"Daniel!"
Daniel looked back at Jack's bellow, confused.
"What did I say JUST before we stepped through the gate?"
Daniel looked blank. "You said something?"
Jack sighed. "Yes, Daniel, I said something. Something very important. Now think. What was it?"
As Daniel racked his brain trying to remember what, if anything, Jack had said. Teal'c and Carter caught up with them. They watched the exchange with resignation. They had seen similar exchanges many times in the past, and had learned that the only real option was to wait out the two men.
"Don't get lost?"
"No."
"We only have one day?"
"True, but not what I said. Think, Daniel."
The light seemed to dawn on the archeologist, and his face lit up with understanding. "You said, 'Daniel, don't wander off alone. The MALP couldn't get a good view over the hill.'"
"Right! And what was the first thing you did?"
Daniel thought, and then realized Jack's point. "I didn't wander off!" he protested. "You guys were right here, too. I could see you."
"Through the back of your head?"
"Um, sir," Carter broke in, knowing this could go on for a long time. "Didn't you say we have only one day?"
"Yes. And I don't want to spend it chasing archeologists. So Daniel, stay with us. Carter, where do you need to take samples from-"
"Jack! Sam! Do you see what I see?"
"If you see trees, then yes, Daniel, I see what you see."
Sam just smiled, knowing Daniel was about to tell them what he saw.
"No, Jack, not trees. Well, I mean, I do see trees, but that isn't what I was talking about. Ahead of us. There. Through the trees. I'm sure I see a steeple."
"A steeple?" Jack sounded skeptical.
"Yes, Jack. A steeple. As in on the top of churches," Daniel said with exaggerated patience. "Not that I expect you've seen one recently-"
"Hey now! Daniel, I'll have you know-"
"Colonel, shouldn't we go look at Daniel's steeple? We only have one day," Carter intervened before the conversation could get out of hand. "I do need to get those mineral samples, too, or Dr. Foller will have my hide," she added, referring to the SGC's chief geologist.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get... Daniel! What did I just say!" Jack headed off after the archeologist who was now a good hundred meters in front of them as Sam and Teal'c followed.
"What is a church doing out here all by itself?" Sam wondered out loud. She didn't expect a response, and she didn't get one. Teal'c and the colonel were patrolling the area, looking for any signs of recent habitation, and Daniel was walking around the church. He was studying the architecture intently, frowning. "Daniel? Something wrong?"
"Not really. It's just...well, like you said, this church is out here by itself, and there is nothing I can find to indicate who built it, or what beliefs its builders held. In fact, I haven't found anything that appears to be writing at all. Or any items that appear to be of religious significance. If it weren't for the steeple, I probably wouldn't even guess this was a church.
"Maybe it's not," Sam offered.
"Maybe. But I sure can't figure out any other purpose for it. And why so isolated? We really should look further, see if there are any nearby villages..."
"And how do you propose we do that?" Jack had entered silently, and caught the tail end of the conversation. "Do you have any idea what direction you would want to go? Or how far this hypothetical village might be?"
Daniel fixed Jack with a gaze. "You know I don't."
"Then I guess we won't be doing any searching for villages today. We need to be getting back to the Stargate, and we haven't even collected Carter's samples yet. You know how much I hate to disappoint Dr. Foller."
"Jack, I-"
"No, Daniel. And if you whine, you aren't going to get any dessert."
Daniel glared at Jack, but gave up the argument, opting instead to help Sam get out her sampling equipment. Only then did he start to brighten up.
"Sam, is this the new field pack you've been developing?" Daniel was admiring a piece of equipment that Sam had just unloaded from her pack. "It's really light, isn't it?"
Carter grinned, pleased her fellow scientist had noticed. "Yes. It's only six pounds, compared to the eight the old one weighed. I know it doesn't sound like much--"
"But if you can get a 25 reduction in the weight on all, or even most of the equipment, that would be a lot less to haul around. And then--"
"I could bring back that many more samples!" Sam finished for him.
