SG-1 spread out as they moved down the valley. Jack took the lead, several metres in front of Carter and Daniel, and Teal'c had their six. They all kept watch for anything that might be a threat. SG-12 had reported the presence of one large predator. It seemed to be a cross between a grizzly bear, and a mountain lion, so they had named a bearcat: a name that Jack thought lacked any sort of imagination. It had found them on their second night. Fortunately it had tripped one of their perimeter alarms while it was trying to stalk closer to the camp. They had shot it with a zat, and put a radio collar on it so they could keep track of its movements. The zoologist on the team figured it had to be a very territorial animal. A predator that size would need an enormous range: there was probably only one in this entire valley. It apparently had learned quickly from its first experience with a zat. After it had recovered it had taken off, and kept its distance from the humans ever since. Dr. Weirick, their zoologist, had tracked its movements all over the valley, and it hadn't come within half a kilometre of their camp since.
Whatever had happened to the survey team, Jack didn't think it was a predator, or even a pack of predators. Everyone who went off-world had weapons training, and half of SG-12 had been trained soldiers, as well as scientists. There was no way that any mere animal was going to kill all of them, so quickly that they wouldn't be able to get any message out. Even if they couldn't reach the gate, the MALP would have recorded any distress call they may have made, and relayed it to the SGC when they had opened the gate after SG-12 had failed to report in. The MALP hadn't recorded anything other than routine radio traffic. There had been some sort of burst of static, about thirty hours ago now, and everything had stopped. Some remote sensing equipment that had been scattered around the valley was still transmitting data, but there had been no sign of life since that burst, though it had repeated about eight hours ago.
No sign of human life, anyway. There was lots of other life. The local equivalent of birds—more like small flying reptiles with iridescent scales, almost like miniature dragons—were active in the trees, and Jack sometimes caught sight of small animals in the underbrush, but the biggest thing he saw looked something like a beaver, and quickly scurried away out of sight when it saw the humans approaching.
Jack saw that Carter was consulting an instrument that reminded him of a tricorder out of the original Star Trek series. "So, you reading anything there, Carter?"
Carter shook her head. "No Sir, not really. The bearcat's collar is still transmitting. It's about fifteen klicks that way." She pointed south. "I'm not picking up any sort of EM emissions that aren't coming from the survey team's instruments."
"Well, keep looking. Something happened to these guys."
"Yes, Sir."
They were still half a kilometre short of the camp when Jack signalled for them to leave what remained of the road that they were following. It was so broken up that it didn't really make travelling much easier, and he didn't want to approach the camp from a predictable direction. They moved up a hill, following the more difficult terrain, to circle around the camp and approach it from the rear. Taking the easy way in was a good way to walk into an ambush.
They followed a ridge line, keeping below the top of it so they wouldn't be silhouetted against the sky to anyone who might be observing it, until they reached the place where their maps indicated the ridge should be overlooking the camp. Jack signalled for Carter and Daniel to stay where they were, and for Teal'c to come with him. They climbed up to the top of the ridge, using trees for cover. They crawled the last ten metres, and lay prone on the ground, looking down on the camp. Jack raised his binoculars to his eyes.
The camp seemed empty. He could see no one. One of the beaver like animals was prowling through it, sniffing at something by a table that was shaded by a tarp that was flapping slightly in the breeze. A couple of the 'birds' were pecking at what looked like some food that may have been left out on the table. Jack couldn't see any sign of the survey team itself. "You see anything, Teal'c?" he asked softly.
"I do not, O'Neill."
"Me, neither." Jack looked back down the hill, and waved for Carter and Daniel to come join them. He went back to scanning the camp site, and its surroundings, looking for any sign of human life. He couldn't see any.
Carter crawled up beside Jack, while Daniel came up beside Teal'c.
"Okay, Carter and Daniel, stay here, and watch our backs. Teal'c and I will go in for a closer look." Jack pointed to the left, where the trees grew down the slope, nearly to the camp's perimeter. "We'll use the trees for cover, to get us in close."
