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Again sorry for the mistakes !
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Chapter 4 : She Never Lets It Go To Her Heart*****************
Sg1 and Captain Archer crossed the blue ripping pool to P3X 636.
Carter walked some steps forward checking her measuring device.
"I detect a source of energy over there." She pointed the East to her C.O.
"Let's go campers." O'Neill said putting his dark glasses.
O'Neill decided to open the walk. Daniel was following him.
Archer was walking by Sam's side trying to understand her explanations on the variations and fluctuations that he could see on the instrument screen.
Teal'c closed the walk, scrutinizing cautiously the surroundings.
Daniel couldn't help himself but kept glancing at Archer and Sam.
He discreetly looked at Jack, ready to find an angry colonel. Against all odds, O'Neill looked unperturbed and didn't even seem to notice the new captain.
"Jack ?" Daniel ventured to say.
"Daniel ?" the older man replied. " What's up ?"
"You okay ?"
"Peachy Daniel. Don't tell me you already want a break ?" Jack asked with a warning look.
Daniel chuckled and shook his head in the negative.
"What do you think of Archer ?"
Jack tried not to smile. He and Daniel had been suspected that something was up between Sam and this new captain as soon as he had walked into the briefing room.
Though now, O'Neill knew what it was all about. Daniel didn't and it was bugging him.
"He's got a good military file." O'Neill said. "Why do you ask ?"
Daniel didn't reply and looked back at Sam and Archer.
He frowned. "Anyway he and Sam seem to get along pretty well."
"Good." Jack merely replied.
"Good ?" Daniel repeated. "C'me on Jack. This is me. Daniel."
Jack was really enjoying this walk and tried to suppress a grin.
"I mean you're not upset that they're *getting along * that well ?" the other man continued.
"Why should I be Dan ?" O'Neill asked. "She's my 2 I.C, you know that Daniel. Don't you ?"
"Jack." Daniel tried to use a warning tone only to see a grin on Jack 's lips. " Don't 2.I.C me."
Jack glanced at Daniel and raised his eyebrows.
"Come on !" Daniel blurted out.
Sam and Archer looked up to O'Neill and Daniel. Sam smiled and looked back to her instrument.
"Don't you worry Captain." She said. "They're always like that. You'll get used to it in the end."
He nodded and focused on the screen still paying attention to where he was walking.
"Sorry." Daniel apologized. "But don't play this game with me Jack. I know how you feel. So why are you trying to deny it and why do you seem so relaxed? There's something up and *you* know what it is all about."
"Didn't know you liked gossips." Jack teased him.
"I don't !" Daniel rolled his eyes. "I want to know why you look so confident while you usually..." Daniel stopped thinking it wouldn't be cautious to go on.
Too late.
"I what ?!"
"Huh, well you're always trying to take her apart from any men who are interested in her."
"I don't." Jack denied it.
"You do."
"I don't."
"You do."
"I do."
"You don't....Damn !." Daniel gave up and shook his head.
They walked on silently until they reached the place where the energy came.
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Carter and Archer began to take some samples in order to study them properly in her lab.
"Do you think that the colonel will take into account the fact that..." Archer started.
"you tried to seduce me ?" Sam smiled.
Archer nodded seriously.
"I don't think so captain. You will soon understand that Colonel O'Neill doesn't let his private life interfere in his work and that he will only judge what you do and who you are."
Archer smiled and thanked her.
"Yet Captain, you'd better focus on what you're doing now."
"Yes ma'am." He replied.
Daniel was studying some elements of the flora and fauna he could see around him. Jack sat on a stone next to him.
"She never lets it go to her heart." Jack said all of a sudden.
Daniel looked up.
"What ?"
"What ?" Jack repeated.
"What did you just say ?" Daniel asked.
"She never lets it go to her heart."
"How do you know ?" Daniel asked glancing at Sam.
"Every where I go, they're staring at her. Every man I know they try to have her."
"I don't." Daniel denied it.
"You did Daniel. Remember when we were infested by this virus, you tried to beat me to have her."
Daniel remembered and then said: "That was years ago Jack."
"But you did."
Daniel denied this idea silently. O'Neill was just a jealous man.
"I guess I ought to be a jealous man." The colonel said with a sigh. Daniel rolled his eyes when he heard him.
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Archer coughed when some dust blew up from the ground.
Carter frowned when she compared the results she'd made when they first arrived on the planet and the results she now had. How could it be possible ? The atmospheric conditions had unbelievably changed since her last test.
She raised her head and breathed some air. It had become very still and the soft wind that had been blowing had suddenly died down.
Teal'c felt suddenly more tensed than he was usually. He looked around him, trying to catch any sight of an enemy but all he saw was the empty and quiet horizon.
"O'Neill." He called over.
Jack left Daniel in the middle of their conversation and went by Teal'c's side.
"Something's up Buddy ?" he asked.
"Don't you feel anything ?" Teal'c asked stoically.
O'Neill stood still for a while.
"Carter ?" He asked finally feeling the tension in the air.
Sher stood up and walked to her C.O, holding her instrument in her hand.
"What's going on ?" O'Neill asked.
