Chapter 4: Possibility

Teal'c kept Jonas from hitting the ground by gently breaking his fall. He eased Jonas the rest of the way down as Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter came in closer to be sure he was okay. He was still breathing, that had to count for something at least. After all, breathing was generally a good sign.

Sighing, Jack gently lifted Jonas onto his back to carry him back to camp. When they arrived, Jonas was placed on his bed-roll and Jack sat next to him while Carter worked, and Teal'c kept watch.

In the beam of the tiny flashlight left with Jack, O'Neill took a quick peek at his watch face and did a double take, 9:35! In the morning? And it was still dark! Something definitely wasn't right here.

"Hey, Carter, what time do you have?" Jack questioned her.

She directed the flashlight beam toward her watch and he watched as her eyes widened.

"9:35 Sir. It seems as though we're lacking something." She stated.

"Well yeah, we have no light and it's 9:35 in the morning. By any chance does that strike you as just a tid bit off?" O'Neill questioned skeptically.

Sam nodded but, said nothing and looked curiously around. Something definitely struck her as a 'tid bit off' as Colonel O'Neill had put it. At 9:35 in the morning, no matter what planet they had been on, it was always daylight. Except here. Here was different, everything about this place was different, and it wasn't the most enjoyable difference she had encountered.

OOO

Slowly he was becoming aware of the events going on around him as he desperately tried to force his way back to the waking world. The darkness seemed to keep grabbing at him every time he made progress, and pulled him back under, back to the beckoning darkness.

After endless times of attempting to break through the surface of the dark ocean that had been trying to drown him, he finally made some progress. Slowly, he became aware of someone next to him and he could hear muffled voices of familiarity as he continued to reach the surface.

He drew in a deep breath to quiet his aching lungs and forced his heavy lids open. Everything was a blur, darkness blending with darkness and a tiny shaft of light was directed at his face.

He squinted to block out some of the invading light and groaned as he became aware of the effects of unconsciousness. His stiff muscles, probably from remaining immobile for a length of time in the cold. A dull ache pulsed against his ribs as well as a roaring in his ears that was slowly dissipating into and annoying ringing, and a nagging pain in his head from something he couldn't make heads or tails out of.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Jonas!"

That overly cheerful tone and pleasant sarcasm could only belong to one person. Colonel O'Neill. That theory was confirmed as his vision softened and began to clear up to allow him to be able to make out the figure of a very happy looking Colonel, leaning over him and staring into his face.

He groaned again as the light was once again shone in his eyes. He brought his arms up to shield his endangered eyes from the invading light.

"Oh sorry about that Jonas, you probably want me to direct this elsewhere huh?" O'Neill joked.

Jonas nodded gratefully and was relieved to have the light removed from his face.

"How are you doing Jonas?" Came Major Carter's voice.

"As good as expected, considering the situation." Jonas stated simply.

"I bet. What happened anyway?" Jack asked.

"I'm not sure Colonel but, I know it was something."

O'Neill nodded in amusement at Jonas's reply to his question.

"Sure was. You don't know what that something was?" Colonel O'Neill questioned.

Jonas shook his head in the negative and pushed himself to sit. He looked around casually to be sure nothing was watching them and started to stand with the help of O'Neill. He swayed slightly but, quickly regained his composure and cautiously walked over to where Major Carter was working on the DHD.

"How's it going Major?" He questioned.

Sam shrugged in frustration.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it, I rearranged the wires and updated some connections but, other than that there's nothing I can do." She stated.

"Perhaps your repairs will allow the gate to dial up Major Carter." Teal'c replied, coming up beside Jonas

Sam nodded and began to dial up the gate at the SGC. The gate began to dial but, again after the sixth chevron was engaged a clicking sound came from the gate, and the entire process shut down. Sam cursed at the predicament and sighed.

"Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is to go home." Mused Colonel O'Neill in the darkness.

This received another frustrated sigh from Major Carter as she sank to her knees in front of the DHD again to try and repair it.

Jonas checked his watch and realized the time. "Just wondering but, shouldn't it be morning?" He asked.

"It should be but, it's not and I'm anxious to find out why." Jack replied.

"I see." Was all Jonas said.

"You don't find this odd?"

"No, I do. It's just that there really isn't anything we can do to change the fact that there is no light. Trust me, if there was a way to create light from dark I'm sure one of you would've already done that by now." He replied casually.

Each of the remaining members of SG-1 looked at him quizzically. In the dark, he felt his face flush and shut his mouth to avoid further embarrassment.

He turned away from his team and walked up to the Stargate. Once again the wind picked up, and he shivered against it. He was thinking about the night before. No matter how hard he tired not to think, it always happened. It discouraged him that he couldn't control his thoughts, or at least draw them away from what had happened to him.

He had the strangest feeling that perhaps those very thoughts were trying to tell him something, trying to direct him in a certain direction. A direction that he didn't think he wanted to go...