Title: Divides
Author: Joolz
Feedback: If you
like J [email protected]
Category: GEN, H/C, Action/Adventure, Friendship
Rating:
R (one violent bit)
Archive: Please ask
Season/Spoilers: Any/None
Synopsis: Heroes and monsters, Jack and Daniel.
Warnings: Some graphic whumping, but not too much
Disclaimer: Not my lovely characters, just playing with
them.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DIVIDES
By Joolz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They were
all running at top speed. In Jack’s case
he was oh, so aware that his top speed wasn’t what it used to be. Carter and Daniel were moving fast and
steady, and Teal’c, well, he probably wasn’t really pushing it; he kept
stopping to fire at the figures pursuing them, the staff weapon seeming to be
the only thing that made much of an impression.
Jack hoped the batteries were well charged up.
They’d all dropped their packs to lighten the load, and so only carried
weapons and whatever was stashed in their clothing. Jack occasionally fired off some rounds to
discourage the attackers, but mostly kept himself focused on reaching the goal. They were almost back to the Stargate now,
only a few hundred meters more.
The Colonel glanced back. Damn,
they were closing in again. Whatever
those guys were, they were obviously determined to blow the hell out of SG1. The aliens, humanoid but most definitely not
human, carried what could be compared to hand guns and assault rifles, but
packing a bigger punch than their Earth-side counterparts. That point was driven home yet again as a
bullet slammed into a tree Jack was passing, causing the massive trunk to
explode outward in a spray of woodchips.
He politely encouraged his aching legs and lungs, --Run
faster, Jack!--
Finally, there it was, the Stargate.
They all knew what to do, O’Neill didn’t need to tell them but did
anyway just to make sure. He called,
panting, “Daniel dial us out. Everyone
else, cover!”
Daniel ran straight to the DHD and began to press the glyphs, while
Carter and Teal’c found shelter behind some boulders on the far side of the
clearing from where Jack crouched behind an innocent, soon to be sawdust,
tree. The three laid down cover fire,
and the enemy forces dropped behind barriers of their own. SG1 was outnumbered four to one, and it was
hard to keep them all pinned down.
It seemed to Jack that what happened next occurred in less that one
heart beat, but at the same time was drawn out into some kind of horrible slow
motion. Daniel had just input the last
symbol, and raised his hand to press the dome in the center of the dais. An enemy soldier popped up from behind a rock,
fired one shot, and disappeared again.
In that instant Jack knew. He
knew where that shot was aimed, not at himself, Carter or Teal’c, and he knew
that the aim was true. He turned his
head to see Daniel’s hand stop its forward motion as his body jerked and arched
unnaturally, poised motionless amidst a spray of red, then fell gracefully
forward on top of the DHD and lay still.
A blue glow from the activated Gate bathed the macabre scene moments
later.
Their other two teammates stared in horror at the sight, then looked to
the Colonel. Jack’s mind and body
reacted as they had been trained to do.
He shouted, “Carter send the code
and get through the Gate! I’ll get
Daniel. Teal’c cover me!” They all burst into motion, each fulfilling
their roles, and Jack ran to catch his friend’s body as it began to slide off
the alien pedestal. But inside, a block
of ice had solidified in his stomach. An
iceberg. Surely his heart would stop
beating any moment, surely no one could survive that kind of cold.
As O’Neill grabbed the young man’s limp form, he tried not to see the
massive hole in the back of the Kevlar vest, nor the gushing red blood
beginning to soak through the green fabric of Daniel’s uniform. There was no time to see if he was even alive,
no time to speak a word of reassurance.
Everything was compressed into one single need, to get through the gate
to help. Jack wished he could hold
Daniel in front of him where he would be better protected, but the
archaeologist was just too big. The only
thing Jack could do was sling him over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry, and
sprint for safety.
Carter looked back briefly, fear for Daniel and determination to not
fail him flashing in her eyes, then she plunged into the shimmering
surface. Teal’c stood on the landing in
front of the gate firing his staff weapon around Jack as he struggled forward
under the heavy load. Only two more
steps. He shouted to Teal’c, “GO!”
Then four things happened simultaneously. Teal’c, seeing O’Neill advancing on his
position moved out of the way by stepping backwards into the event
horizon. A sharp explosion sounded
behind Jack. As the dark hands holding
the outstretched weapon disappeared, the Gate shut down slicing the shaft in
two. And Jack’s left leg suddenly wasn’t
supporting him anymore.
As the Colonel fell, Daniel’s body was flung over his head and landed on
its back at the foot of the now inert ring.
Jack found himself face down on the top step, weapons fire still
sounding behind him. His brain was slowing,
but one thought remained. --Daniel.
Protect Daniel.-- He used his
right knee to push himself forward as the unbearable pain in the left side of
his body began to register. It didn’t
matter. No more bullets. Dead or alive, no more bullets would touch
his friend. He used two hands and one leg to crawl onto the landing, and then
onto Daniel. As he collapsed on top of
the other man he wrapped his arms around him, flak jackets bulky between them. The last of his strength receding, Jack’s
head fell forward onto Daniel’s shoulder.
He murmured, “Dan…” and the world disappeared.
***************************
Standing beside Sgt. Davis, General Hammond gave the order to open the
iris. SG1 had been gone less than an
hour, and he wondered what it was this time.
Not much chance it’d be good news.
Samantha Carter burst through the circle already shouting. “Medical team! Live fire behind us, everyone down!” As she spoke, a bullet whizzed through the
event horizon and impacted the glass in front of the control room, causing a
spider web pattern of cracks to appear in the reinforced surface. As the personnel on the upper level and the
soldiers in front of the gate scrambled for cover, Hammond, who remained standing
where he was, heard someone shout into a phone for a med team to report to the
gate room.
Major Carter, who looked like she’d been through a lot in the last hour,
shot down the ramp and knelt by the stairs looking back at the Gate. Beside him, Davis shouted up at Hammond
excitedly, “Sir, the gate on the other side just shut down. One incoming traveler!” Only one.
There was nothing to do but pray as they waited those interminable
seconds.
As the giant ring emitted several unusual pops and flashes, the Jaffa’s
large form hurtled into the room. He hit
the ramp tumbling as the Gate snapped off.
Teal’c’s amazing coordination allowed him to halt his forward motion and
leap to his feet. He immediately took
two steps back toward the silent Stargate and raised his fists, one carrying a
broken staff weapon, and roared in fury, “Noooo!” This was as much of a shock to the watching
crowd as anything else that had happened.
Never before had they seen Teal’c lose control.
Samantha scrambled forward pleading, “Teal’c! Where are they?”
He slowly turned to her and stood struggling to regain his
composure. He opened his mouth to speak,
but ended up just shaking his head as she stared at him in horror.
A feeling of dread urging him on, Hammond rushed down the stairs into
the gate room just as the door opened and Doctor Fraiser hurried in. He motioned for her to wait and approached
the pair standing on the ramp looking desperately at the Gate. The General said softly, “Major Carter,
Teal’c, please come with me.” Two pairs
of distraught eyes turned to him, and he motioned them gently forward. These, his people, were hurting, and he’d
have to see them through this.
*****************************
There was some kind of motion, something pulling at him. Someone was trying to draw him away from the
soft lump he was lying on. He couldn’t
think, there was nothing in his body except pain. All he knew was that he was holding something
important, and he couldn’t let them have it.
His arms tightened, and the tugging increased. A sound erupted from his mouth, “Agh!” as his
arms were gripped and pried away.
