True to Form

by Jb

part three, of nine

As Teal'c made his way upward as quickly and quietly as he could, he suddenly heard O'Neill's voice come from his comm. Surprised at the unexpected break in their agreed-upon stealth, he stopped. Looking up, he could see Rykert half-laying, half-sitting on the slope perhaps a bit more than sixty feet above him. Teal'c realized he could no longer see Major Panter and Daniel Jackson where they had been, when he had last looked up.

There had been several occasions where small amounts of rock and dirt had showered down from their location, the last one having been just a few moments before. Teal'c's heart jumped in his chest. Had he been too involved in his own climb to notice... had his friend fallen?

The voice from the radio indicated otherwise. "Panter! We're right below you, Major. Move away from Dr. Jackson. Right now."

So. It was another matter, not a fall, which caused Colonel O'Neill to abandon their attempt to surprise Major Panter. Teal'c resumed his climb, still seeking the shelter of whatever brush and rock outcrops there might be, trying to move as silently as he could. It was for this reason - the need to remain undetected for as long as possible - that Teal'c's progress had been slow and erratic as he sought the routes which would provide as much cover as possible from the view from above.

While O'Neill had made voice contact with Panter, he had not told the man that Teal'c was climbing up to him. Continued stealth was advisable in order to prevent further complicating matters. Something unfortunate must have occurred for O'Neill to have altered the plan.

If Major Panter had harmed Daniel Jackson - Teal'c picked up the pace.

"Panter! We're right below you, Major. Move away from Dr. Jackson. Right now."

Oh God... Jack. That thought was about all Daniel had time for. Daniel felt Panter lurch hard against him as the man tried to scramble to his knees, his eyes and his weapon searching the downslope behind them. With a sickening noise and an abrupt snap Daniel could feel clear through to his spine, the thin buttress of rock holding them in place gave way.

Daniel was falling. Not slipping, not sliding, but actually falling in an uncontrolled, dangerous tumble of flailing arms and legs. At first, as he flipped over into the beginning of a backward somersault from the sudden absence of the support that had been at his hip, Daniel tried to catch himself by extending his arms... only to have his hands and wrists impact painfully against the rocky surface. As if his arms were a lever and his hands against the ground a fulcrum, he was launched head over heels, no more able to organize his limbs into any sort of defensive posture than he was to stop his chaotic descent.

His sense of time and perception distorted. He seemed to be falling so slowly that he could make out each minute detail of the slope and the individual rocks that punished him, and yet so terribly quickly that his sense of where he was and the position of his body in time and space was completely overwhelmed. Distant shouting blended with the nearer sound of Panter's outraged cry, of the crunching and thudding as he struck the ground on his way down, of the loud thrumming of his heartbeat in his ears and his own pained grunts upon each impact.

Just as the inane thought crossed his mind that he was going to meet up with Jack and the rest of SG-1 after all, Daniel's head participated in a particularly solid introduction to a largish chunk of rock, and awareness of anything and everything... disappeared.

Shit... oh shit... Jack ran to his left to get a better view up the hill as he saw a large cloud of dust suddenly rise from where he'd seen Panter's head and shoulders - from where the Major apparently had come to rest after following Daniel's slide down the slope. He could still see Rykert up there, perched precariously on his knees, now with one arm outstretched in the direction of the downslope in an ominously desperate-looking gesture.

He thumbed his comm switch as he went. "Teal'c... do you see..." As Jack rounded a rise in the ground his view immediately was unobstructed, and what he saw froze him to the spot. Suddenly it wasn't necessary to ask Teal'c. Instantly, what was happening - seemingly happening at lightning speed - was all too apparent. In a hail of dirt and rock, partially obscured by the dust, something - someone - was falling down the steep hill, picking up speed in a jumble of arms and legs and uprooted weeds. As the body bounced off a particularly large rock and was catapulted higher into the air, Jack recognized Daniel.

Oh God. His thumb, not having had time to even twitch, was still on the comm switch. "Teal'c! It's Daniel... can you get over... hurry, to your left-go-to-the-left..." Then he caught sight of the Jaffa as Teal'c moved with the grace and sure-footed speed of a cougar across the lower cliff face, bounding over to intercept Daniel.

