Disclaimer: please see first chapter.
Author's note: Thanks to those who replied :) I feed off of reviews. they are much appreciated!
I know the 2nd part of this is rather meaty with information. Please forgive if it's confusing :)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A gentle tapping came to Carter's doorway. The slight noise was not enough to distract her from her conversation with Dr. Weir. While the women was no Hammond, she at least seemed to understand things much better than some other replacement would have. It took the slamming of a rather thick file in front of her hands to divert her attention.
"Excuse me Doctor, Major, but, I have something!" Daniel stood above the two women proudly. Giddily he flipped the folder open to reveal several copies of the Major's sketch. The scribbles on the pages were most definitely the man's barely legible marks.
"They're coordinates!" he proclaimed, underlining every third than fifth symbol. "But, they were skewed. That's why I couldn't read them at first!"
"How exactly did you come to this conclusion, Dr. Jackson?" Doctor Weir asked while blinking at the sketches. The final copy was about one third of the original's size.
"Major Carter gave me a drawing from a dream she had. At first I thought it was nothing. But, when I slammed a book on it, landed so that it cut directly down the middle of paper. It kind of hit me... " He stopped, grabbing a hand-mirror he had brought along, and placed it against the middle."If you trace this half, and flip it over the other side..."
"The symbols overlap, yes. Why is this important? Is it a more complex type of writing?" The female doctor inquired while Carter just kept listening.
"Well, no, BUT if you cut each of those in half, creating a line through it's opposite symbol until each are cut, they separate out into symbols that are actually words, or, in this case, numbers." He was beaming.
Sam sighed. "Daniel.. don't you think this might be stretching it a little bit?" The thrilled doctor seemed to dim, causing her to finish the thought. "I want to believe you, and this is quite a discovery. But, even if this is a hint... How come it would be so scrambled? And why would I dream it and not any of you?"
Daniel shrugged. "I'm not sure. You said that it was a nightmare about the Colonel. Maybe it's from him? Maybe he's not frozen, frozen. Maybe he's just in a deep sleep? What if he's seeing this in the chamber and we didn't. If it IS something he's seeing, the image could be reflecting off the ice and snow or bits of metal down there and off the ice he's in a few times until it reaches his mind..."
"Wait, this dialing number...P5X-723.((May all readers please note that this number was taken off of the top of my head. So, if it's already used, please forgive!)) SG-16 just got back from there. They reported nothing unusual." The commander sat down in a chair looking up at them.
"There were a few feline-like creatures there...but their technology didn't appear to be much more advanced than ours. They quickly joined our allegiance though. Apparently the goa'uld gave them a small run a century or two back." She recalled from the report that was handed to her.
"Maybe it's not the people we're looking for. If the Goa'uld gave them trouble a while back maybe there's something in their history that will give us another clue.." Carter suggested.
"Unscheduled Incoming signal..." A red light swirled, the metallic voice only too familiar. Half groaning the three made their way to the Stargate where the iris was being kept locked.
"The Asgard. Thor's signal, Dr. Wier." an airman informed them.
"Open the iris..." Weir sighed.
The Stargate's metal center retracted as the wormhole began to form. As the pool came into view, a small lanky silver alien stepped through. As stated, it was none other than the dear Asgard mentioned.
"Welcome, Thor." Weir greeted him.
Upon seeing the alien, Carter's fists clenched. Her expression remained calm. But, she had to force herself to put a smile on, stepping to the old friend. She nodded to him slowly.
"Ah.. it is a relief to see the planet still thriving, Major Carter." He spoke to her in the same monotone as usual.
"Yes. It is. We managed to defeat Anubis, without your assistance, may I please add." She became a bit hostile.
They had helped the Asgaurd many a time before. While they had returned favors, she thought that their partnership became more of a friendship rather than an allegiance. Friends, in her mind, didn't count favors. They did what they needed to do.
