No Shade From a Teqorid Tree

 

 

by Travelling One

 

 

email: travelling_one@yahoo.ca

website: http://www.travellingone.com/

Season: 7

Related episodes: The Cure

Summary: Offworld, after SG-1 is forced to leave Teal'c behind, Daniel finds himself in a difficult position.

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of MGM Global Holdings Inc, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. 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.

 

July, 2006

 

---

There before them, as if a long-ago disposal transport had failed to arrive but left them instead to corrode and rust in the elements, were those piles of Jaffa armor displayed on video by the MALP in the few seconds before its instruments had gone haywire. While such a presence could either mean Jaffa were on this world or had long abandoned it, SG-1 was not yet going to let it worry them. Tiny areas of sandy ochre ground caught the sunlight in a flash of sparkle; it was this that had attracted so much attention at the SGC before the transmissions had ceased. This could be a land rich in minerals or useful crystals, and SG-1 was here to check it out.

 

"Ew, gross."

 

Unfortunately, the MALP had not sent back smells, nor the wavering lines of heat - or something - rising to form an almost-perimeter around the vicinity, separating it from the rest of the open field. From what the smoldering shadow of putrid air was originating they were not yet in a position to comprehend. The temperature was more on the cool side than anything, and should ideally have diluted odors in such wide open spaces.

 

O'Neill and Carter stepped off the gate's pedestal, strolled down the three dusty steps, and paused, looking off to the right where the clusters of armor had been tossed, as if in a junkyard.

 

Daniel peered over his shoulder at the stargate that had just deposited them onto P3X 666. This seemed anticlimactic, given a planet Jack had been so adamant to rename... Carter's zealous spouting of "fascinating numerical properties" notwithstanding.

 

"Jack, 666 is a lucky number in China. Its sounds translate to mean 'things going smoothly'."

 

"Nope, not going to jinx us all," Jack had stated firmly. "We are not going to keep referring to this mission as '6-6-6'." Funny how superstition so rarely seemed to play a part in one's interplanetary travel, when so much of one's future lay in the unknown universe. Funny.

 

"What should we call it, then, Jack?"

"Anything but 666."

"Anything but?"

"Anything but."

 

And so the planet had been referred to as Anything But, which caused confusion and finally ended up being labelled as "Over There": "We'll be going Over There at 0600." "Anything new from Over There?" "The MALP still isn't working Over There."

 

 "I'll check out the armor, Jack."

 

But O'Neill wasn't listening, as he headed for the heat line that looked tangible enough to touch. "What do you think's causing that, Carter?"

 

"I can't say yet, sir. Looks almost like a force field of some sort." Sam was just a step behind her CO, but this time not too many steps ahead in her thinking.

 

"High voltage? Careful. How about you, Teal'c? Seen anything like this before?" Goa'uld ships had force fields, but they looked a little more unnatural than this one. So did the ones used by Aris Boch. This? Just one of those heat illusions on a warm road, hovering way too high to be an illusion.

 

"I am uncertain. It is quite possibly a shie- "

 

Teal'c's sentence was cut off, mid-fall. Neither of the men made it a step farther, as both he and O'Neill simultaneously took a stumble, falling flat on their stomachs.

 

"Ow! What the -"

 

"Colonel!" With that cry and one more step of her own, Carter dropped, unmoving beside them.

 

"Jack! Teal'c!" Daniel froze in his tracks, shock keeping him staring helplessly at his downed teammates. "Sam!" For a gut-wrenching, heart-searing moment he thought they'd been shot.

 

"Guys?" Wary of moving closer, Daniel forced himself to remain calm. "Are you okay?" Not knowing whether to expect an answer, Daniel was afraid of hearing only silence.

 

But he could see slight movements of extremities. A boot wiggling, and fingers. Trying not to panic he looked around for the source of his teammates' possible injuries, or perhaps tranquilization. There was no one in the vicinity, no sign of any attackers, no unusual device or machinery attached to the gate or DHD. No lasers, as far as could tell, had activated. There was also nowhere for him to take cover, and the most sensible thing for him to do would be to dial home. Quickly.

 

"Um… yes," came the first muffled reply.

 

"I am unable to rise, Daniel Jackson."

 

"Neither can I."

 

"You're not hurt?" An incredulous, bewildered Daniel took a tentative step towards the DHD, where the MALP had clumsily stopped in its tracks. To reach it, he had to pass his thankfully still-conscious teammates, who had all dropped within yards of the gate. "I'll move around from the other side and dial home, guys." But no sooner had Daniel cautiously advanced ten paces to the left of the gate dais, than he, too, was forcefully yanked face forward onto the ground below.

 

"Oh damn," came the muffled curse. Then, "…sorry."

 

It was several seconds before any of his face-down teammates questioned the apology and ensuing silence. "Daniel?"

 

The barely audible response was heard from a short distance away. "I'm down, Jack."

 

The next hush lasted only a heartbeat. "Glad you could join us. This is, uh… fun."

 

"I have experienced more enjoyment than this, O'Neill."

 

"You have? Like what? You're a Jaffa." But Jack was already turning his attention elsewhere. "Carter?"

 

"Sir?" She knew he was demanding answers, or theories at least, but at this point she was more inclined to stall.

 

"I prefer the view from six feet up, Major. Care to explain?"

 

"No."

 

"No?"

 

"Not yet, sir. All I can think of is that we're in some sort of gravity containment field, and that shimmering haze is what's generating the extensive gravity."

 

"Why didn't it hit the minute we stepped out of the gate, Sam?" Daniel found it difficult to carry his voice to the others, from a dozen feet to their side, with his upper face pressed into the dirt.

 

"Because," Jack guessed, "the field isn't creating the gravity, it's supposed to be keeping it away? 'Cause this planet's gravity is, oh, deadly?"

 

"That makes no sense, Jack. The gate's in here with us… isn't it?"

 

"So something's broken. Maybe it's only working properly directly around the gate area. Can anyone move at all?" Jack was hopeful that the others were feeling less pressure on their spines than he was. He could move only his fingers… and the lower half of one leg. Oh, and his face, very slightly, but his sunglasses cut into the bridge of his nose when he did so. "I've got one movable foot." His right arm was trapped beneath him where it had unsuccessfully tried to break his fall, and he was unable to pull it free.

 

"I am able to move only my lower legs, O'Neill."

 

"Same here, Teal'c." Daniel was still spitting out sand. "I can move my right arm, but I can't even turn my head."

 

Carter again tried wiggling an assortment of body parts. Three extremities were weighted down solidly, along with the rest of her body. "I'm completely stuck, but I can lift my head and right boot." Turning to rest on her cheek, she was the only one not inhaling dirt.

 

"Something wrong with their welcome system, Carter?"

 

"Colonel, without being able to get up, I really can't tell you anything."

 

"And yet, you can't get up."

 

Figuring that comment was rhetorical, Carter didn't bother responding, her own sense of humour buried in the soil with the rest of her. A frustrated silence settled over the group.

 

_____

 

"Okay, not having fun any more." Jack had been trying for more than forty minutes to free himself, without success. None of them had so much as moved an inch. "Ideas? Anyone?" His fingers ached from wiggling, his neck stung from futilely trying to shift positions. And why could he only move one foot? He felt like a beached whale.

 

"When will Hammond try to check up on us?"

 

"About eight more hours. Doesn't matter, Daniel. I assume anyone who comes to rescue us will end up with grit in their teeth."

 

"So we just stay here? Until, until, what? Until the planet shifts orbit and the gravity changes? Until some generator switches off? If it's a naquadah-operated power source it may have been running for thousands of years already."

 

"Until we think of something, Daniel. If you're impatient, I challenge you to the first idea."

 

But Daniel was as stuck as the rest of them, metaphorically and literally. "There's Jaffa armor everywhere. Why?"

 

"Teal'c, would the Goa'uld have created a gravity field here?"

 

"For what reason, O'Neill?"

 

Jack gave a painful and poor imitation of a shrug. "Okay, so not a Goa'uld thing." He was glad that unvoiced theory of his wasn't being supported by his expert on Goa'uld behaviour.

 

"This may just be a power source that's malfunctioning, Colonel, as you insinuated."

 

"I did?" Whatever. "So where does that get us?"

 

"Flat on the ground, apparently."

 

"And still you joke, Daniel."

 

"Like you said, Jack; no better ideas."

 

"Seems I've been saying a lot today, and getting us nowhere."

 

And all their attempted struggling was getting them nowhere as well.

 

An hour had passed, and SG-1 remained flat on their stomachs.

 

_____

 

"I'm so not intending to die like this."

 

The day was pushing its limits, and still SG-1 hadn't moved. Frustration, exasperation, annoyance, irritation had all made their rounds, after the initial shock had worn off. Reality was looking like nothing more than a destiny of boredom… and hunger.

 

"I really need a drink." Daniel's comment was pointless; it was not one that could be acted upon.

 

"I take it you meant water."

 

"Beer, carrot juice, anything at all, Jack. At this point I'm not inclined to be fussy." Daniel spit more dirt from his lips, the grains of sand and soil crunchy between his teeth. It was almost hard to breathe, pressed on his nose this way and with the heaviness of his pack upon his back. His neck was stiff and cramping and his headache would really have loved a Motrin.

 

"Carter… why can't the rest of us move our heads when you can?"

 

"I have no idea, Colonel. Maybe the gravity field is a bit stronger in places."

 

"Why?"

 

Carter sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine. Could have something to do with the degree of interference below the soil or the concentration of this layer on top of it." In the same vein, why was Daniel able to move one of his arms? There had to be some sort of disequilibrium operating.

 

"Maybe we can slide back to the platform. There was no abnormal gravity right by the gate."

 

"Are you able to slide, O'Neill?"

 

"No," the sigh was exasperated. "You?"

 

"I am not."

 

"The gravity theory doesn't make sense, Sam." Daniel had been considering the inconsistencies, of which there were too many. "I can move my fingers and right arm with no resistance at all. Selective interference wouldn't happen in such close proximity to a single area, would it? Something else has to be holding us down."

 

"You are wearing glasses, Daniel Jackson. O'Neill is presently wearing sunglasses."

 

Jack grunted. "You've just noticed?" Either Teal'c was aiming for some reasoning beyond Jack's grasp, or he'd been lying in the sun too long.

 

"Perhaps that is why you are both unable to move your heads. I carry a gold emblem on my forehead."

 

"Teal'c!" Carter exclaimed. "Oh my God! Not gravity; magnets!"

 

"Magnets?"

 

"It's some sort of magnetic field, sir!" Carter would have jumped up, had she been able. "Well, a metallic detection field, anyway. That's what we must have seen shining; underneath this covering of soil must be some form of plating that attracts anything paramagnetic."

 

"Problem, Carter. Gold isn't magnetic."

 

"Well, no, sir. Not pure gold. But put it inside a magnetic field, and it will magnetize slightly." She paused. "And I'd say this is one hell of a magnetic field." Sam's mind was spinning. "Teal'c, what exactly is your tattoo made of?"

 

"I believe all First Prime tattoos to be of pure gold, Major Carter."

 

"But could the Goa'uld, or Apophis, have added, say, a small bit of naquadah? Or something else? For experimentation, maybe? Seaching for something that would adhere more easily, or be more permanent or durable?"

 

Teal'c did not reply for a few moments. The thought that Apophis might have been experimenting on him roused new angers and hatred. "It is possible."

 

"Well, it's also possible for gold alloys to be attracted to a magnetic pull. Given the strength of this magnetic field, all you'd need are a few atoms of something like iron or naquadah, Colonel."

 

Daniel's mind was flowing with questions of his own, now. "So, we weren't affected right away because the magnetic field didn't activate until it sensed something containing iron or steel? Or naquadah?" Twice spitting out sand, Daniel coughed, forcing him to stop talking.

 

"I don't know about that, Daniel. Magnetic fields can't be turned on and off at will that way."

 

"But what if it's not a magnetic field as we know it? Maybe some sort of advanced magnetometer system, detecting magnetic anomalies in the vicinity?"

 

"In this case it would have to be working in conjunction with an enormously strong magnetic pull, Daniel. Way stronger than the gravitational pull surrounding us -"

 

"A huge MRI machine?" Jack couldn't help interrupting.

 

"Uh… sure, sir."

 

"Then it's working backwards. Shouldn't it be pulling things out of the ground, instead of into it?"

 

"Seeing as this one operates from underground to locate metallic disturbances above ground, sir, no. And it's incredibly advanced technology; if Teal'c's tattoo is pure gold, then either we don't know what we're dealing with, or this mechanism is recalibrating the spin of electrons to realign themse -"

 

"And," Jack continued, as if she hadn't yet thought of it herself, "my sunglasses are plastic, Carter."

 

"With metal screws, sir."

 

"But we can't move at all, Sam. Why can't we shift positions?"

 

"You have a video camera in your pack, Daniel? Tools? Lighter? Magnifying glass with a steel rim? Radio on your shoulder? Zat in your belt?" Watch on your wrist? Razors? Flashlight? Sidearm? Sam mentally went through the list of potentially susceptible items - or parts thereof - they might have in their packs and pouches, situated on their backs, legs, and chests and feeling heavier with every passing moment, from nail clippers to extra watch batteries, to paper clips to anything with zipper pull-tabs. Even the tiniest item counted; this force was incredibly strong. Her own equipment and devices were plentiful, from naquadah and other sensors to extra ammo and her GDO. "Any safety pins in your pocket? Binding on your notebooks? Staples in-"

 

"Aluminum inside our toothpaste tubes. We get it, Carter." Maybe he should have properly renamed this planet after all. He could sure think of a few fitting pseudonyms for it now.

