The first thing Sam noticed as she stepped through the Stargate was the quiet. Despite the trees that surrounded her, the world she had entered was as silent as the grave.
"Okay," Jack noted as he moved cautiously down the stone steps, "this is peaceful."
"Peaceful like a cemetery," she replied.
But he shook his head. "Nah, cemeteries have birds." He squinted up into the pale winter sky, searching it for some sign of life, and then frowning he stalked off to scout the vicinity.
"You know," Daniel said as he started pulling their gear from FRED, "for a planet that has two suns this place is cold."
Sam smiled, although she couldn't shake her sense of unease. "It's winter," she explained, "which, for this planet, is actually quite rare - usually one of the suns is closer than the other, creating a sort of perpetual spring."
"Sounds nice."
"Yeah," she agreed. "But we're actually witnessing the equivalent of the winter equinox, when both suns are at their furthest distance from the planet, hence the cold days and long nights. Winter probably only lasts a couple of months though, every few years."
"Well don't tell Jack," Daniel warned, "or he'll want to go home and come back in the summer...."
She chuckled a little. "He wouldn't like it!" she assured him. "With both those suns overhead it would be very hot here."
"Never heard Jack complain about the heat," Daniel reminded her. "He'd probably bring...."
A noise behind them switched her attention from Daniel to Teal'c, who was watching the trees warily with his staff weapon raised. "Did you hear something?" she asked him, following his gaze as she tightened her fingers around her own weapon.
After a long moment Teal'c shook his head. "I was mistaken," he said and slowly lowered his staff.
"Yeah," she muttered, voicing her agreement to his unuttered statement of unease; she could tell he felt the same nameless threat that was prickling the back of her neck.
"So what are we waiting for?" Daniel asked as he hefted his heavy pack onto his shoulders. "If we want to get to the temple before dark we need to get moving!"
"Just...wait a minute," O'Neill called, returning from his swift reconnoiter of the surrounding area. Daniel sighed, shuffling like an impatient adolescent, but said nothing. Coming to stand next to Sam, Jack pulled off his hat and scrubbed a hand through his hair. "This place," he said, "feels...."
"Wrong?" Sam suggested. "On edge?"
He nodded. "Yeah, exactly. Teal'c?" he asked. "You feel it?"
The Jaffa nodded. "I do."
Jack's brow knitted into a frown. "Carter," he said, turning to her, "I'm reckoning about twelve miles to Daniel's pile of rocks?"
She nodded. "I agree, sir. It's a good day's trek."
Sam could see the Colonel weighing the decision in his mind, conscious of Daniel's impatient shuffling just behind them. And then he looked over at her again, silently seeking her opinion. His gesture of trust warmed her, but she could do no more than shrug a little. There was no real threat, nothing overt, just a deep sense of unease that they all shared - well, all but Daniel - but that was hardly enough. The mission had been weeks in preparation and no one would be cheering if they came back because they didn't like the feel of the place. Besides, SG-1 had a certain reputation to protect! O'Neill dropped her gaze and made the decision she expected. Turning back towards the forest he jammed his cap back on his head and said, "Keep your heads up, kids." Then with a final, swift glance at Carter to tell her that he meant it, he led them away from the gate and into the trees.
***
There was something about this place that gave Jack the creeps. There was no better way of putting it. Something about the unnatural silence kept his fingers curled tensely around his weapon and his nerves on edge; every tiny sound magnified in his mind, constantly startling him. Rubbing a hand over the back of his neck he tried to ease the tension he felt building there, but it did little good. He glanced over at Carter who walked a couple of feet away, eyes constantly roving through the trees that surrounded them, looking as tense as he felt. They shared similar instincts, he reflected, among other things.
She must have felt his eyes on her because she turned to him and gave a little shrug. "See anything, sir?" she asked.
"Trees," he replied. "Dead leaves. Twigs."
Her lips twitched towards a smile, but she was too on edge for humor. "I've been thinking, sir," she said, "about why there doesn't appear to be any animal life here."
"Go on."
"Well," she nodded, "I think we're either talking about an ecological catastrophe or a pathogen."
He frowned. "I'm not really liking either of those options, Major."
"No," she agreed. "But don't worry, the data we got from the UAV didn't reveal anything potentially harmful to us - nothing in the air or soil samples we analyzed."
"You're forgetting something," Daniel piped up from behind them.
"Oh?" Jack asked over his shoulder.
"Predation."
He saw Carter's eyes widen for a moment, before she shook her head slightly. "What kind of predator could exterminate every single creature, Daniel?"
"The kind I'd like to avoid," Jack muttered, earning him a smile from Carter.
Daniel shrugged. "Just an idea," he said. "Maybe the humans here hunted everything to extinction?"
"Everything?" Jack's reply was skeptical.
"Um, sir?" Carter interrupted. "Look at this."
Glancing up, he followed her gaze through the trees until he saw - well, he wasn't exactly sure what he saw. "What the hell happened here?" he muttered. Ahead of them, the forest was decimated. The trees were stripped bare, mere skeletal remains stabbing twisted and broken limbs into the cold winter air. The swath of destruction was over one hundred and fifty feet wide, disappearing into the distance almost as far as he could see. Nothing lived in its path - no bush, no grass, nothing.
"It's not a fire," Carter said immediately, crouching down and running the dirt between her fingers.
Taking a step closer to one of the trees, Jack traced his fingers across the bark. "Almost looks like something ate it," he said.
Carter joined him, studying the tree for herself. "Look," she said after a moment, "there's a new shoot. The tree's not dead."
"Just very - skinny," Jack added.
Carter's smile was as thin as his joke. "I have no idea what could do this, sir," she said quietly. "But if it's the same thing that's responsible for the animals...?"
Jack nodded, not liking her train of thought but knowing there was logic in it. "Teal'c," he called, beckoning the man over with a nod. "You ever seen anything like this before?"
"I have not," Teal'c replied.
"I have," Daniel said then, walking slowly towards them.
"You have?"
"Discovery Channel," he said simply. "The Old Testament..."
Jack shook his head, irritated. "What?"
"Plagues of locusts?" Carter guessed, glancing at Daniel with a slight tinge of disbelief.
"They'd have to be damn big locusts, Daniel," O'Neill frowned. "And I never heard of locusts polishing off the wildlife as well as the greenery."
"If this kind of destruction is wide-spread, sir," Sam pointed out, "the absence of animals and birds could be due to a lack of suitable habitat."
"That would explain it," Daniel agreed.
"Huh," Jack nodded, shifting his pack into a more comfortable position as he prepared to move out. "Well, keep your eyes open," he told them and headed out through the decimated woodland. Plagues of locusts? That was all he needed!
***
By late afternoon Sam's shoulders were starting to protest under the weight of her pack, and she stopped to tighten the hip-strap, easing the burden slightly. O'Neill was up in front, Daniel and Teal'c not far behind him, while she was left to watch their backs. Not that there was anything here to watch for. In the whole day's journey they had seen nothing but trees, their leaves green and verdant. But every now and again they had come across another barren patch, devoid of anything green, the trees stripped to their bones. They walked through one now, making Sam shiver as she glanced around the lifeless forest. In the weak afternoon sunlight the trees took on a skeletal appearance, silhouetted against the pale winter sky.
Suddenly she heard a sound. She stopped dead, straining her ears through the silence. There it was again. Birdsong. Shielding her eyes against the sun that was hugging the horizon she saw a tree. An intact tree, with leaves and - if her ears weren't deceiving her - a bird in its branches. She glanced towards her friends, the gap between them widening, and called, "Teal'c!"
He turned at the sound of her voice, as did O'Neill. "I need to check something out," she called again, almost cringing at the loudness of her voice in the silent forest.
"Carter?" came Jack's cautious reply.
"A tree, sir," she replied, waiting for the sarcastic response. But he didn't say anything, just waved his approval and sat down to wait. She smiled though, because she was almost sure she could see his eyes rolling.
As she slowly circled the tree, alive and flourishing amid the destruction, Sam heard footsteps and saw Teal'c approach. "It is curious," he observed, "that this tree survives, where the others do not."
"Very," she agreed, pulling off a leaf and studying it. Its color was strange, a deep purple veined with silky violet threads, but as she rubbed it gently between her fingers the fragile leaf crumbled, releasing a sticky sap onto her hand. Lifting the broken leaf to her nose she sniffed, but it smelled innocuous and she tucked the leaf into her pocket and continued her survey, while above her the bird sung its lonely song.
"This tree is a different species from the others I have observed on this planet," Teal'c noted, gazing up into the branches. "Perhaps that is why it has survived."
"Because it doesn't taste as good?" she suggested.
Teal'c just shrugged.
"Carter!" The Colonel's call sounded a touch impatient. "Done with the tree hugging?"
She cast an exasperated glance at Teal'c and called back, "Yes, sir. On our way."
Jack rose to his feet at her words and continued on through the trees with Daniel at his side. They seemed to be deep in conversation, and Sam wondered what it was they were discussing so intently. She doubted it was archaeology almost as much as she doubted it was hockey. But their pace wasn't fast, giving her and Teal'c time to catch up, and as she closed the distance between them she managed to catch the drift of their conversation.
"...Gwyneth Paltrow?" Daniel was suggesting, much to Sam's surprise.
"Nah," Jack shook his head. "Too skinny."
"Oh come on!" Daniel protested. "Are you telling me you'd say no if she offered?!"
Teal'c cast Sam a curious glance, a question in the slight rise of his eyebrow. She just smiled, putting a finger over her lips to silence him.
"She's just not my type," O'Neill replied.
"Well then who?" Daniel asked. "There must be someone...?"
Jack thought for a moment. "What was that movie with all the nasty alien things? Woman in a sweet little tank-top carrying a big gun?"
Sam had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing.
"Alien?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah," Jack nodded. "She was pretty hot."
"Sigorney Weaver..." Daniel mused. "Yeah I guess so. Kind of aggressive though."
Jack shrugged. "Looks like she can take care of herself - Gwyneth whatever-her-name-is looks like a stiff breeze would knock her over."
"Aren't you guys a little old for this kind of discussion?" Sam asked them, enjoying the startled looks on both their faces.
"He started it," Jack protested immediately.
"Just trying to make conversation."
"Gwyneth Paltrow and Sigorney Weaver," she mused out loud. "Interesting choices."
"Who are these women?" Teal'c asked then.
"Actresses," Sam explained. "Tall, skinny, long legs - you know the type."
"I do," Teal'c agreed. "Such women appear to be in need of a good meal."
Sam smiled. "Yeah, you said it!"
Jack chuckled at their conversation, dropping back to walk at her side. "So come on Carter," he said slyly, "we've told you ours - who's top of your list?"
"I don't have a list, sir," she answered primly. "I gave up that kind of thing in High School."
"Leonardo DiCaprio?" Daniel suggested, grinning over his shoulder as he started climbing a shallow slope ahead of them.
Sam laughed outright. "Please! I prefer men who need to shave more than once a week!"
"Such as?" Jack persisted. "Come on - who...?"
"Whoa!" Daniel's exclamation interrupted him mid-sentence.
Glancing up, Sam saw Daniel standing atop the small incline. "Come and look at this guys," he said in a low voice.
Trotting up to his side she and Jack both stopped dead as the ground before them fell away revealing a deep ravine, the distant rush of water audible from its depths.
"How come that didn't show up on the UAV survey?" Jack asked, his brow creased into a frown.
"I don't know, sir," Sam replied, and then glancing up at the overhanging trees she added, "the foliage might have hidden it."
"How are we going to get across?" Daniel asked.
"Good question," Jack muttered.
"Perhaps we could use that bridge?" Teal'c suggested, without a hint of irony, pointing away to his right.
Jack followed his gaze, eyes narrowing. "Good answer, Teal'c."
"That's a bridge?" Daniel didn't sound convinced and Sam couldn't really blame him. The slender strip of metal that spanned the ravine, glinting in the fading sunlight, was so narrow that no more than one person could pass along it. To either side a narrow cable stretched across the chasm, providing slender barriers to the depths below. And the closer they got to it, the worse it appeared. By the time they were all standing before it, even Jack seemed skeptical.
Tugging on one of the cables he said, "Kinda feels secure. Sort of."
"Maybe there's another way?" Daniel suggested, eyeing the slender bridge with growing unease.
"Well," Jack replied, "we could always rappel down the ravine, ford the river, and climb up the other side, but that might take a while. You wanna go first?"
Daniel just glared.
"Actually, sir," Sam said then, intervening before things began to deteriorate too badly. "I think the bridge is quite strong." She moved to take a closer look, running her hand over the slick metal to confirm her suspicion. "It's made of some kind of naquada alloy; it should be almost indestructible."
"Naquada?" Jack replied, cocking his head to one side. "As in Goa'uld?"
She nodded. "It's a safe bet they were here at some point, sir."
"Probably built the temple," Daniel added.
"And is it a safe bet that they're gone?" he asked, his brow twitching down into a frown.
"Yes, sir," Sam assured him. "The UAV survey reported no signs of life. And this bridge could be ancient - the naquada alloy would survive almost indefinitely."
He considered for a moment, before nodding. "And you're sure this thing's safe?" he pressed, stepping onto the bridge and testing it with his own weight.
"As sure as I can be, sir."
He gave a little shrug. "Okay, then lead the way, Major."
The delicate bridge swayed as Sam stepped onto it, but it didn't sag. She was impressed. "Actually, sir," she said over her shoulder as they started to walk across, "architecturally this is quite an accomplishment. A bridge of this design would collapse under its own weight if it were made of any alloys we use."
"Fascinating."
"Yeah," she carried on, ignoring his sarcasm. "The naquada obviously increases the strength of the alloy by a degree of...."
She never finished her sentence for at that moment her foot slipped on something slick, sending her sliding over the edge of the narrow bridge. She yelped as she felt herself start to fall, but in the same moment flung herself sideways so that her fingers grabbed hold of the opposite side of the walkway, halting her descent before more than her legs had disappeared over the edge. And as she lay there, feet waving over the chasm below, she realized that Jack was yelling.
"Carter!" He sounded more panicked than she'd ever heard him as he grabbed hold of her arms. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I slipped on something," she muttered in embarrassment as she wriggled back onto the bridge.
"Damn it, Carter," he snapped, helping her back to her feet, "be careful."
"I'm okay, sir," she assured him. "I'm fine."
Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair, and she could see the rise and fall of his shoulders as he took a deep breath. "Just try to stay on the goddamn bridge, Major."
She smiled a little and nodded. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I just stepped on something slippery...." Glancing down at the brilliant surface of the bridge she saw a black smear mar its luster. She crouched to get a closer look, earning her a warning "Carter...?" from Jack, as she balanced herself precariously with one hand on the slim cable that ran along the side of the bridge.
Looking more closely she realized with disgust that what she had slipped on was either the remains of a small animal or a huge bug. She saw little teeth and numerous tiny, clawed legs. With a shudder, she stood up. "So much for the wildlife," she murmured.
"Wildlife?" Jack asked, peering over her shoulder. "Carter?" he said then, his voice full of humor, "did you just tread on the first living creature we've seen on this whole damn planet?"
She winced. "I think I might have, sir."
As she stepped over the creature's remains Jack kicked it off the bridge and into the chasm. She stared at him in surprise and he shrugged. "I won't tell, if you won't."
"Actually, I'm pretty sure it was already dead, sir," she said, starting to walk again. "Maybe we'll get lucky and find another one to take a closer look?"
"Oh, boy - ya think we'll get that lucky?!"
Smiling at his idle banter and moving slowly and carefully once more, Sam made it to the other side of the bridge with O'Neill close on her heels. Daniel was the next to cross and the grin he gave her when he at last stepped back onto solid ground was dripping with relief. "Did I ever tell you I hate heights?" he said as she held out her hand to help him off the bridge.
"No."
"Well I do," he nodded vehemently. "At least, I do now. Why would anyone build a bridge that narrow?"
"It is extremely defensible," Teal'c pointed out as he too stepped off the bridge. "No army could hope to cross such a bridge."
Jack nodded his agreement. "Extremely defensible," he said, "and kinda fun. I already can't wait for the trip home!"
Daniel groaned. "There has to be another way."
"Maybe," Jack shrugged, "but let's cross that bridge when we come to it...."
Daniel's eyes narrowed, but he didn't deign to respond.
"What?" Jack asked with exaggerated innocence. Sam just rolled her eyes, but caught the amusement in O'Neill's face and couldn't help but smile. "Okay, okay," he said then, nodding towards the trees ahead. "Just lead the way Daniel - we're almost at your pile of rocks."
Daniel glanced up, sudden interest replacing the exasperation on his face. "Right," he nodded, pulling out the basic map the UAV survey had provided. "Um, this way...."
But he'd hardly taken two steps when a rustling in the trees behind them drew all their attention. Sam's weapon was in her hand as she turned, and she heard the sharp click of the safety coming off Jack's gun as Teal'c's staff weapon hissed open. Her heart thudded in her chest as they waited, and then, not ten feet away, the forest burst into four-legged life.
"Holy...?" Jack began as a herd of small deer-like creatures tore through the forest in a wave of swift, graceful movement.
"Guess there is life here after all," Sam said, lowering her gun as she watched the fragile looking creatures stream past them.
"Looks like they're in a hurry," Jack pointed out with a frown.
Sam understood his meaning instantly. "Something might be chasing them," she realized.
Jack grimaced. "Let's not stick around to find out," he decided, nodding to Daniel. "Let's go."
