Unspoken

Disclaimer:  Same as before.

Day three:

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Major," Colonel Mitchell said.  "If these people do to him what they did to Dr. Jackson-"

"I know, sir.  There's also a chance that he could be captured.  But, I think it's best he go alone," Sam explained thinking of what Daniel had told the Colonel about the fewer people attempting to interact with these people the better.

"One person would be less of a threat?" Dr. Porter asked.

"Exactly," Carter replied.

"I disagree," Mitchell said. "But, I'm to consult with you, Major, and you have dealt with these people whereas I haven't.  Porter, conceal your weapon and, at the first sign of hostility, get out of there."

"Understood."

Colonel Mitchell, Major Carter and Captain Cooley watched Dr. Porter approach the guards at the village wall.  Cooley brought up video of Porter when he was out of visual range. 

"Should I turn up the sound, Colonel?"

"No. Not yet."

They watched the guards lead Porter to the first man SG-1 had encountered.  Porter started trying to communicate.  The man held up a hand, and Porter stopped talking.  The man seemed to be asking a question.  Porter indicated he didn't understand.  The man seemed to get angry.  The man made gestures with his hands as if describing something.  Porter shook his head.  The man gestured to the guards, and they stepped toward Porter.

"Uh oh," Carter whispered.

Porter made gestures with his hands.  The man halted the guards and looked confused.  Porter made the same gestures again.  The man nodded and gestured for Porter to go. Porter walked slowly away.  As soon as he was past the village wall, he ran as fast as he could back to the camp.

"What happened?" Mitchell and Carter asked in unison.

Porter bent over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath.  "They will only talk to Dr. Jackson," he said panting.  "He only let me go because I assured him I could get Dr. Jackson for him."

"Well, obviously that's not going to happen," Mitchell said.

"I know, sir.  But that's the only way I could get out of there.  That man made it pretty clear.  If there's going to be any negotiating with these people, it'll have to be done by Dr. Jackson."

"All of our medical teams are unavailable at this time," General Hammond said.

"I can lead a team, sir."

"Major, I understand that you feel helpless at the moment-"

"Yes, sir. I do.  Colonel Mitchell has everything on the planet under control, and Dr. Fraiser's monitoring Daniel. But whatever this substance is it has poisoned his immune system.  Janet has run all kinds of tests, but she's hit a wall."

"I've seen the results of those tests and Dr. Jackson's medical report, Major," Hammond said softly. "You believe there may be an antidote in the pharmaceutical building in the village?"

"Yes, sir. At the very least, we could gather samples that may help in the event there isn't an antidote. Sir, I'd rather not steal, but given Dr. Porter's experience I don't see another choice."

Hammond thought for a moment. "Ok, Major, you have a go."

"Thank you, sir."

"You can leave as soon as you have everyone and everything you need.  I'll alert the control room to be standing by.  Good luck."

"Chevron seven locked," a male technician said from the control room an hour and fifteen minutes later.  "Wormhole established."

"Whenever you're ready," General Hammond said.

"Yes, sir."  Carter led her team through the gate.

At base camp, Carter showed her team a map of the village.  "The pharmaceutical building is this third one from the village entrance."

"The villagers seem to be preoccupied with some construction project," Cooley informed them. "So, there aren't too many villagers walking around to worry about."

"Thanks. Everybody ready?" 

Smith, Jones and Clarke nodded.  Carter led them through the woods to the village.

"Ok, Smith," Carter whispered when they got to the two guards.

Smith stepped out of the woods.  The two guards aimed at him, but he zatted them.  Carter, Jones and Clarke hurried out of the woods.  Smith and Jones tied the guards up as Carter and Clarke scanned the area between the entrance and the target building, their weapons ready. 

"It's clear.  Let's go." 

The team sprinted to the building.  Jones and Clarke took up positions on either side of the curtained doorway.  Carter discreetly opened the curtain and scanned the room.  She dropped the curtain and turned to her team. "There are three of them.  They look like lab technicians.  Clarke, you take the one on the left.  Jones, the one on the right.  I'll take the one in the middle."

Carter pulled the curtain back, and rushed in with Clarke and Jones.  One of the lab techs cried out as Jones zatted her. They moved the techs to the back of the room.

"Good.  Jones, go back and guard the door with Smith.  Clarke, let's try to get as many samples as we can."

"Yes, ma'am," Jones said as he left. 

Carter and Clarke spent the next five minutes gathering samples from the various jars and tubes all over the room.

"Company," Jones said from outside.

"How long?"

"Five minutes."

"Ok, this will have to be enough.  Let's go."  Carter and Clarke left the building and took the lead with their weapons ready while Jones and Smith took their six.  They reached the entrance, untied the guards and ran into the woods.  They didn't stop running until they reached the camp.

"I don't know what to do, Sam," Daniel said gently.  He hated seeing all that hope in her eyes when she looked at him.  Even worse, he hated to make it flicker.  But, he really didn't know what to do.

"Try talking to them again.   Dr. Porter says you're the only one they'll talk to."

He sighed.  "Sam, I want Jack and Teal'c back as much as you do, but I can't promise anything."

"You can at least try, right?"

"Of course.  I just need some time to think."

"Sure."  She smiled and scurried out of the infirmary.

He sighed and started going over his mental notes again.