Jack turned away, not wanting the two animated scientists to catch his small grin. He might bark at them, but he was secretly pleased to see them enjoying themselves. It had been too long since he had his team working like this, hitting on all cylinders. The last few months had been hard on them all, but perhaps most on the scientists. Daniel had endured a horrific addiction and recovery to a sarcophagus, and Sam had been taken over by a Gou'ald. The tie between the two scientists was close-- Sam had been frequently been found near tears while Daniel suffered was through withdrawal, and Daniel had not slept during the time Jolinar inhabited Sam, and probably not much during her convalescent. Seeing the two smiling, working happily together, gave Jack real pleasure.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Jack poked at the fire, wondering idly where Daniel had packed the coffee. It had become something of a tradition for Daniel to smuggle coffee on all off world trips, and for Jack to try to find it. The game had begun after one of the team's first trips when Jack had discovered, to his amazed horror, that Daniel had taken the backpack Jack had carefully packed for him, and had replaced some of the emergency gear, including his emergency blanket and several power bars, with a bag of coffee and his journal. In a fit of ire, Jack had declared coffee off-limit on all future off-world trips. He hadn't dared do the same to Daniel's ever present journals. Daniel had simply stared at Jack's temper tantrum, uncomprehending, and had then calmly pointed out that he hadn't, in fact, needed the emergency items, whereas he had needed the coffee. And the coffee had continued to appear on every mission, despite his routine inspections of Daniel's pack. Because the coffee ban was still technically in effect, Jack had to try to figure out where Daniel might have stashed the coffee. On the last trip he had found it in the spare parts compartment of the MALP, and the time before that, Daniel had actually managed to get the coffee into Jack's pack. Jack had no doubt that Daniel had two willing co-conspirators.
After a fruitless search, Jack decided the need for caffeine was strong enough that he would go directly to the source. Turning to call to Daniel, he realized that he hadn't heard any chatter from the area where the scientists were working in quite some time.
"Daniel? Carter? Everything okay?"
No reply.
Jack rose, listening to his knees crack, and then stood silent, listening. Nothing.
"Teal'c?" he called.
"I am here, O'Neill."
"Have you seen Carter or Daniel?"
"They were discussing going to the stream for water samples. Captain Carter seemed quite intrigued by this planet's metallurgical qualities. She wished to determine if the stream bed contained higher quantities of this mineral."
"What mineral?" O'Neill might not be a scientist, but he had long ago learned that if something was of interest to Carter, it should probably be of interest to him.
"I am uncertain. It was not naquadah."
"Daniel went with her?"
"Yes. I believe he said something about the water being a more likely site to attract any inhabitants of this planet, and maybe being able to recon the area for signs of life-"
"He better not have!" O'Neill said. "If he wandered away from Carter and used the water samples as an excuse, I'll kill him, I swear I will-"
"You will not."
O'Neill sighed. "Okay. I won't kill him. I'll-"
"You'll do nothing. I know that, as does DanielJackson. Which is why he persists in this behavior."
O'Neill looked at the Jaffa with surprise. "Teal'c, I didn't know Daniel's behavior bothers you that much."
"It does not." Teal'c was implacable. "I am replying to your statement. If DanielJackson's behavior bothers you, as his commanding officer you should make him aware. Otherwise, you should not be surprised when it does not change."
O'Neill was stunned into silence. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and then opened it. "I think I'll go find Daniel and Carter." He turned and strode away. Teal'c tilted his head in acknowledgement. Jack had turned away, so he missed the small smile that followed.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
"Daniel!" Jack bellowed. "What are you doing?"
Daniel looked up from his spot in the middle of the stream, where he was precariously perched on a large, apparently slippery, rock, as did Carter from her position on the shore.
"I SAID what the hell are you doing?"
"Taking water samples," Daniel replied, returning to the task.
"Is there some reason you're doing it from there, and not from the shore?"
"Yes, sir," Carter replied for Daniel, who was staring at Jack as though the older man had lost his mind. "I'm trying to see if there is a difference between the levels of this mineral at different depths. I want to try to trace the currents, and see if--"
"Too much info, Carter," Jack complained. "Never mind. Forget I even asked." Jack sighed. Why did he bother? The two youngest members of the team seemed determined to do everything possible to get themselves in trouble, one way or the other, and their ability to do so-- at least in Daniels' case-- was unparalleled.