Suddenly he was lying on his back on a hard stone surface, alone. As the blackness washed over him again, he whispered,
“No…”
***************************
Major Carter’s shock wore off quickly, and she reacted fiercely. “Sir,
we have to go back for them! They were
right by the gate.”
General Hammond led the group consisting of himself, the blonde woman,
Teal’c and Doctor Fraiser into the briefing room and indicated for everyone to
sit. “Now, Major, please tell us what
happened.”
“We were being chased by hostile natives, sir, with some heavy
firepower. We made it back to the gate,
but then…” She trailed off and looked
at Teal’c anxiously.
The Jaffa continued, “DanielJackson was hit with a projectile. I fear the injury was severe.”
The woman went on, “He managed to dial out first, though, so Colonel
O’Neill picked him up and we all headed for the Gate. They were almost there when I came through.”
Teal’c took up the narrative. “When
I entered the Chaapa’ai, they were no more than six feet away.”
The General interjected, “Well, what happened then? Why didn’t they come through?”
“I am uncertain. Immediately
before the wormhole took me I believe I saw a flash coming from the direction
of the Dial Home Device. Perhaps it was
hit by the weapons fire and disconnected.
We must return to assist them.”
Hammond placed his palms together and rubbed the edges of his index
fingers up and down in the center of his forehead. He sighed and answered, “You all know that I
can’t authorize that. Any way you look
at it, it’s an unacceptable risk. By now
those hostile natives will have control of the gate, and anyone going through
would be sitting ducks. We’ll have to
count on Colonel O’Neill to get them home.”
“We can’t just leave them there!
Daniel doesn’t have this kind of time.”
Hammond spoke forthrightly, “Major, if you have a plan to suggest that
doesn’t involve sending our people into a shooting gallery, then I’m all ears. I don’t like this any better than you
do. We’ll wait for things to cool down,
then send through a MALP to gauge the situation. Until then, I want you checked out by the
doctor, and a full report on what happened on that planet.”
Doctor Fraiser spoke, “Thank you, sir.
I need to get them upstairs and tend to the injuries we have right
here.”
The two members of SG1 looked at her in surprise.
“In case you hadn’t noticed Teal’c my friend, you’re bleeding on the
carpet.”
The large man looked down and discovered a bloody crease running along
the side of his thigh where he had been grazed by a bullet. “This is of no importance.”
“Well, I’ll have a look at it anyway, and get the post mission checks
over with. I want to hear more about
Doctor Jackson’s condition too.”
Hammond stood. “You have your
orders, people. We’ll talk again in two
hours.” He turned to leave, then faced
them again, a softer expression on his round face. “And don’t worry too much. Those two have the luck of the devil, don’t
count them out yet. Dismissed.” He walked out briskly.
Janet stood to leave as well. She
admonished them, “Ten minutes.”
They nodded, but neither of them moved as they were left alone. Samantha leaned forward over the table,
narrowed her eyes at her companion, and said, “Spill it.”
Teal’c tilted his head and raised his eyebrows.
“Come on. I know you well enough
to know you’re holding something back.
What didn’t you say?”
The large man looked uncomfortable.
“I did not wish to speak of it, because I am not sure.”
“What?”
“I can not be certain, but I believe…I thought I saw in the last moment
that Colonel O’Neill had also been shot.”
“They were six feet away, you were looking right at them, and you’re not
sure?”
Teal’c wouldn’t meet her eyes. “It
all happened very quickly. I can not say
precisely.”
“Or you won’t. That’s okay,
Teal’c. We’re gonna keep a positive
outlook around this. We will find a way
to get them back. I know they’re not
dead, I’m sure of that.”
“How can you be, MajorCarter, when we both saw the damage done to
DanielJackson? If O’Neill was hit with
the same type of weapons, he may not have survived either.”
She answered with determination, “They are alive. I’d know if they weren’t. I can feel it, can’t you?”
“Indeed I do wish it so. We will
do everything we must to retrieve them.”
Each biting back their fear, they held each other’s gaze for a long
moment. Finally Carter nodded. “Let’s do it, then.” They moved off together to begin the hardest
of tasks: waiting, and thinking, and
waiting some more.
******************************
As O’Neill regained consciousness, he discovered that life was full of
surprises. First one was that he was
alive at all. He’d had the distinct
impression of being severely wounded, but no, he definitely wasn’t dead. In fact, another surprise was that he didn’t
even hurt very much. His left hip, side
and thigh ached, but it was bearable.
Then he remembered, --Daniel!-- and his eyes flew open.
--Holy
Shit! What the hell is that?--
There was a ‘face’, using the term loosely, suspended over his own. It had two pale yellow eyes situated above a
mouth slit which was lipless and slightly moist at the edges. There was a smooth plane where the nose
should have been, and pale blue-gray skin stretched back along a small, round,
hairless head poised on a long neck.
Connected to it was a stocky, squarish body with broad shoulders and
torso extending straight down to the hips.
It, he, was wearing a simple tunic, for which Jack was suddenly
glad. There was only so much alien
physiology he could take in all in one day.
This was the race that had been chasing them. They’d gotten a look before, but not nearly
so up close and personal. You’d think
that after meeting such interesting folks as the Asgard, the Nox, the Reetou,
Unas, the little white guys on 445, etc., not to mention Goa’uld snakelets,
truly different alien appearances would have lost the ability to shock. You’d think.
Jack stared at the face. “What
the hell are you?”
The yellow eyes blinked, and the odd being spoke. “I am Ke’hi’nu.” There was a funny hiccup noise in the middle;
Jack wasn’t even going to try it. “Do
not be alarmed. You are called, O’Neill,
yes?”
“That’s what it says on my driver’s license.”
The alien blinked again, and a voice sounded from further back in the
room, speaking something not even remotely resembling human language. The first creature looked over his shoulder,
and Jack refocused his eyes on a figure leaning against the wall with its arms
crossed. This one looked vaguely female
in comparison. There were two spherical
mounds that might have been breasts, situated lower on the torso than they
would have been on a human, above hips that flared slightly broader than the
shoulders. Funny how attitude seemed to
be almost universal no matter the species.
Jack got the sense that this one wasn’t thrilled with his presence.
The first guy, whom Jack dubbed ‘Kenny’, snapped something in the same
garbled language, which elicited a ‘fssshht’ noise in reply, sounding very like
impatience. The nearer one turned back
and tried again. “O’Neill, if you
cooperate, you will not be harmed.
Please use simple language to communicate.”
Jack pulled himself into a sitting position. His side throbbed and the room spun around
disconcertingly before coming to rest.
He was wearing a brown tunic with a V shaped opening at the neckline and
simple trousers. “I want to see Daniel,
the other man who was with me. See. Daniel.
Now. That simple enough for you?”
The alien head bobbed, “I know of whom you speak. Come with me.”
“Where is he? How is he?”
“Come. I will take you to him.”
Ke’hi’nu stood, and Jack realized that the creature had been squatting
by his side as he lay on a low bed-like thing.
As Jack heaved himself to his feet he got another surprise. Kenny was big. Standing, the alien was about a foot taller
than Jack. The ‘female’ approached, and
she was nearly a head taller yet. The
Colonel wasn’t used to feeling short, and didn’t like the sensation at all.
His guide motioned for him to follow, so Jack did, a sharp pain shooting
through his hip joint with each step. He
noted that the other alien stayed close behind, no doubt as a guard in case the
human should try something. They left
the room and continued down a short hallway before entering another door. The chamber was very much like the first,
except for one important thing. The
figure lying on the foot high platform was Daniel.
