Jack snapped awake when the muttering started. He'd been dozing since his conversation with Rek, never allowing himself to sleep for more than a few minutes. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the gritty feeling. Jorb was sitting on his right, whispering to himself, the object Jack noticed before held between his fingers. It was a ring, somewhat larger than one designed to fit on a finger, there was a narrow chain dangling from it and Jack guessed Jorb usually wore it about his neck. Jack bent forward to take a closer look. He outside of the metal was intricately carved. Almost like something Jack had seen before.
"Can I see that?" he asked.
But Jorb took no notice of him and kept up his mantra of prayers.
"You won't get a word out of him until breakfast," Tal said, sitting down on Jack's other side.
"What's he doing?" Jack asked.
"Praying."
"To what?"
"The ring. It's all a bit crazy if you want my opinion."
Jack didn't, particularly, but Tal was the only person who seemed willing to talk.
"Why?" he asked.
"The planet we're getting shipped off to we call it Irkalla. There's no way out… unless you believe in the ring. It's supposed to be a gateway to another world. A way of getting out of hell, if you believe in that kind of thing."
"And you don't?"
"It's a prison planet."
"Right."
A prison planet. There wouldn't be any easy way out. There wouldn't be a Stargate. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but damn it if that wasn't what Jorb's icon reminded him of.
"And if you're wondering, he won't let you touch it," Tal went on.
"Excuse me?"
"What… you think he'd still have it if I could get close enough? Those things are supposedly handed down by the Ancient Masters. They're worth… well… enough to get me out of here."
Masters? Ancients? Where had Jack heard that term before? Oh yeah … The knowledge that had been downloaded into his head, Daniel had thought it had come from the Stargate builders. Were they the same race who inhabited this system? Somehow, he didn't think so. At least, not any more, but it seemed legends still existed. Jack wasn't about to get too excited. If this planet had once been close to Earth then Jorb could be praying to Earth's Stargate. His beliefs might not have anything to do with this Irkalla. Jack found himself in an unusual position. Usually it was Carter and Daniel who put all this stuff together.
He made a note to talk to Jorb as soon as the man had completed his morning devotions.
Overnight, it seemed like the room had suddenly gotten more crowded. Jack couldn't get away from the feeling that they were about to be shipped out… and soon. When breakfast finally arrived, it was even more difficult to get a share. There was no preferential treatment of the women this time. Everyone surged forward at once and Jack found himself crushed between Rek and a man roughly the size of a small tank. A swift elbow and he managed to fight his way to the front. There was a disturbance at the back of the crowd. A high pitched voice exclaimed in pain, followed by a lower pitched rumble of the man who must have been defending her.
Trying to ignore what was happening behind him, Jack grabbed a bowl and filled it with the porridge like slop. He turned and handed it to Rek before going back to get his own portion only to find that three people had taken his place.
"Hey!" he shouted, pushing the blonde one out of the way.
She fell, and the crowd surged forward. Instinctively, Jack bent down to help her.
"Carter?" he gasped.
There was a bruise disfiguring her face, but there was no doubt it was her.
"Sir?"
Her expression was equally amazed. Helping her up, Jack dragged her backwards and out of the crush of prisoners.
"What happened to you?" he asked, his fingers gently probing the bruise on her face.
"It's nothing," she said.
"Daniel? Teal'c?"
"They're here too."
Jack looked up just a two figures detached themselves from the crowd. He couldn't stop the grin spreading across his face. Perhaps they would have been more use on the outside but somehow it felt right that they were all together again. It was a whole lot easier to be in prison with people you trusted. For a start, Jack would be able to get a little sleep.
"We thought you were dead," Carter said.
"I didn't," Daniel added.
"It is good to see you, O'Neill," Teal'c nodded.
"Let's go eat," Jack grinned.
They retreated to a corner of the room. Jack would have liked to be some place where they wouldn't be overheard but there were just too many people. Rek caught his eye as they moved past her but Jack couldn't fathom the meaning of the expression on her face.
&&&
"What happened?" the Colonel asked as he applied a cold, wet cloth to Sam's face.
The makeshift compress had once been his jacket pocket. They had little to spare but she had to admit the cool water did offer some relief and Daniel had managed to wash some of the blood out of his hair. Naturally, Teal'c didn't have a mark on him. Sam was aching for a shower, but it seemed the prisoners weren't afforded that particular luxury except in strict rotation. She would just have to wait her turn.
