A/N: I'm in the middle of my many, many hours of shift work this week… usually I'd just come home and collapse on the couch, but I've been so wanting to write this (and the next) chapter that I've been spending the time working hard for you guys (well ok… mostly for me… but you guys all profit!)
I'd like to congratulate Prim'ta, who had the most AWESOME guess as to Sam and Jack's whereabouts. Consider my truly astounded! I enjoyedBookWorm and Bekki'ssuggestion that, in a fit of irony, I'd sent them to Jack's cabin in Minnesota… that hadn't even occurred to me – I laughed out loud when I read it anyway!
Ok here's the next bit, warning (promise?) for some mushiness (though not too much) at some point.
Chapter XXIV – Pleasant summer breeze
Once the whooshing sound of the cyclonic red dust abated, Sam and Jack found themselves once again surrounded by darkness, only broken by the ever-present glow of blue. The fact that they were still in a space marked by an iridescent blue made them think that they were still under Uluru somewhere. Slowly, they both relaxed in their posture to take in the new surroundings. At the same time, however, they realised that they couldn't possibly be in central Australia. A constant, soothing sound pricked both of their ears and they felt a slight breeze emanating from behind them. Turning slowly, they were astounded by the vision greeting them. The cave they were in had an entrance to the outside world. And out of the dark space they saw miles and miles of ocean, stretching to the horizon, where the pinkish hue of the atmosphere and the bright white tips on the clouds told them that dawn was approaching.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Jack murmured in wonder as he walked towards the cave entrance. The ocean was lapping easily against the rocks and a flock of seagulls were floating contentedly just past the small wave-break.
Sam couldn't believe what she was seeing. Forgetting about the naquada for a moment, she moved towards the light, light she hadn't seen for what seemed like an eternity, having been stuck in the cavern under Uluru for so long. When she reached the natural opening to the cave, however, she was stopped by an invisible barrier. It didn't cause her any pain, but appeared nonetheless to be impenetrable. Testing it with her hand, she looked to Jack, confused and disappointed.
"I guess it was too good to be true to think that we wouldn't be trapped…" Jack had been moving forward to test the forcefield himself and let his voice trail away when, unlike Sam, he encountered no resistance whatsoever – his hand and arm passed straight through the invisible barrier to the outside.
Grabbing Sam's hand, he tried walking through the barrier, and thankfully found that she could follow, as long as they were connected in some physical way. As they stood in the pre-dawn light, both soldiers breathed in deeply, drinking in the fresh sea-air. It was cool, but not unpleasantly so. Jack crouched down to touch the water and found to his surprise that it was almost warmer than the air temperature. He trailed his fingers through the silky clean water, letting the sensation take over his senses, until a gasp brought him back to attention.
"Where's the cave?" Sam whispered, although she didn't know why she wasn't speaking any louder – the calm and serenity of wherever they were didn't seem to allow it. Looking back towards where they had come, all they could see was the jagged cliff face of what appeared to be either a headland or an island. It wasn't too tall, probably no more than 20 feet, but there seemed no easy way to climb.
"I think it's still there." Jack was moving forward towards the seemingly unwavering harshness of the blackened rocks. He couldn't explain it, but there was a section straight in front of him that just didn't feel real. Grasping Sam's hand again with his he moved forward, in direct contradiction to what his conscious mind was telling him, and moved straight through the rockface.
"Ok… so this is weird." He looked at Sam incredulously. "Any insights Carter?" He waited patiently while Sam, disengaging herself from his grasp, moved slowly forward to explore inside the cave.
"Well, this has got to be the actual naquada store." She reasoned, moving further into the cave. She had been looing all around her at the walls, which didn't seem to offer any clues, and only glowed with the same disparate and random bluishness that had so marked the tunnel system under Uluru.
