If We Meet Again

 

 
by Travelling One
 
Email: travelling_one@yahoo.ca
Web: http://www.travellingone.com
Summary: An exploratory undersea investigation turns deadly.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended. Any original characters, situations, and storylines are the property of the author. Archive only with permission please.
May/04
 
 
NOTES: If this story is having problems fully loading, please press "Stop" and then "Refresh". If this doesn't work, please let me know. - T.O.
 
"Geez, Carter! Get those damn lights turned off." O'Neill was squinting even behind the dark glasses.
 
"I've been looking for a way, sir. But even if I can figure out how to do that, it might not be such a good idea."
 
"Because??"
 
"Because the lights might be for more than just, well, light, sir. And the power source might also power up the stargate for all we know."
 
"Oh for crying out loud. There's a DHD."
 
"I'm just saying, Colonel."
 
"What's that?" Jack suddenly tilted his head, listening, his eyes aimed vacantly towards the walls Daniel had been studying, those surfaces covered in murals of a sparkling lake dotted with odd-looking glass-domed boats and geometrical flowing script. The high ceiling was too bright to look into, covered with what Jack had referred to as multiple 2000 watt bulbs. Not that he'd ever seen 2000 watt bulbs… but the pulsating brilliance permeated the small empty room, bestowing upon it the glaring sensation of a hollow but energized non-living entity. "Drums?"
 
The others ceased their movements in favour of listening, and Daniel lowered his sunglass-covered eyes from the writing that meant absolutely nothing to him so far.
 
The faint thumps were mingling, the sound almost unpleasant. "Sounds like heartbeats, sir."
 
"Wait a minute," Daniel corrected, focussing his concentration on the sounds. "Our heartbeats."
 
"What?" Confusion radiated from Jack's voice. "What makes you say that?"
 
"It's getting louder, and one matches mine. Is it just me, or are your hearts starting to pound?"
 
SG1 listened more closely, soon distinguishing four sets of beats, definitely heartbeats. And the thrumming was growing increasingly louder, the four stargate travellers becoming aware of the vibrations, an energy, as the beats increased in speed as well as volume.
 
"I can almost feel the drumming inside my own chest," Daniel remarked, his heart rate continuing to increase and the pulses beginning to grow uncomfortable.
 
"I feel it too, Daniel," Sam frowned, placing a palm against her jacket. "It's starting to hurt."
 
"I do not yet feel this," Teal'c stated.
 
"I do." Jack, too, was in some discomfort. "What's going on?"
 
The sounds were steadily becoming louder, the vibrations more and more pronounced. Yet nothing in the room was trembling or vibrating, neither the walls nor the floor, the ceiling lights continuing their pulsating white glow. The sensations all seemed to be solely internal.
 
And then the MALP began to go haywire.
 
"Sir!"
 
They all saw where Carter was staring; the camera on the MALP had begun to swivel, and the machine itself was pitching forward and back as if in response to a surge of undirected energy. Its infrared equipment flickered on and off and the noises coming from the machine indicated a mental breakdown of the mechanical species. As it was, a power surge seemed to be looming.
 
"Sir… I'd say this was meant to be some sort of energizing chamber."
 
"Carter? Any ideas as to what's causing this?"
 
"Not yet, sir." Sam was again strolling around the room, pausing to examine the walls. "The power source must be within or behind the walls themselves, or maybe in the lighting system. It might be amplified with naquadah, or some other agent unknown to us. If there's any sort of mechanism, it certainly isn't anywhere we can see it." There were few niches to explore and the room itself was completely bare. "Maybe the writing here explains it. Daniel?" But Daniel just shook his head. He had nothing yet.
 
As she neared the MALP, Sam halted abruptly. Standing motionless for a few moments, she frowned. "Colonel?"
 
"Carter?"
 
"Uh, sir, I'm getting distorted readings from the MALP. It…" She looked up, eyes astonished. "It's got a heartbeat."
 
Three "What?"s sounded in unison.
 
"That's so not possible."
 
"If I didn't know better, sir, I'd say its energy is being accessed and pooled with our own."
 
"And you think you know better, why?" They'd seen and experienced enough unusual things in the universe…s to know better than to ignore or disallow anomalies.
 
Carter almost blushed. "Purely denial, sir. If our energy is being mixed with that of the MALP's and it's all being transferred to us, then eventually it could kill us. Colonel, this room is taking every power source, and in that I'm including both living and non-living, and treating it as though we're all one being. It's trying to energize or maybe even heal us without taking differential needs into consideration."
 
"So… we and the MALP are all being fed the same vitamins?"
 
"Yes sir."
 
"And these vitamins are made partly out of MALP food?"
 
"I think you're understanding the situation, Colonel."
 
"Jack?"
 
"What?"
 
"I think the MALP food's making me sick."
 
The others turned to look at Daniel. The archaeologist was pale, and he was breathing with difficulty. "My heart's beating too fast, I don't feel so well." Slowly he lowered himself to the ground.
 
"Dial us out of here, Carter." Jack's order was abrupt and sharp.
 
"No, sir."
 
Jack looked up, eyes flashing angrily. "No?"
 
"Colonel, the energy given off by the DHD and an incoming vortex is massive. The radiation and voltage is far too high. If it were to be augmented by the room and absorbed by us it could kill us instantly."
 
"Oh for crying out loud. We can't stay here, Carter."
 
"No sir. But we can't take a chance on opening the gate. Not yet. Daniel and I can have another go at trying to turn the lights off somehow."
 
Jack tossed a look at Daniel, at the linguist sitting hunched over, hands limply flat on the ground. The guy didn't look much in favour of having another go. "Anyone coming here would have had to get out, right?"
 
"O'Neill, there may perhaps be hidden exits."
 
"Do a search, people." Jack was tense. While Daniel seemed to be most strongly experiencing the effects, he himself did not feel up to reading so much as a comic book, nevermind conducting a mission on an alien planet 6000 odd light years from the nearest doctor. With an aching heart and muscles that seemed to be intent on imitating jello, getting out of this room was the only thing on the leader's mind.
 
Hands and fingers scouring the seamless walls and floor, it didn't take long to again admit that there was no observable way out.
 
With Daniel, Sam, and now Jack sitting weakly against the walls adorned by those peaceful glass boats floating on a serene lake, only Teal'c was still fervently seeking a camouflaged panel or disconnected piece of tile.
 
"I'm sorry, Jack. I should've been able to find out something from the writing."
 
Jack shook his head doubtfully. "Forget it, Daniel. Even you can't decipher unfamiliar script in an hour."
 
"For what reason do you sit conversing and wasting valuable time?" Teal'c snapped.
 
Three heads looked up wearily, surprised. "Aren't you in the least bit tired, Teal'c?" Jack asked.
 
"I am not. In fact I feel every bit as strong as I need to be to complete this mission," he stated loudly. "I do not understand your lack of desire to leave this place."
 
"We're not lacking motivation, Teal'c", Daniel explained softly. "We're lacking the strength to move."
 
"So you say," Teal'c spat.
 
"Hey! That's enough. Not everyone has your stamina, Teal'c."
 
"I do not…"
 
"And we're not going to waste our energy arguing." Jack's head was hurting worse, the discomfort travelling into his stomach.
 
"I think Teal'c is just absorbing the MALP's energy differently than we are, sir," Carter groaned.
 
"Well here's a thought," Jack scowled, reluctant to even harbour the idea. "Remember the glow box Daniel found in Central America?"
 
Daniel's eyes widened, understanding his CO's insinuation. "You think this could be a huge one and we're inside it?"
 
"I'm just sayin'."
"We have to get out of here, Colonel."
 "Any further ideas, Major? Don't hold back now. 'Cause Teal'c has two more minutes before I dial out."
 
"Even though the energy surge could kill us?" Carter reminded him.
 
"Maybe it won't. Staying here will definitely kill us, Carter."
 
"What if the power source is on a timer of some sort? It may use itself up." Carter knew she was grasping at straws.
 
"Well I'm not willing to take that chance, Major."
 
"O'Neill. You wish to care for your team yet you are willing to risk the death of all by choosing a foolish action. I believe there is another way out of this room, one which I have not yet discovered, as I am receiving no help from any of my teammates."
 
