Title: Mis-Adventures of Jack and Sam (Seven Days)
Author: dcChic
Email: dietcokechic@hotmail.com
Notes: Ok- things are about to pick up a bit. It might have taken seven chapters to narrate 2 days, but now we're going to just FLY through the third day, and heck- I'll even give you part of Day 4! Our heroes should be having some better days soon. Afraid it's not in this chapter though. As always, thanks to Kath for her superb editing.
Chapter 8
Day 3, P3X-677- Topside
0630 Hours
Daniel had only just drifted off to sleep when he heard the rustle of his tent flap closing. Teal'c was up. Which meant daylight had finally arrived so they could start looking again. Finally! Even without his morning cup of coffee, Daniel rose quickly and dressed in the chilled air. Once outside of the relative warmth of the tent, he gasped at the vision before him.
White. As far as the eye could see, there was just dazzling, brilliant whiteness. The trees were weighed down with large dollops of snow and in the background Daniel could hear branches breaking under their weight. This was not a good development.
He could see Lt. Meyers heating up breakfast and Teal'c talking with Captain Henderson. The Captain was shaking his head.
Daniel was running towards the pair before he even realized he was moving.
"You can't do that!" Daniel shouted not even bothering to listen to what the two were saying.
"Dr. Jackson, I know you want to find the Major and the Colonel. Hell, we all do. But we're not going to find squat in these conditions."
"I'm not going back."
"I will stay with DanielJackson and continue to search for Samantha Carter and Colonel O'Neill."
Henderson sighed. This was exactly why non-military personnel shouldn't be allowed on the project. He couldn't order them home. Well, he could but they would probably choose to ignore him. He'd heard all about Dr. Jackson from Colonel O'Neill. True, the Colonel's opinion of Dr. Jackson had skyrocketed after 4 years of working with the man but Henderson also thought that O'Neill just didn't feel like griping as much as he used too.
"Since we can't seem to make radio contact with the rest of SG-3, Meyers and I will head back to the Stargate as scheduled. You two have 24 hours; after that I want you both back at SGC."
Daniel agreed readily to the conditions as Teal'c solemnly nodded his head. They had another day to look!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 3, P3X-677
0800 Hours
Jack didn't so much wake up so much as regain consciousness. There was a definite distinction between the two, and unfortunately he knew the subtle differences. He and Carter had been down here WAY too long. Jack resisted the very strong urge to close his eyes and go back to sleep. He glanced at his watch and was surprised it was already morning. They were sleeping a heck of a lot more these days.
*As if you call shivering through the night sleeping*
Still, he could think of far worse ways to pass the time. Being shot by a zat gun was pretty nasty. Sitting in a Goa'u'ld glider waiting for your oxygen to run out also made the top 10 list.
Not really wanting too, Jack slipped out of the relative warmth of their sleeping abode and after a quick visit to the facilities, headed over to the local water source to refill the canteen. He was pretty perturbed to discover a thin coating of ice around the edges of the water hole. On the plus side, it didn't seem to be snowing in the cave any longer. Jack started humming Monty Python's 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'.
He warmed up some water and wasn't surprised to see that they were nearly out of sterno fuel. He sighed. It would have to be enough. He gnawed on a rock hard food bar and decided to try and get Sam to eat the last MRE. He promised himself that in the future he would always bring extra cocoa packets on missions. He'd kill for a cup of cocoa. A cup of hot water was pretty nice though. Knowing he probably wouldn't find anything, Jack decided to take a walk around anyhow. At the very least the movement would warm him up. And if Carter awoke, she wouldn't be so stupid as to try and move without help this time. He wouldn't be gone long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1100 Hours- The Cave
Sam was just starting to stir when Jack returned from his unsuccessful walk around town. The cave was still big and dark and colder than a witch's tit. *Ooo, Jack- totally not PC *
"Time Sir?" Sam asked with a frown. She needed drugs. Lots and lots of pain blocking drugs.
"1100. How ya feel Carter?"
"Can I get back to you on that Sir?" Sam asked not even attempting to sit up.
"How about some food and meds?"
"We still have food?"
"Last MRE and it has your name on it."
"Not hungry."
