"Are you sure you're ready for this, Carter?"
Jack looked her square in the eyes, worry evident on his face. Sam contained a blush that she could feel spreading. She looked to her teammates out the side of her eyes. They had either not noticed or were pretending not to. She looked back at Jack and nodded, trying not to look too closely at him. It made her feel slightly queasy.
"I'm ready sir," she said, finally able to move her mouth. "Going back to Magora is the only way to fix this." She had bewildered the whole briefing room with technobabble only hours before. She had tried convince her team mates and boss that she knew exactly what was going on. As she had hoped, no one had been able to understand much of what she was saying, but trusted her judgment enough to go a long with her plan.
She knew that Jack was still concerned. Their plan did seemed rather childish. They were returning to 'enemy' territory without really knowing why they had been targeted in the first place. At least, Jack, Daniel and Teal'c did not know why. Sam was almost certain now that Sa'men had suppressed her memories of General O'Neill so that she would agree to populating the Magoran people. The thought in itself was ridiculous. Even if she had no memories of her soul mate (which, apparently; she didn't and apparently; he was) she would still have never agreed to help the Magorans in that way. No woman would.
All her fellow teammates knew was that they were going back to demand Sa'men fix whatever he had done to her. They did not need to know anything else. She was sure that it would cause complications.
"Good," Jack replied. "But I'm relieving you of command for this mission."
Sam's stomach plummeted. A part of her knew that she was not prepared to lead this mission, but she had hoped to involve as few people as humanly possible. Not to mention the fact that she hated feeling compromised.
"I understand, sir," she said, careful not to look too closely at him. "Who'll be leading SG-1?"
"I will," Jack said.
"What?" The surprised question came from Daniel. Teal'c also seemed surprised, if the raising of one eyebrow could be any indication.
"Is that a problem, Daniel?" Jack asked, sarcastically.
Daniel shrugged. "No," he said nonchalantly. Sam smiled at him.
"Right, now that I have your permission, Daniel, I assume we can leave?"
Daniel merely rolled his eyes.
"Good," Jack said. "Let's move out."
"Woaw," Jack said when they had reached the other side. Any building that had stood on the surface before was now a crumbled mess.
"The tremours were worse than I thought," Daniel said.
"Which way to the caves?" Jack asked.
Sam pointed west. "Not far," she said. "Close to two miles."
The group walked in a silence that was far less comfortable than they were used to. All eyes wandered to and from Sam, all three men half-expecting her to fall unconscious or suddenly remember everything. Sam noticed that she was constantly being watched and clenched her hands into fists at her side. They stared at her as though she might turn into an Unas at any given second. She knew that her friends were only looking out for her, but it made her angry nonetheless. She could look after herself, memory in tact or not.
She looked over to her teammates. Daniel gave her a smile and Teal'c bowed his head to her. She narrowed her eyes. Daniel smiled at her far too knowingly. Did he know? Had he guessed? She took a deep breath in and smiled back, hoping he didn't know anything. She smiled back and looked at General O'Neill who had averted his eyes. She frowned, disheartened. Why did he make her so damned angry? She couldn't wait for this to make sense. She picked up the pace. The sooner she got her memory back the better.
"Did you feel that?"
Sam was brought out of her annoyed thoughts as Daniel stopped the company.
"Feel what?" Sam asked. She hadn't been paying much attention to anything other than reaching the protected caves as quickly as possible.
"The ground just shook. I think," he added.
"I too felt a slight murmur," Teal'c offered.
"The tremours?" Jack asked.
Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's possible that they haven't completely stopped."
"I'd rather not stay to find out," Jack grumbled. "Let's head back to the gate."
"No!" Sam protested, more forcefully than she had meant to. "The protected caves are less than a mile away, sir," she said. "If we can reach them before…" The ground shook again, violently this time. Sam lost her balance and fell.
Daniel lost his balance and fell on top of her. "Sorry," he said, and dusted himself off quickly. "Sam…" he said, when she didn't respond. He shook her. "Jack!" He called.
"Crap," Jack muttered as he leaned down to Sam. He rolled her over into recovery position and checked her head. There was a bruise forming on her temple and a small pool of blood trickling down a sharp rock where her head had been.
"She's unconscious," Jack said. "We need to get her back to the gate."
"Would it not be wise to continue our mission?" Teal'c suggested. "Perhaps the Magorans can be of assistance."
"I doubt it," Jack said. "They did this to her in the first place." He lifted her head and her knees so that he could carry her. "A little help, T?" he asked. Sam murmured as her head rolled backward. "Carter?" Jack whispered. "Carter, can you hear me?"
"Jack…" she muttered, her eyes flitting open. She cried out in pain and squinted her eyes shut, almost losing consciousness again. She looked back up at him with a weak smile.
