"Teal'c!"

He got no response.

"TEAL'C"

"O'NEILL"

Jack followed the sound of Teal'c's voice through the fog. They kept shouting at each other until Jack could see Teal'c's outline.

"Hey. It's bad out here. I think we've got enough for the next day or so. Let's head back."

"Where is Major Carter?"

"I thought she went back."

"Back to the caves?"

"Yeah, I passed her earlier and she mentioned something about going back."

"I did not see her."

"Shit. CARTER!"

"O'Neill, if she has returned to the cave, perhaps we will meet her there."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

They made their way cautiously back towards the caves. Jack was glad that Teal'c seemed to know where he was going, as the thick ash and the cloud that surrounded them prevented him from telling him where he was. At the caves Daniel was trying to move the logs back into the cave.

"Danny. What are you doing?"

"Helping."

"Get back in before you start hacking up a lung or two."

"Yes Jack."

"Why isn't Carter helping?"

"Sam?"

"Did Major Carter not return?"

"No. She left with you but hasn't retu..." Daniel was interrupted by the urge to cough. Jack moved over to him and patted him on the back, none too gently.

"So she's still out there?"

"Indeed."

"We gotta go look for her."

"Jack. Look at yourself! The only thing that isn't covered in grey are the whites of your eyes!"

Jack turned to Teal'c and then looked down at himself. His green fatigues had a coat of ash on them, and Teal'c's face looked very unusual, his mark as first prime standing out against his very pale face.

"So what do you suggest Daniel? That we leave her out there all night?"

"Do you have a better solution? It's dark and you can't see more than a foot in front of you."

"I'm going to look for her. Teal'c, you coming?"

"O'Neill, we will require flashlights, and the radios."

"Just thinkin that." Jack grabbed the radios and tossed one to Teal'c.

"I suggest that we leave a radio with Daniel Jackson, and stay together as we search."

"Sure Teal'c. Danny, contact us if she returns."

Teal'c and Jack left the cave with their packs. Jack had packed several water bottles, some of the food that didn't need heating, and what was left of their first aid supplies. They climbed up the slope and Teal'c attempted to find any trace of her footprints. Jack could barely see their footprints from less than an hour ago. They discussed her possible path and headed off towards the left, into the trees. There they found a trail of sorts. As the ash hadn't fallen as thickly in the densely treed area, Teal'c could see traces of footsteps and Jack saw several broken branches. They followed the trail towards the edge of the cliffs.


Sam had been thinking while she had been sitting. Her flashlight was dead and she had no water left. Trying desperately to figure out where she was she closed her eyes and thought back to their other trips up here. Had she seen anything recognizable? She could hear the still rumbling volcano, but there was another sound, very quiet, underneath. The ocean! She could hear the waves, thickened by the ash, slapping the shore. Pulling her mind together, she realised that if she could get to the edge of the shore, she could follow it towards the cave. The tide would be starting to come in, but the tides weren't too deep here fortunately, and she exhaled in relief. She knew she was higher than the shore and didn't want to walk off the side of a cliff, so she crawled towards where the edge would be. Once she found the edge, she backed up a few feet and continued to crawl alongside it. She felt a sudden drop and immediately grabbed for anything she could, as the ground below her fell away.
Jack and Teal'c followed her tracks until the trees ended and the footsteps became lost in the ash.

"Where now Teal'c?"

"I am unsure. I believe that Major Carter spent some time resting here. Perhaps she.."

Teal'c silenced as Jack made a shushing noise. They could hear a sound like an avalanche and Jack headed towards it as quick as he could. He spotted the crumbling edge of the cliff and dropped to his stomach.

"CARTER!"

"MAJOR CARTER"

"Jack." Her voice was faint and Jack crawled towards it. Suddenly he could see a pair of hands scrambling to hold onto the cliff edge.

"Teal'c, grab my ankles."

"Sir!"

"I'm coming Sam. Hang on for as long as you can."

Jack crawled along the still crumbling ground towards her hands. Teal'c held his ankles as he grabbed her wrists.

"Kay, T. Pull."

Teal'c pulled on Jack as Jack held on firmly to Sam pulling her up. Once on ground, Sam and Jack crawled away from the edge. Sam laid down and closed her eyes. She had been hanging there for longer than she cared to imagine, knowing that if she let go, there wasn't a good chance of survival. Teal'c opened his pack and rummaged for some food and water while Jack checked Sam for any more injuries.

"Sam, you injured?"

"I don't think so Sir."

"Lets get back to the cave. I can't see properly here."

"Major Carter, why did you not climb back up?"

"I couldn't. Every time I moved my hands, more of the ground would fall. It was all I could do just to stay where I was."