The short alien blinked. "The Asgard decided it best to stay out of this war. We were still too weak in number to have been of much service. The production of ships has been going slower than we had hoped. There is pressure to make each of them as advanced as possible. They were not ready for battle."
"ONE of your ships would equal over twenty of our's statistics in every area combined! Your OLD ships!" She protested.
Teal'c, who had responded to the alarm, placed a hand on Sam's shoulder. "I think it would be wise to conceal one's aggravation in this matter, Major Carter." He offered his bit of advice.
"We apologize for our actions. We realized that we should have come. But by the time our scout arrived, your attack was already underway." The Asgard representative made a slight hand motion, though, characteristically showed no change in voice as to show emotion. "However, the weapon you used to rid yourselves of the fleet is entirely new to us. I am curious to what it was."
Sam bit her lip from saying something that would have only caused a rift. The visitor had kindly forgiven her first outburst, but, she didn't think that he'd take another. She couldn't afford to push her luck.
"There is one of you missing." Thor brushed away that his first question had been ignored. "Where is Colonel O'Neill? Is he injured yet from the battle?"
"You could... say that." Daniel came forward. "He was the one that commanded that weapon you mentioned." The doctor continued to explain what happened to SG-1's CO. Thor listened intently.
"Hmm.. that process of rest is not completely unheard of. There is a planet where they lower the body temperature of their loved ones who are close to death. The decrease in temperature allows the mind and body to heal."
Sam shifted her weight uneasily. She didn't like the sounds of that. "Do they ever wake? How do they counter the process?"
Thor shook his head. "I do not know. I have never been there myself. It is a planet, I believe, called Harlise... I could calculate the coordinates if you would give me just a ..."
" P5X-723?" Daniel asked, not giving him the moment he required.
"Why... yes.." The alien tilted his head. "I think your brain has become more sufficient, Doctor Jackson."
Daniel wasn't quite sure how to take that. But, it seemed to be a compliment. He didn't bother mentioning that it was only an educated guess of sorts. He glanced over at Sam who was squirming like a worm on a hook.
~*~*~*~
Stepping though the 'gate, Teal'c looked around. No sooner had Thor departed, than Dr. Wier had given permission to SG-1 to go back to Harlise. The rebel Jaffa looked around. It was a oddly beautiful place.
The sky had a purple tint to it, rather than blue. The ground and foliage seemed to be a white-blue combination that made it look like everything was springing from snow. A river trickled by, a darker variation of the purple color that was in the sky. It was very peaceful, serene.
Normally Sam would have felt compelled to stop and take samples right then and there, but, not today. They had been told of the direction to go to reach the nearest city. It was about three miles away over relatively easy ground. Why can't we get it this simple on other missions? She pondered.
"I feel like we just stepped into the world of Nox...." Daniel said softly, recalling the fae-like creatures they had once encountered.
~*~*~*~*~
Some time later, the three companions found themselves coming to what they supposed was the city that was mentioned. By modern human standards, it was more like a small town. Or, at least it appeared to be looking in on it.
The buildings all looked to be made out of a white material that seemed to be like adobe. None stood over three stories tall, with the exception of what looked to be a center building. The roofs were all thatched with a shiny almost shell looking material. The half sun that hung above them glared angrily off of the materials, causing the members of the team to shield their eyes.
"Your weird." a small voice said, causing the team to look down. Staring up at them was a small gray felinoid girl about the age of ten Earth years. Her large saucer-wide blue eyes blinked up at them.
"Excuse me?" Sam asked, shocked that the girl talked in plain English.
"Your like those people who came here two sun cycles ago..."She observed, walking around them. "Ooooh! Pretty!" She snatched Sam's Zat gun with nimble fingers.
"Put that down! It's dangerous!" Daniel said in a low voice, but the child didn't seem to respond to the command.
The result of the little girl's exploration was a chunk of the house material taken off of the city gate. The little creature shrieked, latching onto Sam's leg as she dropped the Zat. With a little whimper she looked up to the Major with teary eyes.