"I said can it, Teal'c. If the SGC tries to contact us they'll blast us with the power of a vortex anyway, and it'll be incoming so we won't even be able to leave. I say we dial out first." Jack rose, knowing their only way out might injure or even destroy his teammates. But there was no choice this time. Judging by his own condition, his human teammates were all suffering from racing pulses, alternating heat and cold, nausea, and severe headaches and muscle cramps. Absorbing energy from a machine was not a medically wise thing to do. The MALP itself now was rapidly tracking circles around the room, on a mechanical high most likely mentioned nowhere in the annals of mechanical engineering nor in any journal of medicine.
 
Carter moved to Jack's side at the DHD to watch the action. If anything went wrong, she wanted to be there to fix it asap. Teal'c remained close to where Daniel sat leaning against the wall.
 
"Daniel Jackson. I cannot investigate this area of wall with you propped against it."
 
Daniel looked up wearily at his friend. "There's nothing behind me, Teal'c."
 
"You do not know that. Please move." Teal'c's voice was agitated and impatient.
 
Daniel forced himself to slide over four inches, his stomach and head improvising at agony. Or maybe this was seasickness from the boats on the walls; yes, maybe this room was just a simulation meant to approximate the lifelike journey on aggressive waters. Except that this scene portrayed calm.
 
"That is not enough." Shoving him further out of the way, Teal'c caused Daniel to fall off balance, the dark glasses sliding to his chin.
 
"Teal'c!?" The soft; offended blue eyes squinted up in alarm from where Daniel now leaned against the floor. Quickly, Daniel replaced the lenses, his eyes already aching from the brilliant white light. Jack knew even Teal'c had no choice but to get home quickly, this state of mind not being the Jaffa's normal temperament towards his teammates, and he worried how an unpredictable Jaffa would react to whatever happened next. Jack pressed his palm against the first chevron.
 
"What the…"
 
The glyph that Jack had pressed was not the one that lit up.
 
Pressing a second and then a third, Carter and O'Neill locked mystified eyes. Their chosen gate address was being traded for the device's own choice of destinations.
 
"Carter?!"
 
Sam knelt by the DHD, determined to have a look at its interior and to at least reset its programming. The chevrons faded out. "Try it now, sir."
 
Again, Jack pressed the symbols for home, and once again the DHD made its own decision.
 
"We can't gate home."
 
Daniel tried to turn his head from his position flat on the ground, as Teal'c stepped over and around him. "What?" he asked weakly. "Why?"
 
"We'll have to go wherever this damn thing wants to send us. We're not staying here." The seven chevrons now detailing an unknown address, Jack pressed his palm flat onto the center dome.
 
Which lit up blue, glowing, as Jack and Carter found themselves covered in tingling sparks.
 
"Carter??"
 
"Um,… a force field, sir? Listen."
 
Jack stopped his movements, remaining still and quiet. "The heartbeats have stopped."
 
"Yes, sir." And the internal pain was already diminishing.
 
"They have not." Teal'c was scowling.
 
"Daniel?" Jack frowned from Teal'c to the archaeologist. "You hear anything?"
 
It took a moment, but Daniel managed a nod. "There are only two heartbeats now, Jack, and they just got a whole lot louder and faster." One was even faster than the other, and Daniel knew it matched the beating of his own heart. This was becoming too painful, and had someone advised him that his heart was on the verge of exploding he would not have disagreed.
 
"Carter, how are you feeling?"
 
Sam bit her lip pensively. "Fine, sir. Good."
 
"Yeah,… me too." He looked over at her. "So we're protected from the energy seeping into the room?"
 
Carter nodded glumly. "A hundred percent of the energy now belongs to Daniel, Teal'c and the MALP. Before, with us, it was eighty percent human instead of sixty-six."
 
"So?"
 
"So the MALP has just gained power." She frowned towards the other two men. "They're both in a lot of trouble, sir."
 
Crap. Carter was right; even he could understand the numbers. "Why didn't the gate work?"
 
Sam shook her head slowly. "I have no idea, Colonel."
 
"Teal'c? Daniel? Come touch Carter and me."
 
"Are you sure that is wise, O'Neill?"
 
"Of course I'm not sure that it's wise Teal'c, but it's the only idea I have at the moment."
 
Teal'c hesitatingly made his way closer to a pale Daniel and reached out his hand, the younger man tentatively accepting the offered help. Together, they approached the mildly glimmering pair.
 
Breathing heavily from the exertion of crossing the room, Daniel reached out. As his fingers touched Jack's shoulder, he sprung backwards from the jolt of electrical current. Grabbed by Teal'c as he fell, his heartbeat became yet more painful, and Daniel sat panting on the floor, clutching his chest. Teal'c reached out to touch Carter, pulling back as the sudden flux of current stabbed his fingertips and raced up through his arm.
 
"The force field has encompassed neither Daniel Jackson nor I," Teal'c stated almost angrily. He kicked out at the DHD, the contact of his boot sounding solidly. He grabbed Daniel's jacket, pulling the man to his feet.
 
"No!" Daniel weakly bent over, trying not to fall, trying not to throw up.
 
"Hey! Teal'c! Leave him," Jack ordered, his concern accelerating.
 
The look on Teal'c's face was one of surprise, caused by his own behaviour and not that of O'Neill. Rapidly he backed away from the archaeologist. "Forgive me, Daniel Jackson." Daniel dropped back to his knees, head down, eyes closed.
 
"Daniel, maybe if you try pressing the DHD dome yourself," O'Neill suggested. The chevrons were still lit and the dome was alternately fading from blue to orange and back again.
 
Kneeling and pushing himself up with his hands, Daniel struggled to his feet, falling again. Neither Jack nor Sam dared touch him for fear of sending more voltage through him, and Teal'c was afraid of his own strength and agitation.
 
Jack knew this was their only possibility, but one they were only guessing at as a possible solution. No one knew what would happen next, and if the energy somehow killed Daniel, he'd never be able to live with himself. But if instead it bathed him in a shield and reduced the pain, they could work on next steps and a Plan B with more time on their hands.
 
"Teal'c…?" The plea sounded desperate, and Teal'c caught Daniel as his ill teammate passed out.
 
Without another thought, Teal'c grabbed Daniel's hand and together with his own, slammed it down on the domed panel.
 
A blue shimmering vortex blasted outward and settled into a perfect event horizon.
 
Teal'c's scream rang in their ears, the man grabbing his head and dropping to his knees, Daniel falling silently beside him.
 
There was no time to think about where this wormhole would deposit them; they had no choice but to go through. As quickly as he could, Jack pulled Daniel over his shoulder, oblivious to the electrical currents passing through them both, and Teal'c forced his body to stumble through the gate beside Carter's.
 
_____
 
There were islands.
 
Surveying their surroundings with a no-longer glowing Carter attending to a still unconscious Daniel, and a recovered Teal'c guiltily hovering over them both, Jack noted the series of small land masses just across the waterways in every direction. Nothing fit into his preconceived idea of an organized world. Surrounded by wide canals, the stargate rested in a field of grass, littered with unidentifiable tubes of metal. In the atmosphere above them floated what could have been described as elongated helium balloons. Long strands of metallic ribbons trailed down from the floating bubbles and continued to drift higher into the air, receding into the distance even as Jack watched. The small protruding body of land that housed the stargate was devoid of anything but the strange objects and a grassy plain, the equipment seemingly the sole reason for this tiny island's existence. Jack realized he could easily walk its circumference in a matter of minutes.
 
Only the largest of the islands, directly facing the front of the gate and separated from it by perhaps only 400 feet of canal, was teaming with life. Twin islands off to its sides joined the larger one by a number of bridges fading into the hilly horizon. Single-story buildings of geometrical shapes had been constructed from metallic substances, possibly steel or even, Jack hazarded a guess, trinium.
 
And the canal between the town and the gate travellers boasted a fleet of domed glass boats floating serenely towards them. SG1 had gated straight into the wall murals from P2X 134, it seemed. These double-seated partially enclosed water vehicles - a cross between floating rafts and powered kayaks topped with a glass dome and open sun roof- were manned by a small horde of townsfolk who were already making their way across the channel.
 
Townsfolk who definitely did not give the impression of being serene, the first few already mooring their water vehicles to the platforms and approaching Jack and his team.
 
"Take care of Daniel." Jack advised Carter before standing to face the oncoming crowd, hands on his weapon. "And stay sharp."
 
