A big thank you to all reviewers, followers and readers!

And now, a little insight to what has happened to Jack and Sam...

Beyond Reason

Chapter Two – Happening

Colonel Jack O'Neill turned. Again. He wasn't sure, how often he'd done this particular movement in the last hours, but he was aware that it was over the top. Way over the top. Already the muscles in his shoulders burned from the constant swiveling and his neck ached from rotating.

But the Colonel just couldn't help himself. This planet was seriously giving him the creeps. It was eerily silent. And not the calm, relaxed kind of silence. It was simply silent, because there was nothing there. No signs of human life, no sounds, no animal life, nothing as far as they could tell. They had walked for about five and a half hours until they were in seeing range of the deserted ruins the UAV had found on P3T-643, Daniel ushering them all forwards with untamed archaeological enthusiasm and excitement, and all the while Jack would have expected to see or hear some animals at least, or stumble upon some footprints, but nothing. No bird-like creatures singing in the sky, no crawling whatevers in the underbrush. Nope, nothing. Nada. Zilch. This planet seemed utterly deserted.

Still, Jack couldn't shake off that uncertain, bad feeling the planet was giving him. All the time, wherever they wandered, whatever they did, he felt watched. He felt watched while they made their way through the trees and the underbrush towards the ruins Daniel was incessantly babbling about. He felt watched, while they set up their camp in front of the half-rotten, but still impressive buildings the ruins were made of. He felt watched, while he and Teal'c walked around the ruin's edges, looking for any sign of life left or some possible traps, while Carter set up her equipment and Daniel already crawled all over the ruins in a neck-breaking way that made the Colonel flinch. Jack didn't even have a spare glance left for the ruins that seemed to be – from Daniel's first analysis – the remains of some village. He was so absorbed in this feeling of being watched, he was twisting and turning around ceaselessly, trying to see whatever his brain was making up to be there, but of course, he found nothing.

Still, Jack was sure they were being watched. And not the good kind of watched, like, say, when Carter was unintentionally staring at him, lost in her own thoughts. No, it was the very bad kind of watched, like when you felt your worst enemy breathe down your neck.

Jack was aware that he was the only one picking up on it. Or, perhaps, he was the only one experiencing this strange feeling. Raking his eyes over his group, he routinely took in their doings. Carter had set up her faithful laptop and by the glowing numbers rolling over the screen he could tell she was already running some tests on the village. Daniel was standing next to her, talking in a neck-breaking speed, while gesturing with his hands, pointing towards several spots, where he seemed to have discovered something worth of ranting over it. Which, from Jack's experience, could be anything from a symbol to a sketchy drawing to a piece of clothing to a naquadah-fueled bomb. His friend could find scientific worth in the strangest things, Jack knew. And whatever it was the archaeologist had currently taken an interest in, Carter was the one to suffer through it, but she nodded patiently and whenever Daniel actually stopped to draw in a breath, she interjected with her own ideas.

Not leaving his two teammates out of his sight for even a second, Jack walked further to where he would meet with Teal'c, when he'd finished his round. His grip on his P90 tightened while Jack paced back and forth, unable to find it in himself to stay still. Teal'c came walking from the other side of the ruins, seemingly being at ease here. Jack found it strangely abnormal, given that he was in constant high alert. Normally he could trust on T to be the observant one, often making out potential threats to them, before Jack himself would see them come. But this time his loyal friend seemed to be of the opinion that they were in no greater danger than being bored to death by the ever-green environments and/or Daniel's history lectures. Jack had even asked the Jaffa for his opinion, hoping that his friend had picked up on something strange on the planet he was missing out on that could explain why the planet simply wasn't warming up to Jack, but Teal'c had only looked at him stoically, pointing out that he did not, in any way, see, hear or feel any danger for them coming from this place.

So it was only Jack, who couldn't help but glance over his shoulder every two seconds. He tried to reason with himself that if his Jaffa friend could not detect anything then he was now officially in for a serious case of paranoia, but still all his battle-trained instincts wouldn't ease up on him in the slightest. On the contrary, the longer they stayed, the more his instincts became overwhelming, screaming at him to get away as long as he still could. Repeatedly, Jack shoved the ringing bells into a corner of his mind and tried to ease the stiffness overtaking his body, but the annoying tingling at his neck wouldn't leave him alone. He began gnawing on his cheek to refrain from doing something rash, like, for example, grab his team, abandon their stuff and herd them back to the Stargate. He would have some difficulties explaining that to the General, he mused.