 

"Actually, sir, no. That one should be unaffected."

 

"Like Teal'c's tattoo, Major?" The sarcasm in Jack's voice was only slightly intentional. There was no further response from Carter; truth was, this was an alien world with technology she did not understand, yet.

 

Daniel closed his eyes. "The field is capable of that kind of strength?" It was not only pulling straight through human flesh, but through Kevlar as well. Metallic - what the hell would that sort of gravity field be needed for, anyway? And so close to the stargate -

 

"Neodymium, a rare metal, is the strongest known magnetic material on Earth. Put two of the tiniest magnets together and they'll pinch your fingers, Daniel. Imagine a huge solid plate of it, who knows how thick - and whoever built this may have used something even stronger."

 

"No kidding." Jack struggled, but could still move nothing but one ankle. The sidearm in the holster attached to his belt and thigh was keeping that part of him pretty well rooted. The knife strapped to his waist wasn't helping, nor were the items in the pack on his back or the penknife in his pocket, or the dogtags and chain digging into his neck… or the one attached to his left boot. The magnetic pull was going straight through him. His right arm had become numb, trapped beneath him, and the P90 under his hip and abdomen was digging into his enlarging bruises.

 

"Okay Carter; why, and what do we do about it?" He'd tried to rid himself of his pack, roll it off, but it was like lifting a two hundred pound weight from behind. It wasn't just heavy, it was stuck. If Teal'c couldn't do it, the rest of his team didn't stand a chance.

 

"I can answer the why, Jack."

 

"Daniel?" Jack had to strain his ears to hear his more distant teammate.

 

"It's a Jaffa trap."

 

Suddenly, it dawned on the rest of SG-1 as to the reason for all that Jaffa armor. "Like the metal detectors at airports?"

 

"Close enough."

 

"So… that's not just armor, is it, Daniel."

 

"No. I think there are bodies inside." Daniel had finally placed the cause of the horrid smell around them. "Were."

 

A short silence ensued as SG-1 pondered what that meant.

 

A little spurt of hope flitted through the archaeologist. "So this is a world that opposes the Goa'uld. What we're dealing with here may be a planet of possible allies!"

 

"Or opposed; opposed the Goa'uld, Daniel. Doesn't look too inhabited to me." It may not have even been a home base at all. A trap, to lure them and leave them.

 

"There have to be people around here somewhere."

 

"And you say that, because…?"

 

"'Cause if there aren't, we're stuck here."

 

"Yeah, well…"

 

"And someone engineered this thing."

 

"Well, someone put the stargate here too, Daniel. Thousands of years ago. If they're still here you're hoping someone might find us?" Before we die of dehydration?

 

Carter had other reasoning. "I doubt it, Daniel. They left the Jaffa here to die."

 

"But maybe that was by choice. There must be others who come and get trapped?"

 

"Maybe they don't get any visitors other than the Jaffa or Goa'uld," Carter insisted.

 

"Oh for crying out loud. Say someone is still around here somewhere; we've been here for hours and no one's come yet. Want to know why? They think we're Goa'uld or Jaffa. No one's coming for us. So to my second question, Carter. What now?"

 

"I'd say our only chance is to maneuver out of whatever we're wearing that's metallic, sir."

 

"Oh yeah? What about Teal'c?"

 

_____

 

But every tiniest metallic bit was pinning them down, cumulatively, working right through their pockets and packs and straight on down through their bodies. Jack had been able to pull free of his sunglasses by twisting out of the rims, his cap slipping off in the process. Now he could move his head, however uncomfortably. Using his one available arm, Daniel had finally been able to scrunch one ear out of the handle of his own glasses, leaving both handles to collapse forcefully inward, and now his head was free as well, but the glasses were still stuck uncomfortably beneath his face. SG-1's left arms were all flattened by their watch clasps along with the inner gears and batteries, and Jack and Sam's right arms were held fast to the ground underneath their bodies, a position that had erroneously been meant to cushion them, trying to break their fall. Teal'c's staff weapon was entwined over his right arm, its pole resting heavily on his forearm and tucked below his armpit. While Daniel had his right arm free, he could not remove his sidearm which was stuck fast to the soil through the holster. The objects in their packs - tools, electronic apparatus, weapons - were keeping them pinned tight and flat. Hostage to their own devices.

 

And the sun was setting.

 

"I really need a drink." The discomfort was extending to each of them, not to mention the need for movement and stretching of cramped muscles. The weight on Daniel's back was impeding his breathing; luckily the brunt of the load was lower down instead of mid-chest and lung area. The pressure on his spine, however, was becoming nearly unbearable. But any hope of rescue wasn't looking up. The SGC had called in, but the radios trapped beneath the team were malfunctioning and inaccessible, and the electronic MALP equipment had ceased to work even before they'd arrived. No one had succeeded in making contact.

 

"If they send another team, they'll be just as trapped as we are." The observation was unnecessary, but Jack said it out loud anyway. Just for something to do. It made him feel as though thinking might actually lead somewhere, eventually.

 

"Unless we communicate somehow and tell them to leave all metal behind."

 

"We can't communicate. And they'd never come unarmed."

 

The day grew much cooler as the sky's blues turned nearly white, then gray. Darkness never seemed to fall completely, but a hazy misty sort of yellow twilight filled the air, absorbing the green-clad bodies and the silver armor into a surreal impressionist landscape, seen by a team from the direction of downwards in the dirt.

 

Sleep wasn't possible under the agitation of flustered nerves and impending hopelessness. Spirits were at the lowest Jack could remember; his belief that there was always a way out didn't seem to encompass nearly total paralysis. "Damn it." And the night dragged on.

 

Just to make sure his teammates were still alive, Daniel's allergies and breathing problems with his head in the dust foremost on Jack's mind, he checked every so often. Just to make sure. "Everyone still okay?"

 

"More or less," was uttered with a hoarse cough.

 

"I am, O'Neill."

 

"Yes sir."

 

"Good. Anyone asleep?"

 

"More or less."

 

"I am not, O'Neill."

 

"Yes, sir."

 

He knew they were still okay.

 

But morning would just bring more light, not more options. "Damn it."

 

_____

 

Depression and desperation were setting in; there had been no jokes in hours. Discomfort - in all body parts and functions - was at its height.

 

And daylight had brought with it greater warmth and stronger odors.

 

"Everyone still okay?"

 

This time the replies were long in coming, and mostly unintelligible.

 

If they didn't find a way out of this soon, they wouldn't need one at all. Those Jaffa had probably tried a trick or two themselves; Jack couldn't see them giving up without a fight. Won't the owners of this place be surprised to find us here when they come collecting, in… oh…a few hundred years from now. Sorry to disappoint you folks…no, not really.

 

"Uh… guys?" There was a sudden hint of worry in Daniel's voice - even more than before - overcoming the exhaustion and thirst. "I'm thinking this may not have been used solely as a Goa'uld trap."

 

"Why not? What else could it have been?" Jack wasn't all that interested in new theories; what he needed were new options.

 

"A feeding ground…"

 

"A what?"

 

"Jack…guys…look to your left." Rotating his neck slightly to give motion to the achiness, Daniel had caught a glimpse of something moving. Something that warned of approaching danger, and the fingers of both his hands absently clasped handfuls of loose soil.

 

Jack shifted his head, and swore. Coming towards them from the direction of over there, close enough now to question their appearance, was a group of creatures that looked strikingly like….

 

"Seals?" Carter's muffled utterance held surprise and more than a simple trace of fear. Her heart uncomfortably picked up speed.

 

"Slugs. Giant slugs. With flippers." Snakes? Hopefully not.

 

"Do you believe this device is meant to catch food for the creatures of this world, Daniel Jackson?"

 

"Or their pets."

 

"Eels." Jack was still guessing at the fat slimy creatures slowly making their way towards them on thick, short, flipper-like feet. He realized he wouldn't know which ends were the heads, had they not been turning their necks and eyes frontward, baring teeth. "Earthworms?" Thick five-foot-long earthworms, with teeth and flippers. Not utterly cool, as he might have thought if he were home watching a bad sci fi movie at 2 a.m. with drunken friends.

 

And now the animals were vocalizing, their sounds increasing to growls, two dozen roaring barks, coming closer.

 

"Oh crap. Okay, if anyone has a way out of these restraints, now would be good!"

 

But the four teammates could only lie there, waiting helplessly for the animals to arrive and their fates to be sealed.

 

_____

 

They did their utmost to struggle in those last few minutes, trying to wrench their hands out of their watches, rip the dogtags from their necks. But they didn't have enough leeway to move. Even the smallest metallic objects in their packs and pockets, right down to the scissors in the med kit, held their bodies firmly in place.

 

Then the animals slithered through the shimmer, and were upon them.

 

Jack eyed the approach with abhorrence and revulsion. There was nothing he could do to stop the attack, nothing in his power to protect the team he'd been entrusted with commanding, with keeping safe. The last thing he ever thought he'd want to see was one of his team dying in front of him - again - but now he knew that the last thing he ever wanted to witness was his entire team being devoured alive. He twisted his head away from the sight of a troupe of the slimy mutant slugs launching themselves onto Carter and Daniel. This time, insulting and antagonizing the enemy wouldn't work. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jack tucked his face into the dirt where his sunglasses remained embedded, and tried to drown out the sounds.

 

Suddenly something was sniffing at Daniel's back, a mixed scent of burnt seaweed and wet animal; Daniel caught a glimpse of creatures at his side; two, three, four; sand flinging into his face as they waddled by and he was forced to close his eyes and lips tightly. The creatures were everywhere.

 

"Crap," he heard the grunt from somewhere off to his side. The animals had apparently reached Jack. Then, "Oof!"

 

And Daniel felt them heavy on his arms, their weight crushing as they flipped around and wriggled their cylindrical five-foot long bodies, crawling over him, heavy, and it was even more difficult to breathe. Daniel could feel them ripping at his jacket, noses and rough whiskers at his neck, at his shoulders, rubbing, gripping, biting. He could feel the push and pull of jaws tearing at fabric, could hear teeth chewing at his pack and belt. Oh God oh God oh God… Daniel was breathing hard, as hard as he could without inhaling too much dust, and his eyes remained tightly closed. There was nothing he wanted to see.

 

He could feel teeth at his sides, at his shoulders, could hear the crunching and slobbering loud in his ears. He felt massive tugs at his side, a shifting weight and throbbing pressure that forced his breath out sharply as the pack on his back seemed to slide sideways. But still Daniel couldn't move, his pocket items keeping him mercilessly pinned to whatever lay beneath the ochre soil. Iron, probably aiding in the pull, the fine reddish dust particles already covering much of his clothing.

 

The pressures continued and the sounds of gnawing drowned out the swearing of his teammates. So far, nothing was hurting but the heavy weight of the animals on his body, but Daniel had no idea how much longer that dignity would last. As they now seemed to be chewing through the tough clothing on his back, he could only hope these things were vegetarians - fabricarians? - and wouldn't find him to be too tasty a meal.

 

That thought, however, quickly negated itself; why else would they have come? If this was a feeding ground to trap - with metal detectors - anything coming through the stargate …well, what plants would ever come through on their own… wearing metal? But on the other hand, why wouldn't they have eaten those Jaffa, instead of leaving them there to rot? Unless, of course, they'd been satiated at the time. Shut up, Daniel. Sometimes thinking had its drawbacks.

 

But the truth of the moment was, their teeth were too pointy and sharp to be meant solely for chomping flowering plant growth.

 

With eyes still tightly closed, Daniel silently recited a prayer that would join him with Sha're, if anything like that were possible.

 

All of a sudden the pressure lifted, a sharp freedom of breath and air and renewed sense of still being alive, for at least this moment in time. The weight on his spine and chest had vanished, as Daniel realized he was free not only of the heavy pack, but of the weighty animals as well. As the now loosened vest and jacket were forced to the ground at his sides, fabric that had been chewed open from the rear, Daniel jerked into a semi-prone position, realizing the animals had chewed through his outerwear…

 

…not to eat him, but to free him.

 

Others were doing the same for Sam and Jack. Not Teal'c, though.

 

With much of his upper clothing - except for his t-shirt - now anchored to the ground without him in it, the trapped torn pockets still full of small objects, Daniel set to work to free his other wrist of its watch. Not so easily done, with its clasp tucked on the underside of his arm. This thing was like a damned handcuff.

 

It took the teeth of an observant seal-thing to chew through that as well. Daniel held his breath, waiting for those teeth to shred his forearm along with the watch strap, but the animal was cleverer than that, and in control. It knew what it was doing. Daniel watched only half in fear; the other half of him stared in fascination.

 

It took a while, but he tore out the pockets of his pants that had been gnawed at as well, to rid himself of the small metallic objects that had been deposited within. With the gun holster sliding from his leg, finally Daniel was able to rise. Muscles of his legs and back ached and pulled with a day and night of disuse and confinement, and it was slowly that he gained an upright position. Thankfully, that Motrin was now lying in its plastic bottle on the flat open ground, where he could grab it and chuck two of the little white pills quickly into his dry mouth.

 

And then, finally, Daniel shuffled over to Carter who still struggled under her paraphernalia, and he watched as the pack was tugged off her back by a half dozen animals as they grasped the remaining strap in their strong jaws. Within moments, the last of the animals went slithering backwards, large black eyes staring almost intelligently up at his own. Carter yanked herself upward, ripping open her pockets and the stainless steel chains of her dogtags, leaving a red welt across her neck.

