Chapter 7: In The Blink of an Eye

As Sam was preparing for the worst, a strong hand took a hold on her shoulder and began shaking her gently. She snapped out of her before-death preparations, only to come face to face with Colonel O'Neill. He was staring at her, concern etched all over his face. Sam relaxed at the arrival of her CO.

"Carter! What's going on?" Jack questioned her.

"Is he gone?" Sam asked timidly.

"Who? There was no one here."

"But, there...Oh." She objected, before cluing into what had taken place.

"What'd you see?"

"A man, on the ice. He was terrified of something, I don't know what."

"Another one of our ghostly visitors?" Jack asked.

"It would seem so." Carter replied with a shiver.

A ghost? How could something like that seem so realistic? Sam could still hear the man's shouts ringing in her ears, and she could still see Jonas twisting into the frightening man. She could still feel the terror of the final moments before O'Neill had come along. Now, all of that was gone in the simple blink of an eye.

"Major, how about we get ourselves back to camp before Jonas and Teal'c decide to come for us." Colonel O'Neill stated.

Sam nodded blankly and followed Jack back to camp.

Upon arrival, Jonas got up from his place in front of the DHD, where Jack had instructed him to so he could see if he was able to fix the device. He wiped his soil-stained hands on his pants and prepared to deliver his progress, or lack-there-of to the two returning members of SG-1.

"How's it going?" Asked Jack, coming toward him.

"Not well I'm afraid, as Major Carter has told you before, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the system. It just simply won't dial up." Jonas delivered.

"And we are way over-due on our check-in time with the SGC. If we don't get through soon, General Hammond will be sending another team through on a rescue mission." Jack stated simply.

Sam regarded Jonas with cautious eyes and kept her distance, she didn't want a repeat of what had previously taken place in the woods.

"I can try it again but, I'm not guaranteeing anything'll happen." Jonas said.

"Try it." Jack ordered.

Jonas nodded and began dialing up the Earth address. Chevrons one through six locked in place and the team held their breath for chevron seven. Surprisingly the usual clicking sound wasn't heard but, instead the gate continued to dial.

"Chevron seven locked!" Jonas cried triumphantly.

"It looks like you and Carter managed to fix the gate." Jack stated happily.

The gate sprang to life, and the blue settled back into the ring, a shimmering pool of sapphire.

"Let's get out of here." Jack said and went ahead through the gate, followed by each of the remaining members of his team.

Instead of re-emerging in the gate room of the SGC though, SG-1 was thrown back out of the gate and onto the hard ground of the dark planet. Each landed hard and the landing dazed them. Teal'c was the first to regain his feet.

"It would appear that the Stargate is still not working properly, O'Neill." Teal'c stated.

"Why? What did we ever do to it? All we want to do is get ourselves back home and off of this planet. Someplace where it's warm!" Jack shouted, scrambling to his feet.

The gate was still open and active but, it wouldn't let them pass through to Earth.

Jonas and Sam got to their feet shortly after Jack had, and each of them sighed in frustration.

"I thought we'd fixed it." Carter sighed.

"Apparently we didn't fix it well enough." Jonas stated simply and returned to the front of the DHD.

"We can't get through but, the gate's still open, hopefully through to the SGC. If that's the case maybe we could at least get a radio signal through to the control room and let General Hammond know about our situation." Major Carter suggested.

"It's worth a try." Jack replied.

OOO

General Hammond turned toward the control room window, where the gate lay open below in the gate room.

The iris had been opened after receiving the signal from SG-1, but the team never made it through.

"We've got a radio signal, General." Replied the technician.

"Put it through." Hammond said hopefully.

The signal was put through and Colonel O'Neill appeared on the screen.

"Colonel O'Neill." Hammond greeted.

"Hi General." Jack said carefully.

"You're overdue with your check-in."

"Tell me about it. We've been having a little problem with the gate. Carter thinks it might be the signal between the DHD and the gate itself but, even after she and Jonas repaired that, we still can't get through."

"The gate's open, isn't Colonel?"

"Well, yeah, but we have a slight problem."

"And that is?"

"We can't get through. We tried, it just tossed us back out."

"Do you have any answers as to why it would do that?"

"Uh, no. Not yet."

"Well, when will you have one?"

"I don't know but, we have got to get out of here. There are some weird things going on here." Jack stated.

"How so?"

"Uh, ghosts?" O'Neill tried.

The General's face went blank very quickly, as he turned to the technician in questioning. The tech shrugged unknowingly and returned his attention to the screen.

"Ghosts? Colonel, do you know how absurd that sounds?"

"I know how it sounds Sir, but it's as close as I can get to the truth."

"What makes you think you have a ghost situation?"

"Well, let me count the reasons. It's dark, and cold, and way, way too quiet. Every one of us has had an — encounter with something with the exception of Teal'c. Jonas was attacked by one of those 'somethings.' What else? Let's see now. I saw a woman, in a manner of speaking.."

"What do you mean, in a manner of speaking? Is Jonas alright?"

"I'm fine General." Called Jonas from behind O'Neill.

"And what I mean by, a manner of speaking is that she was there but, she didn't seem real. Sir, she disappeared as I was following her, and then she tried to kill Jonas!" Jack exclaimed.

"Should I send another team through?"

"No! We can't risk another team in this situation. We'll find a way out of this, somehow."

"You'd better keep me updated on this Colonel. Check in every two hours."

"Yeah, that could be a little difficult. Usually the gate won't even dial past chevron six. This was just a fluke, we'll check in whenever the gate allows us to. I'm telling you General, it's like the damn thing has a mind of it's own!" Jack exclaimed.

"Alright, check in when you get the chance, and for God's sake Colonel. Be careful."

"Will do, General. O'Neill out." Jack ended the conversation and the signal was cut off, almost instantaneously.

Hammond continued to look down on the inactive gate for a few more minutes before turning back to the techie.

"Ghosts?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"Apparently Sir."

"What will they get into next?" Hammond replied before leaving the control room to take up solitude in his office.

The technician shook his head in both amusement and confusion.
"What have they gotten into this time?" He questioned himself.

OOO

"Well, that was an interesting conversation." Jack mused.

"If you say so, Sir." Sam replied.

Everything had fallen silent, the wind included it was too quiet if you asked any member of the team.

The Colonel was the first to voice this out loud.

"Silence can't be a good thing, especially silence in the dark." He replied idly.

"You know, you just might be right." Came a voice from behind him. A voice that sounded familiar but, didn't belong to Carter, Jonas, or Teal'c.

He turned slowly and stared wide-eyed at the person who had just voiced their opinion...