"Carter! We're not going to go through this again. You gotta eat."
Sam groaned as she turned onto her back. "No Sir, YOU need to eat. I'm just going to go back to sleep."
"Nope. Not going to happen Carter." O'Neill said as he turned the stove back on to heat up the water.
"Shut up Jack."
Jack grinned. He loved when she called him Jack. Even if it was only due to the fact that she was pissed at him.
"Carter, just eat a little bit, ok?"
Sam grunted.
"I'll take that as a yes." He went back to heating the food.
"Mind if I take another look?" Jack asked pointing vaguely at her chest.
Sam felt her hands tighten instinctively across her torso. She was pretty certain it didn't look pretty down there.
"Do we have any medical supplies left?"
"Not really." Jack said shaking his head slightly.
"Then, there's really no reason, is there?" Her eyes met his in silent communication and after several long moments Jack nodded. There wasn't much he could do anyhow.
Lunch was difficult as Jack had to do nearly all of the moving on Sam's behalf. Her body refused to cooperate; between the cold and the injury there just wasn't a lot she could do. Sam closed her eyes tightly and concentrated on breathing regularly and not crying out as Jack shifted her body into a more vertical position. She had stopped trying to come up with adjectives to describe the pain. It wasn't worth moving. Next time she'd tell Jack no. It just wasn't worth it.
Although he tried to be extra gentle, it was obvious this slight movement was causing Carter a hell of a lot of pain. She had broken out in a cold sweat and her fists were clenched tightly around the blankets. He wasn't going to have her do this again. No, it would be the rescue party that moved her next.
After pouring the hot water into the dehydrated food, Jack dipped a handkerchief into the warm water and made a warm compress. It wasn't much and wouldn't stay warm for long, but Sam was grateful nonetheless. She successfully kept down a cup of water, so they thought it would be safe to try some food. Sam had problems getting her fingers to grip the spoon. Jack knew just how she felt but gauged that she was figuring it out on her own and didn't really want his help.
The last of the T3's and antibiotics made it safely into her stomach, but Sam couldn't finish even half of the meal.
"Come on Carter, you've barely started."
"Sorry Sir." Sam said clearly exhausted.
"Please, just a little more?" Jack cajoled.
Sam just closed her eyes and shook her head. Within moments she was asleep again. Or passed out, Jack didn't want to know which one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 3, P3X-677- Topside
1500 Hours
Daniel and Teal'c had made poor time across the landscape. There really wasn't a sign of anything out here. It had stopped snowing and the sun was coming out; at least something was improving.
The two didn't say much as they trekked through the frozen landscape. What was there to say? Every hour or so, Daniel would try the radio. Nothing. There was always nothing but static. The two took turns shouting their teammates names and with every silent response grew more and more discouraged.
Jack gave up being tough a little after 3 in the afternoon. It was too damn cold and there wasn't a damn thing for him to do except walk up and down freezing corridors. He didn't really have the energy to do that. As it was, his blood sugar was non-existent and every time he straightened up, he had to fight a way of dizziness and nausea. Add to that the fact that he couldn't stop shaking with cold and Jack decided the best thing he could do for both of them was get back under the blankets with Sam. It didn't take long at all before he fell back into a troubled sleep.
Day 3, P3X-677- Topside
1800 Hours
"Teal'c, do you think they're still alive?" Daniel asked quietly as they made camp.
"I believe they are."
"Why?" Daniel said setting down his tent stakes. "I mean, I want to believe they are, I really, really want to- but it just doesn't look good."
"Colonel O'Neill is the most capable human I have ever met. I do not believe he will perish on this planet."
Daniel let out a small whoosh of air. "You're right Teal'c. They're still out there, and it's up to us to find them." He picked up his stakes and began to hammer them into the ground.
"Teal'c!"
Teal'c turned and gave Daniel one of his patented eyebrow raises.
"Look at this!"
"Look at what DanielJackson?"
"This rock." Daniel raised his arm and gestured around him. "All of these rocks!"
Teal'c just looked at him.
Daniel stood up, too energized to stay put. "It's the rocks that are blocking the radio waves. The rocks! Just like P3x-274. It's the rocks that are preventing us from contacting Jack and Sam, but now that we know, we should be able to do something." Daniel paused to take a breath.