Daniel was regaining consciousness, aware of the dull receding pain in his chest and the thumping behind his eyes. "What's going on?" he managed to whisper. Thoughts beginning to clear and adrenaline still coursing through too-narrow arteries, he felt Teal'c's large hand on his arm.
 
"We have survived."
 
Jack was on alert. Hopefully these people would be communicative and friendly, for he was well aware that his team was outnumbered, tired, and unprepared. Not to mention totally in the dark as to where they were.
 
But friendly was not the first word that came to Jack's mind as the men and women drew near, nor was it the second. With looks that could boil the surrounding water they approached, aiming what definitely appeared to be weapons, hollering, their words blending into the wind and chaos.
 
With an odd accent and strained enunciation, the first man to reach O'Neill was already making himself crystal clear.
 
"You will be tossed to the sea for what you have done!"
 
O'Neill swung his P90 forward, immediately joined by Teal'c at his side. Facing the men down, trying hard to feign nonchalance at their apparent anger, Jack needed to buy Daniel time, hoping that the archaeologist would not be needing the aid of these people. A quick peripheral glance reassured him that Daniel was trying to sit up.
 
"What have we done?"
 
The crowd drew closer, and the confrontation directed itself towards a weak Daniel. "Toss him to the waters!"
 
"No!" Jack fired his weapon into the empty space of the canal, and the crowd hushed. "Tell us what you think we've done!"
 
_____
 
"Manmade islands?"
 
"Yes sir. Unlike most of the manmade islands on Earth which have been constructed by dredging up bottom silt and sediment, these were built on sea-bottom platforms mounted on a foundation of submerged lands. They must have used quite an advanced technology."
 
"And we screwed it up how?" It was not in O'Neill's nature to accept blame for accidents, but he was not about to deny well-placed responsibility, either.
 
"Unfortunately, sir, the ground below these islands is the original site of a tectonically and seismically unstable land mass." Legends told of a land beneath these waters that had been destroyed by disenchanted Sea Gods in volcanic eruptions, and much later the sacred area had become the manmade haven for these inhabitants after a small community had turned their vision into reality. For hundreds of years, these built-up islands had been a revered and sacred resort, or perhaps hide-away, before becoming a permanent settlement. "When we opened the stargate, sir, we apparently destroyed the massive power source for the mechanisms that stabilize the foundations of these very islands."
 
"A machine like that's not possible, Carter."
 
"Not possible, sir? The Nox have a floating city. The Tok'ra build instant tunnels with crystals. The Goa'uld - "
 
"Okay."
 
Okay, so they could not have known that below the seabed's lithosphere, magma and plumes were cooled and kept stabilized by a series of ancient pipes and pumps, thus keeping these islands in simulated isostatic equilibrium. They could not have known that the execution of this was itself accomplished and maintained by magnetic forces operating underwater on a system of sound frequencies. They could definitely not have known that the pumping and sound generators, those underwater devices, had been connected intrinsically to the stargate, absorbing power from its naquadah. And it was definitely not their fault that P2X 134, that bright little room where the MALP was still on its hormonal rampage, was used only for energizing the central orb, body of the local power source, preset and activated by remote control. Hell, these people knew well how to use the protective shield of the DHD, but that place had nearly killed SG1.
 
But he could not deny that the generating equipment, those mechanisms apparently keeping these islands stable, had been disconnected and set free into the atmosphere, the main orb devoured completely when they had opened the gate, these people having had no warning and no time to disconnect their equipment from the stargate. Yet SG1 had not even wanted to come here in the first place.
 
And now, the villagers were not only worried about history repeating itself with the destruction of these revered lands, they were convinced it would happen soon.
 
"We can try to help you," Jack had reassured the crowd. Perhaps there was nothing they would be able to do, but they could, indeed, try. And the concerns might very well be unfounded.
 
"You have this method on your own world? You are able to replace our lost orb?"
 
"Well, no. But Carter here can have a look at your blueprints and try to rig up some alternate power source. If we have to, we can also relocate you to another place."
 
That was not an offer that had gone over well, but the inhabitants had eventually, begrudgingly, accepted the fact that their only choice was to rely on the aid of the strangers. They had agreed to temporarily lower their weapons in favour of listening; tempers and aggression would never save their beloved, sacred lands.
 
"You now feel better?" someone Jack had nicknamed Ripley, for want of being able to actually pronounce his name, was questioning Daniel.
 
"I do. Thank you." SG1 had used those double-seater boats and returned to the town on the main island with the villagers. While Jack had had reservations about separating his team from the gate by the distance of a waterway, he couldn't knock the feeling of partial responsibility for these people's predicament. Both of his two scientists had agreed to do whatever they could to help. For with the equipment now non-functional, even Carter had admitted that the molten materials and gases below these islands and channels might quickly overflow through ruptured trenches; the ensuing heat would then lower the density of the island masses and result in movement and shifting. The lands would then be destined to slip towards each other and eventually collide, destroying cities and inhabitants alike. No one knew whether they would feel the first signs within days or hours; all that was known was that the orb had regularly been shut down once every second season for no more than two hours at a time, in order to be recharged on P2X 134.
 
"We're truly sorry," Daniel apologized again, his eyes earnest and sincere. "This was all an accident."
 
"Yes," Ripley agreed sourly. "As it was an accident that you entered our room not meant for humans, without proper knowledge of the safety measures. I dare not think what we might have found next time we went through." The spectrum of colours in all that white light had been channelled into a powerful source of energy, a technique Carter hoped to be able to study.
 
The vision uninviting, Daniel bit down on his lower lip. "It was my fault. I'm sure if I could have read the writing on those walls I could have figured out what all that power was for and how to get home."
 
"No, do not blame yourself for that. There is no writing on the walls, only decoration."
 
Daniel squinted up at Ripley. That hadn't really been their script?
 
_____
 
"So what can we do?" Jack, across the compound with Carter, was envisioning any reparation attempts as taking weeks, minimum, to accomplish. Because of the size of the small islands, Carter was giving him only days.
 
"I have no idea, sir. According to sketches they have of the equipment, there was a main controlling power orb supported by rods in the center of the stargate cavity. They would send it through to P2X 134 at intervals to be recharged, and operate it by remote control, which is why the DHD connected automatically to this planet. Without the orb, sir, the only way of controlling the magnetic workings under the lithosphere is by manual override from an underwater system. They don't even know how to fix it themselves. These land masses were built hundreds of years ago and used as a type of holiday resort. The mechanics and builders supposedly left long ago in large water vehicles and were never heard from again. Ripley is a descendent of the first family."
 
"So there are more continents on this planet?"
 
"That's likely, sir, but only legends abound. These people have no planes or ships, at least none that have come in their lifetimes."
 
"So the others might have been taken through the gate or by Goa'uld mothership?"
 
"Anything's possible. These islands may even have been a secret refuge. Daniel said their legends don't tell of Goa'uld though."
 
"Just Sea Gods, right?" Jack responded sarcastically, scanning the surroundings. "What will happen now?"
 
"Well sir, given the pressure of the convection processes within the upper mantle- "
 
"Carter!"
 
"The islands will start shifting."
 
"You don't know that."
 
"Not for certain, Colonel, no. But that was the reason the suspension and maintenance system was built in the first place. This entire area has been known to be geologically unstable ever since the original lands were submerged. Any shifting, Colonel, will result in a Domino effect; the waters will react under the pressure, thus causing more land movement and then even greater pressures underground. These canals themselves are part of a formerly large sea, with the islands being positioned in its center. Once it starts, the effects will increase incrementally. In fact, sir, what we're going to see can be compared to a sudden and immediate shifting of tectonic plates, on a miniature scale; we'll be witnessing the collision and upheaval of all these land masses, Colonel, if we stick around, and my guess is that it's going to start happening within days."
 
"So, Carter, what? Relocation?"
 
"Yes sir, I don't think they have any other choice. But I'd still like to have a look at the workings of their underwater control station. Maybe there's still time to power the system manually; so far, it's been only a few hours. Sir, I think we have an obligation to try."
 
Jack's eyes narrowed. "How do we reach the station? Tunnels?"
 
"No sir. They have underwater vehicles."
 
"Submersibles?"
 
"Similar. They work on the same principles as our sport subs and deep sea research submersibles, with an internalized pressure monitor and life support."
 