"Jack, quit worrying," Daniel called from the center of the stream. "It's perfectly safe. I'm going to grab one more sample-- Sam, is this one in the red top or the blue-top?-- and then I'll come back in. Sam?"
"Blue-top, Daniel. Hey, if you could stay there for a few more minutes, I'd like to get one more set of current readings, and I might need you to take one more sample for me."
"No problem," Daniel replied as he drew in what looked like a long fishing line with a small bottle attached to it. Daniel took the container out and poured the water in it into a another container--one with a blue top Jack noted-- and labeled it before putting it in his pack. Daniel looked at Sam, who was still busy taking readings. When she finally looked up, she looked puzzled. "This isn't really making too much sense to me, but I'll have to analyze the data and work on it at the SGC. Daniel, if you could collect one more sample about three feet further upstream then the last one, you should be ale to also get it about a foot or two deeper. That will be the last sample."
Daniel cast the line out with more skill than Jack would have expected from the non-fisherman. He allowed it to sink, watching a readout on the pole the collection container was attacked to. He pulled in the sample, and repeated the procedure Jack had witnessed before. Then he carefully folded up the pole and put it in his pack. He stepped off the rock and began to wade back towards his teammates.
"All done, Sam. I'm coming back now. Jack, quit looking so worried--" Daniel hadn't completed the sentence when he suddenly sank, disappearing from Jack's sight. Jack waited for him to reappear, while Sam hastily rose and joined her CO at the side of the river. When after several seconds Daniel still hadn't reappeared, Jack began to wonder. When after another thirty seconds he still couldn't be seen, Jack cursed, shed his pack and jacket, and dove in. Swimming toward the spot where he had last seen Daniel, Jack noted that water was fairly clear. When he reached the spot where he thought Daniel had been, he took a breath and dove down. He hadn't gone very deep when he spotted the archeologist, and immediately realized his plight. The spot Daniel was in was considerably deeper, a hole of some sort having been formed in the river bottom. Daniel had stepped into it. How he had missed it on his outward trip was beyond Jack. That alone would have been no problem, since Daniel was a competent swimmer. But he'd been wearing his pack, and the bottom of the river was filled with debris and deadfall. Daniel's pack had caught on a buried fallen tree, neatly trapping him.
Daniel was still moving, and Jack could see he was fighting the pack, but to no avail. He seemed unable to shed it. Jack swam down deeper. Seeing him, Daniel turned toward Jack, gesturing at the recalcitrant pack. Jack nodded, and then reached out to Daniel and began to work on releasing the pack from Daniel's shoulders. Finding the quick releases, he freed his friend, who immediately headed to the surface. When Jack reached him, Daniel was gasping desperately for air.
"Close one, eh?" Jack said quietly. Daniel was trying to get himself under control, and couldn't spare breath to talk, so he merely nodded.
"Let's head in," Jack suggested. Daniel shook his head, pointed down toward the pack.
"It's okay, Daniel. The US government can replace the pack."
Daniel shook his head again, adamant. "Samples," he gasped.
Jack sighed. He knew Daniel would not give this up. "Okay, I'll go try to free your pack."
Daniel again shook his head. "Not you. Me. My responsibility."
Jack looked at him, taking in the grim determined stare, and decided to take advantage of this opportunity. "Yes, it is. Go get it, if you can."
Daniel nodded, took another few deep breathes, and dove. It seemed like forever, but Jack knew it could only have been seconds, when Daniel reappeared, triumphant. "Got it!"
"Good. Now let's get out of here. We're already behind our schedule. I'm just glad you didn't have the GDO."
An hour later they were packed and ready to go, but Daniel was still trying to get water out of his pack. He had nearly given up. At least the carefully packaged samples were saved. And Daniel was beginning to become concerned. Jack had not spoken to him about the incident. He didn't seem angry, but he was uncharacteristically silent, and with each additional moment of silence Daniel grew more concerned.
"Jack?"
"Yes, Daniel?" Jack's voice was even, without a touch of anger or irritation, but also without any warmth.
