that fact, Carter.”

“Sir, Teal’c and I could return to the Asgard compound and try to contact Thor from there,” Sam’s mind grasped onto the only other solution that seemed even slightly viable and threw it out for him to consider.  But he hardly even paused in his resolve.

“If this doesn’t work, then you’ll do just that.   But I don’t want you risking your lives because you’re worried about me.”

Sam opened her mouth to answer him back, but he interrupted anything that she was about to say.  “Besides, I’d probably be dead before you…got back, and this will take a lot less time.  When Thor comes, he can patch me up…just fine.”  He paused to catch his breath and then said the word that he knew would win them all over.  “Please.”

Sam finally understood the depth of his pain when he articulated that one, short word, and despair slammed into her almost as if it were a physical thing. She felt hot tears prick her eyes but refused to allow them to well over.  Around the ache in her throat, she managed to voice a tight “Yes, Sir,” before bowing her head and turning away.

Understanding and accepting the seriousness of his friend’s condition, Teal’c bent down, and took the Colonel’s arm in a warrior’s grasp.  “I wish you luck, O’Neill,” he said simply.  Jack’s eyes conveyed a silent message to the Jaffa who then simply bowed at the waist in respect.  

“Thank you, Teal’c,” Jack whispered around the lump in his throat.

“I will survey the perimeter,” Teal’c said, and then he turned away from his friends to face his grief in his own quiet and solitary way.

“Jack?” Daniel asked hesitantly.   Events were proceeding far too fast, and he felt as if he were about to lose his best friend without quite understanding how or why.  “Jack?” he repeated with real fear lacing his tone.

“It’s going to be okay, Danny.   It will all be all right.   Just hang on now, okay?” Jack weakly patted the arm of the man who still embraced him and smiled as he felt his friend’s arms tighten their grip.  He looked to the small woman who was reaching towards him and smiled his acceptance of what was about to happen next.  They both knew that his chances of surviving this encounter were practically nonexistent, and he easily read the reluctance in her face, in her mind, in her soul.

“Do it,” he whispered to her.

She grabbed his hand.

*****************************************************************************

They had an extraordinarily strong connection.

When he had first become aware of the girl and her abilities, Jack had been more than a little fearful of what she represented; the information locked away in his mind was not meant to be examined by the likes of a teenager.  Since Jack suspected that the girl retained less control over her abilities than was actually warranted in this situation, he had set it upon himself to hide certain pieces of information from her.  At first, he wasn’t entirely sure if his efforts had been successful.  But over time, he understood that he could conceal certain thoughts and memories from her if he put some energy into the task.

She had less of an ability to secret thoughts and feelings away from him though, and Jack attributed this to her youthful inexperience and to her lack of special op’s training.   Whereas he had become accustomed to precise control over his mind during his nastier military training, proficiency at such skills had never been required of her.  Consequently, she lost control of her thoughts quite easily, and their onslaught caused Jack sufficient pain.  But despite the agony her lack of control caused him, it also allowed him to see just the kind of person the girl truly was.   And he was astonished by the level of nobility, intelligence, and fierce spirit he sensed within her.   The potential represented by this small, peculiar girl elevated her importance well beyond his own.

So when Jack realized that Lucy’s attempt to contact Thor was causing her considerable pain, he was able to carefully hide his plan to take that pain from her.  By concealing his intentions, he was given a chance to seize onto the connection between them with a strength he had not demonstrated to her up to this point.   Without offering the surprised girl an explanation, he reversed their mental positions.   Jack was then able to take over the effort of contacting Thor and thus spare her the damage that the task had been causing her.

He felt her battering at him in a vain attempt to reassert control, but he ignored her easily.

“Stay with Teal’c.  He’ll keep you safe,” he told her via this strange but somehow exciting new way of communicating.

He heard her scream at him despairingly, so he spared her another moment to express the burgeoning, almost parental affection the he was surprised to realize he felt for her.  Sending her warm emotions, he whispered, “It’s all gonna be okay,” before his world crashed darkly upon him.

*****************************************************************************

Daniel didn’t understand what happened next.   One moment Lucy was calmly holding his friend’s hand, and the next she was yelling wildly.   He thought he heard Jack mutter, “It’s all gonna be okay,” before the man’s body slackened alarmingly.   As his heart lurched into his throat, Daniel felt an intense but seemingly harmless energy encircle Jack’s body before it was flung away from the trio.  Looking up, he saw that Lucy’s eyes were wide with fear and that her nose was bleeding slightly.