Jack managed to get through two hours of fighting his urges, until he couldn't take it anymore. He knew Daniel would fight tooth and nail to be able to stay and examine those ruins further and Jack really couldn't justify cancelling this mission just because of some feeling.

But he could damn-well ensure that they were as safe here as possible. Walking over to his team that stood staring engrossed at something Daniel pointed out at some house's entrance, Jack announced: "I'm doin' a thorough check on the surroundings."

For a moment he considered the situation and then continued: "Carter, you're with me!"

His 2IC whipped around, looking expectedly perplexed. Yeah, he would have chosen anyone else rather as well given the uncomfortable atmosphere between them nowadays, but she was the only choice he really had. If he had to split up his team, he wanted the experienced fighters contributed equally. So if he went, then Teal'c had to stay. He didn't want to take the Jaffa with him and chance the two scientists to get so engrossed in their work that they would fail to notice some foe sneaking up on them in time. And speaking of said scientists, one of them had to come with him. After all, four eyes saw more than two could. And the only one he could really order to abandon her scientific studies was Carter. Daniel would probably tell him to go to hell before he would leave his work to trudge with Jack through the environment to look for some imagined enemies.

So, Carter it was. To her credit, she didn't even flinch at his order. Calmly she strolled over to her laptop and set it up for further tests, before she geared up. Hands steadily on the P90 strapped to her vest she walked over to where he waited impatiently. Jack shot Teal'c a meaningful gaze, telling him nonverbally to keep an eye on the situation, until they would return and the Jaffa inclined his head in silent agreement.

Then, with large steps, Jack set to the task at hand. With Carter trailing behind him he disappeared in the thick underbrush, intending to circle the ruins in a wide loop so he could assess their safety here.

Silently, they made their way through trees, bushes and undergrowth, Jack's eyes scanning their surroundings with trained accuracy, deciding in the split of a second if there was some potential threat. Still, everything about this planet was as silent as it had been since their arrival. There was nothing to hear in their closer vicinity other than their breathing and the sounds of their combat boots trampling through the thick underbrush. And yet, it still felt all wrong to him.

It took Carter about an hour, until she finally sighed and asked humbly from behind him: "Sir, this would be easier if you told me, what exactly we're looking for."

Jack was silent for a moment, contemplating her question, before answering: "Yeah, Carter, that's the point. I don't exactly know. I just know there's something there."

"Something there?", she echoed, sounding confused.

"You can't feel it?", he inquired.

"Feel what?", she asked back.

"That we're being watched.", he explained curtly.

"Being watched?", she repeated, sounding all but nonplussed.

"Yes, watched. As in: someone's observing us.", Jack emphasized, slightly annoyed. Guess, Carter hadn't picked up on it either, had she? Was he the only one realizing it? Or had he finally gone nuts?

For a moment he wondered if she thought it as well when she failed to answer. Continuing on his path, Jack waited a few heartbeats for her to acknowledge what he had said – or call him a nutcase, whatever. But nothing came. Wordlessly, Jack waited some more, giving her time to come up with some diplomatic reply, but she didn't say a thing.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Carter?", he asked gruffly.

Again no answer.

Turning, Jack was about to give her a piece of mind for staying silent when her superior officer demanded an answer of her, when he suddenly was presented with an unexpected sight. She wasn't behind him anymore. Actually, she wasn't with him anymore, at all.

"Carter?", he called out, feeling slight panic rise within him, when he got no reaction whatsoever. His eyes jumped over his surroundings, trying to make out the tell-tale patch of blonde hair within the entirely green environment. Nothing. Wherever he looked, nothing.

Cursing under his breath, Jack began to retrace his own steps to search for her. Worry gripped his stomach with iron fists. Carter would never stray from him without asking for permission first. If something would have caught her attention, she would have informed him of it. She would never just wander off on her own. So there had to have happened something to her, he was sure! Cold chills ran over his body at that thought. Jack didn't really want to imagine what could have happened to her on an alien planet they hadn't scouted and assessed for potential threats yet. He really didn't want to, but he couldn't help the thoughts popping up in his head unbidden. He pushed them aside resolutely, focusing on his mission of finding her. Losing his head because of his emotions was a rookie's mistake he certainly wouldn't make.

Suddenly, Jack was presented with the blonde spot he'd searched for. Stomping through some ferns without a care for stealth, he hurried over to where she lay on the grassy ground. She had fallen on her stomach, lying outstretched with her weapons buried under her body. Her arms were lax at her side and from the scratches at her chin and cheeks, Jack could tell she hadn't even tried to intercept her fall. She was lying unmoving, her eyes open, staring straight ahead, but unseeing. Fear sank into his stomach and cold pumped through his veins at seeing her state. Please don't let her be…!

