As Jennifer slowly began to wake up she immediately noticed that she couldn't feel Cam's warm body next to her. Opening her eyes she also realised that she had no idea how she ended up back in her quarters and in her bed. That thought though was quickly swept to the back of her mind when she saw Cam, lying on the far side of the bed, head raised and supported by his arm, watching her.
"Hi." Jennifer said concerned by how worried Cam looked.
"Hey." Cam half smiled in reply.
"What's wrong?" Jennifer asked, as she mirrored his position.
"We need to talk." Cam then stopped speaking causing Jennifer to nervously ask.
"About what?"
"The reason I'm here, what's going on with the planet and how you're involved."
"I thought you couldn't tell me any of that." Jennifer said as her brow creased in confusion.
"I couldn't but that's changed. You've become too involved."
"But I-"
"Not because of what you've done, but because of me and what they've done." Cam added quickly, although his words only seemed to confuse Jennifer further.
"They?"
"I should start at the beginning." Cam said, shaking his head. "And perhaps we should talk somewhere else. Do you want to go for a walk?"
"Okay." Jennifer agreed, even though she desperately wanted to know what Cam would say and didn't care if she found out whilst lying in bed. However, Cam could instantly tell she didn't like the idea and changed his mind.
"Second thoughts we'll stay here. At least then no one else will listen in." He said as he reached across the bed and took her hand in his. He then fell silent as he stared at her hand whilst Jennifer watched him. Eventually he looked into her eyes, took a deep breath and started.
"Do you remember last time I was here I told you I got consumed by a planet and had my memories downloaded?"
"And that you couldn't tell me anything else but I was never to go to the planet?" Jennifer responded.
"Yeah. The planet seems to be some giant Ancient experiment, probably gone wrong. But there are some Arks in the Milky Way that are somehow connected to the planet."
"Arks?"
"Boxes with something powerful and probably sinister hidden in them that were taken from the planet around the time the Ancients returned to the Milky Way. I don't really understand how they're connected to the planet but Daniel might be able to fill you. Anyway, the planet, or rather this crazy Caretaker-"
"Crazy Caretaker?" Jennifer asked, before realising she'd interrupted Cam again. "Sorry, I'll let you finish."
"It's ok." Cam assured her running a hand tenderly over her cheek. "I've dealt with this for so long that all this insanity seems normal, sometimes it's easy to forget that the whole situation is one brick shy of a load. After I threatened to blow up parts of the temple this man appeared, calling himself a Caretaker. We're not entirely sure if he's a clever hologram, some sort of Ancient or just an inhabitant of the planet. Anyway he's the only person we've had contact with on the planet." He paused and waited to see if Jennifer had any other questions. When she remained silent he continued.
"So he or the people he works for really want the Arks to make their way back to the planet. When my mind was read on my last visit they discovered that we had encountered someone who'd had contact with an Ark. We were told to return the Ark or face the consequences. When Sheppard came back to Earth they recovered an Ark which was shipped back to Pegasus on your last trip."
"Is that why the Apollo kept malfunctioning?"
"Don't know for sure, but it seems like a good assumption. Problem is that none of us trust the Caretaker and as he can read our minds we couldn't go back and couldn't let others who may go know of our distrust or any plans we may have had."
"Plans?"
"We had to return the first Ark, but were hoping to not return the others until we knew more about what they were and what threat they posed. Problem was they found out we had found a second Ark, which we hadn't returned?"
"How?"
"Don't know. According to Lorne the Arks and planet are somehow connected and when we brought the Ark into this Galaxy they sensed it."
"So are we at war with another new enemy?"
"No, not yet anyway. Rather than threatening us directly they attached Lorne to the database and put some knowledge in his head, which they say they had hoped would make us trust them enough to hand over the Ark."
"They want our trust?" Jennifer asked, wondering if her recent experience being deprived of oxygen had killed more brain cells than she realised.
"The Caretaker told Zelenka that it was hoped that if we trusted them we would be willing to return all the Arks, including the one on the Hammond."
"But you still don't trust them?"
"No. And when we didn't send the Ark straight through they made some assumptions about why."
"Assumptions?" Jennifer asked after Cam seemed to pause.
"They assumed that we didn't send the Ark because we, or rather I, didn't trust Lorne."
"Why you?"
"It was either due to the fact I was the least trusting of everyone they connected to the database or because I threatened to blow up the temple. Either way the Caretaker said that the only way to gain my trust is to give the Ancient database knowledge to someone I trust. Based on what was extracted from my head last time that only left my team," he paused before looking at Jennifer and adding, "and you." He then stopped speaking and watched as Jennifer silently digested the news. Eventually she said, her voice nervous.
"Your team know too much so they can't go back to the planet. That leav-"
"You're not going." Cam cut her off.
"But-"
"If they wanted you to I wouldn't have been able to tell you any of this." Cam said, his words causing Jennifer to ask.
"Are you telling me so I can't go?"
"No. It was decided that Daniel is going to volunteer."
"But Daniel knows too much."
"It's a test. If they try scanning Daniel's mind, we know they can't be trusted. If they just give him the information then perhaps they are not as bad as they seem."
"You don't sound convinced."
"I'm not, but I've been over ruled." Cam said, his frustration clear. With that the two lay in silence contemplating what was happening.
"If we weren't involved he wou-" Jennifer suddenly started only for Cam to cut her off again.
"If we weren't involved your name wouldn't have been on my trusted short list. Daniel's decision had nothing to do with us and I tried arguing against it."
"Surely there's another way?"
"If there is we haven't found it. Right now it is out of our hands."
"When does Daniel go?"
"Lorne has returned to planet to tell the Caretaker that Daniel will agree to get connected to the database only if they extract the stuff they put into his head. If they agree and it looks like Lorne is ok then all my team will go back to the planet."
Realising that Cam would return to the planet Jennifer felt herself shudder as an irrational fear took hold.
"It'll be okay." Cam assured her as he moved closer to her and wrapped his arms round her.
-00-
"Hey doc." Lorne greeted as Jennifer approached him in the infirmary later that day.
"Are you ok?" She asked. "What happened?"
"According to the Caretaker I'm now free from the information they gave me."
"And do you feel –" John started, cutting himself off before he insulted his second in command. Instead he mentally rephrased his question and asked. "Less mentally burdened?"
"Nice save." Cam whispered before Lorne answered.
"I haven't managed to answer any of Teldy's questions about the Arks."
"Well that's good." John said before turning towards Jennifer and asking. "Isn't it?"
"I'll run some scans. But like before I think it'll be a case of wait and see." She said, as frustrated as the others that she couldn't give a more definite answer.
"So they accepted our offer?" Daniel asked.
"They seem to have done." Lorne said. "After we made the offer the Caretaker disappeared for a while. Eventually he came back said Dr Jackson was acceptable and if I really wanted the information removed they would do it. He seemed genuinely surprised that I wanted it out."
"How long do you need in order to see if Major Lorne has been adversely affected?" Woolsey asked Jennifer who was already busy monitoring the many LCD screens surrounding Lorne.
"As I said before this is unlike anything we've seen before-"
"Best guess Dr Keller." Woolsey interrupted.
"Forty-eight hours." Jennifer reluctantly said.
"That could be a problem." Lorne stated.
"Why?" Cam asked.
"The Caretaker expects to see Dr Jackson by nightfall."
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Next chapter up tomorrow.