"Sir." Carter grabbed his sleeve and indicated something to their right, up the hill. "Look, up there... I think it's Panter."

Unwilling to tear his eyes off Daniel's plunge toward Teal'c, he waved a hand at her. "Go. Follow along from down here." He was only vaguely aware of her hand leaving his arm, of her departure. Jack winced as Daniel's head and upper body slammed into a small boulder and he did an abrupt flip, landing hard before once again resuming the ungainly tumble. Teal'c was pretty much there, positioned where it looked as though Daniel might end up, provided the line of his fall didn't change. And it didn't. Jack watched anxiously as Teal'c, bouncing slightly like a prizefighter ever ready to leap to one side or the other, carefully judged the rate and direction of Daniel's descent. There was a new boneless quality to the fall, and Jack realized with a sick feeling that upon the last big impact Daniel likely had been knocked unconscious.

Teal'c dropped to his knees and pushed himself backward with perfect timing, neatly fielding their friend against his thighs and falling forward protectively on top of Daniel as the young man's momentum drove them both into a slide further down the hill. A slide which, thanks to Teal'c, was fairly short and almost perfectly controlled. Almost... but not quite. Jack bounded and scrambled up the thirty-some-odd-feet to his friends, to find Teal'c still draped over a motionless Daniel. The Jaffa was gasping slightly, his face screwed up in pain.

"Teal'c? Let me see..." Jack helped him to a sitting position, desperately trying not to look too closely at Daniel for the moment. Checking out Teal'c had to come first. The younger man was already out cold, and the last thing Jack needed was two team members out of commission on this slope. Teal'c's hands started toward his abdomen, and it didn't take much imagination to realize just exactly where it was those hands were heading.

"Junior?"

"Yes... No..." Even now, the Jaffa was recovering his breath. "A blow to my womb. A stray rock, I believe, or perhaps an elbow or knee. But it is all right." He straightened up some but despite that and his next words, Jack could see that it wasn't perfectly all right... at least, not yet. "It will be fine. There is no permanent damage. See to Daniel Jackson."

"Yeah... right." Jack wasn't completely reassured, but there was some urgency here. Daniel lay in a disorganized sprawl, his back to them and his face to the ground. He hadn't moved and his breathing seemed too noisy. Jack leaned over his friend and gently shifted Daniel onto his side, re-arranging arms and legs into as close an approximation of a rescue position as he could manage on the slope.

"Damn." Sure enough, Daniel was completely unresponsive. Even worse, his face was a battered mess. Jack felt his anger rise; most of the blood on Daniel's face and hands was old, either dried or tacky. The bruises, the black eyes, the messy laceration on Daniel's forehead, all had to be hours old. There were small glass fragments embedded in the skin around his eyes. Panter's work. Had to be. Jack's hands involuntarily curled into fists. Daniel shouldn't be here, especially not lying here injured, because of Panter. He shouldn't be here on this planet at all. He wasn't ready, he'd only just returned from the dead, he shouldn't be here -

Jack felt a nudge on his shoulder and looked up to find Teal'c staring at him. The Jaffa raised one eyebrow and inclined his head toward Daniel. Jack realized he had been distracted by his feelings. Damn. So, in truth, just who was it really who wasn't ready? He nodded sharply to Teal'c and refocused on Daniel, trying to shove his growing rage to the back of his mind.

There was a large lump and a gash on the back of Daniel's head which spilled fresh blood. Other than a multitude of scrapes and abrasions, the worst of which were to Daniel's hands and his swollen left knee, Jack could see no other noteworthy apparently new injuries. He sat back on his heels, trying to decide just who - Daniel, or Teal'c - he should try to get safely down the hill first.

"Sir..." Carter slid to a stop in front of him. Jack was startled; he hadn't heard her approach. He looked up to see a worried frown on her face. Just behind her was Rykert. "I went up after Panter, Sir, but he was gone." Her wide eyes held the question which her mouth didn't seem to want to spit out.

"He's okay, Carter... I think he's okay. Took a pretty good bash on the head, though."

