First Contact, Last Encounter

by Jb

"No! No, no no no. Don't cut it!"

What the hell...? Oh, please. Give me a break. Jack stared in renewed disbelief. He'd just spent hours and hours traipsing through deep woods - in such a state of utter dread, the only way to cope was to avoid thinking or talking about just why he was there - only to next find himself blowing away what used to be colleagues in an adrenaline rush of mindless panic. Damn snakes.

Then he'd finally made here... only to end up poised on a hair trigger of stress, grimly urging shaky hands to steady enough to allow him to stop the bad guy from eating the good guy alive. Of course, considering just who the good guy was, it was pretty much par for the course it turned out that if it had been left up to said good guy himself, he would have been served up al dente.

The profound relief which had washed through Jack upon seeing Daniel alive and upright had been overcome by confused amazement as he was unexpectedly told not to do what he came to do, because apparently, according to Daniel, it didn't need to be done. They were... friends? Combining 'friend' and 'Unas' in the same thought seemed too ridiculous to be believed. He must have heard wrong... right? But of course, in the end, it did have to be done. So in its turn, his astonishment over Daniel's claim of friendship had been swamped by another adrenaline rush, fueled by a sudden stab of stark fear, as the big Unas had made his move. And Jack had done what he'd had to do, of course. What had always had to be done, even as words to the contrary were still leaving Daniel's lips. This was Daniel, after all. It was predestined. Ridiculous to think even for a moment that the man might not need saving.

All that had been for what, exactly? Right now, he was supposed to be slapping Daniel on the back and nervously laughing over the close call, not caught in the midst of a slam-dunk into an even more mind-boggling world of the bizarre and nonsensical. If he'd thought the 'friend' thing was weird, well, this latest incomprehensible statement coming out of Daniel's mouth was so far beyond weird it was actually disorientating. Don't take the rope off? What the hell was with that man? Jack's confusion was quickly overrun by exasperation and impatience. Even memory of his preceding original worry and relief were all but irretrievable, no longer relevant in light of the inexplicable. When they got back to Earth, he was going to remove the word 'don't' from Daniel's vocabulary even if it took a dozen bars of soap to do it.

Funny how all this crap reminded him of his parents. How this cascade of different feelings he was experiencing resulted in a heightened sense of appreciation for his own long-suffering protectors. Worry, to relief, to confusion, and finally angry exasperation. Jack was pretty sure this progression of emotion was just what his folks had gone through every time their wayward adolescent finally showed up at four in the morning with some cock-eyed explanation or other. The outcome of such progressions had always been the same, even despite the original problem having been fear for his safety. Inevitably, he'd ended up punished. Grounded.

Well, he must be one heck of a chip off the old block then, because right now Jack wanted nothing more than to ground Daniel - preferably with a well-placed blow to the head. He did his best to restrain himself from figuratively jumping all over the guy, staying just where he was and trying to keep his cool, gently banging the sharp-edged barrel of the P90 against his hip. That particular outlet for his stress simply put a dent in his hip, though, not in his mounting irritation. Across from him, Teal'c grunted, reacting to Daniel's unfathomable behaviour with a small frown and a questioning look aimed not at Daniel but at him, and Jack had to bite his tongue to keep from blurting out an impassioned, and likely quite unwise, verbal response.

With the events of the last twenty hours catching up with him and the dank cave walls and his repressed emotions seeming to close in for the kill, Jack used every scrap of control he had in him and simply grumbled his opinion. "Oh, just cut the damn thing, Teal'c."

"No! Don't!" The blurted protest was immediately followed by a soft "oomph" as Daniel tripped over the dangling end of the rope while twisting to move his arms away from Teal'c. Barely one second and one stagger later, Daniel's low grunt was repeated a bit louder as his elbow impacted the rock wall immediately to his left with an audible thwack.

Great. Just great. First it was "don't!" repeatedly yelled at them, then it was the absolutely mind-boggling "we're friends," closely followed by some sort of 'Ka-Ka-Cha-Cha come-on-back-some-day' chatter... and now, this. Jack was starting to feel a whole lot more like Alice down the rabbit-hole than triumphant rescuer. Muttering under his breath, he stepped forward and grabbed Daniel by the upper arm before the visibly exhausted man could come up with any other potentially masochistic moves. Reaching toward the knife held in Teal'c's hand, Jack shivered as he felt cool air waft past his legs, the fires pulling steady drafts of cold air from the dark interconnecting passages into the small cavern. Christ, Daniel. Jack really wanted to get the hell out of there. Preferably before the Unas changed its mind.

Daniel turned sideways, seemingly trying to pull his arm away. The movement inadvertently sent the length of his leash flapping forward to catch the side of Jack's leg with a small thwap, and it wound halfway around his calf. Daniel glanced down, jerked his hands slightly, and they both watched as one of the trailing pieces released itself from the top edge of Jack's boot. As Daniel relaxed his arms the dangling end of the leash unwrapped itself from Jack's leg, leaving a dirty streak on his pant leg. It slowly settled to curl on the ground, becoming a lax, dark shape against the stone, three twisted trailers haphazardly snaking away from their point of origin.

"Sorry." Daniel glanced at him, and then quickly looked away toward the far wall, where they had last seen the Unas closely followed around the corner by its own hulking, hesitating shadow. He stood stock still, staring toward the far passage at apparently nothing. The flickering glow from the two fires produced a dance of light and darkness across Daniel's face which made it impossible for Jack to interpret the vaguely distant expression with any surety.

Jack looked down at the ground, at the rope's trailers, and shivered. It was an obscene sight, considering what the thing was and what the outcome of its use would have been had SG1 arrived just a few minutes later than they had. What the hell was up with Daniel? You'd think he'd be more than happy to have that damned doggy lead cut off and to get the heck out of here. But, apparently there were more important things on his mind. He watched Daniel's lips move in silent speech, one word, two at most, repeated several times. Possibly two short syllables? A slightly drawn-out, almost-purse of the lips, followed by dropping the jaw open a bit more... looked like, what, more of that Cha-Cha stuff? Wait, oh just wait a second here - No. No, it wasn't possible. No way. Daniel wouldn't... nah. They'd all just heard Daniel tell the Unas he had to go.

"Daniel?" Jack heard Carter move up behind him, then saw her face as she rounded him and went to stand just behind Daniel. She looked much more puzzled than concerned, her forehead deeply creased with a questioning frown. Well, welcome to Wonderland, Carter. Land of Infinite Confusion. Home away from home. Danieland.

She leaned in and placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Are you okay? We really need to get going."

Yeah. Needed to get going. "Yes, we do, Carter." The words were out of Jack's mouth and his body in action without conscious forethought. Plucking the knife out of Teal'c's hand, Jack reached out just as Daniel was turning to acknowledge Carter and grabbed hold of the end of the rope closest to Daniel's hands, hauling it around toward himself. Daniel had no choice but to follow the pull on his arms, turning to face Jack. "And as soon as I slice this damned thing off, we are so out of here..."