"We will need to go back to the Stargate tomorrow."
"I know. But now we have new information. Maybe we could rig something up to counter the rock's effects." Daniel paused lost in thought. "Teal'c we will find them!"
"Indeed we will." Teal'c said picking up the discarded tent poles. Indeed they would.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 3, P3X-677
2300
Jack wasn't certain why exactly he woke up. Everything was completely silent; no wind, no rain and thankfully, no more snow. Still colder than hell, but that was to be expected. No, it was something else. Something wasn't right.
"Sam?" Jack said carefully touching the curled form next to him. She didn't stir.
"Carter?" Jack said louder this time. "You awake?" Still nothing. Jack could feel her breathing but it seemed very very slow. Jack took hold of one of her wrists and counted heart beats. After 10 seconds he dropped her hand in horror and pressed his numbed fingers against her neck. This time he counted to 30. It was no use; Sam's heart rate was indeed down to 35 BPM. Jack was very, very worried.
"Carter!" He said again louder, shaking her shoulder slightly.
"Dan'l drink much coffe." Sam slurred in her sleep.
"Carter? Can you wake up?" Jack asked hopefully. He studied Sam's face and could just make out the faint tinge of blue around her lips. She was so pale that her skin had become nearly translucent; Jack could see spidery blue veins through her eyelids. He touched her face and his numbed fingers told him it was much colder than it should be.
"Come on Sam," Jack said gently cupping her face. "I need you to wake up for me."
"S'r? Where am I?" Sam asked tripping over the words and looking at Jack with glazed, uncomprehending eyes. She honestly didn't have a clue where she was. Nor why she was so cold and in pain...
Sam's speech had become severely slurred and she was unresponsive to Jack's questions. She couldn't move her limbs without assistance and had ceased to shiver.
Shivering was a good thing and Carter wasn't having any part of it. Jack remembered a lecture Frasier had made all the SG officers attend. In it she told them all about cold weather survival. And though Jack had heard it all before, this time he paid careful attention. After all, he did have an Antarctic experience under his belt.
A body shivers in an attempt to warm itself up; shivering in turn produces energy and energy heat. It's when you stop shivering that things get dangerous. And Sam was not shivering.
Dammit! She had gone hypothermic on him and they were nearly out of fuel. He sure hoped what little remained would get the job done.
He knew she needed to drink warm sweet beverages. Well, what she really needed was some heated blankets and a warm IV, but a drink would work in a pinch. Part of Jack wished she still sported a raging fever- that at least would keep her warm. *And dangerously dehydrate her; Jack, you can't have it both ways. *
With numb fingers Jack started the stove and held his frozen fingers over the small flame as it heated the water. This would be it for the fuel. Within a minute the water was heated and Jack poured the hot liquid into a cup.
"Come on Sam." Jack said squatting down next to her curled form. He placed a warm hand on her cheek. "I need you to do something for me again."
Sam stirred but didn't wake. Using his body as a counter weight, Jack gently positioned Sam so that her head was resting on his thighs. She moaned as Jack lifted her head and placed the cup between her lips.
"Drink, Carter. Please. Drink."
Her eyes briefly fluttered open and she parted her lips wider allowing Jack to pour the warm liquid down her throat. He was able to get two full cups into her before her eyes closed again and her head fell heavily back against his chest. Jack lowered the two of them back to the ground and hoped it had been enough.
Day 4, P3X-677
0200
Sam was getting worse, only now there was nothing left to help her warm up. No fuel, no more food and not a fucking peep from the useless radio.
"Dammit, O'Neill- think!" Jack said angrily pulling the blankets and sleeping bag tighter around Carter and himself.
Knowing that this was probably a very stupid thing to do, Jack got up and began to run. He ran for several seconds in one direction and then turned around and ran right back to where he started. He then stopped and started doing violent jumping jacks. Anything he could think of to warm up his own body core. Jack was so focused on this task at hand that he completely forgot how dangerous these actions were to himself. Although Antarctica had been very, very cold, it was a dry cold. The cavern they were currently in consisted of a wet cold; the kind that could kill a human much quicker. Sam might be quickly heading towards severe hypothermia, but Jack was right in the moderate range himself. Exercise is something a moderately hypothermic person should NOT do.
