It was a lazy summer afternoon and the savannah was quiet except for the constant drone of insects and the occasional bird call. A large stone ring sat upright, perpendicular to the short platform on which it rested. The insects suddenly became silent when, one at a time, the chevrons lit up and thunked into place. With a roar, what looked like a huge splash of water spilled sideways out of the ring then collapsed back into itself, filling the center of the ring. What looked like a shimmering pool of water was really the event horizon of a wormhole connecting two planets.

With a soft plopping sound, four people stepped out of the shimmer and onto the platform. This was SG-1, Stargate Command's premiere team led by Colonel Jack O'Neill. He and Major Samantha Carter held P-90 machine pistols in addition to the 9-mm Beretta holstered to their thighs. Doctor Daniel Jackson – archeologist, linguist, and scholar– also had a pistol strapped to his thigh, though his hands were empty of any other weapons. The last member of the team was Teal'c. The Jaffa carried the ubiquitous Beretta, but preferred to use the staff weapon that was almost as tall as he was.

The Stargate was set in the middle of rolling fields of grass, giving the team a clear view of the area as they arrived on PR4-972. They had 48-hours to check out the temple half a mile away and gather scientific data about the planet.

After a quick check revealed no immediate threats, Colonel O'Neill spoke up. "The UAV showed no signs of any people, right, Carter?" Keeping one hand on his weapon, he used the other to adjust his sunglasses. Short grey hair peeked out from under the decidedly non-regulation ball cap he preferred to wear.

"Yes, Sir," replied the Major. The tall blonde woman was both the science officer and the second in command of the team. "Well, to be precise, the UAV showed no signs of any civilization within a 20-mile radius of the gate."

"Guys, do you mind if I skip out on setting up camp and go straight to work?" Doctor Jackson's attention was drawn to the only visible structure between here and the horizon. He took a few steps toward it as he spoke.

"Daniel, you know the rules. No wandering off alone." Jack wished he would at least turn and look at him, but Daniel was completely focused on the stepped pyramid. Jack wasn't sure he was really listening.

"I'm not wandering off. I'll just be right over there." Daniel pointed at the temple. "That ziggurat is huge. We've got so little time that I want to get started as soon as I can."

"Not until I can go with you."

"Jack, there are no roads, no houses, no other buildings of any kind. You can barely see the outlines of the ruins of roads or buildings. The ziggurat is the only thing standing. There's obviously no one here."

"Yeah, well, just because it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, that doesn't mean it won't try to bite us in the ass the first chance it gets."

"I was not aware that the waterfowl of the Tauri possessed dentition, O'Neill."

Jack swiveled his head to look at the Jaffa. "I wasn't aware you knew words like 'dentition', Teal'c."

"I wasn't aware you knew words like 'dentition', Jack."

Great. Now he had Daniel's attention. Jack waved a hand in dismissal. "Whatever. The point is nobody goes anywhere alone. We pair off as usual. Carter and Teal'c. You and me. I can't go until camp is set up. Therefore…?" Jack rolled his hand in a 'continue' motion.

"Jack!"

"Daniel?"

"Jack?"

"Look, Daniel. The sooner we set up camp the sooner you can go play."

Daniel capitulated with a sigh. "Fine. Let's set up camp then. Where?"

Jack led the way down the steps and into the waist high grasses. "We'll bivouac just on the other side of that rise there. We'll be out of sight if anyone comes through the gate, but still in easy reach of your Zagnut and Carter's sample areas."

"Ziggurat"

"Gesundheit."

Jack smiled to himself as Daniel rolled his eyes. Looked like this was going to be a fun mission.

Samantha Carter was very glad her duties kept her outdoors on this trip. It was a beautiful day here on PR4-972. There were just enough trees dotted across the rolling hills to provide patches of shade without provoking Colonel O'Neill into a round of tree-hate. Her long stride made quick work of the mile from camp to the first collection site.

"This looks like a good spot, Teal'c. We can set up the sensor array here in the grassy area so we get full sunlight, then head into that stand of trees and collect our soil samples in the shade."

Her team-mate set down the large grey metal case he was carrying then slid his backpack down to the ground. Samdid the same with her backpack and the sample case. She took a minute to stretch a bit and ease a kink out of her shoulder. Teal'c flipped open the big case and got to work. He had a surprisingly light touch for such a big man. Sam learned long ago that she could trust him with the most delicate of instruments. With the ease of long practice, they worked together quickly to set up the science station.

