FIVE

There was a very short mission briefing the next morning, one in which both Jack and Dr. Fraiser had attended. Jack needed to be there so that he was finally informed what was going on, and Janet was there to relay medical needs and information to the rest of SG1 in case the Colonel needed their help during the journey through the mountains. She wasn't happy about her sick patient traipsing around in the wilderness of a far away planet, but as long as his teammates watched over him, and gave him any medicine he may need that she would provide, Janet was a little more at ease. She also understood that this was his only option at this point.

After the briefing, Jack went down to the gate room dressed in his usual gear, minus a P-90 and sidearm, per Janet's request. He'd fought the idea, but she informed him that if his mind began playing tricks on him during the journey, it could be very dangerous for the Colonel to be carrying live weapons. What ole' Doc Fraiser didn't know, was that Jack had still kept his knife. He knew the beings of the planet weren't hostile or anything, but one could never be too careful. And besides, he didn't feel comfortable going anywhere off-world without some sort of weapon.

Luckily, Jack had been feeling much better that morning and his fever had gone down considerably. With only a low-grade fever, he felt quite fit to travel, and felt more energetic than he had the past few days when he first became ill. Granted, he was certainly not one-hundred percent, but Jack had no doubts he'd make it through the mountains okay with the rest of his team around.

Janet sidled up to Sam while the chevrons were being locked into place. She knew that the Major would definetly be looking out for Jack. "Sam, make sure the Colonel drinks plenty of water, and that you give him moments to rest, even if he doesn't say he needs it." She whispered, out of earshot of the others.

Sam smiled reassuringly, putting a calming hand on the worried doctor's shoulder. "I will, don't worry Janet."

The doctor nodded with a small smile. As she was starting to leave the gate room, Janet whirled around to face Sam again. "Oh, and make sure to check his temperature at every resting point, and use the saline in the medical pack I gave you if he needs it!"

"Got it!" Sam called back with a wave, heading up the ramp to follow her team into the shimmering blue wormhole.

-

Teal'c threw out a strong arm to steady a wobbling Colonel O'Neill as they exited the gate on O'runak. He studied O'Neill's greenish look for a moment before the man waved a hand to signal he'd be alright. Knowing when to be silent, Teal'c did just that as he walked out ahead and looked around as though expecting a welcome greeting from Arcana like they'd gotten before. He rose a brow and turned to the side. "Will Arcana not be accompanying us into the mountains, Daniel Jackson?"

Glancing over, Daniel shook his head while fiddling with his pack. "Uh, no. She mentioned something about not being able to travel up there this time of year..." He trailed off as the others looked to him with confusion written across their faces.

Sam's brows furrowed before she spoke up, standing beside the Colonel. "Is it dangerous to be going into the mountains or something?"

"No, no," Daniel shook his head once again, waving his hands as he tried to explain. "It has to do with their people. Though their physiology seems similar to ours, they can't withstand the mountainous climate this time of year."

"What sort of climate will we be dealing with Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c questioned, hands clasped about his staff weapon held in front of him.

"Nothing dangerous to us," the archaeologist assured the team. "The air will be a little thinner I assume, and it will probably be several degrees cooler, but nothing we can't handle." Daniel glanced over at Jack, who was standing by Sam with his eyes closed. He looked as though he were waiting for nausea to pass. "Uh...Jack?"

Blinking, Jack looked up, an undreadable expression on his face. "So, you know what plant we're looking for then?"

"Yes," Daniel assured him with a nod. "Arcana said it was a bright orange flower. She also told me they could be found nearer to the top of the mountains, and weren't too hard to find, being the only blooming plant that grows up there."

"Alright then," Jack cleared his throat and began walking toward an upward sloping path that appeared to lead where they needed to go. "Let's go hiking kids."

Sam caught up with the Colonel easily enough, remaining at his side. Daniel headed out in front of them, knowing exactly what to look for, while Teal'c took up the rear, carrying his staff weapon as a precaution.

SG1 had to walk nearly two miles before reaching the base of the mountains, and by then Sam had noticed that Jack slowed down a bit since they first left. She eyed him with concern, not saying anything directly to him about it, knowing he'd be upset if they had to stop on his account. "Why don't we stop here and check over our supplies," she suggested in a subtle way so they could let the Colonel rest.

Daniel didn't seem to catch on so quickly, as his eyes were fixated on the slightly-worn and rocky path that seemed to wind between the mountains all the way up to the tops. "I think we're all set Sam, I re-checked everything before we-" He was cut off as Sam nudged him before gesturing toward the Colonel. Daniel's eyebrows rose and he nodded in acknowledgement. "Oh, uh, yeh...we'd better make sure we have...everything.." He trailed off, thankful that Jack seemed too distracted at the moment to notice his blundering.