"I'm not sure sir. Look at that." She said showing him the fluctuations on the screen.
O'Neill glanced at it and then at her.
"So what ?" he asked.
"It seems that we're at the trailing edge of a thunderstorm sir." She explained briefly.
She reached another instrument from her military bag.
"What's that Carter ?" O'Neill asked.
She hesitated but replied : " A weather radar sir."
"What for ?"
"I am not absolutely sure."
"Carter ?!"
"Tornado sir." She glanced at him quickly.
"Didn't you say the planet was clear and safe ?"
"The M.A.L.P didn't reveal any traces of abnormal activities colonel." She simply replied. "Though I think we'd better go back to home now." She added seriously.
"Daniel, Archer !" O'Neill called the two men who joined them quickly. "Back to home." He said.
"Sir ?" Archer asked knowing that something was happening.
"Seems like Twister is still broadcasted on this planet."
"A tornado." Teal'c said flatly facing Daniel's incredulous air.
"A what ?" Daniel exclaimed.
"A tornado means that the vortex of rapidly rotating air must be in contact with the ground. This means that to be a tornado, the swirling winds must be at the surface, capable of doing damage. If you see debris (dust and other objects swirling in the winds), it is definitely a tornado, even if there is no visible funnel cloud. If you can't see debris with a funnel cloud, then it might be a tornado but you can not be certain that it is (or is not)." Sam began to explain without hearing Daniel's claims until Jack stopped her.
"Carter !" he yelled as they were walking towards the Stargate.
She paused.
"I know what a tornado is Sam." Daniel said softly knowing that his friend was only calming her nerves down.
"O'Neill !" Teal'c said warningly.
They all followed his eyes to see a dust swirl coming to them.
O'Neill winced. When a tornado is coming, you have only a short amount of time to make life-or-death decisions. Advance planning and quick response are the keys to surviving a tornado. As they hadn't planned anything, a quick response was their only key to survive.
He ran his eyes over the land and caught the sight of a cave in the distance.
"Over there !" He yelled pointing the cave to the rest of the team.
They started running behind him.
Though the tornado didn't seem to be slowing down.
"It's not that big." O'Neill noticed as Carter was running by his side.
Still running, she glanced over her shoulder.
"Bigger is not necessarily stronger sir." She managed to explain between two breaths.
They were near the cave but as she looked behind them again, Carter caught the sight of Archer who had just fallen on the ground, unbalanced by his rucksack and the scientific instruments he was carrying.
Sam slowed down to help him but seeing that he didn't move, retraced her steps to him.
She heard O'Neill yell her name but kneeled down next to Archer.
"Come on Captain !" She ordered.
He hardly stood up only to stare at the sight in front of his eyes.
Even Carter seemed paralyzed with fear.
Daniel and Teal'c stopped running when they heard O'Neill screamed again.
"Carter ! Archer !"
Though none of them could hear him now. The size of the tornado had changed considerably during its lifetime. It was now bigger than what the two marines had seen before.
Suddenly, Carter grabbed Archer's arm and began to run to their friends. In vain.
They weren't fast enough and they could feel the wind in their hair.
Sam looked away to her C.O who was desperately screaming her name.
O'Neill yelled her name a last time. He began to run to her but Teal'c held him back, using all his strength not to let him go.
"O'Neill !" He said loudly. "You can't do anything."
Daniel looked away and held back tears when he saw his friend and Archer dragged down into an abyss of dust and sand.
O'Neill gasped and fell on his knees. Only Teal'c seemed to have still some remnants of conscience. He grabbed Daniel's arm.
"DanielJackson. We've got to runaway."'
Daniel nodded absently.
Teal'c helped O'Neill to stand up and the three men ran away from the tornado.
They managed to enter the cave. They looked over their shoulders to see the hurricane coming to them.
Though it suddenly disappeared in front of the cave.
They stayed stunned and silent for a while which seemed to be an eternity.
"What the hell happened ?!" Jack was the first one who broke the silence.
"I do not know O'Neill."
Daniel was too surprised and shocked to reply. He just coughed and adjusted his glasses.
O'Neill made a step forward looking in the emptiness. They'd disappeared in front of his eyes and he hadn't been able to help them in anyway.
They were dead by his fault. He should have seen Archer falling, he should have returned to help him and not let Carter.
"Don't blame yourself Jack." Daniel said knowing the look on his friend's face.
"It is not your fault." Teal'c added.
Jack turned brusquely ready to fly into a temper but when he saw the tears in Daniel's eyes and the sorrow that Teal'c's face revealed, he swallowed his eager back.
He closed his eyes, not knowing what to do at this point of this mission.
At this point of his life.
They remained where they were, each of them fixing an invisible point in the horizon. They kept silent, all hearing the echo of Jack 's helpless scream when they had last seen their friends.
"We should verify that the gate is still up." O'Neill broke the silence.
No one replied but they agreed silently by following him.
They saw the Stargate standing with no traces of any damages. As a matter of fact, no trace of a tornado was visible. Though they didn't need to see anything to remember the tragedy they'd just lived.
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To be continued
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