After moving around for nearly 20 minutes, Jack felt adequately warmed to try what he wanted to do. Breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and began to unbutton his shirt and roll up his shirt sleeves. He then unwrapped the now silent Carter and carefully lifted up her shirt part way, exposing her bare back. Jack then wrapped his warm, sweaty body around Sam's. He gasped as his naked limbs touches her frozen ones. She was really, really cold. He wormed his hands under the front of her shirt and forced himself to hold them in place against her frigid stomach. Careful not to upset her bandages, Jack pulled Carter even closer to himself as he burrowed his warm damp face into her shoulder.
He hoped like hell this would work.
He didn't have to wait long. Less than 10 minutes later, Sam started to shake. It was minor tremors at first, but soon became quite strong. Violent even. Logically, Jack knew this was a good thing and he should be glad her body temperature had increased, but he was very worried what the shaking was doing to her stitches. Plus in the back of him mind Jack knew that the strain all of this was having on her heart was really quite dangerous.
"Jack?" Sam asked confused as she began to tremble. She was very, very cold and yet distinctly aware that Jack was pressing intimately against her. She could feel the hairs on his arms as they rested against her bare abdomen. The colonel didn't seem to have a shirt on. Come to think of it, how did she know he didn't have a shirt on?
"It's OK Sam. Everything is going to be OK." Jack soothed as Sam continued to shiver.
"Wha...?" Before she could complete the question, a violent series of tremors once again shook her body. Jack had gone from very worried to deeply scared. He needed to stop her from hurting herself. If he could just immobilize her body... Jack firmly grabbed hold of her hips and attempted to hold her stationary. Not good enough. Her pants were too loose; her torso was still shaking. Jack moved his left arm up slightly so that it rested on her waist and was shocked how deep the curve now went. Instead of holding onto her waist, Jack had unintentionally reached inside her trousers. Without a belt to hold her pants in place, her alarming weight loss became shockingly real. Christ! He needed to get her out of here soon.
As quickly as it began the tremors subsided. Both still shivered, but nothing like before. Sam was left confused, cold and very tired. Jack still held her firmly against his hips and was sickened to discover that his body had betrayed him during Sam's vicious shaking. Now was so not the time. Knowing that Sam would understand that this wasn't his fault/intention Jack rested a little easier.
His brief exertion had worked at warming up Sam, but had left Jack empty of all reserved energy and chilled to the bone. He vaguely remembered that exercising is not something one should do if your body temp got below a certain level. Something about cardiac arrest.. Oh well. A bit too late now. He shivered unintentionally and tried to find warmth from Sam's bare back.
"Jack?" Carter asked not understanding what was happening.
"Stage 2 hypothermia Sam. You stopped shaking and were becoming incoherent. I needed to warm you up. We have no fuel so I made do with what was available." Sam felt his apprehension. "Me."
"I don't understand..." Jack was partially naked, aroused, and pulled tightly against her. He would never take advantage...
Instantly Jack became aware of where Sam's mind was going.
"No, Sam! It was nothing like that!" He trembled against her, needing to be close and yet appalled with himself for scaring her. *Oh God, please let her understand.*
"Jumping jacks, Sam. Exercise." Jack said quickly, the words tumbling out as fast as he could speak.
" I basically ran around in circles for 10 minutes to get myself as warm as possible. Then I removed as many layers as I could to allow my body heat to transfer to you. You have all your clothes on Sam! Some may be rearranged, but they are all on!" Jack cried. He was emotionally and physically exhausted, he just didn't have the energy to explain any further. But he didn't need too. He could feel Sam's body relaxing against his.
Sam patted Jack's arm soothingly. "I understand Sir." She said running her hand lightly up and down the arm wrapped around her waist. "Thank you." Her hand stilled abruptly as Sam slipped back into sleep. Curling into an even tighter ball Sam sought out Jack's meager heat source and sighed as she slipped into REM sleep. Jack hoped she was having pleasant dreams.
For the first time in over a decade, Jack prayed. He prayed that someone would find them tomorrow. He knew they couldn't last much longer.