A man approached them.  The man made some gestures with his arms as a greeting.  At least I assumed it was a greeting.  Daniel paid attention and tried to imitate the gestures.  The man got angry.  I must have gotten something wrong.  Jack tried to help by making the gestures.  The man looked from Daniel to Jack and back to Daniel, becoming angrier. Daniel understood and told Jack to stop but it must have been too late.  The man held out his hand, and a woman came forward to put something in it. I think it was a rock. The man chanted something then threw the rock at me. The next thing he knew his whole body was stinging and he was falling.  Teal'c woke him up about ten minutes later, and he felt fine.  Well, except for a wicked headache.  As they made their way back to the stargate, he had taken some Tylenol with water from his canteen.  Sudden nausea overcame him; he threw up red globs, fainted and woke up here the next day. 

What else? he asked himself.  Why didn't they capture us all when I fainted?  Jack probably shot our way out. The inhabitants didn't seem to have any weapons, so they probably couldn't defend themselves. Why didn't they poison the others too?  Did they not have time?  That can't be it.  They had the element of surprise. It's because they saw me as the leader.  Yes .The man looked to me to imitate him and make Jack stop.  So, because I was the leader, I was the one held responsible.  And when I escaped, they captured two of my followers. So, are they going to keep Jack and Teal'c alive in case I come back?  Are they going to make me bargain for their lives?  Or exchange my life for theirs?  Or, are they going to kill them anyway and then me when I return?  Or maybe, the plan was to get me out of the way so I wouldn't be able to help the others.  Daniel stopped thinking.  His head was throbbing. 

"Have you gotten any results yet?" General Hammond asked Dr. Fraiser.

"Nothing yet that can help Daniel, sir."

"Will any of them be beneficial to earth diseases?" Hammond asked.

"I can't say yes or no yet, sir.  We're focusing all our attention on helping Daniel at the moment.  Major Carter has brought back enough samples to keep us busy for months, so I'm sure we'll find something beneficial to earth."

"Good work, Major."  Hammond beamed.  "I'd like to express my thanks to Smith, Jones and Clarke as well."

"Thank you, sir.  I'll let them know."

"What is The Holiday Inn?" Teal'c asked.

"A hotel," Jack answered shoveling more food into his mouth.  Swallowing, he said, "Much as I've enjoyed our stay, we should get back to the office."

"How do you propose we do so?"  Teal'c asked sniffing the contents of his bowl.

"You should try some.  It's great."

Teal'c dipped in his spoon-like instrument and tasted the food.  "Indeed."

"You up for a little recon outside that curtain?"

"I am 'up' with that."

"It's 'down' with that, but whatever. Ok, so after they tuck us in, we'll sneak out. Shouldn't be hard with no guards out there. Guess they don't expect us to try to escape."

"What if we get caught?"

"Make something up."  Jack looked at the Jaffa and clarified.  "Say you got cabin fever.  Or, you just wanted some exercise."

"Cabin fever?"
"We haven't left this room in two days.  I'm getting' a little claustrophobic."

"What do you mean, he's in a coma?"  Sam was on the verge of tears. "He was fine two hours ago.  Still tired of course, but-"

"I don't understand it either," Janet soothed.

"I guess you haven't found an antidote yet either."

"No."  Janet looked down. 

"This can't be happening."  Sam sank into a chair and put her head in her hands.

Janet sat down and put her arm around Sam's shoulders.

"Two of my closest friends are prisoners, and the other one, the only one who can help us, is in a coma.  My mission seems to have been fruitless."  She broke down, and Janet hugged her.

"I know this is hard, Sam.  I wish I could tell you everything's going to work out fine, but I'm just as lost as you are."  She lifted Sam's chin. "You don't know whether your mission was fruitless or not, so don't give up. These things take time," she said gently.

Sam sniffed and wiped her eyes.  "I know."  She took the tissue Janet offered.

"I want you to get some sleep," Janet said unlocking a medicine cabinet. "Colonel Mitchell can handle things on the planet for now, and I'll wake you if Daniel's condition changes."  She took out a packet and locked the cabinet.

Sam sighed and took the packet.

"Ready?" Jack whispered on the left of the curtain.

"I am," Teal'c whispered on the right.

"Go." 

Teal'c exited and went right. 

Jack followed and went left.  He saw a fire a few buildings away and decided to head for it.  A great many people were gathered around the fire.  They seemed to be having a meeting.  He watched from the shadows as five people were led to the front of the crowd.  They all began speaking at once.  The man Daniel had tried to communicate with spoke authoritatively and pointed to the woman. The other four people backed off.  When the woman finished telling her story, they followed one at a time.  There was a long silence after the last man spoke, then the people started murmuring and arguing.  The same man blew into a horn to quiet everyone.  He pointed to several people who left the crowd and entered the building.  He spoke to the assembly, then turned and followed the others into the building.  The assembly began to disperse, and Jack flattened himself against the side of the building. After a minute, he peeked around the corner. 

Well, that was interesting.  Figuring it was about time to get back, he turned and walked into someone. 

"Hello."

The man grabbed Jack's arm and called to another man who came over and grabbed Jack's other arm.  Twice his size, they easily dragged him around and into the building.  The same man jumped up and spoke angrily to the two men and Jack.  The two men replied and hauled Jack out of the building.  On the way back to The Holiday Inn, they made a pit stop.  One of the men went inside and came back out with shackles. 

"So, did you find out what our noisy neighbors are up to?" Jack asked Teal'c when their jailors had left.

"They are constructing a large room connected to this one.  Before I was captured, I was able to see a platform being constructed along one of the walls. What did you discover, O'Neill?"

I know Daniel didn't mean to put a damper on my hope.  Poor guy, he's been through so much, and I come along asking him to do what he sees as the impossible.  I know he didn't mean to.  But, he did.  He probably knows he did too.  That makes it worse!  Way to go, Samantha.  Pressure him by saying he's your only hope, then make him feel bad for raining on that hope.  Sam sighed and rolled over.  I hope that sedative takes over soon.