>From the bridge it didn't take them long to reach the ruined temple, and they saw no more of the deer-like creatures as they walked. They did pass through two other swaths of destroyed forest, and Sam noticed several more trees intact, their robust purple leaves in stark contrast to the decimated forest that surrounded her. But the stripped forest at least made the temple easy to see as they approached, and Sam heard Daniel's quiet murmur of appreciation. "Beautiful," he breathed.
"Big," Jack added, with a small shrug.
The temple rose on straight columns, their bright colors chipped and peeling with the passage of the years, while its pyramidal roof glinted with a dull gold in the fading sunlight. While Daniel's eyes were full of curiosity and wonder, Sam had to confess that her thoughts ran to more prosaic matters. Her feet ached, her shoulders ached, and there was a hole in her stomach grumbling to be filled. The thought of a fire, dinner and a cozy sleeping bag were of more interest to her than the crumbling monument that towered over them as they at last came to a halt.
"This is fantastic," Daniel breathed, laying a reverential hand on the red stone. He took a deep breath, "You can almost feel the history in it."
"What I can feel," Jack muttered, "are my feet telling me to stop. We'll make camp here and take a look inside in the morning."
"The morning?" Daniel protested. "No. We still have at least an hour of daylight! Come on - we've come all this way!"
O'Neill smiled a little smugly. "Okay, here's the deal. You find the entrance before dark, and we'll go take a look. Okay?"
"Sure," Daniel shrugged, heading off immediately.
As he left, O'Neill slipped his pack from his shoulders and let it fall to the ground with a sigh of relief. "Ahh - that feels good," he said, stretching his shoulders and back.
"Think you're gonna win this one, sir?" Sam asked, shrugging off her own pack. Oh, it did feel good!
"Come on, Carter," he replied with a twinkle in his eyes. "This place is huge. What are the odds of him finding a way in before...?"
"Jack!" Daniel's excited yell interrupted him. "Over here!"
"Oh for crying out loud!"
Sam couldn't help the grin that spread over her face as she hefted her pack back onto her shoulders again. "Pretty short odds, I'd say, sir."
"That man's too damn lucky for his own good," O'Neill muttered, picking up his own pack with obvious reluctance. He sighed, "Okay, let's go see the rocks."
The entrance Daniel had found was through a short, low tunnel but the room that opened out beyond was huge. Its ceiling was lost in the darkness, far above the reach of their flashlights, and the walls were covered in markings that Daniel immediately identified as Goa'uld writing. He was pawing over them now, brow furrowed as he and Teal'c attempted to translate. Jack was heading off into the darkness, and Sam started to follow him when he let out a low whistle. "Hey, Daniel," he called, "take a look at this!"
The narrow beam from his flashlight was glittering across a floor covered in gold, inlaid with rainbow hued jewels. And above it rose a golden dais bearing an image of a strikingly beautiful woman. "Is it me?" Jack murmured to Sam as she came to stand by his side, "Or are her eyes glowing?"
"It's a statue, sir," Sam assured him.
"Wow," Daniel breathed as he joined them. "Look at this! There must be a fortune here. It's amazing it hasn't been looted."
"There's no one here to loot it," Jack pointed out.
"Yeah, it doesn't look like anyone's been in here for centuries," Daniel agreed. He took a step closer, "Let me just take a...."
But as he moved forward something flashed brilliant scarlet, and then a blast of bone-shattering force detonated right in front of them and Sam felt herself blasted into the air, the breath forced from her lungs as she slammed into something cold and hard. Her head cracked against stone with a burst of white light before she started falling and the darkness took her.
***
She was swimming in the night, floating in a blackness that was eternal. Without breath, without light, she lingered in the dark, rising and falling to rhythms that were not her own. But dim through the darkness she heard voices, the distant whispers of tortured souls.
"Major Carter...?" Anxiety.
"What the hell...? Ah Jesus that hurts! Oh Christ!" Pain. Anger.
"Jack, I'm bleeding. A lot!" Fear.
She clung to the voices, willing herself towards them, knowing they were calling her. And then she felt herself start to rise, floating upward faster and faster until she broke the surface and her eyes fluttered open. But the darkness still surrounded her, and in the chaotic light of discarded flashlights she saw the concerned face of Teal'c hovering over her.
"Major Carter."
"I'm okay," she assured him, pushing herself upright, ignoring the dull ache in the back of her head. "What happened?"
"An energy field surrounds the Goa'uld treasure," he told her calmly. "Its power is formidable."
"No kidding," she agreed, tentatively probing the back of her head. Her fingers came away clean; no blood. That was a good sign.
"Carter?" Jack called from somewhere off to her right. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she got to her feet a little shakily, grateful for Teal'c's steadying hand. "You?"
"Ah," he muttered, "that would be a no. Actually."
A little beat of dread pulsed deep in her heart at his casual words. For Jack to confess he was hurt meant it must be bad. She knew for a fact that he'd walk around with broken ribs without mentioning it until he was half-dead. She took a step towards him, but then turned back to Teal'c. "Where's Daniel?"
"Unconscious," Teal'c replied. "He lost consciousness while I removed a piece of stone embedded in his arm, but he breathes easily. I will watch him."
She nodded and turned back to O'Neill, coming to crouch at his side. He was propped up against the wall, a streak of blood from a small gash on his head trickling down his temple. But even in the darkness she could see the unusual pallor of his face. "Where does it hurt?" she asked him with a small smile, hoping to mask the cold fear she felt.
"Knee," he replied, sucking in a sharp breath as he attempted to move. "Oh yeah."
Sam reached out a tentative hand to touch his leg, and saw him flinch at the gesture. "Broken?" she asked.
"Probably," he replied through gritted teeth.
She bit her lip, memories of the last time she'd had to splint his leg flooding to the surface. Judging by the look on his face, his mind was travelling along the same path. "I need to take a look," she told him.
"Make sure Daniel's okay first."
"Teal'c's with him."
"Oh."
"I'll get the med kit."
He just nodded, his jaw locked in grim resignation.
Sam's heart was thudding by the time she returned, dreading what she had to do but knowing she had no choice. "Believe me," she muttered as she knelt at his side again, "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you."
"Wanna bet?" he asked. She didn't reply, just swallowed hard as she fumbled in the med kit for something to cut his pants away from his damaged leg. "Major?" he said then, in a quiet, serious voice that drew her eyes to his, "Do what you have to. I'll be okay."
She nodded, grateful for the small smile she saw in his dark eyes. "Yes, sir."
Once she'd cut the heavy material away, she grabbed her flashlight and took a good look at his knee. It was badly swollen already, the skin taut and pallid in the pale light. She peered closer, risking a light touch and feeling him wince, although he made no sound. "I think," she said after a moment, "that it's dislocated, sir."
"And the good news?"
"Actually," she said looking up at him, "that is the good news."
"Yeah, thought it might be."
"It's better than a break. It should heal quickly once we get back, sir."
"It's the getting back that's concerning me, Carter," he told her, his expression lacking its usual banter.
"I'll go back to the gate, sir," she offered, "call for a rescue team."
The Colonel opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment Teal'c's voice rang out. "Major Carter," he called, "Daniel Jackson is waking up."
O'Neill gave her a quick nod. "Go check on him. I can wait."
By the time she reached Teal'c's side, Daniel was throwing up. "Sam?" he muttered in between retches. "What happened?"
"You touched something!" Jack called.
Daniel just moaned, wiping a shaking hand across his mouth. "Remind me to never touch anything again."
"Thought I already had," Jack growled.
Ignoring them, Sam took Daniel's arm in her hands. "Let me see your wound," she said, lifting the bandage that Teal'c had applied to Daniel's upper arm. Beneath it she saw a deep laceration, welling with fresh blood as the bandage was disturbed.
"Ow!" Daniel hissed, pulling his arm away. And then seeing the blood on her fingers, he flinched. "Still bleeding, huh?"
"Yeah," she told him. "You've got a nasty gash." Wiping the blood away, she gave him a little smile, "Hope your tetanus shots are up to date."
"You don't think Janet would forget a thing like that, do you?" he replied, reflecting her smile with a pale imitation of his own.
She gave his uninjured arm a gentle squeeze and climbed back to her feet. "Try to keep some pressure on that wound," she told him. "It's still bleeding. And sit still - you've lost some blood and might feel light headed for a while."
"Where are you going?"
"To fix up the Colonel," she said.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Dislocated knee."
"Ow."
"Yeah," Jack replied, "that about sums it up."
"Teal'c," Sam said as she left. "Keep an eye on Daniel."
A silent nod was his only answer, but it was enough. Her thoughts were now fixed on the task ahead, her professional mind quelling the emotional unease writhing in her belly. She could do this. She'd done it before, she could do it again. She had to, because there was no one else. "Okay sir," she said with false brightness, "this shouldn't be as bad as last time."
"Have you been practicing your splinting technique?"
She gave a faint smile. "No, but all I have to do is immobilize the joint. I don't have to set it this time."
"I don't need the details, Carter," he told her, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "Just do it."
She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Yes sir."
***
Jack's stifled, pain-filled curses grated on Daniel's raw nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard, and he found it impossible to sit still. Despite the pain searing his arm, and the way his head was subtly spinning, he rose to his feet and wobbled his way towards one of the temple walls in an attempt to distract himself from what was going on in the darkness behind him.
The writing was definitely Goa'uld, and he squinted at it, willing it to stay still before his eyes as he attempted to translate. "I, Kalandra, claim this place as my own, and raise a temple to my glory and everlasting power," he read, muttering the words softly to himself. "My people will labor here for my honor and pay homage with their lives...."
"Agh! Jesus, Carter!" Jack yelled suddenly.
"Sorry sir," came her anguished response. "I'm nearly done."
Daniel shivered, and carried on reading. "...This land will surrender its wealth to me, that I might challenge the mightiest of all and triumph, for I am Kalandra, Bringer of Destruction."
"Words of foolish arrogance," Teal'c said, coming to stand at his side.
"Typical Goa'uld," Daniel agreed. He flicked his flashlight along the wall, and was surprised to see that the writing ended not far away. A large and rather ugly symbol cut across it, and then it was taken up again in a different script. "I wonder what...?" he began, but Teal'c interrupted him.
"Death," he said in a cold voice.
"What?" Daniel asked, chilled by the edge of fear he'd heard in the Jaffa's words.
"That symbol is death. Plague. Annihilation."
"Oh," Daniel nodded. "Okay." He moved closer to take a good look, running his fingers over the inscription. Unlike the elegant writing he'd been reading before, this was scratched into the walls with obvious haste, fear evident in the clumsy strokes. He gazed at the writing, dancing before his blurry vision, unable to make it out. "Can you read this, Teal'c?" he asked.
"I can," came the reply. And then, after a pause, "'For more than two hundred dawns the people of Kalandra labored for their God, and she was mighty and bedecked with wealth beyond imagining. But then the darkness grew long and the suns did not shed their favor on the people of Kalandra. And in the darkness, the night took form. It came down from the heavens and devoured the people of Kalandra, their blood and screams for pity meaning nothing to the merciless terror born of the night.'"
"Nice," Daniel nodded. "Any idea what it means?"
"A warning," Teal'c told him, his voice still laced with unnatural fear. "We should leave this place."
***
"That's it, sir," Sam said, relief that the grim task was over making her light-headed.
O'Neill didn't reply, just nodded as he took several deep breaths, his head leaned back against the wall. She could see the pain etched into the lines on his brow, in the way his fingers were curled into fists at his side, and in the pallor of his face. Glancing quickly over her shoulder she saw Daniel and Teal'c busy studying the Goa'uld writing. Grateful that they were distracted she turned back to O'Neill and reached out a gentle hand to touch his face. "Colonel?" she whispered. "Are you okay?"
He opened his eyes at her touch and nodded, swallowing hard. "Just trying to keep lunch down," he explained with a wan smile. Then he surprised her by taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "Thanks Carter," he said, "you're getting good at this."
"If I never do that again, it'll be too soon," she told him.
"Can't argue with that." He dropped her hand and pushed himself into a more upright position. "You know," he said then, "how come it's always me who gets damaged in these little accidents, while you get away with cuts and bruises, Major?"
She shrugged. "Guess I'm just lucky, sir."
He started to smile, but his smile turned into a grimace as he shifted his leg. "Agh," he groaned, "sometimes I think I'm getting too old for this, Carter."
Sam just shook her head. "Plenty of time for shuffle-board when we get back, sir," she told him. "But right now, you're still in command. Orders?"
He sighed. "Make camp, get some food and sleep. Head back to the gate in the morning."
"Do you think you can walk, sir?"
"With a little help," he nodded. "But it'll be slow going."
"I could go back on my own," she offered. "Bring SG-8 through?"
He shook his head. "Not on your own, Carter. Take Teal'c."
"Daniel's not in great shape either, sir," she told him. "His arm was mangled pretty badly - I haven't had a good look, but he's still bleeding a lot. I don't want to leave you two alone - if anything happened...."
"Nothing's going to happen," he assured her, and then added, "so long as Daniel doesn't touch anything else!"
"But sir...?"
"We'll discuss it in the morning," he told her firmly. "Right now, let's get the hell out of here and make camp. It must be almost dark already. Help me up."
She helped pull him to his feet, watching him grit his teeth against the renewed pain. But at last he was upright, his arm about her shoulders and leaning heavily against her as she looped an arm around his waist. "Okay?" she asked.
"Just peachy," he replied. "Where are the others?"
"By the wall," she told him. "Translating."
"I thought you said Daniel was hurt?"
She shrugged a little, which was difficult under his weight, and said, "He is. I told him to sit still, but when's that ever stopped him, sir?"
Jack just shook his head. "Daniel! Teal'c!" he called. "Time to go."
"I concur," Teal'c replied as he strode towards them, his tone oddly tense. "This place is ill-omened."
"Not arguing with that," Jack said. "Grab my pack, and Carter's," he ordered, "we'll camp outside. Don't want to risk running into any more Goa'uld surprises."
Teal'c nodded silently and did as he was bid.
"How's the leg?" Daniel asked, walking slowly towards them.
"Painful," Jack told him. "How's the arm?"
"Painful."
"It would be."
"Um Jack?" Daniel said then, glancing at Teal'c disappearing through the narrow entrance with their packs. "There's some kind of warning written on the wall over there, about the darkness massacring the people of Kalandra, the um," he nodded over at the golden statue, "the Goa'uld who built this place."
"Really," Jack replied, not even attempting to sound interested. Sam couldn't blame him; the fate of ancient Goa'ulds wasn't exactly high on her list of priorities either.
"Yeah," Daniel nodded, frowning and running a hand through his hair, "it kinda freaked Teal'c out."
"Teal'c?" Sam asked. "Freaked?"
Daniel shrugged helplessly. "He seems to think we should take it seriously."
"Well, Teal'c can be kinda superstitious sometimes," Jack reminded them. "I mean it's only a couple of years ago he thought Apophis was a god."
"Maybe," Daniel replied, not sounding convinced. "Just thought you should know, that's all."
Jack nodded. "I'll talk to him," he said. "After we get a fire built and some food going."
Sam smiled. "Yes, sir," she said. But the rest of her reply was cut short by the unmistakable sound of a staff-weapon discharging.
"What the hell?" Jack snapped, and Sam felt his whole body go taut with a sudden tension.
Another blast echoed through the narrow entrance, followed by a sharp yell, "Major Carter!" It was Teal'c.
"Go!" Jack said immediately, pulling his arm from around her shoulders. Sam flung him a quick glance and saw the concern in his eyes, before she ran for the entrance stopping only to grab her MP-5 from the floor.
When she emerged into the open air she struggled to understand what her eyes were telling her. Teal'c was standing nearby, firing randomly into the darkness, the bright blast from his weapon revealing nothing.
"Teal'c!" she yelled, running to his side. "What is it?"
"The dark," he hissed. "It's coming."
"What?" Oh crap, maybe he'd hit his head too? What the hell was he talking about? "Teal'c, I don't..." she began. But then she saw it. And heard it. She hadn't noticed it immediately, beneath the racing beat of her heart and the sound of the blood rushing in her ears, but she heard it now, a soft hissing, a thousand steely whispers in the night. The darkness itself was alive, streaming across the ground, over and around the trees that surrounded the temple, moving like a thick black river in flood.
Teal'c fired again, and she saw the darkness splinter away from the blast. But it soon regrouped and continued its approach. Keeping her weapon raised in one hand, she swept her flashlight into the night and saw the black flood shy away from the beam. A sudden crashing through the trees drew her eyes and her flashlight to her left, and she saw something tearing through the darkness. It was one of the deer-like creatures they'd seen earlier, but she barely had time to make it out before the night overtook it. And as the first tendril of the living darkness touched its hind legs the animal screamed, its whole body starting to shudder and shake as the darkness swarmed over it with a sickening hiss. And then, almost as fast as the darkness took it, it was gone, leaving behind nothing more than bones. "Holy shit," Sam breathed, swallowing her revulsion and fear. "What the hell is it?"
"Terror born of the night," Teal'c replied, firing again into the advancing flood.
"What?"
"It is our enemy."
"I'll buy that."
It was closer now, almost at their feet. And then something touched her boot and she jumped back, kicking the thing from her foot as she aimed her flashlight down. Fleetingly she saw something small, black and furry with a glitter of tiny white teeth, but as the beam of her flashlight touched it the creature disappeared. "They're some kind of animals!" she realized, flashing the beam around her again, seeing the darkness part before it. "And they don't like the light," she said. "Teal'c, use your flashlight to keep them back...."
The rattle of gunfire from inside the temple stopped her short. "Carter!" Jack's yell was urgent, and Sam was moving in an instant.