Daniel raised his hands to shoulder height, twisting away, his tone sharp. "Jack, please. I told you. I told Teal'c. Don't. Don't cut it off."

Carter jumped in with the pertinent question just as Jack was considering other possible and quite satisfying uses for the knife. "Daniel, why? Why would you want to stay tied up like that?"

The flustered look on Daniel's face might have provided great fodder for Jack under less ambiguous circumstances. "What? Stay... well, no, of course not. No! No, I don't want... I thought I explained..." Daniel frowned as Carter shook her head. "Really? I thought... I didn't? Oh! Okay. Well, it has to stay in one piece." He waved his bound hands in a wide arc, clearly indicating the cavern, going from the crude drawings on the walls to the nearest fire, and ending up with one finger pointing toward the passage the Unas had taken. "This is first contact, Sam. God, just think about it. Successful first contact with aboriginal Unas! This is an artefact." He waved his arms, drawing their attention to the dangling leash. "I mean, just look at it, at what it's made of and its construction. So far, it's the only tangible thing we have of this culture for study."

What? Jack did a double-take. Did he just hear right? Did Daniel just say, "so far"? Oh, for crying out loud.

Crap, Daniel was really getting rolling here now. "In the past, our only contact with Unas has been with those under the control of the Goa'uld, and we've made basic assumptions on their nature on the basis of their behaviour while as hosts. But now, we have an incredible opportunity here." The arms waved again, setting the trailers gently undulating in a motion that was paradoxically offensive. "Sam, this can actually provide a lot of information. It's a representative sample of..."

Enough is enough. Interrupting Daniel mid-babble with an impatient, "Yeah, yeah," Jack waved his hand dismissively through the air between them. The man had been dragged halfway across the damned planet by a 'representative sample' of primitive, clearly predatory and dangerous creatures, at the end of that ratty piece of whatever. He'd been one fork-tine's width away from being eaten alive, for God's sake. "It's first contact. You made a new friend. You think it's more than just a rope; it's an 'artefact'." He leaned forward, tugging slightly on the leather wrapped around Daniel's wrists to emphasize his point. "But it's not, Daniel. It's a leash used to drag in dinner, and it's filthy, and it looks like you've got open abrasions under there. So grab a brain here. It has to come off."

Daniel closed his eyes, his attitude and stance all too clearly plummeting toward the low end of the endurance scale. His voice a bare whisper, and he hung his head as he spoke. "I never said I didn't want it off, Jack. God, how I want it off. You have no idea." He then raised his head, though, staring directly at Jack. "But not cut off."

Ah, crap. The annoyance insistently tugging at Jack's gut was exacerbated by the concern that some of the Unas' somewhere around that corner just might not be so magnanimous as Daniel's captor, but even in amongst that Jack realized this was pretty vintage Daniel. Even as that thought alone caused his irritation to escalate, it occurred to him that as usual Daniel wasn't about to change his mind. So, fine. There was nothing to be gained from getting into an argument over it. What was an extra couple of minutes in the smelly cavern to untie the thing, compared to thirty seconds to slice it apart. The Unas wasn't the quietest nor sneakiest of varmints they'd ever had to watch out for... hell, you could both hear and smell them breathe from fifty feet away. Maybe they'd have a moment's notice, and if not, Daniel was already conveniently trussed up, a ripe peace offering. Not such a disaster. Hell, they'd spent that long fussing over the damned rope already. If that's what Daniel wanted -

Jack waved Teal'c over. "See if you can't manhandle those knots free, Teal'c. But be careful... it's an 'artefact'."

Pleased to note Carter was keeping a sharp eye on the Road to Unasville, Jack stepped away and diverted his attention to their six. He heard Teal'c murmur a brief acknowledgment to Daniel, heard an equally brief muted response and the light scuffle of feet on the ground as they arranged themselves. He peered down one dark tunnel and then another, smelling the smoke and listening to the crackle of the rapidly dying fires, and wondered if the large fire pits were always lit and regularly tended to by the Unas... or if these fires had been set specifically in anticipation of a special event. The main event. Creme de la Daniel, avec champignons. Shit. It was a frank reminder of why they were here, and all the crap they had just gone through.

It was also a reminder of what they had encountered upon entering the cavern, of the initial relief and following surge of fear - strong enough to blur his vision, curdle his stomach, and weaken his knees - at the sight of Daniel standing not five feet away from two Unas, real live honest to God Unas for Christ sake, the larger of which was readying to pounce. That was a different fear, more immediate and crystallized, from the strong but suppressible, unfulfilled one which had dogged him throughout the mission, and it had hit him hard. Even though he'd understood right from the start it was probably an Unas that had taken Daniel, he realized he hadn't been prepared to really see it, to give up on the small hope that maybe Rothman and Teal'c had been wrong. He hadn't been willing to face it... the given that Daniel didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell against an Unas. Especially the likes of the honking huge one which had towered over him, close enough that Jack had imagined he could feel its slobber splash his own face.

Never mind that. Don't think about that. Didn't happen. Daniel was fine. Other than a scratch on his face and rope burns on his wrists, he seemed fine. Intact, upright and walking and talking, and as usual saying the craziest things at the craziest time. Concentrate on that. Jack's mind reached out, trying to recover the almost instantaneous relief which had washed through him at the realization that although there were indeed Unas here, Daniel was still in one piece. But that relief had promptly disappeared as things got confusing, and now even with Daniel standing here next to him he couldn't seem to find his way through the emotional fatigue and still mounting exasperation to locate just where it had run off to. He glanced over at Teal'c working to release Daniel, and was reminded of a similar scene involving himself and Teal'c, on the banks of a smelly and Goa'uld infested body of water.

Damn. Hawkins. And Rothman. Double-damn. He'd blown away Rothman.

As it occurred to him that getting Daniel untied and out of the cave was only one small part of what he still had to do, Jack gave up all efforts to run after the elusive comfort of more positive emotions. They had to return Daniel home, help attend to their dead, and break up the dig campsite. First, though, they needed to get out without any further losses. God knows how many Unas were bunking just down the hall, and there were Goa'uld in the water, and for all they knew there were more of both stashed around every corner. The planet was probably a goddamned Club Med for evil alien creatures. For sure, even as he felt both pleased to have Daniel back and a familiar sense of irritation with the man, there were other more important things to do than stand around mollifying Daniel's inconvenient archaeological sensitivities. Or was it anthropological, in this context? Ahh, hell, who cared.

He turned around, the order for everyone to stop what they were doing and get the heck out of there right on the tip of his tongue, only to see Teal'c pulling a loop of the rope-leather-leash-artefact thing up from out of the messy bundle between Daniel's wrists. Okay, well, if Teal'c almost had it unknotted, Jack supposed they could wait the few seconds more it would take to get it off. But then, abruptly, Teal'c quickly bent over and reached toward the ground at Daniel's feet. Jack's own surprised, "What?" was echoed by Daniel, who stood with a puzzled look on his face, hands still tied together, the short loop sticking up like a D-ring just waiting for someone to latch a tie-down onto it.