TBC
Author: dcChic
Email: dietcokechic@hotmail.com
Notes: Ok- things are about to pick up a bit. It might have taken seven chapters to narrate 2 days, but now we're going to just FLY through the third day, and heck- I'll even give you part of Day 4! Our heroes should be having some better days soon. Afraid it's not in this chapter though. As always, thanks to Kath for her superb editing.
Chapter 8
Day 3, P3X-677- Topside
0630 Hours
Daniel had only just drifted off to sleep when he heard the rustle of his tent flap closing. Teal'c was up. Which meant daylight had finally arrived so they could start looking again. Finally! Even without his morning cup of coffee, Daniel rose quickly and dressed in the chilled air. Once outside of the relative warmth of the tent, he gasped at the vision before him.
White. As far as the eye could see, there was just dazzling, brilliant whiteness. The trees were weighed down with large dollops of snow and in the background Daniel could hear branches breaking under their weight. This was not a good development.
He could see Lt. Meyers heating up breakfast and Teal'c talking with Captain Henderson. The Captain was shaking his head.
Daniel was running towards the pair before he even realized he was moving.
"You can't do that!" Daniel shouted not even bothering to listen to what the two were saying.
"Dr. Jackson, I know you want to find the Major and the Colonel. Hell, we all do. But we're not going to find squat in these conditions."
"I'm not going back."
"I will stay with DanielJackson and continue to search for Samantha Carter and Colonel O'Neill."
Henderson sighed. This was exactly why non-military personnel shouldn't be allowed on the project. He couldn't order them home. Well, he could but they would probably choose to ignore him. He'd heard all about Dr. Jackson from Colonel O'Neill. True, the Colonel's opinion of Dr. Jackson had skyrocketed after 4 years of working with the man but Henderson also thought that O'Neill just didn't feel like griping as much as he used too.
"Since we can't seem to make radio contact with the rest of SG-3, Meyers and I will head back to the Stargate as scheduled. You two have 24 hours; after that I want you both back at SGC."
Daniel agreed readily to the conditions as Teal'c solemnly nodded his head. They had another day to look!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 3, P3X-677
0800 Hours
Jack didn't so much wake up so much as regain consciousness. There was a definite distinction between the two, and unfortunately he knew the subtle differences. He and Carter had been down here WAY too long. Jack resisted the very strong urge to close his eyes and go back to sleep. He glanced at his watch and was surprised it was already morning. They were sleeping a heck of a lot more these days.
*As if you call shivering through the night sleeping*
Still, he could think of far worse ways to pass the time. Being shot by a zat gun was pretty nasty. Sitting in a Goa'u'ld glider waiting for your oxygen to run out also made the top 10 list.
Not really wanting too, Jack slipped out of the relative warmth of their sleeping abode and after a quick visit to the facilities, headed over to the local water source to refill the canteen. He was pretty perturbed to discover a thin coating of ice around the edges of the water hole. On the plus side, it didn't seem to be snowing in the cave any longer. Jack started humming Monty Python's 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'.
He warmed up some water and wasn't surprised to see that they were nearly out of sterno fuel. He sighed. It would have to be enough. He gnawed on a rock hard food bar and decided to try and get Sam to eat the last MRE. He promised himself that in the future he would always bring extra cocoa packets on missions. He'd kill for a cup of cocoa. A cup of hot water was pretty nice though. Knowing he probably wouldn't find anything, Jack decided to take a walk around anyhow. At the very least the movement would warm him up. And if Carter awoke, she wouldn't be so stupid as to try and move without help this time. He wouldn't be gone long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1100 Hours- The Cave
Sam was just starting to stir when Jack returned from his unsuccessful walk around town. The cave was still big and dark and colder than a witch's tit. *Ooo, Jack- totally not PC *
"Time Sir?" Sam asked with a frown. She needed drugs. Lots and lots of pain blocking drugs.
"1100. How ya feel Carter?"
"Can I get back to you on that Sir?" Sam asked not even attempting to sit up.
"How about some food and meds?"
"We still have food?"
"Last MRE and it has your name on it."
"Not hungry."
"Carter! We're not going to go through this again. You gotta eat."