"Daniel Jackson tried to alert you of the hazard, little creature." Teal'c tried to offer his what could be seen as cold comfort. Those who didn't know the Jaffa or his species well generally thought them rather icy people.
"Creature! I'm not a creature! I'm a Kichee, for your information! Your the freaky one!" The girl spat back, regaining her tongue, crossing her arms.
Teal'c nodded, not phased by the girl's retort. He was used to similar reactions. "Than, little Kichee, Do you have a name we could call you by?"
"Shishe!" The girl bowed deeply.
"Shishe," Daniel swept up Sam's Zat from the ground where it had been dropped on firing. "We heard that your people can do a rather amazing thing."
"Eternal dreaming?" The felinoid's ears perked up. "We do it all the time, but other people never ask for us. They think we're going to rob them. Stupid idiots!"
"Yes. I believe that's what it's called. Could you take us to someone who's capable of preforming the procedure?" Sam asked with a smile, noting that the girl was now staring at the clasp of her vest. Smirking, she ripped it off,and waved it in front of Shishe's face. "You take us, and you can have this."
Shishe blinked a few times before hopping around, and through the city gate. "Well come ON, then! Your the ones who wanted to see him!" Her tail swished back and forth verging on anxiety. "COME ON!"
~*~*~
True to her word, the small girl lead them through the labyrinth of streets and city sidewalks. Internally, it really did seem like a city. Hundreds of ear-and-tail creatures made their way through their day around them. A few stopped and stared. Others just shrugged of the appearance of these new beings.
The girl began to go in a slow run now. Not too surprisingly, she had now gone on all fours. Daniel noted that the hip bones on her seemed to pop back and the ankles bend, allowing Shishe's arms and legs to be about the same length when crouching. Or, in this case, running.
Soon enough the company found themselves standing before a small dusty office that stood right before the center building. Shishe lead them through the curtain that acted as a door to the seemingly small building.
"Hey, Doctor Prist, ya' here?" The girl shouted.
A hobbling felinoid with a tattered brown coat answered the call. A wavy-carved stick helped the man walk, but his presence seemed very much stronger than his body was. His coal eyes sparkled at them.
"Well, I have visitors!" He stated, bowing before the humans. "Are you here to communicate with a friend, or to be laid to sleep?"
Sam blinked slowly, glancing down at him. He stood almost a full foot shorter than her. "Neither, Doctor. I'm Major Samantha Carter. These are my companions, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c. We come from Earth. Representatives came here a while ago to establish peace with the planet." She paused slowly, seeing if he was getting it.
"Yesss... Yesss..." He seemed to be pondering something. "You caused quite the gossip around our little town. What brings us the pleasure of your company once again?"
"We have a friend who we think might be in a similar status as that of your.. er.. customers." Daniel stepped forward to speak. "We wanted to know if we could ask you about the process, where this method came from. You see, he didn't wish to be put into the sleep. At least, not really. We're trying to figure out a way to reverse what happened."
The cat-man nodded, waving a hand for them to follow him. He threw back the curtain leading to the next room that he had come from. If one peeped in, they'd see several text books scattered here and there. But the man's focus seemed to be on the stairwell at the far side of the room.
Making their way down the staircase the team entered a large room. All around them were felinoids who looked as if they were in deep sleeps. Some of them were paler than others, stiffer. All, however seemed to rest on plush beds, covered with blankets. By each chiller looking creature there was an extra bed. Some were filled, some were not.
"Eternal Dreaming is just as it says. In our species, we have three levels of sleep. By lowering one's body temperature slowly, we can induce an almost instant state of deepest sleep. While the erratic pulse and eyelid movement that signals quite like you REM stage." He explained. "Constant exposure without lowering the heart rate is extremely dangerous. However, we found that if we slowly sedated the body before hand, it controls the functioning of the body's main organs as they rest."