"I'm sorry," Daniel tried, uncertain of what he was apologizing for. After all, he hadn't stepped into the hole and been trapped on purpose. It had been an accident. He'd been helping Sam, for pete's sake!
"For what?"
That stumped Daniel. He had assumed Jack would accept the generic apology and apply it to whatever he was angry at Daniel for. Apparently Jack wasn't buying that, though.
"For..." Daniel searched for something concrete to apologize for, "making you get wet?"
"Apology accepted," Jack replied, but still without any warmth in his voice. Before Daniel could think of anything else to say Jack turned to Carter. "Were you able to get the samples you needed?"
Carter shot Jack a glance. "Yes, sir. They should be very helpful."
"Good." The eerie calm remained in Jack's voice. "I'm glad to know that the samples which Daniel could have been killed gathering will be of benefit. Oh, Captain, by the way, whose idea was it for Daniel to go out into the stream to collect the samples? The truth, Captain," he added when he saw Carter open her mouth to answer.
"Well, sir, it was my idea to get the samples, but I couldn't really get the areas I wanted, so Daniel offered to go into the water to try to get some samples from a little further out. It seemed harmless, sir."
"I see. Tell me, captain, had any sort of evaluation been made of the danger in the river? The fact that it was unknown whether or not there might be any deep currents, dangerous wildlife, anything like that?"
Carter was staring at her boots, refusing to meet Jack's glance. "Well... I thought about it, sir."
"I'm sure you did. Did you mention your concerns to Daniel?"
"Mmmthinso"
"Please repeat that."
"I think so. Sir." Carter breathed out.
"And what did Daniel say?"
"He was sure it was safe sir, and promised not to go out very far." Carter had realized that any effort to take responsibility or protect Daniel from the Colonel's now obvious anger were futile. It would be best just to give the information he wanted."
"I see. And when he began to go out further, did you by any chance warn him against that? Or dare I ask, order him not to go any further? Or tell him to return to the shore? Anything like that, Captain?" Jack was in full military mode.
"Sir, I did warn Daniel that it might be dangerous further out, and that there might be currents. I did not order him, back. I…I didn't even really suggest he come back to the shore. I was thinking about the samples, and Daniel thought that from the rock he could get the samples we couldn't get from the shore. It did seem safe, sir. Once we started collecting the samples, I was pre-occupied, and didn't think about the safety issues, sir. I take full responsibility."
"Yes, Captain, as the 2IC, you were responsible. We'll talk more about this later. However, even when you don't give a direct order, Daniel should be exercising common sense. I take it you didn't order him out to the rock?"
Daniel had been walking behind the two officers, listening to the exchange. Jack was well aware of his presence. Sensing Jack's fury, Daniel wisely didn't interrupt or try to defend himself. Jack would calm down, Daniel thought. He always did. It was their pattern. Daniel did something Jack didn't like or that worried Jack, Jack got angry and scolded Daniel, and then they calmed down and things continued along. This too would blow over. But even as he had the thought, Daniel felt uneasy. This time seemed different. Jack was mad on a whole different level. He wasn't shouting, or even raising his voice, but he was clearly upset. This might take some time.
"Jack," Daniel began, "I'm really, really sorry. I should have been more careful, listened to Sam's warnings, and not gone in so deep. I put myself, and you, at risk. I'm sorry."
"Daniel, you've already apologized. I accepted your apology. However, you've apologized... how many times, ofr the same or similar things. You've apologized for wandering off on your own, for climbing an unstable cliff alone, for ignoring Carter's orders. You apologize, Daniel, but you don't change the behavior. Are you seeing my point?"
"Yes, Jack," Daniel's head hung low. "I see your point."
"O'Neill," Teal'c spoke for the first time in what seemed like hours. "I believe your point has been made." That was as far as the older Jaffa would intervene, but Jack got the hint. There was no value in berating Daniel. The younger man had, indeed, gotten the point. Whether or not it would stick was beyond Jack. However, as he looked over at the exhausted, still soaking wet archeologist, Jack realized this couldn't go on. He was going to have to do something about Daniel's behavior on off-world missions, or risk losing the archeologist, or another member of the team, to Daniel's carelessness.
(TBC)