"Let me see." Then she was right there, her hands gently probing Daniel's head, fingers moving through his bloodied hair. "It's a pretty big bump. Sir, did you check his pupils? His breathing isn't right..."

Jack felt stupid. Not only had he let his anger get away from him and then let Carter and Rykert sneak up on him, he hadn't even checked Daniel out thoroughly. No, definitely not ready. Carter spared him a quick glance and renewed her efforts in assessing Daniel's status. She checked his pulses, rolled back one eyelid and then the other. Seemingly satisfied, she flashed a slight, relieved smile at her teammates. Jack watched her as she gently palpated the swollen bridge of Daniel's nose and the bruised cheekbone, and carefully poked at the glass fragments.

"I don't think anything is broken, Sir. It's a bit hard to tell, with the swelling. His breathing... I think it sounds like that because of his nose; it's all blocked up. These pieces of glass should come out without any problem. I don't think any got in his eyes." She looked at Jack, raised her eyebrows. "His glasses broke in the fall?"

"Panter hit him in the face with the M16." All three members of SG-1 looked up in surprise. Jack had forgotten Rykert was even there.

"He - hit - him - with, what?" Jack's tone was nearly as ominous as the rage which steadily grew inside of him, and his feelings obviously came through loud and clear. Rykert slithered a foot up the slope and huddled in his own arms as if to try to stave off an icy chill. Jack felt Teal'c loom up behind him and by the look on Rykert's face, the Jaffa's expression must have held even more disfavour than did Jack's own.

Rykert stammered out an explanation. Panter had shot Paulson, accidentally. Jack heard a deep snort of disbelief over his shoulder, coming from Teal'c. Rykert, his voice shaking, his words slow and tenuous as if forcefully being pulled up from deep within a well, filled them in on the rest of it. Panter had gone completely dark side after Paulson's shooting; Daniel had tried to intercede on Tyrrell's behalf but Panter had shot Tyrrell anyway, and clobbered Daniel. Then Panter had forced them to climb the slope.

Carter was sitting next to Daniel. While listening to Rykert, Jack had absently watched as she repeatedly ran her fingers through Daniel's hair, gently caressing his head with long soothing strokes of her hands. The action was comforting, a source of consolation. Suddenly she stopped, and with that the reassurance stopped. With its loss Jack immediately felt a resurrection of his anger. Mentally, silently desperate to somehow, in some small way, share in the expression of attachment he could not himself display, he urged Carter to start the agreeable movement again. She didn't, though. Instead, she asked the precise questions certain to feed the fire blazing in Jack's chest.

"Rykert, Major Panter beat up Daniel? Where did he think he was taking you guys? I don't understand. Why is Daniel even here?"

"When the SGC contacted us, Major Panter told them Colonel O'Neill asked for Dr. Jackson. I think Major Panter was scared, and he thought Dr. Jackson would be able to figure out the DHD better if..."

"And you let him?" Jack's words came out in a roar of anger as he reared up from his crouch, leaning forward toward Rykert. The abrupt change in his center of gravity on the slope caused him to slide back into Teal'c. In order to compensate he leaned even farther forward, reaching out with his hands to support himself, and inadvertently leaned on Daniel's thigh. The young man let out a low, long moan.

"Daniel?" Carter leaned over him, her fingers resuming their gentle travel through his hair. In response, he let out another moan and his eyelids began to flicker. Carter turned to O'Neill. "Sir, we should get him down off this slope. He might be disoriented when he wakes up."

"Okay, yeah... we don't want that." Jack had a sudden vision of a confused and panicked Daniel starting a human landslide of epic proportions. And on the menu tonight, a full five-course roadkill dinner, SGC-style. Complete with special sauce. He looked about them, then down the getting-on-to-forty-feet of steeply sloping dirt and rock to the level ground below, then back at Teal'c.

"Can you make it down on your own?" At Teal'c's slight nod and Carter's worried look Jack clarified his question, both to give Carter the information she needed and to reassure himself. "So, if you go down on your own, it won't make Junior any worse?" He turned to Carter. "Junior got a gutload of Daniel... not feeling too good."

