Late afternoon had fallen and neither Jack nor Daniel had caught sight of their alien friends. Wherever and however they disappeared remained a mystery, but they seemed good at it.
Daniel sighed as he brushed his hands against the tree branches that jutted out into the makeshift road. He knew someone had made the paths that he and Jack kept stumbling upon. He wondered if there was a settlement nearby or if this planet was in ruin. The paths were old and overgrown, but even now they could tell they'd been traveled recently.
Daniel thought back to the aliens. Despite the creepiness that surrounded their one-time companions, Daniel couldn't help but feel lost without them. He had wanted, or needed, to understand them. This went beyond just idle curiosity.
Daniel felt like he would fall apart without them.
He didn't tell Jack. Part of him knew that he should be completely honest about how he felt, about the strange magnetic pull he had towards the beings. Daniel knew how important it was to be upfront about these things, especially when it came to planetary travel. He knew the dangers that faced off-world teams if their commanding officer wasn't aware of his team members' health and state of mind. It could be disastrous. Daniel would never willingly undermine something that important.
But there was this other part of him that just didn't care. It was that part of him that had started to worry him.
He glanced back, sorting through the deep greens of the forest, to someplace where they had last seen the aliens. He wondered where they could have gone. He sighed.
Jack seemed to think it was a good thing.
Since the aliens had vanished, Jack wasn't as edgy. Granted, he wasn't skipping through the forest, but he'd lost some of the tension and gruffness that he'd held only an hour ago. But that didn't mean Jack wasn't vigilant. On the contrary, Daniel could see Jack's ever-watchful gaze as he scouted the area. Side to side and even up and down, Jack seemed to be searching for anything that could help them or waiting for something to strike.
Daniel used this as his opportunity to badger Jack with a bunch of questions. "How did we get here? What happened?"
Jack stole a glance over to Daniel before he continued with his scouting. "What do you remember?"
It wasn't much, Daniel had to admit. He could remember General Hammond giving them the okay to leave the SGC and then…
"I remember the pit."
Whatever ease Jack had adopted vanished as quickly as the aliens. He stopped. "That's it?"
Daniel went to open his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it instead. What could he say? He couldn't remember this abandoned village that Jack had mentioned. He couldn't remember ever seeing Sam and Teal'c on this planet.
Refusing to give into panic, Daniel closed his eyes, licking his lips as he concentrated. He had to have some memory. His thoughts couldn't have been erased into oblivion.
Daniel sighed and opened his eyes. "I can't remember." Upon seeing the displeasure in Jack's face, Daniel offered a nervous chuckle and scratched his chin. "But, on the bright side, my mind isn't as foggy." He guessed whatever drug was in his system must have worn off.
Jack shook his head angrily. "See? I'm telling you. It's those damn aliens."
"Jack, we don't even know this has anything to do with them."
"I'm thinking it's a little more than a coincidence that you start feeling better after they do their magic vanishing act."
Daniel crossed his arms and glared at Jack. He was unwilling to concede that point just yet.
"Look, Daniel, all I'm saying is that it's better that we go this alone. Once we find Carter and Teal'c, we'll think of a plan to get off this rock."
But that was ignoring the obvious. "What if we never find Teal'c or Sam?"
Daniel should have known he was asking for it. Jack's glare bore into him like daggers of death. His anger made him seem so much darker.
"Well, we're not going to find them if we stand around here all day."
"You're the one who stopped."
Jack just shook his head and turned back to the dirt road. Despite having only won a small victory for himself, Daniel smiled and followed Jack down the path.
By the time dusk approached, Daniel was beginning to have doubts that they would find Sam and Teal'c. Or, even worse, that they would last very long on their own.
Daniel had walked miles upon miles several times in his past. Several times on SG-1. But now, he was tired. He was tired of walking, tired of their circumstances, and tired of Jack.
Mumbling to himself, Daniel snagged a twig off a nearby tree and scratched at the bark. So far, Jack hadn't been very helpful in refreshing his memory. They'd tried discussing it five times now, and every time Jack had mentioned the camp they'd made, the village they'd found, or the MALP readings that Sam had questioned, Daniel had drawn a blank. Finally, Daniel had become so irritated by the whole thing he'd asked Jack to stop.
They hadn't spoken about it ever since.