Sam groaned as she turned onto her back. "No Sir, YOU need to eat. I'm just going to go back to sleep."
"Nope. Not going to happen Carter." O'Neill said as he turned the stove back on to heat up the water.
"Shut up Jack."
Jack grinned. He loved when she called him Jack. Even if it was only due to the fact that she was pissed at him.
"Carter, just eat a little bit, ok?"
Sam grunted.
"I'll take that as a yes." He went back to heating the food.
"Mind if I take another look?" Jack asked pointing vaguely at her chest.
Sam felt her hands tighten instinctively across her torso. She was pretty certain it didn't look pretty down there.
"Do we have any medical supplies left?"
"Not really." Jack said shaking his head slightly.
"Then, there's really no reason, is there?" Her eyes met his in silent communication and after several long moments Jack nodded. There wasn't much he could do anyhow.
Lunch was difficult as Jack had to do nearly all of the moving on Sam's behalf. Her body refused to cooperate; between the cold and the injury there just wasn't a lot she could do. Sam closed her eyes tightly and concentrated on breathing regularly and not crying out as Jack shifted her body into a more vertical position. She had stopped trying to come up with adjectives to describe the pain. It wasn't worth moving. Next time she'd tell Jack no. It just wasn't worth it.
Although he tried to be extra gentle, it was obvious this slight movement was causing Carter a hell of a lot of pain. She had broken out in a cold sweat and her fists were clenched tightly around the blankets. He wasn't going to have her do this again. No, it would be the rescue party that moved her next.
After pouring the hot water into the dehydrated food, Jack dipped a handkerchief into the warm water and made a warm compress. It wasn't much and wouldn't stay warm for long, but Sam was grateful nonetheless. She successfully kept down a cup of water, so they thought it would be safe to try some food. Sam had problems getting her fingers to grip the spoon. Jack knew just how she felt but gauged that she was figuring it out on her own and didn't really want his help.
The last of the T3's and antibiotics made it safely into her stomach, but Sam couldn't finish even half of the meal.
"Come on Carter, you've barely started."
"Sorry Sir." Sam said clearly exhausted.
"Please, just a little more?" Jack cajoled.
Sam just closed her eyes and shook her head. Within moments she was asleep again. Or passed out, Jack didn't want to know which one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 3, P3X-677- Topside
1500 Hours
Daniel and Teal'c had made poor time across the landscape. There really wasn't a sign of anything out here. It had stopped snowing and the sun was coming out; at least something was improving.
The two didn't say much as they trekked through the frozen landscape. What was there to say? Every hour or so, Daniel would try the radio. Nothing. There was always nothing but static. The two took turns shouting their teammates names and with every silent response grew more and more discouraged.
Jack gave up being tough a little after 3 in the afternoon. It was too damn cold and there wasn't a damn thing for him to do except walk up and down freezing corridors. He didn't really have the energy to do that. As it was, his blood sugar was non-existent and every time he straightened up, he had to fight a way of dizziness and nausea. Add to that the fact that he couldn't stop shaking with cold and Jack decided the best thing he could do for both of them was get back under the blankets with Sam. It didn't take long at all before he fell back into a troubled sleep.
Day 3, P3X-677- Topside
1800 Hours
"Teal'c, do you think they're still alive?" Daniel asked quietly as they made camp.
"I believe they are."
"Why?" Daniel said setting down his tent stakes. "I mean, I want to believe they are, I really, really want to- but it just doesn't look good."
"Colonel O'Neill is the most capable human I have ever met. I do not believe he will perish on this planet."
Daniel let out a small whoosh of air. "You're right Teal'c. They're still out there, and it's up to us to find them." He picked up his stakes and began to hammer them into the ground.
"Teal'c!"
Teal'c turned and gave Daniel one of his patented eyebrow raises.
"Look at this!"
"Look at what DanielJackson?"
"This rock." Daniel raised his arm and gestured around him. "All of these rocks!"
Teal'c just looked at him.
Daniel stood up, too energized to stay put. "It's the rocks that are blocking the radio waves. The rocks! Just like P3x-274. It's the rocks that are preventing us from contacting Jack and Sam, but now that we know, we should be able to do something." Daniel paused to take a breath.