"My symbiote is recovering. There is very little pain. I can manage on my own, O'Neill." Teal'c indicated Daniel. "It will require the three of you to safely maneuver the slope with him."

A hesitant voice came from above them. "Uh, no... actually, Sir, we could do it safely with just two of us, or we could go down all together, with Teal'c too..."

Jack gave Rykert his best 'I think you're nuts but get on with it anyway' look. As Rykert nodded, obviously understanding the look, Jack noticed just how much the young man's tentative and self-effacing manner reminded him of how Daniel oftentimes had been earlier on in their relationship. And sometimes, still was.

"Well, the best way to get down... I mean, I think the safest way, is to toboggan."

"To...? Rykert, this stuff..." Jack kicked at the dirt and rock under his feet. "...isn't exactly snow. We can't just sit on it and whiz comfortably down to the bottom."

"Oh, no, Sir, I think I know what he means though. The slope is plenty steep enough that you can propel yourselves along, even if it is dirt and rock." Carter positioned herself on her rear end and dug her heel into the ground, demonstrating. "You two can support Daniel in the middle, like kids do on a sled. You can push in your heels to either get going over the high spots or the rocks, or to slow down if you need to. It would be uncomfortable, but very safe."

Jack rolled his eyes at the thought of it. But the alternative was to try to carry, or drag, Daniel down the slope... and for the first very steep twenty-five feet, that would be a nightmare. "All right. Carter, you help Teal'c. Rykert and I will play sandwich with Danny here."

So with Daniel leaning back against him, tightly held upright between himself and Rykert - the unconscious man's legs around Rykert's waist in front and his head nestled into the hollow of Jack's shoulder behind - Jack impatiently played the part of caboose. Like Carter had warned, it was uncomfortable, and slow going. Far too slow for Jack's liking. They moved forward a foot or two at a time by pulling back with their feet and sliding their butts, and controlled the faster progress over the initial steep portions by digging in their heels. Sore butts were the order of the day.

While Jack knew it was the best way to play safe - no one was about to go flying head over heels anywhere - he felt rather foolish. Somehow, this tandem male hugging and cautious creeping along seemed unbearably less than masculine and he was just about to call a halt, to stand and just scoop Daniel up, when he felt his young friend stir against his chest. Rykert apparently felt it as well and quickly dug in his heels and moved to release his grip on Daniel's legs. Faster than Jack thought would have been possible, Daniel passed from limp unconsciousness into a full-fledged, flailing panic attack. Pulling his legs sharply backward out from under Rykert's arms and bucking forward against the tight confines of the human sandwich, Daniel managed to knock Rykert off to one side. Jack wasn't ready for it - in a wild grab at Daniel he just managed to snag the back of Daniel's vest and one arm and the two of them ended up sliding face first down the slope.

Fortunately, it wasn't quite so steep any more. They traveled eight to ten jarring feet and then Carter and Rykert were there, hands reaching out to stop their forward momentum and both restrain and protect Daniel's arms and legs as he apparently tried to get his feet under him on the uneven ground. Jack watched him thrash, and noted that the kid's eyes were still closed. Despite being so active, Daniel wasn't really with them at all... at least, not yet. Belatedly, he was glad of Rykert's idea; if he had tried to carry Daniel down and this had happened - Jack felt faintly foolish about his misplaced male pride.

The thrashing only lasted a moment longer and then Daniel was still once more. Carter tapped on his cheek, spoke loudly to him, and pressed down firmly on his thumbnail. There was absolutely no response.

Panter moved cautiously along the slope. He'd had to go a bit higher to gain the shelter of the large growth of scrub to his left, in order to stay out of Carter's line of sight as she paralleled him from below. She was good; she'd managed to stay with him for a fair ways until he had entered the low bushes. He'd heard her start to climb, but he was a good sixty feet above her and knew she wouldn't come very far. Just far enough to decide she had lost him.