In answer, Teal'c came up holding the dangling end of the leash in one hand, and with the other hand quickly reached underneath the knot and yanked on a section of the rope. The loop disappeared back where it came from, the strength of the pull from below yanking Daniel's hands downward along with it. Okay... well, whatever weird knot-so-expertise it was Teal'c had in mind, clearly it hadn't worked.

"O'Neill, the rope is tightly knotted. It is too dark in the cavern to see well enough to release it." Teal'c stood with the end of the leash in his hand, his eyes on Daniel, and took several steps backward. Daniel extended his arms to follow the travel of the rope. It stretched between them like an umbilical cord.

"Teal'c, what are you doing? You got it started..." Daniel took a step toward Teal'c, thrusting his hands forward.

Teal'c took two long strides toward Jack, shoving the end of the rope at him so abruptly that his fisted hand made solid contact with Jack's body. Startled, Jack found himself instinctively accepting the rope. Renewed irritation shot off the scale at just one more unexpected event, but before he could do anything about expressing it, Teal'c marched off, saying, "Come. I suggest we leave this place now." In seconds, he was all but a dim shadow against the dark of the passageway they had arrived by, and rapidly disappearing from view.

Standing there holding the leash, all Jack could think was the white rabbit had just made his appearance. By the time he got his thoughts organized enough to consciously agree with at least Teal'c's sentiment, if not the surprising action itself, Teal'c had rounded the corner of the passage and was no longer in sight. Bizarre. He looked from the tunnel down to the rope in his hand, then up at Daniel. For the most part Daniel was in shadow, his body still turned in the direction he had been when facing Teal'c. Daniel didn't move at all for a moment, and then slowly turned his head, his eyes clearly following the direction of the rope from his bound hands to its terminus in Jack's hand.

Carter cleared her throat and upon catching Jack's attention, made a confused face and shrugged. She waved her weapon toward the Unas' hidey-hole. "I can take our six, Sir."

Right. Take their six. Six. Number one, get out of the cave system. Number two, remind Teal'c it wasn't his job to unilaterally decide who took point and when. Not to mention number three... get going back to the Stargate. Numbers four and five involved recovery of dead bodies and explanations which were unmentionably unpleasant, so go straight on through to number six, which would be the silence of his living room and at least six extra-strength Tylenol for his rapidly developing headache, chased down by a six-pack of beer. But one thing came first - there was no way he was playing captor to Daniel. Daniel's open-mouthed, unremitting stare at the leash in Jack's hand and the tension in his posture said it all; he'd already spent more time being dragged around at the end of that tether than was tolerable. It wasn't hard to see that more than just Daniel's hands would start shaking if Jack so much as twitched that goddamned line.

Suppressing a sudden, perverse urge to quip that Daniel seemed to be at the end of his rope, he moved to in front of Daniel, and grabbing a handful of his zipped-up jacket up near the collar stuffed the end of the leash down his front. It left a smudge of dirt where it came into contact with the base of Daniel's neck.

"It's all yours, Daniel. We'll untie it outside." Immediately, Daniel's stiff shoulders sagged, his eyes closing ever so briefly before opening once again, the disbelieving stare replaced with a look of gratitude.

Good. Preliminaries done with. Number one on the way. Getting out of here. Jack used the muzzle end of the P90 to gently prod Daniel in the hip and steer him in the right direction. It wasn't until ten paces later, as he was following Daniel into the passageway, that he thought to check if he had actually put the weapon's safety back on before doing that. And... oops. Stupid.

Ohhh yeah, he really, really needed to get this mission done with and go home.

Entering the mouth of the tunnel, Daniel heard a muttered imprecation immediately followed by a muted metallic click, come from behind him. Jack, doing... something, with his weapon? Never mind. Didn't matter. Now that he was safe, suddenly he was so tired things like that just didn't seem worth thinking about. He trudged along, feeling the friction of the rope against his skin as he twisted his wrists slightly, and wondered why Teal'c had stopped. But Teal'c having left the rope on didn't matter much either. It was admittedly confusing, because Daniel was pretty sure Teal'c had been on the right track in sorting out the jumble of knots between his wrists, and yes, he really did want to be rid of the thing. But it really wasn't all that important in the great scheme of things. What was important was that Jack had said they wouldn't cut the leather. They'd take the rope off without damaging it, and he'd have intact tangible evidence of this first contact experience to archive. All things considered, he could wait a bit longer for it to be removed - at least, just so long as no one was jerking him along at the end of the thing any more.

Even more importantly, his team had made it in time. He was back with his friends, still alive and on his way home, pretty much uninjured. Well, more or less, on that last one. The ache of his upper back and shoulders, both elbows and knees... and his feet, oh man, his feet, and his wrists - okay, stop, forget it. None of it was really very noteworthy. There was that unpleasant tenderness over his left hip, the accompanying intermittent stabbing pain deep in the joint a bit of a concern, but it wasn't all that bad. At least, Daniel hoped it wasn't anything all that bad.

Nah. It was fine. He was all right. Although... okay, admittedly he felt weird. Kind of sloggy and thick-headed, even though his heart was still going a mile a minute. His skin tingled and itched everywhere almost as if it wanted to leap off his body, and he felt alternately hot and cold. It was probably just that he was still a bit adrenaline-hyped; what he was feeling was simply part of coming down from the stress-high he'd been on. There wasn't anything actually physically wrong. It was more than, what, maybe thirty minutes or so since most of the way through their hike through the passageways the young Unas had finally lost patience with his dallying and scribbling of broken arrows onto cave walls. Surely if anything was seriously amiss, it would have been screaming at him by now. Daniel suspected the results of the bashing around - bruises and aches on top of other aches - might become more of an issue soon, once his brain righted itself. But overall it was just surface damage, and he'd deal with that when the time came. For now, he had to ignore it. Besides, the Unas had apologized, directly and almost profusely so... in his own Unasey way. It was over with. Didn't - didn't, didn't - matter.

Daniel shambled into the passage and around the corner, then on down the tunnel, tiredly dragging his feet, allowing his mind to wander in whatever direction it wanted to go. Which was as far away as possible from the recurrent memory of a quick glimpse of Loder being savaged and flung away like a rag doll. Move on. Something else. Okay... Cha'ka. Cha-ka. What the hell was Cha-ka? Ka was no. Ke-ka was something akin to kill, or dead, so maybe the 'ke' part was life? Or, a verb form for a state of existence, kind of like, 'to be'? Or something? But then, if that was the case, what could Cha-ka, with the 'ka' part, possibly mean? Nope. Nothing; no inspiration there at all. Maybe the 'ka' in Cha-ka wasn't even related to the 'ka' which meant 'no'? Or hey, maybe it was a matter of mis-hearing it or a mispronunciation on his part... maybe it was actually 'Cha-ke' with the latter part being something to do with life or something? Or, maybe - Ugh. Okay, try something easier. The rope. Yes, an animal hide. Leather. He'd noticed both the similarities and differences between the leather from which the rope was so tightly woven, and the hides which made up the garment and wristband worn by the Unas. So, they clearly had more than one source of leather, which meant they hunted more than one type of large prey. Plus that, the construction of both the garments and the rope provided an interesting glimpse into the degree of sophistication of manipulative -

Shit! Oh God! Daniel's heart and stomach lurched up into his throat, and he leaped to one side as a huge dark shape suddenly emerged from a natural alcove, in the cave wall, which he'd only just barely walked past. God, oh God! No! Don't... Loder! No, no, wait, that was before... oh God it was another one, it was - The usual delayed decision in the argument between fight or flight had him pinned in place, gasping in an attempt to swallow the sudden fear. But then from behind him, Jack spoke, and upon hearing an answering familiar, deep voice, Daniel realized the hulking menace was not menacing at all; it was just Teal'c.

