(Translations of Gaelic words at the end of each chapter.)

italics indicates a vision

Colonel Cameron Mitchell stood patiently waiting at the bottom of the gate ramp. If occasionally he happened to glance down at his watch, it wasn't because he was becoming increasingly annoyed at Jackson's tardiness. No. It was because it was a new watch and he was simply admiring it.

Mitchell looked to his right and saw Teal'c, majestic, cool, and stoic, looking forward to the gate. Mitchell, after several months of working with Teal'c, had begun to recognize the minute changes in his facial expression. Now, his lips turned up at the corners a fraction of an inch and the miniscule lifting of his right eyebrow denoted amusement. Teal'c managed to turn his glance to Mitchell without moving his head. His lips twitched. Mitchell decided that Teal'c was fighting an inner battle with hysteria.

Mitchell sighed and shifted his weight from leg to leg, then looked pointedly at his watch one more time. He had a date scheduled for later that night and he did not want to miss it because the "professor" got lost in some voluminous tome. Just as he opened his mouth to ask Lt. Colonel Carter where Jackson was, the belated doctor appeared. "Jackson, where the hell have you been? You're three minutes late!" Mitchell wasn't looking forward to this mission, but the sooner they got there, the sooner they'd be able to come home.

Daniel looked up, wide-eyed, eyebrows raised, and blinked several times at Mitchell. "I, um, I was just… I'm late?" Daniel looked back down at his watch, and then tapped it several times. "My watch says I'm right on time."

Mitchell turned on his heels to face the gate and threw up his hands in defeat. "Millions of dollars spent daily on this project and his watch is off!"

"Okay, let's go talk to the Sodan so Teal'c and Daniel can work out a treaty with these people." Carter and Teal'c led the way through the gate, while Mitchell waited for Jackson. Daniel was still checking his pockets when Mitchell said, "Jackson, let's go. We'll be late for the hors d'oeurvres – and you know that's the best part."

Mitchell stepped through the event horizon with Daniel immediately behind him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Daniel stepped out on the other side - alone. No Mitchell, Carter or Teal'c waited for him. He stood, blinking, for a few seconds before the gate shut down. He turned around quickly at the sound, his P-90 up and ready for use. Nothing.

Daniel turned around in a slow 360° circle, scouting for trouble or his teammates. Nothing. Again. Cautiously, he stepped down the hand-hewn stone steps and made his way to the DHD. "Oh, god." The face of the DHD was smashed.

There was no way he could repair it. If Sam was here…but she wasn't. He walked back to the steps and sat, thinking through what had just happened. He was only one or two seconds behind Mitchell. There must have been another power surge like the one that sent Sam and Jack to the second gate in Antarctica or a solar flare like one that sent the team back to 1969.

"Okay, Jackson, think." Daniel pulled his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had several choices. He could remain near the gate, hoping that someone at the SGC would figure out where he was. He could venture out and look for evidence of human inhabitation. He could run around in a circle waving his P-90 over his head and scream like a banshee, hoping that would magically open the gate to home.

While the last might be emotionally satisfying, he doubted it would be much help. Number three out.

He could camp out near the gate. That was probably a good idea. There was no way he could get himself off the planet, so he had to depend upon Sam and the other SGC scientists to find him. They'd never find him if he wandered off too far from the gate. He had almost no food – they had only planned on being gone for the day. He had no tent, sleeping bag, blanket – other than the silver one in his emergency kit - or anything else to keep himself warm and dry. Judging by the plant life around, he knew that there was a fair amount of precipitation. He'd need to build a shelter. He'd need to find food and water.

He could also leave a trail for SGC rescuers to follow and look for humans. That could be dangerous. He had no idea if there were any humans here. There could still be a goa'uld around, along with the requisite Jaffa army. If he found a village or town, the people could be very hostile.

Okay, I'm staying here. For now. Daniel began to look around the area, searching for materials useful to his survival. Trees, not tall pines, but oak, elm, ash, and one other he couldn't identify. He decided that it looked a bit like Ireland or some parts of England, except that the forest was denser. That probably means fewer people, if any, to destroy the native flora.

He sat very still, listening for signs of animals. He heard a few birds at a distance. An occasional rustling in the bushes – that should mean small animals he could catch and eat.

Glancing up at the sky, he realized that the sun seemed to be at its apex – noon. He lifted his left wrist and set the small dial at 1200 hours and left the larger dial on Earth time. That way he'd have some way to compare the two. Depending upon how long the days were around here, he should have several hours at least to build a shelter. Looking down at the ground, he saw dry dirt. Grateful that it didn't seem to be the rainy season here, he began gathering branches to make a lean-to.

SCG

"What are you doing back here and where is Jackson? Mitchell, have you lost your archeologist already?" Landry hadn't even left the gate room since SG1 had departed several minutes earlier, and now they were back.

"Well, sir, we exited the gate, waited a few minutes and when Dr. Jackson didn't follow us through, we came back to see what was keeping him." Mitchell scanned the room for the errant linguist, fist clenching and unclenching on his P-90.

"He was right on your heels. He followed you through the event horizon." Landry drew his eyebrows together in confusion.

"Sir, he never came through." Sam's voice was soft and wavered slightly.

Landry looked up to the control room where Walter sat, but before the general could utter a command, the chief pulled the microphone up to his mouth and said, "Sir, I've pulled up the video of the gate room when SG1 left. Dr. Jackson went through the event horizon immediately behind Colonel Mitchell."

Landry looked over at Mitchell. "See? I told you. Psychic powers."

Teal'c intervened at this point, "General Landry, should we not be searching for DanielJackson at this point in time?"

"Yes. Lt. Colonel Carter, you need run whatever tests you do to see if there's a problem with the gate." Landry turned toward the control room again, "Chief…"

"Already on it, sir. I'll have all off-world teams report to the alpha site until we confirm that the gate is fully functional."

"How does he do that!" Landry shook his head and headed up the stairs toward the control room.

Carter, Mitchell and Teal'c followed, prepared to battle the mixture of Earth and alien technology to discover the fate of their teammate.

Off world

Satisfied that he had constructed a shelter that would keep the worst of the elements off him, Daniel dropped down to rest. He leaned back against his pack and closed his eyes, just listening for a few minutes. As his breath slowed, he began hearing the sounds of this alien world. Birds called to one another in the branches of the trees. Flying insects buzzed around his head, but not too many. He heard on occasional rustling in the bushes – possibly dinner.

XXXXXXXXXX

She'd been watching him from her perch in a large oak tree ever since he had come through the cloch ciorcal. He seemed harmless, but he'd held that black object as though it were a weapon, so she'd kept an arrow nocked as a precaution. She'd never seen a man like him before, with his strange black garb and those glass circles on his face.

He was resting now; sitting, with his eyes closed, knees pulled up almost to his chest, hands fisted against his temple.

He waited in a tent and the woman was pushed through. He tried to push her back out. – The same woman leaned against him, laboring to bring forth a child. – He lay on the ground, injured, his hand gently caressing the face of the dying woman.

She came out of the vision with a jolt that almost threw her off of her perch. She quickly turned her eyes back to the man. He had opened his eyes, raised the black object and was scanning the trees where she sat. Fearing detection, she froze, knowing that her brown and drab green clothing would blend in with the foliage. Damnú air! He'd seen her! She brought up her bow and released the arrow.

Cloch ciorcal stone circle

Damnú air! Shit!

A/N: This was unbeta'd so if there are mistakes, let me know and I'll correct them.