Author's Notes: For anything that might not make total sense in this chapter, please suspend your disbelief!
"He wants to do what?!"
Jack sits down on a chair which creaks under his weight, "He wants to go back to Earth."
"Why?"
"He thinks that we owe it to ourselves to go back at least once. I told him that I wouldn't give him an answer until I talked to you."
"If you want my opinion, I don't think we should go."
"Would there be any danger in us going back to Earth?"
I shake my head, "No, not if we go through in environmental suits. The atmosphere would still be contaminated, but most the volcanic eruptions should have stopped by now."
"Do you think..."
"Think what Jack?"
"Do you think that anyone could still be alive?"
I'm silent for a moment. I don't even want to contemplate that possibility. "I suppose that if someone had holed themselves up underground, with enough air, food and water..."
"But no one knew this was coming."
I shake my head, "Only the highest ranking government officials and us."
Jack sighs, "Maybe Paul's right. Maybe we should go back."
I gape at him, "You're not serious are you? We're happy here Jack! We don't need to go back. I've tried to forget what I left behind."
"Then don't come. I'm sorry Sam, but we're doing this."
"You're not going anywhere without me." I say, clutching Cameron to my chest.
"I'll talk to Paul again, and we'll prepare a suitable team."
"The iris." I say, suddenly remembering it, "What if General Hammond closed the iris? The GDO's won't do any good if no one is there to open it."
"I guess we'll have send a probe though first. We have some MALP's on the base don't we?"
I nod my head, "I'll go over there tomorrow and take a look at them. Make sure they're still in working order."
Jack gives me a grim smile and gets up, "I'm going to talk to Paul. I'll be back later."
____________
"We're doing what?!"
"We're going back to Earth."
I cannot believe that Jack O'Neill is sitting in front of me, telling me this. "Going back? For good?" I can't seem to comprehend what he's telling me.
"No, not for good, " he says shaking his head, "We're just going back to see what's left."
"To see what's left.." I repeat dumbly.
"Yes, and I need you to come with us."
"Me? Why?"
"Because we don't know what we might run into there. We might need a doctor, or maybe someone there will need one."
"You can't be serious. There's no way anyone could still be alive."
"Sam said that it might be possible."
"Is she going too?"
Jack nods, "She didn't want to, but she's going anyway."
At least someone in that family has some brains. I briefly wonder if Daniel is going. Probably is, I decide, he wouldn't pass up this chance.
Jack continues, "Sam's checked the MALP's on base and we're going to send one through to make sure that the iris is open."
Oh please let the iris be closed, I pray, please let General Hammond have had enough sense to close the iris. "And if it isn't?"
"Then we're going through tomorrow."
____________
"Sending the MALP through." I say to the small audience gathered in the control room. We watch as it makes its way up the ramp and through the event horizon. Janet is standing beside me, I can almost feel her shaking. She came to see me, after Jack talked to her. She's terrified of the thought of returning.
"MALP is in transit." We wait for it to make its journey and I'm waiting for it to be destroyed when it smashes into the iris.
I feel my chest tighten, it becomes hard to breath. I stare at my computer screen, this can't be right. "The MALP has emerged from the wormhole." I say. The iris wasn't up. Dammit Hammond, you didn't engage the iris.
"Let's see what's there." Jack says, his voice almost a whisper.
"Receiving telemetry now." I say and look at the monitor.
The MALP shines its light around the cavern of the abandoned gateroom.
"It looks the same." Janet says, her voice quavering.
"Analysis of the air shows a high concentration of carbon dioxide. I recommend environmental suits with oxygen." My mind is functioning solely on a scientific level.
"Alright, shut it down Sam." I comply and disengage the wormhole. Swivelling around my chair, I see Jack ready to address the small group. The team that he and Paul chose consists of them, myself, Daniel and Janet. We have told no one else of what we're going to do tomorrow.
"Okay people. We'll meet in the gateroom at 0700 hours tomorrow. I want you all to get a good night's sleep and then we'll take it from there." Jack looks us over, "Dismissed." he says finally and rather unnecessarily. Daniel puts his arm around Janet and leads her out of the room. Paul follows them, leaving Jack and I alone.
