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Chapter 8

Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team stepped through the Stargate to P7X-324, a nearby yet unexplored world in the infamous gate system. This team consisted only of himself, Teal'c, and Dr. Janet Fraiser, who had opted to join them rather than sitting around Stargate Command waiting for her missing friends to be found. General Hammond had gladly given his permission.

Almost immediately O'Neill noticed a strange stench, and took a few steps forward, wrinkling his nose. A second later, when he glanced downward, he jumped back several feet as the gate closed behind them.

"Whoa!" he said, looking at what lay beyond the large stone platform the gate stood on. "The M.A.L.P. didn't show that. Yikes!"

"I believe that is an extremely valid statement, O'Neill," Teal'c offered.

"You can say that again," Fraiser added.

Once the stone ended, the ground was nothing but gray, extremely mushy-looking, deep, bubbling, mud. There were plenty of healthy-looking strange trees sticking up from it, which, at first glance, had made this planet seem not too much out of the ordinary, but he would definitely have to mention to the technicians back home that they should really think about giving the surveillance cameras more maneuverability. For example, it would be really helpful, in this case anyway, if they could look down.

"Okay, somebody please tell me that they're not here, because I'd really like to save us all the unpleasantness of having to slog through any of that," Jack said.

Janet nodded. "As a doctor, I think I can safely say that, colonel. I don't think they could survive here for very long, and if they could, they wouldn't have gotten very far from the gate by now. We'd be able to see them if they were here."

Teal'c nodded. "And if, for some reason, they were here, yet unable to dial earth, they would have had no reason to venture out into this. Doctor Fraiser is correct."

The colonel sighed. "Yep. I think so too. All, right, let's dial home and get back. No use wasting more time here." O'Neill glanced over at Fraiser, who he knew didn't get off-world much. "Doctor, if you would like to do the honors?"

Janet smiled and stepped up to the DHD. "Thank you, colonel, I'd be happy to."

Samantha Carter had begun to worry when Daniel had been gone for over an hour, but now it had been more than two, and part of her mind feared the worst. But surely Amaunet wouldn't have killed him already?

Carter jumped when the door opened and three figures entered. She sighed in relief when she saw that the one in the middle was Daniel, but at the same time her stomach tightened in concern for him when she realized that the two jaffa on either side of him were practically dragging the younger man. They dumped the weakened human on the floor and left, the door slamming down behind them. As soon as they were gone, the major jumped up and ran to him and knelt down beside her gasping friend.

"Daniel?" she said, rolling him from his side to his back. "Are you all right?"

Daniel groaned and opened his closed eyes, speaking between gasped intakes of breath. "No…not okay…but I'll…live. Uhhhhh…." He moaned.

Carter winced and slipped an arm under his back, helping him to slowly sit up. Once in a sitting position beside her, Daniel's head dropped to her shoulder and rested there, and his chest still heaved with heavy breaths. She kept her arm around his shoulders both for comfort and to keep him in a stable position. After another few minutes his breathing slowed somewhat, and she ventured to speak to him again.

"Daniel, what happened?" she asked quietly. "What did they do to you?"

"Oh, they just used the hand device, and one of those Goa'uld torture sticks--you know, the usual," Daniel said, gulping as he lifted his head from her shoulder and attempted to hold it up himself.

"She had you tortured?" Carter said with concern.

Daniel nodded weakly, and then suddenly his head seemed too heavy again and he let it drop into his hands. Sam rubbed him back gently, wishing there were more she could do. She knew it must have been horrible for him-to be tortured like that, and at his own wife's command. No, not Sha're-it was Amaunet, the being that controlled her body. But she also knew that didn't change the fact that it 'was' her body, her face looking at him…Carter shuddered, and sighed.

"It's all right, Daniel," she comforted him quietly. "You'll find a way to get through to her, and we'll get out of this."

"I just hope I can do it before it's too late," he answered.

Carter nodded, then stood and offered him her hand. Daniel looked up and took it, and Sam gently helped him up. On the way up he winced, assessing the damage. Thankfully there didn't seem to be too much of it. Both the hand device and the torture stick had simply left him exhausted and sore. The only real damage was from the blows to the face he'd taken, and the general rough handling. His knees still ached from hitting the floor so hard, and his wrists felt raw from the chains. Sam saw him rubbing them and frowned.

"What is it?" she asked with concern.

Daniel lowered himself onto the nearest bench, and held up one of his reddened, scraped, and slightly bleeding wrists. "What, this?" Carter placed her hands on her hips as if to say Of course that, Daniel, what else would I be talking about? And she was right. He sighed. "That would be from the chains that kept me bound to the wall while they used the torture stick," he said, letting his arm drop again. He leaned back against the wall, and Carter sat beside him, worry still on her face. She sighed at his response.

"Is there anything else you haven't told me?"

"Nope, that…that's pretty much all that happened."

Sam looked at him, and somehow Daniel knew that she was staring straight at the fresh bruises on his face. He grimaced.

"Okay, okay, so one of the jaffa got a little angry at me. It wasn't that bad, Sam. Really. I'm all right. I promise."

Carter sighed yet again, and nodded. "Okay. Sorry. I'm just concerned, you know."

"I know," Daniel answered. Then he looked around, as if the answer to his next question were in the air. "How long was I gone? I…uh…couldn't really tell…"

The tone and almost imperceptible wince that accompanied the last statement made it easy to realize the implications of it, and Sam winced again as she glanced at her watch. "Um, about two hours…"

Daniel's eyebrows rose at that, and he looked down at his own watch, which he seemed to have just remembered was there. "Oh…Oh, well, I guess it was…Yikes."

"Do you think they'll come back?" Carter asked quietly.

Daniel's lips pursed into a fine, uncomfortable line. "My impression was that they would."

"Perfect. So what are we going to do?"

"Hope they wait at least two hours before they do come back."

"Colonel, why are you back so soon? You and your team didn't leave any longer than ten minutes ago."

Jack nodded as he, Teal'c, and Janet stopped at the bottom of the Gate ramp. "I know, sir, but the doc says there's no way they could be on that planet, so there was no reason to waste any time."

General Hammond looked to doctor Frasier next. "Why wouldn't they be there, doctor?"

"It's all mud, sir, very unfriendly mud. I doubt they would be there. You could see for miles, and they certainly wouldn't have gotten any farther than that by now. I can't see why anyone would go out into that in the first place."

Hammond nodded. "All right. I can agree with that. De-brief in ten minutes." The General started to turn and walk away, but O'Neill stopped him.

"Uh, sir, actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to get going again immediately. There's not much more to the de-brief than what you've heard, and it can be done later. Just have Walter dial the next address on the list, please."

Hammond eyed his subordinate. "And what about protocol, colonel?" he said, putting some emphasis on the rank.

"With all due respect, general, most of it went out the window the moment two of my people went missing," Jack said, trying to keep as straight a face as possible.

But George Hammond broke into a smile and nodded. "I understand, colonel. Permission to re-embark immediately granted." With that, the general looked up towards the window to the control room, and nodded to Walter Harriman, who began to dial a new Gate address.

"Chevron one, encoded."

Jack nodded to Hammond. "Thank you sir."

"You're welcome, colonel. Now get going. Find our people."