"Okay, this will register the full spectrum of solar radiation, background radiation, and several types of energy fields. We can check it on our way back to camp this afternoon, but I'd like to leave it in place until right before we leave so that we can get as much data as possible."

"Certainly, Major Carter. How many soil samples do you wish to procure in this location?"

"Most of the interesting UAV readings came from a rocky area about five klicks from here. I'd like to save most of the tubes for that, so, let's just do two or three soil samples here. However," she reached into the sample case and pulled out a handful of heavy duty, self sealing plastic bags, "this is a good spot to get some plant specimens for the Botany Department since we have both the grasslands and the woods within reach."

She handed him the bags, grabbed a couple of tubes and they set off for the trees.

Jack made sure that Daniel was happily ensconced in front of the "amazing frescoes, Jack, just look at that clarity, those colors, so perfectly preserved!" and set out on a sweep of the interior rooms of the temple. The small light clipped to his weapon illuminated the place a little piece at a time. He passed room after empty room. Some had paintings around the doorways. Some had paintings or carvings inside on the walls or floor.

He methodically checked each room opening off of the main hallway before running into a cross-corridor. He decided to check the side corridor before moving farther into the building and turned to the right. So far, it looked the same as the main hall. Every room he passed was empty except for layers of dust and cobwebs in the corners. One had no decoration except for a fresco on the ceiling. Jack wasn't sure what the scene was intended to represent, but he did know you weren't supposed to do that to a goat. If these people had had furniture, they had taken it with them.

He was near the end of the secondary corridor when something in one of the rooms flashed as his light swept across the doorway. This door had no markings of any kind. Shining his light into the room, he could see it was just as plain inside except for one big difference. Whereas every other room had been completely barren, this one had a pedestal with some kind of covered vase on top of it. The only markings were on the vessel and the base of the pedestal. It was a dim reflection from the vase that had caught his eye.

Jack stepped inside to get a better look at the markings, wishing he had Daniel's small floodlight. What did Daniel call those again? Oh right. Ideograms. He wasn't sure, but he thought the ideograms in here were different than those in the main room where Daniel was. He peered closely at the vase, trying to figure out just what was so different about it.

There was a whiff of something sickly sweet, like decaying flowers. The P-90 slipped from his hands. What the hell? There was a buzzing in his head and suddenly the room tilted. He could feel cool stone against his back as he lay on the floor. He tried to reach for his radio. His outstretched hand lay unresponsive where it had fallen. He tried to yell for Daniel even though he knew he was too far away for Daniel to hear him. It didn't matter. He couldn't make a sound. He couldn't even tear his gaze away from the vase.

There was a muted click. He could see the lid of the vase slowly rise up. Oh, no! Hell no! Fuck! FUCK! Jack lay perfectly still, but inside he was frantic and on the verge of panic. It felt like he was battering at the iron bars of a prison cell, unable to escape. He desperately wished he could at least close his eyes against what was coming.

Teal'c made sure that all of the specimen bags were tucked neatly inside before he closed the sample case. "Shall we proceed to the next collection site, Major Carter?"

"In a minute. I just want to check the readout on the sensor array and make sure everything's working properly."

Carter knelt down by the machine and checked the digital displays. Everything looked okay. Next, she pulled out the paper on which the data was recorded. Sliding it through her hands, she examined the entries. Broad spectrum UV readings were very similar to Earth. Background radiation seemed fine so far. Uh-oh. What was that? She frowned at the print-out.

"Is the equipment recording the data properly?"

"If it is, we may have a problem." Teal'c moved to kneel beside her. She pointed to the paper. "There was an energy spike a few minutes ago."

"What type of energy was detected?"

"It's one of the frequencies emitted by crystalline technology."

"Can you ascertain the cause of the energy emission?"

She shook her head. "No, not from this. Those crystals are used in so many ways, it would be impossible to narrow that down just from this one reading. Plus, the carrier wave attenuates with distance. This spike could represent a huge burst of energy that was very far away, or it could be a tiny spark very close by. Without more information, there's no way to tell."

Teal'c reached for his radio. "Colonel O'Neill." There was no response. "Colonel O'Neill, please respond." He waited a moment then tried once more. "Colonel O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, do you hear me?"

He stood, gripping his staff weapon tightly. "I believe we should proceed directly to the temple." Carter held her P-90 at the ready and followed him back the way they had come.