When she looked down to the ground, however, she almost shrieked with fear as she realised that it didn't look like she was standing on anything. The blue light of the walls continued down underneath them – and she could see, rising up from the floor that was barely visible, hundreds of feet down, the naquada they had so been hoping to find.
Jack lurched forward as he saw Sam teeter, as if she would fall. He caught her just as she succumbed to the vertigo of apparently standing on nothing and quickly moved them both back towards more solid ground. He didn't let go of her, his arms wrapped comfortably now around her torso, as they both peered over the 'edge' to the rich source of naquada down below.
"Yep… that's a hell of a lot of naquada." Jack deadpanned. He broke into a grin and looked down at Sam. "Woo hoo!" he said ironically, à la Homer. "Mission accomplished!"
Sam couldn't do anything but nod, her mind racing with the possibilities now that they had what seemed to be an enormous stockpile of arguably the most valuable element in the galaxy. One thought kept coming back to her though – well two actually: where exactly were they, and how were they going to get the naquada out of the cave?
Doug raced back through the tunnel network, his breathing in heaving gasps as he fought against the constant upwards incline of the seemingly never ending path to the main cavern. He burst through the opening just as Teal'c and Bruce were walking sedately through another entrance. Everyone, including Jonas and Stacey, froze as they saw the state Doug was in.
"Colonel O'Neill…" he gasped, "Major Carter… gone… transport… naquada…" Those were the only words he managed to get out of his mouth before having to stop and catch his breath. He stood on the spot, bending over and resting his hands on his knees, trying to get rid of the nausea that had accompanied his uncharacteristic athleticism.
"Of what are you speaking, Douglas Goonagulla?" Teal'c's voice, although still apparently calm, was somehow more urgent in its timbre.
Before Doug could properly regain his strength, he was bombarded with similar questions from everyone else in the room: "How could-?" "Where have they-?" "What hap-?". He had to put his hand up to fend off the onslaught.
"Hold your horses…" he rasped, "One at a time… in a sec…" Deliberately slowing his breathing, he finally managed to stand up, the sharp pain under his ribcage now subsiding. He looked up to see four extremely tense people looking at him, and began again, calmer this time.
"We should figure out where the hell we are." Jack said distractedly, forcing his eyes away from the vast cave that extended below them. He released his pleasant hold of Sam, but laced his fingers with hers as they walked back through the invisible barrier to the outside of the cave. The sky was lighter, but the sun had not yet risen.
"Maybe we don't need to," Sam raised an eyebrow at Jack. "Why don't we just try to transport back to Uluru?"
Jack was astonished he hadn't come up with the simple idea himself. "Oh well, yeah, sure." He said hastily. "But d'you honestly think that's going to work? It's not like anything else in the past couple of days has beenu simple…"
"Tell me about it…" Sam said under her breath, so that Jack wouldn't hear, as they both moved back through the seemingly solid cliff into the cave.
Together, they moved back to the point where they had suddenly appeared, and waited in anticipation for something to happen.
"Well… this is awkward…" Jack said drolly as they stood there, hand in hand.
"Sir, you need to concentrate." Sam tsked. "Try imaginingthat you're already back at Uluru." Something inside her told her it wasn't going to work, however. Otherwise it would have done so by then. She watched anxiously as Jack closed his eyes in apparent concentration, but nothing happen. There was no rushing sound or spiralling of dust – the only disturbance in the air was from the pleasant breeze pushing through from outside.
"Plan B?" Jack said finally, cocking an eyebrow at her. "We all know that plan A never works…" Sam nodded in assent and they moved out onto the rocks, the waves lapping at their feet.
Sam pulled her radio out of her vest, not at all confident that it be able to communicate with the others – if they were on the coast, and it seemed they were on the East coast – of Australia, then a radio probably wouldn't carry the couple of 1000 miles inland to Uluru.
"This is Major Carter of the US Air Force," she spoke mechanically, "Can anyone read?" Not at all to her surprise, only static greeted this attempt. Rather than give it up, however, Sam carefully placed the radio back in her vest pocket, this time insulating in against any water that could get in it. She would try again later.