Kenny moved to one side to allow O’Neill to enter. Jack stopped for a second to collect himself,
then continued forward slowly. Daniel
was dead. There was no way he could be
otherwise. The scientist lay on his
front, head turned to one side. He was
naked, so there was nothing to disguise the size of the hole in his back,
slightly to the left of his spine just above the waist. Ragged edges of pink flesh gaped open
revealing a gory mass within. There was
no blood. As Jack drew closer he
confirmed that there was no breathing, either.
This must be the alien version of a morgue.
Jack whispered, “Oh god, Danny” and sank to his knees by his friend’s
side. He gazed at the familiar face,
still and lifeless. He had so hoped for
a miracle, that somehow Daniel would make it through this. That hope froze and cracked, the shards
piercing Jack’s heart. He’d lost
teammates before, but this one hurt more than any other. This one was special. Without Daniel there would be no more
annoying arguments or lectures, no more brilliant intuitive leaps and bouncing
enthusiasm, no more gentle/strong friend.
Even knowing that it would only be cold, dead flesh, Jack had to touch
him one last time, to say goodbye. He
reached toward Daniel’s shoulder and his hand abruptly met with a solid object. An invisible
solid object, except for a faint glow beneath his fingers. He slid his palm across the barrier, finding
that it curved over Daniel’s back maintaining a distance of about a foot from
the body.
Ke’hi’nu’s voice interrupted, “Please do not interfere with the stasis
field.” He sounded like a forbearing
museum guard admonishing a small boy who couldn’t obey the ‘Do Not Touch’
signs.
Jack turned to him, “Stasis field?”
Kenny’s head bobbed on his long neck, and he exclaimed, “Oh! I see you do not understand. Your friend is not dead. He is of course very badly damaged, and quite
near death, but life remains. His vital
processes have been suspended for the time being, pending the outcome of our
negotiations.”
Jack stared at him in confusion.
Was the alien playing with him?
Massive wound, no breathing, that’s usually a pretty good indicator of
death. Was there a chance…?
“Not dead?….What negotiations?”
The second alien stepped forward.
“If you do what we ask, then your friend may be repaired and returned to
you. If you do not, then you will both
be terminated.”
O’Neill narrowed his eyes at the speaker, noting that Ke’hi’nu was
bouncing at his side in agitation. “And
who are you?”
“I am called Mo’oh’pa.” Another
unpronounceable one. Mopey
continued, “We have a situation. This scientist,”
she glared at Ke’hi’nu, “has convinced our superiors to allow you to try to
resolve it. If you fail, which I
consider inevitable, then we will carry out a more drastic solution.”
Ah, yes, this was familiar. The
good old science vs. military divide.
“And if I do what you want, you can heal this?” pointing to the gunshot wound.
“Of course. You were damaged in a
similar fashion, our medical people restored you. The same can be done for this one.”
Jack dropped one hand to his hip.
Well, he couldn’t call it completely and totally restored, but under the circumstances maybe he shouldn’t
ask for his money back.
“If we’re so useful, then why did you try so hard to blow us to bits in
the first place?”
Mo’oh’pa leaned forward ominously.
“You were in the company of an evil one.
Our enemy.”
“We’re not evil. You must have us
confused with someone else.”
“No, it was clearly detected. It
shares the body of the larger, dark one.”
“Oh, the…. Look, the snake isn’t
with us by our choice. It’s not like
Teal’c can leave it at home. The Goa’uld
are our enemies too. That’s why we came
here, to find allies to help us fight ‘em.
So maybe you can fix up Daniel, and we can all be friends.”
Mopey’s head twitched at this information, but her attitude didn’t
soften. “We can not take your word for
that. You must prove yourself, and
undertaking this task will be a beginning.”
Jack answered seriously, “I don’t know what you want me to do, but I’ll
tell you right now that under no circumstances will I jeopardize Earth or any
of its allies. His life and mine are
both expendable if it comes down to that.”
“This is a purely local matter.
You must first, however, convince your people to stop their attempts to
destroy us.”
That didn’t sound like Hammond.
“What?”
“Two hours ago a device was sent through the Stargate. We terminated it immediately, but we wish you
to make it clear to your leaders that such attacks will not be tolerated.”
“I don’t know just what happened, but I think it’s a very good idea that
I go talk to the folks back home. In
fact, I’ll agree right now to help you, and we can send Daniel to Earth as a
sign of good faith.”
Mopey’s ‘lips’ pulled back, and Jack didn’t know if it was a smile or a
signal of intent to dismember.
Kenny interceded, “I am sorry, O’Neill, but Daniel must stay here as
guarantee. I promise you that he is in
no danger.”
Jack eyed the open wound on the young man’s back and lifted his
eyebrows.
Kenny urged, “Come, let us make a start, and all will be well.”
*****************************
It was one o’clock in the morning, and Sam couldn’t find Teal’c
anywhere. After searching all the normal
places, she stuck her head into the conference room and there he was, standing
at the window staring down at the Stargate.
It had been 15 hours, and they’d made absolutely no progress on getting
their teammates back. The MALP they sent
through had been neutralized before it could even begin transmitting. No one had any ideas of what to do, other
than ask their allies for intel on the planet.
So far, nothing.
Sam approached Teal’c quietly, but a stiffening of his shoulders let her
know that he was aware of her presence.
She lay one hand on his arm and stood beside him silently. After a moment, he spoke. “When you and Colonel O’Neill were trapped in
the ice cave, and DanielJackson was trying so diligently to locate you, I once
found him standing here in the middle of the night as I am now. That was when the insight as to your
whereabouts began to form in his mind. I
was hoping that a similar inspiration would be given to me, for his
benefit. It seems that I am unworthy to
be granted that good fortune.”
Sam empathized with his frustration and loss. She was fighting the same feelings herself,
and wouldn’t be at all surprised if Teal’c had been going over what happened
repeatedly, thinking of everything he should have done differently. That’s what she’d been doing for hours.
She tightened her grip on his arm, and said, “Teal’c, I know how bad it
looks, but we’ve got to have faith. We
have to believe that they’ll make it back.
He glanced at her. “That is not
sufficient.”
She grimaced sadly. “No, it
isn’t.”
He placed his hand over hers, which still rested on his arm, and they
stood together sharing the grief. A
short while later the klaxon sounded, accompanied by “Unscheduled off-world
activation. I repeat, unscheduled off-world
activation.” They looked at each other,
daring to hope, and rushed down the stairs to the control room, where they were
joined moments later by General Hammond.
Major Carter exclaimed, “Sir! I
didn’t know you were still on base.”
The General was focused on the opening wormhole. “Let’s see what this is about.”
The duty officer reported, “Incoming signal. It’s SG1 sir!”
A whoop sounded through he control room, and Teal’c placed a hand on
Sam’s back to steady her as she clutched the back of a chair for support. It was so hard to believe, but thank God!
Hammond restrained his relief, and ordered, “Open the iris. Medical team to the gate room.” They were turning to go down themselves, when
the Lieutenant called, “No travelers, sir, but there’s an audio signal coming
through.”
“Put it on!”
“…GC, this is Colonel O’Neill. Do
you read me?”
“Yes, Colonel, and we’re mighty glad to hear your voice. How are you, son?”
“Oh, I’m just…peachy. Daniel’s
not doing so well, though.”
“What is Dr. Jackson’s condition?”
“Big, honkin’ ugly hole in the back.
They’ve got him in some kind of stasis thingy, so he’s not getting any
worse, but he’s not getting any better, either.”
“Are you bringing him back, Colonel?”
“See, I can’t do that just yet.
Seems I’m in the middle of a ‘negotiation’ here, sir. These nice folks…Say, Mopey, what’re you guys
called, anyway?”