She cried out and desperately attempted to pry her hand from Jack’s grip with no success.

“Not again, not again!   Don’t be stupid, Jack!   Let me do it!” she screamed and continued to fight against the unconscious man’s strong hold on her hand.

Daniel felt Jack’s body rock violently as the strange sensation of energy began to build again.  Realizing that something was dreadfully wrong, he began to aid Lucy in her attempts at freeing herself.  Sam and Teal’c also rushed to their side, but no amount of effort on their part was enough to break the connection between the two people.

“Jack, please, don’t,” Lucy whispered pleadingly in the moment before Daniel again felt the energy released.   “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she then muttered while carefully extracting her hand from Jack’s now softened grip.  “Why did he do that, Daniel?” she asked, meeting the archaeologist’s gaze with anguished eyes.

“What happened?” Daniel asked, crazily.   “What happened?   What did he do?   Why are you bleeding?”   Vaguely he realized that Sam was desperately trying to gain his attention, but he could not seem to focus on anyone but the distressed woman in front of him.

“He took it, Daniel.  He just took it.  He didn’t tell me that he was going to do that,” Lucy murmured cryptically.

“What did he take, Lucy?”

“I was going to use his memories of Thor to help me call for help.  I can’t quite explain it because I really don’t understand it myself.  But I know , I just know somehow that all I needed was the tiny bit of energy connected to those memories.   That’s all I needed!   Just that tiny bit!   His energy has been drained, but I only needed a little bit to help me gather up his link to Thor!   Then I was going to use my own to send it off.  But he wouldn’t let me.   He took it all and sent it all off.   Twice!  Why did he do that?” the woman was rambling in a practically incoherent way, but Daniel was beginning to understand what had occurred.

“Are you telling me that Jack was capable of sending off a message to Thor?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know!”   Lucy wailed, hysterically.

Daniel reached over to her and shook her.   “Lucy, did Jack send a message to Thor?” he repeated forcefully.

“Yes!  Yes!   I think so, but I’m just not sure,” Lucy said, blinking back tears.  “I didn’t think he could do it!  He just took it over, and now look what it’s done to him!  His body is too weak!  He shouldn’t have done that,” these last words were punctuated by sobs which Lucy, pushed to her emotional limits, could not seem to contain.

Daniel looked downwards at the body he still held tightly to himself and saw that his own arms were drenched in Jack’s blood.   The life-giving fluid was flowing heavily again from Jack’s nose, and now both of his ears seemed to be similarly affected.   Scarlet tear tracks raced from both of the man’s eyes, and Daniel went numb with the horror he felt.  His shock was such that he could barely hear Sam as she frantically told him that Jack was bleeding out. 

Jack was dying, here in his arms, he realized in astonishment.  That possibility was so incomprehensible, that Daniel’s numbness swiftly overwhelmed him.   He looked to Lucy and dazedly wiped away the blood that was trickling from her nose with his right thumb and forefinger.

“You’re bleeding,” he said, matter-of-factly.   “You were being hurt,” he added, unnecessarily.

Lucy moved her head back and forth in negation and a fat teardrop splattered against Daniel’s wrist.  “It was only a little bit, just a little bit of pain.   Nothing like he’s been through,” she insisted.

“That doesn’t matter, Lucy,” he said, knowing more about his friend than she did despite the tether that linked the two together.   “He did it to save you from the pain.”   Daniel shrugged.   “It’s what he does,” he added sadly.

Lucy’s nervous movements stopped, and her crying ceased as Daniel’s disclosure seeped through to her understanding.   “What?” she asked, confused.

“He did it for you,” Daniel said, and then his despair overwhelmed him as a thousand lights took him away.

*****************************************************************************

Much later, Daniel would recount to Jack how after Thor transported them all up to his ship, the normally placid alien had shook in fury at the sight of O’Neill’s ravaged body.  The archaeologist would also tell of how he was more than a little frightened of Thor’s reaction when their alien ally discovered that it was others of his kind who had been the cause of Jack’s condition.   Sam would then interject to explain how her amazement of Asgard technology had been taken to newer heights when weapons from Thor’s hovering ship had carved the covert Asgard compound out of the planet’s surface and hurled the entire structure in one piece to the other side of the apparently otherwise uninhabited world.  Daniel would then stutter out that Thor’s fury was such that the five Asgard that had been recovered from the compound prior to its demolishment had been banished from the Supreme Commander’s sight.   Daniel and the others had not seen the traitors again, nor would Thor discuss them.  And although Thor’s face was difficult to read, all of the individuals rescued by the Asgard had little doubt that the conspirators’ punishment would be extreme.  Teal’c would finally end this abbreviated version of events by explaining how he had seen with his own eyes that Niirti’s machine had finally and irrevocably been destroyed.