Jack bent over to check on her, when suddenly some jolt shot through his body. For a few seconds electrical tingles raced through his body and then black dots swam in his vision. Jack bit down hard on his teeth and felt his body convulse involuntarily. Trying his hardest to fight to get control back over his body, Jack realized that it had been a trap. What- or whoever had gotten to Carter had used her as bait for him. And he'd walked right into their setup, his worry for Carter clouding his alertness. Shit.

The question was, did they want Carter as well or only him? If he had been their only target, then they would have no reason to assure Carter's well-being. They would have killed her to avoid having a possible eye witness…

Although his whole body had gone numb, Jack could feel himself falling suddenly, but he didn't notice the impact. He only realized he was now level with Carter's eyes, her blue colored iris' he gazed into looking back at him but lacking the usual spark he always found in her eyes. They were blank and unseeing, holding nothing of the woman he knew and cherished.

Groaning, Jack tried to lift himself up or at least reach over to her, but his body failed him. He wanted to check on her, needed to assure himself if she was still alive, but he couldn't. Already, he could feel the darkness pressing down on him.

"Car…ter…!", he whispered with his last strength, before he fell into the unending, dark abyss that loomed at the corner of his consciousness.

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When Jack came to, it was a slow, meticulous fight for consciousness. First it was just a vague feeling of coming awake and it took him some time to be able to willfully feel his body. Everything was fuzzy and he was thoroughly disorientated.

Groaning, Jack tried to open his eyes. He managed on the third attempt. The picture he was presented with though was indistinct at best. Annoyed, Jack tried to kick-start his other senses. Feeling came next. So he could make out that he was lying flat on his back on some warm, but hard underground, feeling some unfamiliar weight all over his body. Then hearing returned, but all he could make out was some vague, dull droning somewhere in the background.

Jack tried to shake his head. He felt like being under water, or rather like under high amounts of morphine. All drugged up. He'd injured himself often and heavy enough over the years that he'd forced the Docs to put him under some pretty severe amounts of pain reducers so he could recuperate. So, yeah, he knew what he was talking about, here!

What the hell had happened, anyway? Why had he been drugged up? Had he injured himself on some mission yet again and forgotten? Mission. Mission… Why did that ring a bell somewhere?

Suddenly, memory returned full-force and Jack forced himself through the hazy fog surrounding his head. The mission! The ruins. The feeling of being watched. SG-1. His friends. Carter injured or possibly…!

Jack struggled to sit up and take in his surroundings, but whatever weight sat on his poor chest only intensified all the more, refusing him any room to move. The monotonous ringing in the background stopped abruptly and for the first time since he'd awoken, Jack realized he might not be alone.

"Carter…? Daniel…? T…?", he slurred, barely audible. Oh, fer cryin' out loud, could someone please remove their power generator from his chest? Forcing open his eyes once more, Jack became instantly aware that it was not their generator that restricted him. Looking himself down, Jack realized that what appeared to be thick, heavy leather bands were wrapped around his chest, stomach, thighs and ankles, binding him tightly. His arms were held against his upper torso, secured under the heavy bands. He was held captive!

Guess, whoever they were, he'd managed to stumble upon the enemy, whose prying eyes he'd felt all along. Great. And while Jack was glad that, apparently, he hadn't gone insane and was imagining things, this really was not the way he would have preferred for this to go down.

Sighing exasperated, Jack took a second to gather up more of his strength. It really shouldn't surprise him, he mused. He'd been held captive often enough to be familiar with this situation. He'd been captured by enough foes, on Earth or off-world, to consider it a part of his job, even if one he tried to avoid at all cost. In fact he was familiar enough with it that he was able to hold back the panicky rush of fear his body tried to conjure up in an automatic reaction to the unknown threat he was finding himself in. Jack willed himself to stay calm. It wouldn't help him at all to lose his head. He had to stay focused and concentrate on finding a way out. Look around and try to assess your surroundings, he ordered himself inwardly. He needed to find a weak spot he could explore to get out of this situation.