"Come to think of it, it's usually somewhere around plan Z that we get results…" Jack mused. "Maybe if we go around a bit… try to see at least if it's an island?" He suggested. Sam nodded into agreement and, taking the lead, headed around the rocks to the north.
They clambered over the rocks carefully, trying not to fall into the water. The rocks were wet from the recently risen tide, the slick guano covering them made the expedition all the more dangerous. Surprisingly quickly, only five minutes into their tentative exploration, a welcome but simultaneously perplexing sight greeted them. Only a couple of hundred metres away, towards the north-west, the ocean found a shore-line on a beach that had to be at least a mile-long. From their distance, the sand seemed to form a uniform, untouched, smooth surface – apparently undiscovered by civilisation. There was a dense scrub that formed the backdrop for the beach, again, showing no sign of human ruination.
"So this is what people mean when they say 'careful what you wish for'…" Jack murmured in awe. He smiled mischievously at Sam: "In pretty much any other situation I'd be thanking some cosmic power… especially considering the present company…" he cocked an eyebrow at her. "You know what? I might thank them anyway…" He pretended to be praying to some unseen power in the sky when a delicate cough interrupted his ham-acting.
"When you're ready, sir," Sam emphasised his title, trying to focus his attention. "I think we should keep going – see if we can spot any signs of civilisation."
"What, you don't think we're on Earth?" Jack looked down from the sky abruptly, taken aback by the implication of Sam's words.
"Oh we're on Earth," Sam said quickly. "I sincerely doubt the Ancient transport would take us to another planet… but the world's a big place – even if we're still Down Under, there's a lot of Australia."
"Well, I guess we'd better keep moving then." Jack visibly shrank down a little as he realised they couldn't immediately head for the beach. "If we don't find any signs of civilisation, then can we go to the beach?"
Sam just laughed as she looked back at him, moving forward in their careful exploration. As they rounded the side of what she was now sure was an island, Sam came to a halt again. The beach came to an end at the mouth of a river, the still water offering an eerie contrast to the gentle motion of the beach and the ocean, and the turbulent waters where the two bodies of water met. The mouth of the river was bordered on the one side by the beach, but what interested Sam was the headland that bordered the other bank. There was no vegetation on the headland, it looked like it had been cleared – mown even. This was a sign of civilisation.
"Ah. Civilisation, I take it?" Jack sighed as came to a halt just behind Sam, standing at her shoulder.
"Yes sir." Sam said. "Wherever we are, we're somewhere."
General Hammond bustled out of his office and down the stairs towards the control room, hoping he could get there before Jacob left – again. Hurtling down the staircase, he launched himself across the busy area and grabbed the microphone.
"WAIT!" He bellowed into it, just as Jacob was walking up the gateramp. Having caught everyone's attention, he precipitated down to the gateroom to explain his abrupt cancellation of the stargate activation.
As the large door slid open, Jacob was waiting on the other side, the fear evident on his face. "What's happened?" He asked, his heart in his throat.
"Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter were again transported by some form of Ancient technology." General Hammond fought the unease that was all too frequently present in his chest when talking of his greatest soldiers. "We don't know where yet – but the writings near the site from where they disappeared mentioned something to do with fish – we've got Jonas and the local expert on Aboriginal languages working on it."
Jacob breathed in and out slowly, trying to remain calm, reminding himself of the countless times his daughter – his wonderful daughter – had been in peril and had pulled through with next to no ill-effects. Something about the mission she was on this time just caused him concern, however – and he didn't know what. At no point had he ever really believed her to be in danger, and this was no exception. From what was known of the Ancients, it was unlikely she and Jack would have been deliberately transported to a dangerous location. That being said, something lingered in the back of his mind – something he thought wasn't right. It was time to take some action.