Instead, Daniel decided to keep a mental catalogue of the flora and fauna they happened to pass along the roadway. He'd noted several different kinds of trees, none of which he could recognize, and various bushes to match. Most of the bushes and low lying trees tended to flower, but nothing that seemed to set off his allergies. What he did notice were that the flowers tended to be bright, almost fluorescent, and stuck out like neon signs in the brush.
Daniel found he loved the colors of the flowers. Every so often, he'd see a firefly or two hiding under the large flapping petals of the flowers, or sometimes he'd find what he called a caterpillar – though it had three "heads" – slinking down the stems.
As for larger animals, Daniel hadn't found any. He kept his eyes cast downward as he searched for anything that could resemble a squirrel or a rabbit. Anything that would hold a sense familiarity.
Maybe that is why he enjoyed the flowers so much. At least he knew what they were.
Or maybe it was just the color. He'd noticed fairly quickly that the colors on this planet were full of vibrancy and almost pulsed with a life of their own. He couldn't help but feel taken by the throbbing greens of the forest, or the rainbow fireflies, or the pearly slickness of the blues and peaches from the aliens, or even the pulsing orange of the setting sun.
No matter the color, it always felt warm and inviting.
But even the colors couldn't wash away the uneasiness Daniel was feeling over their situation.
"It's getting dark, " Daniel said. "What are we going to do?"
Jack slowed his pace, but didn't answer him. Frankly, he didn't need to. Both of them knew that they only had two options. They could brave the night and keep walking, defenseless, or they could find a clearing and camp out, defenseless.
Neither sounded very appealing to Daniel, but he knew at some point they would have to rest no matter the circumstances.
"I say we have another hour or so until we lose all light. Let's keep moving."
Daniel nodded. They were just delaying the inevitable, but for now it was okay with him.
For the next half hour, Daniel went back to his survey of the planet, watching calmly as its small moon became visible. It lacked the familiar pockmarks that their moon had and instead had a new shiny quality to it, as if it were a recently polished plate. Even as it fought with the setting sun for dominance, the silver glow that it cast over the treetops was enough to make it noticeable.
Immediately, Daniel thought of old childhood rhymes and fairy tales. Which, really, only angered him even more. He could remember silly tales about the cow and the moon and the plate and the spoon but he couldn't remember something as simple as how he got here?
"Hey, diddle, diddle…" he muttered, glaring at the moon.
Jack glanced over his shoulder, sending Daniel an odd look.
Daniel shrugged and rubbed his neck. "It's not like anyone can hear us and—" He stopped, frowning, not sure that he could trust his eyes as he gazed ahead. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Oh yeah," Jack answered, hopping over a downed branch. Daniel was quick to follow.
An SGC issue pack lay alone in the middle of the road. From what Daniel could see, it looked relatively untouched, only streaked with some traces of mud and dirt. And if it hadn't been sacked…
Jack had already begun to investigate the pack. Daniel watched him as he tossed aside the sleeping bag, checked the sides, and dug into the interior.
"Well, isn't this convenient," Jack muttered, easing himself back on his haunches. His gaze locked onto somewhere behind them.
Daniel didn't need to look to understand. He knew they were there. He knew they were back. "Maybe this is their way of communicating with us," he offered.
Jack shook his head, giving the pack another once over. "You and me both know that's not what's happening here." He sighed, smacking the pack. "Damn aliens are playing head games with us."
Inwardly, Daniel tensed at the comment, not wanting to believe the beings he felt drawn to could be that callous. Maybe the aliens had found the knapsack. Maybe they were trying to make a peace offering.
But as he stood there, quietly observing Jack inspect the MRE's and other supplies while the aliens viewed on in silence, Daniel started to suspect something more sinister.
Confused, Daniel turned to the aliens. "Why-why are you doing this? Is this fun for you?"
The aliens said nothing, continuing with their awkward and nerve-racking stares. Daniel didn't know what to do. He wanted them to say something. He wanted them to do something. He wanted them to stop staring at him.
"It's Carter's."
Daniel snapped his attention back to Jack. "Sam?"
"Yeah."
That was bad news. Bad news no matter how you looked at it. If Sam's pack was here all by its lonesome, chances were that Sam had been caught, too. If Sam was trapped somewhere, like he and Jack had been, Teal'c might be taken as well. It also meant that Sam, if alone, had no supplies of her own.