"Are you sure that including Janet on the team was the best idea?"
Jack shrugs, "We need her Sam. She's not the only one who left someone behind. Who's to say that anyone else would react better?"
"She's my friend Jack, I'm concerned."
"She's my friend too Sam."
I stand up and leave Jack staring at the Stargate. I have to get home, I hate leaving Cameron with a babysitter for too long. I feel my heart flutter as I realize that I'll be leaving him alone for much longer tomorrow.
_____________
So cold. Cold. My blanket. Where did my blanket go? Why did I wake up now? I don't wake up for another two hours usually. Was it because I was cold?
'Seventh chevron locked' Those words ring in my mind. Is that why I woke up, the seventh chevron has locked? I flail about blindly in the dark, my hands searching for my missing blanket. 'Unscheduled off-world activation' Why am I hearing these things? I can't find my blanket. It's cold, I need my blanket.
Major Samantha Carter. Colonel Jonathan O'Neill. Doctor Daniel Jackson. I can't my blanket! Why can't I find my blanket! I'm so cold. Maybe I need to get up and move. Sometimes moving around takes the chill from my bones. I stand up, feeling the cold cement through the soles of my boots. 'I want to you lock out Earth's co-ordinates' That was my voice. I told them to lock out Earth's co-ordinates. They won't ever come back.
My footsteps sound hollow as the echo off the walls. I get lonely a lot of the time. Sometimes I want to leave and find someone to talk to. Then I remember. There is no one and I can't leave. I'm not supposed to be alive. Yet I am.
I wish it weren't so dark all the time. It wasn't always this dark, for a while there were dim lights but then they stopped working one day. The elevators haven't worked since then either, if I want to eat, I have to climb a ladder.
I enter the gateroom and look at the Stargate. It stands proud and majestic. It's useless to me. It hasn't worked since they left. I remember that it can only work using a computer and the computers haven't worked since the day that the ground shook.
Something is here that shouldn't be here. I approach it silently, examining it. I should know what it is, but I just can't remember. M something. MARF? No that's not right. MOPY? No, that's not it either. I look at it closely, peering at the tiny camera and the wheels. MALP! That's it, it's a MALP. Major Carter would always send a MALP through the Stargate before we sent any people. Why is there a MALP here? I didn't put it here and I doubt that it got here itself.
The noise that woke me up, I know what it was. It was the Stargate.
____________
I tug on my khaki pants and do them up at the waist. I haven't worn BDU's in ages. Sam stands next to me, cursing at her pants in an attempt to get them done up. She hasn't completely lost her pregnancy weight yet.
"Janet?"
"Hmmm?"
"You don't have to come if you really don't want to."
"I have to do this Sam," I say, not really believing it myself, "the fear, it's irrational really."
"It's not irrational."
I sit down on the bench, "I am frightened though, I can't help it. What if we find someone still alive?"
"Then we find them. It's a risk we have to take."
"Will we bring them back with us?"
"I don't know. Jack and I never talked about that. I guess we would. Anyone who is still alive after two years would be in pretty bad shape."
"Sam! Janet! You two ready to head out?" I pull on my shirt just as Jack yells that and bangs on the door.
"We'll be out in a moment!" Sam calls back.
She turns to me, her expression grim, "We probably won't be able to make it to the surface anyway."
I nod, remembering that severe volcanic eruptions would have taken place. "Are the environmental suits in the gateroom?" I ask, slightly concerned.
"Yep, Jack and Paul hauled them out of storage last night, along with the oxygen canisters. We'll be okay Janet."
I don't have anything to say to her, so we grab our jackets and leave the locker room. It's a short walk to the gateroom, when we arrive there we find Daniel and Paul already suited up. I go to Daniel and look at him, "You look like an astronaut."
Under the helmet he waggles his eyebrows, "You like it?"
I find myself giggling, in spite of the situation, "Yeah, kinda sexy."
"Guys?" I look up at Sam, she's smirking, "Maybe you could put that on hold for a while?"
Daniel looks somewhat embarrassed and I take the suit that Sam is holding out for me. "How does this go on?"