They heard another voice answer, “We are the Galt.”
“There, the Galt. Anyhow, they
want me to do something for them, and if I do they say they’ll fix Daniel up
and let us go.”
“What do they want with you, Colonel?”
“We haven’t gotten to that part of the negotiation yet, though I’ve made
it clear that I can’t do anything to endanger Earth. They seem to think that’s not a problem, so
my plan is to go along for now, and see what the deal is.”
Carter found her voice. “Sir,
we’ll come through to give you backup.”
“Carter? Teal’c there too? I’ve been worried. The gate cut off a little
too close for comfort.”
“Indeed I am here, O’Neill.”
“Hey kids. You have NO IDEA how
much I’d love to have you here for this one, but these folks wouldn’t agree to
it. Besides, I’m afraid it was Junior
that set them off in the first place.”
“My apologies, O’Neill.”
“Not your fault. And I’d say that
they over reacted just a tad to one little baby snake.”
They heard the other voice again, but couldn’t make out the words.
“All right, all right. General,
they weren’t too pleased with the MALP you sent through earlier, made them
kinda cranky. I’ve seen the hardware
they’ve got set up over here, and I need to tell you that these people are most
emphatically capable of terminating with extreme prejudice anything…or anyone…
you send through the Gate. I found one
piece of the MALP that looked kind of like the arm off a dalek, but the rest is
dust. I highly recommend that you make
no further attempts to contact this planet.
Believe me, I’ll do everything humanly possible to get Daniel home
again.”
Sam reminded him, “And yourself, too, sir.”
The answer sounded tired. “Yeah,
that’d be good, too. Oh, Mopey here
wants me to get off the phone, says I’m running up the long distance bill. I’ll let you know what’s happening just as
soon as I can. If you don’t hear from me
again, well, that’ll mean the negotiations fell through.”
General Hammond spoke sincerely.
“Colonel O’Neill, all our thoughts are with you and Dr. Jackson. Come home safely, son, and let us know if we
can help you in any way.”
“Thanks sir. O’Neill out.”
The wormhole disengaged. There
was silence in the control room as the good news, and the not so good news,
sank in. Jack and Daniel were alive, if
only barely. But they were still way the
heck on the other side of the galaxy, held by hostile aliens, and there was no
way to help them. This was only slightly
less nerve wracking than before.
Finally, General Hammond turned to the worried pair and said gently,
“SG1, you’re on stand down for the next few days. We’ll inform you the minute there’s any
news. Get some rest.” With that he strode away to wait in his own
way.
Sam and Teal’c just looked at each other. After a moment, Teal’c intoned, “MajorCarter,
I have one question. What is a dalek?”
“Well, Teal’c, looks like we’re going to have some time on our
hands. What say we fire up your VCR and
I’ll show you?”
********************************************
Mo’oh’pa led O’Neill back into the room where Daniel lay eerily
frozen. Ke’hi’nu was waiting anxiously,
and quizzed the female officer in their own language. On his journey to the gate and back, Jack had
observed that military type people like Mopey wore blue tunics, while
scientific types like Kenny wore gold.
There were several other colors in evidence, but he hadn’t figured out
their significance yet.
When satisfied that all had gone well, the scientist said in English,
“The human needs nourishment. Please,
O’Neill, come and eat, and I will explain your mission.” He indicated several bowls resting on a low
table.
Jack lowered himself painfully to the floor and eyed the bowls. He was hungry; it was hard to know when he
had last eaten. He just hoped the Galt
had a clue about what humans could digest.
As he helped himself to the strange offerings, Kenny started to speak,
with Mopey hovering in the background as usual.
“We have lived on this planet for many hundreds of years, but we are not
from here originally. Another race was
dominant when we arrived, but the Galt subdued them and pushed them
underground.”
Mopey cut in, “They were and are a primitive and inferior race. They can barely even be called sentient in
the opinion of many.”
Kenny’s yellow eyes flared. “We
should not judge them by our standards.
They have a right to live too.”
Then he shook his head. “We
haven’t time to indulge in that debate again, my friend.”
He turned back to Jack. “They live in naturally formed caverns and
tunnels, and until a year ago did everything possible to avoid contact with our
people. They are frightened of us. Certainly, we are as a group stronger and
have weapons powerful enough to do them harm, but I do not believe that that is
their main concern. I believe they fear
us because we do not project.”
Jack shook his head in confusion.
“Whoa, lost me there. Project
what?”
“Thoughts, feelings, images. Many
of our people are capable of perceiving these emissions, such as Mo’oh’pa and
myself, but none that we know of are capable of projecting them. We receive what is given off from other races
including the Kinlee, that is what we call them, but they receive nothing back
from us. For some reason this is highly
disturbing to the Kinlee.”
Mopey interjected once more, “That is not proven.”
“No, but when I have come close to them, it is what I have felt. Anyway, about a year ago everything
changed. The Kinlee began projecting
fierce anger and became aggressive and dangerous. They began killing Galt who came too near
them, and have even been venturing out of their refuges to attack us on the
surface. The Kinlee are impressive
creatures, and are not easy to kill even with our weapons. The situation is growing rapidly worse. The people are becoming alarmed and demanding
that something be done.”
Jack wasn’t sure where this was headed.
“Gee, I’m sorry for your troubles and all, but I really don’t see what
it has to do with me.”
Mopey said under her breath, “Neither do I…”
Kenny ignored her and continued.
“You see, my theory is that the reason all this started is because of
something a group of Galt did. Or rather
took. A year ago, a team was exploring
some tunnels, and removed a large gem stone from a pattern they encountered
carved into a wall far below. This
coincides with the Kinlee’s altered behavior.”
Jack waved his hand to encourage the alien to get to the point. “And, so…?”
“We want you to return the stone.”
“Why don’t you do it yourselves?”
“We can no longer go into the tunnels.
The Kinlee are too violent.”
“And you think I can?”
“I believe so, yes.”
Mopey interjected in an almost sarcastic manner, “He believes so,
O’Neill, but he doesn’t know. He’s just
going to send you in and see how far you get.”
It seemed to Jack that she wasn’t hostile either to him or the
scientist, but felt the whole thing was a waste of time.
“So why do you think that I can do this when you can’t?”
Kenny seemed to shrink a bit before answering, like he wasn’t entirely
sure of himself. “Because you project.”
Jack raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak but Kenny
continued, rushing his words together.
“Yes you project all over the place, loudly, so maybe they can hear you
and maybe they will not be afraid of you and you can return the stone and then
no one will have to die.”
Jack just stared at him incredulously.
“We could hear you from the time you came through the gate, such noise
and confusion in your thoughts and feelings.
All five of you at the same time.
Chaos. Simply chaos. My theory is that you don’t receive, at least
not clearly, or you would not be able to stand the noise. I know I’m jumping to conclusions there. Maybe your receptors are different and it
doesn’t sound so bad to you. Would you
mind telling me more about your own perception of your psi abilities? It would be fascinating to compare that
with…”
The other alien interrupted,
“Ke’hi’nu, stick to the point.”
“Yes, sorry. Really, that is
all. That is what we want you to do and
why.”
Mo’oh’pa added, “Our leaders are willing to try this because it does not
endanger our people further, but time is running out and they must act soon to
end this one way or another.”
Jack held up one hand. “Now, back
up a minute. You say we project?”
They both bobbed, and Kenny explained, “Yes, constantly. You are all very powerful. The thoughts and intentions of the evil one
were most easy to interpret, but the other four were quite difficult to
isolate. It was when your three
companions had returned through the Gateway that we were able to get a more
clear reading on you and your friend.