And if that wasn't bad enough, for Daniel, it confirmed a suspicion that he had tried to ignore from the beginning.
He glared at the aliens, feeling a deep betrayal cut through him. Not even their pearly colors could mend that wound.
"I tried to help them," he whispered.
Jack, to his credit, didn't try to smooth things over or berate him, either. He just crouched in front of the pack, bowing his head in subtle, thoughtful nod. Then, as the acknowledgment ended, he lifted Sam's knapsack and moved to stand beside Daniel.
"We'll make camp just down the road," Jack told him, his voice low. "Then we'll figure out what to do."
Jack was figuring out a way to ditch the aliens.
For the past half hour, Jack had started to set up camp, instructing Daniel to sit and rest while he worked. At first Daniel was angry, reminding Jack he wasn't an invalid, but he calmed down once he realized what Jack was doing.
Aside from the fact Jack wanted Daniel to be firing on all six cylinders, he was intent on keeping his focus on the aliens. With Daniel seated close by, Jack could set up camp while keeping his gaze trained on them.
So far, the aliens hadn't moved. They stood close to the tree line of the clearing that Jack had found, but far from the actual spot where Jack was unpacking items from Sam's knapsack. Of course, they remained silent through the whole event, not even flinching when Jack would bang something around. Though, Daniel still got a shiver down his spine no matter how far away they stood.
They kept staring.
Daniel wondered if that was all they could do. Maybe they weren't capable of blinking. They apparently weren't capable of talking, or if they were, they were good at keeping it a secret.
Sighing, he bowed his head and closed his eyes. He thought if he griped long enough about Jack, or their alien friends, he could clear his head. Though, he knew the distraction was just that – a distraction. Inadvertently, his mind would find itself drifting back to where he didn't want it to go.
Sam.
If Jack was right and the aliens were toying with them, then they had Sam. They had to have Sam. He didn't want to think about what they could have done to her, or what they could be doing to her now. Was she still alive? Was Teal'c with her?
God, he hoped Teal'c was with Sam. Not in a bad way. He just hoped Sam and Teal'c had gotten away somehow.
"Daniel?"
Daniel didn't bother to respond to Jack's call. He just squeezed his eyelids harder, trying to remember, trying to block out his fear over the fate of his friends.
There was a shifting of light; Daniel could tell Jack was standing in front of him.
"I've set up a guarded perimeter around our base camp," Jack said. "We'll light a small fire. Temporary. Then, I'll keep watch."
Daniel opened his eyes, but instead of looking up at Jack, he returned his hard gaze to the aliens. They stood outside of what Daniel guessed was supposed to be the perimeter, but in reality was just a circle of stones.
"It's nice to know the military opted for the latest technology," Daniel said bitterly.
"Only the best," Jack said cheerfully.
"You do realize that they can float over that," Daniel muttered. His gaze followed the aliens as they swayed back and forth, their skins shimmering slightly under the soft moon. "They float."
"Yeah, but do they sew?"
Daniel rubbed his eyes and squinted at Jack. The darkness of the night seemed to spill over him. "What?" he asked.
"Carter had some thread in her pack. I've wrapped it around some of the trees and used some adhesive in the medical kit to secure it to the rocks." Jack made a vague motion to the aliens as he spoke. "If either one of our fans here try to get too close, or too high, they'll get snagged."
"Wow," Daniel managed to say, searching for the thread. It had to be too thin to be seen at night, or he just really needed his glasses.
"Wow?"
Daniel blinked at Jack. "I guess I just didn't expect you to be this resourceful."
Jack sent him a forced smile. "It's a gift."
"A gift…" He allowed his voice to trail off as he surveyed the surrounding area. Absently, he started to scratch at the nape of his neck. "I don't suppose you have any other invaluable skills that could help us tonight?"
"I can play 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' with my arm pits."
Daniel snapped his head around, ignoring the sense of vertigo that it gave him, and frowned at Jack. Jack smirked, barely able to dampen the devious gleam he often got in his eyes when he was hunting for prey.
The smirk had the immediate effect of making Daniel chuckle, a result he figured was Jack's intent all along.
