Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Abnormal
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Something was pecking at Sam's nose. Instinctively, she tried to swat whatever it was off her face, irritated that anything had the nerve to disturb her sleep. But the thing felt rather large and it wouldn't go away. Suddenly, she remembered that she shouldn't be sleeping, that Sg-1 were on a mission. What was she doing laying down then? Was it night? Had she been injured or fallen unconscious? An imaged flashed behind her still closed eyelids, and she thought of the Ancient device she had found. Was that what has caused her confusion? Her thoughts were again interrupted by an insistent pecking on her nose, this time at a quicker tempo. "Fine," she mumbled. "I'm up, I'm up." She got up on her elbows and opened her eyes. And there staring her in the face, was a bird-like creature that stood probably two feet tall. Gasping, Carter rolled over and stood up, pulling her P-90 protectively in front of her. The bird just tilted his head innocently and flapped its oddly shaped wings until it had taken off brokenly to the green tinted sky.
Where am I? Sam wondered. She certainly wasn't in the small room containing the Ancient console. She didn't even know if she was on the same planet. No, she probably wasn't, because this place seemed so much different, so very abstract with its odd colored sky, weird animals, and the trees here were very...random; they were bent out of normal shapes and twisted. Their trunks were extremely unusual colors, too, ranging from the normal brown to a stunning burgundy to neon orange to a vibrant pink. The world itself seemed enveloped in an unusual fog that wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but slightly unsettling none the less. Sam scoffed when she realized the whole place looked like a page right out of a Dr. Seuss book. Things were very odd here, indeed.
Remembering that things has gone awry when she touched the equipment, against the direct order of her CO, (she was going to be in trouble for that later) Sam looked around for an obvious way back, but she didn't see one. The Major huffed. She had a feeling she was in this for the long haul.
Inconveniently, Sam had left her pack back with the Ancient console. That meant she didn't have anything in the way of an energy scanner to possibly find another device to get back to the rest of the team. Also, survival supplies were out if she was stranded for any significant period of time.
Walking around, Carter started looking more in depth for another console or a controller of some sort. After being sure there was nothing in the immediate vicinity, she started hiking through the trees, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The fog seemed to be lifting, which was a good thing, however, the sun was slowly setting. Sam really didn't want to be caught in the dark without shelter, or a fire of some sort. Immediately, she wondered how the odd wood would burn. Touching the bark of a nearby tree, Sam thought it felt something akin to hard velvet. Won't be burning that tonight, Sam thought.
After hiking for probably another hour, Carter realized that the the greenish sky was turning to a more normal dusk color. And while night seemed to come slowly to this planet, the sun would be completely gone before long. Sam's need to find a place to camp was now the priority. And, just as the last sliver of the sun behind her sank down below the planet, Sam noticed the trees start to thin, and the forest opened up to a clearing. She leaned up against an tree on the edge of the open area and fell into a light sleep, deciding she would wake up in half hour intervals.
The fourth time Carter woke up to check her surroundings, it was the dead of night, and the erie fog was back. The temperature had also dropped dramatically, making her shiver. Sam noticed something different and she sat up and looked around. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Sam had a gut feeling that she shouldn't go back to sleep. Standing up, she brushed the dirt off her pants and scanned the area again, still not seeing anything obvious. But if Sam knew anything, it was to trust her instincts.
And then she felt it. A soft rumbling beneath her feet was growing slowly, but surely. Sam's first thought was an earthquake, or there were lots of very large animals running that she didn't know about. Curiously, the ground beneath her groaned and Sam tried to move, but the growing rumbling was quickly making it difficult for her to even stay standing, let alone try to get away from it. A couple trees around her started collapsing and cracks started forming in the ground. The cracks became bigger, as the shaking still increased. Then, the cracks parted a few feet away from Carter and finally the rumbling became too much and Sam fell...right through the ground.
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Jack groaned. He could tell he was on the ground, which was not a place he was known to be fond of. His back was aching, too, which meant he had probably been here awhile. After a moment, he remembered that Daniel had touched the dang Ancient thing. You would think someone with so many degrees would learn not to touch strange objects without safety equipment or a poker stick...or something. When he opened his eyes, though, he forgot about the ever curious Daniel. For now. Because the Colonel was definitely not in that little shack they were in five minutes ago. The sky was green and the trees were weird, which, to O'Neill, said that he probably wasn't even on the same planet anymore. He stood up and turned to see Daniel laying knocked out on the ground behind him. Walking over to him, he shook his shoulder. "Psst. Daniel. Wakie wakie."