But that was later.  Much later.  For now, O’Neill floated in a space of incomprehensibility.   At times, blurry visions would dance across his eyes and muffled words penetrate his damaged eardrums.   But he never understood them; in fact, barely registered them.  His brain was so tragically damaged that stimuli brought to it were not able to move from axon to dendrite.  Synapses were impassable, neurotransmitters quiescent.

He was not aware of the alien life support sustaining him.  He was not aware of the time that passed.  At random times, his eyes were somehow stimulated to open for reasons that no one, least of all he, comprehended.  But even the beloved image of a bespectacled face made tired from worry and anxiety traveled no further than the end of an optic nerve.  Understanding of the vision, and its accompanied feelings of friendship and affection died within his damaged brain.   Pleading words from a crying woman brought not one flicker of the respect and fondness usually associated with her voice, nor did a strong man’s protective presence allow the customary deep reverence for a warrior’s bond to surface.

He was no one.  He was nothing.  He was nowhere.

*****************************************************************************

It had taken time.  Oh so much time.  But the Othallan doctors had finally managed to stabilize Jack on both the cellular and systemic levels well enough to attempt to render some sophisticated repair.   The shock that the Colonel’s brain had suffered was extraordinary, and Thor assured his friends that if O’Neill’s status as a physically superior human had ever been in question, then this incident should set all doubts aside.  No one, with the possible exception of Lucy and others like her, would have lived through the injuries Jack had sustained.

And even so, the Colonel was extremely lucky to have survived so far.

Daniel refused to reflect on the procedure that his friend was about to undergo.  When he did, any hope that he had managed to garner up to this point would dissipate instantaneously to be replaced by undeniable despondency.   The procedure was a virtual impossibility that, in basic terms, was meant to restore Jack’s currently absent mind.   The hope was that the essence of Jack was not lost, but that it was only trapped within a damaged physiology.

Looking into the dead eyes of the man in front of him, despair overwhelmed him despite his best efforts.   Could Jack actually be inside of this breathing corpse?  Was it possible that his snarky and vivacious friend still existed?  And if he did, was it reasonable to even hope to succeed in freeing his seriously broken mind? 

Daniel could not know; it was only for him to hope that it was so.

He closed his fingers around his friend’s lifeless hand and said his good-byes.

*****************************************************************************

While the Colonel was prepared for the procedure, Sam, Teal’c, Lucy and Doctor Frasier sat together in another room in the Othallan medical facility.  Thor had generously brought Janet to his home world in the hopes that the good doctor could supply insight into the more intricate details of Jack’s anatomy and physiology.   Although superior in their medical technology and methods, the Asgard understood that they were attempting to heal a member of an alien race, and that it would be only prudent to have a human physician nearby to offer aid.

Sam and Teal’c had already had some time alone with the Colonel, and now they waited for Daniel to join them.   Janet, they knew, would soon be called in to help with the procedure, and the relief SG-1 felt when considering the doctor’s practiced authority was palpable.  Her presence had been a happy surprise for all of the distraught team-members, and they welcomed her expertise and friendship.

Lucy had refused to return to Earth despite everyone’s kind suggestions that she do so.  During the week it took for the Asgard to completely stabilize Jack, the girl had not been permitted near him in fear that her abilities would cause him further damage.  Yet despite not being allowed to see the Colonel and being so far away from anything she could consider even vaguely familiar, the woman had been resolute.   She would deal with the culture shock; she would deal with the consequences of her extended absence from Earth.   But she would not leave the planet until she could see with her own eyes that the Colonel was alert and healed.   Instead, explaining that the Colonel had ordered her to stick with Teal’c because he would keep her safe, she had kept herself within arm’s reach of the Jaffa.   She only left his side when the big warrior chose to look in on his commander, and at those times it was Sam and Daniel’s company that she sought.  Teal’c did not seem concerned by the woman’s constant presence, and in fact he could often be found with his arm protectively around the girl’s slim shoulders.

SG-1 could not argue the young woman’s determination, because they, themselves, shared it.  They also had refused to return to Earth so that they could be close to their injured leader and friend.  Thankfully, General Hammond had given them leave as long as they agreed to report in at regular intervals, and so their responsibility to duty was never put in question.

