"Problem?" Jack repeated.
"Uh oh," Sam murmured. "What did they do now?"
The Commandant was silent for a moment, as if trying to gather his thoughts.
"About half an hour ago, on a routine bed-check, we found Shawn missing from his room – along with Cadet Brooks and Cadet Hayden. There's every sign of some sort of struggle, and we found blood on the floor."
"What?"
Jack was up and out of the bed in an instant, and Sam knew from his reaction that whatever it was, it was serious.
"Where are they?"
"We don't know, Colonel. We've searched the school."
"And they're not on the grounds?" Jack asked. "Did you use dogs?" He looked over at Jaffer, who was on his feet on the bed, reacting to Jack's aggravation.
"We don't have trackers, Colonel," came the reply. "And there are cadets all over the school all day. There's no way a dog could follow their trail like that."
Jack could see the truth in that, even as he wondered if Jaffer could track them.
"What-"
"There's more, Colonel." The Commandant said, obviously not relishing the reaction he was going to get to judge from the hesitancy in his voice. "We found fresh blood on the floor of the room, so we're sure one of them is hurt. Or someone's hurt – we're just not sure-"
"Have you called Dotty Adams?"
"Shawn's mother? No. We haven't gotten a hold of any of the parents yet. I called you because I was hoping that you might have heard something from them, if they're off playing at some kind of stunt."
"They wouldn't do something like this." Jack said instantly.
"I agree, Colonel, but I had to check."
"No one heard anything?"
"One of the boys in the room next to theirs says he was woken by the sound of fighting, but that's not uncommon coming from that room. I'm sure you know how-"
"Yes."
Jack was already putting clothes on as he was talking, and Sam had followed his lead.
"I thought you should know, Colonel, and I had hoped you-"
"Don't call the parents yet, Commandant," Jack said. "Give me a while, and I'll see if I can find them."
"Are you coming down?"
"Eventually. I'll be in touch."
He hung up the phone and looked over at Sam.
"Shawn and his roommates are missing."
She nodded; she'd gathered that much from what she'd heard on his side of the conversation.
"What do we-"
"The Commandant doesn't think it's a prank on their part, and I don't see Shawn doing anything like this – or the other two, for that matter – so I agree."
"No Ashrak?" Sam asked, concerned.
"My head doesn't hurt."
"Maybe a Goa'uld?"
Jack shrugged, his mind going through a list of possibilities, but none of them made much sense.
"The first thing we need to do is find them. Then we can ask them."
Sam nodded, pulling on a shirt.
"Is Thor still in orbit, do you think?"
He nodded; she was reading his mind.
"One way to find out."
There were three people on Earth who had instant access to the Asgard when they were in orbit around the planet. One was Shawn Adams, through his little palm pilot thing that Thor had provided him with when his lessons had been changed due to Shawn going to the Air Force academy. One was Andrew Stevens, who could contact Thor's ship through his computer – which he took his lessons on – and the other was Jack O'Neill, who had a small hand-held device that had been given to him by Thor when Shawn had entered the Air Force academy in the event of an emergency, or some other reason he might need to get a hold of the little alien. Jack was never so glad to have it as he was just then.
He reached into the drawer of the stand by his bed. Sitting there next to his Beretta – and Sam's – was the small device, and Jack picked it up and pressed the button. If Thor was in orbit, he'd know Jack needed to talk to him, and would react.
A moment later, Jaffer's ears flattened and the black lab gave a low growl that was all the warning Jack needed. There was a flash of light, and he felt himself being moved from one place to another in an instant. A moment later he was standing on the bridge of Thor's ship and the little alien was coming over.
Jack looked around.
"Bring up Sam and Jaffer, too, Thor." He ordered. "Please."
A moment later, Sam appeared, and right beside her, his ears still flat, was Jaffer.
"Greetings, O'Neill, and-"
"Shawn's missing." Jack didn't have time for extended hellos.
The little alien blinked.
"What?"
"Shawn's missing," Jack repeated. "Did he do his lesson with you this evening?"
"Of course. I would have informed you had he missed one."
"I need you to find him for me, Thor. You can do that, right?"
The Asgard nodded, walking over to his command chair and running his palm along the right arm of the chair. A holographic heads-up display came online, showing the Earth that was spinning lazily below them. A moment later the scene changed to show the North American continent, and a moment after that it zoomed in on the western half of the United States. Obviously it was tracking something, and Jack assumed it was Shawn. Thor's ship would know what Shawn looked like – or whatever it used to find him.
The scene changed once more, and the view was now Colorado, and then it was the area around NORAD. A moment later it was a house, and then it was an infrared display that showed a single life-form.
"He is in a small room in a house on the outskirts of-"
"Can you beam him up?"
"Of course."
A moment later Jaffer growled again, and with a flash of light, Shawn appeared on the floor of the bridge. Unconscious and obviously hurt. Jack rushed over, with Sam and Jaffer right behind her, and he dropped to his knees by the still form.
"River and Ian, Jack." Sam reminded him. If Shawn was hurt, his roommates might be as well.
Jack nodded, looking around the bridge of the Asgard ship with reluctance. There was no other choice for it, and he supposed he could hope that the two other cadets were knocked out as well. Maybe he could get them down to a safe place on the planet before they found out about the Asgard, or even realized that anything odd had happened.
"There's two more missing," Jack said. "One is-"
"His roommates?" Thor asked, interrupting.
"Yes."
Thor moved his hand along the arm of the chair, and a moment later Jaffer was growling again, and there were twin flashes of light. River was sprawled on the floor of the bridge next to Sam and Shawn, apparently unconscious, but Ian had obviously been in the first stages of waking up, because the dark-haired young man was on his knees holding his head.
He looked around, and the first thing he saw was Thor, staring at him.
Ian lunged to his feet, and promptly fell back when his legs decided they weren't ready to support him just yet.
"What the fuck?!"