 

Jack was now standing, trying to regain the feeling in his right arm, uncertain whether to aim his weapon, or to watch. Realizing his guns and shirked-off zat were still firmly attached to the ground, stuck as if by Crazy Glue, he had no choice but to accept the latter, as the animals retreated, the clan of twenty or more sliding backwards across the sandy terrain before turning their bodies around and continuing on in a forward direction. Daniel and Carter were already trying to help free Teal'c from his own unnaturally heavy accoutrements. Without the aid of knives or scissors, however, Teal'c's own pack and weighted apparel would not budge, and the material was far too strong to rip with bare hands. The staff weapon acted like a bolted-down iron bar, pinning his right arm awkwardly beneath it.

 

The three of them together were able to shift the weight only marginally.

 

"Try to undo the straps."

 

"I tried. Can't get to the clips, they're underneath him."

 

"Crap. This is like a damn straitjacket. We need those animals."

 

 But there was to be no further aid. As quickly as they had come, the creatures were gone, and for several moments, three members of SG-1 could do nothing but stare.

 

"They let us go." While obvious, Sam's statement had not sounded odd. Relief in the face of shock and discomfort had usurped any need for action over rhetoric. Sometimes, words were underrated.

 

"They must have realized we're not a threat." Daniel's expression was twisted with confusion and doubt.

 

"Except for Teal'c".

 

Even if they could free him from his cumbersome metallic gear, Teal'c would not be able to rise. One thing he could not shrug out of was his tattoo.

 

"Those who are Jaffa or Goa'uld apparently have to remain here." More of the obvious, this time from Teal'c, as Daniel positioned himself next to his alien friend. Teal'c seemed to be in pain as he used all his strength to force his face off the ground. Daniel could think of no way to aid his teammate except to place his hands on the back of Teal'c's shoulders, in a futile attempt to lend reassurance. But Teal'c needed much more than a hand on his back.

 

With a strained expression, souring at the corners of his eyes and his lips puckered in a grimace, Jack realized even the SGC medics might not be able to help with this one. This was a problem for the science teams, not a doctor.

 

"Dial home, Daniel." They'd call for help, still uncertain of what anyone could do. Without weapons or supplies, his team was at risk; without aid from their labs, Teal'c was at risk. Even Carter couldn't do much of anything for him, without any tools. The packs were all face down, secured to the ground by their metallic contents and couldn't be opened, with their snaps and ties tucked beneath them. The team couldn't even cut through them, as their knives and scissors were similarly useless. Their zats and guns were weighted to the ground as if bolted down. They had nothing but four canteens of water, fortunately hanging loose outside their other gear.

 

Without being able to bring tools through the gate, Jack had no idea how they'd get Teal'c free.

 

Responding to the unofficial order, Daniel gently patted Teal'c on the back and stood; making his way to the DHD he began to dial out.

 

"Um…" With eyes twitching, Daniel drummed the DHD with impatient fingers. "Jack?"

 

"Now what?" Jack strode over with a scowl, a curse already tickling his tongue.

 

"Look." Daniel may have been pressing the glyphs for home, but they weren't lighting up on the gate's ring. A couple of unfamiliar ones flickered and died out.

 

"What the hell?"

 

"It's likely the magnetic field is interfering with the dialling operations." Carter was there in an instant.

 

"Crap. Can you fix it?"

 

"Not without any tools, sir. And even with them, it would be extemely unlikely with the magnetic disruption." She eyed her pack. There might not be anything in there she could use, but the way it looked, she wouldn't even be able to try. Even if the base called in again, the MALP equipment still wasn't working. Their radios would continue to be affected by the magnetic forces, radios which, in any case, were still stuck fast to the ground underneath their utility vests. Any tools or equipment that would be sent through, even if the team could somehow get a message across, would fall prey to the force field and be sucked straight into the dirt. Even their GDOs lay somewhere in that pile of uselessness.

 

"So the Jaffa were completely trapped here, even if they eventually were able to extricate themselves." Which in itself seemed highly unlikely. A deep sigh issued from Daniel's lips. Not half a bad plan when it came to Jaffa and Goa'uld, but when it came to mere explorers… "And if the Goa'uld came in ships to occupy this place or do any mining, they still wouldn't be able to use the stargate for regular transport."

 

But neither can we. "Swell."

 

"If their ships even remained in the sky," Daniel continued. "Maybe the suction around us reaches into space as well -"

 

"Doesn't make a difference, Daniel. We're as stuck here as they were."

 

"Jack, if those are someone's pets, then there are inhabitants here, and they may know how to power this thing down."

 

"Not if it's just a really big magnet that doesn't quite stretch to the stargate," Jack reminded him crisply. "Or runs like a donut around it. Maybe they didn't want their prey to be vaporized every time the gate opened."

 

"But if the mechanism only activated when it detected our metallic objects, then there would be a way to shut it off," Daniel insisted.

 

"Daniel," Carter had already walked to the perimeter of the shimmering, had already walked right through it and returned, as the animals had done. All she had were theories and guesses, any one of which could be right. Or wrong. "I really don't think so. As I said, scientists don't believe magnetic fields can just be turned on and off."

 

"Carter, scientists on Earth don't believe you can go to another planet in seven seconds."

 

Startled, Sam faltered. Quietly she continued, "I do, sir."

 

"Then do you also believe someone can get Teal'c out of this thing?" Jack was staring her down.

 

Sam wasn't sure what to say.

 

"Carter?!"

 

Her voice was small. "Uh, yes, sir."

 

"Good answer." Jack threw her one more scathing look before finally turning away.

 

"It may be possible to re-route the magnetic field to dampen or neutralize the effects," she offered in atonement.

 

"Can you do that?"

 

"Me? No."

 

There didn't seem to be much in the way of alternatives; three members of SG-1 would have to head off to wherever those animals had come from and disappeared to, leaving Teal'c alone, stuck to the ground. And they would have to go… unarmed. "Teal'c, buddy? You up to a bit of a sleep?"

 

"I do not enjoy sleeping."

 

"Can you kel'no'reem on your stomach, then?"

 

"I will be fine, O'Neill." Teal'c's voice was muted, the ground absorbing his words.

 

Sure you will. "It's not my first choice of action, big guy." Teal'c would have to remain immobile, waiting for the rest of his team to return, a fact which left Jack unsettled, to put it mildly. Leaving any team member alone, with no weapon and no functioning radio, no food, completely helpless and at the mercy of an unknown planet, was unthinkable. It was despicable, sucked big time, and went against everything honorable in Jack's inner world.

 

But it was also necessary. They were choiceless. They needed Daniel to converse with any aliens, should it come to that, and they needed Carter to figure out how to shut this thing off, if it turned out no one else knew how. Jack would not allow himself to believe that any plate below the surface was permanently magnetized, and unalterable.

 

"You must do what needs to be done, O'Neill."

 

"Yes…" Jack hesitated, unsure of the plan at hand. Not that there was any option other than stalling, and he seemed to be carrying that out well enough. It wasn't working. "I know."

 

"O'Neill."

 

"What?"

 

"Go."

 

Jack nodded. "You sure - "

 

"The sooner you embark upon your quest, the sooner you will return."

 

"You sure you'll be okay?" Jack asked one final time, and received the same answer.

 

"I will be fine, O'Neill."

 

"Yeah." Jack sighed. He stooped down to hoist his pack, wrenching his back when the anchored weight resisted his tug. Right. Crap. "Let's go, kids." He flexed his strained shoulder. "Ow."

 

"You okay?"

 

"No. Yes."

 

"Jack?" Daniel paused, his expression troubled.

 

"What?"

 

"I'll stay with Teal'c."

 

"For what purpose, Daniel Jackson?" The faint question came from down below. Daniel knelt beside Teal'c.

 

"In case you…" run into trouble? How? And what would he be able to do, with no weapons and no way home? No way to get Teal'c out of the way, if they were to be attacked by something. "Just… for the company."

 

"You must aid in this venture, my friend. O'Neill may require your skills."

 

Jack agreed. "I need you with us, Daniel. Sorry."

 

Daniel nodded slowly, not convinced but realizing Teal'c - and Jack - were probably right. "Okay."

 

"I understand your offer, Daniel Jackson. Thank you."

 

"Sir - "

 

"No, Carter. I need you too. If anyone stays behind it should be me… and that's damn well not gonna happen." Two team members venturing out alone on a planet that they already knew was inhabited by at least one species of unfamiliar creature, with no supplies or weapons… no, not wise. Teal'c was probably the safest of all of them. Bending down, Jack rubbed Teal'c's neck. "We'll be as quick as we can."

 

"Good luck, O'Neill. Daniel Jackson, Major Carter." If they couldn't succeed in their mission, he would be stuck this way for a very long time. They would all be stuck here, in this place.

 

Jack rose, making his way past the field perimeter, looking back. "Daniel."

 

Nodding again to a teammate whose head was face downward and could not see him, Daniel turned and followed the others.

 

_____

 

"Look at that, it's still working." Jack tapped his watch. The date was wrong, so the magnetic field had obviously stopped the mechanisms from running properly during their ordeal, but that malfunction had clearly been temporary. "Even the barometer."

 

"That's great, Jack; blue skies predicted for tomorrow?"

 

"Yes, Daniel. Only two percent chance of rain." But his trustworthy - and expensive - functioning watch had shown that the trek had taken two hours so far, and they seemed about halfway to what looked like some silvery-green hills up ahead. "No wonder those animals left us lying there for so long," Jack observed. "Took them a day just to reach us." But where had they disappeared to so quickly? Did they live in those hills?

 

When there was no comeback, Jack took a long look at Daniel's grim, preoccupied expression. "Hey. You okay?"

 

"I don't feel right about leaving Teal'c."

 

Neither do I. "He's in a… protected area. No one's around." Except dead decaying Jaffa and animals that disappeared into somewhere.

 

"But he can't leave."

 

"Daniel. Neither can we."

 

_____

 

The two low hills were now looming much closer and much clearer.

 

"Okay, so there are more than animals on this planet." Jack was squinting into somewhere far ahead, the sun hurting his eyes.

 

"Colonel? Do you see people?"

 

"No, but those hills definitely aren't natural."

 

The archaeologist also peered into the sun, squinting from more than the bright light. He couldn't see very well without his glasses. "You're right. They're ...something else." Dwellings? There were triangular shapes shining at regular intervals; windows? They could now see that the two structures were one, joined by a smaller central dome, and were not composed of sparkling gray rock, but the way they glinted in the light indicated a possible covering of silverish paint. And there was a moat between them and SG-1.

 

Carter pointed, moving in closer to her CO, frowning. "We've found the animals again, sir."

 

Two teammates turned their heads in the direction indicated by the major, squinting at the black spots stretched out along a not too-distant section of the moat. Wishing he had his binoculars, O'Neill screwed up his face. "Look a little like beached seals."

 

"Seals bask, Jack. Whales get beached."

 

"I said a little, Daniel." Jack amended his description. "Okay, more like overfed snakes. I thought so the first time." But then, he'd been lying on his stomach and hadn't had a really good look, until one had stared straight into his eyes. That had made him shudder, unnerving as it had been. At the time, though, he'd been more concerned about being eaten.

 

"Snakes? They're too… chubby. And the Goa'uld kind aren't allowed on this planet."

 

"Fine then; huge, fat slugs. Or leeches. Giant leeches, with short little flipper legs. Okay, maybe they look like fat headless pigs with flippers."

 

"Let's get closer."

 

"Why?"

 

Daniel shrugged. "Because."

 

"Somehow, I find your reasoning skills intriguing."

 

"We have to go that way anyway, sir. We need to talk to whatever people live across the canal." Or lived across the canal. But they needed to find out.

 

"You see a canal, I see a moat, Carter." But they had no choice, it was narrower at that end.

 

To approach the native life or to stay away for safety was always the question. But SG-1 was an exploration team, for the most part, although far too often they found themselves doing battle. O'Neill would never get over the heart failure each time he realized his team, civilian included, was at risk. Risk of going down in battle, that is; there was always risk beyond the gate. And now, those animals seemed to be congregating off to the left of them, in a band… ganging up, to the cynical and suspicious observer.

 

"We don't have to get too close. We can cross a little further west." Although that would be out of their way. The hills - dwellings, whatever - were directly in front of them now. And no telling how many of the creatures were out that way as well. Anyway, he couldn't argue with Carter's logic.

 

"I doubt they're dangerous, sir. They live too close to the hopefully inhabited area, and they did save us."

 

Stealthily the team approached the canal - moat, whatever it was. There sure were a lot of those creatures; looked like a good fifty at least, stretched out where land met liquid, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

 

O'Neill reached out, signaling his team to stop. They were close enough, and needed a better plan of action.

 

A few heads - or necks - lazily turned towards them. Black, glistening slimy and shiny wet in the sun's rays, the creatures did not appear to have any desire to move.

 

"How much do you know about sea lions?" Jack muttered to Carter.

 

"On Earth? They're fairly harmless, sir, unless you cross a bull. Those are very protective of their females and young."

 

"Ok. Which are the bulls?" The fat slimy slugs all looked alike, except for a few smaller specimens, clearly the babies.

 

There were dozens of them, lying on top of each other or slowly crawling - sliding - into and out of the water. A few of the smaller ones were tumbling onto the larger adults, rolling over until they'd somersaulted to the ground, sand specks clinging to their wet backs.