Jack seemed pleased with himself as he sauntered back over to rummage through Sam's pack. Daniel didn't have the heart to remind him that the aliens possessed the ability to float extremely high and, by the look of things, wouldn't have any trouble gliding over the mesh of threading. Of course, Jack probably already knew that, and was either hoping Daniel hadn't noticed, or knew better to even bring up the topic.
So, Daniel let it go. In the end, nothing was going to help them anyway.
Instead, he found himself eyeing Sam's pack. Again. Miserably.
Maybe she'd dropped it. Maybe she and Teal'c were at the SGC right now.
Maybe they were dead.
Daniel winced inwardly, trying to shake off his doubts. He had to think about something else. There were plenty of other things he could think about.
Plenty…He scanned the forest that surrounded them. There were the trees, the bushes, and the little wet drops that beaded on the leaves…
Daniel rubbed his eyes. Or, there were the rocks, the string, the moon, the aliens…
No, don't go there, he told himself. Not thinking of aliens.
Jack cooking up some supper. Dirt. A thing that resembled a caterpillar. The aliens…
Swallowing hard, he struggled to keep from gazing at the lanky watchers. But the more he fought, the more he felt compelled to observe them.
In the cool of the evening, their color looked subdued, less wet, and dustier, like pale talc power. Even when they swayed, the color didn't streak across the sky like it did before. Instead, it left a faint trail of chalk, a light scattering that vanished as quickly as it appeared. Daniel found himself mildly disappointed at the sight.
"I wonder if it's something in their pigment," Daniel muttered aloud. "A reflectant. Something to do with the sun."
He noticed Jack glance up from his work, but didn't say anything.
Daniel agreed with him. That sounded stupid.
Or maybe not. They were alien, after all. And even if there wasn't something natural that enhanced their skin, maybe it was artificial. Really, it would be no different than painted faces or war attire or ritual sacrifices from the various cultures he'd studied.
Or, he was aware that he might just be losing his mind. Hooray for alien drugs.
A light clanking sound shook Daniel from his thoughts. Concentrating on the center of their camp, Daniel watched as Jack began to finish heating their MRE's.
"Those are Sam's," he said suddenly.
"Yeah."
"She needs those."
Jack looked down at the MRE's and then back to Daniel. He raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Right," Daniel mumbled before pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose. He closed his eyes. What was he thinking? "Of course."
"Maybe you should stop thinking for a little while," Jack told him. "Rest like I told you."
"It's hard to rest when you know we're just delaying the inevitable."
"The inevitable?" he heard Jack ask. Then came some incoherent mutter. "We're okay. Carter's going to be fine."
"We're eating her food," Daniel pointed out.
"She's not using it."
Daniel sighed angrily, opening his eyes to glare at Jack through his tired, blurred vision. "That's not the point. The point is Sam doesn't have anything."
Jack didn't break. "She's resourceful. She'll find something."
"Find-find something?" Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could Jack be so blasé about this? "Jack, we're on an alien planet. Sam's not a botanist and even if she was, these plants aren't even native to Earth."
"She'll be fine, Daniel."
His name was said with the definite end-of-discussion tone he'd learned came from an angry Jack or a fearful Jack. Daniel was guessing this was a combination of the two.
Daniel sighed. "I know you're worried about her. And Teal'c, too."
"They're trained well," Jack said, not bothering to look over to Daniel. "They'll make it just fine. Then, when we find them, I'm going to have a talk with Carter about the accuracy of our UAV surveys."
"There was no way to know that we'd run into a problem like this."
"Then I say we need better equipment."
Daniel shook his head. "There was no one here when we first arrived. And the homes in the village were made of wood. No kind of equipment is going to give us any other information than we already had."
It was true. Unless they all became psychic, then what more could they do? They would just run into the same problems over and over…That is what they did everyday. Risked their lives.
Why was this bothering him so much?
Why was Jack staring at him?
"What?" Daniel asked, feeling uncomfortable under Jack's gaze. He'd had enough of it from the aliens.
"What else do you remember?"
"What else do I remember?" Daniel stopped. "I don't remem—Oh."
Wood. They had little thatch wood homes. Well, not little and not exactly thatch, but that's the mental image that came to mind.
Daniel remembered the peculiarity about them. They were large one-roomed structures, made entirely out of wood and bound with vine. No windows. Odd. He felt the lack of windows were odd. And only one door, a small entrance, too small for Daniel, Jack, Sam or any human to walk through comfortably.
