Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG1 or any of its characters.
Chapter 7
Sleep had once again done Daniel the world of good. He looked across to where Janet was still in a coma in the bed next to his. He still had no idea where he was and as soon as he was well enough he intended to talk to someone about it. They had been missing for over a week and he knew the others would only look for them for so long. In fact he would be surprised if they hadn't already given up on them.
"Dr Jackson, you look much better" Tavor said as he walked into the room and moved to stand beside Daniel's bed.
"I'm feeling much better, thank you"
"How is she?" he asked looking over to Janet.
"The same" Daniel answered sadly.
"I know this is not the best time but if you feel up to it Commander Dar would like to speak with you"
"Who's Commander Dar?"
"He is the city's leader, the first in command"
"The military runs everything?" Daniel asked.
"Of course" Tavor answered as though the question were ridiculous "Do your military rule your world?"
"No, our world is divided, every group has a military but they are controlled by our Government"
"Strange but if it obviously works for your people"
"As your way seems to work for yours"
"Yes, well do you feel up for visiting the Commander?"
Daniel glanced at Janet trying to judge whether he thought that she was going to wake up whilst he was gone.
"Sure"
"Can you walk or would you like me to get you a wheel chair?"
"I think I'll walk"
"Very well"
Tavor helped Daniel to get out of the bed and after a few moments to balance himself he was walking out of the infirmary with Tavor. The city all seemed to be one building, with all of the various areas connected. The windows showed the sheer size of the city and Daniel was momentarily in awe. Despite the cities huge size it took only a few minutes for Daniel and Tavor to arrive at their location.
"This is Central Command" Tavor told him as the double doors in front of them opened automatically. They walked into a large room with several people at what were obviously computers, consoles and military displays.
"Commander Dar's office is through here" Tavor led him through the room to another set of double doors. Tavor pressed a button and Daniel heard a male voice inside the room tell them to enter. Tavor opened the door using another button and the two of them walked into the room.
Commander Dar was very obviously a military man, he was built and his face showed the marks of a seasoned officer. He wasn't exactly intimidating but it was easy to see he could very intimidating if the need arose. He stood immediately and reached out his hand to shake Daniel's.
"You must be Dr Jackson, I'm Commander Dar, a pleasure to meet you"
"And you" Daniel said as he sat in the chair Commander Dar was now gesturing towards. Tavor sat in the chair next to him as Commander Dar also took his seat at the opposite side of the desk.
"Now Dr Jackson, Tavor has briefed me on how he believes you arrived on the mining planet but we'd like to be sure"
Commander Dar pressed a few buttons on the computer in front of him and turned the screen to face him. On the screen was a picture of the cube device that had transported them to the mining planet.
"Is this the device you believe transported you here?"
"Yes" Daniel answered.
"Well now that we have that cleared up, how is your friend in the infirmary, my last report stated that she was yet to wake up"
"That's still the case"
"I'm sure she will recover, now the next matter at hand is getting the two of you home"
"Yeah, that'll be easy if you have a Stargate"
"A what?"
"A Stargate, it's a large circular device which allows matter to be transported over long distances"
"I have heard of no such device"
- - -
Daniel walked back into the infirmary to find Janet exactly as he had left her. Tavor quickly excused himself and left the room. Daniel sat in the chair, his muscles were aching, his head was pounding and he was tired. His brief walk to Central Command and subsequent conversation with Commander Dar and Tavor had taken a lot out of his still recovering body.
He took Janet's hand in his and closed his eyes. Minutes passed in silence but a small movement from the bed brought him back to reality with a thud. He opened his eyes to see Janet still lying there with her eyes closed and not moving. For a moment he thought he was imagining things but then her hand gripped his slightly.
"Dr Levern!" Daniel shouted, hoping the Dr had heard him before turning back to Janet.
Her eyes opened slowly and as he had done she winced and closed her eyes again when the light caused her more pain that she was already feeling.
"You're eyes need a little more time to adjust" he told her quietly as Dr Levern walked into the room.
"Dr Frasier can you hear me?" Levern asked her, clearly concerned at the time it was taking her to come around.
"Yeah" Janet finally said "What happened?"
"We collapsed just after we transported to the ship and went into a coma, they brought us to their city, Maveria"
Janet finally opened her eyes and immediately locked eyes with Daniel "How long have I been out?"