Panter anchored himself. It wasn't quite so steep here. The native plants had been able to root deeply into the rocky soil, finding this slightly flatter spot a good home, and for Panter it was safe haven as well. He was in no danger of sliding, so he settled himself in and rose up slightly until he caught sight of SG-1 and Rykert. They were almost to the bottom now... close enough that when Jackson flipped out and took himself and O'Neill down the hill a ways, no real damage was done to O'Neill.

Too bad. Panter needed Jackson, but he couldn't care less about the others. He hefted the M16. Maybe he ought to take care of this right here and now. They couldn't go back home with him. Paulson... Paulson was an accident; he hadn't meant to do it. But once it was done, especially with Jackson standing right there, it couldn't be undone. O'Neill would have him in the brig the minute they stepped out of the Stargate. That couldn't happen.

No, they wouldn't be going back with him - none of them; not even Jackson, in the end. There was too much at stake. Panter's military career was everything to him; he was going right to the top... he just knew it. His face darkened. Not for the first time, he damned the day he had been seconded for the top secret, prestigious program code named as 'Bluebook'. Hell, it had seemed a good idea at the time, an honour to be so trusted and a good way to cement his reputation as an efficient officer who was solid material for promotion to the highest level.

But, oh shit. He had actually found himself doing the most hazardous duty he could have ever imagined, going to other planets fighting a war against alien parasites that could burrow into a man and steal his body. It hadn't taken him long to work out that in the eyes of his superiors, maybe he wasn't treasured top echelon material at all... rather, he was expendable. Panter's chest seized up with the resentment which had been building in him these last months. If he resigned from the Program, they'd think him a coward and his career would stall. But if he stayed...

Then suddenly here he was, stranded on some alien world and that asshole O'Neill had refused to do the one thing that could get him home... bringing Jackson here. Jackson. Panter's chest tightened further. The archaeologist represented everything and everyone in life that Panter hated. Jackson was smart, young, supposedly good-looking; everyone seemed to tolerate the stupid geek and women actually seemed attracted to him. But most infuriating of all, without even trying, without even going through the rigours of military life and adherence to the military cultural codes that defined which behaviors were to be rewarded and which were not, Jackson was there... at the top, at Hammond's shoulder.

Panter snarled. Compared to himself Jackson was an uncoordinated physical weakling, the worst shot at the range and the last in on the training runs. The little prick didn't know nor care about military protocol, he refused to follow direct orders, he talked back to his superiors, he laughed and joked with any female officer he wanted to, sometimes he even ran in the corridors for no good reason...

But now Doctor-everybody-loves-him-anyway-Jackson was his only way out. Jackson could get him back home.

Unless - It occurred to Panter that just maybe Jackson would be typically stupid enough to not care if he himself ended up stranded here for the rest of his... very short... life. Doctor-Spacemonkey just might be enough of a priss to take offense at the sight of his team mowed down in a hail of bullets. As that image - Jackson kneeling in shocked disbelief as the others jerked and jigged and spurted blood all around him - flashed across Panter's disturbed mind, he vaguely realized there was something incongruous going on down below that he maybe ought to try to figure out.

He peered at the group of people below, and it slowly dawned on him that of the five of them, the only one he needed alive was the only one who looked more dead than alive. Jackson was laying still again, half-hidden by Carter as she bent over him. Swearing, Panter fumbled at his vest and pulled out his binoculars.

Someone was watching him. The overwhelmingly disturbing feeling that he was being observed - studied - penetrated the haze in Daniel's mind and helped to clear away the last remaining vestiges of semi-consciousness. He instantly became aware of the pain in his head; the incredible throbbing he could both feel and hear. He strained to listen past the deep thrumming, but couldn't make any sense of what else he heard - vague rustling noises, muted crackling, an intermittent scraping sound. The air smelled unfamiliar. Where the hell was he?

Cautiously, Daniel opened his eyes and then immediately squeezed them shut again as abrupt panic welled up. Blackness. He couldn't see anything.

There was an increase in the volume of the rustling and scraping and suddenly he felt a weight on his chest. The weight increased, pressing down and moving in a small circle now, right on his sternum. Quickly, the sensation became painful. He became aware of a sound he could interpret; buried under the throb in his head and the new pain in his chest was a familiar voice.

"Daniel, oh please, wake up..."