 

"Doesn't look as though they can move too fast; I doubt they're protecting any territory," Daniel reasoned. "Took them a day to get to the gate."

 

"But not so long to get back. Maybe they waited for a few hours, deciding if we were worth saving."

 

"Oh." Daniel pursed his lips. Jack was right; they had disappeared pretty quickly. SG-1 had not encountered any on their way here, yet the animals had already arrived… assuming these were the same ones.

 

"They have no reason to move fast, at the moment," Jack objected again. "Even Unas move pretty slowly when they want to. Anyway, want to bet they're really really fast in that water we have to cross?"

 

Daniel frowned in contemplation, and Carter checked out her boots, not wanting to see worry in her teammates' eyes.

 

"How long do we intend to stare at them, by the way?" All SG-1 was doing was wasting time. If those things didn't want them crossing the canal, his team had no way to defend themselves, and only one way to find out.

 

"Jack?" The urgency now was in Daniel's voice. "I don't think those are pets! And not all the people here seem to appreciate the wildlife."

 

"Daniel?" Sam touched his arm. "What are you talking about?"

 

Daniel indicated a point farther down the bank. One of the creatures seemed to be trying desperately to free itself from something… a net? A trap? Others were surrounding it, futilely trying to assist in the struggle.

 

"Big spider web?"

 

"Whatever it is, Jack, the animal's stuck in it."

 

"Yes, it is. And we don't know who wants it that way."

 

"What I know is that we were trapped just like that, and they came to help us!"

 

"If those are the same ones. We should go now while their backs are turned." But before O'Neill could stop his teammate, Daniel was heading down the embankment that led to the moat.

 

"Daniel! Crap."

 

As he quickly worked his way into their territory, Daniel's mere presence and movement unintentionally drew the attention of the animals. Hopefully humans hadn't been enough of a nuisance to these creatures to be considered predators or threats; maybe they didn't yet know enough to associate the nets with human activity. While knowing his teammates were theoretically watching his back, Daniel realized that without any weapons there would be nothing they could do if the dozens of animals were fearful enough to attack.

 

But he would not watch the animal strangle itself in a careless alien contraption, whatever the reason. He'd never allowed nerves to stop him before, and he wasn't about to start now, no matter how poorly laid out the plan.

 

By now, he'd reached the large congregation of animals.

 

Stepping straight into their midst, closer to the frantic, trapped creature, he held his breath as others reared their heads, hissing loudly, revealing rows of teeth. Surrounding him now, a swarm of heavy, wet, frightened and angry creatures, their loudly snarled warnings were clear; come no closer, he imagined them saying. Too bad; he was.

 

The vocalizations increased to growls, dozens of roaring barks and hisses as Daniel approached the trapped animal, and its frenzied movements wedged it even deeper between the tangled cords. Daniel sensed his teammates shifting across the low embankment behind him; he could sense the animals poised to attack. The creatures were waiting to make sure he didn't touch one cell on the frightened, perhaps wounded, young animal's shiny, slick body.

 

Realizing the net was likely for the capture of the creatures and that these animals had possibly seen members of their group killed before their very eyes by the inhabitants of this place, Daniel suddenly knew that they would be expecting him to treat them with the same aggression. But it was too late to turn back; he'd made his decision and was prepared to see it through.

 

Wishing he had his knife, Daniel slowly moved towards the animal's head, alert and wary of the multiple rows of teeth and whiskers now just inches from his arms. The intense, vibrating growling drowned out the sounds of his teammates' cautious approach, the sounds of Jack's quiet swearing meant for Carter's - and maybe his own - ears, and the whispers of his very thoughts; Daniel's actions were automated, wrapped in the throes of an increasing, unconscious panic. Feeling so sure of himself only minutes ago, now his doubts were materializing, and - more than anything else - he wanted out of there.

 

But running away wouldn't get the animal freed. Nor would it ease his conscience.

 

Grabbing the cords around the animal's neck, Daniel stretched his hands wide. The ropes were tight, but jerking the knots enlarged the hole just enough for some leeway, just enough for the struggling young creature to slip out. Suddenly finding itself free, the animal lifted its head and uttered a piercing bellow, rapidly slithering backwards into the water, its guardians following to offer their own comfort, and Daniel let out a relieved breath of his own. He hadn't realized how much he was shaking. Turning his head he looked towards his team. They were standing not five meters away, still wondering what they could have done if the animals had attacked.

 

_____

 

"You're angry."

 

Jack had been throwing him heated looks for the better part of an hour, as they searched for the best way to cross the canal. It looked to be only about four or five feet deep; in the clear water they could see some of the animals effortlessly skimming along the stony bottom. While the waterway seemed to have been manmade, they didn't know what other creatures might be lurking in its depths - or why. In Jack's opinion, this was nothing but a giant aquarium.

 

"Yes, Daniel. I'm angry. You had no idea what they might have done. You know better than to approach an injured animal."

 

"They knew they outnumbered us, Jack. They were taking the chance that I might've been there to help, as they'd helped us."

 

"You're assuming they're sentient, Daniel. For all we know, they're trained to free anything from that magnetic field that's not carrying a snake inside it or logo on its face."

 

"They live in clans, Jack. Families. They were trying to free a friend. I can assume they're sentient."

 

"So why didn't they chew through those ropes, Daniel?"

 

Daniel's head shot up, and he just stared at his team leader, the question hitting him for the first time. "Oh." He had no idea.

 

"Right, Oh."

 

"Sir. They didn't hurt Daniel." Can we drop this now?

 

Jack wasn't ready to give in. Those animals had teeth. He knew Daniel's rationale was logical, but so was his, and he was not ready yet to give up his anger. Or his fear. Risk… only with acceptable odds. Reflexively, he reached down once more to pick up phantom gear, and groaned in annoyance at his mistake. "Let's go," were his final gruff words.

 

_____

 

It was only a short hike through the relatively shallow, tranquil water - rarely higher than their chests - that separated them from the rest of the distance to the silver domes, and with no cumbersome gear to carry it was easy going. As easy as one could hope for, given combat boots and wet clothing, anyway. If this strip of water was meant to deter strangers, SG-1 had no foreknowledge nor any choice. Unless someone came over to talk to them, they had to get to that inhabited side, or so they hoped that's what it was. Really, they had no idea what that building was used for. Could be a seat of government, a research lab, or a community shopping mall, for all they knew. Maybe it was nothing but a huge water filtration plant, servicing the moat for the animals. But no other structures were in the visible vicinity, so whatever locals there were, had to live somewhere. And Teal'c was waiting… very uncomfortably… for them back at the gate, and that knowledge spurred them on.

 

So when Daniel uttered a spontaneous, aborted curse and suddenly disappeared from view, neither Sam nor Jack had been prepared.

 

In a split second, with no advance warning and no preparation, Daniel found his legs being sucked into a sinkhole, as the clear shallow waters settled over his head.

 

Trying to pull his lower body out of the mire and failing, panic started to take hold as Daniel found himself embedded in muddy grit up to his waist, unable to maneuver, his legs held fast. He looked up desperately at the water level barely two feet above his head. Frantically he pushed on the supporting ground, still partly solid and stony at the edges, an awareness of two teammates beside him, wild-eyed, shoving unsuccessfully at the thick clay pinning him forcefully into his tight hole. Something like a drainage system must have given way under his weight… or something. Couldn't be more of that magnetic stuff; he had nothing left on him that was metallic. Or was there a force field of some other kind this time, a suction, at work beneath his boots? He struggled further, painfully aware that he was running out of air.

 

Perhaps this was a trap, set for those creatures - in what was looking to be more of a fishing pool than an aquarium, carefully laid out to grab the prey and suck it down, down, until it died.

 

With every strain and push, Daniel felt himself ironically being sucked down deeper into the muddy hole.

 

As Daniel frantically dug, gouging at the hole and trying to break away the surrounding surface, Jack realized exactly how stuck his friend actually was, and their distraught eyes met. Daniel knew he wouldn't be making it up to the surface any time soon. Another few seconds and he'd pass out, forced to inhale.

 

Jack turned away from the trapped man, eyes showing clear awareness of Daniel's distress. Leaving Carter to keep digging, her hands her only tools, he disappeared from view. Moments later Jack reappeared, his head positioned directly in front of Daniel's. Grasping his friend's face between his hands he placed his mouth on Daniel's, and exhaled.

 

So unexpectedly, Daniel found himself calming with the intake of life-giving air. Closing his terror-filled eyes for a moment he almost relaxed, unclenching tensed muscles, secure in the knowledge that his teammates would not allow him to die. But a subtle panic still invaded his uneasy sense of calm; the breath would last less than half a minute with its reduced oxygen, and then he'd be forced to relinquish it.

 

And there was Sam, her lips to his, offering him another breath, keeping him alive half a minute longer, as Jack flung insufficient clumps of dirt and mud away from the hole. But more just tumbled in, the ground refusing to give up its prey.

 

This was going way too slowly.

 

Up, down, surfacing for a few more breaths and then Sam took over the digging from Jack. Progress was agonizingly slow, with Carter and O'Neill vehemently taking turns breathing for their third team member. And for themselves.

 

Daniel was now buried up to his chest, sinking, and he couldn't do anything to help.

 

The minutes dragged on; they continued taking turns breathing life into their friend, and furiously, futilely, digging. They knew they were losing, and so did Daniel.

 

The ground surrounding his body was hard, the sediment below was soft, and stones and mud kept refilling the hole they were trying to enlarge, sliding back in almost as soon as they released it. They were getting nowhere, six hefts at a time before having to come up for more air themselves, their fingers aching and bruised.

 

"I don't know how long we can keep this up, Carter," Jack panted, the two of them standing, surfacing for more air. Two breaths, under again. Breathe into Daniel. Jack met his friend's fearful eyes and squeezed his arm. In his heart he knew they'd keep on with this all day, if they had to. Either until Daniel was freed, or they were all dead.

 

Up for two more breaths while Carter continued her turn excavating the lower half of Daniel. Up and down, like yo-yos.

 

"I'll dig. Keep breathing, Carter," Jack dropped underwater once more, feeling the futility of this process invading any leftover optimism. Excavating an archaeologist; unfortunately he couldn't, right now, see the humour.

 

His own strength was waning.

 

Continuing to alternate their breathing, Sam and Jack were tiring. Daniel could see it in their faces, in their body language. They were stressed, and he was exhausted. Panic would do that to a person. The reduced oxygen from his friends' exhaled breaths was not enough to keep the dizziness away. Go, he wanted to say, but he was underwater and helpless to communicate. Helpless to help himself. Don't go, don't leave me. No, just leave me; he knew they would eventually have to give up in exhaustion, have to deal with abandoning him there, and he knew it would damn near kill them to do so. They couldn't keep breathing for him forever, and they were getting nowhere. He knew it, and he was afraid.

 

And then they came.

 

Seal slug pigs, dozens of them. Jack was there, giving him another breath, suddenly being pushed away, and he could see the shock and panic in Daniel's eyes. As Jack tried to remain there beside his friend, uncertain what to do next, he was forced to the side along with Sam, batted by the strength and power of the creatures. Jack rose to the surface for air, leaving Daniel to face the animals alone.

 

Daniel saw his friend go, and saw the animals come. The trepidation stirring inside was mixed with the knowledge that they had not yet hurt him.

 

But this time he was in the water, home turf, their territory and living area. Was this where they preferred to feed? Had this all been a trap, a hunt, a lure? A game, making the catch more worthwhile and entertaining?

 

Before Daniel could fully panic, Sam was back at his side, her lips on his, more air in his lungs. And then the animals were on top of them both, dozens of them, stifling both he and Sam, suffocating them, trapping them underneath the slimy bodies, as the animals pushed and shoved, throwing their immense weight against the mud and rock, digging with their noses and flippers and teeth, not realizing Daniel and now Carter needed air, not realizing they were killing the very one they had come to save.

 

Air. God, I need air.

 

I'm sorry, Sam, I'm sorry, Get the hell out of here. Daniel tried to push her away, to let her know.

 

His last bubble was released and suddenly Jack was shoving himself between the heavy creatures, thrusting Sam out of their way and towards the surface, and Jack's lungs were exhaling into Daniel's. Jack's apprehensive eyes caught Daniel's grateful ones, and he managed a smile. Ruffling Daniel's hair before being knocked away again, the gesture said hang on, and Daniel relaxed just a little bit.

 

The creatures were all around him now, a dozen bodies digging as one. Suddenly the hole was enlarging, crumbling away around him.

 

And as the next breath of air desperately seemed to be coming too late, Daniel felt his lower body suddenly thrust upward.

 

Flippers were under his arms, lifting him up, lifting him above the water as though they were dolphins, and Daniel realized his head was out of the water.

 

And Daniel heaved a deep breath, and another, and another, and his friends held him, his weakened body denying him the urge to jump and shout and laugh. But his arms were still able to grab his friends, to reach around them and bring them in tight, his last bit of strength being released in surging, overwhelming relief and thankfulness.

 

The relief even masked the ache in his legs and his lungs. Tears mingled with drops of water, and no one noticed. He was shaking, but he was also alive.

 

"Looks like these animals like you, buddy."

 

"Sir… what Daniel did for the animals, they did for him… after they did it for us in the first place. Doesn't this all seem, um, a bit contrived to you?"

 

_____

 

They trudged the last few meters to the other side of the moat, falling on their backs on the bank after a trek that had seemingly taken a lifetime, and nearly taken a life.