"We had a slight disagreement with Verlan's guards," she said.
"They wanted to arrest us, and we didn't want them to," Daniel added.
Sam had decided against mentioning Daniel's little slip to the Colonel. He didn't really need to know why they had fallen foul of the authorities.
"Unfortunately, they turned out to be most persuasive," Teal'c added
The Colonel looked tired, Sam realised. It had been days since they'd been separated and she wondered if he'd managed to get any sleep at all. She gently took the cloth from him and held it to her own face.
"You should get some sleep, sir," she told him.
For a second he looked like he was about to protest, but he nodded, and lay down at her side. He flung an arm across his face to block out the light, and within a matter of minutes, he was snoring softly.
Looking round at her fellow prisoners, Sam wondered how much longer they were going to be kept here. The only reason that the Colonel was able to lie flat was that people tended to give Teal'c a wide berth. The room was hot, stuffy and smelled of the mingled sweat of nearly a hundred people. At that moment, she was glad of the relatively thin garments she was wearing, but she wondered if she'd be as comfortable once they reached their destination. It would be too much to expect a temperate climate.
The Colonel only managed to sleep for an hour before a squad of guards appeared to move the prisoners. In a way, she supposed they should count themselves lucky that their stay wasn't destined to be a long one. However, she soon revised her opinion. They had a novel method of controlling their prisoners and Sam found herself in the grip of a gravity field like nothing she had ever experienced before. Occasionally, on some planets, she would feel a little heavy, but nothing like this. The guards signalled for them to move, but Sam didn't think she could. Around her, people were starting to shuffle forward.
"Come on," the Colonel ordered.
"I'm trying," she grimaced.
To her surprise, Sam found that she was able to put one foot in front of the other and follow the Colonel. She had never considered herself physically weak, and there were plenty of people who were also having trouble keeping up. Even Teal'c had a sheen of sweat on his face. In front of her, someone tripped and Sam tried her best not to follow them down. Her efforts were in vain, however. She couldn't stop herself falling and she landed on top of the prone body. Putting out her hands eased some of the impact but something went crunch and Sam looked down to see her clothes were covered in blood. She pushed on her hands to try to get up again but found that her left arm wouldn't support her weight. Sam gazed at it stupidly for a moment. It didn't seem to be moving quite right.
While she was puzzling over her arm, something on the ground caught her attention. It was a silver ring attached to a silver chain. No one seemed to have missed it so Sam used her good hand to pick the trinket up. Then, with a strength she didn't realised she possessed, Sam managed to get back on her feet and stagger after the others.
There were several who didn't make it. The authorities must have counted on that, because the living facilities on the ship were in no way large enough to house all those who had been in the holding area. They were all strapped into chairs in preparation for launch. Sam braced herself, but the take-off wasn't any more uncomfortable than the excessive gravity had been. It was certainly no worse that pulling out of a simulated bombing run in an F-16 at eight plus Gs.
Once they were in orbit, the prisoners were released and allowed to move into what was to be their living area. The room was furnished with bunk, tables and chairs. It was almost comfortable. Gravity was back to 'normal' but Sam still felt like she was in its thrall. She tried to forget some of the things she had seen…
… A man with his chest caved in where Sam had fallen on him.
… One of the guards shooting a woman in the head because she couldn't get up.
… And she couldn't work out what was wrong with her arm. It didn't seem to be broken but..
What she really wanted to do was find a quiet place where she could be alone, but solitude was a luxury she was to be denied. She didn't even get the chance to join her friends. The guards were moving rapidly through the prisoners, segregating those who were injured. Sam tried to let her arm hang normally rather than cradling it against her chest but there was no hiding the blood. One of them grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her out into the corridor. She found herself stumbling after him, fighting to keep her balance.
Sam was taken to a sterile room that appeared to be part of the ships medical facilities. She breathed a small sigh of relief, as she was directed to sit on one of the chairs. If the prisoners received medical attention then it boded well for their treatment for the rest of the voyage. There were several of them in the room, all with injuries of various degrees of severity. Although she did notice that they'd all gotten here under their own steam and she wondered what had happened to those who'd been unable to walk.
One by one, they were taken through a door at the far side of the room and, when it was Sam's turn, she wasn't surprised to find herself in an examination room. The medic indicated that she should sit herself on the bed. He didn't speak as he examined her arm and was none too gentle. But that wasn't the end of it. Pushing on her shoulders, he made her lie back. She supposed he was checking to make certain that she didn't have any other injuries but the top to toe exam felt like a violation. The hands on her body were less than clinical and although he didn't touch bare skin, Sam was still shaking all over by the time he'd finished.