Teal'c watched the exchange with a stoic expression before slowly arching one eyebrow and glancing over at Colonel O'Neill. He now understood the need to 'check their equipment'. In other words, Major Carter had meant that O'Neill required rest but he wasn't about to admit it was so.

Sitting heavily on the ground and leaning his back against a boulder, Jack got out his canteen and took a few gulps of water. He knew he was more out of breath than he should have been, but was also aware of how sick he still was. Swiping an arm across his mouth, Jack put his canteen away, then rose a suspicious eyebrow as Sam headed toward him with something familiar in one hand. "Carter?" He questioned steadily.

She smiled, seemingly apologetic. "Sorry Sir, Janet instructed me to record your temperature at every stop." Kneeling next to the Colonel, Sam drew a small notepad and pen from her vest pocket before taking the digital thermometer and waving it in front of Jack as warning before he tilted his head slightly and she stuck it in his ear.

Jack kept still, preferring the ear thermometer to the one that got stuck in his mouth because it seemed quicker, and didn't prevent him from complaining if he felt like it. He smirked faintly at the thought, then heard the beep of the small machine as Sam removed it from his ear. Jack almost wondered why she didn't use the little sticker things that you stuck on a person's forehead to take their temperature, but then remembered that Janet told Major Carter she wanted a more precise reading.

Sam scribbled in the little notepad, recording Jack's temperature at 100.5 degrees. After checking her watch and adding in the time of day on the paper, she stuffed it back into her vest pocket along with the pen, then smiled warmly at the Colonel and got to her feet. She was about to ask Jack if he needed anything when he suddenly got to his feet with a determined look across his face.

"Let's get a move on so we can make it up there before dark," He announced adamantly, glancing toward Daniel and Teal'c with a firm nod before marching off down the path. Jack knew he was getting sicker, he could feel it. And if what Arcana told Daniel about the poison was true, he didn't want his friends and teammates to see him when he started going nutso. Even worse, he was worried about possibly harming them.

Sam appeared concerned as a look of emotional distress flashed across the Colonel's stone-etched face. She already knew what his worries were, like they had some deep connection. She hurried after Jack, making sure she was close at his side. Glancing back, Sam saw Daniel jogging to catch up and return to his position at the front, while Teal'c remained behind, watching their backs.

"Daniel Jackson, is there any need to be wary of the Trao'chi that protect the people of O'runak from the Goa'uld?" Teal'c spoke up, glancing between the trees suspiciously as they trudged along the upward travelling path.

"Uh, no," Daniel shook his head, fairly confident. "Arcana said she knew we weren't Goa'uld because the Trao'chi would have sensed it and warned them. They would have probably already attacked us as well," He added with a faint grimace.

"Have you seen these creatures?" Teal'c continued, still concerned that these Trao'chi could possibly pose a threat.

"Well..." Daniel's eyes rose upward in thought as he walked, then he shook his head, glancing behind himself, passed Jack and Sam, to the Jaffa warrior. "No, I uh... No, I haven't." He paused. "Come to think of it, Arcana never described them to me either." Shrugging, the archaeologist/linguist/etc continued walking without speaking further.

-

Sam's focus shifted to her side as she noticed Jack's breathing becoming heavier. He was also stumbling a little more as the terrain along the trail got rougher. She winced at his struggle as he lost his footing in hiking upward and tripped, landing hard on his knees with a muffled curse. "Sir!" Quickly, she knelt down and gripped his arm.

Teal'c stopped behind them and moved along O'Neill's other side.

"I'm fine," Jack grunted, forcing himself back on his feet with a grimace as both Sam and Teal'c assisted him. He coughed with a wince, a feeling of nausea washing over him. "Ugh," he groaned, becoming still. "No, wait... I'm - I'm gonna hurl."

Sam and Teal'c shifted quickly, bringing Jack toward some bushes and letting him rest carefully on his hands and knees. While he emptied the contents of his stomach, Sam gently rubbed his back, grimacing at her CO's obvious discomfort. She rose her head to see that Daniel had turned back.

Wiping at his mouth with a forearm, Jack spat on the ground before straightening and struggling to his feet. Once again Sam and Teal'c were at either side of him, offering support.

Glancing over to Daniel, Sam unclipped her pack from her vest and knelt down to dig through it. "Colonel, I'm going to give you some of the medicine Janet equipped me with. It should help with your stomach."

Jack grimaced and began striding away from the bushes, back toward the path. He removed his cap for a moment, then scrubbed at his hair with one hand and took in a slow, steady breath before taking a slug from his canteen to rinse the foul taste from his mouth.