The bonds of love and willingness toward self sacrifice you broadcast so
openly are very unlike the Goa’uld. It
was then that it occurred to me that you might be able to help us.”
Jack found all this unsettling.
“You were hearing how I felt about what happened to Daniel?”
“Yes, and he for you as well.”
Ke’hi’nu bobbed his head in amazement.
“Even now. No mental activity
should be possible in stasis, yet he reaches out to you. It is most impressive, and I haven’t
encountered anything like it before. It
may be an entirely different level of psi capability that we have not
previously been aware of. It is a
marvelous opportunity to expand our knowledge of the entire process of
projection, its relation to physiological structure, and…”
“Ke’hi’nu!”
“Sorry. Anyway, that is how we
learned some of your language, from your projections. Simple, basic concepts were clearly
communicated, and we learn more the longer we are with you.”
Mopey took over. “O’Neill, that
is the deal we offer you. You complete
this mission, and you will be released to return to your world. Do you accept the conditions?”
Jack shook his head. “No.”
Kenny jerked back. “No?”
“I won’t do it. We will. Daniel and me. You broke him, you fix him, and we’ll solve
your problem.”
They cocked their heads, which Jack took as disagreement, and proceeded
to try to convince them.
“That’s how it has to be for so many reasons. First of all, if you want us to go projecting
warm fuzzy feelings to your neighbors, then he’s the one you want, not me.” He jerked his thumb at Daniel. “That’s what he does. He keeps me from blowing up the strange
aliens long enough for him to make friends with them. He’s the scientist/diplomat.” He pointed between Daniel and Ke’hi’nu. “You two would get along great. I’m sure he’s better at this spy stuff than I
am.”
“Psi.”
“Whatever. And as long as he’s
lying there like THAT, all I’ll be projecting is anger. I need to know he’s going to be okay before I
do you any favors. Besides, if I went to
see some mysterious rock carving without him, he’d kill me. So that’s it.
That’s the deal. Both of us or
nothing.”
They still didn’t look convinced.
“Look, why the heck not? Where
are we going to go? You still control
the gate, and that’s our only way home.
We’ll be totally motivated to get the job done.”
Kenny turned his smooth face to his colleague. She regarded O’Neill for several moments,
then turned and engaged the other in a brisk dialogue in their own
language.
Jack’s eyes were drawn back to Daniel as they debated. This had to work. Jack doubted that even Janet could pull the
kid through with that wound. If Daniel
was going to live, then these people had to help him.
Mo’oh’pa interrupted his thoughts.
“All right. We will help
him. It’s an added expense and delay,
but if you can’t handle a simple task without your scientist, then so be
it.” Despite the words, the tone was
teasing. “Ke’hi’nu will call the
medics.”
Minutes later three more gold tunics walked in, two male and one
female. They approached Daniel with
several small tools in their long, thin-fingered hands, and knelt by his
side. Then they simply reached through
the stasis barrier and into the gaping hole in Daniel’s back. Peering at them from above, Jack asked,
alarmed, “What are they doing?”
Mo’oh’pa was standing next to him watching, and realized that the human
didn’t understand common medical practices.
She explained, “The instruments are calibrated to work within the stasis
field. That way the damage can be
repaired without further blood loss or trauma to the patient. When the field is removed, he will already be
stabilized. This is the way in which
your own repairs were carried out.”
Jack felt a bit light headed as he saw one medic remove something that
looked like an internal organ and run a laser-like beam over it, while another
fished out several shards of white bone and began fitting them back together
like a puzzle. He blanched and backed up
against the wall. Waving a hand toward
the surgeons, he said, “Just…just make sure they put it all back where it’s
supposed to go.” With that he sank down
to the floor, covered his eyes, and wished for a large bottle of Scotch.
****************************
When the medics finished their reconstruction, Jack thought he could see
a slight dip in the muscle structure of Daniel’s back where the hole had been,
and the new skin looked a little tender, but other than that the man looked
normal. Jack held his breath when they
disconnected the stasis field, until he saw Daniel’s chest rise on its
own. He didn’t let himself get too
excited yet; although the Galt were quite confident of Daniel’s full recovery,
Jack was less so.
Ke’hi’nu assured him that Daniel would sleep for a while and wake up
‘restored’. Looking at his friend lying
there naked on the slab, Jack asked, “Don’t you have a blanket or something?”
“The temperature here is quite adequate, he will not feel cold.”
“Trust me on this. He’ll rest
better if he’s covered up. It’s a human
thing.”
The alien acquiesced, and returned with a large piece of cloth
resembling a thick flannel sheet. Jack
thanked the blue-gray creature, sincerely grateful for the small favor, and
tucked the sheet in around Daniel’s body, stroking his hand down the now smooth
back. He observed the sleeping face for
a while. It wasn’t exactly animated, but
it wasn’t like it had been before, frozen and empty. This was the face of a living person. Beginning to relax for the first time, Jack
nodded off to sleep leaning against the low platform.
******************************
A small noise brought Jack awake.
Someone had wrapped another thick sheet around him as he slept. That was sweet. He looked anxiously at the face beside him
and saw that Daniel was trying to wake.
O’Neill said his name softly, but didn’t touch him. He was afraid that if he got started, he
might end up mauling the kid in an over-enthusiastic ‘Space Monkey’ back from
the dead hug, so he clamped his hands firmly to his thighs as he knelt
waiting.
After a couple of aborted attempts, Daniel’s eyes opened and focused on
Jack. The ice that had accumulated in
Jack’s gut melted instantly under the light of those intelligent blue
eyes. A grin split his face and he
greeted his friend. “Hey.”
Eyebrows pulled together and nose wrinkled, Daniel’s mouth moved like it
was trying to form words, and eventually managed a garbled, “What…?”
“What happened? News bulletin
number one, you’re not dead. Moving on
from there, we’re still on the planet, and when you’re up and around we have an
adventure to go on. You’re gonna love
it.”
The blue eyes observed him evenly.
“Jack?”
“I’m right here, Daniel. You’re
gonna be fine, I promise. You just rest
for a while more, okay? I’ll explain
everything later.”
The eyes closed again. “’Kay”
As the young man drifted off, Jack allowed himself to smooth back the
hair on Daniel’s temple. “You
sleep. Everything will be fine, I
promise.”
**************************
The next time he woke, Jack found himself lying on his back on the floor
beside Daniel. One of the young man’s
hands was on the center of his chest where it had been shaking him gently. The tousled head hung off the edge of the
platform looking down at him.
Daniel asked, “Jack, are you allright?”
“You woke me up to ask if I was all right? Yeah, I was.
I was sleeping. Geez.”
“I’m serious. You look
awful. You’re all pale and have these
horrible black circles under your eyes.
You shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor.”
“Point me in the direction of a nice four-poster feather bed, and I’ll
crawl in and stay there for a week.
We’re a little short on options round here. Seems these guys don’t even believe in
chairs, let alone beds.”
“Where are we?”
Jack pushed himself up to a sitting position so that now his head was a
bit higher than Daniel’s.
“That’s a long story. Suffice it
to say for now that we’re guests of the Galt, and these same guys that shot us
full of holes now want us to do something for them.”
Daniel lifted his head up, eyes wide.
“Shot? Where are Sam and Teal’c?”
“Don’t worry, they’re back at the SGC, safe and sound. And yes, shot. As in you were. Seriously.
Shot.”
Daniel weakly moved his legs toward the edge of the platform. “Help me sit up.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Want to.”
“Okay.”
