Chapter One

Silence. This was the first thing that Sam Carter noticed first. Utter and complete silence. No sound of birds chirping, no rustling of wind through the trees, no cracking of wood from a fire. Nothing. Sam laid completely still, feigning sleep. Something was going on, something felt completely off.

"Alright, use your senses Carter. What can you do without letting anyone know you're conscious?"

Sam mentally surveyed her body. She was laying stomach down on the ground, a large rock pushing deep into her abdomen. Her shoulder hurt, without moving it she could feel the dull ache of a deep bruise forming on her right collar bone.

"No broken bones, good."

She could feel the pounding headache she associated with a head injury. The slowness of her thoughts was a good indication that she had a concussion. With her face to the side she could smell the faint air on wet earth. Something soft was propping her head up slightly from the ground. Her arms were lying at her sides, and Sam was able to feel the ground beneath her fingers. The ground felt cold and damp her touch. Through her closed lids, Sam couldn't make out any sign of bright light that would indicate it was day time. Her clothes felt wet, much more wet that what would have been absorbed by the moist ground. She felt like she must have been walking through a thunderstorm. Exhausting her other useful senses, Sam concentrated on her hearing again, knowing that the most prominent clues about where she was would come from that. She was drawn to a faint sound from her left, and quiet and almost unnoticeable draw of breath. Not deep and constant to indicate a sleeping person, but steadying. Sam lay and waited, still not wanting to give any indication to the other person in...Well wherever she was that she was awake.

"What in the world happened?" Sam asked herself. The last think she could remember was stepping out of the wormhole on P3X 258. It was supposed to be a simple survey mission. The UAV had picked up a strange rock structure a few clicks from the gate, and Daniel had jumped at the chance to take a look. Sam thought again to see if there was anything to indicate how she had gotten unto this position. They had been walking for about 45 minutes when the Daniel's allergies had begun to pop up. They had stopped for a few minutes so he could get some allergenic out of his pack. Then...well nothing.

Sam refocused her attention back on the steady intake of breath. A deep sigh suddenly was released. Sam had to control herself not to make a movement at the abrupt sound. She schooled herself as she heard a shuffling of feet move closer to her position. A body knelt down next to her; she could feel the eyes boring into her.

"Carter!" The voice snapped. "You can stop pretending to be asleep, we're safe."

Sam's eyes flew open and met the dark browns of her commanding officer. A slight smile graced his features. He looked both worried and relieved.

"Sir?" Sam asked curiously. Now free to exercise her main sense, Sam's eyes left the Colonels, and flew around the room. She was still confused. Apparently the two of them were in a room, which looked like a cave. Still from her position on the ground Sam could see damp rock walls meeting the wet dirt about a meter away. She made a motion to lift herself off the ground. Both the pain in her left shoulder and a firm hand on the small of her back halted her progress.

"I wouldn't try that again if I were you. You've got a pretty nasty injury up there."

Sam met his eyes again to see him looking down on her shoulder. Worry flooded onto his eyes, and Sam wondered what had happened for him to be so open with his concern. Sam racked her brain for any idea of what had happened to her. The more she thought, the more the pain in her head increased. From her slightly spinning vision, Sam was sure of her initial prognoses of a concussion.

"What happened, sir?"

"You were hit pretty bad," he said, his eyes flicking back to meet hers, "by some kind of dart thing. Knocked you out instantly."

Sam racked her brain for any memory of this, and found nothing.

"Ugh, a dart? Really?" Sam groaned, "It feels more like I was hit in the shoulder with a baseball bat." Sam closed her eyes as a severe blast of pain shot through her eyes. "I must have hit my head as well."

Sam felt along the back of her head and found a large bump on her crown. A dull ache worked its way her neck and into her right solder. It felt raw and hot.

"A dart had caused this?"

Sam wiggled her body so her stomach was relieved of the rock. She looked around the cave for any signs of the other two members of SG-1. Were they hit as well? Were they alive?

"Where are Teal'c and Daniel?"

"They are fine. It seems only you were lucky enough to get hit. We found no sign of any hostiles. It seems that this dart...or whatever it was came out of nowhere. I sent Danny and Teal'c back to the gate for a med team."

The Colonel's eyes flicked back to the wound on her shoulder once more, his eyes pinched together the same way he did when he was trying to understand something. What had happened out there? He'd only send back from a med team if something bad was going on. Usually they'd carry their wounded back to the SGC as Janet was much more capable of performing medical miracles on her own turf. Sending a med team, well that only happened if the patient could be moved, or if they were in hostile territory.

"Med team?" Sam once more attempted to get to her feet once more, party to once again release herself of that rock, but also to show her CO that she was perfectly capable of walking to the gate.

"Easy now," He said, placing his hand once again on the small of her back, "you shouldn't be moving it."

Probably resigning himself to the fact that she was not going to follow his suggestion, he slowly guided her up into a sitting position beside him. Sam felt blood pumping to her shoulder, and winced as a particularly large thump of blood sent waves of pain across her neck and into her head. A wave of nausea went through her as the ground lurched beneath her.

"Yes, Carter, med team," The Colonel replied, placing a hand on her shoulder to steady her, "After you were knocked out, Teal'c and Daniel went to scan the area for any indication of what hit you. I stayed with you and attempted to revive you." A long pause sat between then. His eyes once again portrayed the worry that she had seen before. "Once the storm started, I sent Daniel and Teal'c back to the gate. I carried you into this cave, and here we are." Sam looked around the cave once more and notice that rain could be seen cascading down through the opening 20 meters away. The bright flashes from lightning could barely been seen through the thick wall of rain. Sam looked back at the Colonel and watched him absently play with the cover of his watch.

"How long was I out?"

"About 3 hours." He opened his watch strap again and looked down at the time. "They probably got stuck in the rain as well."

Sam rubbed her left arm absently, trying to provide some feel of comfort back into it. She felt off, cold and very foggy headed. Though she didn't want to worry the Colonel any further, she knew this was a symptom of something that could not go unreported.

"Sir? Something doesn't feel right." Sam shook her head slightly, feebly trying to rid her brain of its confusion.

She could feel him drawing her closer, his fingers drawing light circles on her right arm.

"It's alright Sam. You're safe here with me."

Sam rested her head down on his shoulder and promptly fell asleep.