"Fine," Jack nodded. "We'll go first thing in the morning."
 
_____
 
"No, going with her will not be possible. The alignment coordinator only has room for one."
 
The grimace on Jack's face revealed his thoughts more clearly than his single vocalization. "What?"
 
"Follow me."
 
Shaking his head and giving Carter a cold stare, they followed Haasnadine. Behind them trailed Ripley with two colleagues from the Council of Elders, then Daniel and Teal'c. The four travellers had spent an unsettled night in this building under warm cover of their sleeping bags, and knew that the island's residents had spent an equally restless night, preparing for the possibility that they might have to leave the only homes they and their ancestors had known for hundreds of years.
 
Leaving the moderate comfort of the semi-circular metallically magnetic room, the team once again found themselves out in the breeze, heading towards a cube-like structure fifty yards from the edge of the nearest canal. Tracks ran from behind the structure down the hillside into the water, disappearing into the murky depths tracing the land's edge. Haasnadine led them around the building to the far side, pointing at another glass transport vehicle. This one, however, looked different than the boats; it sat not on a raft-like platform but instead on metallic rails, directly in line with the tracks. Its tall rectangular glass compartment was topped with a small domed fully-enclosed roof, the entire structure being no more than three feet in either direction and five feet high. Instead of having two seats within its interior, they could see a single seat and a panel of controls, with tubes leading into the floor and the small domed ceiling. These upper and lower panels were thick, apparently containing all life support, pressurizatoin, and electronics systems. At the rear was a small entry module. The outer sides of this booth had two protruding robotic arms.
 
"Cool." Jack strolled around it.
 
"You send people underwater in this?" Daniel frowned. It didn't look very seaworthy or stable.
 
"We do. It is completely self-contained and pressurized, and has full life-support for 120 durations. We have used it only for research and observation."
 
"Sir?" Carter asked hopefully. This was incredible, and worth a trip underwater for its own sake.
 
"Yeah, fine. Take an hour."
 
Ripley interceded. "It will take three durations to reach the bottom depth. The journey along the trackbed to the control station will then take a further half."
 
Jack stared at the man, then turned to Daniel. "Care to calculate?"
 
"Um, I assume a duration is your time measurement?" Daniel cautiously queried.
 
Pausing in thought, Ripley then responded. "Two of the time distances from here to the Ring island."
 
It had taken them ten minutes by boat… very slow boat, given the short distance… to reach this island from the gate.
 
"Approximately an hour to reach bottom," Daniel turned to Jack.
 
Jack did the rest of the math. Two hours down and up, plus …a further half… ten more minutes each way, plus investigation time. Carter would be back in approximately three hours. "Three hours, Carter."
 
Sam nodded. "Yes sir. I don't mind."
 
"In the meantime, we'll be checking out Hammond's plans for resettlement. Not that I don't trust your ingenuity, Carter..."
 
"Yes sir, I fully understand."
 
_____
 
"Oh, wow." Carter had muttered that to herself over and over as this quite steady telephone booth track car descended into the depths of the river. Partial darkness had overwhelmed her after the halfway mark, only the control panel lighting up a neon blue by the time she hit bottom. Then the exterior lights had come on and the car had gently moved horizontally along the track to the row of huge machinery that lay in majestic rule over the riverbed. Sand fluttered around the glass car in its slow wake, and an occasional small fish passed directly across the beams of light. This was truly a solitary, silent world, eerie in its darkness and novelty.
 
"Sir, I'm at the equipment. I'd estimate that I descended about eleven hundred meters." They hadn't been certain that the radios would work this far underwater, and Carter released a relieved sigh at the sound of O'Neill's voice. At least this was something to keep her grounded.
 
"Roger that, Carter. See what you can do."
 
"Yes sir." Carter used the controls as she'd been shown, moving this vehicle along the series of tracks, stopping when necessary. The arms of this thing were for accessing the controls on that massive exterior equipment.
 
As the vehicle crept onwards, Sam realized it could take her weeks to figure any of this out even in her lab; here underwater, where she couldn't even lay her own hands on the equipment, it could take her months. Which of these machines was responsible for the sound generators, and which for the pumps and cooling system? While the equipment was centrally located here under the canals, she was unable to ascertain whether or not a single generator regulated the entire series of pumps, or if there was an individual one for each. Carter took out the video recorder, determined to catch at least some of these machines on tape for further study on land.  
_____
 
The relocation had already begun by the time Carter had reached the surface and parked the vehicle.
 
"So?" Jack looked at her quizzically, noting curiously the expression on her face.
 
"Wow!" Carter shook her head, eyes wide. "You'd love that, sir."
 
"Would I, now?"
 
"Oh, sorry sir." This wasn't the time for an awed discourse on the wondrous technology and sights she had just experienced, although she knew that the colonel would have been intrigued by the simplicity of that underwater vehicle. For the past several hours, he had been directing the anticipated displacement of a disillusioned populace. And what was even more important, she had some unsettling news. "I already felt tremors down there, Colonel. I think these people are right; the islands would have been in constant movement if not for their maintenance system. I don't think there's much time. I brought back videos; I'd still like to try and figure out some of that equipment."
 
"You do that. I'm going to have Daniel help with the relocation."
 
"Yes sir." Carter turned, intent on making her way towards the semi-circular building, a meeting hall of some sort. There had been plenty of seats in there and plenty of lighting.
 
"Carter?"
 
"Yes sir?" She turned around.
 
"The population of these islands is about two thousand; we should be able to get them all to P2R 991 sometime today."
 
Carter looked around. The canals were starting to fill with glass boats heading towards the stargate, the travellers carrying as much as they could pack into these tiny water vehicles. Their arms, backs, and heads balanced all sorts of personal belongings packaged in fancy baskets. Carter could see Teal'c waiting patiently at the gate. The waters were already rising, Sam noticed, or was that her imagination? "What about animals, sir? Pets, livestock?"
 
"No livestock. They've got some birds, but no large animals."
 
Carter nodded. That, at least, made things easier. "Where's Daniel?"
 
"At the council hall."
 
"I'll go tell him you want him to help with the move, sir. I'm on my way there now to have a look at the tapes. If I can do anything to stop this, sir…"
 
"Go."
 
Carter found Daniel in the hall as expected, explaining to the Council what goods needed to be taken with and what was best left behind. Tents and supplies were already being set up on P2R 991 by SG teams 9, 10, 12, and 14. The evacuation was expected to take close to ten hours, with only the speed of the boats holding them up.
 
Daniel looked up at Sam's approach. "Sam."
 
"Hi."
 
"No luck?"
 
"I couldn't figure out the equipment. Not enough time. I did bring back some video that might help, though." If she could figure this out in the next few hours, maybe they could at least stop the underground pressures from further buildup and these people would all be able to return home.
 
"Can I see it?"
 
"The colonel wants you to help over at P2R 991."
 
Daniel nodded, turning back to the council members in closure, as Carter set up her laptop and sat down to study her tapes.
 
"See you later," Daniel was leaning over Sam now, rubbing her shoulders from behind. "Don't forget to evacuate yourself."
 
Carter smiled. "Don't worry. If I can't get anything done here I'll probably leave before the colonel. I'll see you there." She squeezed the fingers resting on her shoulder. "Go."
 
Daniel frowned. "What's that?"
 
"What?'
 
Daniel pointed to the screen. "Can you enlarge that?"
 
Carter zoomed in to where Daniel was pointing, and then zoomed some more.
 
"That's writing."
 
"Just decoration, Daniel. It looks like the walls in that energy chamber."
 
"No, no, it doesn't. They're pictographs... I've seen these on P3X 787. These are colour codes, Sam, and they're mixed with Ancient!"
 
"What? What are you saying?"
 
"I'm saying, Sam, that those are instructions and I can read them! Show me more!"
 
Fifteen minutes later a frustrated Daniel had discovered that Carter had filmed only fragmented sections of the codes, but there was enough to know that the full instructions might tell him how to manually get this malfunctioning equipment powered up.
 
"Daniel?" Jack had come in from behind, had heard the last two minutes of Daniel's rantings.
 
"Jack, I have to go down."
 
O'Neill stared at his archaeologist. He'd known this was coming. "That's three hours, Daniel."
 
"It's enough time, Jack. Sam said nothing will happen that quickly."
 
