Chapter 3: Escape Plan
Sam got up to retrieve her second cup of coffee of the morning, masking a yawn behind her hand as she returned to her seat next to Teal'c. It was silent in the briefing room aside from the ticking of the clock and the tapping of Cam's pen against his palm as he drummed it there in boredom.
"Perhaps we should proceed with the briefing General Landry," Teal'c folded his hands on the desk in front of him, glancing at Sam as she sipped her coffee.
Landry ignored him "has either Doctor Jackson or Vala signed in this morning?" he asked Cam, agitation evident in his tone of voice.
"No sir" Cam reported "maybe Teal'c is right,"
"Daniel is supposed to be the one briefing us," Sam said, replacing the mug on the table, her hands curled around it.
"Sam are you all right?" Cam frowned in concern at her, turning slightly in his chair.
"I'm fine," she said "I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night – I was thinking,"
"Oh?" so maybe he wouldn't understand everything she said if she went off on one of her techno babbles but some of it might make some sense, he had read every mission report she had written, that any one of the original SG1 had written. A fact he was rather proud of actually.
"Sir," she addressed Landry "maybe Daniel and Vala are under the influence of some sort of device back on that planet,"
"I doubt it," Cam contributed "they didn't seem entirely up to things like that, a little preoccupied by 'the wonders of life',"
Sam looked sceptic "I'm not so sure,"
"Would we have not found it upon scouting the land?" Teal'c suggested.
"Not necessarily," she shifted in her seat, straightening more "I mean we were didn't check anything thoroughly enough to be certain,"
"Well with Daniel and Vala getting frisky it was kind of hard to search for anything. I don't know about you guys but I certainly didn't want to see, and I don't think the locals would have appreciated it either, the free porn show curtsey of our resident thief and her friend the archaeologist,"
"Mitchell," Landry warned, although seeing his point.
"Yes sir," Cam nodded his head, then to Sam "so you want to go back to the planet?"
"Couldn't hurt could it sir?"
"Except that two of you end up like them," Landry got to his feet "no, go and find them, get them back on base,"
They all stood as Landry left the room; a brief look of discomfort was shared at the prospect of two of them ending up in the same predicament.
"Of course," Cam tried to tone the matter down by repeating something mentioned earlier "they could just be playing off their own backs,"
"Daniel Jackson's car seems to be most oddly parked Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c mused as he unfolded his bulky frame from the passenger seat of Cam's car.
"Parked? It looks more like it was abandoned," he replied as he and Sam headed up the path into the apartment building.
"Daniel?" Sam knocked on the door listening for any sounds to indicate anyone was there "Daniel it's me Sam," she tapped again.
Cam waited a moment before hammering a little harder on the door "Yo Jackson! You in there?"
"It does not appear that Daniel Jackson and Vala Maldoran are here at present,"
Sam tried the door and was a little disturbed the find it swung open easily. Cam's jaw dropped at the state of the place, food wrappers, beer bottles were all over the floor, pitched in darkness the only light filtering through from closed curtains and the door way the trio stood in.
"Daniel," Sam called again a little louder "Vala?"
A low groan from the bedroom had Cam heading for there, Sam and Teal'c closed behind "Daniel!" Sam breathed in relief.
"Go 'way!" Daniel's sleep haggard voice came from beneath the duvet, followed by an indignant yelp and a "do not poke me!"
Teal'c raised his eyebrow and looked at Cam who looked momentarily horrified "Daniel Jackson are you and Vala both dressed suitably for us to view you safely?"
The duvet moved some more "no,"
Sam tugged it back anyway, smiling at the wide-eyed look of surprise on Mitchell's face "he was lying," she said, the removal of the quilt having revealed Vala wearing one of Daniel's shirts and Daniel in sweatpants and t-shirt as they reflexively tensed against the chilled morning air.
"I can see that," he replied, choosing the ignore the expression of pure amusement on Teal'c's face "how did you-"
"Turn off the light," Nanith squinted and buried his face further into the pillow as Akhiyaa curled into him "s'too bright,"
"Its called daylight Daniel. I know we can do a lot of really amazing things but I don't we can turn off the sun," Cam smiled in both mirth and sympathy.
Akhiyaa rested her head on the pillow mere inches from Nanith's face "I believe the substance we drank last night-" she ran her hand through silky hair, coming to rest at the back of his head.