"I think it's time I called in a favour and got a vessel in orbit to try and pinpoint their location." He said with determination. "I take it you've had no luck pinpointing their position using the locator beacons?"
General Hammond shook his head. "Either they haven't activated them, or they're not in the vicinity of Uluru. It will take time to scan further afield, depending on satellite positioning."
Jacob nodded knowingly. "All the more reason for me to go. I'll try to get back here within the day, Earthtime."
Doug moved swiftly back down through the tunnels towards the cave from where Jack and Sam had disappeared, Stacey, Jonas, Bruce and Teal'c following closely behind. Fodor was where he had left him, studying the wall, only 10 minutes beforehand.
"Anything?" He asked breathlessly as they all burst into the cave.
"Alas I have found nothing that is familiar to me, nor even in my language." Fodor responded serenely.
"I would advise you to try harder." Teal'c took a menacing step towards the Asgard, who shrank against the wall, despite maintaining the same facial expression.
"I assure you, I had no knowledge that indicated there was another transportation device in this space, Teal'c." Fodor blinked. "I can only apologise that yet again your friends have been taken by surprise."
Stacey stood warily at the entrance of the cave, mindful of not stepping onto the spot from where Jack and Sam had disappeared. It would get them nowhere if she found herself wherever they were – they would be no closer to discovering the actual location of the naquada, since they wouldn't be able to communicate with Uluru, and everyone in the cave-network would be trapped.
Teal'c and Bruce stood stoically towards the centre of the room while Jonas and Doug converged on the section of writings on the cave wall. Stacey watched them, listening carefully to their thoughts. Something about what Doug had said seemed familiar, but she was having trouble joining the dots in her head.
"Here it is," Doug was saying to Jonas, indicating a certain patch on the wall. "Among the birds… that part is consistent with the rest of the text. Here, however," he pointed a couple of inches further down the wall, "at 'plenty of fish' – it seems like that should be telling us something specific."
Stacey physically jolted as the strands she had been trying so hard to make sense of finally wound together to form a solid rope. "Oy, Doug!" She said crisply, gaining the attention of all those in the room. "What exactly does it say?"
Doug looked at her blankly. "What d'you mean? It says 'plenty of fish'…"
"No, I mean, what's the actual aboriginal word?" She was dying to move across the room and look for herself, but held back. "Is it Booderee? Minnamurra? What?"
"H-How did you know?" Doug looked at the young Australian officer curiously. It wasn't common that whitefellas knew anything about indigenous culture, let alone of the languages.
"Because they're both places!" Stacey thrust her arms up as if it were the most simple thing in the world. "One's a national park area in south-east New South Wales, and the other's a small coastal village about 200k's north from there! Which is it?"
Doug's face cleared in recognition. He couldn't believe he'd overlooked this – just because he didn't know of a particular place by this name, didn't mean it was non-existent. He looked back to the wall and read out what it said: "Minnamurra."
It had only taken Jack and Sam about 20 minutes to circumnavigate the small island. On the south face, it had been possible to see up on top, where it appeared most of the birdlife of the area nested – probably due to the lack of human interference (not that there seemed to be much of that on the mainland).
Jack sat calmly watching the ocean in front of him as Sam tried her radio again, to no avail. The sun was about to breach the surface of the ocean, he could sense it, and he felt himself relax as he waited for its rays to reach his slightly wizened features. The extent to which it didn't concern him – the fact that they were again essentially trapped, essentially by the fact that they were lost – was strange. But then, they'd found the naquada, Turramulli was safely contained, and Stacey would be able to get everyone out of the cavern. Sure, at some point they'd have to take some action, but for th emoment he was content.
He didn't even notice Sam sit down next to him, and was pleasantly surprised by her gentle touch on his knee. Glancing at her before returning his gaze to the ever-lighter horizon, he spoke: "I guess we have to move?" He said quietly, not wanting to disrupt the serenity of their surroundings.