"We had to hunch over to get inside," Daniel said softly. "They smelled."
"That's an understatement," Jack muttered as he shut down the cooker.
"They were dirty. Very dirty." Daniel snuck a sideways glance at the aliens. "I don't think they could have lived there."
"Nope. Not when they have nice handy do-hickeys like that," Jack said with a motion to the alien with the pad.
Good point. The aliens were obviously an advanced race. Daniel couldn't find any correlation between the run down shacks in the village to the technology the aliens carried with them. Then again, they'd been wrong about the Nox.
When he realized Jack was waiting for him to continue, he shook his head. "Nothing else. I don't remember anything more."
"It's all right," Jack said in a tone that was anything but all right. "It'll come back to you."
"I shouldn't have forgotten to begin with…" Daniel shook his head as Jack offered him a cup. He wasn't cold or hungry at this point. Sighing, he glanced over at the aliens. "I wish I knew more."
"Just eat."
Daniel shook his head again. To make his point, he shoved his arms into his jacket and leaned forward, curling in on himself, but remaining firm.
"I've been thinking about the aliens," Daniel said at last.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Jack sigh and place the second cup onto the ground. "Again?" he asked.
"I think it's more than just curiosity," Daniel told him. "They're trying to figure something out. Something about us."
Jack's eyes grew darker. "Like what?"
He wished he knew. "I don't know. It's more than just studying us. It's something different."
"Yeah. It's called messing with our heads."
"No, no. I mean…"
He wasn't sure what he meant. Frustrated, he glared at them. Silent and still. But there definitely was something behind their eyes. Something he just couldn't read.
If only aliens, even people for that matter, we as easy to read as ancient text.
He considered that concept for a moment before he heard Jack clear his throat. "So far, all you've told me were that they could be killer Muppets. I'd like something a little more positive than that idea."
Daniel was fairly sure he'd never mentioned anything about murderous Muppets. He wanted to remind Jack that it was his idea in the first place, but by now he was too tired. Not even his curiosity over this planet really held anymore.
Cocking his head slightly, Daniel listened as a light breeze shook the treetops. "Ever heard of the wendigo?"
"A what?"
Daniel kept staring into the forest. Despite the encroaching darkness, it still pulsed with vitality. He wondered if more aliens were hiding in the bushes.
"The wendigo. It's a North American native spirit, often known to inhabit the woods in Canada." He paused, listening carefully to something that reminded him of crickets. "It's said that they hide in the woods and make noises that slowly drive people mad. Then, they ambush them."
He caught a flicker of movement from Jack. His gaze bore down on the aliens.
"They could also possess people, you know."
"Great."
"Oh, and they were man-eaters," Daniel added with a smile.
Finally, he turned to Jack, not even trying to hide his amusement. Naturally, he wasn't pleased. For a man that classified the Simpsons as television at its best, Jack could seriously lack in the humor department sometimes.
Jack continued to glare at him. "You really need to get out more."
"Yes," Daniel agreed. "Isn't that what we're doing?" he asked bitterly, waving his hands into the air. "We're out."
"Oh, you're out, all right." Jack looked down and took a sip from his cup.
Somehow the conversation had ended, and Daniel realized that his words had been turned on him. Shaking his head, but at least smiling over the shift in his mood, Daniel brought his hands down.
And watched the streaks of color that followed.
Daniel stiffened and blinked, struggling to process what he'd just seen. Or not seen. Or hoped to not have seen.
Tentatively, he brought up his right hand and held it in front of his face, wriggling his fingers carefully, deliberately.
The colors danced around them, shades of a rippling light blue, almost like streaks of neon lights. They followed and enveloped him, bringing his skin to life.
How long had this been doing that?
He chuckled, turning over his hand, waving it again, watching as the blue trailed behind. It was amazing.
Smiling, he broke his gaze away from his hand, and readjusted his vision to the darkened forest. His amusement wore off quickly, however, when he realized what was happening.
Jack stared at him, his mouth slightly parted, his eyes stony but open. Daniel knew that look. The look that bordered in that netherworld between concern and outright anger.
Daniel paled and buried his hand into his jacket.
What the hell was going on?