 

Lying there so unmoving, faces held upwards to the sun, clothing clinging and soggy, Jack figured they looked just like those beached seal-slugs. He kept his eyes on Daniel, whose own eyes were closed and facing into the sunlight. "You doing alright?"

 

Daniel nodded, barely, without looking.

 

"Ready to move on?"

 

"Give me one more minute."

 

Looked like it would be longer than that before Daniel was ready to get up, or open his eyes.

 

"Maybe the moat wasn't meant for the animals." Daniel's words sounded drained. And puzzled. Puzzling, as far as Jack was concerned.

 

"Not a fish farm? Then what?"

 

"Humans. Escaped Jaffa. Moats were usually built to ward off unfriendlies."

 

"Jaffa can't get this far, remember? And moats are supposed to be filled with crocodiles, not dolphins."

 

"So, no crocodiles on this planet. Nor do the animals seem to be afraid of traps, if that's what the moat is filled with." Daniel slowly pushed himself onto his elbows, studying the animals further up the bank, themselves lying in the sun and rolling into the water.

 

"Fish don't ever seem to be afraid of hooks, Daniel, no matter how many times they see their family and friends lured away."

 

"These animals - and I'm presuming they're mammals - are way smarter than fish. They knew what to do to help me."

 

"Maybe they've seen it before."

 

"They weren't afraid."

 

"Maybe they've outsmarted the people here, as far as the water is concerned. They know how to save each other by now."

 

"So back to your question, Jack… why didn't they chew through that net?"

 

Both Carter and Jack kept quiet, still puzzling over the question. Yes, why?

 

_____

 

Now, in their final approach, the only obstacle left in sight was a long low ridge, beyond which the domes of silvery-green stood out large and domineering.

 

"Daniel? You okay?"

 

"I'm fine." His ankles had nearly stopped aching; bruised from all the twisting, he couldn't exactly call them injured. Nothing that would stop him from continuing, at any rate. Teal'c needed help ASAP, and Daniel might be needed for a translating job. "Honest."

 

There was a tunnel through the rocky ridge leading up to those dwellings, and SG-1 entered it slowly.

 

The inner tunnel walls were covered in colourful tiles. On either side were rows of large symbols, high up the wall. Below those were mosaics, small tiles forming pictures of what looked like abstract landscapes.

 

Daniel frowned at the incomprehensible writing, large enough to see clearly even without his glasses. "I'm betting the people are still here." The tiles were too clean, no decades or centuries of dirt and grime.

 

"Inhabitants. We don't know how people-like they are," Jack corrected him.

 

"They have art."

 

"According to you, so do the Unas."

 

The end of the tunnel was not far ahead; sunshine filtered in from fifty yards away. The first to reach the exit was Jack, his teammates just a step behind, and he peered out into bright daylight.

 

"Huh. This is different." Jack stopped, staring at the sight.

 

"They're trees."

 

Jack cocked an eye at Daniel. The man might occasionally waste his time stating the obvious, but that had been downright unnecessary. Maybe he just didn't quite have an eye for modern art, yet. "Not so good with that photosynthesis thing though."

 

No; these trees were metallic sculptures. All the branches were silver-green metal, with the trunks constructed of assorted shades of brown tiles. They lined the entire walkway, stretching into the distance until the path met up with the enormous silver domed building. Scattered everywhere on the lawns were more of the sculptures, their shiny leafless branches reaching at all angles towards the sky. And the grass on the lawns was… not. Grass. Green crystal granules was what it looked like. Thin rings of crystallized flowers outlined patterns of sparkling white stones; quartz, it seemed at first glance, or moonstone. The effect was rather aesthetic, albeit unorthodox for a garden.

 

"Well, no need to water and mow. I can relate to that." Jack noticed Carter, her expression odder than usual as she squinted up into the metallic trees. "Major?"

 

"They're blinking, sir."

 

Two more heads turned upwards; indeed, at least half of the trees were doing just that; blinking tiny red and yellow lights as though preparing for Christmas.

 

"Obviously this area has no ban on metallic objects," Daniel observed out loud.

 

"Obviously."

 

"This way, guys." Carter pointed down the path towards the silver rounded structures. It was with hesitancy and uncertainty that they made their final approach.

 

"Ready, kids?"

 

"If we said no, sir?"

 

"Then I'd ask you again in about thirty seconds."

 

There were doorways, but no doors. Arched holes in the silver material, a building surface that was brick hard with the rough feel of sand, not quite painted but covered with a silvery-green coating of some sort. The triangular shapes seen from afar were shallowly carved into the outer walls, and seemed to serve no purpose. Perhaps they were for shade, or decoration. They may once have been alcoves, intended for holding statues or plants…crystal or metallic ones, perhaps.

 

"What is this stuff?" Jack scratched his nail down the paint job.

 

"I've never seen anything like it, Colonel." Carter was frowning in concentration, and Jack subsequently lost interest.

 

"Here we go, kids."

 

Both teammates pulled in close to their commanding officer, not knowing what was in store. They had no flashlights, so even when the initial dimness gave way to dispersed, filtered light, they remained protectively near each other.

 

The roof was a dome, the same silver inside as out, but the interior walls were glass… and filled with water, in which multicoloured, multi-sized creatures were swimming or floating. Various forms of brightly coloured vegetation and shells adorned the underwater environments.

 

"Wow."

 

Jack emitted a low whistle. "Nice aquarium."

 

There was little furniture in the room, save for some panels with raised and lowered surfaces, and a few thickly padded mats. No numbers or wording was to be found anywhere. Nowhere obvious, at any rate.

 

"Colonel."

 

The two men looked up at where Carter was standing. One thick area of glass wall, filled with water and sea flora and fauna, gave way at her push. A partition, opening into another room.

 

A water-filled glass door; nice. "Hold on." Jack made sure he was by her side, and together they peered through the open doorway.

 

In the interior were tanks, several of them, and inside each were mini slug-like creatures.

 

Something rang a bell in the minds of two of the teammates.

 

"Breeding tanks for the animals out there?" Daniel frowned in thought as he followed in behind them, confused as to why Jack and Sam were glowering.

 

"Oh my."

 

"Sam? What?" To Daniel, her simple utterance indicated something more than just surprise or awe. The look on her face had him concerned. "What is it?"

 

Unintentionally, Carter ignored Daniel. "Sir, does this remind you of something?"

 

"Oh yeah."

 

"Something?" Daniel repeated. "What are you guys talking about?"

 

"Pangar." Jack was doing it now, still gawking at the sight before him, as Sam nodded her head.

 

"Egeria."

 

"Okay, you two are starting to scare me. What language are you speaking?"

 

Breaking her gaze, Sam finally noticed Daniel's odd look. "Oh sorry, Daniel. You weren't with us."

 

An inside joke? "Why not?"

 

Jack didn't remove his gaze from the tanks. "You were kind of dead at the time."

 

"Oh. Oh, so…" he looked back and forth from his teammates to the tanks. "You know what they are?"

 

"No."

 

"Tok'ra." Carter corrected.

 

"Aren't."

 

"They are, sir."

 

"Just 'cause they look sort of similar doesn't mean they've got snakes. No long necks like that old one had, just stubs of developing flippers. So, not the same, Carter."

 

Daniel heaved out a sigh of frustration, rolling his eyes, and Sam finally came to his rescue, her initial shock contained. "Daniel, you know Teal'c's tretonin?"

 

"Y-essss…?"

 

"Originally came from something like these." Jack completed the lesson, simply.

 

"Oh my God. You mean, that spawned symbiote...?"

 

"Her name was Egeria. But she's dead." Carter stopped in mid-thought, her forehead creased into a frown.

 

"So if she was the queen Tok'ra, Carter, and she's dead, what are these?"

 

"Not Tok'ra." The female voice startled them all, and they spun around to face the open doorway. "Whoever they may be. We are Teqorid."

 

She appeared quite human. Hair streaked gold and brown and red fell to her shoulders, and she wore a plain sleeveless frock with sandals. Her pale brown eyes were almost beige, giving her gaze a distracting quality.

 

"Oh… hello. We're, uh, we came through the gate, the Chappa'ai; I'm Daniel, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill, and this is Major Carter."

 

"Hello," she said simply.

 

"Yeah, uh…" Jack stepped forward, lightly resting his hand on Daniel's shoulder for a moment as he walked by. "English," he whispered as he passed. "Do you run this place?" Holding out his hand, the woman just looked down at it curiously. Retracting the gesture, Jack stuck his hand in his pocket, out of the way.

 

"In a manner of speaking."

 

"What is this place?" Daniel spoke up, keeping in step with Jack and now they were again side by side, mere feet from the woman. At her heels was one of those creatures, which had waddled into the room behind her. She did not acknowledge its presence. So, pets, Jack thought.

 

"This is where they are born."

 

"Who?" Daniel questioned.

 

"Those who rescued you."

 

"Them?" Jack indicated the animal waiting patiently mere feet away. "What are they?" Jack asked, his eyes on the woman's. Those near-beige eyes were very compelling.

 

"They are the dominant life form on this planet." The animal rubbed its thick wet flipper on Daniel's leg as the woman spoke.

 

"Dominant? Them?" Jack repeated without thinking, his eyebrows lifting as he stifled a potentially impolite smirk. Never insult the hostess. "So, you're from somewhere else?"

 

"I was built by them."

 

"Oh!" Carter flinched at her unintentional interruption and apologetically smiled at the colonel. "Sorry, sir."

 

"You were built by them?" Daniel parroted, his eyes wide. "You're an android?"

 

"Yes. Built to communicate for them. They think and I speak."

 

As the animal continued to nudge Daniel, the archaeologist suddenly looked down at it. "Jack! This is who's really talking!"

 

"Yes," the woman said.

 

"That is?" The surprise was blurted out again, before Jack considered what he'd said.

 

"I am." The animal crossed in front of the woman. "Why are you so willing to speak with the human figure, but not to me?" The words issued from the android's lips. "Is it that difficult to believe that I have enough intelligence to communicate with you? It is my kind who saved you twice." The female vocalizations sounded peculiar, the puppet speaking for the ventriloquist. But the puppet in question was not a woman; it was a translating vehicle for this animal that was no longer rubbing Daniel's legs, but almost rearing up on its strong hind flippers, intent on making its point, looking at them all now with huge black eyes. It was showing a wide set of teeth… uncannily appearing to grin. It settled back down on the ground.

 

"I'm so, um," Daniel bent down to crouch beside it, "so… we're sorry, really, it's just… we're used to speaking to people…" he knew he was floundering, unaccustomed as he was to speaking with dolphin-seal-pig-slugs. But that was just Jack's name for them. "Hi," he grinned. "I'm pleased to meet you. And thank you for saving me back there."

 

"It was a test."

 

"What?"

 

"For us to get to know you. What kind of people you are."

 

"And… uh, did we pass?"

 

"You did."

 

"I don't understand. If you have no, well, if you're… um, how did you build the android?"

 

"A long time ago this planet was populated by those who looked like her. Like you." The animal looked Daniel up and down. "We were decimated by the Goa'uld. All the women and children were taken."

 

"So you created a magnetic field to detain any who came through the gate."

 

"Those of us who escaped took refuge here and built that protective device, yes."

 

"Which you sure took your time getting us out of," Jack muttered not so quietly, ignoring an irritated look from Daniel.

 

The android turned to Jack, as did the animal. "We had to see if more Jaffa would follow you through. We could not know if you had been sent to lure us into a trap."

 

"So what happened to the others, those who took refuge here?" Daniel regained the animal's attention, still kneeling beside it.

 

"After assuring that our land was protected, we then created the pods from Goa'uld armor and weapons we had collected. Several Jaffa armies came through, before realizing none of their ranks ever returned."

 

"Pods?"

 

"You observed them in our outer garden."

 

"You mean the metal trees outside?" Daniel asked.

 

"Yes. But this took many years, and many died before the system was complete. For the rest of us however, as our bodies died, we placed our consciousnesses in those pods. Now we take turns awaiting homes in us." The android pointed to the animal.

 

"Oh my God," Sam's eyes went wide. "So you're breeding your kind in here, to give homes to the consciousnesses of those who fled the Goa'uld." These animals must be easy to breed and easy to take control of, if they could be used for a variety of life forms. Two, at least: Tok'ra, and Teqorid. Three, if one counted the mindless Super Soldiers created by Anubis as another life form. Who knew how many more, around the galaxy. Did the Teqorid people precede even the Tok'ra?

 

"While we wait in the pods… in the trees. Yes."

 

"And they built you?" Jack looked the android in the eye. Unlike Daniel, he was still more comfortable talking to the vessel the voice was coming from.

 

"They built her, yes," the android agreed.

 

"How does she speak for you?" Such a device was way past Carter's field of comprehension, and she was intrigued.

 

"Electromagnetic and electrophoretic charges pass as signals from our brains into her speech network, in much the same way as we manage her remote sensors for movement. It is really quite simple, and much more efficient than that large communications device you transported."

 

"What communic -"

 

"The MALP, sir."

 

"Oh." Jack studied the android with a mixture of amusement, appreciation, and curiosity. Yes, this one was much better looking than their MALP. Bet it couldn't transmit video and check for atmospheric anomalies, though. Not that he wanted to tick its owners off by pointing that out. "Nice."

 

"We were a small band of male survivors, Colonel Jack O'Neill." There was a touch of humour in the now sultry voice.