The fingers rubbing on his sternum increased their effort, and crying out against the sharp pressure Daniel snapped his eyes open and tried to knock Sam's hand away. Immediately, she withdrew her fingers from his chest and placed them on his face instead.

"Daniel! It's okay, it's okay..."

He reached up and grabbed her hand. He could still feel the burning pressure on his sternum even though she'd stopped. "Ah... God! What are you trying to do to me? That hurts!"

He heard a soft apology, gently muttered, and felt her breath against the side of his face. The sound reminded him that he couldn't see, and a resurgence of his panic overwhelmed the pain in his head and chest. He twisted, trying to roll over to face toward where he thought she must be. "Sam... Sam... I can't see you..." The world tipped alarmingly to one side and he suddenly felt nauseated.

Gentle pressure was applied to his shoulders. "It's okay, relax. It's nighttime, Daniel. It's dark. I was just trying to re-check how deep you were. This is the first time you've been with it enough to object... sorry."

How deep? Deep, what? There was a noise and he felt her move a bit farther away for a moment. When she returned to his side, he realized he could see her dark form looming over him, outlined against a dark greyish backdrop. "You've been unconscious, drifting in and out. Do you remember?"

Night? "No. I, I don't... Sam, where are we? What's happened?" As Daniel peered through the gloom he realized the dark backdrop now looked familiar. It was a tent wall, one of the small two-man field tents they used for longer excursions. They were... were... agh! Where? Somewhere bad.

Sam settled herself next to him, and he felt both her hands on his face. She gently turned his head toward her and one hand disappeared, to be replaced with a small beam of light which blinded him and sent sharp spears of pain through his head. He squeezed his eyes shut and moaned.

"Sorry. Here, I'll point it away a bit. Okay, open your eyes; I need to get a look at you." She pried up his eyelids one at a time and the gentle fingers probed his face and head. "Good. Daniel, I know your head hurts. Other than that, how are you? Any pain anywhere?"

He closed his eyes once again and with difficulty pushed awareness of the headache and nausea onto a back shelf, doing a mental survey of his body. His face felt hot and throbbed dully, especially his forehead, around his eyes, and over the bridge of his nose. A bit of a sore back when he moved, but not too bad. Why? What the hell happened? Wrists, palms; minor annoyances. Left knee. He flexed his leg and groaned when something in his knee caught and clicked. Oh, yeah. That was a good one, all right. "My knee. Sam, what happened?"

"Your knee? Is that the worst of it?"

He felt annoyed at her question. Why wouldn't she just tell him what the hell was going on? He started to nod, but cut the movement short as pain flared in his head. Damn.

"Well, that's good, I guess. Daniel, you don't remember waking up those times before? What's the last thing you do remember?"

He carefully shook his head, trying to both banish the irritation which rose and to clear away the confusion. "Uhm, I think... General Hammond... No, wait, I remember. We're on P6V221. The DHD. Jack sent for me to read the DHD." It slowly came back to him, and the dread which settled in his stomach felt like a huge coiled viper readying to lunge. "But... he didn't... did he, Sam?"

"No, Daniel. He didn't."

Panter. The snake lunged, ripping open a hole in his gut. Daniel bolted upright, visions of Paulson falling back as large bloody holes appeared in his chest, memories of fire ripping at his face as Panter nailed him with the M16. "God! Sam, it's Panter. We're in danger, Sam. He's dangerous... he killed..." He broke off as a wave of dizziness and renewed nausea hit him.

A noise at the tent entrance turned into Jack's voice. "Tyrrell, and Paulson. We know, Daniel. Don't worry, we've got it under control. Carter, lemme in there, will you..." With much scraping and crunching and a few muttered curses, Sam and Jack traded places in the confined area. Hunkered down next to Daniel, Jack's voice became sotto-smooth, pleasant to a fault. "Daniel... just what are you doing here?"

Daniel had heard that tone many times. Many, many times. It meant he was in trouble; that Jack thought he had just done something incredibly stupid. He decided to ignore it, hoping that if he did so, it would just go away. "When did it get to be night? Jack, how did I get here with you guys?"