"This man here, for example," the doctor moved to one of the newer patients who was still being monitored, " entered his dreaming two days ago. To make sure that his body responded, we've kept him on monitors and check his stats frequently. If all seems well, we'll slow the checking to once per day, week, and so on as long as they wished to stay in the sleep."
"Did this man bare any physical problems?" Teal'c looked at the man with deep interest. He was more human than the felines. He suspected possibly of Kichee and Nox breeding, as strange as it sounded. His eyes moved along the monitors with suspicion.
The doctor moved, walking over to him. "When the body temperature is lowered, it goes into a sort of hibernation. Almost everything closes down except the lungs, heart, and most importantly the mind. That's how loved ones and friends are able to communicated with one another while one's sleeping. "
"Dr. Prist," Sam interrupted. "How exactly would one communicate with another? I mean, with such low oxygen levels to the brain, it would seem that the brain would all but shut down. Wouldn't it only preform it's bare necessities?"
Prist nodded slowly. "That was the initial thought, even though the old text seemed to speak of different." He wobbled over to a stool to sit. "But, when the body is relaxed, or at times of high stress, the subconscious wanders. If it is lonely, it may seek something familiar. Or, vice versa. If a friend of a resting's wished to communicate with them, then we'd have to put them in a extremely deep sleep not too unlike the other's. It would allow the mind to seek what it most wanted or what was most familiar."
Daniel nodded slowly, looking around him. "This friend of ours. We think that Major Carter here received images from him. Is this possible?"
"Why, yes." Prist said as if it were completely common. "If she was standing near him at the time she fell asleep. I assume you are all very close companions."
"That's... the odd thing." Sam noted, kneeling in front of the sitting doctor. "I was thousands of miles away... And as crazy as this may sound, what he showed me, sent us here."
The Kichee's eyes widened to the size of fifty-cent pieces. "Now.. That IS strange!" He thought on what was said for a moment. "Perhaps you are the closest to that friend, or the last one he saw. Maybe there's something else he could need to tell you."
~*~*~
The next few hours were spent digging around the Doctor's library going through scrolls and leather-bound books. They had found some things here and there, but nothing that jumped out at them. Daniel's brain ached from translating such fine print and relaying what he read a few times per sentence.
" I do not wish to frighten any of you." Prist broke the silence that had washed over them. "But, for a mind to reach so far out... There must be something of great importance! In all these reports I have never seen such a thing quiet happen. Than again, the work of the Ancients are strong." The team had revealed to the Kichee doctor the whole story.
"Than you have no idea how to awaken O'Neill?" Teal'c said with a hint of dismay in his voice.
"Well, I'm not positive. But, I have an idea." The team turned their eyes to him. "If I were to be permitted to visit your planet, I could put Major Carter into the kind of sleep I do for my patients families. If we were allowed down into this chamber you described with him, perhaps the images would be clearer, last longer. The distance of communication wouldn't place so much strain on either body."
"There's only one thing." The Doctor concluded. "Major Carter will have to recall in great detail all she sees in one meeting, no matter how painful or odd it might be. She would be our only resource."
A silence came over them again. Sam stared at her feet, her eyes looking heavy. Daniel tapped a pen against his teeth. Teal'c blinked into space. The doctor sat motionless.
"Not....necessarily..." it was Daniel's voice who had slaughtered the quiet. "Do you remember when we had that 'Super Soldier' on our hands a few years ago? We hooked up a device that projected to us his thoughts from him just barely thinking them..."
"That... just might work!" Sam's eyes brightened. "Either way, it's worth a shot!"
Nothing else needed to be said. Each member went their separate ways. Teal'c went to cross check if it was alright for Dr. Prist to come to Earth. Sam went with him to recover the machine that was needed. Daniel stayed to continue looking through the texts, and to guide the doctor with the materials he needed to the 'gate.
Soon, they would test their theories. If only they knew what they were setting in motion. Maybe then they would have realized their mistakes. If only they knew....