Jack sat next to Daniel as he levered himself up on his hands and swung
his legs over the edge, the sheet bunching up around his waist. Jack braced his arm around Daniel’s back, and
let him lean against him as he adjusted to the altitude. When the young man seemed more steady, Jack
reached up and ruffled his hair. “How do
you feel?”
“Honestly? Pretty damn
shitty. Yes, that is a technical term.
Thirsty.”
Jack jumped up and winced at the pain in his hip. He crossed to the table of food the Galt had
left, and brought back a glass of water and a bowl of snacks. He sat and placed
the items between them. “Eat. Drink.
For on the morrow we face the monsters.”
“What?”
Just then the two Galt entered the room.
Daniel jumped a bit and stared as the exotic aliens approached. Jack assured him, “It’s all right. This is Kenny, the local version of the
science geek, and Mopey, hardassed military babe.”
Daniel looked up at the pair as they towered over him. “Kenny?”
“I am Ke’hi’nu. This is
Mo’oh’pa. It is good that you have
recovered.”
Daniel repeated the names accurately, then asked, “Jack says you want us
to do something for you. What is that?”
Ke’hi’nu looked at O’Neill. “You
have not told him of your task?”
“Kid’s just back from death’s door.
Besides, he’ll think I’m nuts if I try to explain this. That’s your job.”
Ke’hi’nu squatted, and went over the situation again, while Mo’oh’pa did
her usual leaning against the wall thing.
This time they were shown visual images of the large, scaly Kinlee and
given what information the Galt had on the ‘monsters’. Jack and Daniel nibbled while they listened,
the archaeologist becoming more animated despite his continuing frailty. As the alien concluded, he asked, “So only
some of you are able to receive ‘projections’?”
“Yes, it is an ability which develops in late childhood, or not at
all. Those so endowed are sent to
special schools to learn to protect themselves from external interference, we
could not be in the same room with you two otherwise. Mo’oh’pa and I were in the same intake group
when we were young.”
Mo’oh’pa intervened, “I’m sure this is all very interesting, but perhaps
you can continue the discussion later.
O’Neill, Daniel, you still have a task to carry out, and your lives
still depend on its successful completion.
You leave in the morning.”
Jack bristled, “Are you kidding?
He’s still weak as a kitten. Let
him recover first.”
“There is
not the time. The leaders have agreed to
Ke’hi’nu’s experiment, but they will not wait much longer. Our people are afraid to let their children
play outside because of the risk of Kinlee attacks. If you fail, the Kinlee will be
exterminated.”
Daniel grew alarmed. “No! Give us a chance, please!”
“You have one. You leave in the
morning.”
Jack sighed, “All right, then.
What kind of equipment do we have?
You gonna give us some of those big guns of yours?”
It was Daniel who answered, “No, Jack, no guns.” All three looked at him in surprise. “If the plan is to get them to trust us, then
going in with Galt weapons is exactly the wrong thing to do. The point is to be non-threatening,
right? We need to win them over, not
shoot them. If we fail to do that, then
we’re pretty much dead meat anyway from the sound of it. Jack, you know I’m right.”
Jack shook his head and said to the aliens, “See, I told you. Mr. Diplomat.
Daniel, I’m not taking you in there unarmed. How about a compromise; we go in with our own
gear, like we would on any normal mission.
I promise not to shoot anything unless I really, really have to. You guys agree to that? You did find our packs, didn’t you?”
Mopey considered the suggestion.
“Yes, we have all your belongings.
I find the proposal quite appropriate.
It will truly be an Earth venture.
We will supply you with a map to find the carving, and then you will be
on your own.”
“Maybe some extra lights? You
said we’re going underground.”
“That will not be necessary. Most
of the tunnels are adequately illuminated.
Ke’hi’nu, we will leave them to prepare.” The two moved toward the door.
Jack called after them, “Oh, and you will bring him something to wear,
right? Our own clothes would be good.”
Mopey turned back briefly, “Your own clothes are no longer
serviceable. We will supply him with
something appropriate. My son may have
something that would fit him.” The
aliens continued the discussion in English as they left. Mopey commented, “What are you thinking,
sending children to do warrior’s work?”
The other responded, “They are not children, they are just small. In fact their diminutive size may be an
advantage. You see, if the Kinlee
perceive them to be…” Then Mopey and
Kenny, in lecture mode, were gone.
The two humans looked at each other.
Daniel’s lips twitched a brief smile.
“So, little one, how do we get ourselves into these things?”
“I don’t know, for me the question is how do we get ourselves out of
them?”
Daniel swayed suddenly and his face lost its color. Jack cleared away the dishes and motioned for
Daniel to lie down. “Beddie-by
time. Danny’s got a big day tomorrow.”
Daniel shook his head groggily, “We’ll switch for a while. You’ve been on the floor too long.”
“Doesn’t matter, Daniel.” He
thumped the platform. “It’s not like
this is a Sealy Posturepedic anyway.”
The stubborn archaeologist disagreed.
“I’m coming down there with you, then.”
He slid onto the floor with a thud and nearly toppled into Jack’s legs.
O’Neill complained as he lowered himself to the ground, “Jesus, Danny,
you sure are a pain in the butt.” He
stretched out on the floor and pulled Daniel down so his head rested on Jack’s
arm. The young man was asleep before he
was even horizontal. With his free hand
Jack tucked the sheet in around his friend, and pulled the other over them
both. He whispered, “Sweet dreams,” and
was asleep himself within minutes.
***************************
When Mopey brought SG1’s packs and weapons in the morning, Jack sorted
and repacked while Daniel continued to sleep.
He kept the packs as light as possible without leaving out too many
things that might serve to keep them alive if they got in trouble. When Mopey began looming over him clicking
impatiently, he finally shook his teammate awake. Daniel sat up and yawned, looking around
vacantly.
Jack waved a cup of instant coffee under his nose. “Come on, Daniel. Time to rejoin the world.”
Daniel grasped the cup, an expression of pure ecstasy spreading across
his face as he sipped.
Jack asked, “So, how do you feel now?”
“Better,” Daniel admitted. “I
wouldn’t normally be volunteering for long, arduous journeys right now, but I
do feel stronger. Time to go?”
“Looks that way.” Jack handed
Daniel the clothes Mo’oh’pa had brought for him, a very nice deep purple, and
pulled him to his feet.
*****************************
Mopey and Kenny escorted them to the cave entrance. The female warrior said simply, “You have
until this time tomorrow. If there is no
sign that you have succeeded, then attacks will be launched on this and the
other main Kinlee caves. Good
luck.” She handed Daniel the map and a
sack holding the stone they were to replace.
The scientist wanted to say more.
“Human friends, I am of mixed feeling over current events. I find that I regret having put you in this
position, yet had I not done so you would both be dead already. And I cannot help but believe that you have a
chance of completing this mission and saving many, many lives. I promise that you will be sent home; alive
if you are successful, your bodies if you perish. You have my word.”
O’Neill snorted. “Gee,
thanks. Let’s do it, Daniel.” He led the way into the cave as far as the
first bend. When they could no longer
see the opening, he shrugged off his pack and dropped it to the ground. “Rest break.”
Daniel didn’t argue. The short
walk had already drained him disturbingly.
They sat down against the wall and Jack dug into his pack. He handed Daniel an MRE and opened one of his
own. “Thoughtless of them to not offer
us breakfast. I hope they don’t expect a
tip.”
As they finished their meals, Jack got to the point. “Okay, this is how it’s gonna go down. You’re going to stay here, while I go ahead
and return the rock. Then I’ll come back
for you and we’ll go home. If any of the
Kinlees show up, get yourself outside and look for Galt troops. If I don’t come back, well, we will have
tried and there’s really no reason for them not to let you go. You can talk them into it.”