"Teal'c," she shouted over her shoulder, "fall back to the temple - don't let them get behind you!"
The flash of gunfire in the darkness of the temple showed her instantly where O'Neill and Daniel stood, back-to-back. "Colonel!" she yelled. "They hate light - use your flashlight!"
And then she felt something drop onto her head and yelped as she tried to brush it off, but she could feel tiny feet scrabbling on her head, tangling in her hair. "Little bastard!" she hissed, as she managed to drag it free, its small furry body writhing in her hand as she flung it away.
"Carter?" Jack yelled again, his flashlight aimed in her direction. "Carter - are you...agh, damn it!"
"They're dropping from the ceiling!" Daniel shouted. "Oh my God! They're eating...they're eating my pack!"
"We have to get out of here," Jack barked as she reached them, shuddering as her boots squelched and slid as she squashed the tiny creatures that skittered all around them.
"I'll help you," she said, slipping her arm around his waist again. "Lean on me, sir, and wave the flashlight at anything that moves."
"Daniel," Jack snapped as they hobbled into motion. "Cover our backs."
Their progress was slow, but Sam knew they could go no faster. Every step was agony for O'Neill and the arm that circled her shoulders got tenser by the moment, his fingers starting to dig painfully into her arm as they moved. But the walls and ceilings were writhing with the living darkness, kept at bay by nothing more than the narrow beams of their flashlights as they inched their way forward, and Sam found herself counting their steps towards the narrow exit from the temple.
"Goddamn it!" Jack cursed, as another couple of the creatures dropped onto them, sliding from his shoulder to hers before she swept them away with her free hand.
"Almost there," she told him as the narrow exit emerged from the darkness. But then her heart sank, for the walls and ceiling of the short tunnel were swarming with the little creatures. "Shit."
"We'll have to run for it," Daniel suggested, unhelpfully.
"Yeah, right," Jack muttered.
"We have to get through there," Sam said then, glancing up at O'Neill who just nodded silently. His face was ashen in the harsh light of the flashlight. "I have an idea, sir."
He looked down at her. "I'm open to suggestions."
"Teal'c," she called.
"I am here, Major Carter," came the reply.
"Can you fire into the doorway - not enough to bring it down, just to clear some of these creatures out the way?"
His reply came in two swift blasts of bright light that sent the creatures scurrying. Some of them, anyway.
"Okay," she snapped, "Daniel, grab the Colonel's other arm - we're gonna have to run." She flung Jack a swift look, "Sorry sir, this is gonna hurt."
"Yeah," he nodded. "Let's get outta here."
***
The pain in his knee was indescribable, shooting up his leg with a grating intensity that made him sweat, narrowing his vision and setting his ears buzzing with the helpless feeling of being on the verge of fainting.
"Almost there, sir," he heard Carter gasp as she ran, half pulling him along.
But he didn't have the energy to respond, he was too busy trying to maintain his fragile grip on consciousness. And then a breath of cool night air brushed his face and he opened his eyes, somewhat surprised that they'd been closed. Carter was knocking something off his shoulder and he could feel sharp little claws skittering across the back of his neck.
"Yuck!" she muttered, one arm still securely around him, keeping him on his feet. Well, on his foot actually. Even the slightest pressure on his damaged knee was agony.
Dimly, through eyes still blurred on the edge of consciousness, he saw something small and black run up Sam's arm and knocked it away hurriedly.
"Thanks sir," she replied with a grim smile, sweeping her flashlight around them and sending another wave of the creatures scurrying out of their path. "There must be millions of them."
"What the hell are they?" he managed to ask, although his voice sounded pathetically faint even to his own ears.
"I have no idea, sir," Carter replied, "but I think they're responsible for what happened to the trees on this planet."
"And the people," Daniel added grimly.
"Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c said then. "This position is not secure."
Jack nodded, his head clearing as the pain receded slightly now that he was no longer in motion. He glanced around and saw the eerily shifting waves of darkness sweeping back and forth over the temple, creeping like thick, black oil across the branches of the trees in the forest beyond, leaving nothing but devastation in their wake. "Any ideas?" he asked.
"Fire," Carter said immediately. "They hate light."
He nodded. "Move away from the temple. We need to be out in the open - I can't stand these goddamn things landing on me!"
"Over there," Teal'c said, gesturing towards a small clearing in the trees.
Tightening his grip around Carter's shoulders he gave a brief nod. "Looks good. Let's...."
"Um, Sam?" Daniel's hesitant voice came from behind them, where he was busily waving his flashlight at the advancing blanket of darkness. "I should probably mention here that I'm kind of having trouble seeing."
Sam turned and Jack withdrew his arm from her shoulders, just resting one hand on her arm for balance. "You can't see?" he asked. Crap, this situation was really beginning to deteriorate.
"Everything keeps graying out," he explained. "I feel kinda faint..."
"It's the blood loss, Daniel," Carter told him. "Stick with Teal'c - he'll keep you on your feet. Right Teal'c?"
"I will."
"Thanks," Daniel nodded, looking a little sheepish.
"Don't sweat it," Jack assured him. "At least you've still got two usable legs!"
He saw Sam smile at his words, which lifted his spirits a damn sight more than it should have done. But he couldn't help himself; even in the worst of times her smile was like a burst of sunshine. He felt her arm slide around his waist, preparing to take his weight again, and he tried to pretend that it didn't feel good to be so close to her. But despite the circumstances, or maybe because of them, he was glad to have her at his side. As his arm settled around her shoulders she glanced up at him with one of those rare looks that penetrated the barriers of rank and regulation that separated them, and smiled a very determined smile. "Ready, sir?" she asked.
He nodded. "Do your worst, Carter," he said, giving her shoulders a little squeeze, "I'll be with you all the way."
***
'Damn it, damn it, damn it!' The words ran through Sam's exhausted mind as she waved the fire brand at the deluge of creatures that had surrounded their little camp, hissing and chittering in the darkness. They were ignoring the flames, scampering over her boots and threatening to run up her legs until she kicked them away. "It's not working sir!" she said at last, turning back to where O'Neill sat propped against their packs, waving his flashlight at the advancing swarm. "It doesn't make any sense - they should be afraid of the fire!"
"At least it's warm," he observed with a sigh. "Come sit down for a minute, Carter," he added, "the flashlights are working for now - you need to rest and eat something."
"I'm okay," she protested, flinging the useless branch angrily into the midst of the creatures.
"That's an order, Major," O'Neill said quietly. Damn it, she hated it when he did that! "Sit down."
"Yes, sir." She took the offered ration bar from his hands and sat down next to him, chewing disconsolately at the unappetizing meal.
"Carter," O'Neill said after a moment, "either I'm hallucinating or your fingers are glowing purple!"
"What?"
He nodded at her hand holding the ration bar. "You have purple fingers."
Looking down, she saw with astonishment that her fingers were indeed glowing a faint, but eerie, violet color. She lifted her hand in front of her face, examining her fingers with a frown.
"Does it hurt?" O'Neill asked, an edge of concern to his voice.
She shook her head. "No, sir."
"Sam?" Daniel added. "I think your pocket is glowing too."
Glancing down, she saw a faint smear of purple across her jacket pocket. And then realization dawned and she dipped her fingers inside, pulling out the leaf she had taken from the tree she and Teal'c had examined that afternoon. Sure enough, the leaf was glowing faintly in her hand. "Bioluminescence," she realized, studying the leaf with genuine interest. "Look at that!"
"The tree was not damaged by the creatures," Teal'c reminded her.
But Sam was way ahead of him. "That's why the fire didn't work," she realized. "It's not light per se they don't like, but something in the violet or even ultraviolet range of the spectrum. Firelight is too red! But these trees have somehow developed a natural defense against them."
"Glow-in-the-dark trees?" O'Neill muttered. "Now I really have seen everything!"
"This could help us," she told him, putting her ration bar to one side in her enthusiasm. "We could use this."
"How?"
She frowned. "I'm not sure yet, but there has to be a way."
O'Neill shrugged slightly, wincing as he attempted to shift position. "The flashlights seem to be working fine."
"For now," she said quietly. "The batteries won't last forever."
"We'll reach the gate before tomorrow night," he told her confidently. But she couldn't meet his gaze; at the pace he could walk, she knew there was no way they'd cover twelve miles in a day. She was surprised he didn't know it himself. But, she reflected, the Colonel had always had a stubborn streak a mile wide. "We will make it, Major," he repeated, as if reading her thoughts.
Sam glanced up. "Yes, sir," she replied. And then, noticing how exhausted he looked she said, "You should try to get some sleep. I'll keep watch for a while and keep the creatures at bay."
Jack shook his head slightly. "Not likely to get much sleep tonight, Carter," he told her, nodding towards his badly swollen knee. "You put your head down for a while, I'll watch."
"Sir," she said quietly, "with respect, you'll need all the strength you can get tomorrow if we're going to make it to the gate before dark. I'm not the one who's injured here."
He said nothing, watching her as he struggled to fault her logic.
"I can keep watch," Daniel offered.
"You sleep," O'Neill told him firmly. "You're still bleeding!"
"I will watch," Teal'c said then. "I have no need for sleep."
Jack cast Sam a quick triumphant glance, but she said, "It needs two people, sir, to keep the creatures away - front and back of us." She got to her feet then, rummaged in her pack for the med-kit and pulled out a packet of Demerol. "Here," she said, "take these - they'll take the edge off the pain and help you sleep."
But Jack shook his head. "No thanks, Major," he said. "Those things always make me dopey and I think I want to keep my wits about me tonight."
Sam nodded, understanding his reasoning. But then she remembered something and turned back to the med-kit. "I'm sure I remember Janet saying she'd started packing some...," her fingers closed around a bottle and she pulled it out, examining it closely, "Toradol."
"And that would be?" Jack asked.
"A pain killer," she replied. "But it's not a narcotic so it won't knock you out. Here." She offered him a couple of tablets and he took them from her hand with a silent nod of thanks, swallowing them dry.
"Make sure you wake me before dawn," he told her. "You need to sleep too, Carter."
"Yes, sir." She watched as the Colonel eased himself into a semi- reclined position, his expressive face flinching each time his knee moved. But at last he closed his eyes, his breathing becoming slow and regular; he'd been a soldier long enough to have mastered the art of sleeping pretty much any place at pretty much any time. Sam allowed herself a brief smile as she saw his face relax a little, before she turned her gaze back to the shifting, creeping darkness beyond the firelight of their camp. She swept her flashlight in long arcs before her, keeping the menace at bay, and tried to ignore the fear churning within her.
***
Daniel slept fitfully, if at all. Unlike Jack he'd never mastered the art of sleeping on demand and tonight, with his arm burning with a fiery pain, and his gut squirming with nausea as he curled up on the cold, hard ground, sleep was elusive. Next to him, Jack breathed slow, regular breaths and Daniel felt the clutch of envy in his throat. How could the man sleep? Aside from the pain, how could he sleep knowing that nothing but Sam, Teal'c and a couple of flashlights stood between him and a gnawing, rending fate that didn't bear contemplation?
Rolling onto his back, he gazed up at the stars and sighed.
"Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c's voice at his side was quiet. "Are you well?"
"Yeah," he whispered. "Having a hard time sleeping, that's all."
"Your arm is painful?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "But actually I think it's the fact that we're surrounded by these nasty little furry bug things that's causing the problems."
"Their proximity is unpleasant," Teal'c agreed.
"You know," Daniel began, and then stopped when he felt something small and scratchy run across his hand. "Agh!" he yelled, sitting bolt upright, sending waves of pain pulsing through his arm as he moved.
"Daniel?" Sam called, shooting to her feet just as Jack startled awake.
"What the...?" Jack began, instinctively trying to get to his feet. "Agh, shit!" he gasped as his injured knee protested.
"I felt one of them on my hand!" Daniel yelled, stumbling to his feet and shaking out his blanket. "I swear!" He grabbed his flashlight with his good hand and swept it around the camp while Teal'c and Sam kept theirs aimed outward.
"I don't see anything," Sam said, staring into the camp over her shoulder. "Teal'c?"
Daniel turned slowly, as he struggled to see through the darkness. "It was on my hand," he insisted.
"Dreaming?" Jack suggested.
"I wasn't asleep."
"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said in a stern tone. "Remain still."
"What?"
"One of the creatures is on your back."
Behind him, he heard Teal'c take a step closer. Daniel's skin was crawling as he felt little scrabbling feet digging into the fabric of his jacket. "Get it off!" he hissed. And then he felt a swift sweeping blow to his back.
"I have it," Teal'c told him. "It's...Agh!"
"Teal'c?" Daniel spun around to see something small and black clinging voraciously to Teal'c's hand, while Teal'c started to shake uncontrollably, falling to his knees. "Shit!"
"Teal'c!" Sam was at his side in an instant. "Sir," she flung over her shoulder, "watch our backs."
Jack didn't even flinch at the order from his second, just switched on his flashlight and started waving it at the hissing darkness. "What's happening, Carter?" was all he asked.
Teal'c was breathing in short, shallow breaths and the sound filled Daniel with fear. Teal'c was always okay. How could one tiny little creature hurt him?
"Damn thing won't let go," Sam muttered.
"Light," Teal'c hissed through clenched teeth.
"Of course," Sam shook her head in irritation at herself, grabbing her flashlight and shining it right over the creature.
It let go immediately, and to Daniel's surprise Sam stamped on it and squashed it into the dirt. "Daniel," she said then, her eyes fixed on Teal'c's hand, "turn around and keep waving the flashlight, I need to see to Teal'c."
"Yeah," he replied, gritting his teeth against the pain in his arm as he swept the flashlight in front of them all, watching the creeping darkness retreat in its path.
"Carter?" Jack asked again, his frustration at his immobility evident, "what's going on?"
"Teal'c's been bitten, sir," she replied, her voice taut.
"Bad?"
"Yeah - I think these things are poisonous, sir."
"I will be well," Teal'c assured them in a strained voice. "My symbiote will protect me from the venom." But Daniel heard Sam's quiet sigh and knew that she didn't agree.
Jack too had picked up on her silent reservation. "Carter?" he asked, clearly canvassing her opinion.
"Given time, sir," she said slowly, rising to her feet and rummaging for the med-kit again, "Teal'c's symbiote would probably defeat the poison, but it already seems to be attacking his system. He'll feel at least some of its effects." Pulling what she was looking for from the med-kit she crouched back down in front of Teal'c and frowned, glancing at the ugly little bite on his hand. "Guess I'll treat it like a snakebite," she decided as she started to wrap a bandage snuggly about his hand and arm. "This should slow the spread of the venom."
Teal'c just inclined his head, his jaw clenched.
"Guess that's pretty powerful stuff then?" Jack asked, his tone betraying a deeper sense of unease. "If one of us had gotten bitten...?"
"My guess is that we'd already be dead, sir," came Carter's grim assessment.
"Great. This just gets better and better."
Daniel gazed out into the night as the import of Sam's words sank in. One bite from one of these little creatures meant death. One bite. He thought back to their retreat from the infested temple with a shudder; it was a miracle they were all still alive.
"Well, there's at least some good news," Jack said then.
"What's that, sir?" Sam asked, in a tone that clearly warned she was not in the mood for humor.
"Dawn."
Glancing over his shoulder, Daniel saw that Jack spoke the truth. A thin line on the horizon was turning to azure as the planet's twin suns began their slow return. The night was almost over and would take its creatures with it when it departed. But Daniel knew, as did they all, that the darkness would be back; glancing down at the slowly dimming flashlight he held, he knew that they would be hard pressed to survive another night on this planet.
***
Teal'c sat at the edge of the camp they had hurriedly constructed the previous night, attempting to achieve kelno'reem with little success. The venom that mingled with his blood was powerful and its effects were disrupting his concentration. Pain cramped his gut, bringing a sheen of sweat to his skin that made him shiver in the cold morning air, while a narrow band of agony tightened around his skull, intensifying the pale morning light to an almost unbearable level. Major Carter had been right in her assessment, he concluded; had any of the others been bitten their death would have been swift and painful.
Taking a deep breath he returned his attention to his attempts to meditate, hoping that it would provide his symbiote with the additional energy required to heal both itself and him.
"Teal'c?"
His heart sank a little; kelno'reem, it seemed, was beyond his reach this morning. "Major Carter," he replied, opening his eyes.
"How do you feel?"
He considered his answer. "I am able to walk," he replied in the end, deciding that was the information she required.
Major Carter gave a satisfied nod. "Good," she said. "We're gonna head out in a few minutes. You up to that?"
"I am," he told her. The pain was bearable for now; his mind could ignore it even if his body could not.
"Sam?" From behind him, Teal'c heard Daniel Jackson's shaky voice.
Major Carter rose to her feet, glancing over at her friend. "I told you to stay sitting down," she said with a slight frown.
"I need to find the med-kit," Daniel replied, rummaging with his good arm in one of the packs.
"I'll get it," Sam told him, striding over to Daniel. "Sit down," she said as she pulled the box from the pack. "What do you need? Pain-killers?"
He shook his head. "I think the dressing on my arm needs changing again."
Carter frowned. "I just changed it half an hour ago!" she muttered, crouching down before him to take a look at his wound. But as she peeled away his jacket sleeve, already dark with dried blood, Teal'c saw that Daniel Jackson was right; the bandage was sodden and blood trickled thickly from beneath it.
He heard Major Carter swear quietly before she said, "Must have re- opened," and delved once more into the med-kit for fresh dressings.
"Shit!" came a cry from the other side of the camp, "God damn it!"