Sam helps me into the suit and then puts on her own. We have backpacks with us, mine has medical supplies and water. The rest of them are carrying blankets, extra clothes, water and food. Someone, I think it was Paul, helped me into the pack and then put the oxygen canister on as well. I sagged a bit under the weight, this stuff was obviously not meant to go on someone 5'2. The rest of them look at ease. It isn't fair, I hate being short.
"Everyone use the bathroom before they came here?" Jack asks, looking us over. We nod, helmets bobbing. Jack signals to Walter Davis in the control booth. We had agreed to tell no one else but Jack decided to let Walter in on it. He's the best technician we have and he doesn't like being kept in the dark. The Stargate begins to turn, chevrons locking. I resist the urge to duck as the kawoosh comes out and then Jack signals for us to begin the ascent of the ramp. Paul goes through first, followed by Daniel, then Sam, then I go and Jack brings up the rear.
____________
It's that noise again, the one that woke me up. Are there more MALP's being sent through? I should go and find out, but I'm too cold. Has my blanket fallen off me again? I reach out a hand and feel my side. No, the blanket is still there. I need to move, get warm. I move my foot and watch it bump under the blanket.
Why is it so damn cold? It never used to be this cold. There used to be people here too. They all left one day, I remember seeing them all walk through the Stargate. The day that the ground shook, that was the last time I ever saw them, any of them. They left me here. They left me here to die.
____________
It's like stepping back in time. I've done it, so I know what it's like. I fumble around at my side for my flashlight. Jack already has his on and Daniel has his in hand. Janet looks frozen in time. The beam of light from Jack's hand flashes around the room, peering into the high corners of the ceiling.
"The MALP is at the end of the ramp." Jack says, his voice echoing in my helmet. I switch my flashlight on and point it down the ramp. The light flashes off the MALP's metallic surfaces.
"We'll send it back through with us." I say, seeing no point in sending it back now.
"Alright folks, let's get moving, see what we can find."
Janet moves for the first time since we arrived and Daniel takes her arm. Jack leads the way, five beams of light illuminating our passage.
"We should split up." Paul says, "We can do a sweep of the base, keep in contact by radio."
Jack agrees and splits us up into team teams: Him and Paul, and Daniel, Janet and I.
"Keep an eye open for anything that might be useful to us, we can bring it back with us. Nothing big though. I know it might be tempting to take the couch from the lounge, but we can't easily carry it."
I hear Daniel's soft laughter in my helmet. He had been complaining about how uncomfortable the wicker couch in his house is.
With a wave, Jack and Paul head off down a corridor leaving Daniel, Janet and I alone.
"We should start by checking the lounge." I say, thinking of the closest room, "You can have a seat on the couch for a while if you want Daniel."
Daniel laughs again and shakes his head. The three of us move, slowly, ensconced in the bulky environmental suits. The door to the lounge is part way open, it gives a creak as I push it open all the way. My flashlight beams bounces off the walls, highlighting the television set, long since silenced. The couch is pushed up against the far wall. I remember spending countless hours in this room, laughing with Janet and my team. We had introduced Teal'c to the concept of TV in this room, he was quite taken by it.
As the light finds the couch, I hear Janet's sudden gasp. The light plays off a mountain of blankets and a head. Blue eyes stare back at me. My flashlight falls at my feet as Daniel pulls Janet nearer to him.
____________
Daniel grabs me and pulls me closer to him, as if he were protecting me from something. Sam has dropped her flashlight, it rolls around on the ground, light flashing on the walls.
I know that I should go to him, help him, but my brain can't get the message to move to my feet. It's as if my synapses have stopped firing. I know that's not possible and know that I'm paralyzed from fear and fear alone.
"Oh my God." Sam breathes.
Daniel echoes her words, his hands clasped tightly on my shoulders.
"Let me go Daniel," I find myself saying, "I have to go to him. He needs help."
Daniel loosens his grip, but doesn't let go. Sam picks up her flashlight and aims it back at the couch. "It's not possible" she says, more to herself than anyone, "He shouldn't be alive."