Daniel was silent for a minute, then spoke in a soft low voice that let
Jack know he was in trouble. “You really
think I’m going to do that, don’t you?”
“Yes. I know you’re gonna
protest, but it’s the only way to manage this.
Look at you. You’re in no
condition to hike miles through dangerous tunnels full of monsters, are you?”
“No, I’m not. And neither are
you. That won’t stop us from doing it
anyway. You’re not in much better shape
than I am.”
Jack pulled himself to his feet and picked up his pack. “I’m fine.
Now do as I say.” He turned to
go.
The sharp anger in Daniel’s voice stopped him. “You bastard.
Sometimes you make me so mad I don’t know why I bother with you at
all.” The voice started out low and
gradually grew in volume. Jack turned
around to look at him as he spoke.
“There you are, Mr. I’ll Die Before I Admit I’m Human Macho Prick Air
Force Colonel. Mr. I Can Do Anything
Until I Drop Dead Where I Stand. Do you
think I haven’t noticed how you favor your left side? Do you think I can’t tell that you’ve
probably got internal injuries? They
‘repaired’ you too, didn’t they? Only
they didn’t do a very good job. Why
can’t you admit that? Why do you have to
be superman while you treat me like a weakling victim? I hope you know that we can’t be friends if
you do that. Not really, not when you
see yourself as so damned superior.”
Daniel climbed to his feet. “Well
fuck you very much Jack O’Neill. I’m not
going to let you get away with that.”
Jack said softly, “Just stay here, Daniel,” and started to go again.
This time Daniel shouted, “NO! You
don’t even believe it’s possible to do what they’ve asked. You’re going down there expecting to die,
hoping that they’ll let me go anyway.
I’ve got the stone, remember?
Were you just going to go without it?
Now you listen to me! That’s not what’s going to happen. We will
do this together, and we will both
come back alive. Because together we CAN
do this, Jack. I believe that even if
you don’t. You’ll just have to take MY
word for it. And I may not be in great
shape, but in your condition you can’t outrun me, so get over it.”
Daniel braced one hand against the wall, pressed the other into his back
where the injury had been, and bent over, panting. He continued more quietly, “God, shouting
takes it out of me. Don’t make me shout
any more, and don’t make me have to chase you.
Just admit that we’re two guys who’re both doing the best they can,
together. Can you do that?”
Now Jack’s anger flared. “Dammit,
Daniel! Why does it always have to be
your way? Why can’t you let me take care
of something for once without manipulating it to your liking?” He turned his
head away and closed his eyes while he calmed down. Then he continued more evenly, “You’re not
going to give it up, are you?” Daniel
shook his head. An unnerving roaring
sound came from farther down the tunnel they would have to take. “That what you want? You want to go find one
of those and do your peaceful explorer routine?” Daniel nodded, and Jack sighed. “Come on then.”
Daniel picked up his pack and followed Jack down the tunnel.
********************************
At the cave entrance, Ke’hi’nu and Mo’oh’pa felt the gist of the
argument, if not the detail. Ke’hi’nu
lowered his head. “If they keep that up,
they’ll scare the Kinlee worse than we do.
I thought they cared for each other.”
Mo’oh’pa took her mate’s hand and answered, “They do. That’s why they make each other so
angry. It will give them strength, wait
and see.” They turned back to the city.
******************************
The humans walked slowly, as much from desire to spare their bodies as
from caution. They heard movement and
snarling ‘voices’ down some of the tunnels, but following the map they seemed
to always move away from them.
Jack commented, “Well this is easy.
So far. Not that I’m
complaining.” The pain in his hip was
getting harder to conceal as each step triggered pangs of agony.
Daniel was looking paler by the minute himself. When he stumbled and nearly fell, Jack moved
in beside him and looped an arm around his waist for support. Daniel did the same and they lurched down the
tunnel basically holding each other up.
After about a half mile O’Neill stopped and backed them up against the
wall for another rest break. They slid
down to sit leaning against their packs, shoulders pressed together.
After a moment a snort erupted from Jack, and he started to giggle.
Daniel was alarmed. Jack never
giggled. “What is it?”
“Oh, it’s just the absurdity of it all.
Here we are, two recently nearly-dead guys embarking on a quest to
return an enchanted stone to its rightful resting place beneath the
mountain. And there are even trolls.”
Daniel saw what he was getting at and grinned. “Yeah, and shouldn’t there be wizards and
spells, too? I wouldn’t mind if some
elves put in an appearance about now.”
That just cracked Jack up even more.
“If there’s a beautiful woman in a flowing white gown at the end of
this, I’m not letting you anywhere near her.”
“Well then who’s going to solve the riddle and transport us magically to
the floating palace?”
“This time I take the riddles and you take the feats of physical
daring. Wouldn’t want to get
typecast. Oh, stop. It hurts to laugh.”
They quaked softly with mirth until their energy ran out, and then
slumped tiredly to rest. After a few
minutes Jack said, “I’m sorry about earlier, Daniel. I don’t mean to treat you like a weakling
victim. It’s just that as team leader
you’re my responsibility. It’s my job to
get you out of this alive, no matter what.”
“I know, and I’m sorry I yelled at you.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate it when you’re protective Colonel
O’Neill. I do, and I even like
him…sometimes. But the more you pretend
that nothing touches you, the more I feel I have to do the same. And then I feel lonely, and I don’t like
that.”
After resting quietly for a minute Jack spoke, looking at the floor in
front of them, “I think I was shot
here.” He put his hand on his back, even
with the hip bone. “And I think there
was some collateral damage to the hip joint and maybe some internal
organs. I wouldn’t be surprised if I
still have a bleeder in there, but I don’t think it’s too bad. Except for the pain in my leg I’m relatively
okay. You don’t need to worry about me
keeling over any minute. I figure, we
finish this little assignment and hightail it back to the SCG, then the Doc can
finish whatever the Galt left undone.
Janet will probably have us tied to beds for a month, but even that
sounds good about now.” He briefly
caught Daniel’s eye and glanced away.
Then he changed the subject. “So
do you have a plan for how to approach the local beasties?”
“Not exactly, though I do think it’s important to remember that no
matter how they look, the Kinlee are not animals. They use language and rudimentary tools, and
have an organized social structure.
Ke’hi’nu did think we could make some level of contact with them, so
that’s what we’ll try to do. All we need
is to convince them not to kill us until we can get the stone back in place.”
“That’s all, huh? No problem.”
“Right. Ready to go? The sooner we get this done, the sooner we
get home.” Daniel climbed to his feet
and took Jack’s hand to pull him up. He
held it a little longer than he needed to after his friend was steady on his
legs.
********************************
After another quarter mile Daniel said, looking at the map, “There seems
to be a chamber up ahead, and just beyond that is the carving we’re looking
for.”
When they stepped into the chamber they found out why there weren’t any
Kinlee in the tunnels. They were all
waiting for the odd intruders together.
There were at least twenty creatures, big as mountains, staring at the
humans with bulging eyes. They were
almost nine feet tall and nearly as wide, with powerful haunches and legs
ending in clawed feet. Their arms were
the width of telephone poles with powerful sharp-nailed hands. A ruff of skin flared around the thick heads,
and long tongues were visible darting from toothy snouts.
Stunned into immobility at the sight of them, eventually Jack murmured,
“There be dragons here.”
Daniel pulled himself together and stepped forward. “Hello.
My name is Daniel. This is Jack
O’Neill. We mean you no harm.”