&&&
"Where's Sam?" Daniel asked.
"Carter!" Jack shouted.
In the absence of an immediate reply, the three of them separated and started looking through the prisoners for a tell tale flash of blonde hair. Crowded though the conditions were, it soon became obvious that she wasn't there. Daniel had no idea what had happened to her.
"When was the last time you saw her?" Jack demanded.
"Back on the planet," Daniel had to admit.
She had been right behind him when they'd left, but he couldn't recall seeing her since.
"I believe she was here when the ship launched," Teal'c added.
"You believe?" Jack snapped.
Teal'c nodded but he didn't seem convinced. Looking around, Daniel could see several other blondes. He could have been mistaken.
"Someone must have seen her," he said.
"Check again," Jack ordered.
Daniel had the feeling that there was a certain amount of surprise at his subsequent enquiries. The best he could achieve was a shrug and the comment that some hadn't made it. No one seemed to care that some of the people they'd shared their prison with weren't here. Daniel guessed that in this kind of situation, you formed alliances not friendships. Everyone was on edge, keeping an eye on the ever-present guards. One man did admit that he'd seen several injured prisoners taken away, but he couldn't say if Sam was one of them.
Jack wasn't pleased when Daniel passed the information on. He was blaming himself for not keeping the whole team together, but it was difficult to see how he could have done anything different.
As he looked around the room, Daniel tried to take in the details of the room. Bunks took half of it up, the other by tables and chairs. Daniel counted the number of bunks, and realised there wasn't enough for one each. No doubt, there was an expectation for some of the prisoners to double up. It seemed like one woman had the idea that herself and Jack would make perfect bedmates. He was sequestered in one corner of the room, talking quietly to a woman with long blonde hair.
"Looks like Jack's made a friend," Daniel muttered to Teal'c.
"Indeed."
Daniel really hoped that Jack was asking the woman whether she'd seen Sam. A third person joined the group and Jack spoke to him for a few moments before bringing them all over.
"Daniel, Teal'c, this is Rek and Nez," he said indicating the woman and the man.
"Pleased to meet you," Daniel replied without enthusiasm. Teal'c didn't even nod. Seemed he trusted these people even less than Daniel did.
"Nez used to be a prison guard," Jack went on.
Nez was an unpleasant looking man, somewhere in his late forties. The kind of person you probably wouldn't notice in a crowd… unless you happened to accidentally stood on his foot.
"I saw one of them take you friend," Nez said.
"And?" Daniel asked.
"It depends who's on duty."
"What do you mean?" Teal'c questioned, his voice taking on an ominous tone.
"Both of the docs are creeps, but if it's Tar she'll be okay."
"Define okay?" Daniel said, but one look at Jack's face gave him his answer.
"One of you needs to keep her close by," Nez went one. "We… the guards don't want any trouble. If she's with someone who looks dangerous, they'll leave her alone."
Daniel wanted to ask how Nez knew this but quickly realised it might fall into the category of too much information.
&&&
Sam felt like everyone was staring at her as she edged back into the room, even though she knew she wasn't the first one to have come back. Her arm was now bandaged and it certainly felt more comfortable even if Sam did not. She looked around for her friends hoping to hide herself amongst them. The Colonel was the first to notice her, indicating that Daniel and Teal'c should stay put as he came.
"Carter?" he questioned.
She remembered what the Colonel had said about showing any signs of weakness.
"It could have been worse," Sam told him. "I'm okay."
The Colonel nodded his understanding. Seeing the bandage, he took her hand and ran his fingers up her forearm.
"Where did the blood come from?" he demanded, noticing the stain on her shirt.
"It's not mine," she reassured him, grimacing as she looked down. She still wanted a shower, but would settle for a fresh shirt… or anything that didn't stick to her skin.
Somehow, Sam didn't think that a change of clothes would be easy to find, but she'd reckoned without the Colonel.
"Here," he said, shrugging out of his jacket and handing it to her.
"Thank you."
Using the Colonel as a shield, Sam managed to slip out of her bloody shirt and into his jacket. With her left arm barely functional, he had to help her zip it up.
"Just don't get anything on your pants," he warned.
"I'll try not to, sir."
