Smoke on the water, fire in the sky. Jack didn't know all the words to the song, but he continued to sing what he knew of it under his breath, as he watched the video footage brought back by SG-11. They had just come back from a planet where the sun was moving closer to the planet's atmosphere, too close for comfort. One particular image reminded him of the song that was now playing out over and over again in his head. The image was of a river that glowed bright orange as it reflected the sun's light, giving him the impression that the water was on fire. He continued to watch the video as the scientists in the room were arguing over whether the planet would explode in the near future or down the road, giving them time to study the effects of a dying planet up close. Every one of them suffered severe disappointment when Jack vetoed the idea of anyone going back to the planet. He lost quite a few popularity points that day, but then again, he never was popular among the scientists on base anyway.

The song stayed with him throughout the rest of the day. Playing out over and over again until he wanted to scream with aggravation. He had the radio on as loud as he could stand it on the way home, hoping to chase away the litany that threatened to drive him insane.

Daniel had been no help, in fact he had made things worse. Jack grimaced as he remembered the meeting he'd had with his friend in Daniel's office. Daniel was immersed in learning all he could about the Lost Colony and Jack had to call out his name twice to get through Daniel's concentration.

"What?" Daniel had asked, looking up from the book he was reading. He pushed up the glasses that had slipped down his nose and glared at Jack.

"Are you ready for your trip tomorrow?" Jack asked, ignoring the glare.

"Yep, just doing some last minute research," Daniel replied. "Uh… Was there anything in particular you wanted to see me about?"

"Do I need a reason to come by for a visit with my best friend?" Jack asked, feigning hurt feelings.

"Meaning you don't have a specific reason for coming here," Daniel replied, shaking his head.

"I run this place. I don't need a specific reason for being here." Jack was starting to get a little angry.

Daniel didn't reply, as he was already immersed in the book again. This pissed Jack off even more and he picked up a rock that was lying on Daniel's desk as he began to sing, "Smoke on the water, fire in the sky…"

His singing finally got Daniel's attention, especially since he was singing the same verse over and over again. Jack was pleased to see a frown on his friend's face as he started tossing the rock back and forth from one hand to the other.

"Don't you know the words to that song?" Daniel asked as he snatched the rock in mid air. "This is not a toy Jack," he added, shaking it in Jack's face to get his attention.

"Didn't you hear me singing the words?" Jack asked, as he eyed a statuette that had been sitting on the desk next to the rock he'd picked up.

"I heard you singing the same words over and over again," Daniel said, grabbing the statuette to move it to a safe distance from Jack. "That is if you want to call that singing."

"I suppose you think you could do better?" Jack asked, as Daniel moved yet another object away from Jack's inquisitive grasp.

"At least I know more of the words of the song than you do," he said, pushing a book of Latin grammar over toward Jack. "Let that thing keep you busy," he added, nodding at the book.

"This is Latin," Jack grimaced, holding the book delicately as if afraid it would bite him.

"Latin is good for the soul," Daniel said.

Jack just stared at his friend incredulously. "Good for the soul?" he asked. "It didn't help my soul a whole lot when I learned this stuff during that God awful time loop," he reminded him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Daniel said dismissively. He had gone back to his reading, which really pissed Jack off even more. He didn't like being ignored.

"Daniel," he demanded. This guy was really getting on his nerves!

Daniel sighed, then turned to give Jack his full attention. "What?" he snarled.

"Well, uh… I was just checking to see if there was anything I could do to help you out, that's all," Jack lied. He didn't want to admit that he had forgotten what he had come there for in the first place.

"I don't need your help, but thanks. I appreciate it." It was apparent Daniel didn't believe him for a minute.

"Okay," Jack said, deciding to leave now before things got worse for him. "Call me if you need me," he added as he got to the door. "I'll just be in my office," this was said as he opened the door. "Just pick up the phone…."

"Jack." Daniel said, finally looking up from the book.

"Yeah?" Jack asked, expectantly.

"Funky broads were running in and out, pulling kids out on the ground," he sang. "When it all was over, they had to find another place…"

"Shut up Daniel," Jack ground out. Instead of getting rid of the song in his head, he now had more words to add to the ones already playing out in his head.

He had left Daniel to his reading, much to Daniel's relief he was sure. Now he was heading home, listening to as many songs as he could find on the radio to rid himself of the one that had taken up residence in his mind. His cell phone rang just as he pulled into the gas station, deciding to let it go to voice mail when he saw it was Lanie's number. He would call her back when he was home to tell her what he knew would be good news for her.

It was much later before Jack remembered to check his voice mail messages. He listened to both of the messages Lanie had left telling him that she and her brood would be in Colorado for a few weeks and would he be available for them to visit? He wrote down the cell phone number she had left on the last message, then picked up the phone to call the MacGyver's home number. Mac answered and Jack assured him that a visit from them on the way home from Grand Junction would work out just fine. He should be able to manage some down time by then. Jack then went on to tell Mac what his Uncle had confirmed and smiled when he'd heard Lanie emit a loud, "Yes!! I knew it!" when Mac relayed the message to her. They spent a few more minutes making arrangements before finally ending the call.

It wasn't until Jack had settled down for the night that he realized what it was that bothered him about the call. Mac had seemed to be on edge and his unease had transferred to Jack as they talked about mundane things. Jack spent the next 30 minutes wondering what it was that was scaring his new found brother.


Despite the annotation the word brings up in the minds of most people, wormholes were not nasty little holes found in apples. At least not all of them were. Jack watched as SG-1 disappeared in the one swirling around in the Stargate. After all this time, it still bothered him to send them off alone. He wanted to go with them, to protect them to the best of his ability and to make sure they got back safely. His job prevented him from doing just that, but he still worried every single time they went on a mission. He had faith in Carter's leadership capabilities, Teal'c's warrior skills and even in Daniel, who had come a long way in honing his own survival skills since the early days of the Stargate Program. But Jack knew from experience that things can and will go wrong and he hated the waiting and worrying when they did.