He shuffled backward to lean against the opposite wall, his internal organs slowly settling back into their usual locations. Okay, so yes, even though he might not be exactly one hundred percent mentally alert and a bundle of physical energy, clearly there was still just a bit of adrenaline left in his system. Or, there had been. That last scare seemed to have completely drained the taps. Awareness of his knees turning to jelly and thighs starting to shake was accompanied by an overwhelming rush of exhaustion. Daniel slid down the wall into a crouch before he could fall down. Sam was at his side in an instant, her hand on his shoulder and soft voice in his ear.

"Daniel? Hey, are you okay? Here..." There was a slight pressure on his shoulder and a corresponding push on his thigh. "Come on, sit right down for a minute. You look like you're going to fall over."

Sounded good. The sitting right down bit, not the falling over part. Daniel let his knees move apart, but with no strength left in his legs and his hands bound in front of him, he couldn't control the short descent. He grunted as his butt hit the hard ground with a thump, discomfort spreading out from his hip to radiate through his entire pelvis. Ow. Ouch. Cha-ka. Whatever the hell that meant. All right, never mind. He nodded at Sam, tipped his head back against the wall, closed his eyes, and listened to the sounds of Jack and Teal'c as they stood wherever the heck they were, talking in low voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying. Didn't even matter.

"Hey..." Sam's hands were on his face. He opened his eyes only to be blinded, forced to close them again as the harsh beam of her flashlight shone right into his face. She didn't seem to notice. Her fingers dug into his chin slightly as she turned his head. "You have a bad scrape on your cheek here. It doesn't look all that clean."

Oh, no, really? Her fingers disappeared, and he heard shuffling and rustling noises. He hazarded opening his eyes again. Fortunately, she had aimed the light toward the ground where she was fussing with her pack. She rummaged around and produced a rectangular foil packet which Daniel recognized as containing a disinfectant wipe. Okay, so this was probably going to sting. And hey, no shit, it did. A lot. So much so, it took a moment before he was able to focus enough to identify the nearby sound he was hearing as being her voice. Was she talking to him? Uhh... okay, no. To Jack. Something about not yet, Sir; about waiting a few more minutes. Checking him out. Okay, that sounded good. A few more minutes sounded just fine. Wiping the tears from his eyes - not only did that stuff sting like hell, it emitted vapours which made onions seem like roses - Daniel felt the bundle of rope bump against his nose, and immediately his hands were pulled sharply away from his face.

"Daniel! I just..." Sam's tone of voice changed from chiding to sympathetic as he rapidly blinked his eyes, trying to clear the excess fluid from them so he could see her. "Oh. Sorry. I guess that stuff is a bit strong." There was the sound of more rummaging, and then Sam was wiping his eyes with a soft tissue. "That rope isn't exactly clean, Daniel, and your hands aren't any better. I'll check that abrasion more thoroughly and you can wash your hands once we get outside, but until then it's best to keep them away from your face."

Her face was close to his own, her smile encouraging and eyes full of caring concern. He couldn't help but ask. The uncertainty had eaten away at him since he'd woken to find himself captive, and he couldn't avoid facing it now that there was an answer available. "Sam, at the dig site. Loder..." The way she ducked her head and sighed was answer enough. Oh, no. Loder was dead. Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, his chest clenching in misery over the thought that once again he'd survived at the expense of another.

Sam's gentle touch and soft voice intruded. "Other than your wrists being chafed, are you hurt anywhere else?"

He thought for a moment. Anything worth mentioning? That damned hip, aches and pains, bumps, bruises, most likely a variety of minor abrasions and additional chaffs under his clothing - So, no, nothing worth complaining about. He could still feel the sharp stinging on his face and a slight wetness; either the antiseptic was not quite dry, or the gouge was getting ready to bleed again. But that was okay too. A minor blip. He opened his eyes and shook his head, reassuring her. "No, I'm all right. Just got knocked around a bit from time to time, Sam. Nothing worth worrying about."

Regardless of his answer, she pulled out another small packet and offered him a couple of very familiar-looking white tablets. Okay, yeah, he could go for that. Just to take the edge off. At his nod, Sam tossed the pain pills into his mouth, and gave him a quick and wholly inadequate squirt from her water bottle. His eyes roved the passageway as he choked down the bitter tablets, and abruptly he realized this was the location of his previous impromptu rest, where the direction of his fate had taken that final turn away from inevitable agonizing death toward a very welcome uncertainty. Toward tenuous hope, which miraculously had been realized as his friends caught up with them. That shallow indentation in the wall Teal'c had appeared from... that was where Daniel had marked the wall for the last time, pulling back against the Unas in order to do so. It was where he'd then immediately fallen under an unexpected, frustrated assault, ending up battered and huddling in fear and pain as the adolescent Unas finally managed to sort through his turmoil over just what to make of his captive.

Daniel suddenly felt the need to jump up and go over there, had a strong urge to look for the lump of charcoal he'd dropped, to run his hands over the walls where chunks of stone had been dislodged by the Unas' blows, the debris showering over Daniel as he curled up against the inside wall of the alcove. Because this was where it had all come together for the Unas, an undeniably highly intelligent creature. This was where in the eyes of the young Unas Daniel had ceased to be the hunted lion, simply the spoils of a rite of passage, and instead become... Daaan-iel.

God. The Unas had actually called him by name; the implications were huge. And exciting. Incredible, even. But, what the heck was Cha'ka supposed to mean? Cha-ka. Chaka. Wait... maybe nothing to do with 'ka' at all, but... Chaaka... Cha-aka?

It was kind of serendipitous, his friends stopping here at the exact location in which their rescue of him had been made possible. Daniel knew if it had not been for that last culture clash and the length of the ensuing layover, there was no way Jack, Teal'c, and Sam would have gotten there in time to keep him from being torn limb from limb. Because despite his new friend's best intentions, the alpha male Unas hadn't been convinced. Daniel shuddered at the understanding of what would have happened to him if his friends had not arrived just when they did, at the mental image of what would have happened if the young Unas had not been pushed beyond tolerance and dallied here to beat the crap out of him. At the thought of the horrors and agony he would have undergone in the messy moments before his death, the shudder intensified, threatening to turn into a full-blown case of the shakes. And he couldn't even hug himself to fend it off.