"Just over a week, I woke up yesterday"
"A week" Janet repeated in shock..
"Okay, I think you'll be fine" Levern said after he finished checking Janet's vitals "How about I leave you to explain the rest"
"Thanks" Daniel said and Dr Levern nodded and left the room.
"Daniel what's going on?" Janet asked beginning to sound more like herself.
"Apparently the atmosphere of the mining planet contains chemicals which are toxic to humans. The mining team stay on the ship at night and are inoculated everyday; unfortunately we did neither for two days. You collapsed just after we transported to the ship and I think I collapsed just after we got to the infirmary. They immediately brought us here, to Maveria so we could be treated properly. I woke up yesterday and Dr Levern explained everything to me"
"So we've now been missing over a week?" Janet asked in concern.
"Yeah, I spoke to the cities commander and he hasn't even heard of the Stargate"
"Then how do we get home?"
"I don't know yet"
Janet sighed and closed her eyes as another wave op pain shot through her head "I feel terrible"
"Sleep, it actually works" Daniel said in mock surprise.
- - -
Janet had slept for several hours and was looking much better for it. Daniel couldn't be more relieved that she was awake and quickly returning to her normal self. She had spoken to Dr Levern about some of the medical technology around her. The colour was back in her face and she seemed to be recovering quickly.
Tavor walked into their room as Janet was discussing the heart monitor with Dr Levern and he smiled instantly.
"Dr Frasier, it is good to see you finally awake, for a while we were afraid we were going to lose you"
"I'm not that easy to get rid off" she said as she returned the smile.
"Do you feel up to a walk?"
"Sure where?"
"Commander Dar would like to meet you and discuss finding your home"
- - -
Tavor led Daniel and Janet into a large empty room. Commander Dar was standing in the centre of it in front of a small panel.
"Dr Frasier, I'm glad you're finally awake"
"Thank you"
"Now about finding your home" Dar said as a holographic display of the universe appeared around them.
"Wow" Janet said summing up their thoughts.
"This is all of the universe that we have charted, hopefully we'll find your home in here somewhere"
"Yeah" Daniel thought, if they didn't find there home in one of the seven or eight galaxies that were currently floating around his head he'd be shocked.
"Now this is Maveria" Dar said as one of the tiny spots in one of the galaxies flashed
"We won't use the same names for the stars so what can you tell me about earths location?"
"It's got a yellow sun" Daniel supplied and Dar pressed a few buttons on his panel.
"I'm afraid you'll need to give me more, that's a lot of possibilities"
"It's in a solar system of nine planets" Daniel said.
"Okay that does help to narrow it down but I need more"
"There's an asteroid belt between the fourth and fifth planets" Janet added.
After another half an hour half an hour they were able to narrow down their search to only a handful of possibilities. Dar showed them visual representations of each possibility.
"No that's not it"
The holographic display changed once again and both Daniel and Janet recognised it immediately.
"That's it!"
They walked to where the third planet was currently floating by "That's earth, that's home"
"This is where you come from?" Dar asked his voice a mixture of disbelief and dismay.
"Yeah"
"You are sure?"
"Yeah"
"I'm sorry, this planet is in another galaxy. We have no device capable of transporting you that far and on a ship it would take at least a hundred years to return"
"But your old transport device transported us here?" Daniel said not willing to accept that there was no way home.
"I do not know how that is possible, those devices were meant only for short range transport to a ship in orbit of the planet. I'm sorry"
"Was the device you found altered in any way?" Tavor asked them.
"It was damaged in one of the corners; we could see the wiring inside it"
"It must have been modified in someway or perhaps it was just an freak accident. Either way, I'm afraid it does not help us in this situation"
Janet's head suddenly started pounding and she reached her hand up to her head. She had been getting tired very quickly over the last half an hour and this latest revelation was just proving too much to handle in her current state. Daniel seemed to notice her beginning to struggle.
"Janet?"
"I'm fine, I'm just tired"
"Perhaps you should return to the infirmary, we can continue this conversation when you have rested"
Daniel wanted to protest, to continue the conversation then and there but he knew Janet needed to rest and probably wasn't revealing the true extent of her condition. He nodded his head and took hold of Janet's arm as Tavor led them back to the infirmary.
TBC
