General Hammond returned the young man's salute distractedly, his mind already turned back to the puzzle he was faced with. His best team was missing. An unexplained energy burst. An alien artifact, seemingly at the center of things, left carelessly and uncharacteristically on the floor by one of his best scientists. Just how did it all fit together? But most importantly, where was SG-1?
Chapter 3: Not in Kansas AnymoreOf the four, Teal'c was the first to regain consciousness. Stoically, the large man bit back an involuntary groan as he forced aching muscles into action and unwilling eyes to focus on the dull gray world around him. A patch of green just to his right caught his attention and he turned towards it immediately recognizing his comrade, Colonel Jack O'Neill.
"O'Neill." Teal'c reached out and touched the man's shoulder, relieved to feel warmth and the steady rise and fall of his breathing.
At his touch, O'Neill came awake with a start and a muffled groan.
"Wha-What happened? What's going on? Teal'c?" Dazedly, the Air Force Colonel sat up blinking, Teal'c lending the support of one strong hand, and looked around, frowning as he tried to take in his surroundings. "Where are we, and where's Carter and Daniel?"
Teal'c paused before answering, taking a moment to look around himself. The landscape was flat, gray, and barren, stretching out for quite a way. It was lined with cracks and interrupted by odd, well he didn't really know what they were, but they were tall and smooth and metallic looking. The lighting was odd too, seeming to hold an artificial quality. He noticed that the nearest tall pillar like object seemed to be holding up some sort of massive slab that blocked the lighting and cast a shadow. Even further in the distance he could see what looked like some sort of enormous barrier, and there were other large curious formations nearby and in the distance. Additionally, curious rectangular patches of white, which seemed to be scattered in no formation he could discern at first glance, interrupted the gray expanses.
"I have never before seen such a place O'Neill," Teal'c said quietly, as he rose to his feet. Offering his hand again, he gave O'Neill a hand up.
Jack grunted his thanks, looking about him in open curiosity as well, before shaking his head. "Well we aren't in Kansas anymore. Let's find Daniel and Carter first ok? Then we can worry about where we are, and how we got here, wherever here is."
While O'Neill spoke, Teal'c had already spotted something, rather far away. "O'Neill." Teal'c said, calling attention to what he had seen, pointing in the direction.
The Colonel had to squint to make out what Teal'c's sharp eyes had noticed, a small patch of green on a gray background. From this distance, he couldn't make out details, but it didn't look like it was moving.
"Ok, let's go, keep your head up," Jack ordered, taking point, Teal'c slipping naturally a step behind, scanning for any signs of movement or danger.
Before long, they'd reached their goal, their pace quickening as they realized that the small green lump they'd seen in the distance was in fact their missing teammates. They'd had to pass underneath the enormous slab, which they could see was anchored by four large round metal pillars.
Carter and Daniel were sprawled side by side, the rise and fall of their chests reassuring their teammates that they breathed. Reaching their goal, Jack knelt quickly by Daniel reaching for his neck to feel for a pulse, Teal'c moving to offer the same treatment to Carter.
The two stirred easily under their fingers, coming awake with groans, and both as equally confused about their whereabouts, as Teal'c and O'Neill had been minutes before.
Before long, all four members of SG-1 were on his or her feet and looking about in open curiosity.
"Any ideas kids?" The colonel was wishing he'd been fully kitted out when they got hit with that beam thing. A shame he hadn't been equipped with supplies, and his P-90, couple of Zats, some C4… well something at least. Judging by the expressions on Teal'c and Carter's faces, they were noticing the same lack.
"No sir." Came from Carter, and Daniel replied with "Sorry Jack."
Jack sighed. He hadn't expected any of them to know where they were really. "Well let's check what we have, everyone empty their pockets."
After several moments, a somewhat impressive pile was on the ground between the four of them. Unfortunately, not much of it seemed useful. There was a notepad and several pens and pencils from Daniel. A candy bar, yo-yo, some chewing gum, a safety pin and a chain of paper clips he'd been working on from his own pockets. Teal'c had been carrying several power bars, a comb, (Jack decided not to ask) and book of matches.
Surprisingly, Carter had the most items in her pockets, although the usefulness of the items was not yet apparent. Her pockets yielded a screwdriver, a handful of various screws and bolts, a PDA, more pens and pencils, a granola bar, an eyeglass repair kit (at Jack's raised eyebrow, she'd just looked at Daniel, who'd looked sheepish) a pocket calculator, small flashlight, multi-pliers and a partially used roll of duct tape. (As Jack raised his eyebrow again, she shrugged and became fascinated with her boots.)
Additionally, there was an assortment of pagers, cell phones, their ID badges and about twenty-three dollars and thirty-two cents in loose change and crumpled bills. All in all the most useful items at the moment looked like the food, and the closest thing to a weapon was the small blade on Carter's multi tool, unless you could consider a yo-yo a weapon. Experimentally, Daniel had flipped open his cell but discovered there was no reception. Disappointed, the others checked their own cells for similar results.
Frowning at the seemingly useless pile of objects, Jack sighed again. Damn alien artifacts, zapping you about who knows where.
"Ok campers, let's pack up and fan out. Stay in visual range. See if we can find out any clues as to where we are, or a gate, or something." At the colonel's order, they all reclaimed their various items, and chose a direction before spreading out, careful to stay within sight of each other.
Jack and Teal'c were just about to reach one of the odd large white rectangles when Carter called them all over. Daniel was on Carter's other side and reached her first, followed closely by the other two.
Sam was staring at a long cylindrical object, about the size of a tree trunk. It was yellow, and had pink blunt end and a sharp pointed end. There were black markings on it. Even upside down, the words "Number 2" were obvious, if a bit unexpected.
The four members of SG-1 stared at the words, and looked at each other.
Jack spoke first. "I guess it's too much to assume that the alien whatsit just made that thing really really big."