"…fifth panel which seems to be about the Lord of the Harvest thus continuing the theme of a nature-based pantheon." Daniel shifted the video recorder to focus on the next panel. Using his foot, he gently pushed the little floodlight on the floor so the lights clearly picked up the details in the wall paintings . "Now, this last portion of wall is done in the same ideograms as the other panels, but the subject seems to be different and this section here," Daniel watched through the viewfinder as his hand pointed to a specific bit of text, "is in a different style than the rest. It may be something that didn't translate directly such as an abstract concept or a proper noun. I won't be able to tell for sure until I know the context. However, looking quickly, I can see this is…"

Daniel chattered on, trying to get as much done as he could in the limited time he had. Forty eight hours wasn't even enough to do a proper preliminary study, much less a true site survey. It was like holding Tolstoy's War and Peace in your hands and being told you had thirty seconds to read it all.

Behind him he could hear footsteps. Keeping the camera trained on the walls, he looked at the doorway. It was Jack all right, but there was something wrong with how he walked. Had he hurt his knee again?

"Are you okay?"

Jack made no reply, but kept walking toward Daniel in that same lurching gait. Daniel noticed Jack's empty hands and shifted from concern to worry. Jack never left his weapon even when injured. In fact, there were times that one of his team had to pry the weapon out of clenched fingers so that an unconscious Jack could get medical treatment.

"Jack, what happ-"

The camera and Daniel's glasses went flying as Jack viciously backhanded him across the face.

Carter and Teal'c walked steadily through the knee-high grass. The direct route to the temple would take them past the Stargate. From there it would be just another few minutes until they would be at the temple. Teal'c tried twice more to raise their team-mates on the radio with no results.

Cresting one of the low rolling hills, they could see the Stargate, less than 500 feet away to their right. Colonel O'Neill was at the DHD punching in an address one-handed. His right side was toward them as he faced the gate. Daniel lay on the ground at his feet.

"O'Neill!"

Jack looked over at them when Teal'c shouted, then hit the center crystal. The spinning blue vortex of the wormhole burst out then collapsed back to shimmer like water in the center of the gate.

As she and Teal'c sped up, Sam tried to figure out what was going on. The Colonel must be taking Daniel back to the infirmary. But what happened? And why wasn't he answering his radio? Even at this distance, she thought she could see it on his vest.

"What happened, Sir?" she called out. "Is Daniel hurt?"

O'Neill didn't answer. Reaching down with his left hand, he grabbed the collar of Daniel's jacket. He roughly hauled Daniel up and pulled him toward the gate. Daniel's face was bloody. His glasses were missing. He couldn't get his feet under him and half stumbled, half crawled, banging his shins on the stone steps of the platform as Jack surged forward relentlessly.

Now running flat out, Teal'c's long legs outpaced hers. "O'Neill!" he shouted again. "You must stop!"

Jack threw Daniel across the threshold of the gate and into the wormhole then stepped through himself.

Seconds before Teal'c and Sam reached the dais, the wormhole blinked out. Their friends were gone. She looked over at Teal'c who was closest to the DHD. "It must have been a medical emergency" she said hesitantly. "Maybe there was no time to wait?"

Teal'c shook his head. "I do not think that to be the case, Major Carter. I believe Colonel O'Neill has in some way been compromised."

"He didn't look…right, did he?" She bit her bottom lip, thinking. "Well, let's follow them back and see what he has to say."

"We will not find him at the SGC. I was unable to see the entire address before the Stargate shut down, but O'Neill most certainly did not return to Earth."

"He didn't…" Sam's stomach did a flip.

"No. He did not." Teal'c's face was grim.

"So, Daniel's hurt, there's something wrong with the Colonel, and we have no idea what happened or where they are?"

Teal'c gave one short sharp nod.

Sam's eyes widened. That flip in her stomach got worse. "Holy Hannah. Dial the SGC, Teal'c. We need to call for help."

Daniel had been attacked and dragged from the temple on PR4-972, that much he knew. Still dazed and bleeding, he was flung through the Stargate to PXWho-knows-where. The trip through the wormhole intensified the nausea. He stumbled down the steps of the platform and fell to his knees, vomiting. He wasn't sure how long he'd been hunched over, every heave setting off new waves of pain from the beating. Eventually, his stomach settled down. As the nausea ebbed, so did the worst of the disorientation.

Moving as little as possible, he studied the man who had come through the gate behind him. Now that he could think again, it was time to figure out where he was and, more importantly, what the hell had happened to Jack.

With a whir and clunk, the first chevron on the Stargate engaged and the gate room at the SGC sprang to life. Alarms blared throughout the underground base. Troops poured in past the thick metal blast doors on each side, keeping their weapons trained on the gate. The sound of their booted feet was loud in the concrete room. Up in the control room, the technicians watched their monitors closely. General Hammond appeared next to Sergeant Davis who controlled the iris that protected the gate from unwanted intrusions.