Teal'c and Carter turned at the same time to see O'Neill, balanced on one foot, bracing himself against a tree with one hand as he struggled to get his pack on his back.
"Sir?" Carter snapped. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying" he replied irritably, "to get this damn thing on. What's it look like?"
"You can't carry that, sir," she said, her frown deepening into serious annoyance.
"Yes," O'Neill snapped, "I can. I just can't get the damn thing on!"
"Sir," Carter sighed, "with your injured knee you can't try to carry...."
"Who's gonna carry it then, Carter?" he asked pointedly. "Daniel? We need the supplies."
Carter held the challenge in his gaze for a long moment, before Teal'c saw her grudgingly accept his point and turn back to dressing Daniel Jackson's wound. "I'll help you in a minute," she said, "I have to finish with Daniel's arm first."
"I don't need your help," O'Neill muttered, trying again to lift the heavy pack with one hand while keeping himself upright with the other.
Teal'c decided to intervene. "I will assist you, O'Neill," he said, pushing himself to his feet and ruthlessly ignoring the pain that raged through his body.
O'Neill ceased his futile struggles, but watched Teal'c's approach with a shrewd look in his dark eyes. "And how are you doing, Teal'c?" he asked. "How's Junior?"
"Better than you," Teal'c told him, not wishing to discuss his illness. Discussion was irrelevant, all that mattered was endurance.
"Can't argue with that, I guess," O'Neill replied, but suspicion still lurked on his face. Picking up O'Neill's pack, Teal'c helped him struggle into it. "Now that's better," he said, cinching the straps around his waist.
"Sir?" Major Carter called out then, standing up and helping Daniel Jackson to his feet. His arm, Teal'c noted, was now bound tightly in a sling with the obvious intention of preventing the limb from moving and re-opening the wound.
"Carter?"
"Ready to go, sir?"
He nodded. "Just waiting for you, Major."
She crossed the small camp and hefted her own pack onto her back, settling it easily onto her shoulders. "Teal'c?" she said. "Can you help Daniel? He's still unsteady - he's lost quite a lot of blood."
Teal'c inclined his head. "I will," he agreed, offering his arm to Daniel Jackson.
But the Doctor looked at him askance and said, "We, um, don't need to hold hands, Teal'c - just be ready to catch me if I take a nose-dive."
"As you wish," Teal'c shrugged.
As they spoke, Major Carter had returned to O'Neill's side and was supporting him once more. "Ready sir?" she asked, with a hint of a smile on her lips as she glanced up at him. It was the first smile Teal'c had seen on her face all morning.
O'Neill nodded. "Let's get this circus on the road, Major!"
Teal'c speculated silently on what a circus might be, but decided not to ask; the pain in his head and belly made him less amenable than usual to being the butt of O'Neill's dubious wit. Lifting his own pack, and keeping an eye on Daniel Jackson, he followed O'Neill's hobbling progress from their camp, hoping that they would make it back to the Stargate before the venom overran his system and he could walk no longer.
***
By mid-morning Sam was already exhausted. Carrying her own pack while supporting O'Neill was proving too much; her head had started to throb shortly after they'd started walking and had gotten worse all morning.
"Sir," she said at last, hating to have to make the request, "I need to stop for a minute."
"Sure," he replied immediately, and from the tight expression on his gray face she realized that he welcomed the rest probably more than she did.
They'd reached some unharmed woodland; she helped ease the Colonel down onto a fallen tree trunk before she sank to the floor at his side hoping that a few moments rest would help ease the thudding pain in her head.
"You okay, Carter?" O'Neill asked.
"Just tired," she told him, looking up with a faint smile. "You?"
"Nothing that a couple of doses of morphine won't cure."
"Thank God," Daniel sighed as he collapsed to the floor next to Sam, leaning back on the tree trunk and closing his eyes. Reaching over, Sam pulled his jacket away from his bandaged arm and cursed silently when she saw blood starting to bloom on the sling. Damn it! Why wouldn't he stop bleeding? "I'm okay," he murmured, opening his eyes and smiling slightly. "Just need to catch my breath."
She just nodded, not really believing him. But she didn't want to change the dressing again, because they were starting to run low and they really didn't have the time; their progress had been frighteningly slow.
"Carter?" Jack's voice drew her attention. "You got any more of those Turendot things?"
She smiled. "Toradol," she corrected him. "Yeah, sure." Pulling the bottle from her pack she snuck a couple of Advil into her hand at the same time. "Here," she said, dropping the Toradol into his hand.
"Remind me to thank Fraiser when we get back," he said as he swallowed them.
"The shape you guys are in," Sam replied, "you're gonna have to do a whole lot more than say thank you."
"Well, we've gotta keep her busy in there, right Daniel?"
"Sure," he murmured. "Why not?"
"I'll tell her you said that," she told them, climbing reluctantly back to her feet. The movement sent another wave of pain through her head, but she kept her face impassive as she discreetly popped the Advil into her mouth and swallowed them with a swig from her water bottle. "We should go, sir," she said then, reaching down to lift her pack. But the Colonel grabbed her wrist and gave a slight shake of his head, "Leave it," he said quietly.
"But we need the supplies," she pointed out. "The med-kit, rations...."
"Put what we need into my pack," he told her, "leave the rest. We need to lighten the load here, Major - we have to make better time."
She nodded silently, knowing he was right. They'd barely covered a quarter of the distance to the gate and the twin suns were already high in the sky; in her heart she knew that their chances of reaching the gate before dusk were slim.
"Teal'c," O'Neill called, "ditch anything you don't need, and stow some of Carter's supplies, will ya? We're gonna pick up the pace."
He complied in silence and it wasn't long before they were ready to leave. Clothes, cooking gear and thermal blankets lay discarded in the forest as they left, but Sam had to admit that the going would be easier without her pack to carry.
"I feel like an eco-vandal," Daniel complained as they walked on, glancing over his shoulder at the debris they had left behind. "We came, we saw, we threw trash everywhere."
"Better than 'we came, we saw, we got eaten'," O'Neill pointed out.
He shrugged, conceding the point. After a moment he said, "We're not going to make it back to the gate before dark, are we?"
"Why not?" the Colonel asked, but Sam knew his words were just bravado.
"Because," Daniel said slowly, "we haven't even reached the bridge yet, and it took us most of the day to get from the Stargate to the bridge on our way in."
Jack was silent. "We still have half a day," he said tersely.
After a moment's silence, Daniel said, "Is there a plan B?"
"I'm working on it," Jack replied, his frustration evident. Glancing up into his face, Sam knew instinctively that he blamed himself for their slow progress and wondered uneasily what he was planning. But she had no more time for speculation, for at that moment another wave of pain started boring into her head and the only thing she could focus on was putting one foot in front of the other.
***
As the day wore on the tension mounted. Jack could feel it creeping up his spine, tensing the back of his neck as their slow progress fed his gnawing frustration. Plan B. The words raced through his mind as he limped along, his arm locked around Carter's shoulders, doing his best to keep his weight off her as much as possible. Plan B. There had to be one, there had to be an alternative to being eaten alive by the creeping darkness.... The thought made him shiver, drawing Carter's attention.
"Okay?" she asked, her voice unusually quiet and tired.
"Someone walked over my grave," he told her.
She didn't reply, but he saw her frown and felt an almost imperceptible tightening of her arm around him; she was as worried as he was, her thoughts no doubt following the same path as his. He just hoped she was having more luck. Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice the small rock in his path until his good foot landed awkwardly, causing him to stumble. Involuntarily he put his other foot down to keep him upright. "Damn it!" he almost screamed as pain seared through his injured knee with a sickening jolt. "Oh God that hurts!" he gasped, screwing his eyes shut against the pain. "Son-of- a-bitch!"
"Sir!" Carter's voice was distressed, her arm tightening around him as she endeavored to take more of his weight. "Are you okay?"
He nodded, still lacking the breath to speak. "It's okay," he managed to hiss after a while, waiting for the worst of the pain to subside. "I'm fine."
"Right," she replied, clearly unconvinced, her arm remaining securely locked around his waist. "You need to stop?"
He shook his head. "No time," he whispered, opening his eyes and finding himself gazing directly into her concerned face. "Believe me, Major," he assured her grimly, "I've been through worse. I can handle it."
Her eyes flooded with questions he didn't want to answer, so instead he retreated into his usual bravado. "In fact," he said, forcing his voice to lightness and hiding the pain that was still stealing his breath, "if it weren't for the man-eating critters coming after us, this would be kind of nice. A walk in the park."
"Not much of a park," Carter pointed out, glancing at the barren forest surrounding them.
"I'm thinking fall," he said, "golden leaves, warm sunshine, beautiful woman on your arm - that kind of thing."
Carter smiled. "Well the sunshine's pretty warm here, sir."
He nodded. "I guess two out of three ain't bad," he agreed, casting her a sly glance. "Shame about the leaves though."
She'd obviously noticed his veiled compliment because a subtle tint of pink touched her cheeks, accentuating their underlying pallor, and she smiled a sudden, startling smile. But she didn't reply, just tugged him back into motion, her eyes flitting between the ground beneath their feet and the distant horizon that marked their destination. They stopped briefly for lunch, and Jack watched as Carter changed Daniel's dressing once more, wincing at the sight of the wound and at the amount of blood that was still seeping out. Daniel made no complaint though, just gritted his teeth against the pain and thanked Carter when she was done. Teal'c said nothing while they rested, ate nothing, just sat with his eyes closed; Jack assumed he was meditating. But the guy didn't look well, his face was sallow and even from a distance Jack could see the sheen of sweat that covered his skin. He shivered slightly at the thought of the venom coursing through the man's veins, knowing it would mean death to any of the rest of them.
"Carter," he said then, watching as she finished up with Daniel's arm, "you gonna eat something?"
Turning around she glanced at the ration bar he held out. "I'm really not that hungry."
"Eat," he insisted.
She sighed, but didn't seem to have the energy to argue as she came to sit at his side and started munching on the ration bar he gave her.
Jack frowned, "You feeling okay?" he asked.
"Considering the situation, sir?" she replied. "Just peachy."
He nodded, eyeing her suspiciously; Carter was always fine, so she'd have you believe. "Then eat-up Major," he told her, "can't have you looking like Daniel's half-starved Gwyneth Poultry."
"Paltrow," Daniel corrected him. "And she's slender, not half- starved."
Carter smiled slightly. "Not much chance of that, sir," she assured him. "My relationship with Ben and Jerry is way too close."
It was his turn to smile. "Ice cream, huh?"
"Everyone has a weakness, sir," she replied. After lunch they walked in silence for most of the afternoon, no one mentioning the fact that the shadows were lengthening and the light was gradually dimming towards dusk. But it became increasingly obvious that, not only were they not going to make the gate by dark, they'd be lucky if they made it even half-way there. Jack found that a cold fear was now rivaling the pain in his knee for attention as he limped along at Carter's side, considering and discarding their limited options one by one. None of them seemed viable; how the hell were they going to survive another night among the creatures that had ravaged the forest?
"Sir?" Carter said then, as if reading his thoughts. "We're not going to make it to the gate before dark."
"I know," he replied quietly.
"We need a plan B, sir."
He nodded. "Come up with anything yet?"
"I was thinking about the bioluminescent tree Teal'c and I discovered," she said, her voice oddly flat and expressionless. "If we could find one, we might be able to use it to protect ourselves."
"They're not exactly abundant," he replied, glancing around the woods.
"There was one on the other side of the bridge," Carter reminded him. "The one Teal'c and I found...." She stopped then, dragging Jack to a halt.
"What?" he asked.
"Sorry, sir," she muttered, reaching for her water bottle and pulling something from her pocket; a bottle of something.
"Carter?" he asked, watching her shake a couple of tablets into her hand. "What's up?"
She said nothing as she swallowed the tablets with a quick drink, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Headache," she told him curtly. "I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"It's just a headache, sir," she assured him, offering up a small smile. "I'm just tired."
She started walking again, pulling him back into painful motion. He sighed; it was no surprise she was tired, having to support his useless weight the whole way. Damn, he hated being dependent on her, hating knowing that, had it not been for his injury, they'd all be off this goddamn planet already. Ignoring the screaming pain in his knee, he tried to take a little more of his own weight and lighten her burden.
"You don't have to do that, sir," she said immediately.
"Do what, Major?"
"If you put too much weight on your knee you'll risk damaging it further," she warned him.
"At this point," he said, "I'd chop the damn thing off if I thought it would help me move faster!"
Something that was almost a chuckle escaped Carter's lips, but she said no more and they returned to silence. But he watched her out of the corner of his eye as they struggled on together; her face was pinched with obvious pain and he was on the point of insisting that she take a break when Daniel called, "There's the bridge!"
"Thank God," Carter breathed.
Jack nodded, glancing up at the sky. There was no doubt that they were running out of time; one sun had already dropped below the horizon and the other wasn't far behind. He figured they had, perhaps, an hour of daylight left. "How far to your glow-in-the-dark tree, Carter?" he asked.
She frowned as she thought, and her lips tightened into a thin line when she said, "At our current pace, sir, probably two hours from the other side of the bridge."
He took a deep breath. "Then I guess we need to get moving," he said. "And make damn sure we've got those flashlights ready, because we're gonna need 'em."
***
Sam's head was pounding with a constant, throbbing pain that filled her stomach with a cold nausea it was increasingly hard to ignore. The Advil she'd taken had done nothing to ease the sickening pain and it was beginning to make her feel desperate.
Forcing herself to think of something else, she concentrated on her immediate situation. She stood now at the end of the bridge, watching the slim metal structure glinting in the dying rays of the sinking sun. Daniel was crossing first, Teal'c close behind in case he stumbled and fell on the narrow walkway; the bridge was already swaying under their weight and their progress was painfully slow. Sam felt muscles all over her body slowly tensing with the potent combination of fear and adrenaline as she realized that the darkness, and all it contained, would soon be upon them. Her eyes flicked to the setting sun and she scowled; time was running out fast.
"We'll make it to the tree," O'Neill said from where he rested nearby.
"We don't even know if it will give us any protection," she reminded him quietly.
"Now you're sounding like Samuels," he chided gently. "If you think it'll work, then it'll work. I have faith in you."
Damn it, where did the man get his confidence? She shook her head, rubbing absently at her temples in a vain attempt to ease the pain. "It's got nothing to do with me," she said. "It'll either work or it won't."
"Well I prefer option one," he told her firmly.
"But what if it doesn't work, sir...?" She left the sentence unfinished because she really didn't know what else to say. If it didn't work their flashlights would eventually die and they wouldn't be far behind; by morning there'd be nothing left of them but gnawed bones. She clenched her jaw, the thought doing little for the nausea swimming in her stomach.
"If it doesn't work," he said, "we'll think of something else."
She shook her head a little, but all she said was, "Yes, sir." She couldn't argue with optimism like that, and frankly she didn't want to. Never say die.
Jack sighed. "Guess it's my turn on the bridge, Carter," he said with forced cheerfulness. "Help me up."
Turning towards him she took his hand and pulled him upright, the exertion sending a new pulse of pain thumping at the base of her skull. Damn, this headache was turning nasty. She tried not to let the pain show in her face, but O'Neill was a perceptive man.
"Still got a headache?" he asked, keeping hold of her hand - for balance, of course. What else?
"It's nothing, sir," she assured him. "Lack of sleep - tension. You know."
"Yeah," he agreed, "I guess I do. Try some Toradol - they're pretty good."
"Yes, sir," she replied. "I'll..." But her words were stalled by an abrupt wave of nausea cramping her stomach and threatening to empty it there and then. She swallowed hurriedly, taking deep breaths to keep her stomach in check.
"Carter?"
She turned away from him, pulling her hand from his as she felt her knees start to tremble slightly. "You should get going, sir. We don't have much time. Do you want me to help you over the bridge? It's narrow, but if I walked ahead of you perhaps you could...."
"I can manage," he interrupted her, "the cables along the side will be fine."
"Good," she said, her voice almost choking over the writhing sickness she was battling. "I'll be right behind you."
She thought he'd never move, but after a moment he turned to grab hold of the cables on either side of the narrow bridge. Using them to support his weight he started his slow and painful journey across. He had barely taken two steps when Sam dashed back into the trees, collapsing to her knees as her stomach at last revolted, spilling its contents onto the ground. But once her stomach was empty she continued to heave, the dry retches only increasing both the pain in her head and the nausea in her throat. At length the heaving cramps subsided and Sam sank back, breathless and shaking, against a tree trunk, wiping at her mouth with a trembling hand. "Oh my God," she gasped, closing her eyes against the thudding pain.
"Carter!"
Damn it! "Now what?" she muttered at the sound of the Colonel's voice.
"Carter? Where are you?"
She struggled to her feet and tried to spit the foul taste from her mouth before she trudged wearily back towards the bridge. Jack was about a quarter of the way across, half turned where he stood balanced awkwardly on one leg, scanning the trees with obvious concern. "Carter!" he yelled when he saw her emerge. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Sorry sir," she called back, "I just had to...." She nodded towards the trees, "You know."
"Oh." Even from this distance she could tell he looked a little sheepish. "Okay. Sorry - but next time, tell me!"
"Yes sir," she replied, hoping there wouldn't be a next time. But from the way her gut was still squirming with the pain in her head, she doubted it.
***
Daniel's vision had been fading to gray all day, on and off, but now he was certain it was getting dark. He blinked and rubbed his good hand over his eyes to make sure, but the dimness didn't lift; night was creeping in. The thought made him shudder and pick up his step, despite the dull aching in his arm. He was hot too and his mouth felt dry and sticky as he worked his tongue around his teeth.