After some time, Daniel entered the room, and Sam saw that his eyes were glazed with unshed tears.  He took his glasses off, and pressed the heel of his empty hand into his eyes to clear them.  Sam made a move towards the emotional man, but he waved her off with an exhausted smile.  

“They want you now, Janet,” he said softly to the doctor.  Janet smiled in return and then moved towards where he stood just inside the entrance to the room.   Briefly she clutched his arm in an action meant to convey sympathy and hope, and the archaeologist smiled at her for her efforts.  She returned the gesture, patted his arm, and then left to do her job.

Daniel moved to sit with the remainder of his team and with Lucy who looked smaller than ever as she huddled within Teal’c’s powerful embrace.

“They said it would be a while,” Daniel announced into the still air. 

They waited.

*****************************************************************************

Calcium was released.  Neurotransmitters excitedly swam the channel between nerve fibers, and suddenly sodium and potassium reversed positions.   An electrical current finally and steadily moved through his brain in response to the image before him.   His brain, full to the brim with interneurons willing to please, interpreted the data and sent its own electrical impulses down to his larynx in a miracle that could no longer be taken for granted.

“Daniel?  Sam?   Teal’c?”  Jack’s voice was hoarse from lack of use, and his responses still a bit sluggish, but the Asgard had performed their own miracle.   The Colonel’s eyes shone with recognition, and his now healed ears listened eagerly for the sound of his kids.

“We’re here, Jack.”

“…Sir.”

“…O’Neill.”

Their voices were a chorus marred only by their unique forms of addressing him, and his brain permitted him the luxury of an amused smile.

“You guys okay?”

“They’re all fine, Sir,” Janet pushed her small frame between his team, and he forced his slowly drooping eyelids up in surprise at her unexpected presence.

“What happened?  Where…”

“It’s alright, Colonel.  It’s a very long story, so you’ll have to settle for knowing that everything worked out well, and that your team is okay.   You’re exhausted, and you must rest.”

In agreement with her for once, Jack closed his eyes and nodded weakly.  He had never experienced such fatigue before, and his body felt like it was made of solid naquadah.   No way was he moving from this bed anytime soon. 

Without knowing it, Jack was asleep instantly.   Random thoughts cycled through his brain, and one suddenly caught his attention with such authority that he lurched back to consciousness.

Unaware that he had actually slept, Jack was surprised to realize that a significant amount of time must have passed, because his team was now piled around him in various positions of sleep.   He winced when he saw the angle of Carter’s neck but decided not to wake her when he observed the dark circles of exhaustion that were under her eyes.

He wondered where they all were when he realized with surprise that he wasn’t actually in the infirmary at the SGC.   And what was Janet doing here sleeping in that chair-like object with her head thrown back oblivious to her own snoring?  Jack chuckled at the sight.

A small, sniffling sound caught his attention, and he scanned the room to find its source.  When he saw Lucy weeping miserably in the corner of the room away from the others, he smiled sadly at her failed attempt to conceal her grief.   The girl had been through too much, and he knew that she blamed herself for his current condition.   Whatever that was.

Lucy had tried to control her emotions, but after SG-1 and Doctor Frasier had all collapsed into a slumbering heap, she had found herself overwhelmed by her feelings.  Between the blame she felt for how her smallest thoughts had disproportionately undone the Colonel and her own unexpected and still unimaginable role in the events that had taken place, the young woman retained little control over her emotions.  And now, she was also torn by the request from the Asgard High Council that she remain on Othalla to possibly aid in the continuation of an entire race of people and her simple but desperate need to return home to the things that were familiar to her.  

Jack frowned as a small headache asserted itself.   He felt the girl’s depression, and images of strangers who felt like loved ones poured through his head.   Whatever powers he once had were quickly diminishing, but apparently there were enough left to clue him into the source of Lucy’s tears.

“Hey, Southern Belle,” he called to her in a quiet whisper designed to convey friendly sarcasm without waking the others.  

Her tear-streaked face jerked in his direction, and surprise caused her to abruptly stop crying.

“Shh…” he whispered, and indicated that she should come closer to him.

She sprang quickly to his side, excited to see him conscious and needing the tenuous contact his strong presence still offered.

“Jack?”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he told her forcibly.

“But Jack, I…”

“Stop it!” he said with a small, mental admonishment.   His headache flared briefly, and he decided he shouldn’t push it.  “It wasn’t your fault,” he repeated verbally.

His absolution of her caused her tears to flow again, but she nodded quickly in silent acceptance.

