Here at last is the next chapter for you to read. I really do apologise for keeping you all waiting so long…my muse decided, after starting this story, to take a walk, which left me chewing my knuckles in frustration. Anyway, I think I'm back now and hopefully okay once more.
I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews, and I am glad you are enjoying this so much already. Thank you for your patience... Now onto the next chapter...
Censure.
By LetitiaRichards
Previously:-
Sam pushed back her chair and hurried after him, Teal'c brought up the rear, though at a more sedate pace.
Chapter 4
General Hammond looked up from his desk at the intrusion.
Sam knocked on the open door and stepped straight into the office, followed by Daniel and then Teal'c.
"Major Carter, Dr. Jackson, Teal'c, is there something I can do for you?" he asked, wondering why they were all here, though he had a pretty good idea just what they wanted. He also knew they were deeply worried about Jack.
"General we need to go back to PZ4 295!" Daniel demanded.
Hammond sighed heavily. He'd been through this before with the young man. With deliberate movements, he laid his pen on the desk blotter and sat resting his arms over his work, his fingers laced together.
"Request denied son."
"Sir, Daniel needs to retrieve some artefacts that might lead us to better understand what happened to the Colonel," she pleaded. "There were some discs that looked a little like CD's and some sort of player in the library. If we could just go back and get them, then he can study them here General. There's no need for us to go anywhere near the building where we found Colonel O'Neill."
"But Dr. Fraiser hasn't confirmed that the Colonel's problem has anything to do with what happened on that planet Major, and until I hear otherwise I stand by my earlier decision people. Request denied."
"General, just because Dr. Fraiser hasn't actually confirmed what is wrong with Jack, it doesn't mean that we have to sit around and do nothing. If, and I stress, IF, Janet finally discovers that it has everything to do with whatever happened to Jack on 295, then we will perhaps already be nearer to solving the problem. If we don't act now, maybe by the time she finds the cause, it could well be too late to do anything about it. We could be condemning Jack to death without knowing it. We have to try something General."
Hammond chewed his words over in his mind.
"Do you really think you might find an answer on these...discs Dr. Jackson?"
"No sir, I can't be certain, but it's worth a try!" Daniel begged, "I need to try this General. We need to investigate this further, for Jack's sake."
Hammond couldn't fault them on their eagerness to try and help the Colonel.
"Alright. SG-1 you have a go; be ready to leave in 30."
"Yes sir!" Sam snapped off a smart reply.
"Thank you sir," Daniel beamed.
General Hammond could only sit back in his chair and smile at the way they rushed from the room in their eagerness to get ready. Jack was certainly a lucky man to have such a loyal team.
OoOoOoOoO
"Jack?"
"It's okay. C'mon in kids, I was awake anyway," Jack replied with a sigh, his voice lacking the usual animated inflections of sarcasm, which was a worry in itself. He'd not long woken from a disturbing dream. It wasn't a nightmare, but it bothered him all the same; it was bad enough to wake him. He pushed himself to sit up and greet his team.
"How are you feeling sir?"
Jack shrugged, but his whole being reflected his misery.
"Okay I guess, though I would feel better if I knew what the hell was wrong with me." It wasn't spoken in bitterness, more like frustration. He felt useless; he couldn't pin-point how he felt exactly and that wasn't helping Doc. Fraiser in her diagnosis. His symptoms were so vague, they could mean a thousand different things that were wrong. All the time he lay there, half asleep, he felt fine, but as soon as he moved around, he couldn't stop the headache from spiking, nor the dizzy spells that were crippling him. He'd had to endure no end of tests from Doc. Fraiser, and he was still waiting to hear the results. "But then, maybe I wouldn't. Hell, I don't know!" he sighed and lay back down in exhaustion, worn out by just plain thinking. It was then Jack noticed that they were dressed to go off-world. He propped himself back up out of curiosity.
"Going somewhere Kids?"
"Ah, yeah... We're heading back to 295. I need to retrieve those discs, they might give us a clearer understanding of what happened back there."
