Daniel tracked down the local healer, after he'd persuaded Ashling to wait elsewhere – not an easy job - while she was in the kitchen supervising the making of King Raurí's meal. He watched as the cook ladled a serving of broth into a wooden bowl. One of Iollan's soldiers came over and tasted it, nodding his approval to the healer. She placed the bowl on a tray along with a piece of stale bread that would be soaked in the soup and fed to the sick ruler. As she turned to leave the kitchen, another of Iollan's men dropped something into the bowl, careful to not let the healer see him – but Daniel did.

Daniel followed her up the stairs and caught her just before she entered the King's room.

"Um, excuse me. I'd like to talk to you before you go back to the King."

The healer nodded and set the tray on a small table next to the door.

"I come from a place where our medicine is, um, different." Daniel tried to choose his words carefully. He didn't want her to think he was accusing her of being neglectful.

"I noticed that some of the king's symptoms are the same of those shown by organophosphate poisoning. Where I live people use that as a pesticide, um, something to kill weeds in the crops, but if people ingest it, it can make them very sick and even kill them." Daniel tried to shove his hands in his pockets. Am I ever going to remember that there are no pockets on this planet? "Look, I'm not accusing you of anything, but I saw one of Iollan's men drop something into the soup when you turned your back in the kitchen."

The healer, Meara by name, blanched as her hands rose to cover her mouth. She closed her eyes while she tried to gather her spinning thoughts together.

"I knew this was not a natural illness, but I could not find a cause. Are you a healer where you come from?"

Dr. Lam's face flashed across his memory, quickly followed by Janet's. "No. No, I'm not a healer, but I have had some training for emergencies and I have seen this type of poisoning before on another plan..um, in another place." Some of the people didn't know what the "stone circle" was and he'd didn't want Iollan to know he was from another planet – just yet. Dear God, I miss home.

"How about if I go back to the kitchen and ask for something to eat? I can bring it back here and you can give it to the king. If we keep that up for a few days and he gets better, then we'll know he's being poisoned. If he doesn't...well, at least we will have tried."

Meara agreed and Daniel left. About ten minutes later he returned with a bowl of soup filled with meat and vegetables. Meara nodded her thanks and took the fresh food in to feed the king. Daniel took the suspect food to the nearest privy and dumped it out.

Earth

Jack prepared for his meeting with Landry. Most of it was just run-of-the-mill stuff, but he was going to set Sam's plan in motion.

He parked his rented car in the lot and waited for the blue bus to take him inside. He hopped on the bus and nodded hello in response to several greetings from familiar SGC faces. He wasn't usually nervous about lying to a fellow officer when necessary. He'd done it frequently in the course of his military career, but Hank was a friend and this Jack was going to be lying to him for personal reasons.

He scrubbed a hand over his face as he wondered how he was going to explain this escapade to the president. If they came back with Daniel, it would sure be a lot easier to explain. Hell, if they came back with Daniel, everything would be a lot easier.

After going through more security checks – miserable since 9/11 – Jack finally made his way to the elevators where he met up with Walter.

"General O'Neill. Good to see you again."

"Walter."

"So, you're having your monthly meeting with General Landry this morning? Should be fairly routine. I don't know of anything unusual that's happened this past month."

Nothing unusual? Walter sends people off to other planets. Life is messed up when that's normal.

They exited the elevator on level 27 and headed to the briefing room together.

"Ah, just let me tell General Landry that you're here, sir."

Walter knocked on Landry's door and entered.

Several hours later, Jack and Hank had finished up their meeting. Jack squirmed in the visitor's chair and took a deep breath.

"Hank, I understand from Carter that the Odyssey will be up and running soon."

"Yes. Actually the first trial run is scheduled for two weeks from today." Hank leaned forward a bit. "Why? You itching to get out from behind your desk and out in the wild, blue, well, black, yonder?" He leaned back, smirking, sure that Jack would deny it.

"As a matter of fact, I am. I plan to be on that first flight. I know Carter will be there, since she helped design many of the systems, but I'd also like Teal'c to come along. You know, kind of a team reunion." Jack sighed quietly. It was out now.

"Well, you're the boss. How about Mitchell? He'd probably get a kick out of going along."

"I really thought it would be great for just the old SG1 to get out there together. It might be the last chance and with Daniel missing…" Throw in the old sympathy card.

"Sure. I can have Mitchell assigned to something else. He doesn't need to know you'll be going along."

"Thanks, Hank." Jack stood and leaned over the desk for a handshake. "I'll just stop and see Carter and let her know she'll have company for the flight."

Jack found Carter hunched over her laptop while absentmindedly munching on an apple. He paused for just a moment to watch her. Carter-gazing had been one of his favorite pastimes when he'd been here.

Sucking in a deep breath, he sauntered into the room and picked up the first object he found on her lab counter.

"Sir, put that down." Carter never gave any other indication that she'd seen him, but she knew the instant he had entered her lab.

Jack put on his innocent face and replaced the object. "Just dropped by to let you know that Landry agreed to have Mitchell kept busy during our little trip."

She turned towards him, giving him her full attention now. "I'll let you know when the fewest number of people will be onboard before the test flight."

Jack closed his eyes for a moment as the gravity of what they were planning to do washed over him again. "You're sure this is the only way?"

"Sir, I don't know of any other way to contact the Asgard except to go to them. They haven't responded to any of our requested and it's been over six months." Sam knew to the day how long it had been since Daniel had vanished.

"Yeah, well. Okay, then. I'll be hearing from you." Jack straightened up and looked at her briefly before leaving.

A/N: I found a web site where someone described their visit to Cheyenne Mountain and a bus blue that took everyone from the parking area to the entrance, so I used it here.