"You took on a mountain and lost, Daniel. You don't remember?"

Sudden irritation surged uncontrollably. Daniel wished they would stop asking him that and just tell him exactly where and when the hell he was and what was going on. "Jack, for Christ sake. No, I don't remember. Look, why don't you just tell me the story and then we can move on from there..."

Daniel couldn't see Jack's expression but when he spoke Daniel heard the increased concern in his voice, and wondered what it was all about. "It's okay. Everything's okay. Your head hurts, Danny? Do you need something for it?"

Daniel started to shake his head but the world did a nauseating flip and he gasped, reaching out... for what, he wasn't certain. Hands took his own, and he felt the small tablets Jack pressed into his palm. Okay, well, had he been able to complete the negative movement it would have been a lie, anyway, but Daniel very much doubted he would be able to keep the medication down even if he did swallow it. He turned his hand over, trying to give them back. Jack simply clasped Daniel's hand with his own, trapping the tablets in Daniel's palm.

"Okay, here it is in a nutshell. Panter beat the snot out of you, dragged you up the side of the Empire State Building, you fell off and hit your head on the way down, Teal'c saved your butt, we dragged you back here and... anything else you're burning to know about?"

Oh, yeah, lots. The trouble was, Daniel didn't think he had the energy or tolerance to ask. His headache was fierce, but the increasingly intense vertigo and nausea were just about more than he could bear. Hell. Why did Jack have to be so damn flip... why couldn't the man just tell him. Angry words rose to Daniel's lips, but Sam beat him to it. Daniel couldn't see her in the dark, but just as he opened his mouth to complain, he heard the exasperated sigh that came from the direction of the tent flap.

"Colonel. It might help to let him in on just where here is...." Her tone softened as she addressed Daniel. "We're camped out back at the Stargate, Daniel. You've been drifting in and out of consciousness for well over four hours. We were starting to get really worried. Don't you remember waking up and talking to Teal'c and Rykert on the way back here?"

Oh, please. "Look, when I remember something else, I'll let you know. Quit asking, okay... it's... I don't remember." At least one unasked question was answered; Teal'c and Rykert were around here somewhere. "What about Panter?"

"He took off. We're keeping our eyes open for him. Daniel, come morning, you're going to have to be mobile. It's a strenuous hike to the cliff village." With a flick oh his wrist, Jack turned their hands over and the pills fell into Daniel's palm again. "Take these things. You need them."

"Jack, I'll just puke them up. I can't. Not right now." Daniel was aware of his own voice rising in both volume and intensity, but that was just fine with him. "Just leave me alone, okay. Anyway, why do we have to go there? I think Rykert said before that you guys were filming the inscriptions..."

Sam's voice held concern. "Take it easy, Daniel. We did film them, but we don't have anything to play it back on, so if you aren't fit to make it up there then I don't see how..."

"No... no." Geez, when did Sam get so dim-witted? "Just use the MALP. Besides, General Hammond will dial in. I was going to check things out here and come up with a list of things we needed, and he'd send them. He's organizing a generator, and a laptop with my translation files. If he hasn't sent it already then all we need to do is use the MALP for now, and wait..."

Jack tried to get a word in edgewise. "Slow down, Danny..."

"No, Jack. Listen, I'm sure he must have already tried by now, when no one was here. I'm sure he'll keep trying until he makes contact. We need to make a list of what we need, like all my books and stuff, the computer, food... everything."

The only sound Daniel heard was a faint rustling as Jack shifted his position.

"Jack... What?"

"The SGC has been trying to make contact. The Stargate's been activated twice so far since we got you back here, Daniel. But Panter must have gotten here before us. The MALP is smashed."

Cold settled in the pit of Daniel's stomach. His head felt like it would explode and the act of merely sitting up was stealing all of his energy. He wasn't sure he could even think straight, never mind decipher complex foreign symbols without any tools or assistance. "All of it? We can't transmit or receive anything? We can't transmit your recording for them to work on at that end?" Daniel heard the sharp edge of panic enter his own voice. Oh, God - "But, he hasn't sent anything at all? I mean, surely he'll just send the stuff anyway. Or, at least, he'll send another probe..."