 

Jack caught himself about to smile, then cleared his throat instead. He didn't need these animals - or whoever they were - presuming his thoughts. Then again, they did used to be human, more or less. He changed the subject. "Well, you've left a truckload of metal armor out there, ya know."

 

"There is no longer any use for it. And she alone is unable to manage it."

 

"Look," Jack began, "much as we'd love to stay and chat, we have a little problem, which I think you already know about. We can't get home with that magnetic field in the way."

 

"No, you cannot."

 

"So, can you turn it off?"

 

"No."

 

Jack's heart did a flip; no, that was so not what he was aiming to hear. "You can't? Or you won't?" If these beings could collect all that metal way back when, they had to have a way to free it from the zone, honkin' big magnet or not.

 

"We can shift the polarization by uninhibiting some insulated alternate conduction layers. But we will not."

 

Two more heads tilted up sharply, uncertain whether to glare at the animal, or the android.

 

Daniel jumped into the conversation before Jack's temper could be roused further. "It would just be for a few minutes, long enough for us to dial home. You won't be in danger."

 

"We are already in danger. You know of our existence here."

 

"But -"

 

"Hey!" Jack snapped, interrupting his more diplomatic teammate. "You already said we passed your test. What more do you want?"

 

"You did not eliminate any of us, nor bring more of the enemy. However, we do not know the rest of your people. You travel with a Jaffa."

 

"Who's trapped face-down on the ground at the moment," Jack snapped angrily.

 

"Yes. Had we removed the field for your benefit, the Jaffa would have risen as well. We had to use more primitive means to free you."

 

"His name is Teal'c. He no longer works for the Goa'uld," Daniel explained softly. "He's one of us."

 

"One of you." The android - along with the animal - turned to O'Neill. "I sense you have been host to a Goa'uld. As have you," the creature turned its large dark eyes to Carter, next. "We know nothing of your world and people, nor their intentions. You have already compromised us. You may not leave this planet."

 

"We have to."

 

"You may not."

 

"Like hell! Whatever you -"

 

"We will not redirect the containment field." It was adamant, but the android's voice did not rise. Calm and indifferent, her face remained neutral and still.

 

Jack's face, however, was a blur of negativity and rising rage. "So you're just going to keep us here? What about Teal'c? He'll die out there!"

 

"Yes." The animal took a deep look at Jack, then at Daniel. Then, having apparently said all it intended, it turned and retreated through the doorway, its lumbering gait no match for an irate Jack. The android followed.

 

"Hey! We're so not staying here!"

 

"Jack." Daniel caught Jack's arm, stopping him from further pursuit.

 

"What!?"

 

"Give them some time to think about it."

 

"Think about what?" Jack glared at Daniel, then towards the empty doorway.

 

"Just give them some time."

 

"Teal'c doesn't have time!"

 

"Half an hour. Then we can talk to them again."

 

"Fine. Fine. Let's look around. Carter, find what we need. We'll turn it off ourselves."

 

"And then what, Jack? We turn the thing off, and they turn it back on before we get anywhere near the gate. We still have to make it back across the canal, and they can stop us at any time. We need them on our side."

 

"And you propose to do that how?"

 

"Let me talk to them. Alone. They may trust me more than either of you," Daniel stated almost apologetically, although they all knew he was the only one who had never carried a symbiote. He was also the one who'd aided one of their tangled, trapped babies… all in the name of a test.

 

"Go. Just remember Teal'c is still trapped, Daniel. And while you're talking, we're taking a look around."

 

"Just don't make Sam operate anything, Jack. We have to gain their trust." Again. "Please."

 

_____

 

"You are the only one who has not been tampered with."

 

"You mean by a symbiote? Yes. But Sam's wasn't evil, and neither was Jack's… second one. They were Tok'ra. Tok'ra fight the Goa'uld. And Jack's first never had a chance to control him." Daniel and the creature sat in the odd metal orchard, Daniel perched on a white crystalline boulder, the animal lying at his feet. The android stood at his side, while other animals observed from a distance along the path. One thing was certain; a quick escape, if Sam disabled the device's controls, would be an impossibility. Those creatures could move quickly enough, when they wanted to.

 

"We know of only one kind of symbiote."

 

"I know. But there are others. Good ones."

 

"The Tok'ra you spoke of, inhabiting others like us?"

 

"Inhabiting bodies similar to yours, apparently, yes. Not quite the same. Distant relatives of your species, perhaps."

 

"We want to believe you."

 

"You can."

 

"We cannot."

 

"I wouldn't hurt you, you know that."

 

"You would not hurt us without the Jaffa by your side. If the force is removed, he will once again be free."

 

Daniel sighed. He didn't know how to convince this alien of his team's benign intentions. "We came here only to explore."

 

"As did the Goa'uld. Until they found my people."

 

"They wanted you for hosts?"

 

"And for the technology we possessed. Ships, so they would no longer have to use the Transport Ring."

 

Daniel's thoughts spiked, and he looked visibly shaken. "What? They had no ships?"

 

"No."

 

"I don't understand. They… they have ships, huge pyramids -"

 

"Our design. Our technology."

 

"They stole their ships from you?"

 

"Yes. They took all we had."

 

"Oh my God, so you're… you're… you're very old!"

 

"My people are. Yes."

 

It took a few moments for Daniel to absorb the new information. He could understand their hesitance, their disillusionment with outsiders. "And you've been living this way ever since. How long do these," he gestured to the animal, "bodies live?"

 

"Only a few seasons. That is why we breed as many as we can at once, and why so many of our consciousnesses remain compressed. In the trees."

 

"So when you die -"

 

"We go to an unoccupied tree, to be absorbed. The consciousness then returns to await many, many more seasons for a new body."

 

At a loss for words, his thoughts tumbling, Daniel was silent.

 

"What happens when your body gives out?" It asked.

 

"What?" Daniel was jolted from his musings. "Oh, we… I, I don't know, really. We're buried in the ground. Or cremated."

 

"But what do you do to preserve your consciousness?"

 

"Um, nothing. There are a lot of different ideas on my planet as to what happens when we die, but from my experience so far -"

 

"Then we will take you. You will remain alive forever."

 

"What?" Daniel rose to his feet. "What?"

 

"You will be absorbed and maintained. After your body is no longer of use."

 

"Me?"

 

"Yes. Your friends are unable, as they have had our enemy within them."

 

"No!"

 

"You prefer to disintegrate and be lost forever?"

 

"No, I mean, I won't stay here. I have to go back to my home."

 

"But you cannot."

 

"Please. We won't tell anyone about you, you have my word."

 

"Remain as one of us. If you are here, we can trust that your friends will not harm us."

 

"I don't understand."

 

"We will allow them to leave."

 

"You'll trust them? If I stay?"

 

"They will not return with weapons and Jaffa armies if you are among us. We witnessed their attempts to save your life."

 

So Daniel had been the object of that - intentional - near-drowning.

 

Teal'c was still out there, confined, unable to drink or eat or walk around. Something had to be done soon, before the man died of dehydration or heat stroke. Options were limited, and so was SG-1's time. "So, what? I'll stay here until I die, and be transferred to a tree?" Not likely. He'd rather fade out of existence with his body, or take his chances on life after death, the natural way.

 

"Not exactly." The animal nudged Daniel's leg, moving its whole self in closer, as clarification came from the android. "Your body will not be wasted. It has been a long time since I inhabited a body such as yours."

 

Daniel inhaled sharply. "You want me to trade my body for yours? Now?"

 

"Yes."

 

"No!"

 

"Having a Teqorid body is coveted among us now, and I sacrifice another consciousness for more seasons by making you this offer. But if you prefer, you may choose instead to transfer yourself to a pod. I will transfer to one as well and then into the body you presently inhabit."

 

"No. You can't just take my body! That would make you no better than the Goa'uld."

 

"I am not forcing you, Daniel, as they would. Your team is free to remain here and live amongst us, and you may continue as you are now."

 

"Teal'c will die."

 

"Yes."

 

"Look, just let me stay here, as I am. Let my friends go."

 

"They will return to claim you if you remain as you are."

 

"They won't."

 

"Do you really believe that?"

 

Daniel knew his friends would never leave, once Teal'c was safely home. And somehow, Teal'c would find a way to bring help, even without weapons or metallic devices - probably, If Hammond believed it to be safe, which he had no way of knowing. SG-1's last communication with Teal'c had been a hesitant good-bye. Perhaps no one really would come looking for them. But doubt kept Daniel from lying, and he couldn't persist in his argument. His expressive eyes and silence gave him away.

 

But for now, besides not wanting to be uploaded into a metallic sculpture and never return home, Jack would never allow him to do it.

 

They'd all be stuck on this planet. His teammates, who'd staunchly supported Daniel during all the hells he'd been through.

 

And in a few days, Teal'c would die.

 

Daniel made his decision, and closed his eyes. "Okay. Tell me what to do."

 

_____

 

Sam's insides reeled with the horror that was evident in her expression, while Jack's eyes were mere slits in a scowling, lined face. Neither one said a word in those first few moments of regaining their composure, but the anger emanated profusely from the team leader.

 

"It was the only way," the alien inside Daniel said again.

 

"Like hell it was." The words were nearly growled, low and deep, but with a calmness that deceived.

 

"My people believe in keeping their word; you are free to leave. As you approach the barrier it will temporarily be terminated."

 

"We're not going anywhere without Daniel." The voice remained threateningly low, the tinge of fury and hatred palpable.

 

"Then he will have made his choice for nothing."

 

"Sir." Carter turned to O'Neill, eyes downcast and voice hollow. "We have to free Teal'c."

 

"Go. I'm staying."

 

"Sir?"

 

"You want to go; go."

 

"No sir; I don't want to leave Daniel here. But right now, we have to get," she glanced briefly, bitterly, at the alien, "him to free Teal'c." Him. The Teqorid wearing Daniel's body as his own, to make sure they would leave his people alone. "He's right, it's what Daniel did this for. Teal'c doesn't have much time, sir."

 

Daniel's head nodded. "I can do that now, if you are choosing to remain."

 

"Do it."

 

Jack watched his friend… the alien walk off with his friend's frame into another unexplored section of the dome. The feeling was one of despair and frustration, anguish and impotence. The only one who could change this guy's mind would be Daniel, but Daniel was plugged up in a mangled piece of metal and had agreed to this nonsense. "Damn it," Jack hissed. Turning, he retreated through the structure and back out to the tree-lined path. Which one was Daniel, anyway? As he stood there, all those blinking trees with old consciousnesses inside them, Jack realized he had rarely felt this same sense of vulnerability.

 

And all he could do was stand and stare, think and hate.

 

_____

 

All of a sudden the force weighing down on his back diminished, and Teal'c found it unexpectedly easier to breathe. With a shrug of strained, tired muscles, he discovered that stretching was no longer impossible. Nor was rolling over, as his head finally lifted off the ground, his right arm asleep and useless, sliding out from beneath the staff weapon as he shifted position.

 

Jolting upright, he looked around, seeing no one, his senses alert. There were only two reasons this could have happened; the magnetic pull was indeed on some sort of timer, or O'Neill, Major Carter, and Daniel Jackson had succeeded in releasing the holding mechanism.

 

As the Jaffa had died in place, Teal'c rejected the timer theory; besides, he preferred to believe his teammates had gained control. Whether or not they had the cooperation of local inhabitants or had done it covertly, however, Teal'c had no way of knowing. If his team had not succeeded in obtaining permission, they could very well be in need of assistance themselves. With only one fully functioning arm, Teal'c adjusted his pack as best he could and picked up as many weapons as he could carry.

 

And then he reconsidered.

 

If SG-1 was in danger, they would need backup, and General Hammond must be informed. Now that the magnetic field was down, Teal'c might be able to contact the base via the MALP.

 

Dialling out, the wormhole connected instantaneously, and Teal'c keyed in SG-1's IDC. "General Hammond? I must inform you of the present situation of SG-1."

 

_____

 

"It is done."

 

Jack wouldn't turn around, didn't want to look at the blue eyes that no longer belonged to his friend. "Which one is he?" he asked in a quiet breath.

 

"The last one that is activated. We move along the line in order, taking turns." Daniel pointed to the right-hand row; what looked to be a sleeping animal lay beneath one of the trees almost halfway to the far end. "Your Jaffa friend has retreated through the gateway. It seemed at first that he would choose to come this way instead; I nearly reactivated the field. However, after a few moments he signalled your homeworld and went through the transport module."

 

Jack hesitated. Teal'c would have considered coming after the rest of SG-1, but not without informing Hammond. The general probably had ordered Teal'c back. "How do you know?"

 

"We have ways of visually monitoring the Ring area."

 

Of course they did, if they'd known SG-1 was there in the first place.

 

"If more of your Jaffa arrive, they will be detained as you were. We will not aid them and you will not be allowed to leave."

 

Jack nodded half-heartedly, barely listening. He'd have to send Carter to get a message to Hammond, soon. Then he walked down the unshaded path - not much cover given by metallic branches - and stopped below the last tree that was flashing. It was not the last tree in the lane, however. There were others, uninhabited, and many more out on the double lawns. He reached up to touch a low branch, and pulled his hand back. "Ow!" Damn it. Of course, metal would be hot in the sun.

 

Daniel's occupant looked sympathetic. "The sun powers the connections."

 

"So if it rains they die?"

 

"It rarely rains here. But no, they would just sleep until the storm was over."