"Are there any offworld teams due back, Sergeant?"

"No, Sir. SG-3 is scheduled to leave in a few minutes, but no teams are scheduled for either a return or check in at this time." Davis watched the flow of information across his screen. "We have an IDC, Sir. It's SG-1"

Hammond could feel his lips tighten. SG-1 had only been gone a few hours. This couldn't be good. "Open the iris."

Davis complied. The iris snicked open, but no one came through. Instead, they heard a voice transmission from Major Carter.

"Stargate Command, this is Major Carter of SG-1."

"Go ahead, Major"

"General Hammond, we need a search and rescue team for Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson."

He knew it. It was always a bad sign when a team called in early. Almost as bad as a team calling in late. "What happened, Major?"

"I'm not really sure, Sir. Teal'c and I were gathering samples while the Colonel and Daniel were at the temple. We lost radio contact with them and decided to return to the temple. On the way there, we saw Colonel O'Neill activate the Stargate and force Daniel to go through it with him. Daniel appeared to be injured and there was something wrong with the Colonel as well."

A chill ran up Hammond's spine. This was far worse than he thought it would be. If the men had fallen off a cliff or down a hole or gotten lost there was a good chance of getting them rescued and returned to the SGC. But they couldn't be rescued if no one could find them.

"Do you know where they went?"

"Not exactly, Sir. Teal'c was able to see part of the address. I can compare that to the addresses in the computer which should help narrow the field slightly. First, I think that we need to search the temple. Find out what happened. That may give us the information we need to track them down. And General, I think the sooner we get started, the better."

Hammond was nodding as she spoke, even though he knew she couldn't see him. "Agreed, Major. You'll have Major Ferretti and SG-3 at your disposal within fifteen minutes. In the meantime, I want you and Teal'c to stay put. You are not to investigate those ruins by yourselves, is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir. We'll be right here."

"Fine. Hammond out." The General motioned to Davis and the transmission was cut. A second later, the wormhole collapsed and the gate shut down. The troops in the gate room relaxed their weapons. The alarm was silent. Then Hammond started barking orders and a whole new flurry of sound and activity began.

The DHD was right there, not twenty feet away from where Daniel knelt. From this angle he couldn't tell what shape it was in. He would have to assume it was in working order. He needed enough time to get to it, punch in the address for PR4-972 and get through the gate. He would round up Sam and Teal'c as quickly as possible and return to get Jack – except Daniel didn't know the address to this planet. Okay, scratch that plan. He'd have to take Jack with him through the gate, which meant he'd have to overpower him. He was six feet tall to Jack's six feet two inches, he had a slightly longer reach than Jack, but they weighed about the same. While Daniel was younger, Jack was a wily old bastard with decades of special training and experience who wasn't above fighting dirty. Even on his best day, Daniel would be hard pressed to get the better of Jack in hand to hand. And this was definitely not Daniel's best day.

Okay, what would Jack say to do? Assess the situation. Right. Better start the assessment with a physical inventory. Daniel hurt everywhere. Just staying upright was exhausting him. His ribs were bruised if not broken making every breath a stabbing pain. His right eye had rapidly swelled up and was almost shut. That punch from Jackhad nearly knocked him out. Good thing his glasses had already come off by then or the broken glass from the lenses could have blinded him. As it was, the punch, combined with the initial backhand to the face, had left him so dazed and confused he could barely fight back. Daniel reached up and felt a knot on the side of his head. He was pretty sure he had hit his head against the stone walls – he felt another knot at the back of his head – and the stone floor of the temple. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a concussion, especially since he had been nauseated. In fact he was still kneeling next to a nasty puddle of – okay, don't think about the puddle. Stomach getting queasy. Do NOT think about being sick. Maybe he should do something to take his mind off of it. How about assessing his physical condition? Okay. He hurt everywhere, especially his ankle, and his ribs were –

Oh, déjà vu. He just did this a second ago. His mind was really wandering. It was so hard to focus. Let's put a mark in the "definitely" column for the concussion, he thought. Daniel knew what condition he was in. It was bad, really bad. But what condition was Jack in? He looked up at the platform where Jack was still standing.

It was obvious that whatever had happened to the Colonel and Daniel, it had happened in the ziggurat. The wide swath of flattened grass that started at the foot of the Stargate led directly back to the temple entrance. From the many scrape marks, it was clear that Daniel had been dragged to the gate in much the same way that he had been dragged through the wormhole.