"Theoretically. She also said the ground is already beginning to react."
 
"If I can stop the reaction, we won't need theories."
 
"Daniel…"
 
"Jack, we're wasting time."
 
"We're relocating them."
 
"To a planet with nothing, Jack. No homes, no jobs, no life. Give them a chance to come back here."
 
Jack sighed, noting Carter's worried demeanor. "Go. Carter, go welcome the inhabitants onto P2R 991. Tell Teal'c to man the gate."
 
"Sir, …"
 
"That's an order, Major."
 
"Yes sir." Giving Daniel an anguished look, she hugged him quickly. "Don't forget to evacuate yourself, Daniel."
 
_____
 
Jack watched as Daniel placed himself into the glass water rover, having had a brief but thorough lesson on its operation. Daniel met his gaze and smiled, then set the machine into its slow coast along the track and down the hillside into the murky canal.
 
Carter was already stepping through the wormhole, with Teal'c maintaining his position at the DHD. The local waters were full of harried evacuees looking from a distance like party decorations stuffed into rounded ice cubes.
 
_____
 
Daniel slowly descended, the muddy waters devoid of all light, a claustrophobic sense of abandonment and isolation pushing in at him from all sides. He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. Two hours, and he'd be heading up, depending, of course, on how quickly he could translate all the instructions and manipulate the controls. He'd worked under greater pressure, no pun intended.
 
The slight but gentle bump indicated that he had reached bottom, and suddenly the waters ahead were flooded with pale beams of light.
 
And the watery depths seemed even more isolated and disconcerting now. There was nothing but silence, his glass vehicle disturbing fresh pockets of sand, along with the odd sleeping fish. Meditating, perhaps. Or maybe they were blind, and didn't see the strange mass coming towards them. Perhaps they just thought he was a large non-threatening species of marine life himself.
 
The glass case was making him feel as though he should just be able to reach out and feel the wetness of the water.
 
And now he was at the equipment, large towering hunks of metal, full of knobs and levers and glyphs.
 
"I've reached bottom, Jack."
 
"That's good, Daniel. Keep checking in."
 
_____
 
Jack's insides were in knots; the evacuation was going well, but it was an uncomfortable feeling knowing one of his teammates was in some glass contraption more than thirty-six hundred feet below the surface of the water.
 
"O'Neill?"
 
Jack turned to see Ripley addressing him. "Is everything okay?"
 
"Everything is fine. You should go now to join your teammate at the Ring."
 
"No. I'll wait for my other teammate, Daniel. You can go." Daniel was already taking too long down there. Almost at his allotted three hours, Daniel still had not begun his ascent.
 
"My turn will come later. The women and children are continuing through first."
 
______
 
Back and forth, the boat rafts kept on coming, kept on going, somehow keeping steady and upright in the increasingly stronger current and waves. The islands were definitely bouncing now, sooner than Carter's predicted time allowance, although having had no experience with this sort of thing they both knew it was all just conjecture. And she had warned that once begun, the effects would only gain momentum. The waters were rising and already several buildings near the river's edge had begun flooding. The landing platform of Daniel's vehicle was dangerously close to being underwater within the next couple of hours, and Jack's nerves were playing jumprope inside his stomach.
 
"Daniel? Time to come up."
 
"I'm on the last set of instructions, Jack."
______
 
"Nothing?"
 
Daniel was sure he'd interpreted it all, it hadn't really been that hard after he'd deciphered the first few codes. A Pictographs for Dummies Underwater Manual, there had been only a few sets of script on each piece of equipment, so why wasn't it working? Could he have misinterpreted some numbers, some of the colours?
 
"No."
 
The rover's arms had pressed the panels, resetting the tri-coloured pedals that correlated with the colour coding. He'd turned knobs in the correct directions, he was sure of it, yet the sound readings hadn't changed. Nothing was happening. Whether or not there actually was some manually accessible power source down here was a matter for debate.
 
"That's it. Time to come up, Daniel." Daniel could hear the trepidation in Jack's voice, even this distance underwater.
 
"Just one more recheck and I will." Maybe he'd missed something the first two times.
 
"Five minutes, Daniel. It's still going to take you over an hour to get back up."
 
"I know. Believe me, I'd rather be up there than down here." Vents in the riverbed had begun to crack open, and the sand being spewed up with escaping gases was causing visibility problems. The unsettled mud was flittering over some of the smaller equipment, and soon all attempts at repairs would be completely futile, if they weren't already.
  
"Jack?"
 
"I hear you."
 
"These machines are still operational, but they're not responding. I can already see steam venting in places; I think the friction and heat underground are causing the magnetic power fields to malfunction, and I can't find a power generator, if there even is one. There's no way we can do anything without that orb."
 
"Get yourself back up here, Daniel."
 
"I'm on my way."
 
Daniel maneuvered the rover slowly back along the track to its junction.
 
And there it stopped.
 
_____
 
Many of the women and children had already been evacuated, slightly ahead of schedule. There was still a good half of the population left, but perhaps this would take only eight or nine hours total instead of the anticipated ten.
 
Jack worried, though, that they might not all make it. Those smaller islands were uplifting at an alarming rate. One of the farthest islands had already rear-ended another, causing uproarious waves and a sinking of a part of the land mass involved. The gate island had been flooded at its far end, and now one quarter of it was underwater.
 
"Jack?"
 
"I'm here." Where the hell are you?
 
"The rover's not moving."
 
"What?" Jack bolted up, left hand massaging his radio. "What's goin' on, Daniel?"
 
"It's either the jets of venting heat, Jack, or the corrupted frequencies that are disrupting every bit of equipment down here, including the magnetized track this transport works on. Its systems are all screwed up."
 
"Daniel…"
 
"I can't move it, Jack."
 
Oh crap and damn it to hell. This wasn't really happening.
 
"Keep trying, Daniel."
 
"Yes, that's what I'll be doing."
 
"You have to get back up here."
 
"I know that."
 
"Soon."
 
"I know that too."
 
"I can't help you."
 
"I know."
 
Damn it but Jack was helpless.
 
And so was Daniel.
 
_____
 
Daniel was close to being past frantic. He had already reached the conclusion that this vehicle was not going to respond to his instructions. And he was far too deep underwater to leave his mini-sub and swim. Even if the water pressure didn't kill him, and it would, he had no breathing apparatus.
 
No, all he could do was remain stranded down here, and wait. For what, he had no idea.
 
The waters were becoming agitated, he could feel excessive tremors in the land not that far distant, and he could see the effects already taking hold. What fish swam by were heaving in frenzied, hectic circles, while most just turned upside down and floated away with the surrounding pressure. It was getting very hot out there. Daniel checked his life support; all was still well.
 
The exterior lights, however, kept flickering on and off. In the moments of darkness, hell had found him, the glass walls of his underwater cage oppressively heavy, hard, growing closer and closer, laughing at his terror and solitude. Yet the walls were his only hope, his saving grace, keeping out the scalding, suffocating waters.
 
And then the lights would return, casting an eerie glow on the river bottom, algae swirling in the wake of the vents' fury, little shells bouncing as though housing jumping bean worms, fish floating dead belly-up.
 
And Daniel knew it was only a matter of time until his life support ran out and he boiled down here in his Pyrex baking dish. 120 durations, what was that, three durations to an hour, forty hours. Daniel glanced around into the decreased visibility of agitated waters. This glass would crack and the shaking earth would take him long before that.
 
_____
 
Jack was pacing holes into the churning soil, frantic in his inner turmoil, calm and collected in all outward manner and appearance.
 
"You must go." Ripley was preparing to leave now as well; the council had already set out in the last of the boats.
 
Daniel had not moved position in over four hours, trapped in his own efforts to save these lands and allow these people to someday return home.
 
Jack nodded slowly. He could feel the waters heating, and the boats were becoming untrustworthy in the violent waves, several of them already having capsized with their occupants. No more of them would be returning to this island. This was his final chance to leave.
 
The waters had already flooded fifty feet up this island, with several buildings now half underwater. Where Jack stood was no longer where his teammates had only thirty hours earlier disembarked. Only the last fifteen feet of Daniel's rover tracks remained exposed.
 
Jack dropped himself into the last boat, helping to transport some of Ripley's gear and possessions. The little cubicles certainly didn't hold much.
 
_____
 
Daniel rested against the glass, eyes closed in despair. Waiting was such a hard game to play.
 