He led her over to the others and Sam repeated her,
"I'm okay," before the others could speak. She thought for a moment that Daniel was going to hug her, but he restrained himself.
At that moment, the lights dimmed and there was a scramble for the bunks. The Colonel, Sam noted, kept close by and made sure they ended up sitting on the same bed. Sam probably would have shot back up again if the guards hadn't appeared.
"Trust me," the Colonel whispered.
"No talking!" the nearest guard ordered, his nightstick rapping the Colonel across the shins.
A sharp exhale was the only sign the Colonel gave that the blow had hurt. It seemed they didn't have a choice about going to sleep. They both lay down, shuffling a little to try to fit both bodies on the narrow bunk with the minimum of actual contact. After that, neither of them dared move.
&&&
This was going to take some getting used to, Jack realised as he listened to Carter's breathing even out. He doubted he'd get to sleep so easily. Stupid, when you thought about it. This wasn't the first time they'd gotten up close and personal on a mission and if it were choice between Carter, Teal'c or Daniel, he'd choose Carter every time. He just felt more awkward than he expected to. Was it something to do with Laira, Jack wondered. Whatever, it was certainly weird to be seeping this close to Carter in a bed. There was certainly nothing romantic about their situation.
In his wakeful mood, Jack found himself running over his conversation with Rek. She figured it would take almost two weeks to reach their destination. The drive on the prison ship was old and not nearly a sophisticated as the one designed for the probe. Jack was toying with the idea that this ship could be flown to Earth. In the morning, he would have to remember to ask Carter how long it would take. He didn't expect to like the answer.
It was going to be a long night. Shifting carefully onto his side, Jack looked over at the next bunk. For a second, Teal'c's eyes met his own, before pointedly turning his back. Jack found himself wondering if his friend disapproved of the sleeping arrangements.
Despite thinking that sleep would be impossible, Jack found himself jerking awake when the lights were turned on. Beside him, Carter gave a yelp. His sudden movement had jarred her injured left arm.
"Sorry," he apologised.
"It's okay, sir," she replied, cradling her injured arm.
"Maybe tonight one of us should try sleeping with Daniel?"
"He snores."
"True."
Breakfast was nothing more than gruel, the only benefit being that they didn't have to fight for it. A few days on this kind of diet and they'd all start feeling the effects, Jack realised. No doubt, it was an attempt to weaken the prisoners and keep them docile. His stomach turned at the thought of eating the thin porridge, but he did so, hoping to encourage his team to do the same. Teal'c would never think of complaining, Carter wrinkled her nose but followed suit and Daniel had already finished his… he seemed to like it. Weird.
"What's that?" Daniel asked as he ran his finger around the inside of the bowl.
His gaze was fixed on Carter, whose fingers appeared to be playing with something bright and shiny.
"I don't know," she replied, "I found it."
Jack recognised the trinket as she handed it over to Daniel. He hadn't seen Jorb since they'd come aboard the ship. Craning his neck, he attempted to find the big man amongst the crowd.
"Jack, you know what this looks like," Daniel interrupted his search.
"I know," he replied.
"The detail is incredible. You can actually see the symbols."
"The guy it belongs to is some kind of religious freak. They believe it's a gateway to get them out of hell… which just happens to be the planet we're heading for, by the way."
"There's a Stargate?"
The hope in Daniel's voice was palpable but Jack had to shake his head.
"Who knows?"
He admitted that many legends had their basis on fact, but even if there were a Stargate on Irkalla, they'd still have to find it. Searching an entire planet could take as long as flying this ship back to Earth.
"Why don't you go talk to him?" Jack suggested.
"I think I might. Which one is he?"
Looking around again, Jack finally spotted Jorb. He was sitting across the other side of the room.
"The one built like the back of a barn," he said.
&&&
Daniel had noticed that, overnight, the atmosphere in the room had changed. People were congregating into small groups, watching each other warily. Jorb, however was alone. He was still sat on one of the bunks having ignored the food that was on offer. Daniel sat down next to him, handing him the talisman.
"I've been told this is yours," he said.
The man grabbed the trinket as if it was a lifeline, pressing his lips to it.
"Thank you," he breathed.
"Where did you get it?" Daniel asked.
"It was my father's," Jorb said.
There was a certain reticence to his tone. Whatever his belief system might be, Daniel guessed it wasn't a very popular. He found himself wondering what the best approach might be. Asking straight out would probably just be met with a less than co-operative reply.