"Teal'c! Daniel!"
Jack's voice startled him and he turned, his feet tangling clumsily beneath him. Only Teal'c's strong hand on his arm kept him from falling. "What?" he asked, his heart thudding with a rush of adrenaline as he peered through the encroaching gloom. Were the creatures here already?
"Flashlights," Jack said grimly, nodding towards the pack Teal'c wore. "While you have time."
Teal'c turned around and Daniel fumbled in his pack until he found what he needed. "Here," he said, handing one to Teal'c and turning his own on, dismayed by the dim light it cast.
"Turn it off!" Sam suddenly shouted, her voice sharper than he'd ever heard it. "We don't need it yet," she added in a gentler tone. "Don't waste the batteries."
He nodded. "Yeah, sorry."
"One between two," Jack said then. "You and Teal'c are gonna have to get a little cozy, Daniel, until we reach Carter's tree."
Understanding the logic, Daniel didn't protest. But he did have a question. "Do you really think that tree will give us enough protection, Sam?" he asked as they trudged on.
She was silent and when he turned to look at her he was surprised by her pallor. But before he could say anything, she said, "Sure it will."
"Just keep moving," Jack added quickly, "and keep your ears open. First one to hear the critters gets a Scooby snack."
Not even Sam smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood, so deep was the tension in the silent forest. Silent for now. Daniel's skin crawled as he remembered the sibilant whisper that had filled the darkness. What had the Goa'uld called them? A 'terror born of the night'. Pretty damn accurate.
The second sun sank ahead of them with unnatural speed, painting the sky in pastel shades of violet and pink before it surrendered the forest to the night. Daniel risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that darkness had already claimed the far horizon.
"Let's pick up the pace," Jack said quietly, sucking in a sharp breath as he attempted to move faster.
Daniel's heart was already racing, the blood it pumped throbbing in his arm and he began to feel a familiar warm dampness seeping under the bandage; his racing heart was doing its best to pump the blood right out of him. But he refused to give in to it, gritting his teeth against his sudden light-headedness and forcing himself to walk.
Suddenly Teal'c stopped dead at his side. "I hear it," he whispered. "They are coming."
Daniel strained his ears, hearing nothing but silence.
"Keep moving!" Jack hissed as he and Sam hobbled passed them. "Come on! They don't need a goddamn welcoming committee!"
He stumbled forward, battling faintness and fear in equal measure. Teal'c reached out and grabbed his good arm, pulling him to his side as he flicked on the flashlight he held. "Stay close, Daniel Jackson," he said grimly. Daniel just nodded, not wanting to spare breath to speak. And then he heard it, a subtle whisper in the darkness behind him, drawing closer and louder with each step he took.
"O'Neill!" Teal'c warned. "They are upon us."
Daniel saw Jack's flashlight flash in the darkness a few paces ahead of them as the hissing grew louder, circling them, whispering from all sides. He felt something skitter across his booted foot and kicked it away in disgust as Teal'c swept the flashlight around them. Their progress halted almost to a crawl as the creatures descended.
"Get over here!" Jack's abrupt order cut through the whispering night. He and Sam had stopped while Jack whirled the flashlight around their feet. "Close formation, Teal'c," he said. "You cover our backs and we'll take point."
Daniel found himself walking so close to O'Neill that his nose kept bumping into his pack. Behind him Teal'c walked backwards, sweeping the beam of this flashlight in wide arcs while Jack did the same up front. For now it seemed to be working, but the batteries were already beginning to fail and he knew that their only hope was Sam's tree.
***
"Agh!" Sam's scream was very unprofessional, but the sudden feel of little sharp feet scrabbling about in her hair made her jump out of her skin. "It's in my hair!" she cried shaking her head frantically. If the damn thing bit her it was all over!
"I got it," O'Neill told her, his arm around her shoulders steadying her for a change. "It's okay, I got it. It's gone."
"Thanks," she gasped, breathless more from the pain ignited in her head than from the effort of shaking the creature free.
"Keep moving," he said again, pulling her closer as they stumbled back into motion, reducing the area he had to cover with his flashlight. "Just keep moving, kids."
She didn't know how he kept going, his one good leg must be in exhausted agony and she knew the pain of his knee was intense; almost as bad as the pain in her head, she thought bleakly. Well he might be a superhero, but she wasn't. Aside from the pounding in her head and the nausea crawling around in her throat, her whole body craved rest; her legs were weary with walking, her shoulders ached from supporting Jack's weight, and her feet were screaming for mercy. Even the fear that drove her on was beginning to lose its edge as oblivion, in any form, became increasingly appealing. Rest. She just wanted to rest. Rest her head, rest her body and sink into the sweet embrace of sleep.
But a sharp, pain-filled hiss at her side brought her back to herself, reminding her anew why she couldn't, and wouldn't, succumb. Her team needed her. Without her they wouldn't get home and there was no way Sam Carter was abandoning them on this godforsaken planet. No way in hell. And so she did the only thing that she could do - she endured.
Minutes, perhaps hours, later a voice rang out. "There it is!" Daniel's excited cry drew her eyes abruptly from the ground into the shifting, hissing darkness. And sure enough, through the remains of the forest through which they passed she saw a softly glowing violet haze. Her tree.
"Told you we'd make it, Major," O'Neill said, quietly triumphant.
"Yes, sir," she replied absently, unable to share his sense of achievement. Her stomach was twisting with more than nausea now, as she hoped against hope that the tree would shield them from the surrounding menace.
They were at an ungainly half-run as they at last made it under the tree's canopy, their failing flashlights increasingly ineffective against the darkness massing all around them. Jack reached for the tree with obvious relief, his face turning a sickly gray color with the pain of their final sprint. Daniel didn't look much better, Sam thought briefly, seeing an odd heat in his eyes that contrasted sharply with his pale face. But she had little time for such thoughts; if the tree didn't protect them, their injuries would be irrelevant and death would be swift and painful.
"The creatures are still coming, Major Carter," Teal'c said, an edge of panic to his usually impassive voice. "The tree will not protect us."
"Damn it!" she swore, watching the little creatures swarming towards them.
"No go, huh?" O'Neill said from where he leaned against the trunk.
"Wait!" she insisted, putting her hands to her temples as she endeavored to think around the pain that was consuming her mind. 'Think!' she told herself. 'There has to be a way to make this work.' She looked up into the tree's softly glowing branches, free from any sign of the voracious creatures. The light was brighter there and she half-closed her eyes to shield her aching head from the light. Glancing over her shoulder she saw Jack leaning against the tree trunk, his eyes closed and lips moving slightly as his mind also raced to find a solution. Daniel had slumped to the ground at the Colonel's feet, waving his flashlight in disconsolate circles, wearily keeping the darkness away.
And in a flash Sam understood. "We have to get into the branches," she said. "The light from the leaves isn't strong enough to reach this far - it's only effective at short range."
Jack's eyes snapped open and she knew in an instant what he was thinking - there was no way he could climb. "Do it," he said without hesitation, glancing up at the tall tree. "Teal'c, give me the flashlight and help Daniel and Carter into the tree."
Sam said nothing as Teal'c approached the tree, gauging the distance to the lowest branch with a swift glance before launching himself into the air, catching the branch in his powerful hands and pulling himself up and onto it.
"You next," she said to Daniel.
"Sam," he said, shaking his head. "There's no way I can...."
Ignoring him she stooped down, making a cradle of her hands. "I'll give you a leg up," she said. "Teal'c - get ready to catch him."
It wasn't exactly dignified, but between Teal'c's pulling, her pushing, and Daniel's scrambling he made it up into the tree. But his face was almost white by the time Teal'c settled him on a wide branch, and Sam could see rough dirty marks over his bandaged arm where it had been bumped and scraped against the tree on his awkward journey. He said nothing though, just sat with a grim expression on his pallid face, fighting the pain in silence. Sam had to smile at his stoicism; she'd seen trained soldiers make more fuss.
"Your turn, Carter." Jack's voice was low and insistent, as if he was expecting her to argue.
Well, he was right. "No, sir," she said.
"No, sir?" He raised an eyebrow and there was a definite challenge in his eyes.
She met and equaled it. "You're next, Colonel."
"Carter, I can't...."
"Turn around," she snapped, taking the flashlight from his hand and manhandling him around so that she could strip the pack from his shoulders.
"Major!" he started to protest, but she ignored him.
"Hold this," she said, thrusting the flashlight back at him as she delved into his pack, praying that they hadn't discarded what she now needed so desperately.
"Get into the goddamn tree, Carter," he growled. "That's an order."
"Yes, sir," she replied, "once I've gotten you up there."
"For crying out loud, Carter!" he began, but she didn't let him finish.
"Got it!" she said, her heart thudding with a sudden relief. Thank God! She pulled a harness and a thick rope from his pack, uncoiling the rope immediately. "Teal'c!" she called. "Catch!" It took a couple of attempts, but at last she managed to get the rope over the tree branch. Turning to O'Neill, harness in hand, she said, "You'll have to put this on, sir."
He looked into her face then, a small smile lighting his eyes. "You don't give up, do you Major?"
"No," she agreed tersely, bending down to help him into the harness. "Something I learned from you, sir."
Once she was sure the rope was secured on the harness, Sam grabbed hold of the other end and laid the flashlight at her feet behind her, hoping it would be enough to keep the creatures away until she was done. Using the tree branch as a crude pulley, she started heaving with everything she had left. O'Neill tried to help her as he bumped his way upwards, pulling himself up where he could until Teal'c's strong arms had him and Sam felt the weight disappear from the rope, causing her to stumble with the sudden release.
"Carter!" Jack yelled immediately. "Get up here, now."
She didn't need his order! Snatching the flashlight from the ground she swept it around, sending a host of little creatures scuttling from her feet. But there was no doubt they were encroaching fast, her dimming flashlight an increasingly feeble deterrent.
"Carter!" Jack called again, and she looked up in time to see the rope come tumbling down towards her. Tucking her flashlight into her pocket, Sam grabbed the rope and started climbing hand over hand. Beneath her she heard a seething whisper as the creatures closed in around the tree, their hissing chatter sending icy shivers along her spine as she climbed. But she was exhausted and easily distracted by the pounding headache, and slipped a few times, her heart lurching with every slight fall; above her she heard Jack suck in a sharp breath each time she faltered. But at last she neared the top of the rope and felt hands on her arms as, between them, Jack and Teal'c pulled her up into the safety of the tree branches.
She was breathing hard with the effort of the climb and her head spun with a new intensity of pain; the analgesic effects of the adrenaline flooding her system were obviously starting to subside as relief took hold. She'd made it! They all had.
"Hell of a job, Carter," Jack said quietly, from where he perched beside her, his hand still holding onto her arm.
She just nodded, closing her eyes against the pain. "Thanks, sir."
"And now," he added in a louder voice, "we need to figure out how the hell we're gonna get some sleep up here."
***
It had taken some maneuvering but fortunately the tree had plenty of wide branches, and at last they were all more or less situated. Well, all but Carter. Teal'c had climbed a little higher and sat alone, eyes closed. Jack assumed he was meditating, but given the sickly cast to the man's face he might just be sleeping. He was however, at Jack's insistence, tied securely to the tree. They all were. All but Carter.
He watched her now, astride the branch where Daniel lay half propped up against the trunk of the tree, struggling to change his dressing. Only Teal'c's pack had made it into the tree, so supplies were running low; Jack's own pack had been devoured by the hissing swarm that had surrounded the base of the tree as Carter climbed to safety.
"You have a fever," Sam said quietly, her voice penetrating the hissing silence as she reached out to touch Daniel's face and cheeks.
"Yeah," he nodded. "I figured."
Jack felt his heart sink; Daniel's wound must have gotten infected.
"I should have changed the dressing more often," Sam berated herself, frowning as she did her best to wash out the deep laceration on his arm. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, Sam," Daniel sighed. "Anyway, we'll get home tomorrow and Fraiser will sort it out. I'll be fine."
"Yeah," she nodded. "Course you will." Once she had finished bandaging his arm Sam rummaged again in the rapidly dwindling med-kit and pulled out a couple of bottles. "Here," she said, tipping two pills from each into his hand. "Antibiotics for the infection and Advil for the fever."
"Delicious," he murmured, wincing as he tried to swallow them all. "Why the hell do they make these things so big?"
Sam shook her head, pulling Daniel's jacket back around him and patting his hand. "Try to get some sleep," she said quietly. "We've got another long day ahead."
He nodded. "I never thought I'd be able to sleep in a tree," he told her, "but tonight I just might. I'm exhausted."
She smiled a gentle smile. "Sweet dreams, Daniel."
"Yeah," he replied grimly. "Sure."
As Daniel closed his eyes Sam climbed through the tree towards Jack. In the eerie violet light cast by the leaves her face had taken on a rather ghastly hue, the light emphasizing the pallor of her skin and the dark rings under her eyes. She was exhausted, Jack realized.
"Are you done yet?" he asked her quietly, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Daniel or Teal'c.
She nodded wearily, slumping down on the branch where he lay. "I'm worried about Daniel," she whispered. "He's really burning up - I don't know if he'll make it tomorrow."
Jack felt his own anxiety deepen at her words, casting a glance at the man's fevered face. "Teal'c can carry him if he has to," he told her. "We'll get him home."
Sam shook her head. "I don't think Teal'c's doing too well either, sir," she replied. "He hasn't said anything, but I saw the way he was holding the flashlight earlier - he couldn't it in one place he was shaking so hard."
"Don't worry about Teal'c," Jack told her. "It'll take more than some fuzzy little critter to take him out." He frowned at her for a minute. "And how about you?" he asked then. "How are you holding up, Major?"
"Fine," she replied, her answer a little too bright to be entirely believable.
"How's the headache?"
"Better," she said, dropping her eyes to her lap. She was lying to him.
He frowned. "Carter," he began, when his attention was suddenly distracted by a little skittering noise in the leaves above him. His heart leaped into his throat as he struggled to sit upright, fumbling for his flashlight. "What was that?"
Carter was on her feet, balancing herself against another branch as she scoured the canopy with her dimming light. She said nothing as she searched and then suddenly hissed, "Shit!" and lashed out with her almost useless flashlight, knocking something small, black and furry from the tree.
"Guess some are braver than others," Jack muttered, shivering at the thought of the venomous little creatures scuttling around in the tree above him. "See any more?" he asked.
After a moment Carter shook her head. "No," but she didn't move, her neck still craned as she swept her light through the leaves. "I don't think so."
"Sit down," he told her after a while. "You need to rest as much as we do."
She obeyed with no protest, wriggling to get herself as comfortable as possible, wedged in the fork of a large branch. He watched her in silence, seeing the worry on her face and understanding its root. They hadn't even made it halfway to the gate today. "Carter?" he asked quietly, "I don't suppose we passed any more of these glow-in- the-dark trees on the way to the gate did we?"
"No, sir," she sighed. "I was just thinking about that - this was the first one we saw. There must be others, but I have no idea where they are - we could wander for hours looking for one."
He nodded grimly. "Then I guess we have to make it to the gate tomorrow."
"Yes, sir."
He said nothing as the cold reality of the situation began to penetrate his mind. They couldn't survive another night here, and at the pace he could walk they wouldn't make it to the gate before dark. He'd pushed himself to the limit today, but it wasn't enough; he was slowing them down and compromising the safety of his team. His jaw tightened as the obvious solution presented itself. It made sense, in a grim, unpleasant way and he was willing to give the order, but he knew that Carter would object. He frowned a little at the thought, but couldn't blame her; were the situation reversed there was no way in hell he'd let her do what he was planning.
Not wanting to argue with her all night, Jack kept his plans to himself. "Try to sleep, Sam," he said quietly, her first name slipping out unawares. "I'll keep watch." She began to protest, but he cut her off. "That's an order. Sleep. I need at least one of my team functioning properly tomorrow."
A ghost of a smile touched her lips, a pale reflection of the brightness that he was used to seeing in her face, and she leaned her head wearily against the smooth bark of the tree and closed her eyes. He could tell by the lines of worry etched into her features that she felt all the weight of her responsibility for their injured team and his heart sank, knowing that tomorrow he was going to increase the burden she carried. He knew that the weight he would place on her shoulders would be nothing to the burden he would ask her heart to bear.
***
Sam slept. But sleep was no sweet oblivion. Pain followed her there as well, a constant nauseating agony that seemed to live in the darkness that surrounded her, as alive as the creatures that swarmed in the night. She dreamt of darkness, of something creeping through the night, its teeth sharp and its eyes evil. And her heart raced as she tried to run, a dead weight chained to her ankle keeping her in place. However hard she tried to move, the weight dragged her backwards. Turning, she pulled on her ankle and saw that it was Jack's lifeless hand that clutched her leg, dragging her towards darkness and death.
"Carter!"
Something tugged at her ankle and her eyes flashed open as she sat up, disoriented for a moment as she blinked through pale violet light. And then the pain came crashing in bringing with it memories and she sank back against the tree branch.
"Sorry," Jack whispered, his hand still on her ankle, "you were dreaming - restless - I thought you were gonna fall out the tree."
"You okay, Sam?" Daniel asked from where he lay above her.
"Yeah. Sorry to wake you."
"I wasn't asleep."
"Well you should be," she heard Jack mutter.