"Daniel?"
 
Halfheartedly Daniel flipped his radio switch, watching hot dark sand bombard the outer surfaces of his little rover. "What's up, Jack?"
 
"I'm gateside. The last of the villagers have gone through."
 
"Good. That's good. Didn't take that long, huh?"
 
"Nine and a half hours."
 
Daniel nodded. Seemed like days. It must be approaching nighttime on the surface.
 
"What's happening down there, Daniel?"
 
"Oh, I'm watching the kettle boil. You know how that is." There was no response, but he hadn't expected one. Watching from inside the kettle was no game. "What's happening up there?"
 
"Two small islands have already collided. The waters are rising, islands flooding, huge waves coming in from everywhere. The waters are pretty rough, not to mention warming up, so no more boat travel. Most of the boats have toppled and sunk anyway. I ordered Teal'c to assist Carter on P2R 991." Knew he wouldn't leave otherwise.
 
There was silence.
 
"Jack, if you're asking my permission to leave, I'm giving it to you. Go home."
 
"No."
 
"You have to."
 
"I'm waiting here. At the gate."
 
"For what?"
 
"Something. Anything."
 
"To see which of us drowns first? And what if it's you? Do you really want me to go through that down here? Go home, Jack. Please. Go help Sam."
 
Jack knew he had no other option, had to leave now in order to save himself. This island was one third underwater; the city across the way was soon to be annihilated. Eight hours or eighteen, what the hell difference would it make if Daniel couldn't move?
 
But he couldn't leave. Couldn't leave Daniel behind, in the boiling wet grave of a canal bed.
 
_____
 
It was starting to get hot. Warmer, anyway.
 
Daniel tried the controls for the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth times. Maybe more. Maybe less, but they still would not respond. All that had happened in the past forty-five minutes was some shifting of the glass vehicle in the increasingly turbulent waters. Even down here, Daniel was feeling the effects. But why not, seeing as most of what was happening was taking place under the riverbed. Center of the Earth.
 
Center of his universe.
 
Not Earth. Some godforsaken planet over seven thousand light years from his place of birth, a planet that had been innocent and carefree only yesterday. Only fitting that he should die in their place, retribution for a senseless act of stupidity. Why did they ever bother checking out an empty room that offered nothing but unnatural energy? Why had they gone there? And what was he doing down here, thirty-six hundred feet under a canal, waiting for Jack to give up and go home?
 
"Go home, Jack."
 
"Sorry, Daniel. Get your ass up here and we'll go together."
 
"Yeah. Okay. Why didn't I think of that?" Daniel stared out of his glass prison, darkness of the waters screaming retribution on each and every side. Above him, muggy waters tried to break through his sanctuary, tried to pry him loose from his grip on the seat, his hands unknowingly grasping his final resting place with a strength so inhuman it turned his fingers white. The waters were angry, tossing and thrashing, the sand covering his telephone booth and its rails and blocking the final edges of his vision. Only darkness now, a blackness that goaded, disagreed, argued no, you're not underwater in an alien canal, you're at home in bed, within the reaches of your own self-constructed safety, your reality only what you make of it at the moment; just a dream, black waters, open your eyes and look around and find yourself with your team, Sam, Jack, Teal'c, there they are, just open your eyes...
 
but his eyes were open and the darkness remained. Cold darkness but not cold at all, for just inches outside the waters of the hydrothermal vents were boiling, shifting, steaming, frightening, menacing, terrorizing…
 
"Daniel?"
 
Daniel inhaled his fear, and the sound came out as a choke. "Yes?"
 
"How're you doing?"
 
He couldn't answer.
 
Breathe.
 
Breathe.
 
"Not so good."
 
Silence, and Jack wanted more than anything to start this day over again, change some of his decisions. I can't help you, buddy. I just can't help you.
 
"Please Jack. Just go home."
 
Daniel was knocked to the floor, the small square floor as the compartment shifted, tilting, and it was swung about by the thrashing underground waters. "Jack… go, now! Just go!"
_____
 
Oh god, he'd heard those words before. Words he'd never, ever wanted to hear from Daniel again. Last time, he'd listened. But last time too many lives had depended on him leaving; this time, there was only his own.
 
But it would cause Daniel agony to know that he hadn't left, to know that he was willing to wait until the very end of his friend's life, to know that there were no more options, before he could leave. And if that meant he would go first, then so be it. He was not leaving Daniel this time, no matter how foolish and irrational his decision. No matter how it would hurt Carter, and Teal'c… and that wasn't fair either.
 
"Okay. I'm going."
 
Daniel closed his eyes and breathed deeply, more times than once. "Good." That came out as a whisper.
 
_____
 
The confined compartment shook, jolted, swirled, and started shifting. It was no longer completely on the tracks, and the controls were useless, but Daniel felt pushing and pulling movements of counteracting aggressive water currents and external magnetic forces. The earth was no longer its own; tremors were building below the surface and his small machine was caught in the turmoil. He was sliding, sliding somewhere in this contraption at the mercy of a disgruntled, confused, angry earth. Wobbling, tilting, he gripped the seat even tighter, hoping in vain to stay upright. The next few minutes would see the end of his glass cage, see it crushed and broken, its fragmented bits swept up and scattered into canal waters, his own body thrust into the turbulent seething current.
 
But Jack would not be there to witness his demise. Jack would be back home with his friends.
 
_____
 
Thank goodness the stargate was still upright, perched on a small rise in this middle island, the majestic monarch of its empire, balancing only by the luck of being erected on a piece of land directly central to the destruction around it. This was the only natural island, the centerpiece, base of all previous maneuverings and most solid stretch of land.
 
As much as Jack wanted to contact his friend, he did not want Daniel to know he hadn't left.
 
The wormhole shot open, silent in the midst of boundless surrounding turmoil and noise, its energy illuminating the darkening horizon. Days were long during this season, and Jack was going to take advantage of that. With another hour or two of dusky light he was not prepared to just give up and go home.
 
"Colonel O'Neill? I'm Colonel Edwards. You requested a dive team?" the colonel surveyed the choppy waters and sprays bellowing from not too distant geysers, smoky against the crimson sky. The land swayed beneath his feet and he looked down, expecting something more than just grass, as two more men emerged from the event horizon.
 
Jack shook Edwards' hand abruptly before beginning his brief explanation. "A member of my team is down there in an individualized submersible. He can't bring it back up."
 
"How deep is he?"
 
"Approximately 1100 meters."
 
Edwards' eyes rounded. "Eleven hundred meters?" He shook his head. "Colonel, not a chance with regular diving gear. You know that."
 
"But you've got to have - "
 
"Even the self-contained atmospheric saturation diving suits can't go that deep, and definitely not in these turbulent waters."
 
Jack had feared that response, had already known it. But he could not quell the uneasy anxiety the words had caused. "C'mon, Edwards. We can't just give up."
 
Edwards noted the pleading in O'Neill's eyes, and hated the despair he had to cause by a single shake of his head. "No divers, Colonel. Try a submersible, you might be able to get hold of one that fits through the gate. You can tow him."
 
_____
 
The shaking had continued, and Daniel feared that any moment might bring the destruction of his little abode. Visibility was down to nothing, steam vents billowing the occasional gust of sand away so that he could make out debris barely bypassing his glass vehicle. One powerful thrust of floating timber could smash the glass like a hockey stick through a car window. The last piece of what he recognized as the passing remains of a topside boat had broken off the right arm of his module. Now he was futilely tilting a permanent sideways, off center-track and unbalanced.
 
Eyes closed, unwilling to witness the next bypass of debris or bout of erupting underground gases, Daniel breathed deeply, in and out. In and out. Waiting for annihilation was a harrowing position to be in.
 
The little contraption jerked again. Forward, then back, tilting and recklessly balancing on a single rail of a useless track.
 
_____
 
"These are the only models that can almost reach Daniel's depth, sir." Carter had been recalled, and now she sat with O'Neill at her lab computer, researching the navy's operating mini subs. "And that don't need to go through days of underwater decompression."
 
"Ok, how fast can we get one of them?"
 
Sam shook her head. "Colonel…"
 
"Carter??"
 
"None of them will fit through the gate."
 