"The gateway to heaven," he said.
It was a complete guess, but if Jorb believed the Stargate would lead him out of hell then heaven was a fair assumption. The deduction was a good one. Jorb's face lit up as he nodded enthusiastically.
"I've heard of it," Daniel went on, "my grandfather believed."
Which wasn't exactly a lie.
"And you?" Jorb breathed.
"I believe it will lead us to another world… assuming we can find it."
"But the words are there in the scriptures."
"It's been a while… remind me."
Jorb closed his eyes and, clutching the disc in his hands, he started to recite.
"Where the water flows up to the mountain, down to the underground sea. The new land waits around a bend in the road, before the singing tree."
Daniel found himself wincing at the bad poetry and reminded himself that listening to this might well give them a clue to the whereabouts of the Stargate. It was difficult to make out the exact words. Jorb was speaking quietly, as if he was scared of being overheard.
"Seven gates stand before the final pool of light. Each one must be defeated, each one to prove the fight. Only the righteous man may pass…"
The recital then degenerated into how to prove oneself righteous. As far as Daniel was concerned, what he had heard was next to useless. Mountains, seas and rivers could well be plentiful on the planet they were heading towards. Without an actual text to study, there was little else he could glean from Jorb's words. He thanked the man for his time and went back to join the others.
"Anything?" Jack asked.
"Not really," Daniel shook his head.
"But you think it's there?"
He shrugged, unwilling to commit himself.
"Probably the only way to know for sure would be to find it from orbit," Sam mused.
Daniel expected Jack to ridicule the idea but he was strangely silent. Surely, he wasn't thinking that they could somehow get control of the ship? It would be insane to try. For a start the guards were all armed and even if they did manage to break out of this room, they had no idea of the ship's layout. Daniel would rather take his chances on the planet.
"You're not serious?" he hissed.
"What?" Jack asked, seemingly in all innocence.
"You'll get us all killed."
"No, I won't."
But Daniel knew how Jack's mind worked. He wouldn't sacrifice his team if it was a job he could accomplish by himself.
"It's suicide and you know it," Daniel said.
"O'Neill will not be on his own," Teal'c announced.
"I'll be with him too," Sam added.
"Shut up… all of you," Jack snarled. "Nothing's been decided yet and if I order you to sit tight, you will not interfere. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes sir," Sam replied but she was the only one who did.
&&&
Rek Novar did not intend to spend the rest of her days on a prison planet. She had been running too long and too hard to give up easily. There had been no way out of the prison on Arkkadia but now it seemed as if a few more options had opened up. Stealing this ship wasn't as crazy an idea as it sounded. Certainly, if her fellow prisoners had been nothing but petty criminals, Rek might have thought differently but the fact she had hooked up with Jack O'Neill had changed her mind. He was a military man and she knew the type well. Every grunt Verlan had sent after her had a similar bearing, but there was something different about Jack. He was a leader. Men and women would follow him, to their deaths if necessary and he was the one who could swing any fight in their favour.
Unfortunately, Rek wasn't quite sure what to make of the rest of his 'team'. The woman with the injured arm was clearly very important to O'Neill otherwise he wouldn't have assigned himself as her protector, although Rek did wonder if Carter actually needed it. Without her injury, she looked as if she could hold her own against most of the men here, but the guards were vicious and they had weapons. Two very good reasons to have someone watching out for you.
Daniel Jackson was something of a mystery as was his function within the group. She had the feeling that O'Neill valued his opinion more than he let on. The two men seemed to be polar opposites and Rek found herself questioning the foundation of the friendship between them. It had to be based on something pretty important. Had Jackson saved O'Neill's life?
Finally, there was Teal'c, a man that Rek couldn't read at all. She could see that his physical presence alone would be more useful than Jackson's but apart from that … He was different was about the only conclusion she could draw. It worried Rek that she couldn't glean any more information about him.
Over the cycles since she had been involved in the destruction of the probe, she had prided herself on her ability to mark out people as friend or foe. It had been a matter of self-preservation … and an attempt to make amends for her previous mistake. Rek had been the one to invite Verlan into their group and, ultimately, the betrayal had been her fault. Now, the memories just fired Rek's determination to succeed. She'd love to see Verlan's face when she found out the prison ship had never reached its destination. Now, thanks to O'Neill and his friends, they also had somewhere else to go.