Sam noticed the trembling and placed a hand on his arm, misinterpreting his problem. "Hey, pretty chilly, eh? The temperature in here has to be about ten degrees lower than outside. We'd better get going." Raising her voice slightly, she directed a comment to the others. "We're ready to go any time, Sir. Daniel's feeling the cold."

"Is he."

It wasn't a question, and Daniel peered up at Jack, the vision of being dismembered alive fading from consciousness courtesy of his confusion over Jack's detached-sounding monotone. Jack stood just at the farthest reach of Sam's flashlight beam, his own light turned down toward the ground, the expression on his face unreadable in the darkness.

"Jack?" Daniel clambered to his feet awkwardly, Sam helping by hauling on his upper arm.

Jack took a step forward and motioned at Sam. "Carter, lead the way. Teal'c, take up the rear." Two more steps brought him almost up even with Daniel. Almost. Sam moved off down the tunnel and Daniel paused, waiting for the expected clap on the shoulder or light cuff on the arm which he was suddenly all too aware he had not yet received; the one that would mean Jack was happy to have him there, alive, standing next to him. It didn't come. He frowned as Jack waved the muzzle end of the rifle at him, saying, "So if you're so cold, Daniel, double-time it out of here."

Daniel shivered, this time from a definite chill which traveled up his arms and legs and across his back, and realized it was pretty cold in the cave system. It felt colder than he'd been aware of earlier. Much colder, and in more ways than one. He moved away from the wall and was surprised when Jack took one step backward to each of his forward, keeping the distance between them consistent. Something was wrong. Where was the 'glad to see you in one piece, Daniel'; where was that clap on his shoulder and teasing ruffle of his hair?

Okay, well, he hadn't exactly screamed out that he was glad to see them, either... in fact, now that he thought about it, it was possible that from their point of view he'd been anything but welcoming. But he'd been all too aware SG1 had no idea that a bond had been cemented at that small alcove, that there was good reason not to just blow the Unas off the face of the planet at first sight. Daniel had been preoccupied with the test of that bond, worried about what was going to happen with the Unas. Mind you... so were the rest of SG1, just in a very different way. Nevertheless, although a fair bit of what had happened since his team's arrival seemed to be fading into a confusing blur, he figured maybe he'd been less than overt about expressing his gratitude.

It was never too late. Daniel took one tentative step forward, then reached out his bound hands toward Jack. "Jack, uhhm, I'm really glad to see you guys. I know it might not have seemed like it, but... " Suddenly, surprisingly, he felt his jaw clench and his eyes sting. He had to force the rest of it out past a throat that felt like it was closing up tight. "It was... I was pretty scared. You saved my life. Thank you."

The image of the adult Unas ripping into him with those huge claws flashed into mind again, and his throat did close up on him. Trying to draw a breath without gagging, he heard himself let go of a distressed noise, something halfway between a sob and a choke. Damn. He was losing it. He squeezed his eyes shut, and desperately shoved both the hitch in his chest and the horrid vision aside. He hadn't coped with the rising wave of fear for all this time only to let it get the better of him now, when it wasn't relevant any longer.

There was a noise, then something on his arm. He opened his eyes to see both Jack and Sam standing right there next to him, Jack's hand firmly grasping his forearm. Daniel looked into Jack's eyes, and through the gloom he thought he saw the reassurance he'd so missed earlier. Sam's voice radiated concern as she raised a hand, touching his cheek with one finger. "That abrasion is bleeding a bit. Must have been the antiseptic wipe." Grateful for the smooth and insightful deflection of attention away from his emotional state, Daniel aimed a weak, fleeting smile at her and then, embarrassed, looked away.

The reassuring hand on his arm disappeared as Daniel heard Teal'c, from behind them, simply say, "O'Neill." Jack moved off to join Teal'c, and they spoke softly to one another in the background as Sam gently wiped the blood off his cheek with a clean tissue.

She stepped back, cocking her head to one side. "So, Daniel, how'd you get that graze, anyway? It's quite deep." She was making small talk, trying to set him at ease. Trying to say, in her own way, 'you're very welcome'. Not trusting his voice, Daniel silently thanked her for the sentiment with a lingering look and slow blink. She grinned at him, getting the message just fine.

He glanced over to where Jack and Teal'c stood, both of them looking toward him with what seemed to be dark, deep frowns on their faces. Or maybe it was just that they were standing somewhat out of the beam from Sam's flashlight that made their expressions seem so grim-looking. Yeah. Must be. He aimed a faltering grin at them, then turned his head back and digging down deep, determinedly reinforced the grin for Sam. "Ah, well, I think it was supposed to be the mark of death. Kind of an Unas version of the Zorro thing, you know?"

His smile faded, morphing into a deep frown of his own as Jack's voice rang out, a little too loud and a lot more serious than Daniel's own had been. "No, Daniel. We don't know. Why don't you tell us?"

Confused, he simply stared at them. Was something wrong? Sam obviously sensed it as well. She looked from Daniel to her other teammates and back again, so that all three of them ended up staring at him. Feeling like a bug under a microscope, Daniel mumbled to himself, "I just stopped to thank you. Didn't mean to cause a fuss."

Jack shuffled his feet and looked at Teal'c before gazing steadily at Daniel, finally responding to his thanks. "It's okay, Daniel. We were in the neighbourhood. Now, let's get out of here." Daniel thought he heard what might be uncertainty in Jack's voice, but he forced himself to shrug it off, knowing he was far too confused and tired to try to figure it out. Sam gave him a sympathetic glance and set off down the passage, and he moved to follow her. For a step or two. Until he saw Teal'c settle in behind them and heard the crunching as Teal'c walked out from the immediate area of the alcove, treading on the fallout from his last encounter with the Unas.

First contact... last encounter. They'd probably never let him return here again. He couldn't help himself; he had to go, had to do it, to find it.

There were flurries of movement both behind and to one side of him as Daniel abruptly reversed direction and impulsively darted toward the alcove. He didn't register that those flurries were disconcerted in nature until he was down on his knees feeling around on the ground for the charcoal... until he heard an irritated exclamation from Jack, and suddenly felt a strong hand on his shoulder. His hand dragged across the ground as he was pulled away, and his fingers brushed over a familiar shape. He grabbed at it, just managing to scoop it up before he was forcefully yanked upward and back, and losing his balance he ended up on his butt on the ground. He twisted as he fell, and pain flared in his lower back and hip. He was just thinking he'd really have to get Dr. Fraiser to check for any free-floating bone shards in his hip joint as soon as he got back to the SGC, when Teal'c hauled harder, pulling him to his knees and then dragging him upward once again. He was hard pressed to get his feet under him, jolting to one side before he could centre himself properly, his cheek coming into painful contact with the cave wall.

Startled and a bit disoriented over the rapid involuntary changes in position, Daniel didn't respond right away when Jack spoke to him. He heard him, heard the words, the question being asked of him, but somehow was unable to gather up a response. It wasn't like it was a difficult question... but... what was going on?