With no rocks, trees or other cover to hide behind, the six-man team could do little to disguise their approach. Fanning out, they advanced on the entrance as cautiously as they could with their weapons held at the ready. Teal'c and Ferretti took point and led the way up the broad shallow steps to the columned portico. Teal'c entered the doorway first with Feretti hard on his heels. Sam and Lt. Stepanovich slipped in next, with Evans and Bassler bringing up the rear.

Silently, they passed through a grand vestibule, their booted feet nearly noiseless against the dusty stone floor. What little sunlight made it inside the building was concentrated by the entryway. Within a few paces, the team was enveloped in darkness. The beams from the lights clipped to their gun barrels swept around, criss-crossing each other, as the team moved carefully forward. Past the vestibule, the temple opened up into the main chamber. Sam estimated the ceiling was at least 20 feet high; it was about the same distance from where she stood to each of the side walls, so make it about 40 feet wide. The chamber was deep enough that her flashlight couldn't penetrate the gloom in front of her.

Spreading out in a line from side wall to side wall, the group moved forward cautiously. Soon their lights were touching the back wall of the room. The only other way out of the room was the doorway in the back wall. Like the main door to the temple, there was no actual door, just a large rectangular opening framed by carved stones. The darkness on the other side seemed absolute, giving the impression that the opening was looming over them

"Here," Stepanovich whispered. He shined his light in the back corner of the chamber. Daniel's backpack, reference books, and archeology tools were scattered all over the floor. The small floodlight Daniel used had a crack through the glass covering the bulb. Stepanovich shifted one of the books with the toe of his boot. Daniel's glasses, broken and twisted, were underneath it.

"Looks like the Doc was working here," Ferretti said quietly. "Looks like he put up a fight, too."

Sam nodded. "I don't see anything that would explain what happened, though. This room is empty except for Daniel's things."

"Perhaps there is another chamber hidden within this one," suggested Teal'c.

"I suppose it's possible." Sam thought for a moment. "Feretti, you and Evans stay here and search the room. See if you can find any concealed compartments. Lieutenant, you and Bassler are with me and Teal'c."

Once again, Teal'c lead the way. They passed a few small empty rooms, then came to an intersection. Carter and Bassler stayed with the main corridor leading farther into the temple. Teal'c and Lt. Stepanovich took the smaller hallway. Within minutes, Teal'c found what they were looking for.

Teal'c clicked his radio on. "Major Carter, there is a room which holds a pedestal topped by a container of some sort. The lid to the container is open. Colonel O'Neill's baseball cap and weapon are on the floor by the pedestal."

Carter's voice replied, "Don't touch anything until I get there."

"You may be assured that we have not entered the room, Major Carter."

Ferretti's voice cut in before Sam could respond. Even through the radio he sounded upset. "Carter, there's something else you need to see first."

"Roger that," she replied. "We're on our way. Teal'c, Bassler meet us back in the main chamber."

The whole time Daniel was trying to gather his wits and his strength, Jack was pacing around on the gate platform. His movements were awkward. He would look at the encroaching trees, overgrown bushes, and jumbled ruin of what had been the road leading to the gate. Then he would stomp around the platform waving his left arm. He would stop, look at the waist high grass poking up through the paving stones and go back to stomping and waving. It was obvious that whatever Jack had expected to find here, this long-abandoned world wasn't it.

Daniel noticed that Jack barely moved his right arm. In fact, his whole right side seemed stiff. Could Jack have had a stroke? That might explain the lack of control on one side of the body but not the violence. Could there have been some sort of contagion? No, it happened too fast. Maybe some kind of poison or drug? Daniel nodded to himself. That seemed most likely. Jack still hadn't said anything, either. What if it was a neurotoxin? Whichever it was, hopefully the damage wouldn't be permanent, but the faster Daniel could get help for Jack the better.

Ferretti started speaking as the others came down the corridor into the main room and gathered around him.

"We found Dr. J.'s video camera over by the wall. It was running when everything happened. Must've shut off automatically when the disc filled up. Battery's still good so I turned it on. I've cued up the start of the important bit. It's hard to see exactly what's going on, but I gotta warn you," he took a deep breath, "it's pretty rough."

He handed the camera to Samantha. Teal'c and the others crowded around, trying to get a good view of the tiny screen. Sam could feel Teal'c's body touching hers and the knot in her stomach dissipated a little. It was a comforting reminder that she wasn't the only one worried about her team-mates. Pushing down a feeling of dread, Sam switched on the camera.

