"We're outta here in ten minutes!" The members of SG-2 and 3 exchanged concerned glances as O'Neill slammed the locker room door behind him. His tone had clearly said, 'if you know what's good for you, don't be late!'

Whether it was the look on his face or just sensing his mood, the personnel quickly cleared a path as Jack marched through the corridors toward the embarkation room.

After a report that took less than thirty minutes, Hammond had ordered Jack and Carter back to the planet. SG-2 would stay to help finish the excavation while SG-3 escorted Thorp, Mason and Wright back to the base. Hammond wanted answers. So did Jack. Although Teal'c had thought he might have heard something while meditating he couldn't be sure and Daniel had evidently been in the temple at the time, unaware Peterson had even been hurt.

Rather than answers, Jack and Carter had only returned with more questions. His biggest concerned Lt. Peterson and why the man had been found at the bottom of a cliff, a hundred yards from the camp if he was on watch. There had been no sign of human life on the planet and no soldier in his right mind, with proper training would investigate an unknown noise in the dense forest without backup. Yet that was Thorp's story. The more he thought on it, the more Jack realized the entire scenerio stunk to high heaven.

This time, Thorp had crossed that line. Jack knew it, Carter knew it and Hammond knew it, but they needed solid confirmation. Unless Mason and Wright had information they were willing to impart to the general, that confirmation would have to come from Daniel. To make matters worse, the ante had gone up. Peterson had died from his injuries.

How was Daniel going to handle the news? Another trip to the land of guilt for the young archaeologist because O'Neill knew somehow the linguist would find a way to blame himself. That was just Daniel's way. If he was within ten feet of a tragedy, the young man found a way to assume the responsibility for it.

Try as he might, Jack couldn't erase the picture of the ugly bruise gracing Daniel's cheek. What was worse was the expression on his friend's face when Jack had forced him to look at the older man. The myraid of emotions shining in those eyes tore at Jack. He realized Daniel hadn't trusted him to protect him from the man the soldier was sure had made the mark on the handsome young face. If only Jack had listened, it might never have happened. Daniel had become very good at hiding his emotions but Jack had witnessed the fear in his eyes when he'd seen Thorp standing in the doorway. 'Fell my ass! Well, Daniel we're not quite even because you couldn't look me in the eyes when you lied.'

To make matters worse, the alien member of their team was already feeling guilty. Teal'c seemed to have taken it upon himself to protect the members of SG-1, especially the young archaeologist and now.....As with Jack, Daniel had simply told Teal'c he fell. Nothing more, nothing less. No big deal!

'Well, Dannyboy, we're gonna sit down and have a good long talk as soon as this is over.' Jack silently vowed. 'We're gonna clear the air and get back on track.'

His thoughts were broken as the alarm klaxons began to blare and Jack broke into a run bursting into the gate room as Mason stumbled from the event horizon, falling to his knees, gasping for air.

"Mason!....Mason, what's wrong?!....What happened!?" Jack suppressed the overwhelming desire to shake the information from the wheezing man.

"Col-collapse!....Temple collapsed!!.....Colonel sent m-me for-for help!"

Judging by his condition, the man had run at top speed, the entire five miles to the gate, but all Jack could think about were his friends. "Where are the others?!....Where are Daniel and Teal'c?!....Mason!....Where is Daniel!"

"Inside, Jackson was inside. Teal'c too...."

As fear and guilt flooded over him, Jack thanked God he was kneeling, because he knew his legs wouldn't have held him when he heard those words.

*****

O'Neill tossed the small boulder in the pile with the others, startled to find Carter at his side, holding out a canteen. "Take a break sir."

"No time." Jack argued, shaking his head wearily.

"Your passing out isn't going to help Teal'c or Daniel, sir!" Carter wrapped an arm around his waist, helping him to sit on the pile as he took a long swig of the cold water, most of it running down his chin. "They've almost cleared away the first level. Hopefully it won't be much longer now."

"Fourteen hours....it's already been...." Hopelessness echoed in O'Neill's voice.

"I know." Sam pressed salt tablets into his hand, passing him the canteen again, waiting until he'd swallowed. Her eyes skimmed rapidly over the rescue efforts. Emergency lights lit up the surrounding area as bright as noon. The SGC was now running on a skeleton crew as every available person had been sent through the gate. Those who hadn't been ordered, volunteering, willing to do anything possible to help in the rescue. Janet had set up a makeshift medical facility as close to the excavation sight as possible without being in the way. Sam knew Jack hadn't made use of either the mess tent or the dozen cots, which overran SG-8's campsite, where the volunteers could rest in shifts.