Sam didn't reply because it was taking all her attention to keep herself from whimpering at the pain drilling into her head. She was afraid she would vomit again, but knew there was nothing left in her stomach; she almost wished there was, because at least throwing up might ease her horrendous nausea. So lost was she in her need to keep control of her body that she almost didn't feel the soft impact on her right leg, but her instincts were still strong and her eyes shot open almost without thought. And then she saw it, small, black and venomous, sitting on her knee, crawling weakly and erratically towards her stomach. She stopped breathing as she reached slowly for the flashlight in her pocket, pulling it free and switching it on without taking her eyes from the creature. But the light that shone from her flashlight was dim and when she turned it on the creature it merely blinked beady little eyes at her. Shit!
But her light had at least caught O'Neill's attention. "Don't move," he murmured, struggling to sit up and edge himself towards her, his flashlight at the ready. With a swift blow he knocked the thing away, sending it tumbling through the tree to the ground.
She didn't say anything for a moment, struggling with the pain in her head as well as the cold fear that seemed to be freezing her limbs. But her mind at least was still working. "If I'd been bitten," she said at last, "I'd have fallen out of the tree when the venom hit me."
Jack frowned at her, the way he did when he wondered what the hell she was talking about. "You're not gonna get bitten. None of us are."
She shook her head, dismissing his assurance. "No, I mean I think that's their tactic, sir."
"They have tactics?"
"It only takes one bite to bring down a meal for thousands," she pointed out. "We can't be the first things to try and use these trees for shelter."
"So you think we're gonna get infiltrated?" Jack asked, glancing around the canopy above him.
"I think we need to keep our eyes open," she replied, struggling to sit upright. "We can't risk one of these things getting close enough to bite anyone."
He nodded, unable to disagree. "But I thought they couldn't tolerate the light?"
She sighed, forcing her mind to work through the pain. "The one on my leg just now seemed kinda weak, sick looking - maybe they can stand the light for a while, if they really need to? I suppose we're a big enough meal to make it worth the risk."
"Then I guess we still need those flashlights," Jack muttered. "What's left of them."
"If we conserve them as much as possible," she said, "they should last until dawn."
"Yeah," he replied, giving her a quick lopsided grin. "And that's all we need to do, Carter. Last 'til dawn."
She frowned at the confidence in his voice; it was forced. And she could tell by the assiduous way he was watching the tree's canopy that he was keeping something from her, and the thought sent a pulse of deep unease through her heart.
***
"Daniel?" The voice that called his name was taut and penetrated the haze of sleep with ease.
"Sam?" he muttered as he opened his eyes, surprised to see that dawn was already paling the sky. He must have slept after all. "Don't remember asking for a wake-up call," he said, forcing a smile. Sam barely returned the gesture and he saw, with concern, how pale she was, how her normally bright eyes were dull and hooded in her wan face. "You look terrible," he said.
"You're not exactly looking your best," she retorted, reaching out to touch his face and frowning at the what she felt. "You still have a fever."
He nodded. He felt it in every limb, in the dryness of his mouth and in the haziness of his mind. And then there was his arm; the pain was a fire in itself, blazing through his flesh as the infection spread.
"I only have one more clean dressing," Sam told him, and he could see indecision in her face.
"Change it now," he suggested. "We might not have time to stop later." She nodded; they both understood that their desperate race for the gate was all that mattered. Unless they made it by nightfall nothing could save them, and his wound would be an irrelevance. "How's Jack?" he asked then.
Sam's lips tightened. "The same," she replied, pulling his blood- soaked bandage from his arm. And then she sighed, her shoulders sagging a little as she glanced up into his eyes with an expression of real fear. "Daniel," she said quietly, "I don't know how the hell I'm gonna get him back before dark."
"You'll do it, Sam," he told her, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "I just wish I was more help to you!"
She patted his arm as she applied his new dressing. "You're doing the best you can, Daniel. We all are."
Just then they heard movement above them. Glancing up, Daniel saw Teal'c climbing down through the tree, his movements unsteady as he lowered himself from branch to branch. Daniel's eyes flicked to Sam, who met his gaze with another worried glance of her own. Getting to her feet she called, "Teal'c? You okay?"
He moved slowly to stand nearby, a pinched look in his eyes. "I am able to continue."
Sam pursed her lips, wondering exactly how much the Jaffa was hiding. "Just a few more hours, Teal'c," she promised him.
He nodded. "I will endure."
"Are you kids ready to move out?" Jack called then, from where he still lay on a branch slightly beneath them. "Time's a wasting!"
"Yes, sir," Sam called back, wincing at the effort of shouting and passing a weary hand across her face. Then she sighed and muttered, "Just as soon as I figure out how the hell to get you all out of the damn tree."
***
Getting down from the tree proved easier - if no less painful - than Jack had anticipated, and soon they were all congregated beneath its sweeping violet branches. Leaning back against the smooth bark Jack watched his team prepare for the long trek that lay ahead of them, stoic and uncomplaining despite their obvious exhaustion. He smiled with a bitter-sweet pride as he watched them work, even as he dreaded what the next few minutes were to bring.
But inevitably, as Teal'c slung the one remaining pack onto his shoulders, he saw Sam walk towards him ready to offer her assistance. She looked wretched, which was no surprise; they'd both been up half the night watching for the few reckless creatures that had braved the illumination of the tree in search of a fleshier prize. Between them they had repelled over twenty of the critters, draining all but one of their flashlights in the process. It had been a long night, and he could see the exhaustion written into her pale and drawn features, but as she drew nearer she managed a wan smile. The expression tugged at his heart but he didn't smile back, deliberately trying to armor himself against her. And when she moved to slip her arm about him once more he raised a hand to forestall her. "No," he said quietly, fixing her with a steady look he knew she would comprehend.
Her eyes immediately flashed wide open with unwilling understanding. "Sir...?"
"I want you to take Daniel and Teal'c and get back to the gate as fast as you can, Carter," he told her firmly. "Tell Hammond to send a team through to find me and...."
"No, sir," she interrupted him immediately. "I'm not leaving without you - not this time."
Her reaction was no surprise. "That's not an invitation, Major," he told her sharply. "It's an order and I expect you to follow it."
But she was still shaking her head, a flash of fire bringing life to her eyes. "You can bring me up on charges when we get back, sir, but I won't leave you to die."
"I'm not gonna die," he said, "I'll stay in the tree and...."
"It won't protect you," she told him, rubbing a hand over the back of her head, her face crumpling with pain and frustration. "You know damn well it won't. How many of those little bastards did we get last night? You won't stay awake, the flashlights are almost dead, and it only takes one bite."
"I'll take my chances," he replied, deliberately calm and confident.
"No," she replied wearily. "I won't do it."
He frowned. He'd expected her to resist, to argue, but not to downright refuse. "Carter," he snapped. "I'm giving you a direct order; get the rest of the team outta here. Now!"
She ran a hand through her hair as she stared at him in anguish. "Please," she whispered, "don't make me do this, sir."
"We have no choice, Major," he replied, keeping his tone formal despite the way he ached to comfort her.
She abruptly hung her head and pressed her fingers against her temples, screwing her eyes shut. The uncharacteristic gesture provoked a flutter of cold unease in Jack's heart; what the hell was the matter with her? He'd known she'd resist, but not like this; she looked on the verge of collapse. He reached out a hand to touch her arm, but she shook it away angrily and glared at him.
"You can't order me to do something you wouldn't do yourself!" she snapped. "Either you come, or we both stay. I won't leave you to die!"
"Guys?" Daniel said then. "What's up?"
"Major Carter is having a hard time following orders," Jack growled, feeling like a bastard for being so cold with her but getting increasingly desperate; this was his only hope of getting them back before dark.
Carter's voice was strangely choked as she said, "He wants us to leave him behind."
"We can't leave you here!" Daniel exclaimed, eyes widening.
Jack's heart sank. "I'm slowing you down," he snapped. "If it wasn't for me, you'd already be home."
"I don't care," Daniel persisted. "We're a team - we stick together. It's what we do!"
His frustration mounting, Jack turned to where Teal'c stood gazing out through the decimated forest. "Teal'c!" he called, hoping the Jaffa would inject some reason to the debate - not that it should even be a debate. He was the CO and they should be obeying his goddamn orders!
"Colonel O'Neill?" Teal'c responded, moving slowly to stand before him.
Jack winced at the gray cast to the man's face, his obvious sickness only fueling his urgency. "Tell Daniel why it's a good idea for me to wait here while you guys go back through the gate and get some back-up."
Teal'c paused for a moment. "If O'Neill remains here," he said slowly, "we will be able to move more quickly...." Jack cast Daniel a triumphant glance, but Teal'c wasn't finished. "However," he continued, "he will almost certainly die. I do not believe that is a good idea."
"No," Daniel agreed. "Neither do I. And neither does Sam, do you Sam?" Glancing to Carter for support, he frowned. "Sam?"
Jack's eyes snapped to where she'd been standing but she was gone, and the cold pulse of unease he'd felt earlier suddenly clutched icy fingers around his heart. "Carter?" he called. "Carter! Where the hell are you?!"
***
On her knees in the forest, Sam's body shook with painful, dry retches. Her stomach cramped as her empty belly threw nothing but bile into her mouth and sweat trickled down the side of her face, tracing a chill path in the planet's cold air. With every violent surge of nausea her head pulsed in agony, the pain like a vice around her skull. Something was seriously wrong, she knew that now, but what it was she couldn't think. She couldn't think about much at all beyond keeping herself on her feet and getting the team home.
Getting the team home; that was the one thing that stopped her from curling up into a little ball and retreating from the vicious pain that assaulted her. Getting Jack home. She'd failed him once, in Antarctica, and she'd be damned if she would do it again. The fact that he'd survived that experience owed everything to Daniel and nothing to herself; how many times had she punished herself for not thinking of dialing a different address on that wretched DHD? Too damn many. Well this time would be different. This time she would bring him home and to hell with his self-sacrificing goddamn orders! Getting home was all that mattered; it was all she could see through the narrow focus of her vision, tunneled by pain and bone-weary exhaustion. Had she been more rational perhaps she would have accepted his logic, but there was no room for logic in her pain- filled mind. There was no room for anything but the need to get her team home. All of them.
"Carter?"
She heard his voice drift through the trees.
"Carter! Where the hell are you?"
Pushing herself wearily back to her feet she sucked in a couple of deep breaths, struggling to keep the pain and the nausea at bay. The last thing she needed was for them to know how sick she was; they were all depending on her to get them home, and she'd die before she failed them.
Jack spotted her the moment she emerged from the trees, his dark eyes full of anger and concern. "Damn it Carter," he said as she drew near, "what the hell's going on?"
"Nothing," she muttered, shaking her head. "Let's just go. We're wasting time."
"I'm not going," he persisted.
"Jack," Daniel said, "come on - we're not going to leave you. We can make it. We can all make it!"
"I can't go any faster!" he snapped, and even through the fog that filled her mind Sam could hear the distress in his voice. "I'll get you all killed!"
"I will also assist you to walk, O'Neill," Teal'c offered. "Between Major Carter and I, we will be able to move faster."
"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "I don't need any help today. I'm fine."
"Like hell you are! Damn it, people," Jack barked, "I'm ordering...."
"Give it up, Jack," Daniel said. "You're out-numbered. Either you come, or we all stay."
Sam saw him glare, his eyes moving from one intransigent face to another. After a moment he shook his head, the resolve slipping from his posture, "When we get back I'm gonna have you all up on insubordination charges."
Daniel grinned. "All of us?" he asked as Teal'c moved to help Jack. "Last time I looked I was a civilian."
"I'll think of something," Jack muttered.
"Guess you'll have to make do with busting Sam."
As Daniel spoke Jack turned his gaze on her and she felt her heart sink as she saw the deep disapproval in his eyes. "Yeah," was all he said. "Guess I will."
Swallowing the hurt and another wave of nausea, Sam moved to his side and put her arm around him, supporting his weight as she had for the past two days. He said nothing but she almost recoiled from the anger she felt emanating from him; she'd disobeyed a direct order. Somewhere behind the pain and the fear and the determination to get them home she understood the gravity of what she'd done, but for now it meant nothing. Her life was paced in steps, in hours and shadows as the twin suns passed overhead. All that mattered was getting to the gate before the darkness returned; her whole life had contracted into the one, simple objective. And if they made it through...? Well, then there'd be plenty of time to deal with the consequences of her actions.
***
The day passed in a blur of anxiety, pain and exhaustion as Jack half- walked and half-stumbled along between his friends. His knee jarred with every step, sending pain shooting up his leg so sharply that it ended up clawing its way into his throat. But pain was the least of his worries. To his left Teal'c strode in solid silence, his dark eyes burning with a fevered heat that Jack could feel in the arm that helped support his weight; the man was sick and ailing fast. And although he never complained, from the way Teal'c half-stooped when he walked, Jack guessed that the pain in his stomach was severe.
Daniel walked ahead of them, his gait weaving and swaying as he battled with fever and blood loss. That he even stayed on his feet was surprising, but that he managed to walk was nothing short of a miracle and testament to the man's strength and determination; Jack found himself developing a new admiration for his friend. He may not be a soldier, but he was as courageous as anyone he'd ever served with, and a damn sight more so than most.
Then there was Carter. Still at his side, her arm locked around his waist, she walked in silence, almost unaware of the world that passed her by. Jack found his eyes frequently drifting to her face as they walked, but her gaze was never directed towards him. Instead it was fixed on the ground ahead, as if willing her feet to take each step. Her face was ashen - beyond pale it had turned gray, and her colorless lips were barely visible against her pallid features. The sight coiled sick dread in the pit of his stomach but he knew there was nothing he could do for her - there was no time to rest, no time to eat. No time to talk. Even his anger at her insubordination was subsumed by the overpowering need to get back to the gate. In this desperate race for their lives the only thing that mattered was winning, because if they lost, death was all that awaited them.
***
Teal'c glanced up at the pale blue sky, watching the second sun reach its zenith. Soon it would be over, they would be safe or they would be dead. He found that he contemplated death with an unusual equanimity, for it at least would be a release from the agony that scoured his body.
Sharp knives of pain stabbed into his belly as he walked, making it difficult to remain upright and support O'Neill as they strode through the forest. But he refused to give in to it, refused to let his friends and teammates down; if he'd learned nothing else in his years on Earth it was that strength lay not in power and domination but in loyalty and unity of purpose. Together they would survive, alone they would perish. And so he endured. For the sake of his friends, and everything they fought for, he endured.
***
'Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.' Daniel spoke the words in his head as he forced his feet to obey his commands and keep walking. The day had lasted an eternity, but too soon the first sun started dipping towards the horizon as he staggered on through the depleted forest. They'd seen no greenery all day; the entire forest around them had been stripped bare by the creatures that swarmed in the night. He shivered, unsure if it was the fever or the thought of the night to come that made him tremble. A little of both, he decided.
'Right foot, left foot, right foot...' "Damn!" he stumbled over a tree root and fell to his knees, lacking the energy to get back to his feet. The earth was cool against his fevered hands and bending down he pressed his forehead against the loamy soil, relishing its chill touch on his face. Maybe he'd just stay there? Just rest for a minute, let the dull ache seep from his limbs, let the tender embrace of sleep sweep him into blessed oblivion....
A hand grabbed him roughly by the arm. "Get up!" He heard Sam's sharp command, but ignored it. He just needed to rest. "Daniel! Get up!" The tug on his arm was insistent and he raised his head.
"Just let me...."
"There's no time!" she snapped, pulling on his arm. "We have to keep...."
"Carter!" Jack's voice cut across hers. "We'll take five."
"No," she protested, "we have to keep going."
"Five minutes, Carter," he said firmly, letting Teal'c help him to the ground. "Sit," he told her. "Rest."
At his words she slumped down, almost as if someone had cut her strings. Her head fell into her hands and Daniel thought he could hear her whimpering. The sound drew him from his own torpor and he reached out to touch her shoulder. "Sam?" She said nothing, but he could feel the tension in her bunched muscles. "Are you okay?" Dumb question!
"We just need to keep moving," she murmured through her hands.
"We will," he assured her. "We're gonna make it."
Abruptly she shook his hand away and scrambled to her feet, her face deathly pale and a little wild as she glanced around. And then she half ran a few steps before she slumped back to her knees and started heaving, spitting very little onto the damp soil.
Daniel shot to his feet to go to her, but the sudden movement proved to be a huge mistake. He had only taken one step before he felt the corners of his vision start to curl in on itself. His ears began to ring and he could hear blood rushing as his vision rapidly tunneled, turning gray and faint.
"Teal'c, I..." he managed to mutter as he felt his legs turn to water. And then the world around him descended into darkness and he knew no more.
***
Sam saw the world through a veil of pain as she trudged on through the skeletal forest; the pain had moved beyond a headache, becoming a torture that consumed and defined her very being. The nausea was almost uncontrollable, heaving and rolling her stomach with every step, making her break out in a chill sweat that did nothing to cool the blinding pain in her head.
"Almost there, Carter," Jack said from where he walked at her side, his voice only just penetrating the agony that dominated her existence.
She mumbled a response but doubted it was coherent; speech wasn't a priority. Moving forward, supporting Jack, and reaching the gate were the only things that her mind could cope with.
Teal'c walked ahead of her now, carrying Daniel's inert form in his arms as they stumbled over the final mile to the gate. She knew they were getting close, and if it hadn't been for the rapidly encroaching darkness she was sure she could have seen the Stargate through the jagged forest. But the planet's second sun was touching the horizon already and the light was beginning to fade; the darkness grew deeper. Too deep, too quickly.
Jack obviously felt the same concern, for as she glanced over her shoulder at the setting sun she saw that he too had turned in the same direction. "Clouds," he said bleakly. "Clouds on the horizon."