“It’s up to you if you want to stay here.   No one will judge you if you decide to leave.  I know it’s been difficult for you, Lucinda Mae,” he told her.

The utterance of her full name caused Lucy’s throat to ache.  She hated her full name, but she would give practically anything to hear it spoken by the only person on Earth who ever called her by it. 

“Yes,” she whispered, in answer to Jack’s statement. “Yes, it has.”  A broken sob escaped her, as she finally admitted to him what she had kept so well hidden.   Jack received the brief image of a beautifully statuesque woman, and the strong feeling of a child’s love for a parent momentarily washed over him. As the foreign images and feelings swiftly faded Jack was surprised to realize that the girl painfully missed her mother.

“Lucy, I want you to do what’s best for you.   Do you understand?   That’s an order,” he said with a faint smile.

She quickly grinned in response then bowed her head.   “Yes, Sir,” she murmured respectively.

For the first time, Jack took her hand without pain.   She gasped at his touch and looked into his eyes where his gaze demanded her attention.

“ ‘It is a long journey, through a country that is sometimes pleasant and sometimes dark and terrible.  However, I will use all the magic arts I know of to keep you from harm.’²” he told her solemnly.

She smiled at the reference and felt something free within her.  The words and sentiment behind them were a comfort to her.

Still holding her hand, Jack closed his eyes and slept.  

He would not see her again for a very long time.

*****************************************************************************

Later still, when he remained unable to be transported back to Earth, but after he had been told the story of their rescue, Jack opened his eyes to see his team hovering worriedly above him.

This so could not be good.

“Uh, hi there Jack,” Daniel stuttered.   The man looked to Sam for reassurance, and Jack groaned inwardly.  “Ummm, well, Jack, you see, we, well we….”

“Daniel, does this have anything to do with those season passes to the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra that you bought for me without my permission?”  Jack interrupted in an attempt to lighten the mood and to hopefully escape the unpleasant conversation he sensed was lingering in their proximity.”

“Huh?”  Well, that was Daniel for you.  It was always the slightest bit amusing to render the normally eloquent man speechless.

“See, you thought I forgot about that, didn’t you?”   Jack continued glibly while waggling a finger at his friend.

“Umm, no Jack.  We just wanted to…well, you see when you were unconscious in the cell on that planet, you well, you, ummm….”

“Oh for cryin’ out loud, Daniel spit it out!” O’Neill said with healthy irritation.  It appeared as if he was not going to be spared this dialogue, and since he was a captive participant he just wanted this horrible conversation over as quickly as possible.

Daniel squinted before going on.   “Well, you see Jack you were delirious, and you were saying things….” Daniel’s verbal momentum ended when his friend glared furiously at him.

Jack took advantage of Daniel’s hesitation to consider what this could be about.  He remembered the looks on his team’s faces when he regained consciousness that one time in the Asgard prison; he remembered thinking that they were all going to end up in MacKenzie’s office after this fiasco had been seen through to its end.

It was difficult, little psychic energy remained in him to use, but Jack managed to somehow draw an image from Daniel’s memory of the events in question.  He grimaced at what he saw of his remembered self and knew that there really was no simple way out of this.

Unless….

Knowing that he shouldn’t, but also knowing how many other wounds had been sustained on this botched up mission, Jack chose to heal this particular injury the easy way.  Using all of the energy that remained of his depleted powers, he sent to these fine people who stood wounded before him the depth of his feelings of respect and forgiveness that he had for them.  Without words, he expressed to them everything he had never before found the words to say.

In short, he let them know that he loved them.

And he did.

And in that one moment, he was able to hold no doubts about their feelings of affection for him.  He smiled brightly at his family, and then his eyes blinked furiously as he fought back sleep and attempted to hold onto the moment for just a while longer.

Eventually, he closed his eyes and slept with a peaceful smile gracing his face.

Happily, they watched over him.

In wonder.

*****************************************************************************

FINIS

This is my first Stargate fic, and I submit it in the hope that it’s enjoyed by all of you who love Jack-whumping.  This one certainly covers the bases in that department!   My utmost thanks go out to Katie (a.k.a. Sokerchick) who did a wonderful beta job on this fic.   Any run-on sentences or mistakes are mine alone!
The title is from a phrase found in the song “Come Downstairs and Say Hello” by Guster.
The following is the citation for this quote: Baum, L. Frank.  The Wizard of Oz. © 1900.  Puffin Books; England.  189p  

September 11, 2005 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.