The question turned into a harsh demand for an answer, and then he was totally flummoxed by the sound of Teal'c's staff powering up, unable to respond in any way other than just holding the thing up for them to see. What was wrong with what he did?

It was just a piece of charcoal.

Jack had thought he'd heard and seen it all to this point: Unas dragging people all over the damned planet, snakeheads in the water, Hawkins and Rothman and the almost unbearable possibility Daniel might have suffered the same... not to mention the brain jarring 'we're friends' and 'it's an artefact' routines. And he'd figured, hell, if that last was anything to go by, Daniel just had to still be Daniel, so it'd be all right. But even if it wasn't, Jack knew he and Teal'c would deal with it however they had to, and there wasn't much more that could happen that could boggle him.

He was wrong.

Absolutely unbelievable! Look at that... just look at it! Either Daniel was totally loony, driven over the edge by his experience with the Unas, or he'd been taken over by the dumbest, weirdest, saddest excuse for an evil snakehead anyone ever could imagine. It wasn't beyond the realm of possibility. Rothman and Hawkins had behaved very differently from one another after being taken as hosts. They never would have known about Rothman if the otherwise all too savvy snake hadn't stupidly objected to being bound, but all along Hawkins had been so off-colour as to trigger Jack's alarm bells pretty much right from the start. Hawkins' voice and movements had been stilted, his affect strange, as if he was completely emotionally repressed -

"There is nothing else here, O'Neill." Jack turned to Teal'c, one eyebrow raised. What? Nothing? Teal'c rose from his crouch in the rough alcove, shaking his head, confirming it. "There are only rock chips. While some have sharp edges, they are friable. The largest shard is not sizeable enough to be in any way useful nor dangerous."

There had to be something. He couldn't believe that either Daniel or a snakehead - no matter how off-kilter a Daniel or stupid a snakehead - would run a risk like this for a crummy lump of charcoal. Mind, if Daniel was still Daniel, he wouldn't necessarily know he was running any sort of risk at all. Would he? No, probably not. But of course, just because Daniel had acted as though he'd no idea he was at dire risk of maiming or death by suspicious Jaffa didn't mean he was in fact still Daniel. Did it?

Okay, now he had a headache, and that clinched it. They were out of here. Tearing his gaze away from the totally stunned-looking, hopefully-maybe still-Daniel, Jack propelled an equally stunned-looking Carter toward the cave entrance with one hand to her back. Following her, he threw an order back over his shoulder at Teal'c. "Okay, we're gone. Escort Daniel, Teal'c, and keep an eye and ear on our six."

Jack walked just a half step behind Carter, the crunching of two pairs of boots several paces to the rear - one set far too loud and uncoordinated for comfort, dragging and uneven - satisfying him that Daniel and his temporary guard were keeping up through the tunnels and around the various corners. Corners with walls marked with directional arrows hastily drawn in charcoal, in varying degrees of completion. Would a primitive Goa'uld do that? No. Of course not. This was all ridiculous. Okay, well, not necessarily 'of course' not, but at the very least, 'probably' not. Was 'probably' good enough? No, it probably wasn't, given how Rothman's Goa'uld had snookered them. Jack rubbed his aching forehead with one hand, peering past Carter toward the faint glimmer of light emanating from around the next bend. They were finally almost out of the cave system.

Carter kept silent, but also kept on turning slightly sideways, casting concerned and puzzled glances back at him. She was being the good little soldier though, restraining herself from verbally asking for an explanation before he was willing to give it. He knew he'd have to explain to her, and if he was truthful with himself he knew all too well why he'd been procrastinating. It wasn't so much that she'd be alarmed and frightened for Daniel - he and Teal'c were frightened for Daniel too - or that he expected opposition from her. It wasn't even that if he gave voice to the questionable concern and the observations which had made Teal'c suspicious in the first place, he'd feel even more like an absolute moron than he already did. Not that he wouldn't feel irretrievably foolish actually saying it... he would, because after all, this was stupid; Daniel wasn't possessed by a snake. No, it was because if it turned out for the worse, and something very bad happened, he didn't want it to be Carter who'd have to live with having pulled the trigger. Better she didn't know, so she wouldn't realise the need and take the action.

Carter led them around the next bend, past the scrawled 'this way' on the wall just adjacent to the one with all the pretty pictures. Drawings just one step up from stick figures - images of Unas, plus some sort of indigenous quadruped animals they'd not yet caught sight of, and lots and lots of pictures of primitive symbiotes. And the smear of blood. Can't forget the blood on the wall. At least there wasn't much, is what he'd said when he first saw it. Right. That wasn't terribly reassuring at the moment, because he couldn't ignore Teal'c's caution. Even the most remote chance they'd still lost Daniel, even though he hadn't been torn limb from limb, was too great a chance to be tolerable.

Just at the cave entrance, Carter stopped and turned around to face him. Light from the early morning brightly overcast sky stung his eyes, spilling into the cave from behind and silhouetting her, and he couldn't make out the expression on her face. He read her body language all too well as it abruptly changed, though, and just as she stiffened and began to take an alarmed step forward, Jack whirled around in reaction, his weapon at the ready. A split second later he heard scuffing and unintelligible voices possibly raised in argument, and scrunched up his eyes to try to see better as he peered back into the darkness of the cave. The beam of what had to be Teal'c's flashlight almost obscured the scene, but he vaguely made out two figures back at the far intersection, one kneeling, the other slightly bending over. The connotation was not one of threat, and he relaxed his grip on the P90 as Carter blew on by him, her muttered "God, what the hell is going on here?" wafting by in her wake.

Jack took off, lengthening his stride to pass Carter as he approached, and was able to make out the scene and the voices more clearly. Daniel knelt on the ground, his bound hands held up in front of his chest, his face raised and tilted upward toward Teal'c. His voice was shaky, but insistent. "So look then. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself."

Jack didn't quite catch Teal'c's low reply, but it was obvious Teal'c wasn't checking out anything. He was in fact straightening up, turning to meet Carter's and his arrival with a stern look. Jack stopped several feet away, flicked on his flashlight, and played it over Daniel. He looked all right... or at least, for the most part much the same as he had back at the alcove. Tired, wobbly, confused and confusing. With one difference - now he was displaying a typically aggrieved Daniel'tude which, had it not been for Jack's last memories of Rothman, would have set a smile on Jack's face even as it set his teeth on edge.

Carter sailed right on by, obviously intending to crouch down next to Daniel, but was hauled up short by a hand and command from Teal'c. "Do not approach him."

She stopped on a dime at Teal'c's tone, turning back to Jack. "Sir?"

"Teal'c, I told you, it's all right. Really. I'm fine... I'm me." Even considering its muted assertive edge, Daniel's voice telegraphed entirely earnest intent, and he dropped his head forward, chin to chest. "Just look."

Teal'c didn't look at Daniel as he spoke, his tone of voice and stance immovable. "That would prove nothing, as you well know."