But he is Sam. He is alive and we have to help him. I leave Daniel's embrace and walk shakily into the room. "Sam?" I say, "Is it safe for me to take off my helmet? I want him to know who I am."
Sam pulls something from her pocket and consults it, "I wouldn't recommend it, but you should be alright."
I should be alright, after all, he is. I lift my hands and release the latch holding my helmet on. The cold hits me, bitter cold. It's a wonder he's still alive. He's probably hypothermic, among other things. Hypothermic and suffering from lack of oxygen.
I approach him slowly. His eyes watch me. "General Hammond?" I say, my voice quavering, "We're here to help you."
______________
They're here. Creatures with strange, large heads and bulky arms and legs. They shine lights in my face and point at me. They must have come through the Stargate.
One is approaching me, taking off its head. It's taking off its head! I blink once and look again. It has another, smaller head. 'Your name isn't on the list sir' A smaller head with dark hair.
"General Hammond? We're here to help you." it says. I understand it! Didn't someone once tell me that most aliens speak English? It comes closer, I can see its breath, puffing in the beam of light.
"Sir? Can you hear me?"
I open my mouth but no sound escapes.
"It's Janet Fraiser, sir. Do you remember me?"
Janet Fraiser. She wore a large white coat. She was cute.
"You're suffering from hypothermia and oxygen deprivation sir, we're going to take you with us."
Take me where? I live here. I shouldn't leave.
"Sam?" Janet Fraiser has turned around and faces the the two creatures hovering in the doorway. "Have you radioed Jack and Paul?"
The creature's head bobs an affirmative. Sam. Samantha Carter, Major. I knew her father.
"Sir, can you stand up?"
I could if I wasn't so damn cold.
"Can you talk to me?"
I open my mouth again and force a small sound out. It sounds like the noise that the door makes when I open it.
"Okay sir, I'm going to have Daniel help you up. You're going to be okay sir."
A creature approaches me, this one much larger than Janet Fraiser. She called him Daniel. Through the haze in my brain, a name surfaces. Daniel Jackson, archaeologist and pain in the ass. Pain in the ass? Why did I think that? This one reaches out and puts its hands around me. With help I can stand up, pulling the blankets closer to me.
______________
"Sam? What have you found?"
Jack and Paul walk down the corridor towards me at a brisk pace.
"Take a look." I say, gesturing towards the lounge room.
"If it's the television set Sam, you know it won't do us any good!"
Both men stop beside me and cast their gazes into the room. Daniel is standing with his arms around Hammond and Janet is looking him over anxiously.
"Holy shit." Paul says, putting his hand on the wall in an attempt to steady himself.
To my surprise, Jack laughs. "The old guy made it!" he says, "I can't believe the old guy made it!"
My own laughter joins him and soon Paul chimes in.
"Does he know who we are?"
I raise my and turn tilt it several times, "I think we're familiar but he doesn't seem to be able to speak. I don't think he knows what's happened to him."
"Why has Janet taken off her helmet?" Jack asks, concern evident in his voice.
"She thought he would react better if he could see her face. I'd say she was right. She'll be okay, don't worry about it."
Daniel was making his way to to the door with Hammond leaning heavily on him.
"Get to the control room! We have to get him out of here soon!" he yells.
I start to move and then freeze. Oh my God. The control room, the 'gate, we can't activate it. The dialling computer isn't operational, we don't have a DHD. How could I not think of this! I was so concerned with the possibility that the iris might be up that I hadn't considered how to get back.
"Jack?" I say slowly, "We can't dial out."
Everyone stops what they're doing and looks at me. General Hammond's eyes are wide, he's nearly gasping for breath. Janet stops putting on her helmet, Paul and Jack are frozen mid-step.
"We have to find a way." Jack says, "We've turned the gate manually before, we'll do it again."
"We need power to do it Jack, we had the lightning before, and Teal'c to turn it."
"We'll use the MALP then, doesn't it have a power core?"
"The MALP might work, but I don't know if that power will be sufficient."
"No harm in trying, let's move folks!"
Everyone resumes what they were doing. My mind is whirling, trying to calculate how much power we would have to draw from the MALP. I can only pray that it will be enough.