Suddenly, the linguist shot up from the ground and opened his eyes. "I'm up. What's wrong?" After fishing out his glasses from his pocket, Daniel shoved them onto his face. Only to see a relaxed, smirking Jack looking down at him.
"Relax, Daniel. No one's on fire, "The Colonel said smugly.
Jackson narrowed his eyes indignantly. Then, realizing his surroundings, he stood up.
"We're not in Kansas anymore, are we Danny-boy?" Jack scoped the area again lazily and put his hands on top of his gun. Looking once more at the odd colored sky, he sighed. "Nope. Definitely not."
"Huh. Guess the device was some sort of transportation mechanism..." Jackson spotted a tree that was a very particular color of pink and pushed his glasses higher on his nose. "Is that...?"
The Colonel bounced his head once. "Yup."
Daniel's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. " Well then. This is different." And then, realizing something was missing, he looked around again. "Where's Sam? Wouldn't she be here, too?"
"It's been a little while. I bet Carter just went off to look for food or something. She would have to; she left her pack with the device."
"It's only been an hour or so, hasn't it?"
Jack shrugged. "Yeah, I'd say so. But I'm not too worried. Yet. She'll show up eventually."
"So, what? We just wait here?"
"No." The Colonel looked up. "I think it's getting dark, and my watch says it's about eight. So we should look for a place to set up camp."
Jackson nodded, and the two started walking towards the lowering sun. When Jack's clock said it was around eleven, it was almost completely dark. The Colonel stopped walking when he came across a sudden, very large, clearing. It was difficult to see all the way around and to the other side of it, because of the darkness. Still, the Colonel judged it for a good place to set up camp and he pulled off his pack.
After a short while, O'Neill had set up the tent from his pack and settled down. On the way to his sleeping bag, he turned to Daniel. "Hey, you got first watch."
Daniel scoffed. "Yeah, thanks."
Jack was already in his sleeping bag. "Wake me up in three."
"Will do." Jackson sighed and sat down, leaning up against a tree. With nothing much to occupy him in the darkness, his thoughts turned to the writings they had found in the temple and by the device. The fact that anyone even affiliated with the Ancients were wanting to send someone 'out where the demons were' was not only odd, but against their most basic morals and laws. What possibly could drive them to do something so drastic? A common saying automatically came to mind; drastic times call for drastic measures. Were the circumstances so out of the ordinary? Or did it have to do with one of the wars the Ancients had been in? The ruins did seem not the average Ancient style. Maybe these were from when they were still a relatively young race and their morals were different. There were just too many variables to decide yet. Daniel would just have to wait and see what else came up. He hated waiting like that though, because you never knew when the right info would come up. Or if it would ever come at all.
Jackson looked at his watch and was surprised when he saw that almost two hours had passed. Looking out into the darkness, Daniel suddenly felt the chill that had probably been there since the sun had fully gone down. He shivered and pulled his knees up into a loose ball, and hoped the next hour went by quickly.
Then he heard it. A distant rumbling. Quickly attributing it to an earthquake, he scooted over to the tent and shook the lumpy sleeping bag inside of it. "Jack. Jack. Wake up."
Instantly, Colonel O'Neill was awake. "What's-" Then he felt it, too. "Is that...an earthquake?"
"Think so. Might want to get out of the tent." Already the rumbling was growing louder.
"Yeah. Probably a good idea." The two crawled out and sat on the ground, waiting for the quake to pass. Suddenly, large dark shapes emerged from the distant treeline, only discernible in the darkness because of their massive shape. They seemed to be zeroing in on the opposite side of the clearing but stopped short almost simultaneously. After a short beat, they growled loudly in unison and turned to face Daniel and the Colonel's direction. Immediately, the two knew they were in trouble, if they hadn't known as soon as they first saw the animals.
The pair tried to sink into the natural camouflage of the trees, even though they hoped that the darkness would be good enough of cover on its own. Quietly, they moved backwards, unsure if the beasts had an acute sense of hearing, sight, or even smell. The Colonel deduced that they probably had some sort of heightened sense if they roamed in this dark of night. When there were several feet of trees between the edge of the clearing and themselves, the two relaxed ever so slightly.
Jack leaned against a tree, still listening hard for any more sound from the animals. As his back pressed against the odd bark, though, he felt some sort of grown in lever at the base of the trunk. Against his better judgement, he pressed down on it, and somehow, he and Daniel went up.