Daniel snapped his head back up and thrust his chin out toward Jack, his now overt assertiveness joined by obvious impatience. "Oh, God! Do you have any idea how tired I am? I'm haven't been taken by a Goa'uld, Jack." His eyes still fixed on Jack's face, he angled his head to bring his neck slightly out away from the back of the collar of his BDU jacket. "Check for yourself. Sure, I admit there was a close call, but the Unas intercepted it." A fleeting, almost wistful smile, seeming terribly incongruous to Jack, played across Daniel's face for a moment and his voice softened considerably. "We played 'toss the symbiote head'. You'd have liked the outcome of that game, Jack."

Jack's blood chilled in his veins. What had Daniel just said? He heard Carter's gasp, felt her eyes boring into him. He knew he should say something... should tell her that when trying to untie the leash, Teal'c had noticed the dampness of the rope and of the seams of Daniel's jacket and pants, and of his boots and laces, suspecting it for what it apparently now had just been confirmed to be. Shit. So Teal'c had been right on the money with that, at least.

Even though Jack really didn't want to know any more, didn't want any part of helping 'remote' to escalate into 'feasible', he heard himself asking the question, his voice harsh. "You just happen to take a dip in the lake, Daniel?"

Still on his knees, Daniel looked from him to Teal'c, and set his jaw as he answered the question with a nod and a definitive, "Yes. I was trying to escape."

Carter stepped back a half-pace from where she stood next to Daniel. "Oh, no."

Jack noted the disconcerted expression which settled on Daniel's face at her action. It occurred to him Daniel didn't have any way of knowing what the rest of them had gone through during their search for him. While he understood that would help account for Daniel's not fully understanding how seriously they had to take this, it was annoying this had become a topic of conversation before Jack'd had a chance to think it all the way through and was ready to control the way it went. For that matter, he couldn't help but wonder how and why Daniel and Teal'c had gotten into it. He glared pointedly at Teal'c, but there was no reaction.

"Sam? C'mon, it's me here." Daniel was obviously confused, becoming upset. He'd shuffled around on his knees to face Carter, his hands coming out in front of him to help with his balance. He looked like a supplicant, kneeling there with his hands held out together in front of him, staring up at Carter. "Surely you can tell. Right? Sam?"

Jack's gut twisted at the sight of Daniel like this. Except that - The twist turned to an outright wrench of frustrated anger at the thought this might not even be Daniel. The zipper on Daniel's jacket had opened some, and the rope lead had fallen out from inside the jacket. It dangled down from his bound hands, two-thirds of it draping across the ground in a disorganised, loose coil. Jack had an irresistible urge to snatch it up and give it a hard vertical yank. Because Daniel Jackson didn't belong on his knees, not ever, and especially not in front of his own team... invading snake or no.

Suddenly he found himself moving, bending over, his hands closing around the dangling line. Upon realising with alarm just what he was actually on the verge of doing, Jack quickly altered the action. He let go of the leash and instead grabbed Daniel's hands. Daniel pulled his arms back toward his chest, away from the sudden grasp, and Jack leaned in closer, his face settling into a hover just several inches above Daniel's own. He tried to moderate his tone, but his voice came out in a tense, low hiss anyway. "Up, Daniel. You have to get up."

He straightened, pulling on Daniel, who extended his arms out fully before he awkwardly moved to stand up, obviously totally bewildered. "Why?"

"Because if you don't, I think I just might go stark raving mad, that's why. Just do it."

Jack shifted one hand to underneath Daniel's upper arm, steadying him as he got his feet underneath him. Even then, Daniel didn't feel too solid, wobbling around so much Jack wondered if Daniel just might hit the deck if he let go. So he didn't let go, and immediately Teal'c reminded him of his rightful place - that rightful 'military colonel responsible for everyone's safety' place - with the old downturned-mouth raised-eyebrow look. Even though Jack dearly wanted to put more credence in the pitifully grateful look on Daniel's face than the warning on Teal'c's, he knew he couldn't. That knowledge provoked another stab of anger, and a heightening of the tension headache lurking behind his eyes. He let go and backed off, grimacing at the sight of Daniel staggering slightly before catching and re-balancing himself to stand on his own.

Guilt flared as Daniel simply cast another grateful look his way, liberally laced with misplaced relief, before turning to Carter and beseeching her, obviously trying and failing to make some sense out of their behaviour. "Sam? You can sense the Goa'uld. You don't sense anything in me, do you? You can't, because there's nothing here."

Jack grimaced again, this time over the expression on Daniel's face when Teal'c impassively informed him that was irrelevant; Major Carter couldn't sense it because as Daniel Jackson well knew there was no naquada in the primitive symbiotes. Daniel swung a disbelieving, almost dazed, stare back and forth between Carter and Teal'c as he digested the information. Jack watched the emotions flick one after the other across Daniel's face - his initial surety swiftly decaying into doubt at Teal'c's words, followed by disappointment, and then horrified dismay as he clearly realised the implication. A part of Jack impulsively crowed happily at the thought he wasn't the only one to go on an emotional rollercoaster ride this trip, but then he remembered Daniel had endured a lot more than just this over the past twenty-four hours. If this even still was Daniel.

Anger surged again, only this time it was directed at himself, over both his own uncertainty and lack of control over himself. God, he really needed to get off this damned planet.

Daniel's shoulders sagged as he gave in to the knowledge that from their point of view - their altogether inexplicable point of view - they had no way to be sure. They wouldn't take him on faith, believe him, if there was a possibility it was actually a Goa'uld offering the reassurances. Actually, his discouragement had little to do with issues of faith and trust, although he suspected those just might rear their heads later when things were less immediate. His present concern was that with each passing minute he felt increasingly tired and shaky. He was battered and bruised, the discomfort of his hip settling into a fairly constant sharp ache. It wasn't hard to imagine that at some point along the way before the long hike back to the gate was a done deal, he just might need help with continuing to put one foot in front of the other.

He needed them to believe him. There had to be a way. Daniel trolled his increasingly blurry memories of his own behaviour when they had rescued him, looking for anything which might be of help. Hoo boy. Not so helpful, there. Okay, so maybe he was doomed to walk alone here, at least until they got home and the MRI results came in. Or, wait... maybe not. He could see how his behaviour seemed erratic to them, but there were good explanations for all of it. Even the less sensible things he'd said or done were, in fact, pretty much the exact opposite of what a Goa'uld might do. Not to mention they didn't even know if these particular symbiotes were even actually 'Goa'uld' to begin with - that they were capable of forming complex neurological and biological connections with a human host, even the most basic of connections required for physiologic co-existence, never mind the sort of connections which resulted in an ability to exert any sort of behavioural control.

It was Sam he reached out to, extending his arms just enough to entreat her, but not close enough to her to make contact. "Wait... just wait. Okay, so you can't sense them. But think about this: if I were a Goa'uld, my first priority would be self-preservation, right? Out of all the Goa'uld we've ever been in contact with, or ever even heard of, is there even one who might ask you not to shoot the Unas, or not to cut through this?" He raised his hands, and the tail end of the rope dragged across the ground at his feet. "Those are my priorities... mine alone. The Goa'uld don't place themselves at risk for interests which don't coincide with their own. The Goa'uld subjugate their hosts; they don't imitate them."