"We will need to go back to the Stargate tomorrow."
"I know. But now we have new information. Maybe we could rig something up to counter the rock's effects." Daniel paused lost in thought. "Teal'c we will find them!"
"Indeed we will." Teal'c said picking up the discarded tent poles. Indeed they would.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 3, P3X-677
2300
Jack wasn't certain why exactly he woke up. Everything was completely silent; no wind, no rain and thankfully, no more snow. Still colder than hell, but that was to be expected. No, it was something else. Something wasn't right.
"Sam?" Jack said carefully touching the curled form next to him. She didn't stir.
"Carter?" Jack said louder this time. "You awake?" Still nothing. Jack could feel her breathing but it seemed very very slow. Jack took hold of one of her wrists and counted heart beats. After 10 seconds he dropped her hand in horror and pressed his numbed fingers against her neck. This time he counted to 30. It was no use; Sam's heart rate was indeed down to 35 BPM. Jack was very, very worried.
"Carter!" He said again louder, shaking her shoulder slightly.
"Dan'l drink much coffe." Sam slurred in her sleep.
"Carter? Can you wake up?" Jack asked hopefully. He studied Sam's face and could just make out the faint tinge of blue around her lips. She was so pale that her skin had become nearly translucent; Jack could see spidery blue veins through her eyelids. He touched her face and his numbed fingers told him it was much colder than it should be.
"Come on Sam," Jack said gently cupping her face. "I need you to wake up for me."
"S'r? Where am I?" Sam asked tripping over the words and looking at Jack with glazed, uncomprehending eyes. She honestly didn't have a clue where she was. Nor why she was so cold and in pain...
Sam's speech had become severely slurred and she was unresponsive to Jack's questions. She couldn't move her limbs without assistance and had ceased to shiver.
Shivering was a good thing and Carter wasn't having any part of it. Jack remembered a lecture Frasier had made all the SG officers attend. In it she told them all about cold weather survival. And though Jack had heard it all before, this time he paid careful attention. After all, he did have an Antarctic experience under his belt.
A body shivers in an attempt to warm itself up; shivering in turn produces energy and energy heat. It's when you stop shivering that things get dangerous. And Sam was not shivering.
Dammit! She had gone hypothermic on him and they were nearly out of fuel. He sure hoped what little remained would get the job done.
He knew she needed to drink warm sweet beverages. Well, what she really needed was some heated blankets and a warm IV, but a drink would work in a pinch. Part of Jack wished she still sported a raging fever- that at least would keep her warm. *And dangerously dehydrate her; Jack, you can't have it both ways. *
With numb fingers Jack started the stove and held his frozen fingers over the small flame as it heated the water. This would be it for the fuel. Within a minute the water was heated and Jack poured the hot liquid into a cup.
"Come on Sam." Jack said squatting down next to her curled form. He placed a warm hand on her cheek. "I need you to do something for me again."
Sam stirred but didn't wake. Using his body as a counter weight, Jack gently positioned Sam so that her head was resting on his thighs. She moaned as Jack lifted her head and placed the cup between her lips.
"Drink, Carter. Please. Drink."
Her eyes briefly fluttered open and she parted her lips wider allowing Jack to pour the warm liquid down her throat. He was able to get two full cups into her before her eyes closed again and her head fell heavily back against his chest. Jack lowered the two of them back to the ground and hoped it had been enough.
Day 4, P3X-677
0200
Sam was getting worse, only now there was nothing left to help her warm up. No fuel, no more food and not a fucking peep from the useless radio.
"Dammit, O'Neill- think!" Jack said angrily pulling the blankets and sleeping bag tighter around Carter and himself.
Knowing that this was probably a very stupid thing to do, Jack got up and began to run. He ran for several seconds in one direction and then turned around and ran right back to where he started. He then stopped and started doing violent jumping jacks. Anything he could think of to warm up his own body core. Jack was so focused on this task at hand that he completely forgot how dangerous these actions were to himself. Although Antarctica had been very, very cold, it was a dry cold. The cavern they were currently in consisted of a wet cold; the kind that could kill a human much quicker. Sam might be quickly heading towards severe hypothermia, but Jack was right in the moderate range himself. Exercise is something a moderately hypothermic person should NOT do.