She said nothing, just kept walking. But she felt Jack stir uneasily against her as they hobbled on and at last he called, "Teal'c!" His yell cracked like a thunderclap in her head and she winced with renewed pain, drawing his attention. But he didn't speak, he just pulled her a little closer.
Teal'c turned slowly under the weight of Daniel's inert form. "O'Neill?"
"Looks like the critters are gonna get a head-start tonight," he said, nodding towards the cloud-darkened sky. "Let's stick together from now on. We only have one flashlight."
Teal'c nodded gravely and they continued on together. Around them the darkness started to mass, and even through the nausea and the pain Sam heard the whispering start; the sound froze the breath in her lungs and she glanced instinctively at Jack, whose dark eyes met hers with determination. "We'll make it, Carter," he insisted quietly.
And then, out of the darkness, Teal'c's voice boomed. "I see the Stargate!"
Sam felt the words like an explosion in her heart. "Thank God!" she heard herself mutter, lifting her eyes to peer through the gloom ahead of them. For a moment she saw nothing, but at last her eyes made out the familiar stone ring, gray on gray in the distance, and her heart sank.
"It must be almost half a mile," Jack said, voicing her own dismay. "That's a long walk in the dark."
"We can make it," she insisted; she refused to be defeated now, when they were so close.
They plowed on through the deepening gloom, the whispering darkness growing ever closer, its sibilant hiss a promise of a swift and painful death. But Sam ignored it, cast it out of her mind along with the almost crippling pain she was enduring and forced herself to keep walking, to keep dragging Jack towards the safety of the gate. But the Stargate refused to draw nearer. To her desperate eyes it seemed as if they made no progress, and icy fear started nipping at her heels alongside the creatures of the night. They were moving too slowly! They weren't going to make it. She'd failed him, she'd failed them all...!
"Damn it!" she hissed, venting her frustration.
"What?" Jack asked, his breath coming short and sharp as he battled his own pain. Turning to him she struggled to see past the agony that blurred her vision, and said, "Sir, we have to try and run."
He shook his head. "Not gonna happen."
"You have to try!" The darkness was deepening with every moment and the whispering grew louder, a steely, sharp-edged hiss. It was all around them now as the coal-dark night spread among the shadows of the dying forest.
Sam saw Jack pull their remaining flashlight from his jacket, holding it ready for use but resisting the urge to ignite its fading light until the very last moment. "I can't run, Carter," he told her bleakly. "But you can."
She opened her mouth to respond when Teal'c let out a sharp gasp and stumbled to his knees, barely keeping Daniel's unconscious body from hitting the ground.
"Teal'c!" Jack called as Sam pulled away from him and went to her friend's aid.
The Jaffa was breathing hard, drenched with sweat, a thin dribble of saliva leaking from the side of his mouth. "Shit!" He was on the verge of collapse, Sam realized, yet still he held Daniel in his arms. "Teal'c," she began, not knowing how to help him; the darkness was almost upon them.
"I tripped," he mumbled. "I can continue."
She just nodded - there was nothing else she could do - and silently helped him back to his feet. Cursing with each step, Jack stumbled towards them. "They're coming," he breathed, fixing her with a serious glance; they were out of time.
"We're almost there, sir." She dragged him back into motion as Teal'c lurched forward with Daniel once more. And she was right, she could see the DHD squatting in front of the Stargate, she could almost see the chevrons on the gate itself. They just needed another couple of minutes...!
"Agh!" Jack yelled, brushing frantically at his leg. "One was on me!" He flicked the flashlight on and swept it around them, but its feeble beam did little but illuminate the seething darkness that surrounded them. "Crap," he hissed, "this is it, Carter!"
"No!" Sam heard herself yell, heedless of the pain that exploded in her head. Teal'c turned at the sound. "Go!" she yelled at him. "Get to the gate!" His only response was to break into a run, a desperate lurching gait as he struggled with Daniel and his own weakness.
"You too," Jack barked, pulling his arm from around her shoulders.
But she refused to let go. "Run!" she insisted, trying to drag him forward, "Just damn well run, sir!"
"I can't!" He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and shouted, "Carter, get out of here. Now!"
"Jack I...," she began, but he cut her off.
"There's no time," he insisted. "Teal'c and Daniel won't make it without you." He thrust the flashlight at her. "Go. For God's sake Carter, get them home!"
And as she looked into his frightened but resolved eyes, a shaft of clarity speared the pain that was clouding her mind and she knew he was right. "I'm sorry," she said then, hoping it was enough because there was time for no more.
"It's been an honor, Carter," he said, dropping his hands from her shoulders and reaching for his MP-5. "Now get the hell outta here!"
She turned, wrenching her eyes from him with a pain that rivaled the one hammering in her head, and started to run through the night. And as the whispering darkness closed in around her she prayed to any god who was listening that she'd make it to the DHD before the creatures reduced her to nothing but bones.
***
Jack sprayed the night with gunfire, its sharp report shattering the whispering darkness momentarily. A little ahead of him he heard Teal'c's staff weapon blast, and out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of light as it detonated against the ground. But their weapons made little impact on the horde that was massing against them.
This was it, he realized. Death. He'd faced it before, but this time there would be no last minute reprieve, no Asgard ship to whisk him to safety, no unexpected allies amid the foe. For this enemy knew no mercy, no pity; it acted on instinct alone and its instinct was to kill.
He squeezed the trigger again, the familiar sound reassuring despite its impotence. And it bought him a few minutes; enough, perhaps, to know that his team had gotten home. He would see the gate open from here - if he was going to die, he at least wanted to know that his friends were safe first.
Another blast from Teal'c's weapon rang through the night, and Jack half turned to look for him when he felt something clawing at the leg of his pants. A cold fist clutched at his heart as he tried to brush the thing away, but then he felt another, and another. "Shit!" he hissed as the skittering little feet ran up towards his jacket. His heart was racing now and he knew that death was only moments away. He fired again into the dark swarming mass, but it did no good and he suddenly felt something land on his arm; the damn things could jump! He knocked it angrily away, turning sharply as another creature sprung onto his back. But he couldn't reach it and his turn was too abrupt, making him lose his balance and fall heavily onto his injured knee. "Agh, Christ!" His piercing yell echoed through the night as his knee hit the ground and a wave of red-hot fire drove through his leg; if it hadn't been for the cold fear coiling in his guts he might have lost consciousness. But despite the desperate situation his instinct to survive was strong and it drove him to curl up, protecting his face with arms and hands as the creatures swarmed over him, their teeth tearing into his jacket.
***
Sam could feel the things under her feet, scurrying up her clothes, their tiny clawed feet running tendrils of ice up her spine as she raced through the night. But she paid them no heed. The effort of running, the impact of each footfall, drove into her head like a hammer blow and she was almost blinded by the pain.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Teal'c lumbering awkwardly towards the gate, still struggling to carry Daniel. But despite the agony she endured she was faster and overtook him as she raced desperately for the DHD. And then she heard gunfire: Jack. Her heart lurched but she refused to allow herself to imagine what was happening in the darkness behind her; getting to the gate was the only thing that mattered now. She had to save Daniel and Teal'c.
Something scratched her hand; claws, not teeth, she prayed as she shook it away and kept running. But she was almost out of time, the pain was too much, her knees were beginning to fail her as she staggered onwards. And then, just when she thought she could go no further, she stumbled into something cold and hard - the DHD.
A blast from Teal'c's staff weapon close by told her that he too had stopped - their lives were measured in moments now as she fumbled to dial home, forcing her mind, half-paralyzed with pain, to work.
Gunfire rattled through the night again, chilling her to the bone, and then she heard the scream. "Agh! Christ!" Jack's agonized cry clamped around her heart so fiercely she could hardly breath as she slammed her hand onto the center of the DHD. He was dead; she'd heard him die. Her throat choked and she slumped to her knees, pain and exhaustion forcing her body into retreat. And then, through the thin veil of her eyelids, she saw light, and her crushed heart started to beat again at the sight of the glimmering Stargate. Despite the pain, the exhaustion and a grief too raw to be fully felt, she forced herself back to her feet and yelled, "Teal'c! Get to the gate!" But he didn't move; he merely stood over Daniel's body with his staff weapon dangling from a slack hand. "Teal'c!" she yelled again, willing shaking legs into motion as she stumbled towards him. "Come on!"
"Major Carter," he said at last, turning to her with the look of a man delivered. "They are gone."
She blinked. "What?"
"The creatures of the night," he replied with a broad sweeping gesture. "The light from the Stargate has driven them back; they are gone."
As his words sank in Sam glanced around her and knew that he spoke the truth. She could still hear their whispered menace, but everything touched by the Stargate's light was free of the creeping darkness. Everything. Everything including a figure in the distance, curled up on itself, motionless. Jack.
Sam started running.
***
Jack was alone. Each time he faced death he was overwhelmed by how alone he felt. No matter who was with you, death was something you always faced alone. And as he lay in the dark, counting his life in heartbeats and waiting for the venomous bite that would bring him his death, he hoped only that it would be a swift one. But suddenly a brilliant flash of blue-white light streaked through the darkness with a familiar roar and whoosh that penetrated his isolation and made his heart soar. She'd done it! Carter had reached the gate. Thank God! She'd gotten them home.
The relief he felt at her success momentarily masked the fact that something else had changed. It took a few seconds, but he soon realized that the tiny claws scratching at his skin had disappeared. Warily pulling his hands from his face he opened one eye and saw, with an astonishment that bordered on incredulity, that the creatures were gone; the light from the Stargate had driven them back into the shadows once more. He was safe. They were all safe!
"Sir!" Carter's voice, raw and desperate, rang out through the night as she ran full-tilt towards him, silhouetted against the brilliant light of the gate. "Colonel!"
He sat up, wincing at the new pain in his already damaged knee. And as he moved he saw Carter slow, "Sir," she gasped, stumbling the last few steps and dropping to her knees at his side. "Are you okay?" She grabbed his hands, turning them over and examining them intently. "Did they bite you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he assured her. But she paid no heed, clutching his face in one hand and turning his head from side to side as she searched for evidence of bites. "Carter!" he snapped, taking hold of her writs and pulling her hands down. "They didn't get me." She looked up into his face then and he saw tears in her eyes. "Hey," he said, giving her wrists a squeeze, "you did it. You got us home."
Carter pressed both palms into her eyes and shook her head slightly. "Not home yet," she said and pushed herself to her feet. She swayed a little as she moved away from him, heading back to where he saw Daniel sprawled on the ground. Jack's heart chilled at the sight; were they too late? Damn, that would be too cruel. Too damn cruel.
***
Sam was shaking, her whole body trembling so that she could hardly walk. Whether it was with relief or shock, or some other reason, she didn't know; all she knew was that she'd made it. She'd made it to the gate and she was alive. And so was Jack.
But she felt no joy, no triumph; the pain raking her mind was too intense for that. Instead she was numb as she stumbled towards Teal'c who sat crouching over Daniel's inert body. The pain in her head was blinding, robbing her of all but the most basic functions as she dropped to her knees at his side. "Is he alive?" she asked, her voice flat and dull in her ears.
"Yes," Teal'c replied, his own voice strained and weak.
She just nodded. "Can you get him through the gate?"
"I can."
Teal'c rose shakily to his feet and, no longer able to carry Daniel, he dragged him across the ground towards the shimmering blue of the Stargate. She watched him move through the red haze of pain covering her eyes until she heard Jack call her name.
"Carter?"
Turning, she saw that he'd struggled to his feet but even from this distance she could see that his face had taken on a deeper pallor; his injured leg had twisted free of the splint she'd applied which now hung, contorted and awkward, from his damaged knee.
"I need some help here," he told her as she drew closer. Wordlessly she assumed the role she had played throughout their tortuous journey back to the gate, and they hobbled silently together towards the light and home.
***
"Unauthorized gate activation!"
The warning rang through the corridors of the SGC as General Hammond strode towards the control room, his brow contracted into a frown. Now what?
"Report!" he barked as soon as he entered, gazing out at the spinning gate just in time to see the final chevron lock and the event horizon splash into the gate room.
"We have three teams out, sir," the Lieutenant told him from where she sat at the controls. "None due back within twenty-four hours."
"Stand-by with the iris," he said.
A beat of silence pulsed through the room before a second voice said, "We're receiving a transmission code." Hammond held his breath. "It's SG-1, sir."
He nodded. "Have a medical team report to the gate room," he barked, already half-way out the door.
By the time he strode through the blast doors, Teal'c was emerging through the Stargate, dragging a limp body behind him - Daniel Jackson. "Medic!" the General barked as he ran up the ramp. "Teal'c," he said, "what happened? Where are Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter?"
"They are following," the Jaffa replied, dropping Daniel to the floor as he too slumped to his knees. His face was slick with sweat and cast with a sickly gray; he glanced up and Hammond realized that his eyes were barely focused. He placed a hand on the man's shoulder, just as O'Neill and Carter stumbled through the gate, obviously in no better condition, with Carter all but holding O'Neill upright.
"Colonel!" he exclaimed. "What the hell happened to your team?"
"Long story," O'Neill replied grimly, his eyes resting on Daniel, Teal'c and the medics that hovered around them. "Are they okay?"
"Daniel's bleeding heavily," Carter said then, addressing her words to the medics. "His wound is infected. And Teal'c's been bitten by something venomous - I treated it like a snakebite but...."
"Thanks, Major," one of the medics interrupted, "we'll take it from here."
Stepping aside to let the gurneys up the ramp, Hammond watched as Daniel and Teal'c were carefully lifted aboard and hurriedly wheeled out of the gate room towards the infirmary. Turning to O'Neill he winced at the sight of his injured leg, twisted at a very unnatural and painful looking angle. "Looks like you both need to get down to the infirmary," he said. "The debrief can wait until you've had a chance to rest."
"Thank you, sir," O'Neill nodded as another team of medics moved to manhandle him onto a gurney. He sucked in a sharp breath and muttered a curse as his wounded leg was lifted, but managed a smile for Carter. "Need a ride, Major?" he asked as they started to wheel him away.
Carter just shook her head, following the medics almost as if in a dream. "Major?" Hammond called after her.
She turned, her eyes half-hooded in her too pale face. "Sir?"
"Make sure Doctor Fraiser takes a look at you too."
"Yes, sir," she replied and carried on walking, her feet scuffing against the metal as she followed O'Neill down the ramp. Hammond frowned; how many times had SG-1 made it back by the skin of their teeth? Too damn many. He sighed, hoping he'd never see the day when their luck ran out.
***
"Drugs," Jack sighed to no one in particular. "I love 'em."
He lay propped up on a couple of pillows in the infirmary, an IV in his hand dripping a constant supply of something into his arm that was doing a hell of a lot for the agony he'd been living with the past couple of days. As the pain subsided, his mind began to clear enough to tell him that he was exhausted. The only thing that kept him awake now was concern for his friends. Daniel lay in the bed next to him, hooked up to a couple of drips, his color starting to return to something approaching normal. And Teal'c lay beyond Daniel, knocked out by something Janet said would ease his pain and allow his symbiote to heal itself; there wasn't much else she could do for him, Jack knew, but still his eyes wandered over his friend's sleeping form with concern.
"He'll be okay," Daniel assured him, obviously seeing where Jack's thoughts had drifted.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Sure he will."
Just then the door opened and Janet walked in. "You're looking better," she said immediately, as she picked up Daniel's chart and started reading, her head nodding.
"Feeling better," he told her. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," she smiled. "Sounds like you had fun out there."
"Oh yeah," Daniel muttered, "it was a blast."
"Well maybe next time you won't touch anything!" Jack suggested, raising an eyebrow to emphasize the point.
"Actually," Daniel pointed out, "I didn't touch anything - you were the one who found the treasure, so if we're gonna blame anyone here...."
Jack frowned. "You still set off the energy field," he countered. But deciding he was too tired to argue, even in jest, he changed the direction of the conversation and said, "Good job we had Carter along to patch us up."
"Yeah," Daniel agreed. And then he frowned a little, "Actually, I think we'd all be dead if it wasn't for Sam."
Jack couldn't help a proud smile from touching his lips at the truth Daniel spoke; he was right, Sam had saved them all - again. "Hear that Carter?" he asked, turning to where she lay crashed out on the bed next to his. "Hope we're not making your ears burn?" There was no reply; she was dead to the world, still fully dressed as if she slept where she'd dropped, one arm hanging limply over the side of
the bed. "Carter?" Jack pushed himself upright. "Hey!" he called again, a little louder. "You asleep?"
"Don't wake her up!" Daniel protested. "She was exhausted."
Jack frowned. He'd seen her sleep before; he often watched her sleep. But this was different, her face was still milk-white, her lips tinged more with blue than pink. "Carter!" he called loudly. "Sam! Come on, wake up!"
"Jack?" Daniel's voice was suddenly tense.
Instinctively, Jack tried to go to her, forgetting his injured leg and the IV in his hand. "Damn it!" he hissed as he found himself immobile. "Carter!" Still nothing. "Fraiser!" he called then. "Get over here!"
Janet was already on her way. "She said she was tired," she muttered as she approached Sam's bed. But she frowned as she glanced down at her friend, touching her face and giving her a little shake. No reaction. "Sam?" Her fingers immediately dropped to Sam's neck and Jack's heart lurched when he realized she was checking for a pulse.
"Oh no," he breathed suddenly, his stomach sinking so hard and fast he thought it would hit the floor. "What's the matter with her?"