Sam's wince managed to convey a spectacular amount of discomfort. "Oh, Daniel. You don't understand. You don't know -" She bit off what she was about to say, shifting her weight nervously, and shot a look at Jack.

Daniel followed her eyes, and was shocked at the dark expression which had settled on Jack's face. He opened his mouth, only to close it without giving voice to his concern as Jack barked out, "Enough. It's at least an eight to nine hour hike to the Stargate. Weapons at the ready, ears in." Jack stuffed his earpiece into his left ear, Sam and Teal'c doing the same with their own. "I want to get there before nightfall; we're not going to do that standing around here." Daniel was left gazing at nothing as Jack simply turned on his heel and walked away.

Daniel stared, dumbfounded, as Jack kept going right on through the cavern and out into the daylight. Sam bit her lip and turned to follow, seemingly a whole lot more interested in looking at the ground than at Daniel. There was a gentle nudge to his back, and he looked behind him to see Teal'c prodding him to move forward. Considering they were worried he might be compromised, Daniel could understand their caution, but he was mystified over the seemingly angry rejection of his efforts to resolve their doubts. Surely they'd want to figure out the truth, wouldn't they? However, the discussion which might have helped do that was obviously over, terminated with extreme prejudice. Why? Could it be they weren't just worried about the possibility of him being Goa'ulded, but actually thoroughly believed it had in fact happened?

Daniel tried to work it out as he trailed along behind Sam and Jack. Sam had started to say something to him. She'd said he didn't understand... but, understand what? Fully aware he'd get nothing out of Teal'c, Daniel remained silent and allowed himself to be directed out of the cave. As they emerged he raised his arms to shield his eyes from the light, looking at Jack where he stood just at the edge of the nearest group of trees. Surprisingly, Teal'c reached forward and gently pulled Daniel's arm away where his filthy sleeve brushed against the cut on his cheek. Okay, so if Teal'c was worried about possible infection, then it must not be a done deal - Teal'c wasn't sure. And if Teal'c wasn't sure, then Jack wouldn't be certain either. Sam clearly hadn't come to any definite conclusions; she kept on glancing at him, shifting her weight toward him only to pull away before completion.

If no one was thoroughly convinced he'd been taken over, why the refusal to consider the ins and outs of the problem, then? Daniel lowered his arms and squinted at Teal'c in the bright light, feeling his confusion looming large on his face, but Teal'c was impassive. When Daniel redirected his gaze to Sam, she looked away the moment she was aware of his eyes on her. Again. God. Nothing about this was making sense.

Suddenly, simultaneously Sam jerked as if she'd been tasered and Jack whirled around to face down the wide dirt pathway through the woods, his left hand coming up to his ear in a tight fist. As the expression on Sam's face went from surprise to alarm, Teal'c stepped out from behind Daniel, his head cocked to his left and his eyes fixed on Jack's back. Daniel raised his hands to his upper left breast pocket, only to remember he didn't have his radio. He watched with rising concern as his team mates stared at each other in shock. Whatever transmission they were receiving through the earpieces, it obviously wasn't expected nor welcome.

Jack's face twisted harshly, his whole body visibly tensing as he listened further. Just when Daniel was sure Jack's fist would punch right through his own ear into his head, he lowered the hand to flick the comm switch on his radio. "SG3-niner, this is SG1-niner. Copy the situation. We are not, repeat,notaware of the disposition of the rest of SG2. We have Dr. Jackson, and are all four accounted for. We are mobile, approximately six hours out from the SG11 base camp. Go."

In the ensuing pause, Sam hissed under her breath and Teal'c hefted his staff weapon ominously. So, more bad news being relayed, obviously. Daniel chewed on his lip. Six hours out from the dig site, and something other than his own awkward situation was wrong. His legs felt rubbery supporting his weight, just standing still... if they had to get back there in a hurry, it was pretty unlikely he'd be -

Oh God, the dig site. Could there be something wrong at the dig site? Sound and images flashed through Daniel's mind. Weapons fire, Loder being tossed aside like a rag doll, and something big and snarly bearing down on him. Were Robert and the others all right? What if Cha'ka hadn't been alone? He'd asked Sam about Loder and she'd known the answer, so either or both of SG3 and SG1 had already been through the site. Jack had just mentioned SG2, as well. Where did SG2 come in? Surely Sam would have told him if there was something going on at the camp that he had a right to know about? But irrespective of whether she would or wouldn't, whatever was on the radio definitely was not old news. Jack, Sam, and Teal'c were looking pretty blown away by what they were hearing.

"Dammit." At Jack's voice, Daniel looked up to see Jack now staring at him, his eyes narrowed and mouth pursed in concentration. Jack was thinking hard, and it appeared to be aimed in his direction. Uh oh. Look out.

"Oh God, Sir. We allowed Teal'c's order to Coburn to stand. We left the Stargate unguarded. It's our fault." Sam looked at Daniel, seemed to be about to say something else, but then quickly turned her face away from him. Daniel felt irritation prick at him. All these half-baked, interrupted overtures of hers were getting to him. He wished she would either shit or get off the pot.

There was an uncomfortable moment as Teal'c and Sam managed to stare at everyone in turn, while Jack steadfastly kept his eyes on Daniel. More confused than ever and starting to feel a bit intimidated by Jack's unwavering attention, Daniel was having increasing difficulty processing what had been said. Fault? And Coburn... Coburn was on SG2, but the radio transmission had been from SG3. So, so... so, what? Had both SG2 and SG3 been assigned with SG1 to the search and rescue operation? Three teams, plus the expanded SG11 dig team if they hadn't already returned to Earth? That was... excessive. And with at least three teams on the planet, they'd ended up with the Stargate unattended - which appeared to have turned out to be an especially bad thing, for some reason - and it was SG1's fault? Add to that the behaviour of his team mates...

Teal'c broke the silence. "No. We are not responsible. Major Coburn was made aware that the risk of which I previously notified him had been eliminated. You, yourself, and O'Neill both confirmed the second transmission."

Sam was shaking her head before Teal'c had even finished speaking. "We didn't specifically belay your order for them to come, Teal'c. They must have left the 'gate to help Captain Griff with... with the casualties."

Ahh, what? Casualties? Oh God! More than just Loder, then? Oh no, no no no. Daniel had assumed the young Unas had simply bagged him and run after killing Loder, but what if... what if Cha'ka hadn't been alone, or if -

"Crap!" The word virtually exploded from Jack, and Daniel jumped, startled. Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair and then on down his face. His voice was softer, almost pained, as he turned his back to them to stare off into the woods. "Carter's right. It's our fault. We blew it."

What? Blew what? An series of unpleasant chills used Daniel's spine as a motor speedway. Just what the hell was going on here?

Go on to part two

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