"Oh come on, there's got to - "
 
"Sir, most of the small ones only go to depths of 300 to 500 meters. The SDL1 can descend to 800 meters but won't fit through the gate. And the water is too hot for it. Its maximum operating temperature is 30º centigrade. If Daniel's right, the sulfuric water around some of those hydrothermal vents could be hundreds of degrees centigrade, in which case nothing we can send down would survive. Even the cooler waters up above might be reaching a hundred degrees by now, especially in the areas of the thermal sprays and geysers."
 
Jack stared at the scientist. He didn't want to hear this. "What else have you got?"
 
Sam grimaced and continued. "The JSLs and DeepWorkers would fit through the gate and are both manned by a single person. The depth capabilities range from 2000 to 3000 feet."
 
Jack snapped his fingers. "That's it, then."
 
Carter shook her head. "It's not enough, sir. And the A-frames for launch wouldn't get through the gate - "
 
"We'll erect one on the other side."
 
"- and they're unstable when waves are unpredictable or swells are coming up from underwater. There are precautions against using them in high waves, storms, rapid currents, poor visibility - "
 
"I'll take my chances."
 
"Sir…" Carter's disturbed gaze filled Jack's. "They're built for cold ocean depths. They can't withstand heated acidic waters."
 
"This is Daniel, Carter…" Jack's eyes were blazing. Help me out here.
 
"I'm very aware of that, sir." Her voice softened. "And you know I'd do anything for him. But it's suicide, Colonel."
 
_____
 
Suicide, Colonel. But he'd still been willing to risk it. Carter wasn't the only one who'd do anything for Daniel. And it wasn't as though he'd been asking anyone else to go down with him.
 
But the general had disagreed. Had refused to sanction or even consider a mission in a borrowed marine operations vehicle that would likely be caught and disintegrated in hundred degree centigrade swells, for some reason. Probably just an unwillingness to risk owing a quarter million dollars for a replacement.
 
Jack lay in the darkness of his room, staring at what would have been the shadows of car headlights had he been at home instead of deep within an underground military base. Even at 4:10 a.m. he had no desire to sleep, knowing Daniel was lying 3600 feet below the surface of an angry canal, on some deserted planet 7309.7 light years from Earth. How could Carter sleep now, or Hammond? Teal'c was still with SG5, aiding the newly arrived inhabitants of P2R 991 with their colonization. His fourth teammate had been informed of Daniel's predicament and likely was not getting any rest where he was, either.
 
But with or without a submersible, Jack was going back to P6X 444 in the morning, if the stargate was still operational.
 
Turning onto his side, remaining wide awake, visions of his archaeologist in that glass booth under all that turbulent water kept invading his thoughts. He had no idea whether Daniel was still alive; could not even decide whether he wanted him to be. But it was a long wait until morning when he would attempt to find out.
 
_____
 
The waves had picked up in height and ferocity, no longer lapping but now enveloping and choking all plant life and rocks and manmade dwellings having the audacity to get it their way. Rising waters had fully flooded three of the smaller islands, causing them to vanish as though nothing but a previous mirage. On the far side of the stargate, a garden island had been hit by its neighbour, its windward coast thrusting upward and over, the causeway and bridge connecting it to its sister island crashing into the canal, the resulting impact abusing the water level. Each action causing an alternate reaction, one after the other the islands wreaked havoc on themselves. Turmoil in the waters along with earth tremors wracked the village island resort of P6X 444; the trinium buildings shifted off their foundations and rolled in a single block of steel down the hills and into the water, taking more structures with them as they tumbled. And the waters rose, and fought, and steamed.
 
Fortunately there was no living being on the surface to witness the destruction.
 
_____
 
No night had been longer, no wait had been more transparently deadly. Each movement of the craft brought new waves of dread, each stabilization brought the temporary realization that he was still alive. Minute by minute passed, hour after hour in a chamber buried in water, pushed and pulled by forces Daniel did not want to even think about. His little compartment was still shifting, tilting, balancing nauseatingly on a single track, in a carnival ride that didn't want to end.
 
Finally, all Daniel could do was sit on the floor and lean against the glass, trying to stabilize himself, eyes closed, and practise his invented methods of self-calming. Thank goodness he'd had a good teacher; it took the edge off the panic that he knew loomed just below his surface, awaiting the single event that would eventually set it free.
 
And the booth shifted, slid, glided upwards on the forces of magnetics and water, vents and jet sprays, uncoordinated but reaching a fortunate destination for the meditating being within.
 
_____
 
Jack saw the glass compartment rise from the waters, stared unbelievingly at the apparition appearing nearly perpendicular to the tracks on the opposite side of the canal. He stood, grateful again that the small rise in this central island had been able to continue to protect the stargate. For there were now only a few meters of unflooded land remaining all around him, and soon the gate would itself sink below water level. Hammond had given him an hour in which to contact Daniel. He'd already taken three. Unable to accept radio silence and the reality of what that would mean, he'd been unwilling to gather the nerve to attempt communication.
 
And Jack stared, uncertain as to the status of the man inside the booth.
 
_____
 
The rover was pushed to the surface, its one remaining rail bound to the track, the only thing having kept him on course instead of drifting away towards some far off island.
 
When Daniel saw the light, saw the booth emerge from turbulent choppy waters, his involuntary sob of relief rang in his ears. The trembling of his own body kept him positioned awkwardly on the floor as the compartment hit the new shoreline and toppled over.
 
This was not the same shoreline he remembered, for the landing track pad was a foot under water and the tracks were completely flooded. As quickly as he could regain some control of his shaking fingers, Daniel unbolted the safety latches and inner seals on the exit module and jumped out, the raging warmth of the water searing at his legs. But as he dropped onto dry land he realized only one thing.
 
He was alive.
 
His feet were standing upon trembling land, vibrating, and the thundering sounds of waves crashing and islands shifting was deafening. This land was angry, not the same planet he had left from the previous day in this water rover. This was a land bent on imminent destruction.
 
"Daniel." The voice jolted him from his thoughts, made him jump. He spun, looking around. He knew someone was shouting, so difficult to hear in the raging thunderous motions of land and sea.
 
Daniel realized his radio was broadcasting, and he turned in the direction of the stargate. The island was more distant, smaller, canal water reaching almost to the DHD. A lone figure was standing there, a specter on the ramp. "God, Jack."
 
You didn't leave.
 
Both men stood, staring across the enlarged stretch of turbulent black canal, facing each other. Jack, filled with anxiety and relief that his friend had not died a terrible death in a glass booth underwater during the night, slowly losing life support, boiling pressurized waters seeping into his little vessel... too many scenes had played out in his mind during the long hours of nighttime restlessness. And Daniel, thrilled to be seeing the light of day, a light now darkening with the anger of a storm.
 
Both men stood, staring across at each other, wanting only to grasp each other in a quick thankful embrace and then to get the hell home; so close and yet so far, for each man stood there, knowing that although Daniel had made it out, he could not make it home. The Stargate was light years away, for there were no more boats to lead him over the final stretch of journey and carry him across the waterway. No small water vehicle from either this land nor that of Earth could withstand the rigours of the invading waters, powered by the moving plates of manmade islands and the forces of exploding gases and rumblings from within the planet's crust.
 
_____
 
The waves roared over the shoreline, landing inches from his feet. Daniel jumped back, feeling the heat of the spray on his legs.
 
Behind him structures continued to roll and slide, crashing and splashing into the rising rivers. Chunks of land cracked and broke, themselves tumbling into the former canals.
 
Daniel looked around in awe and fear. Islands had shifted, changed shape, broken and flooded. Some were tipping and heaving, a scary unnatural sight, a phenomenon to leave nightmares forever in one's psyche. The buildings around him lay on their sides, uprooted. Bridges had crumbled, falling to the ground in the tilting arrogant motion of nature; unnatural nature, created at the hands of man. For these islands were manmade, and something had gone terribly wrong.
 
And the boats, or what was left of a few of them, were floating belly up, the underside of their platforms all that could be seen, moored at the gate island or floating off in the choppy waters of the newly encroaching sea. Most had already fully sunk and broken apart.
 
Sounds were deafening; much as Daniel longed to talk to Jack one last time, he knew he would not be heard. If we meet again, Jack...
 