After moving around for nearly 20 minutes, Jack felt adequately warmed to try what he wanted to do. Breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and began to unbutton his shirt and roll up his shirt sleeves. He then unwrapped the now silent Carter and carefully lifted up her shirt part way, exposing her bare back. Jack then wrapped his warm, sweaty body around Sam's. He gasped as his naked limbs touches her frozen ones. She was really, really cold. He wormed his hands under the front of her shirt and forced himself to hold them in place against her frigid stomach. Careful not to upset her bandages, Jack pulled Carter even closer to himself as he burrowed his warm damp face into her shoulder.
He hoped like hell this would work.
He didn't have to wait long. Less than 10 minutes later, Sam started to shake. It was minor tremors at first, but soon became quite strong. Violent even. Logically, Jack knew this was a good thing and he should be glad her body temperature had increased, but he was very worried what the shaking was doing to her stitches. Plus in the back of him mind Jack knew that the strain all of this was having on her heart was really quite dangerous.
"Jack?" Sam asked confused as she began to tremble. She was very, very cold and yet distinctly aware that Jack was pressing intimately against her. She could feel the hairs on his arms as they rested against her bare abdomen. The colonel didn't seem to have a shirt on. Come to think of it, how did she know he didn't have a shirt on?
"It's OK Sam. Everything is going to be OK." Jack soothed as Sam continued to shiver.
"Wha...?" Before she could complete the question, a violent series of tremors once again shook her body. Jack had gone from very worried to deeply scared. He needed to stop her from hurting herself. If he could just immobilize her body... Jack firmly grabbed hold of her hips and attempted to hold her stationary. Not good enough. Her pants were too loose; her torso was still shaking. Jack moved his left arm up slightly so that it rested on her waist and was shocked how deep the curve now went. Instead of holding onto her waist, Jack had unintentionally reached inside her trousers. Without a belt to hold her pants in place, her alarming weight loss became shockingly real. Christ! He needed to get her out of here soon.
As quickly as it began the tremors subsided. Both still shivered, but nothing like before. Sam was left confused, cold and very tired. Jack still held her firmly against his hips and was sickened to discover that his body had betrayed him during Sam's vicious shaking. Now was so not the time. Knowing that Sam would understand that this wasn't his fault/intention Jack rested a little easier.
His brief exertion had worked at warming up Sam, but had left Jack empty of all reserved energy and chilled to the bone. He vaguely remembered that exercising is not something one should do if your body temp got below a certain level. Something about cardiac arrest.. Oh well. A bit too late now. He shivered unintentionally and tried to find warmth from Sam's bare back.
"Jack?" Carter asked not understanding what was happening.
"Stage 2 hypothermia Sam. You stopped shaking and were becoming incoherent. I needed to warm you up. We have no fuel so I made do with what was available." Sam felt his apprehension. "Me."
"I don't understand..." Jack was partially naked, aroused, and pulled tightly against her. He would never take advantage...
Instantly Jack became aware of where Sam's mind was going.
"No, Sam! It was nothing like that!" He trembled against her, needing to be close and yet appalled with himself for scaring her. *Oh God, please let her understand.*
"Jumping jacks, Sam. Exercise." Jack said quickly, the words tumbling out as fast as he could speak.
" I basically ran around in circles for 10 minutes to get myself as warm as possible. Then I removed as many layers as I could to allow my body heat to transfer to you. You have all your clothes on Sam! Some may be rearranged, but they are all on!" Jack cried. He was emotionally and physically exhausted, he just didn't have the energy to explain any further. But he didn't need too. He could feel Sam's body relaxing against his.
Sam patted Jack's arm soothingly. "I understand Sir." She said running her hand lightly up and down the arm wrapped around her waist. "Thank you." Her hand stilled abruptly as Sam slipped back into sleep. Curling into an even tighter ball Sam sought out Jack's meager heat source and sighed as she slipped into REM sleep. Jack hoped she was having pleasant dreams.
For the first time in over a decade, Jack prayed. He prayed that someone would find them tomorrow. He knew they couldn't last much longer.
TBC