One of the giant creatures took two quick steps toward Daniel, a low
snarl echoing through the room. Jack
moved forward to stand in front of Daniel and brought up his P-90. That was the wrong thing to do. Moving faster than should be physically
possible for a being that size, the Kinlee grabbed Jack and shoved him against
the wall of the cavern, pressing the gun between one large hand and the man’s
chest. The alien’s other hand swung
toward Jack’s face, and a huge claw touched his neck, the point just breaking
the skin to release a small trickle of blood.
Jack attempted to free himself from the viselike grip, but didn’t dare
move too much for fear of ripping his own throat out.
Daniel was at his side in an instant, looking up into the massive
creature’s face. He touched the hand at
Jack’s throat, and shook his head. He
earnestly tried to communicate, “No, don’t hurt him. It’s all right. He just wanted to protect me. He thought you were going to hurt me, but you
weren’t, were you? You…you don’t need to
be afraid of us.”
Jack snapped, “Daniel, does he look afraid to you?”
“Yes, in fact he, or she, does.”
He ran his hand along the scaled arm in a soothing motion and the large
eyes regarded him intently. “It’s all
right. We don’t mean to hurt you. We came to return something that’s
yours. Please let him go. I promise you it’ll be all right.”
“Do you think it understands you?”
“I don’t know. If it’s receiving
my ‘projection’, then it may understand what I mean.”
He pushed harder on the Kinlee’s arm.
“Let Jack go.”
The walking mountain eased its grip on O’Neill and moved back slightly,
watching the older man for any threatening movements.
“Jack, can you take your gun off real slowly?”
“You betcha.” He eased the strap
over his head, careful not to point the barrel at the alien, and lowered the
weapon to the ground. After he stepped
away from it the Kinlee in front of them seemed to relax slightly, and the
others started to murmur amongst themselves.
Daniel dug the small bag out of his pack. “See, we came to return your stone. Do you want it? You can put it back yourselves.” He opened the bag to reveal the rock without
taking it out.
The Kinlee all reacted by taking a step or two backwards. The strange, guttural mutterings
increased. It didn’t take a psychic to
figure out that they were afraid of it.
“That’s okay, we’ll replace it ourselves.” Daniel and Jack moved carefully across the
room, the large creatures parting to let them through. As they walked into a passageway on the other
side, a couple of the locals followed them at a safe distance. Before long the pair found what they were
looking for. An intricate pattern of
lines and symbols, interspersed with small gems, was built into the wall. Considering the shape of the Kinlee’s hands,
it was doubtful that they had been the ones to fashion the elaborate
installation.
There was an obvious gap in the center where something had been
removed. Daniel held the opened bag out
to Jack, who reached in and took the stone out.
Stepping up to the design, he gave one last look at Daniel and the
hovering Kinlee and grumbled, “Well, here goes nothing.”
Jack turned the stone so that its shape matched the indentation in the
wall, and slipped it into place. He
jumped back as a hum filled the air and electric current seemed to run along
the lines of the pattern, causing the gems to flash before settling into a dull
glow. Other than that, nothing
immediately apparent happened. The
Kinlee accompanying them had hunkered down as the show began, but now
straightened up and approached for a better look, pushing with disinterest past
the humans.
“Uh, Daniel? What’cha say we get
the heck out of here?”
“Uh, yeah.”
As they passed through the chamber again, most of the Kinlee had
wandered away or squatted in apparent conversation. None took notice of the humans in their
midst. Not stopping to chat, the pair
retreated the way they had come, beginning the long walk back up to the
surface. They hadn’t gone far when they
had to stop to rest again.
As they sat leaning against the wall Jack asked, “Uh, Daniel? So what’cha think that thing was?”
Daniel replied seriously, “Well, it was obviously some kind of device.”
Jack prompted, “Yeah…?”
Daniel turned to him. “I have no
idea.”
Jack smirked. “Didn’t think so.”
“Really, aren’t you the least bit curious to know what that mechanism
has to do with the Kinlee, and why they reacted violently when it was
disabled?”
“Nope.”
After a moment Daniel queried, “You wanna go home?”
“Yup.”
“Okay.”
*******************************
Three hours later when the pair stumbled, supporting each other, out of
the cave entrance, Mo’oh’pa and Ke’hi’nu were waiting for them. Kenny was bouncing excitedly while Mopey
stroked his back. The scientist
exclaimed, “I knew it! I knew it would
work! All the Kinlee have retreated and
abandoned their aggressive behavior. Now
no extermination is necessary, we can live in peace. Oh, we must thank our human friends. You are brave and clever and good little
aliens.”
Jack said tiredly, “All the thanks we need is a ride back to the
Stargate. It’s been fun, but now it’s
done. Bye guys.”
Mo’oh’pa bent solemnly. “We are
pleased that a violent solution has been avoided. Our leaders extend to you the invitation to
return to our world as invited guests.
Perhaps we could speak of the alliance you mentioned.”
Daniel answered, “We would like that very much. There is much our people could learn from
each other.”
“It is so, Daniel. Come, we will
convey you to the Stargate.”
**********************************
It wasn’t long before they were on the ramp of the gate room, then
surrounded and swept onto gurneys for the trip to the infirmary. After a thorough round of tests, Dr. Fraiser
approached them in their neighboring beds with her clipboard in hand.
“Good news, gentlemen. It appears
that you’ll both live. I’ve scheduled
surgery for each of you in order to correct some internal lesions. You’re both very lucky that ruptured or you
would have bled to death. Some of what
the aliens did is impressive, repairing serious damage to delicate organs. Some of it, I’ve got to say, makes it obvious
that they are somewhat inexperienced with human anatomy. Dr. Jackson, you’ll need some additional
grafts, and I’m afraid you have a couple of ribs that will never be as strong
as they once were. Colonel O’Neill, you
have a bone chip lodged in your hip joint, but happily there are non-surgical
methods of dissolving it that we can try first.
You’ll both be with us for quite a while, but I predict full recoveries.” She smiled triumphantly.
Jack grinned, “We’ll be model patients, Doc. I’m sure I can count on you to report that
I’m too weak for paperwork for the time being, can’t I?”
“Fact is, Colonel, you will be
too weak for paperwork once we get started on the bodywork. And I’ll hold you to that ‘model patients’
promise.”
Daniel was already thinking ahead.
“Janet, maybe you’ll want to come with us when we go back to meet with
the Galt. Their stasis technology and
medical instruments, in the right hands of course, could be a real breakthrough
in trauma care.”
“I admit that I’m intrigued, but that’s a ways down the road. I’m going to let the General, Major Carter
and Teal’c come in for a few minutes, then I want you both to get some
sleep. You’ll be in the OR first thing
tomorrow.”
The excitement of being home was starting to wear off, and they were
both feeling a little groggy. They
answered in unison, “Yes, ma’am.”
As she left, O’Neill gazed at the archaeologist affectionately. “Miracles do happen. We made it back.”
“Was there ever any doubt? The
heroes must complete their journey to the underworld and return home having
learned important lessons.”
“And what did you learn, Alice?”
“Well, White Rabbit, I learned that if I shout loud enough, it’s possible
to get through that thick head of yours.”
O’Neill’s wry grin warmed his eyes.
“Rabbit? I was thinking Cheshire Cat. And I, ah, hope that if you start feeling
lonely again, you won’t have to yell quite so loud before I hear you. Life’s short, don’t wanna waste it fighting
with friends.”
Daniel smiled shyly and ducked his head, suddenly self-conscious. “And thank you. For getting me home alive.”
“Any time.”
Then the rest of the team came in, and they were whole again.
THE END
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