"Carter," he crooned, trying to keep her awake. What could he talk about to keep her from falling unconscious again? She wouldn't remember anything he said. But she had called him Jack. Maybe the fall had knocked the damned things loose. "Carter," he repeated. "Can you remember me?" He knew it would be easier for her to stay awake if she had something to talk about.
Sam nodded, wincing with pain. Her eyes closed again.
"I don't understand," Daniel said. "She didn't hit her head that badly."
"Perhaps the devices in her brain have been dislodged," Teal'c suggested.
"In which case we have no choice but to take her to them," Daniel said, his look of concern enough to make Jack agree.
"Alright," he said. "But for the record, I don't like this." If they so much as looked at her the wrong way…
Teal'c came to Jack's side and picked up their unconscious teammate.
"Hello," Daniel said, knocking on the purple grey barrier to the protected caves.
"Hey!" Jack yelled, after him. "Open up!"
There was no answer.
"Right," Jack muttered and pulled his P-90 into his arms.
"Jack!" Daniel warned. He beat on the door again. Jack glared him down.
"I'm not waiting for them to finish their dessert, Daniel!" he growled and bashed the door with the back end of his gun. "Open the damned door!" he yelled.
The barrier opened and out stepped a very nervous looking Mattias.
"Dr Jackson, Teal'c," the young man said. "You have returned." He looked dismayed.
"Yeah," said Daniel. "Mattias, we need your help."
Mattias saw Sam slung over Teal'c's shoulder and gasped. "Colonel Carter!" He cried. "What has happened to her?"
"We were hoping you might know the answer," Daniel said diplomatically.
Mattias squirmed. "This was not supposed to happen. Why is she asleep? Can she not wake?"
"No, she can't!" Jack growled. Mattias looked up at him, fearfully.
"Mattias, this is Jack," Daniel introduced. Jack sneered at the young man. "Mattias is one of the helpers in the village," Daniel explained.
"I am the assistant of Sa'men," he said, bowing to the company. "Why have you returned?" he asked Daniel. "I told Colonel Carter to leave this place!"
"She did leave," Daniel said. "She came home to us, but she was different. She lost some of her memory. Do you know why?"
Mattias shrugged and shrunk back. "I…there is nothing I can say to such a claim. I don't understand what…"
"Oh For crying out loud!" Jack practically yelled. "We don't have time for this!"
Mattias looked close to tears. "I am sorry," he said. "Perhaps I should get Sa'men." He began to back into the caves. "Please," he added. "Bring her inside. Take her to the infirmary. They will make her comfortable."
Teal'c, Daniel and Jack followed Mattias into the caves. There were men everywhere. There wasn't quite enough room in the protected underground caves for all the Magorans to live comfortably. Many of the poor had lived on the surface before the latest tremours had struck the planet. Now, however, they all huddled in together, sharing what they had.
Teal'c and Daniel made their way to the infirmary, led by a short man Mattias had enlisted to help them. Jack didn't follow. Loath as he was to leave Sam's side, something needed to be done and he had a feeling that this Sa'men fellow wasn't going to be all that forthcoming.
Jack waited at the door as Mattias summoned Sa'men.
"The aliens have returned," Jack heard the assistant say through the door.
"All of them?" A booming voice asked. Jack assumed it must be Sa'men.
"All of them," Mattias said. "They have brought another. I believe he is their leader."
"General O'Neill is here?" Sa'men asked. "Interesting. And the woman?"
Jack ground his teeth at Sa'men's tone of voice.
"Colonel Carter is here also," Mattias said. "I think she may be badly injured. She was asleep and would not wake."
Jack didn't wait to hear Sa'men's answer. He burst through the door, all thoughts of obtaining information gone from his brain. He was in a mad, erratic state. He couldn't stand by while Sam lay unconscious. She could be dying for all he knew. If Teal'c was right and the devices in her head had somehow dislodged, it would more than likely cause some kind of brain damage. He was no surgeon, but he was fairly sure it was possible. And he was not going to let that happen.
"General O'Neill," Sa'men greeted as Jack barged through the door. "I have been eager to meet you."
Jack stopped thinking. Something took over him. He wasn't even sure what. She felt as though he had been replaced by an animal. A carnivorous tiger who wanted nothing more than to rip Sa'men, limb from limb. He barely even noticed himself point his P-90 at the man's head. He barely noticed the roar that came out of his mouth.
"What have you done to Carter?"
Sa'men said nothing.
"What have you done to her?" Jack repeated.
Sa'men gave the General a sheepish smile. "I assure you, sir, I have no idea what you talking about. Mattias here was just telling me that your friends have decided to return to our beautiful town. I thank you. We have had much trouble relieving the people of the stress from the last tremours. We had thought we would never endure such hardship again, but there you are. The last week is merely proof that Mother Nature is a vengeful woman indeed."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "Walk with me," he said, and pointed his gun into Sa'men's back. He was prepared to lead the man to his death if he had to, no questions asked.