"I doubt you'll find anything Daniel. I don't recall anything happening. I walked into the room, looked around, and next thing I know I'm waking up on Teal'c's shoulder. End of story! I didn't get shot at! I wasn't zatted by a hidden Jaffa or Goa'uld nor was I injured by a native. And I certainly didn't touch anything! Whatever's going on inside my head has nothing to do with that planet Daniel!" His voice had risen with his frustration and anger and now his head was hurting fit to burst. He grabbed it between his hands and scrunched up his eyes in pain.
Daniel reached for him and Sam yelled for Janet, just as Jack passed out again. Between him and Teal'c, they managed to lie him back against his pillows even as Janet came hurrying into the room.
"What happened?" she demanded, taking his vitals.
"I don't know. He was yelling at Daniel when he grabbed his head and passed out again. "Janet...?"
"Sam...I don't know what's going on right now. I've run all the tests I can think of, but I'm still waiting for some of the results, okay!" Janet fired back in frustration. She was feeling the pressure as everyone, from SG-1, as well as several other team members and right on up the ladder to the General. They all wanted to know what was happening to the Colonel. She didn't have any answers and it was worrying her. Right now, she was having to deal with his 'episodes' whatever they were, and couldn't spare a lot of energy or time for niceties while she was trying to do her job.
Daniel could see the enormous tension Janet was working under, and pulled Sam away. They were all desperately worried about Jack, but they had to give Janet time.
"We're going back to the planet to see if we can find anything that might help him," he informed the petite medic.
She stopped her ministrations and looked aghast.
"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" she asked, shocked that the General had permitted them to return after adamantly refusing them before. "We still don't know what happened to Colonel O'Neill."
"No we don't, but then, it might just hold the answer we've been looking for. We have to give it a try Janet. Look at him...he can't carry on like that...there has to be a limit on how much his brain can cope with before any damage occurs or it becomes irreversible. We have to check out every possibility."
Janet cast her eyes towards her patient then turned back to the others, and nodded.
"Good luck," she sighed with a small smile, knowing they would do everything within their power to find a solution. "Just...go careful. I don't need any more of you joining the Colonel in my infirmary!"
"We will Janet. Promise," Sam assured her with a final look at the limp figure of her CO lying unconscious on the bed.
Janet turned her attention back to the Colonel, re-checking his vitals, but she felt powerless to offer any assistance to him. The outlook of all this surely wasn't in his best interests.
OoOoOoOoO
As soon as the gate spit them out, Daniel was off as fast as he could run, while the others followed more slowly, checking out the area for any hostiles; not that they expected to encounter anyone.
Daniel entered the Library and headed straight for the machine. He tried lifting it, but knew then, that he would have to rely on Teal'c to carry it back to the SGC; it was heavier than he'd thought. He dropped his backpack and began packing the discs into it, as many as he could carry.
Sam removed her pack too and stuffed as many as she could into hers. It made her bag heavy, but it was nothing compared to a ten mile training exercise with a full pack on her back.
Daniel also grabbed some of the books that were lying around, carefully picking one titled, 'A Brief History of Our Fair City', and another one of what looked like plans of some of the buildings and which had pictures of what the city had looked like when it was thriving. He was eager to see if there was anything in there about the building across the street. The one where they had found Jack sprawled out in the dirt.
Tucking them safely under his arm, he took another look round. There were so many interesting looking artefacts there, that he was torn in two, just itching to take them along too, but he had his hands full now. Maybe he could persuade General Hammond to allow him to return later, he thought, especially if they hadn't discovered what had happened to Jack by the time they had read through all the other information on the discs.
They headed back to the Stargate, loaded down with their burdens, though nobody complained; they all knew that it could be Jack's only hope to survive whatever was wrong. Jack had been fine up 'til then, so Daniel and Sam were pretty sure by now that it had something to do with this place.
Sam dialled up the SGC and waited until the wormhole stabilized before she sent the Iris code. After the all clear, they stepped through with a little ray of hope that they would find what they needed. And having done so, that it would also tell them how to reverse the damage.
TBC