He stayed there watching until the wormhole finally disengaged before heading for his office to tackle the paperwork waiting for him there. He managed to get a full hour and a half of it done before he gave it up to pace his office. He knew something was brewing, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Since the members of SG-1 were off-world, there was no one he could really visit with, so he haunted the hallways, the offices of various departments and even spent some time in the infirmary just to get rid of some of the nervous energy he was experiencing.

He was on his way back to his office after creating havoc just about everywhere he went when the klaxons blared and an announcement was made that an off-world activation had been established. He hurried toward the control room, arriving just as Colonel Dixon authorized the opening of the iris. "We've received SG-1's IDC sir," he informed Jack.

Jack stared at the Stargate in anticipation. SG-1 wasn't due back for at least two days. "Get some medics in there," he ordered the technician at the controls. Where was SG-1, he wondered as he continued to stare at the Gate.

"Yes sir," the technician responded before making the call. The medics showed up and the Marines were waiting in the Gate Room with guns at the ready, but SG-1 didn't come through the Gate. "Set up a communication link. Let's make contact with them," Jack ordered, his anxiety rising as he waited for the communication link to go through.

"SG-1, what is your status?" Jack asked the minute he was able to broadcast. "SG-1, please respond!"

There was no answer, but Jack was not willing to give up. "Colonel Carter, what is your situation?" He knew he was starting to sound desperate, but at this point he didn't care. "Daniel, Teal'c, please respond!" he said again. "Damn it! What is going on out there?" he asked Dixon, who shrugged his shoulders in response.

The Stargate disengaged at that point, leaving Jack with a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Dial up P4X-903," he demanded. "Set up a radio link and get a MALP in the Gate Room now!"

"Yes sir!" the technician responded and immediately went to work following the General's commands. The inner ring of the Stargate began spinning, as the technician placed a call to get a MALP. He called out as each Chevron was encoded, finally announcing that Chevron 7 was locked. The wormhole activated and he nodded at the General when the radio link was ready.

"SG-1, this is General O'Neill. Please respond." There was still no response. He tried to contact them for several more minutes until the MALP was wheeled into the Gate Room. "Dispatch the MALP," Jack ordered.

"MALP dispatched," the technician responded as the vehicle moved up the ramp. The MALP seemed to move at a snail's pace as far as Jack was concerned. He had an overpowering urge to go and push it along to make it go faster. He resisted that urge and waited impatiently for it to get to its destination.

Once it was on the other side, the technician began moving the mechanisms without being told. He forced the MALP lens to pan the area, while Jack continued to call out over the communication link. He stopped in mid-sentence and felt a deep seated fear come over him when the camera lens caught the image of several Jaffa standing guard over the Gate. When did they get there? he wondered.

Jack had given the order for SG teams 3 and 5 to gear up, when Carter's voice came over the radio. "SGC, this is Colonel Carter. Do you read?"

"Carter, what the hell is going on?" Jack asked, completely forgetting protocol.

"Sir, we were being chased by an… animal... or something when the Jaffa showed up. We're secure for the moment, but unable to get to the Gate."

"Roger that Colonel," Jack replied, relief flowing through him. "I'll be sending in reinforcements in an hour. Can you clear a path for them?"

"We can try sir," Carter said. "There's this thing that looks like a cross between a boar and a wolf that showed up and tried to eat Daniel. We were dealing with it when the Jaffa showed up. Our help will depend on whether the animal will let us get near enough to clear the path."

"What happened to your weapons Colonel?" Jack asked with some trepidation. The Jaffa were moving in toward the MALP, and Jack just knew that he was going to have to put in another requisition for a new one. Sure enough, one of the Jaffa aimed a staff weapon at the expensive piece of equipment and fired, causing the picture to go out.

"Our weapons don't seem to affect this… thing," Carter said over the radio, proving that the link had not been damaged.

"What?" Jack interrupted. "There's nothing in your arsenal that will take it out?" he asked incredulously. "What about the Zat?"

"It moves too fast for a…" Carter began. The silence that followed worried Jack more than the news Carter was passing on to him.

"Carter?" Jack said. "Carter please respond. Damn it Carter, don't you do this to me. SG-1, please respond. What happened?" he asked the technician.

"We still have the radio link," the technician said, perplexed.

Jack stared at the wormhole, willing it to tell him what was going on. He hated the suspense that went with his job; it seemed to get worse as the days went by. "Have SG-3 and 5 ready to go in one hour," he commanded. "Keep trying to raise SG-1 through the radio link and get another MALP in there."

"Yes sir," half the people in the control room responded. Jack continued to stand there, watching the swirling whirlpool that Carter sometimes called the Event Horizon. He wished she was here right now telling him all about the Event Horizon and the technicalities that went with her lectures. He waited, listening to his people trying to get a response from SG-1 until the Stargate finally shut down.

"I'll be in my office," he told the people in the control room. He ended up in the briefing room instead, standing at the window still watching and waiting for his friends to come back through the Gate. Why did Carter just stop talking? Why wouldn't they respond? The morbid possibilities that were running through his mind had him clenching his fists in anger and in fear. What would he do without them?

He stayed there for a long time, trying to calm his fears. He needed a clear head when it came time to make decisions and he knew better than to make those decisions based on fear or anger. He was interrupted by Colonel Dixon who had come to tell him that the two teams were geared up and ready to go. Jack gave him a nod before following him down to the control room.