"Actually, I think we should wait a little while." Sam said, mimicking his smooth tone. "The rippling of the water at the river mouth indicated that the tide was going out – if we tried to swim over to the beach now we could be swept out to sea."
Jack's ears pricked up at what she said. "We're going to the beach?" he grinned at her. "Sweet."
Sam just smiled, but felt compelled to back up the decision by logical reasoning. "The main current of the river channel seems to be between the headland and this island." She stated, trying to keep her voice even. "Even if the tide were going in, there's no telling what kind of counter-currents are in there. Our best bet is to head for the beach – if the tide's going in, we should pretty much be able to float there."
Jack just smiled at these words, breathing in and out deeply. "I like it here." He sighed contentedly.
"Yeah." Sam agreed, not really finding anything else to say. Not sure of what she should say. The setting seemed so romantic somehow, and yet she couldn't allow herself to forget about all the worries they had – the naquada, the others in Uluru, Fodor, Thor, Baal, Anubis. She shook her head. Maybe she needed to just sit, her mind empty.
"I kinda wish we could stay here." Jack added out of nowhere. "Don't get me wrong," he continued hastily, "I know we've got much bigger fish to fry… speaking of fish…" he looked over the water, imagining the awesome fishing he could probably enjoy there.
"I know what you mean." Sam said quietly, causing Jack to snap out of his dreaming.
"You see that's what I find so amazing." He exclaimed despite himself. He saw Sam look at him, puzzled, and continued. "You see what I mean…. always." He emphasised. "No-one else gets me like that." He looked at her in wonder. "No-one else." He repeated, glancing down at his hand, now placed over hers on his leg. "That's why something needs to change."
Sam felt her breath catch in her throat as Jack said those words, hesitant to infer anything from them. She kept her eyes fixed ahead, but realised that Jack was waiting for her to respond, for her to agree with him. It occurred to her how whatever it was between them was just as uncertain – and unsettling – for him as it was for her, no matter how much they both wanted it.
"I know this may be hard for you to believe, but I don't know what to do." She said quietly, noting the smile tugging at Jack's lips. She turned her hand upward and intertwined her fingers with his, looking away from the horizon to marvel at the sight of his tanned, coarse hands contrasting with her lighter skin. "I don't want to deny this any more…" she raised her head to look into his eyes, seeing the relief and hope playing over his face at the same time. She was about to continue, but something about his expression stopped her.
"That's all I needed to know." He said gingerly, before reaching his free hand up to stroke her cheek. He disengaged his hand from hers and draped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her gently to settle against his body. He felt her reach up to hold onto his hand, stroking his thumb gently with hers as they sat contentedly and watched the sun break free from the distant ocean horizon.
TBC
A/N: Man I'm so glad I got to write about Minnamurra – I'm going to have to make you all promise not to tell people about it though… it's the best kept secret in Australia (I was never good with secrets…). Knowing where they are doesn't mean they'll be able to easily get there - or to the naquada though... we'll just have to deal with all that next time!
I don't know if I've done it justice describing the island/beach/river… if anyone wants to see what it looks like (there's not a great deal on the internet about it), just review/email me (hopefully you're all going to review anyway!) and I can send you a picture taken from an aeroplane that shows everything beautifully.
In my mind this all wraps up in one more chapter – but then I'm almost ALWAYS wrong when it comes to these kinds of estimates… you'll just have to wait to find out! Please review… I ventured into the world of Sam/Jack feeling and expressing again and would like your feedback!
Oh, and I know the whole 'sunrise' thing is a bit over the top… but it was intentional – I'm a big harry potter fan and my favourite passage is towards the end of the 'order of the phoenix' where harry is in dumbledore's office, and the night is once again becoming day. It's just such a beautiful piece of writing (I've only read it in French, but I'm sure it's the same in English)… I wanted to try and bring about the same sense of a new beginning (although not such a sad one). Did I manage it? Too over the top? Please tell me!