The screen showed the wall near the back entry. Daniel's voice, tinny-sounding from the tiny speaker, discussed the markings. Occasionally, his hand flashed into view. There was a noise in the background. Daniel stopped talking. The picture jiggled a bit but still focused on the wall. The noise became a little louder and Sam realized she was hearing footsteps, but the rhythm was off. She heard Daniel ask "Are you okay?" There was no answer. The picture swung around jerkily. Off kilter and partly out of frame, she could see Jack, walking toward Daniel.

Daniel spoke again but before he could finish his sentence, Jack backhanded him across the face. The picture on the screen flipped and rolled as the camera went flying. Sam could hear grunting and the sound of flesh hitting flesh again and again. The picture steadied as the camera stopped rolling. There was nothing to see on screen except the floor, which was slashed diagonally across the screen due to the angle at which the camera came to rest. The men were out of sight. Over the sound of scuffling, punching and fighting, she could hear Daniel trying to talk to Jack, calling his name and telling him to stop.

Daniel cried out after one particularly loud smack. He fell into view, sprawling face down on the floor a short distance from the camera. The soles of his boots filled most of the screen. He rolled over onto his back, one hand reaching for his radio. His knuckles were scraped. What little Sam could see of his face was bloody. The toes of Jack's boots moved into frame. Jack's hand came into view, wrenching the radio out of Daniel's grasp. A second later there was a clattering sound that Sam presumed was the radio being thrown across the room.

Daniel managed to pull his pistol but Jack kicked his wrist and the gun went flying. Jack followed up with a kick to the ribs. Daniel rolled with it and tried to get to his feet. Jack's boot lashed out again. Daniel grabbed the boot with one hand and the ankle with the other and twisted. The momentum threw him back down onto the floor. Sam could only see the men from the waist down, but it looked as though Jack fell face first onto the stone floor next to him. Daniel reached across him, grabbing for the pistol in Jack's thigh holster. Jack tried to roll over, but Daniel started punching him in the back and side with his left hand. With his right hand he was still scrabbling for the pistol. Sam could hear both men panting from the exertion. Jack managed to twist so that he was face up under Daniel. He rolled them both over so that Daniel was underneath.

As they grappled, their upper bodies shifted closer to the camera. Jack clenched his fist in Daniel's hair and cracked the back of his head against the stone floor, then stood up, using his grip on Daniel's hair to haul the younger man upright. Only their legs were in frame now. Daniel's legs were wobbly and he fell to his knees. Sam could only see him from the shoulders down. Jack must have let go of Daniel's hair, because that hand came into view as Jack snatched Daniel's injured wrist and squeezed hard, making Daniel yell before folding Daniel's arm behind his back and shoving it high up between his shoulder blades.

As the sound of their footsteps faded away the recording fell into silence. It was only then that Samantha realized that she had never heard Jack's voice on the tape. Over the other noises of the attack, she had heard Daniel speaking, Daniel grunting with effort or impact, and Daniel crying out with pain. But the Colonel... the Colonel had never made a sound.

Jack stopped in the center of the platform, and then slowly turned in a complete circle, frowning at the trees. At least, the left half of his face was frowning. The right half wasn't sure what it was supposed to be doing. The effect was creepy and made Daniel uneasy. As Jack faced away, Daniel thought he saw something on the back of Jack's neck. Squinting to see better, a chill ran through him when Daniel realized it was blood. There was blood on the back of Jack's neck and on the collar of his shirt.

Jack finished his circle. His gaze zeroed in on Daniel. He came down the steps in that odd choppy gait and stood in front of him. Daniel did his best to look non-threatening, which was pretty easy considering his battered state.

Putting his hands out in "peaceful explorer" mode, Daniel spoke quietly "Jack, whatever's wrong, we can fix it." It hurt to talk with a split lip and he had trouble speaking clearly. "Let's go get Sam and Teal'c, okay? We'll all go together and get some help for you. It'll be all right."

Jack opened his mouth. His jaw and lips moved but he didn't seem to be forming words. A guttural noise came out. It was the first sound Jack had made. He snapped his jaws shut. His right arm dangled at his side, but his left hand clenched into a fist. His eyes narrowed and he looked seriously pissed. Without warning, he lashed out with his left foot and kicked Daniel in the balls. Daniel screamed and fell over, curling up in a fetal position with both hands clutching his crotch. Just before he passed out, he saw the glowing eyes.

Jack was a Goa'uld.