Janet just shook her head. "She's unconscious and her pulse is very slow." She called out a babble of instructions that meant nothing to Jack, who could only watch helplessly as Sam was hooked up to numerous beeping machines. He raked a hand through his hair, the panic in his chest tight and controlled; what the hell was the matter with her?
Janet turned to him then, her eyes flicking constantly towards the readouts from the machines. "What happened?" she asked. "Was she sick? Did she eat anything? Was she bitten by the same thing that got Teal'c?
Jack shook his head. "No," he said, "I mean, I don't know - she didn't say she'd been bitten." His blood froze at the thought - one bite meant death. "She couldn't have been bitten."
"She had a headache," Daniel said then.
"Yes!" Jack agreed. "For a couple of days - really bad, I think. She said it was stress, hunger...."
"And I think she threw up too," Daniel added. Jack frowned; she threw up? Damn it, that's why she kept disappearing! He should've noticed that. He should've been paying more attention.
Janet's eyes narrowed as she turned back to Sam. "Was she injured at all when the energy field detonated?"
Daniel shook his head. "No."
But Jack knew better. "Yes," he said.
Janet scowled. "Which?"
"She was knocked out for a couple minutes," Jack explained. "But that's all - she seemed fine. The headache didn't even start until the next day."
Turning back to Sam, Janet peeled back her eyelids and shone her pen- light in each eye; her lips tightened at what she saw. "Damn," she muttered to herself, and then turning abruptly to a nearby nurse, she snapped, "I need a head CT, right away."
"What is it?" Jack asked, the real anxiety in Janet's voice making him sick to his stomach. "What's wrong with her?"
But Fraiser just shook her head. "I don't know yet," she said, and with that Sam was rolled onto a gurney and wheeled away.
***
Daniel lay staring at the ceiling, his thoughts with Sam. Janet had taken her away over an hour ago and despite Jack's persistent questions, orders and curses, they still had no idea what was happening to her.
"Will you stop fiddling with my goddamn knee," Jack was yelling now, "and go bring Fraiser here, right now!"
The nurse glared at him. "The sooner I'm done with your knee, sir," she replied, "the sooner you can go find Doctor Fraiser for yourself."
"Damn it!" Jack cursed, flinging himself back onto his pillows. "Just hurry up!"
"You know Janet will tell us as soon as she knows anything," Daniel told him, aware even as he spoke that reason wasn't going to work.
Jack just glared at him. "She must already know something."
"Well, maybe she's busy?" he suggested.
"Busy?" He sounded incredulous.
"With Sam," Daniel snapped, Jack's temper irritating him; did he think he was the only one who was worrying? Jack went silent at the words and from the grim expression that touched his face, Daniel realized it was that scenario that was troubling him. Sam could be so sick that Fraiser couldn't leave her, even to tell them what was happening. He saw a flash of real, heartfelt anguish in Jack's dark eyes and instantly regretted his words. "I'm sure she'll be here soon," he said quietly, but Jack made no reply, just covered his face with his hands as the nurse finished putting the brace on his damaged knee.
"Colonel O'Neill? Daniel?" Janet's voice drew their attention immediately as she stepped into the room, dismissing the nurse with a curt nod. From the taut expression on her face Daniel knew at once that the news wasn't good.
"What happened?" Jack asked immediately, pushing himself upright. "How's Sam?"
Janet dragged a stool over to the side of Daniel's bed and sat down. "Sam's pretty sick," she said quietly. "She has something called a subdural hematoma."
Jack was already shaking his head. "A what? What the hell's that?"
Janet held up a hand to stop him. "A head injury - bleeding between the membranes that surround the brain."
"She's bleeding inside her head?" Jack asked. "Why? How?"
"An injury like this is almost always caused by a blunt trauma," Janet said, "probably when Sam hit her head after that energy field exploded on you guys."
"Okay," Jack nodded, his eyes fixed on Janet with an intensity that even Daniel shied away from. "How do you treat it?"
"She needs immediate surgery," Janet told them. "I've drilled a small hole in her skull to try and relieve the pressure until the surgery can be done. But I'm no neurosurgeon - I've called the Air Force Academy Hospital and she'll be transferred there as soon as possible. Dr. Nordby is their neurosurgeon; she's good. Sam has a good chance."
"A good chance?" Daniel repeated.
"There's a possibility of brain damage," Janet said quietly. "And the mortality rate, even for an uncomplicated subdural, is about twenty percent."
"You mean - she might...?" He could hardly bring himself to say it, "She might die?"
Janet paused for a moment before she said, "She might. Her chances are probably fifty-fifty at this point, given the extent and duration of the bleeding." Daniel felt his jaw go slack; she might die? Sam might die? "I'm sorry," Janet added, her own voice turning husky.
As her words faded into silence Jack dropped his head into his hands. After a moment he mumbled, "Was there anything we could have done? If we'd known?"
"No, Colonel," Janet assured him. "The only thing to do was get her back here as fast as possible; it's touch and go now, but had you been even a couple of hours later it would have been too late."
He just nodded as his hands fell away from his face. "Can I see her?"
"I'm sorry, sir," Janet said. "We're getting her ready for the transfer and...."
"Please?" Jack fixed her with a meaningful glance and Daniel saw something unspoken pass between them; the acknowledgement of a shared secret.
Janet gave in and nodded slightly. "She's still unconscious," she warned him. "And you'll only have a couple of minutes."
"That's all I want," he replied.
***
Sam's room was crowded with people as Jack hobbled in on his crutches. She lay amid a nest of wires and tubes, her pale face still streaked with the dirt of their long journey, the dark marks only emphasizing the pallor of her skin.
Propping the crutches against the wall, Jack held onto the metal railing of her bed as he watched her, the slow rise and fall of her chest a comfort of sorts, though it did little to ease the pain of his guilt and regret. All that time she'd been struggling to get them home, struggling to support him and to treat Daniel's wound, she'd been the one in greatest danger. She'd been bleeding and in pain, and he hadn't known. None of them had; they'd seen her pale face, seen her obvious pain and let her shrug it off as nothing. Carter was fine, she was always fine; but not this time. And so she'd fought her way onwards, despite her pain, fought to keep them together and fought to keep them alive. He owed her his life and now it seemed she might have bought it with her own.
Ignoring the medical staff hovering behind him, Jack reached out and touched her face. "Keep fighting, Sam," he told her quietly. "Keep fighting."
"Doctor Fraiser?" a voice called from the doorway. "The helicopter is here."
"Thank you, Captain," Janet said from where she stood behind Jack. And then he felt her warm hand on his arm. "We have to take her now, Colonel."
He dared not risk words as he stood aside to let them wheel Sam from the room, but his eyes didn't leave her until she was taken from his sight. Janet squeezed his arm slightly, "As soon as I know anything, I'll call," she said.
As he stood in the empty room, one thought circled in Jack's numb mind. "I should have made her leave without me. I'd rather be dead on that planet than lose her now."
***
The Air Force Academy Hospital was as sterile and impersonal as he remembered it, and the corridor Jack hobbled down was interminably long. They'd offered him a wheelchair but he hated the damn things, hated being reliant on someone else to push him around, so he'd turned them down and limped slowly along on his crutches.
Janet had warned him what to expect and he prepared himself as he approached the room. He briefly wondered if anyone else would be there and whether or not he should have brought flowers. Nah, he decided, it wasn't appropriate. Not for him and not for Sam.
As he pushed open the door his eyes fell instantly on her unnaturally pale features, accentuated by the white gown they'd dressed her in. Taking a deep breath he stepped into the room and let the door click shut behind him. He made his way towards her bed and eased himself into the chair at her side, propping his crutches up against the wall. Saying nothing for a moment he simply watched her motionless body, still ornamented by the tubes and wires of modern medicine. "We miss you, Carter," he said at last, his quiet words sounding loud amid the hums and beeps in the room.
"Did you bring chocolate?" Her voice was husky and soft, but it was still hers.
He smiled. "I thought you were asleep."
"I was."
"Now I'm in trouble," he sighed, "Janet ordered me not to wake you."
She turned her head slowly towards him and her eyes fluttered open, their color brilliant against her pale skin. "I won't tell if you won't."
"It's a deal." She just smiled, but didn't seem to have the energy to say anymore. "Daniel and Teal'c say 'Hi'," Jack said then. "But the Doc wouldn't let them out to come see you - I've escaped from prisons easier than that place!"
"How are they?" she murmured.
"Fine," he assured her. And then, after a moment added, "Thanks to you."
She shook her head, but the gesture seemed to pain her and she winced a little. "Sir, about what happened - at the tree."
"Shh," he said, lightly touching her hand. "Not now."
"Please," she protested, "I have to - sir, I had no right to question your orders...."
"Question?"
She closed her eyes. "Well, ignore," she amended. "I wasn't myself, sir - I wasn't thinking straight...." She sighed, "My actions nearly got everyone killed and I realize that you'll need to report my behavior to General Hammond, but I just want to...."
"I'm not reporting it to anyone," he assured her immediately.
Her lips tightened slightly. "For what it's worth, sir," she whispered, "I'm sorry."
Jack glanced down at his hands, considering his response carefully. He was treading a very thin line between discipline and friendship, but knew it would be hypocrisy to blame her for what she'd done. "You were sick, Carter," he said quietly, "which obviously affected your judgement, but I think we both know why you acted as you did." He looked up into her face as he spoke and knew they understood each other. "And you were right," he continued, holding her gaze. "When you said I was ordering you to do something I couldn't do myself, you were right."
She sighed and said, "I guess that's something we both need to handle better, sir."
"Yeah," he agreed. "Guess it is, Carter."
They lapsed into silence then and Jack watched as her eyes slowly drifted shut. Minutes passed but he didn't move, his mind wandering back to their flight from the planet. She'd saved his life, he knew that; her determination to bring her whole team home in the face of his orders had saved his life. Even if her actions hadn't exactly been text book, she'd gotten the right result; SG-1 would live to fight another day.
He shook his head at the ambiguity of the situation and rose slowly to his feet, grabbing his crutches from where they rested against the wall. It was dark outside now and as he made his way to the door he felt an irrational shiver run up his spine at the thought of walking out into the night. Before he left the room he glanced back over his shoulder, "Goodnight, Sam," he murmured quietly. "And welcome home."
***
Sam sat propped up in bed, prodding at something on her tray the nurse had assured her was chocolate mousse. The damn thing had a consistency of semi-set concrete and about as much flavor. She sighed and pushed it away, grabbing the TV remote with the intention of trying to kill another hour or so channel surfing. God, she hated hospitals.
She'd been here almost two weeks now, but still the memories of the planet haunted her. She found it hard to piece together the whole thing, but images would sometimes flash unbidden into her mind, especially at night - Teal'c's face when he was bitten, Daniel's unconscious body lying before the Stargate, the look of disappointment in Jack's eyes when she'd refused to obey his order. She shuddered and pushed the memories away. They were safe now, it was over.
She flicked the TV on and started surfing, but the banal programming couldn't hold her attention for long and her mind started to drift again. Had she done the right thing, she wondered, forcing Jack to get back to the gate? If she'd been even a couple of minutes later, they'd probably all be dead and her hands would be stained with the blood of Daniel and Teal'c; without Jack slowing their progress they could have made it back with time to spare. Yet they'd been as insistent as she had in refusing to abandon him.
"But you're his second in command," she whispered to herself, "you should have followed his orders."
Closing her eyes she rested her head against the pillows and sighed. It was all academic now anyway, she'd done it and Jack had told her that he understood, that he forgave her in a way. She just wished she could forgive herself.
"Hey!" the voice was unexpected but welcome and as Sam opened her eyes she saw Daniel's head pop around the door. "You seeing visitors?"
She gave him a smile. "I think I have a window in my schedule!"
He smiled back and stepped inside, producing a large bunch of flowers as he did so. "How are you, Sam?" he asked, coming up to the bed and kissing her gently on the cheek. "You look better."
"I'm good," she assured him as she took the flowers and breathed in their scent. "And these are beautiful, thanks."
He shrugged. "Glad you like them."
"Major Carter."
She glanced up at the familiar voice. "Teal'c! Hi! Good to see you too - how are you?"
"I am well," he replied. "And glad to see you looking much improved."
Sam smiled again, her gloomy thoughts dissipating in the warmth of her friends' affection. "And you, Daniel," she asked him, "how's the arm?"
"Oh, fine," he nodded. "Actually I'm gonna have a scar, but it's not bad. I mean you won't really notice it."
"Well, you know," she told him with a quick grin, "some women really like that kinda thing. They think it looks macho."
"They do?"
"Sure," Jack drawled from the doorway. "At least, that's what they always tell me."
Sam couldn't help but smile. "Always, sir?"
He just raised an eyebrow and gave her a lopsided grin as he limped into the room. "Feeling better?"
"Much," she replied and then thought for a moment. "Apart from being bored out of my mind and sick of the lousy food."
Jack's grin broadened. "Well, I might be able to help you there," he said, reaching into a bag slung over his shoulder. "Here," he said. "Contraband."
"Ice cream!" Sam felt her face split into a grin. "New York Super Fudge Chunk - my favorite! How did you know?"
He shrugged. "Isn't it everyone's favorite?"
The afternoon passed quickly as they chatted together, and Sam found that the memories of the planet lost their power to frighten her when she discussed and even laughed over them with her friends.
"So," Jack said, from where he sat on the end of her bed with his damaged knee stretched out along its length, "did anyone ever figure out what the hell those little bastards were? Some kind of Goa'uld invention?"
"No," Daniel replied, "I think they drove the Goa'uld from the planet - or ate them. According to the writing on the temple, 'the darkness grew long and the suns did not shed their favor on the people of Kalandra. And in the darkness, the night took form. It came down from the heavens and devoured the people of Kalandra, their blood and screams for pity meaning nothing to the merciless terror born of the night.'"
"You remember that?" Jack was incredulous.
Daniel looked a little self-conscious. "Well, I wrote it down," he admitted. "I always keep a journal of each mission...."
Jack shook his head. "I'm not even gonna ask when you had time."
"Actually," Sam said then, "I've been thinking about the creatures myself." Jack glanced at her, his eyebrows twitching upward in curiosity. "I think they must be a natural phenomena, sir," she explained. "The tree we sheltered in had obviously evolved to protect itself from the creatures, but the fact that it was surrounded by ordinary trees implies that they don't swarm all that often. Maybe once a decade or something."
"So our timing really sucked?" Jack surmised.
She nodded. "Yeah. I reckon the creatures only swarm in winter, when the days are shorter and the nights are long enough for them to reproduce."
"'But then the darkness grew long and the suns did not shed their favor on the people of Kalandra. And in the darkness, the night took form,'" Daniel repeated, nodding at her theory. "That fits."
Jack's eyes narrowed in thought. "You know," he said, "if we could get a couple of those creatures onto some Goa'uld planets..."
"Jack!" Daniel's protest was immediate, "That's biological warfare."
"Yeah?"
"Jack!"
He sighed. "Okay, okay - just an idea." Then glancing at the half- eaten pint of ice-cream Sam had left on her tray he said, "You gonna finish that?"
She shook her head. "Go ahead."
Daniel gazed at him in astonishment.
"What?" Jack frowned. "It was gonna melt!"
Shaking his head, Daniel turned to Sam, "So," he said, "when do they let you out of here?"
And so the conversation went on. Sam found her eyes growing heavy as she listened to the familiar banter pass back and forth between her friends, and she let herself slide lower in her bed, her eyes drifting closed. She smiled though, wrapped in the warmth of their mutual friendship, and let the feeling of contented ease suffuse her body. She loved these people, she thought, as their voices lulled her towards sleep. She loved them and she'd do anything for them, anything at all. In that instant she knew that all the pain of her journey back to the gate, all the anguish of disobeying the Colonel's orders, had been worth it - had been worth it for this moment alone. "Hey!" She felt a gentle tug on her toe and opened her eyes to see Jack watching her. "Tired?"
"A little," she confessed, though her eyes would hardly stay open.
"We'll go," he decided and rose to his feet, limping around the bed to come and stand at her side. "Take it easy," he told her.
She smiled. "Like I have a choice?"
"Sam?" Daniel said then, rising to his feet and taking hold of her hand. "I just want to say - well, we all want to say - thanks."
She blinked. "For what?"
"For getting us back!" he exclaimed. "For saving our lives - ring any bells?"
"Oh, that," she smiled. "Well, any of you guys would've done the same."
"Probably not as well," Jack said quietly, drawing her eyes back to his. "Thanks, Sam," he whispered. "For bringing me home."
There was a weight to his voice that she understood; he was thanking her for not leaving him at the tree, for not obeying his orders. "I always will, sir," she murmured back. "Every time."
Jack smiled gently and surprised her by reaching down and lightly brushing the hair from her forehead. And, from the way he hurriedly withdrew his hand and stuffed it into his pocket, he'd surprised himself too. He cleared his throat, "Daniel, Teal'c," he said with a nod towards the door, "let's go."
With one final squeeze Daniel dropped her hand and headed for the door, followed by Teal'c, whose farewell was silent. "'Night guys," she said, "thanks for coming."
Jack trailed them to the door but turned back towards her at the last moment. "'Night, Carter," he said quietly, reaching for the light switch. "Sweet dreams."
The room plunged into darkness. "Ah, guys?" Sam called hurriedly, before the door had time to close.
"Yeah?" Jack's head poked back around the door.
She felt a little self-conscious. "Could you leave the light on? I don't want to sleep in the dark tonight."
Jack just smiled. "Yeah, sure. You betcha, Carter."
The End!
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