Jack spoke softly. "No. If that was going to happen, it would have happened already. You just said the SGC was going to dial back in. It's likely Panter had his own conversation with General Hammond before he destroyed the MALP, and we have no way of knowing what he told him. The General won't send anything unless he knows for sure it's us on the receiving end. You know that, Daniel."

"The Colonel's right. Major Panter probably gave the SGC some sort of explanation for the lack of a video feed from the MALP before he trashed it." The struggle to keep his stomach contents where they belonged escalated alarmingly as Daniel listened to Sam join with Jack in irrevocably placing their fate firmly and solely on his aching shoulders. "But you know General Hammond, Daniel. He must have decided to dial in every so often no matter what Major Panter told him. Even though there's no picture, he may not know the audio for the MALP is permanently disabled. It's pretty unlikely he'll send anything unless we respond verbally, so he knows we're here to receive it."

Desperately, Daniel tried to make sense of it and find a way out. "But... no, see, surely when we don't respond he'll send another MALP. He'll... do something." God, please, something.

Jack broke back into the conversation. "We can't just sit around here doing nothing until that happens. If it ever will happen. We don't know what Panter might have told him. Take the pills, Daniel, and get some sleep." He settled himself down on his side next to Daniel. "You'll need to be at your best. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." A hand closed over the one in which Daniel held the tablets, and gently shoved. "Take them. I'll be right here if you need anything."

"I don't like this, Sir" Sam whispered over her shoulder to the Colonel. She watched as, fifteen feet down the path, Teal'c and Rykert flanked Daniel as he limped his way along in a slow and unsteady climb. Teal'c had one hand placed on Daniel's back, both to steady and to propel him upward. "He's feeling sick. I know that's to be expected, but it's more than that. He's just not himself..."

O'Neill didn't answer. His grim expression implied he was well aware not only of Daniel's physical problems, but also his uncharacteristic irritability. Sam knew the previous night had been rough for both men. From her position by the fire she had heard the frequent retching and Daniel's testy rebuffs when the Colonel had tried to help.

She hefted her heavy pack. Although Sam had really dreaded lugging everything up here, she knew it was the only thing to do. She had no illusions. Even if Daniel was able to concentrate enough to work on the symbols, it would be slow going; setting up camp on the mountain rather than at the Stargate was really the only viable option. It was far easier to copy the DHD symbols and take them to the village for comparison, than to try to transcribe the hundreds of symbols they had found there. They couldn't communicate with the SGC anyway, and there was Panter to look out for. They could set up a much more defensible position at the village than they could down in the open valley.

"Okay. Let's take a break here, folks." The lagging trio approached, and at O'Neill's words, slowed to a halt. "It gets pretty steep and narrow just around that bend..." O'Neill must have seen the dark look which flashed across Daniel's face at the same time Sam did, because he quickly added to his statement. "It's only for a short bit, then it evens out and widens up again. We'll be there before you know it."

Daniel didn't seem reassured. Sam didn't think he looked particularly anxious either... he looked more annoyed than anything. Her concern for him mounted. They knew he had suffered a fairly major concussion - that was obvious from the long period of unconsciousness and his subsequent confusion and illness during the night, plus the persistent headache and nausea which continued to plague him throughout the new day. But his steadily increasing distractibility and, especially, his emotional irritability were becoming alarming. As she watched him slowly settle on the ground next to Teal'c, Sam prayed to any unspecified deity that might happen to be listening these problems would pass soon. That Daniel would be okay. Not only was he her friend but also, under these circumstances, they couldn't afford for Daniel to be incapacitated.

But... what if it was more than that? What if this was more than just a concussion, and dragging him up here and putting him to work was to make it worse? What would be the right thing to do? Considering her deplorable part in allowing Daniel to be left alone without back-up in that corridor on Klorel's ship, Sam couldn't afford to allow herself overlook his safety again. If there was any possibility that this was more serious than concussion -

Daniel may well be their only way back to Earth, but if her getting home was to be at his expense, Sam wasn't so sure she would feel at home ever again, even in her own living room.

Go on to part four

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