At first, Rek had trouble believing that there was another world close by. During her work with the Elish program, no one had seemed to know how long it would take the probe to find another world. The fact there was a habitable planet within reach was another reason that she thought her plan was workable. If they could just get there …
Sitting at a table with O'Neill and Nez, Rek thought they actually might.
"What about supplies?" O'Neill asked.
"There should be enough to last several years," Nez replied. "We don't just dump the prisoners on Irkalla and let them starve to death."
"All life is sacred… yeah… right."
"This ship doubles as a supply run."
Nez had been another good find. Rek still didn't know exactly why he was here and frankly, she didn't particularly want to know. His inside knowledge was going to be invaluable.
"We're 1.5 light years from Earth and the ship's capable of 0.25 speed of light… that's 6 years."
"We'll need an inventory," Rek decided.
She wasn't sure how long a year was but from the expression on O'Neill's face, she could tell it was a long time to be in space. Before they even started, they needed to know if they could survive for the entire period.
"Any ideas as to how we get that?" O'Neill asked.
"Ship's computers… if we can find a way to get access," Nez suggested.
"For that we need to get someone out of here," Rek said.
"There's a crawl space between the inner and outer hull of the ship. Access points are hidden but there's one in every section."
"Beats the ventilation ducts," O'Neill muttered.
"The ventilation system isn't strong enough to support an adult human."
"It's a cliché … never mind. So who gets to go?"
"It needs to be someone small."
"Tal Silvar," Rek said. "He was arrested for breaking into the finance computers and lifting a billion. If anyone can get around the security system, he can."
"You trust him?" O'Neill asked.
She shrugged. It was a question she wasn't prepared to answer. They were going to have to take a few risks.
"Daniel's good with computers, he can go with him," O'Neill said.
"Do you trust him?" Rek asked, throwing his previous question back at him.
"Yes," he replied without hesitation.
&&&
O'Neill only came back to join them just before the lights were dimmed. He had spent most of the day deep in discussion with Rek and the man called Nez, ignoring his friends. For Teal'c the day had passed far too slowly. He had fulfilled his kelnorim requirement during the night and did not have the comfort of meditation to get him through the seemingly endless day. As much as it pained him to admit it, Teal'c had been bored.
The prisoners had been left to find their own entertainment. Most of them chose to spend the day lounging on their bunks, or talking in quiet voices. Teal'c had found himself wondering how long it would take for the fights to start breaking out. His own friends had been close to a violent disagreement earlier that morning. Now O'Neill was back amongst them, Teal'c could see that Daniel Jackson and Major Carter had not entirely forgiven their leader.
Teal'c was disappointed that another rift had appeared between his team mates. He accepted that, in this case, O'Neill was correct in is desire to take control of the ship and wanted to render aid where he could. What Teal'c could not acknowledge was his friend's apparent reluctance to accept help. He had thought such disagreements were behind them.
However, O'Neill seemed to sense the hostile atmosphere as he tried to seat himself on the miniscule amount of space that Major Carter had allowed him.
"This isn't what it looks like," he said in a low whisper.
"What do you mean, O'Neill?" Teal'c replied in the same low tone.
"I can't risk getting you involved until I know if I can trust these people."
"We are your friends. We are already involved."
"You don't get it. If we get caught we will be punished."
"None of us fear death."
"They won't kill us, the Arkkadain 'religion' won't allow it, and there are far worse things than death, my friend."
Teal'c nodded. There had been those amongst his own Jaffa who had enjoyed torturing their victims. The prisoners that had survived had been damaged in ways that Teal'c preferred not to recall. He had discouraged the practise where he was able but it was difficult when your 'god' felt no need to punish those responsible.
"I can find us a way home, Jack," Daniel Jackson said, joining in the conversation. "I did it on Abydos and I can do it here."
"Daniel, I know you can," O'Neill replied, "But what about the rest of them?"
"We take them with us."
"While we search an entire planet? You start talking about a gate out of here and they'll think you're nuts. You've seen how they shun Jorb. They are going to do this with or without me and I think they've got a whole lot better chance if I'm with them. Carter's got it, if we get control of the ship we can find the Stargate. Give them proof and maybe they'll follow. "
"And if I'm wrong?" Major Carter asked.
Teal'c had thought she'd already been asleep. She shifted around to face hem, propping herself up on her good arm.
"Hasn't happened yet," O'Neill said, with a trace of a smile.
"Well I hope she is right," Daniel said.
"So do I, Daniel, so do I."
&&&