Carter gritted her teeth, as she recalled seeing Thorpe sitting almost casually in the mess tent, calmly sipping the last of his coffee as he finished the heated MRE. She'd watched as leaving the plate where it was, he'd strolled to his tent and stretched out on the sleeping bag before dropping the tent flap. The Major had successfully controlled the urge to wrap her small hands around his throat and drag him back to the temple, demanding he rejoin the rescue efforts. She knew he gave no more thought to her teammates than he would have a couple of mosquitoes. They were only mere annoyances and if indeed he was disturbed at all it was more by the delay in his precious schedule.

When the rescue teams began arriving through the gate, their first order of business had been to shore up the small portion of temple still standing. Once accomplished, the volunteers had swarmed over the site, immediately tossing the rubble into several piles for the small backhoe to push away. Their progress was slow and with each passing hour, her own fears and doubts about the survival of their friends increased.

Her gaze stopped momentarily on Sergeant Wright as the burly man, gulped from a canteen before passing it on, offering words of encouragment to the people around him as they struggled with a particularly large slab of stone. Earlier, she'd watched as he'd carefully brushed the dirt from a small statue before slipping it into his pocket. Seeing her steady blue eyed stare, he'd shyly explained he thought it was something Daniel would like to see, when this was all over. It was a message of hope. He wasn't giving up. None of them were.

According to Wright, he'd last seen Daniel in the lower level and Teal'c had entered the temple just a moment or so before, intent on forcing the young man to join them for lunch when the ancient building had suddenly fallen in on itself with a deafening roar.

"His worst fear..."

Her gaze returned to O'Neill at his barely audible words, seeing his pale complexion beneath the dirt, the fear and worry in his brown eyes. She didn't have to ask what he meant. They all knew the courage it took for Daniel to do the thing he loved the most. He was terrified of dying alone in darkness, crushed, just as his parents had been, beneath the ruins he loved to explore. Sam wasn't sure she would have the strength. She was equally certain it was only Daniel's thirst for knowledge which suppressed his fear. Lost in the past, in new discoveries, Daniel blocked out everything else.

"Come on, Jack, let's get some coffee." The fact he didn't argue worried her as she took his arm. Sam led him to the medical tent where Janet had a fresh pot brewing. If anyone could convince the colonel to rest even for a short time it would be the petite doctor.

"We're through!" Jerking from her grasp as the excited words filled the air, Jack half ran, half stumbled to the far side of the site, where he remembered the stairs had been. That small portion of temple hadn't completely caved in.

Grabbing the flashlight someone offered, O'Neill dropped to his stomach next to the hole in the ruins. He felt a strong grip on his belt and legs as he shoved the upper half of his body through the small hole. Blinking the falling dust from his eyes, Jack swept the flashlight in an arc surprised to discover quite a bit of room between him and the boulders littering the floor.

"Carter, bring me a safety harness and rope!" Jack began issuing orders as he wiggled back from the hole, all signs of earlier exhaustion gone. "Let's widen this hole. I want a crew to start clearing over here," he quickly marked the space. "The stairwell is here and most of it looks clear. All we have to do is get to it."

As Carter rushed up with the requested equipment, he turned to her. "Sam, have Janet standing by!" His anxious fingers tightened the straps of the helmet as an airman buckled the safety harness around his waist, rechecking the fastenings and knots. "Let's move! We got people down there!"

In minutes that seemed like hours, with one hand tightly gripping the rope, Jack aimed the flashlight beam at the slowly approaching floor as he was lowered through the opening. He sure as hell didn't want to land on Daniel or Teal'c if they were directly below him.

Finding a clearing for his feet, Jack released the rope and slowly began his search, praying it would end quickly and with positive results. He hated the thought of his friends needing Janet's services but what frightened him even more was they would be beyond any help the medical officer could provide.

Jack's head whipped around. Was that the sound of a pain filled moan? Where had it come from? Had he really heard it? Sounds reverberated around the chamber, including those of the workers above him. Had it been only his imagination? Was his desire to find his friends alive, causing him to hear what he desperately wished for?