Jack's eyes shot open once more and this time he was able to see his environment clearly. He was looking at a corner. Or, more accurately, the angle between a wall and the ceiling. Both were dark, so it were only the even darker shadows that made him realize what he was actually staring at. Jack felt the slight urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Really, combine it with the stench of disinfect and he could have believed himself to be in the SGC's infirmary. But the fact that it was lacking the tell-tale smell of antiseptics told him that he wasn't in the infirmary. Damn it. For the first time in his life Jack would have welcomed the thought of the Napoleonic power monger walking in with one of her ridiculously long needles…

Jack twisted his head to his right side. He was half-lying, half-leaning back upright on what seemed to be a mix of a stretcher and a hard table, tied to it by the thick bands that were effectively restricting his movements. The stretcher (he decided to call it that way) was tilted backwards at a slight angle, set up to stand solid in a position between horizontal and vertical, and was fused to the ground. It was made out of some thick, unyielding material akin to steel that felt rather unfamiliar to Jack.

Jack tried to rock his body back and forth cautiously, trying the hold he was restricted with. His restraints didn't even sway. In contrast they seemed to harden even further when he moved. He was aware that that didn't make any sense, but to him it certainly felt true. The moment he wriggled or moved, the steel-like material beneath him seemed to become harder and the heavy bands crossing over his body tighter, immobilizing him to the point of feeling frozen in place. No luck getting free from that without some help from elsewhere, he concluded.

Jack looked on and realized he was in a room. It wasn't overly large, but certainly much roomier than any cell he'd been held captive in before. Still, it was as much of a cell as all the others had been. The ceiling was low and he couldn't see a single window. The only exit he could make out was a double door across the room, as far away from him as possible. It had no handle or maybe it was opened by some alien technology attached to it he couldn't see, but Jack would bet his cabin that he was closed in and the doors could only be opened from the other side.

Jack inhaled deeply and became suddenly aware of the light flow of air that washed over his face. Air conditioning. Interesting. And not only, because at least he didn't need to worry about air supply. Coupled with the fact that the room he was held in was longer than high, there were no windows and air and light needed to be provided told the experienced warrior that he was underground. Just like in Cheyenne Mountain.

Hm, talk about light… Jack lifted his eyes to look out for the source of lights that enlightened his cell. The lights in the room were dimmed, allowing him only a certain amount of visibility, but they certainly helped him to make out the contours of the alien environment. Jack searched, but he couldn't see any lamps that provided the undoubtedly artificial lights. It seemed to protrude straight from the ceiling. Speaking of the ceiling, Jack noticed faint, colorful spots of light travel over his head. Sometimes there would be a blue spark that raced across the ceiling over him, sometimes it would be a blinking red dot or a green flicker of light. He wondered what that had to mean. He tried to follow the light impulses and realized that they travelled to some bulky shadows stationed all around him. First he thought it to be some kind of wall, but the holes in it and the low humming he'd made out the moment his ears had decided to continue their job led him to believe the bulky shapes were some kind of machines. But for what, he had no clue. Jack watched the colored spots travel to the machines, disappear within them and evoke a faint blinking response in kind. Boy, Carter would have a field day had she been able to analyze those things!

The thought made Jack halt immediately. Carter!

Jack shot up an inch, only to feel his restraints practically cut into his flesh. Grunting, he fell back against the hard stretcher beneath him, trying to will those bands to let up on him. And after a moment, they thankfully did. When Jack was finally able to breathe again and sucked in air, another fact filtered into his brain. He was still fully equipped. He could feel the edges of his P90 cut into his chest, his Berretta press into his thigh and his various knives poke him. His heavy protection vest eased the bands' grip on him somewhat, but the innumerable things he'd stuffed in it dug uncomfortably into his upper body. Jack realized he had been strapped to his confinement with all the weapons he possessed still on his body. Huh. That was certainly new. Not that he wanted to complain. Frustratingly, this didn't help him in any way, because after a futile try, Jack realized he couldn't even move his hands the tiny inches he needed to grip one of his weapons, let alone handle them. He was armed to the teeth, but unable to use any of his weapons. He was effectively helpless, even with half the SGC's armory stack available to him. Talk about some irony, here!

Jack snarled frustrated. He waited another second and lastly the bands allowed him enough movement so he could shift his head. He turned it to his left side and immediately felt his entire motions freeze in surprise. His eyes were glued to the unexpected sight and once again, Jack reached out subconsciously, only to get restrained by the highly annoying restrictions all over his body. Carter! She was there, next to him, on a stretcher of her own.