 

Coma? So, what; they were awake and alert inside there? "Do they think? Are they aware?" Jack finally faced the alien, although it was only a moment before he had to avert his eyes. He caught sight of Carter standing twenty feet away, her expression one of despondency and horror. "I take it you've been in one of these things?"

 

"Yes, many times. We are aware; we are able to communicate with one another. And," he looked at Jack from the corner of his eye and rubbed the tiled trunk, "we can feel."

 

This time Jack stared into those blue eyes, holding the gaze. Hatred refilled inside him. Turning towards the tree, he slid his hand along the trunk, feeling the soft coolness. "Daniel," he mumbled.

 

For several moments they stood there, Jack gently stoking the tree trunk. If Daniel - the real Daniel - was alert in there, he would be damn scared. "Let me do it."

 

Daniel squinted in confusion.

 

"I'll give you my body. Give Daniel back his."

 

Alien Daniel stared for a moment, his eyes softening in comprehension, a new awareness and empathy developing for these newcomers. An affinity he'd begun to sense the moment Daniel had said "Tell me what to do", his Jaffa comrade being worth his sacrifice. "You cannot. There is a protein marker within you that would hinder the transfer; it would not be completed."

 

Protein marker? He hadn't had one of those until those devious Machellian devices had forced an injection from the SGC's pseudo-medical staff. Carter, to be exact. But he had had a symbiote. Twice.

 

"So only Daniel could have done this?" Had Daniel known that? Damn it.

 

"Yes."

 

"Lucky you."

 

"I do not do this out of greed. I will share this body; after a season I will pass it on to the next in line. It has been a very… very long time since we've experienced a body such as this."

 

"What's wrong with living in the animals?"

 

"Nothing. But there are things we cannot accomplish, as you can well imagine. Only the android can do much of what needs to be done around here."

 

"Yeah, well, this body belongs to Daniel."

 

"No longer. I am sorry." The one in Daniel now turned away. "I will leave you. Let me know if you decide to return home."

 

"Why would I?" Jack countered, the words flung out fiercely to the alien's back. "Teal'c has already informed the base of the danger here. They'll be returning with hundreds of my people, warriors, armed with non-metallic weapons. The field won't affect them. You are so dead."

 

Daniel's alien turned sharply, and Jack saw true terror in his eyes. He hadn't seen that look on his friend's face in years.

 

"Non-metallic weapons?"

 

"Substance called plastic. Knives, forks. Straws - projectile weapons powered solely by breathing. Pretty formidable arsenal. You wouldn't stand a chance."

 

"You would not risk losing Daniel. He is one of us now."

 

"So what do we have to lose, eh? We happen to be strong believers in retribution."

 

The alien turned and fled abruptly back towards the dome.

 

"Well that didn't have the effect I intended," Jack said to a listening and dejected-looking Carter. That sort of bluff had worked with the alien consciousness that had uploaded itself into Sam, that time. Jack had been just as scared then too, backed into a corner.

 

"Sir? What do we do now?"

 

"Keep scaring him." He looked at the dead animal below the next tree, a tree that was not flashing. "I guess that's the guy we were talking to before." He rubbed his hand along the tiled tree trunk once again, so polished and smooth. And this is our Daniel.

 

Postured with uncertainty, the last two remaining members of SG-1 made their way back to the domes. Only a few of the animals were in sight; the figure of Daniel was nowhere to be seen. The android stood by the side of another of the creatures. It said nothing, and Jack ignored it.

 

Carter didn't. "Please," she started. "Daniel helped you; how could you do this to him?"

 

But the android's response could not be understood. It was not in English.

 

"I don't think it speaks English, Colonel."

 

"Why does the other one?"

 

"I have no idea."

 

And then, uncertainty became dread, worry became uncertainty, as the floor shifted beneath them.

 

The entire dome shook, and Carter grabbed stiffly onto the android to keep from falling.

 

"What the hell was that?" The room settling around them once again, Jack headed towards another of the water-filled doors through which the alien had previously exited in search of the force field controls.

 

There was nothing in this second chamber but more containers filled with liquid, empty of any developing seal-like fetuses.

 

"There," was all Carter said, pointing to another open doorway. They hurried through it.

 

There were semi-circular levels of platforms beyond, just beneath their feet; steps heading downwards. But they did not have to descend to see what lay below. The interior was bright, and filled with pulsating, extruding panels. Un-Daniel sat with his head in his hands, leaning over a console. Jack had seen that pose many times, and it nearly struck a sympathetic chord in his own presently disharmonic state of being. Instead, it tasted of bitterness.

 

He had to remind himself this wasn't Daniel.

 

"What's going on?" He asked loudly, from where he stood on the top platform, seven steps up.

 

The alien slowly looked up, dejection circulating across his face, in his body language. "I can't get it to work. I just don't know how." The defeated, submissive tone spoken with Daniel's voice chilled Jack.

 

"What?" Jack asked. "Get what to work?"

 

But it was Carter who responded. "This is an engine room. Sir."

 

"An engine room?"

 

"Is this a ship?" Carter walked down the seven steps to where the alien sat, and placed a hand on its shoulder. She knew what he was trying to do.

 

The Teqorid nodded. "They never had time to connect the power source. I don't know what to do."

 

"What were you intending?" Jack queried.

 

"To gather everyone and fly this ship to a safer spot on the planet, now that you know about us. Now that you're coming to destroy us."

 

"We only want Daniel back."

 

"Sir, maybe I could help him."

 

"Why the hell would you do that, Carter?"

 

"To get Daniel back, sir." She turned to the alien. "We'll trade. Me, for Daniel."

 

"Carter!"

 

"Sir! I can use what I know of Goa'uld motherships and the Prometheus. I think I can do this."

 

"No. I don't trust you." Those words from Daniel's lips were so… alien.

 

"I'll do anything to get Daniel back. You do know that. I know you do." Sam's eyes were blazing, but the fear wasn't completely disguised.

 

Minutes ticked by, the alien forlornly supporting Daniel's chin in his hands, before attempting to start the ship once more. Again the craft did nothing but shudder, the floor rocking beneath them. He knew there was no choice. "If you get this ship working, then I will give Daniel back to you."

 

"Deal." Jack wasn't waiting for him to change his mind. "How long will it take you, Major?" Two, three hours?

 

"I don't know. A few days or a couple of weeks."

 

"Weeks?"

 

"Sir? It's alien technology." Very.

 

"You must tell your people not to send an army."

 

"Carter, head back to the gate. I'll stay here."

 

"Colonel?"

 

"I don't trust him. He needs you; he won't try anything in the meantime."

 

"Yes sir."

 

So they ascended the steps once more, all of them, heading into the main room… where the apparently strong android was carrying an upright metallic tree, depositing it among several others already collected and lying horizontally around the open room. Spikes that protruded from their bases were plugged into some sort of glowing power source.

 

"Hey! What's going on?"

 

But the android - or animal beside her - did not respond in English.

 

"I'm the only one who can speak your language," Daniel's soft voice came from behind. "I connected with Daniel when we rescued him in the waterway."

 

Jack eyed him warily. Carter was right. This massive screw-up of a mission was so contrived. "So what's she doing?"

 

"Collecting my people, as I said, so that we can move on."

 

"Tell her to stop until Carter gets back and fixes this ship."

 

"Why?"

 

"Why?" Jack spun around, eyes flaring with anger. "Because if everyone's inside by the time Carter gets this thing in the air, how do I know you'll keep your part of the bargain? Nothing stopping you from taking off and leaving Daniel inside that thing."

 

"My people keep our word."

 

"Well I don't know your people. Tell her to stop!"

 

Speaking in its mother tongue, the alien addressed the other animals who lingered nearby. The android halted its movements, and stood, waiting.

 

"Carter, get to the gate. Don't go through; just tell Hammond not to send any more men until he hears from us again." More men; right. Any search and rescue teams would have been unarmed anyway, and too susceptible to becoming alien trees. Jack only hoped his bluff would hold out long enough to get Daniel back.

 

_____

 

Jack was back at the pathway, standing below the real - unreal real - Daniel. The dead animal had already been removed. The alien Daniel was watching from a few feet away.

 

"You're sure he's alive in there?"

 

"Yes."

 

"And he can feel this?" Jack ran his hand gently down the tree trunk once again.

 

"Yes."

 

God, Daniel.

 

Why the hell do you do these things to yourself? But Jack couldn't deny that had it been up to him, he may have done the same. One teammate for another didn't always make sense, rationally, but this had been three. He understood. "You don't have to leave this place. Give Daniel back to us and we'll never tell anyone you're here, I swear."

 

"They already know."

 

"No. Only my base knows. They won't hurt you if I tell them not to. If Daniel tells them not to." If he's unhurt, he can do that. He would do that. "You know he'd do that."

 

The alien appeared to consider his words. "We cannot take the chance."

 

"Look. I'm a man of my word as well, and so is Daniel. If I give you my word that you don't have to leave here, then you can rest assured that I mean it. This is your home, and I understand what it means to you. All I want is to go home too, and so does Daniel."

 

"We will consider your words. I do not speak alone for my people."

 

Jack nodded. "Then go talk to them. Just remember, I won't leave without Daniel."

 

_____

 

 

Soundlessness.

 

That was only the first thing that had swept his senses; the pressure of silence.

 

Even more than one would have imagined, more than one would have thought could possibly exist. Or not.

 

Emptiness; strange, raging, fascinating emptiness, filtering out into nothingness and nothingness becoming more and more palpable, transparent, grim, faceless, unworthy.

 

But it had made sense for Daniel to do this; the only thing that had made sense, at the time. To him, anyway. He had once been bodiless, incorporeal, ensconced in the bright white of nothingness, and he could handle it. He had melded with the essence of oneness; he was not a soldier.

 

And yet, he had thought it would be death. Not just a state of being disassociated from his body, stripped of all communication in a bowl of grayness, sightlessness; hollow, a void of immeasurable distances yet restrained within a tank, so small that Jack and Carter could grasp hands around it.

 

It had made sense, although Daniel could hardly remember why.

 

Why?

 

To save Teal'c. To save SG-1.

 

And hopefully, he had. Not that he might ever know. But if this thing was working, if he was still alive, he could only hope the Teqorids had kept their word and let his team go. It could not have happened any other way.

 

Could it?

 

He sensed others communicating, reaching out to him, but he could not understand their words. Here he would remain, wordless, for the rest of time… or until he chose to live inside a flippered animal.

 

No. Never.

 

The solitude was terrifying.

 

Daniel focused on sensation, the tingling of feeling. Like someone was touching his soul.

 

The sensation kept on, and for a moment Daniel thought that it was intentional. There was a pattern to it; someone was reaching out to him…

 

Sam? Jack?

 

Why hadn't they left? The fear surged within.

 

Then bright colours intruded into his mind as rainbow wannabes, harmonic sounds and melodies invading the cells of his body, of his skin… no; no skin, no body, for he was one with this uptime, this machine, reduced to something that wasn't death, and what remained of himself to ever be rescued was indeed an unanswered question in his turbulent mind.

 

For Sam and Jack didn't really know what happened to those trapped in these trees, only the Teqorids understood, having been within. SG-1 didn't know how this device really worked. They would believe him to be melded and unable to return, no body to return to. Hopefully, that alien had informed Jack of what had become of him, as he had promised. But, Daniel reminded himself, Jack would know, the minute his body showed up without him in it.

 

The sensations continued, almost soothing the terror of Daniel's mind.

 

Almost.

 

Never in a million years had Daniel suspected he would be inside one of these things.

 

SG-1 would rescue him, even if it took years.

 

No; SG-1 would rescue him only if at all possible.

 

Communion of man and machine. So beyond Earth technologies.

 

Damn.

 

The first impact had scared him. Lying under the tree, leaning into the large indentation at the base, reaching his arm into the hollow and grasping the handle he felt within… then Poof, a massive sucking sensation and he was inside this grayness, a sort of light, but not an Oma light. No, as his astral vision cleared he had the impression of being in a tube. A wide tube with no boundaries but all the restraints of a prison, for he could go nowhere.

 

Looking down, he could see nothing of himself, in this half light, half darkness. How could he explain the sensation, for it was not a visual perception at all. One could not perceive, with no eyes. How would he explain this, in the mission report…

 

The one he would likely never have to write.

 

And Daniel realized that depression could still take hold of one with no body. Knowing, feeling, was not a blessing, nor was being kept alive. No, he had not expected to continue as a sentient being once melded with this contraption, imprisoned in his own mind. Without hope, without thought of rescue even though one of his best friends was the world's leading astrophysicist. What did she know about this thing? Any records by its builders were likely to be in some language only he could eventually decipher. The world's most capable linguist was the only one who could ever save himself, but he was in no position to do so.

 

But even worse than that was the knowledge that his friends thought he was gone. Dead, his energy melded with a sculpture. The Teqorid had told them of the living consciousnesses, but even he had thought they'd meant some sort of deep, dreamless sleep. Not such complete awareness of every passing moment. No, SG-1 had no idea that he was still in here, so alive, so thinking, so knowing. Alone.

 

So alone.

 

For eternity.

 

Maybe it had already been eternity. There was no sense of time in here; for all he knew, his friends could already be dead. Old and dead and buried.

 

But he would be in here forever.

 

Forever listening to the compressed Teqorids communicate in a language that meant nothing to him.

 

_____

 

Go, Carter. And be careful. We'll be okay here. Shaking his head at his last words to her, O'Neill could only hope Carter would be okay, crossing that canal on her own. Jack's impatience and frustration tugged at him. He despised sending her back to the gate herself, but no goddamned way was Daniel staying in that tree alone, and he'd damn well better be alive, somehow.