Taking out a small bottle of pills, Sam tipped a couple into her palm before tucking the container away. She smiled thankfully at Daniel while he helped re-clip her pack to the back of her vest, then hurried over to where Jack was standing on the path, staring upwards along the trail as it continued to climb higher. "Here you go, Sir."

Sighing softly, Jack took the pills from Sam and tilted his head back while tossing them into his mouth. He sipped a bit of water from his canteen to get them down, then grunted and continued along the path.

"Jack," Daniel started, calling out to him. He stopped as he looked to find Sam shaking her head.

"Let him go Daniel," she said softly with a hint of sadness in her tone.

"He needs to rest," the archaeologist insisted, glancing over where Jack continued walking. He was silently thankful when he noticed Teal'c close behind the Colonel.

Sam sighed, letting Teal'c and Jack get ahead. "He knows that Daniel. But if we don't get him that plant soon he also knows he's going to lose his mind,"

Running a hand through his short hair, Daniel's cheeks puffed out before he released a heavy sigh and nodded. "Alright," He gave another sigh of resignation. "Let's keep moving,"

Jack's knees continuously bugged him throughout the upward hike, but he made no mention of it in refusal to start complaining. He could feel himself losing it, slowly going insane. It was almost like the time those weird organisms meant to kill the Goa'uld got into himself, Daniel, Sam, and Doc Fraiser. That time he'd managed not to do anything really embarassing or harmful to anyone else, but this felt a little different. It felt...worse, somehow. Jack couldn't describe it if he wanted to, but he knew for sure this was going to get bad if they didn't find that flower soon.

-

The bright orange sun on O'runak was beginning to set after they'd been on the planet for around six hours or so. The hike up to the mountains had taken longer than the team anticipated, not having expected it to be so far away. It didn't look quite so far from the gate, but there was very dense forest they had to pass through.

Teal'c signalled ahead for Daniel to stop when he noticed Colonel O'Neill slowing down again, his unsteady gait having become a slight limp. The Jaffa set down his staff weapon and took a seat on a fallen tree.

Sam set about taking Jack's temperature when she'd convinced him to sit down, and he reluctantly did so on the same fallen tree beside Teal'c.

Daniel was staring up toward the winding trail in thought before he headed back to the others. "Uh, guys, I think we'd better bed down for the night and continue on in the morning. It's gonna take longer to reach the mountain tops than we - or uh, I - originally thought." He grimaced faintly upon expecting the wrath from Jack.

"Daniel-" The Colonel ground out, but was halted by a firm hand on his shoulder.

"He's right Sir," Sam interjected, taking the thermometer out of his ear. "We're losing daylight, so we might as well make camp while we can."

He gave a reluctant sigh, glancing to his side at Teal'c. "T, you wanna do a quick look around the nearby area for a spot to camp out for the night then?"

The large Jaffa gave a slight nod before standing. "Indeed, I will O'Neill." He got up without argument and began striding through the bushes.

Sam was frowning when Jack looked over at her. His brows furrowed as he realized she was staring at the reading from the thermometer and scribbling something down in that little notepad from her vest pocket. "What?" He questioned as softly as he could muster with a raised brow.

"Your fever's gone up Sir," she told him quietly, trying to hide the slight waver in her voice. Sam was getting increasingly worried about her favorite Colonel.

Jack shrugged indifferently, tossing his 2IC a tired look. "So?"

She sighed with slight exasperation. "I last recorded your temp at 100.5 degrees, and it's now 101.4," Sam pulled off the Colonel's hat and rested the back of her hand against his forehead for a moment. "How are you feeling Sir?"

He cleared his throat with a mild grunt. "A little warm," Jack admitted quietly, not looking Sam in the eyes. The planet's temperature was rather mild, but as they started up the mountains it had gotten considerably cooler, and there was no reason for him to be as warm as he was. He frowned, then ran a hand through his already mussed-up hair.

Sam had opened her mouth to say something when Teal'c returned with an almost-pleased look on his face. With Teal'c it was always hard to tell. "Hey, Teal'c. Find anything?"

"I did indeed Major Carter," He gave a slight nod. "There is a small area protected by a slope of boulders in which we shall make camp. I also discovered a nearby stream in which we can refresh our water supply."

"Nice work Teal'c," Jack sent him a brief grin, then wearily got to his feet. "We'd better gather some kindling to start a fire."

"I have already done so O'Neill," Teal'c told him with the barest hint of an accomplished smile. "I managed to get the fire started by using a blast from my staff weapon,"

"Sweet," Jack blinked, looking around for Daniel until he spotted the archaeologist crouched down and picking at some rocks. "Yo, Danny-boy, we're headin' to camp. You comin'?"

"Huh?" Daniel's head shot up and he blinked. "Oh, uh, right. Yeh, I'm coming." He stood and dusted off his pants before following after Teal'c while he led them to the spot he'd found.

-