Jack drank in the sight of her, relieved for the shortest moment, until all the unusual details about her filtered in. She was – hopefully – unconscious. Meaning, her eyes were closed and her mouth hung slightly open. Under the dim light and the colored spots flickering over them, her pale complexion looked positively waxen, of an ashy grey with spots of grime, dirt and dried blood staining her normally flawless skin. Her body was strapped to the stretcher with the same bands that restricted him, too. Jack observed the bands running over her chest, stomach, thighs and ankles that kept her against the stretcher beneath her, before he narrowed his eyes, focusing his gaze onto her upper body. Breathe, he ordered her wordlessly, trying to will himself to see her chest rise with the intake of breath. Unfortunately, he did not. And he tried to tell himself that it was just her bulky BDU jacket that hid it from his sight. She just had to be alive. She had to! After all, what would their enemies want with her, if she'd been dead? Dissect her maybe, an internal voice spoke up that Jack so didn't want to hear right now. He knew that, if they had run into an alien species, those aliens could still learn much about them from a corpse, so Carter would still be valuable to them, even if she was dead. Maybe they were even both supposed to be dead and this was an autopsy lab? It surely was a lab, that much Jack could say. Wrong equipment for an infirmary of some sort, he figured, considering the heavy restricts they were literally placed under. And also, why should the aliens shoot them down to nurse them up again afterwards?

Still the thought that, maybe, they had both been supposed to die for another race to gather data on them was unsettling at best. Jack grimaced at the thought of having perhaps 'accidentally' survived while Carter had died, before he felt a sudden rush of anger surge through him. Suddenly he got angry, angry at himself, and forced himself to quash that thought. Carter wasn't dead! She couldn't be!

Jack looked back at her lax, unmoving form that was only held upright by her restraints. Her head had lolled onto her shoulder, her lashes an unsettling dark contrast to her positively white face. Please, be alive, he prayed silently. He was aware that he was clinging to a faint hope, but he couldn't help it. The mere thought of her being strapped down next to him, dead, was hurting him almost physically to the point of being unbearable. Then again, did dead people need to be strapped down…?

"Carter?", he whispered roughly.

She didn't stir.

Cursing, he called out for her once more, louder. Still no reaction whatsoever. Jack gritted his teeth tensely, trying to hold onto what little control he had left of his emotions. He wouldn't allow her to be dead. She couldn't have died on him, here. She couldn't have left him without… Before he could have… When the last thing they'd done was fighting…

So Jack resolutely refused that she could have died. She was unconscious, nothing more!

Looking at her slack face was getting painful, so Jack averted his eyes. His gaze travelled over her dirtied uniform and absentmindedly, he realized that she also had all her weapons with her. Her P90 was pressing into her chest at an awkward angle that had to hurt, but she wasn't acknowledging it in any way. Which couldn't be a good sign.

God, by now Jack seriously regretted he'd ever ordered her to go on this scout with him! He should have gone alone and leave her at their makeshift camp with Daniel and Teal'c… Again, Jack snapped up, but this time careful to only lift his head. Daniel and Teal'c!

He scanned the room quickly, but thoroughly. Neither the archaeologist nor the Jaffa were anywhere to be seen. Which could either mean that they were held elsewhere or that they hadn't been captured in the first place. But seeing that he and Carter were held together, what sense would it make for the enemy to place the other half of his team somewhere else? So Jack seriously hoped that the rest of SG-1 had managed to escape imprisonment, and, perhaps, were already on their way with reinforcements.

The thought managed to soothe Jack somewhat, seeing that it was his only hope so far. He was imprisoned somewhere on an unfamiliar, hostile planet (given that he was still on said planet), had no means whatsoever to rescue himself, couldn't assure himself of his fellow-imprisoned 2IC's well-being and had no idea, if or when the SGC would gain knowledge of their current status.

Well, at least it couldn't get any worse now, could it, he tried to comfort himself.

All of a sudden, the lights above him lit up, illuminating the room with a brightness that had Jack blinking. He heard a scraping sound in the background and assumed that the doors swung open. Undoubtedly to let someone in. Someone that came to check on them. And that was the best case scenario Jack could think of.

Jack gritted his teeth and tried to see something. Every time he had been imprisoned, the moment he had regained consciousness, the moment lights had switched on and the moment someone had entered his cell had been the moment the questioning had begun. Had been the moment he had wished later on he would have failed to come to at.

So Jack steeled himself and waited, careful to school his expression into the mask of void blankness he had perfected in his Special Forces days. He had been in dire situations before. He had gotten out of them before. Somehow. And somehow, he would deal with this, too.

His eyes switched back to Carter for a brief moment. She didn't show any sign that she was aware of what was going on around her. Whether she was unconscious or… not, she was completely oblivious to the situation they were in. And for now, Jack wished for it to stay that way. He had no way of knowing what was to come for them. Maybe it was better for Carter to sit this one out.

Bracing himself, Jack turned back upon hearing footsteps. Here we go, he thought cynically.