 

Jack remained at his self-chosen station below Daniel's prison; anger barely concealed, that cool façade of his masking all but the worry in his eyes. He reminded himself that in Daniel's eyes, they had been choiceless.

 

There's always a choice.

 

Okay, there had been a choice. Death for a teammate, a hostage situation for the rest of them. To Daniel, that was no choice at all. Jack could hear Teal'c's voice in his own mind:

 

"You would have done the same, O'Neill."

 

"Maybe."

 

"Daniel Jackson knew this."

 

"Like he knew he was the only one able to pull a naquadria bomb core from its frame?"

 

"Indeed."

 

Jack rubbed the base of the tree. He would not give in to moroseness and self-pity. Daniel's deed was heroic, and his team was not known for its weaknesses or cowardice. They faced situations every day which might lead to their own demise.

 

And Daniel was not dead, now, was he?

 

Was he? His tree lights were blinking.

 

Jack rubbed the tree tiles, and the lights blinked in unison with the pattern of his touch.

 

_____

 

They had stopped importing the trees, and Carter was back working in the engine room. All Jack could hope was that she knew what she was doing. The holographic manuals, evidently, had been in some strange language, but with the alien there to translate, Carter seemed to have her crystals and cables and power sources under control.

 

Jack, on the other hand, was struggling with his own power source - masquerading as emotions - as he sat at the foot of a tiled, metallic sculpture, an arm draped around its base. I'm here, Daniel. We're working on getting you out of there. Actually, Carter's working, I'm just slothing off.

 

Useless. He was useless again.

 

He stared up at the little tiny lights overhead, still blinking slowly.

 

_____

 

"Sir?" Carter had thought twice about waking him, but she knew he'd need to eat.

 

Jack bolted awake, blinking. The sun was still high overhead; didn't this planet see night? They'd had it once, so far, face-down in a magnetic compression paddock. That seemed like so long ago.

 

"From what I gather, daylight's over fifty hours long, sir," Seeing him twist towards the sky, Carter guessed his thoughts. "And I asked for some sandwiches."

 

So Carter'ed requisitioned more than a few necessities from the base. Unfortunate that her slimy escorts had prevented her from lifting a few weapons from their dropped belongings while she was in the vicinity. It wouldn't have taken an army to get Daniel back, just a few well-placed threatening shots... "Thanks, Carter." Looking up to check, Jack relaxed. The lights above were still flashing rhythmically. "Bring any sunscreen?"

 

"As a matter of fact…" she smiled, removing a bag from her shoulder and dropping it at his feet. "Tylenol, gum, chocolate, and a lot of water, sir."

 

For a brief moment Jack allowed himself to grin. "Thanks. Carter…?"

 

"I think I can do it, sir. There are a lot of supplies down there. In spite of being extremely old, they're still way beyond our technology, and in good shape."

 

"How do you know what to d- "

 

"I have the, um, alien's help, sir. And I know a bit about Goa'uld ships. Colonel, apparently the Goa'uld stole their pyramid ships from this race. The Teqorids were the original engineers and architects."

 

"What?"

 

"The Goa'uld took off when they felt they had everything they needed from here. They left a few scattered people, who ended up building this dome ship - a design disguised enough so that any returning Goa'uld wouldn't recognize it as a ship - and this stasis system. But they were so focused on getting these pods working that they never connected the engines of the ship before they died out, forced to start taking the animal forms."

 

Jack nodded. "You'll do it, Carter." He picked up a sandwich, staring unseeing at the contents. "And in the meantime, I'm just going to keep Daniel, here, company."

 

"Yes sir," she smiled her support. "I'm sure he appreciates it."

 

Jack gave a slight nod, no smile blessing his lips. God, Carter, I hope to hell you're right.

 

_____

 

Jack wandered the garden, counting the four hundred and forty-one blinking trees, looking up into each and every one and wondering what the hell the aliens could possibly be discussing in there after all these years. Centuries. Millennia. Sure, once in a while they were given four-flippered bodies, but then what? Fill everyone else in on their adventures? Chances were they hated each other by now, or had put each other to sleep with their tediously boring conversations. How many seasons would it be before they had one of those animal bodies again? There were about sixty of them out there now, and ten or so in incubation… later he might do the math.

 

He touched the base of each one, just in case. Give them something new to talk about, if nothing else; they had to be wondering what was going on out here. Daniel probably had them confused as hell.

 

He wandered through the domed structure and watched the seal-things in their watery vessels. Ugly things, even when tiny, but still cuter than the fully developed adults. These had no teeth yet.

 

He stared at the android, and at the animal she trailed, but he still couldn't bring himself to smile at either of them.

 

He stood at the top of the platform facing into the engine room, and watched Carter working her ass off as someone who looked like Daniel leaned over her, reading from some holographic blueprint. He couldn't watch for long, though, because there were times that Carter smiled, and though he knew it was at her sense of accomplishment - one step nearer her goal - he couldn't help feeling the excited blue-eyed body by her side had put her too much at ease. That was still Daniel's body, and that made the alien within it an enemy.

 

But most of all, Jack sat under a tree, one specific tree, leaning against the cool trunk or looping his arm around its base. Tree hug, he thought idly, knowing he had probably just been out in the sun too long.

 

Sometimes, though, he would stand, and reach up and ignore the heat, sliding a finger quickly along a hot metallic branch. It was just a hunch, a guess, a feeling, but for some reason it made him feel better. Maybe he just liked to see the lights flash brighter.

 

_____

 

It took three more days, and while the boredom loomed in Jack's world, the time passed quickly for Carter. As far as O'Neill was concerned, that was three days too long but ten days better than Carter's previous estimate. As long as Daniel's life force was staying strong, he retained hope. What this would do to Daniel when the man was finally released he didn't want to think about, and at times he hoped that Daniel was not really aware of his state of being or the touches on the tree trunk, but that instead he was sleeping a long, deep sleep.

 

The rumble shook the ground below him ever so slightly, and Jack awoke once more. Evening had settled now for the second time since they'd lost Daniel, the air was cooler, his butt was just as sore as yesterday, and he knew immediately that Carter had completed the connection. He quickly hurried into the engine room, to be met by two dozen seal-imals and an android he could no longer talk to.

 

"Carter?"

 

She turned, smiling wearily. Creases lined a face that had slept for fewer than three hours a night, Earth score. "It's working, Colonel."

 

"Good. So let's get Daniel out of the tree." Fixing the alien inside Daniel with a steel gaze, he almost waited for the other shoe to drop. "Not so fast," he expected to hear.

 

Instead, there was a nod of the head. "You have kept up your promises; the ship is running and your people have not come to do battle. I will fulfill mine."

 

"Oh…good."

 

The false Daniel sighed. "It has been good to have arms and legs again."

 

"They're Daniel's."

 

"Yes, I know. Be sure to thank him for me. When I return to the pod, it will not be my turn for a body, and I am the only one who can speak with him." With that, Daniel-body sighed again and headed up the seven semi-circular steps. Carter and Jack followed him out the dome and into the steel garden.

 

Jack still had his reservations, his nerves on edge and senses alert; nothing was ever over 'til it was over. Too many times, those he'd semi-trusted had backed out of their obligations, retracted their promises, sold him out. Counting chickens, and all that, if he needed more clichés to fall back on. Daniel was too important for things to become complacent. "Sorry, but this doesn't seem to be working" was what he fully expected to be told. He was ready to respond with more threats of plastic weapons, biochemical viruses, plagues, self-destruct mechanisms inside his boots, if he had to. One way or another, he was going to get Daniel back.

 

They watched as the alien in Daniel sat his body below the vacant tree neighbouring Daniel's. "Thank you for completing the engines," he addressed Sam. "As soon as I am transferred, move this body to your friend's tree and place his arm in that hole."

 

On the other hand…"Wait."

 

The alien looked up at Jack.

 

"Tell them they don't have to move. We won't come back, and we won't tell anyone about you. You have my word."

 

The blue eyes studied Jack's, considering the promise. A minute went by before the alien nodded, then spoke with the animals listening nearby, courtesy of the android. "They will consider it and decide what to do. It may be safer for us to leave anyway. But they will consider your words." With that, the alien closed his eyes and slid Daniel's arm into the circular aperture in the tree trunk. Within moments the body slouched, and the lights in the metallic branches overhead began to blink.

 

"Let's do it," Jack did not have to complete his order before Carter had taken a grasp under a lifeless Daniel's arms.

 

Positioning him the way they'd been told, Jack couldn't keep that little bit of trepidation from filling his gut. If this didn't work, if Daniel didn't wake up, there would be no one to tell them what had gone wrong. They could no longer communicate with the natives.

 

But his worry had been unnecessary; it only took seconds before Daniel's eyes blinked open, and he squinted into the gloom.

 

The sudden surge of Freedom. Daniel could feel it the moment his consciousness touched his body. It was in the feel of the air around him, in the gray expanse of infinity viewed from his own eyes. It was in the ability to move his hands, and to breath. It was in the touch of his skin, and not just sensations through a tiled tree trunk. It was real, all of it.

 

The tentative smile that lit Jack's face made up for the deepening yellowish sky, a smile that was mirrored on Sam as well. "Daniel?"

 

"Jack?"

 

"Daniel." Jack grinned. Hell, yes.

 

The tree's lights had gone out.

 

"Thank God." Sam was already gripping her friend in her arms, as she kissed his forehead. "Are you alright?"

 

"Um…" Daniel cleared his throat. "How long have I been…"

 

"Over four days."

 

"Oh." That was good. He'd been expecting years. He'd been expecting life, actually. But this was SG-1, his team, and he was friends with the most brilliant astrophysicist in the world. "Thanks." What an unexpressive word, one that didn't come close to saying what he really meant.

  

"Yeah. You're welcome."

 

"I didn't think… I mean - "

 

"Thanks for putting us through that."

 

Daniel's eyes flew open wider, and he paled. Right. He had to face Jack now. And he'd have to write that report after all.

 

But that was okay, 'cause that meant that, along with himself, all of SG-1 was okay too. "Teal'c?"

 

"Safe and sound at home."

 

Daniel smiled. Yes. O-kay.

 

Then Jack took Daniel's wrist and pulled him upright, rubbing gently along the forearm before releasing his hold. Daniel stared, then looked at Jack, and he knew. Even before Jack pulled him into a hug, he knew.

 

And before they picked up the meager belongings and headed indoors, Jack reached out to the tree beside Daniel's, the one with the freshly uploaded alien, whose name they'd never known, and he gently rubbed the trunk. "Just so you know," he said to it quietly, "that it worked."

 

_____

 

Walking back to the gate had been uneventful, with an escort party of two dozen slowly meandering seal creatures. Doubts had lingered, with the language barrier, that the animals would leave the force field off for them to gate home. But with SG-1 having traversed the moat on the backs of those critters, all concerns had finally vanished. Looked as though the aliens were trying to be as friendly as possible, if for no other reason than to avert an invasion and remain where they were. Jack wished he could put their minds at ease once and for all.

 

"They think we'll attack them?" Daniel frowned. "With plastic forks?"

 

"Yeah, I threatened that, once."

 

"Why?"

 

"To get you back. It was a bluff." No kidding.

 

"Oh."

 

"It was really weird seeing you… without you."

 

"I can imagine."

 

"Did you... were you aware?"

 

"That someone stayed with me? Yes." Daniel kept his head forward, looking at Jack out the corner of his eye. "Was that you?" But he knew. Seeing as Sam had been working on the engine…

 

"Maybe."

 

Daniel smiled. "Thanks."

 

"No problem. I was bored."

 

"Four days, huh?"

 

"Felt like forty."

 

"Yes, it did."

 

Jack looked up sharply. Yes, it probably had, being locked up unable to move or talk or do anything but think.

 

"But it's been thousands of years for the rest of them, Jack. I don't blame them for taking turns coming out. Or for wanting to use me."

 

"Daniel -"

 

"I don't, Jack."

 

The mess of metal was still at the gate. Their own weapons and packs remained - those that Teal'c had not taken through with him - along with the piles of armor, disintegrating Jaffa within. Who knew when those last ones had come.

 

Teal'c had left a GDO by the DHD pedestal.

 

As the wormhole connected and SG-1 prepared to go home, picking up their equipment and repositioning the MALP, Daniel stopped and looked at the animals who had escorted them. He had no real way of getting a message across, but there was one more thing he could try.

 

Prying off the domed insert of the DHD, Daniel left the main inner crystal exposed, gesturing towards it. "It's all yours. We won't come back, with or without metal weapons." He looked them in the eyes, hoping they would understand. "Or we won't be able to get home." And with that he bowed his head towards them.

 

When he looked up, Jack and Sam were waiting for him, at the open wormhole.

 

"Ready for steak and a good night's sleep?"

 

Daniel nodded. "You have no idea." Then they stepped through the gate together, side by side, Jack's hand resting lightly on Daniel's back.

 

The animals nudged each other. Stepping away from the armor and up to the DHD, one reared on its hind flippers and forcefully knocked the crystal out of its cradle. Rolling it off the border of the platform which signalled the edge of the metallic gravity field, one by one they pounced, crushing it to bits.

 

Waddling off, they made their way back to the river and the garden, the only home they'd known for several thousand years. The only home they would know, as long as more ships never swooped down from the sky. And if one ever did, all that would be found would be some artistic trees, and animals frolicking along a sandbank.

 

---

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