Despairingly, he took one last long look back at his deepest truest friend, a friend who had stayed to wait for something, anything, one single molecule of hope. That molecule had not been smart enough to land on the other side of the tracks, however. He couldn't see Jack's eyes with the separation of distance, but he knew Jack was watching him, hoping for something, anything. Standing there, between the DHD and the riverbank, avoiding the splashing and the spray, standing still and tall in spite of the thundering roars and the phenomenon of destruction, Jack waited.
 
Avoiding one more splash of caustic water lapping at his boots, Daniel searched out a single place where he might be safe, just for a little while.
 
And then he turned and ran, aiming for the furthest high point he could see, deep in the heart of the town, on the rise leading to the tiny shrine. Away from the stargate.
 
Jack saw Daniel seeking out safety. There would be none, not after a few more hours, maybe a day. This island would be crushed along with the others. He saw his friend leave, running for nonexistent sanctuary, bounding over debris and avoiding the falling doors and windows and the deep holes left by sliding trinium buildings that weren't so sturdy after all. Jack watched until Daniel was no longer even a speck in the distance.
 
Then he turned and walked for the last time through the now open wormhole, beckoning him to the safety of home.
 
_____
 
He could no longer run, no longer breathe without pain. But he could rest now, for Daniel knew he had reached the only partially open plain that he had noticed, the only area he thought might be safest from flying and tumbling debris for a while. This small hill built into the center of town, sculpted with statues and gardens and crowned by the polished trinium oval of the rustic worshipping hall, was his final destination. This place had been built as a testimonial to the ancestors.
 
With trinium.
 
The elusive natural magnetic power source.
 
Unwittingly mined from the seabed beneath these islands, its very removal had contributed to the development of additional trenches and cracks in the already unstable underground environment, and caused the need for a manmade orb to do its interrupted work.
 
With the realization that neither he nor Sam could ever have done anything to help these people, Daniel sank to the ground, his head buried in his hands, at a loss for how to help himself.
 
He would not take refuge within the shrine's interior, didn't want to risk the building's collapse. So he sat at the base of a sculpture, a winged deer by the looks of it, noting the toppled, shattered versions of monarchs and leaders, feeling the vibrations of shifting phony tectonic plates and collisions of outer islands, and realized suddenly that he had nowhere else to go.
 
Time finally seemed to slow. The hectic frenzy of the past hours, the fear and anxiety, the unknown impending death of the river. It was over now, and this was the unknown known of the final stop.
 
Daniel paused, catching his breath, breathing heavily as he leaned forward, palms on his knees. He didn't really know where he had been running to, only what he was running from. But that something was all around, and getting closer. Even now, he knew bits of this island were crumbling, collapsing into the rising turbulent waters.
 
He stood slowly, looking at the tranquility amid the destruction. A small haven, offered to him in respite, a place to spend his final hours almost peacefully. Looking down, he saw his fatigues, his radio. That was all he had left, reminders of those who would continue on at the SGC without him. If there was any way to get home, anything he could do, he knew he would do it. But other than swimming across a steaming, vengeful, foaming channel, he could think of nothing.
 
_____
 
He hadn't slept the previous night, and now his eyes were drifting shut. There was nothing else for him to do anyway. He didn't even have his pack to rummage through or a notebook to write in.
 
Having attempted to reach a small house that was still standing, in a bid to acquire some food and water, he had nearly been trapped by a collapsing trench, rolling out of the way just as the ground split apart. Now he remained in place on the crest of the low hill, beneath the starless sky, listening to the bangs and crashes of disintegrating structures and soil.
 
Daniel clicked his radio. "Jack? You there?" It was worth a try.
 
The anticipated static was drowned out by imploding waves washing over former abodes and new shoreline.
 
_____
 
Daniel awoke suddenly, unaware of what had startled him but realizing quickly where he was. Jolting upright, he tried to look around in the darkness. The vibrations beneath him had increased, and he had to brace himself tightly against the ground in an attempt to keep from rolling. Even so, his heels digging into the earth were not doing much to avert his downhill slide, and Daniel found the slick grass and shifting topsoil unable to adhere to his hold. Sliding inches and then several feet downwards, he prayed that the broken land around him had not crumbled into the sea while he'd slept.
 
It was the shattered base of a sculpture that stopped his downward slide, and Daniel rested his head and bruised arm on the cold smooth stone. Still the ground tilted and shook, and he hung on to the ruined statue of some dignitary who had just offered him the temporary protection of a fallen leader.
 
Clinging to this anchor as the ground tried to shake him free, as pebbles and stones and twigs rained down upon him for he dared not move to shake them off or shield himself, Daniel waited nervously for whatever would happen next.
 
But eventually the island stopped moving and the final bits of debris settled off the wind, although the thunderous noises continued sounding from nearby shores and neighbouring lands. It was many minutes before Daniel managed to pry his grasp free of the anchoring stone, not quite oblivious to the bumps and bruises and minor cuts of flying nature but too exhausted to care. Releasing his taut arm muscles from the rock, he rolled onto his back, eyes closed to the approaching daylight, and slept.
_____
 
Next was the noise from another world.
 
A noise different from that of crashing waves and collapsing buildings, different from the sounds of debris flying in the winds or of a raging pounding heart.
 
Daniel opened his eyes, turning his head quickly to avoid the blowing dirt of gusting winds.
 
Still on his back, too stiff to rise, he shielded his face with a bleeding hand and turned into the sound.
 
High above him, hovering in the sky, was the last sight he'd ever expected to see.
 
The sight of the helicopter forced a broad grin across his face and he waved his arms widely in recognition, find me, see me, I'm here, a rope snaking vertically towards him. It was difficult to stand, the solid ground he had gone to sleep on now a steeper incline, but he waited until the rope found its way to the ground and he grabbed for it. The scrapes on his palms were forgotten as Daniel twisted his legs and hands around the lifeline, his heart beating faster as he was lifted into the air and the slow transport over ruins and rumblings and high fierce waves carried him towards the stargate, now just a speck on green in the middle of sloshing gray waters.
 
He hung on, the ropes making themselves felt in his grip, knowing there was no way he'd ever let go until that stargate was within his fingers' grasp.
 
The transport swung him through the wind and over the crashing waves below; over the broken remains of buildings and newly created cliffs and fractured shoreline.
 
The chopper hovered above the gate's inclined stone walkway, the land around the device consisting only of the DHD and a circumference of a dozen more feet of solid land. On this small stretch rested a low platform on six-inch wheels. And the moment after Daniel's feet touched down, he was dialling out.
 
The vortex flew outwards and settled, and Daniel rolled the wheeled platform onto the gate's stone incline. Only then did the chopper decrease its height, adjust its angle, and land.
 
As the engine cut out and the blades slowed, Carter, O'Neill, and Teal'c jumped from the open doors.
 
Jack's grin was full, his eyes bright as he made his way over to Daniel, grasping his teammate's shoulders and pulling him close. Standing with Teal'c at her side, Sam watched the scene for a moment with wet eyes, her own face bathed in exuberance and relief. She'd get to him later; right now there was work to do. Almost smoothly she hoisted herself onto the roof of the machine via the doorway and Teal'c's support, with the intention of again removing the blade, Teal'c first passing up the tools before climbing up to assist.
 
"You just don't give up, do you?" Daniel choked out, the gratitude in his voice ringing clear.
 
Jack couldn't stop smiling. "I don't leave my people behind." I cried for you, inside. Again. Eyeing the scratches on his friend's face, he gave Daniel's neck another rub. No, not completely true. I cried for myself.
 
"I didn't expect to ever see you... any of you, again." Not in this lifetime, anyway. Daniel's smile was wistful, but his eyes were watering. "When you were standing here, waiting, ..." the island heaved suddenly, both men losing their balance and struggling to regain their footing. Carter slipped off of her perch, caught in the arms of the former Jaffa.
 
Offering a hand to help Daniel up, Jack reached around his friend's waist and steadied him. Sam was attempting to get back onto the roof of the flying machine.
 
"Leave it, Carter. This island's about to go."
 
"Sir, I almost had it. We don't need to lose the helicopter - "
 
"Yes we do. We can only keep the wormhole open another ten minutes and then we'll have to redial and lose it anyway. Let's get out of here." The waves were reaching the DHD, and there was no way Jack would risk any of them being swept into the sea for the sake of a machine. With his arm locked firmly onto Daniel's shoulder he guided his friend towards the welcoming wormhole, their two other teammates trailing only steps behind.
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