"Yes, Sir," said Major Carter.
"Be careful Jack," said Daniel.
Jack looked at him, and grinned. "I'm always careful." Teal'c raised an eyebrow, Carter rolled her eyes, and Daniel just stared at him. "I am…it just doesn't look like it, sometimes."
Jack and Teal'c approached the campsite through the trees, both because the trees gave them cover to let them get close to the site without being seen, and because, if he were planning to ambush anyone entering the camp, this was where Jack would have hidden some of his forces. They moved quietly, hardly making any sound, and on the lookout for anyone else who might be trying to hide from them. They came at last to the edge of the clearing, about fifteen metres from the nearest tent.
There was a pole, supported by a tripod, a few metres away from them. Jack could see the little green light flashing on it, that told him that it was active. A fence of them surrounded the camp, spaced about five metres apart. They made up the perimeter alarm system, meant to warn the people in the camp of the approach of any large animals.
Jack surveyed the camp again, and still saw nothing. "I think it's time to stop sneaking around in the bushes." Jack keyed the microphone of his radio. "We're going in, Carter."
"Acknowledged," came over his radio.
Jack stood up, and moved toward the pole. The alarm system was designed to warn against animals, not people, so the pole had a button on top that, when depressed, let someone cross the laser beams between it and the next pole, without setting off the alarm. Jack held down the button, and motioned for Teal'c to go first. Teal'c nodded, and stepped across the perimeter. Jack followed before he released the button.
The camp was deserted. Jack and Teal'c checked inside the tents, and found no one. Everything was neat and tidy. Whatever had happened here, it didn't look like the team was attacked in the night. All the beds were made up; everything was ship-shape.
It was a little different outside. The table under the tarp had the remains of a meal of MREs on it. A small flock of 'birds' was startled away from it when Jack and Teal'c approached. Jack counted four place settings, and the remains of three MRE packs on the table. The fourth was under the table, where the beaver thing had been sniffing at it.
"There's nothing here," said Jack. He activated his radio. "Carter, Daniel, come on down. I don't think anything's going to be jumping out at us."
Carter and Daniel came straight down from the ridge, not bothering to try to sneak closer first. They joined Jack and Teal'c in the camp.
Daniel looked at the remains of the meal on the table. "Reminds me of the Mary Celeste."
"Who is Mary Celeste?" asked Teal'c.
"Not a who," said Daniel, "a what. The Mary Celeste was a sailing ship found abandoned at sea. There was no one on board her, but according to the story, there was a meal left half eaten on the table. She was just abandoned for no apparent reason, and her crew was never found."
"We're going to find these people," said Jack. "Daniel, take a look at their notes, see if anyone left any messages for us there. Carter, do the same with their computers. Come on Teal'c, let's see if we can find any tracks, or anything like that."
Jack and Teal'c circled the camp, looking for any sign. They quickly found that they had two problems with doing that. First of all the ground was too rocky for any footprints to be made in most of it. Second, where they could find any signs, either in trampled plants, or footprints in bits of soil between the rocks, they soon found that people had been going in and out a lot, in nearly all directions. They couldn't find any clear indications of which were the most recent. They didn't find any footprints that didn't look like they were made by standard issue boots.
They returned to the camp, and found that Carter and Daniel had come up empty too. There was nothing recorded in any of the survey team's journals, or on their computers that gave any indication of anything out of the ordinary happening prior to their disappearance.
Teal'c was looking at the table again. "O'Neill."
"What is it, T?"
"There are only four meals here. Two of the team members were not eating with the others."
"You think that two of them got in trouble elsewhere, and the rest of them went to help?"
"That is a possibility," said Teal'c.
"They may have all run off so fast that they couldn't leave any sort of message behind," said Daniel.
"But where would they go?" asked Carter.
"We haven't checked the ruins yet," said Daniel.
"You've just been itching for an excuse to see them for yourself, haven't you," said Jack.
"Well, yes," said Daniel, "but it is the next logical place to look."