Jack hauled Sam up and she took water gladly from Teal'c. She pulled the material back up over her face, as it had slipped when she first fell. The walk back was slow as Teal'c didn't want to get them lost again. When they were near the cave Jack pointed out several glowing blurs in the distance. They walked towards them and Sam realised that Daniel must've lit fires to guide them home.

"Sam."

"Hi Daniel."

"Where've you been?"

"I got lost. Damn fog. Couldn't find my way back."

"Great idea with the fires Danny."

"Thanks Jack. Couldn't sit here and do nothing. Got some water heating up so you guys can clean up a little."

All three crowded round so they could get the fine powder off their hands and faces. Jack tried to bang some of the grey off his pants but just created a large cloud of ash inside the cave. They changed clothes and sat around the fire as there wasn't much else to do.


The next few days followed a similar and mundane routine. The volcano continued to spew ash into the air, covering everything with more than a foot of ash. Tempers got short as the time they were confined grew longer. Teal'c and Jack had to leave two days after to get water. They had been caught in a rock slide on the way back, and Teal'c had been knocked out. When the two returned to the caves, Teal'c had a cut on his head, with ash sticking to the blood. He had complained of a headache and went to sleep. Sam hadn't been too concerned. Even without his symbiote, Teal'c was quite resilient. She was concerned about the amount of tretonin that he had left. He had been rationing himself for several days and was down to less than one vial. He would not be able to survive much longer. Daniel was another concern. He had been coughing for just under a week, and she could see the pain he was going through. She had asked him about it, but he had said he was fine, it was getting better.

Daniel was in considerable pain. He tried not to cough as it felt like he broke a rib every time he did. The worse thing was that it was painful to breathe. It felt like someone was stabbing him with every intake of air. He slept as much as he could, as it didn't bother him as much, just woke him up every hour or so. He looked over at Sam. The swelling around her ankle had gone down, but he could still see a slight limp when she first stood up every day. Her hand was healing slowly and she kept the glove on but she had started coughing the morning after she had got lost. Daniel knew what was going to happen to her. The same thing that was happening to him.

Jack's back had stopped healing. If anything it looked like it was becoming infected again. The lack of clean gauze and any clean material to make a bandage of sorts had caused the skin to go hard and start cracking again. Daniel guessed at most, a week, before Jack returned to the way he had been before they had used the paste on him. Other than that, Jack was being his usual self. He hated being confined, but after the last jaunt, had seen Sam's point. It was too dangerous out there right now. The thick layer of ash in the air blocked out most of the light, and once they were in the forest, it was like being there at dusk all day long. He was restless and spent most of his time sitting at the mouth of the cave, watching for anything that could create a distraction.

Daniel had taken some of the charcoal from the fire pit and was in the process of filling the cave walls with descriptions of this planet and anything of use for the next person or being to come here. He was not optimistic. Running out of food and water, with no conceivable way home, he was expecting to die here. The least he could do is leave something behind to state who they were, what they had been doing, and what had happened to them. Leaving that in several languages took time and most of the walls of the cave.

Jack had inquired what he had been doing, which sparked another argument. Somehow, Teal'c had calmed him down. Sam had taken to doing calculations with charcoal on one of the walls, trying to figure out, based on the limited information she had, how much longer the eruption would go on, how long they had left, and how to get the gate out of the hole it was in. Her laptop battery had died not long after the eruption started and she had no way to charge it, so she had substituted. Writing on a cave wall, then using the murky water from the ocean to clean it off and start anew. Teal'c, in his weak state, spent most of his time meditating, and keeping Jack from blowing up too often. Daniel lost count of how many days they were overdue to return and assumed that had the SGC had any way to come and get them, they would've by now. Besides, if a ship arrived now, the likelihood of them being seen, even on sensors, through this ash, were probably slim to none.


Teal'c slipped into a coma as his tretonin supply ran out. They had eaten the last of their food from Earth the day before, and only had several ears of corn left. Water was running very low and the corn was roasted, giving it a dry and overcooked taste. Sam's energy was spent trying not to cough and avoid intense pain to shoot around her ribcage and through her muscles. Jack stayed by the mouth of the cave, waiting and watching, and Daniel spent most of his time sleeping, or trying to. Fed up of lying down, she walked over to where Jack was sitting and sat down next to him. He turned and looked at her, startled at the contrast of her bright blue eyes against her pale, tired and ash covered face. He knew the odds where stacked against them right now but had no solution to the problem. Knowing Carter, she would feel that she was missing something, but he knew that she had done all she could. The only thing left was to wait for the eruption to end and try to dig out the gate. If they could last that long. She put her head on his shoulder and he tried not to jump at the sudden contact. Slowly and carefully, so as not to startle her, he placed and arm around her shoulder. She shifted slightly and he relished in the contact. They sat there, together, silent, watching, waiting for whatever would happen next, eventually dozing off.