Daniel looked over his shoulder. "It's a rabbit, Jack."
Jack glared at Daniel, then threw a nervous glance at the rodent hopping quite innocuously behind them. "Haven't you ever read Bunnicula?"
"The better question: You have?" Daniel retorted.
"It's purple," Jack said instead.
Daniel walked backwards. "Grey?"
Sam decided to add her two cents: "It looks a bit…lavender to me."
"Lavender?" Jack questioned, "Lavender?"
Sam shot him a withering glance, and then strode to catch up with Teal'c, who was studiously ignoring the rabbit and the inane conversation it prompted.
Daniel tilted his head, regarding the rabbit. "Lavender is actually pretty accurate. Maybe on the grey side, though."
"Purple," Jack said decisively.
Daniel rolled his eyes.
"It's making me nervous," Jack said, his voice acquiring a tinge of whine.
"It's a rabbit," Daniel repeated patiently, his body betraying his exhasperation. "Admittedly, twice the size of Earth rabbits, but a rabbit nonetheless."
"It's staring at me," Jack said in undertone. "It looks…hungry."
Again, Daniel rolled his eyes. "You're imagining things."
Jack cradled his P-90, trigger finger decidedly twitchy. He threw another suspicious look over his shoulder. "Like hell."
Daniel ignored him.
Around ten minutes later, after he'd accidentally touched a column with completely alien text carved on all sides, he wished he hadn't. Now, he was seemingly floating (though the nothing under his boots felt solid) in a nebulous grey-misted place, Jack beside him. In front of them was the rabbit, looking more purple than earlier.
"I told you so," Jack muttered to Daniel. The younger man couldn't decide if the comment was about the rabbit's fur or the situation they found themselves in. He decided it was probably the former, considering the source.
Then the rabbit spoke. "My name is—" It got no further, for Jack's twitchy finger pulled the trigger and a hail of bullets bit into the soft, purple fur to cut into supple flesh. It lay mostly still, occassional tremors wracking the prostrate form.
"You killed it!" Daniel cried in shocked dismay.
"It was talking! Unless you know something I don't, rabbits don't usually talk!" Jack retorted defensively.
"All the more reason to let it live! For all we know, it had very important information! This is not the way to make first contact!" Daniel shouted back.
"God, Daniel, it's always the same thing with you!" Jack cried. It was his turn to roll his eyes.
Suddenly, with as little warning as before, they were back on the planet. Teal'c was looking at them with a relieved expression, and Sam was extricating herself from a mass of wires attached to a panel. She pushed the panel back into the wall. Daniel realized they were in the column's accompanying temple.
"Thank goodness," the major breathed, wiping her hands on her pants. "I wasn't entirely sure I could bring you back."
"Thank you," Jack said courteously.
"Where's the rabbit?" Carter asked suddenly. "It disappeared with you. I assumed it would come back with you."
Daniel opened his mouth, but Jack shot him a very piercing glare and said first, "You're mistaken. C'mon, kids, let's go home."