"Carter!" His hand went to the radio mic attached to his shoulder. "Tell everybody to shut up! I want absolute silence!"

His heart pounding in his chest, O'Neill stood motionless as the noises above him slowed then ground to a halt. He almost laughed, picturing everyone freezing as if they were playing the game of their childhood. Tiny pieces of gravel from the edge of the entrance hole, rattled as they bounced across the floor but that was only sound.

"O'Ne...ill." His heart leaped into his throat at the weak baritone voice, barely louder than a whisper.

"Teal'c!...I'm here Teal'c....Talk to me buddy!.....We're gonna get you outta here!"

"He..re....here....O'...eill..." Hooking the flashlight on his belt, Jack scrambled toward the stairwell.

Several large slabs of stone, leaned against the walls at odd angles forming a bizarre canopy. Scant inches seperating them from the rubble which covered the familiar figure of his Jaffa friend and from appearances Teal'c had lost consciousness.

"I need a medic down here now!" Jack barked into the mic, adding to Carter. "How's that...."

"We're working on it, sir!" He could hear the strain in Carter's voice as she worked, heard the fear as she couldn't bring herself to ask the one question she so desperately needed answered.

"I found Teal'c...he's alive..."

"O'Ne...."

"It's alright, Teal'c...just take it easy....we'll have you out of here as quick as we can." The colonel reassured his friend, struggling to keep his voice calm and steady, as he carefully cleared away the last of the large debris. A boulder, too heavy to move alone, continued to pin the warrior's legs.

"Da...ni...iel...Ja..." Teal'c succombed to a bout of coughing brought on by the dust Jack was stirring. His dry throat feeling as if it were being ripped apart.

"Take it easy buddy...I'll be right back." O'Neill made his way to the hole in the ceiling, calling for someone to toss him a canteen. He could hear the frantic work of the volunteers, clearing the stairwell as he deftly caught the container, moving out of the way as the legs of one of the medical personnel appeared through the ceiling. Leaving them to fend for themselves, he returned to the Jaffa.

"Here buddy," Gently supporting Teal'c's head, Jack held the canteen to his lips. "Small sips...The last thing you need to do is start barfing."

"Wh..y...wo...I....bark...."

"Barf..." Jack laughed, temporary relief flooding through his veins.

"Dan...Jac...be....me..." The Jaffa struggled with the words, fighting his pain as tried to explain to O'Neill.

"What Teal'c?....What about Daniel?"

"Be-be...hind....m-me..." The Jaffa's voice faded as he slipped into the blessed relief of unconsciousness again.

"Is he conscious Colonel?" Startled by the voice, Jack turned to see Janet unstrapping the safety harness.

"He was," he answered quickly. As his eyes searched the boulders and debris for any sign of his young friend, his mind traveled back in time to another planet, seeing again the rocks which had crashed down from the ceiling, burying the archaeologist. He stubbornly pushed aside the vision as he bent to begin clearing the rubble surrounding the Jaffa.

With the help of the arriving medics, the last slab of stone pinning the Jaffa was removed and they quickly set about stablizing the injured man, preparing him for removal from the underground chamber. As they worked, Jack continued his slow, monotonous search, his mind fuzzily working to judge Daniel's approximate location. If Teal'c had been right, then Daniel had to be within Jack's reach. The distance between the Jaffa and the wall hadn't been that great.

'Damnit Danny...talk to me...Where the hell are you?' Stepping carefully, easing stones to the only clear spot he could find, Jack tried to block out the noise from above, the voices of the medical team working on his alien friend and concentrate only on hearing any small sound that might lead him to the youngest member of his team. He wished he could block his escalating fear as easily.

His heart skipped a beat as the light caught a flash of silver. Daniel's watch?! It took every ounce of control O'Neill could muster not to begin hapazardly tossing aside the various obstacles keeping him from reaching his friend, knowing a wrong move could do more harm than help.

Gently brushing aside the dirt and gravel, much the way he'd seen Daniel do with his beloved artifacts, Jack's breath caught in his throat as a bloody hand was revealed.

"Janet..." The single word sounded more like a croak than a name, as his own hand shaking uncontrollably, the soldier tenderly wrapped his fingers around the wrist, praying for a pulse. There...faint...unsteady...but a pulse. "Janet!"