"Beer. The woman in the market house called it beer," he winced at the pain his pounding head.
"It was potent,"
Both their voices smooth and soft, barely audible to the other three people in the room, except the occasional piece "market house?" Cam mouthed at Sam who although recognising what it meant was a little confused as to why the liquor store would be called such a thing.
"It is time for you to get up," Teal'c announced.
Curled together in a tight ball in the centre of the bed two heads shook violently then stopped when it caused yet more discomfort.
Taking control of the situation Cam clapped his hands together "come on sleepyheads, time to get up,"
"Leave us," Akhiyaa answered him, her nose wrinkled in disgust "we are in great pain,"
"Nothing a cup of coffee won't cure," getting increasingly more disturbed when it did not serve to rouse Daniel any further, he turned to Sam "maybe we need to get them to the infirmary,"
Sam nodded her agreement "General Landry is waiting for us,"
"We do not care," Akhiyaa replied shortly.
"How do you know whether he cares or not?" Cam snapped at her, gesturing at Daniel.
"We love each other. United as one body and soul, like the moon and the stars, like-"
"Okay, okay," Cam cut her off, sighing "just get up. Please," he added as an afterthought.
"She said no," Daniel murmured "now as I think we have already requested. Leave,"
"There's definitely something wrong with them," Cam surmised, mentally smacking himself in the head at stating something so obvious.
Strangled exclamations of surprise broke through Cam's self rebuttal and he raised his head to see Teal'c, Vala under one arm and Daniel under the other as he strode purposefully towards the bathroom.
He dropped them both unceremoniously in the shower and turned on the water, soaking their clothing in mere seconds.
He left promptly "I have found a shower can be a most effective way of awakening,"
Poorly masked matching smirks met his eyes and he smiled at them, all thoughts of amusement faded when giggles erupted from the room followed by splashing and Vala's squeals of delight.
"Nothing" Carolyn reported.
"What do you mean nothing? There has to be something wrong with them!" Cam cried in disbelieve at the doctor's prognosis.
"Well if there is I can't find it" her arms folded neatly across her chest and she fixed him with an expectant look "their blood alcohol is up by a mere minority, it should be back to normal by mid afternoon providing they both have lunch,"
"Are you sure you can't find anything?" Sam proceeded in the questioning as Cam turned, throwing his arms above his head in exasperation.
"As I've just told Colonel Mitchell, and I said yesterday, there is nothing medically wrong with either Doctor Jackson or Vala," she seemed slightly exhausted with repeating herself.
"Do you not see that their behaviour is most abnormal?" Teal'c fixed his steady glare on Daniel and Vala who desisted in their flirtatious activities until he turned his head to Carolyn once more.
"I'm not saying there isn't something strange going on with them but I there is nothing that I can treat them for." She tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear, her ponytail flicking in irritation the only indication that she was as disturbed by this as the rest of them.
"Isolation," Cam turned back round, explaining "we put them in one of the isolation rooms until we can sort this out,"
"I'll see what I can do," no sooner had she finished than Landry entered briskly.
"Do it. Mitchell, Carter, Teal'c? Get to the bottom of this.
"Let us out of here!" Nanith screamed at the device that he had searched Daniel's mind for the name off and found rather quickly.
"Nanith," Akhiyaa breathed, tearfully "why do they lock us up like wild beasts and traders? We have do no harm,"
Nanith jumped from the chair he had placed nearer to the camera and rushed over to her, arms open as she dived to his chest "we do their friends good not bad," she rested her head against his shoulder as his arms enfolded her frame in a tight embrace.
"My love I do not know why they have acted like this. I vow we leave," he stroked her hair gently, twirling the curls around his fingers idly.
"Now?" She gazed up at him with pleading eyes, pulling away.
"We shall," he whispered, getting to his feet and rapping curtly on the door.
"Doctor Jackson," the airman addressed him.
"I wish to use the facilities," he said politely, arms behind his back.
The airman unlocked the door and before he could open it even half way a fist smashed into his face, collapsing to his knees another blow fell to his back.
Akhiyaa laughed in delight and clapped her hands, bouncing on the balls of her feet as another airman came running and received a well delivered hit to the stomach before Nanith seized Akhiyaa's hand and they slipped from the room.
