Barney took them to a table under one of the canopies. There were no chairs, so they stood around it. It seemed the dinos didn't really care for chairs. The table was laden with fruits and nuts and dried meat.
Doc Ramsey was positively excited about the food. "Look at this! They're--They're not carnivores anymore, they're omnivores, just like humans! It does make sense, but I never expected... I really need to get a closer look at their teeth!" he went on and on. Though his voice was different, the way he spoke was just like Carter when she got into explaining about some technology, or Daniel going on about some culture or rock or whatever. Scientists. No matter what they studied, they were always the same.
"So, these dinos are rebels?" Jack asked Daniel to make sure he'd understood the story correctly. "We're at the camp of the locals who resist the goa'uld rule?"
"That's it, long story short. So, we need to go back to the gate, call Hammond and ask for help."
"You mean, help for getting rid of the goa'uldosaurs? Daniel, you can't expect Hammond to give us enough manpower to storm that maze-temple-place. We don't know how many dinos we're up against. We know nothing about the defenses there, except that the dinos can close doors to trap people in. That's not a lot to go on, and even if we had more..."
"That won't be a problem! I'm sure Ghhrrwuaghr--Barney, that is, and the other dinosaurs here, know almost everything about the temple complex. If they don't have the exact number of hostile dinosaurs, then maybe their contacts who're still at the temple can find out."
"No, but... Daniel, no," Jack looked the younger man in the eye. This was hardly the first time Jack got to a moral debate with Daniel. The truth was that Jack actually agreed with Daniel in this, but he knew it just wasn't going to happen. He hated smashing Daniel's idealism. "Daniel, the point isn't whether we can do it. The real point is, there's nothing in it for us. Dinoland is Dinoland, no matter who rules it. This Goa'uldosaur who rules here has never been a System Lord, he has no ships and doesn't even know about the gate. He poses us no threat whatsoever. Wasting manpower and resources to get rid of him just makes no sense."
"But... God, Jack, you can't think like that! 'There's nothing in it for us'--that's just wrong, and completely besides the point! Countless innocent beings are forced to live under Goa'uld rule, and we can free them. Of course we have to do it!"
Jack shook his head. "It's got nothing to do with what I think. It's not about right and wrong. It's all about what the people at the Pentagon think. They won't authorize a massive operation that won't actually give them anything."
"But we've got to do something!"
"We can go back to the gate and call Hammond. We should contact the SGC anyway, to let 'em know we haven't been eaten yet. I just don't want you to expect too much. Hammond's going to tell you exactly what I told you now."
Daniel crossed his arms, let his head droop and stayed silent.
Now that Jack and Daniel had come to a conclusion of sorts, Ramsey looked up from the table and spoke up again. "Colonel? If I may suggest. I didn't come here to overthrow a dinosaur prince. I came to study these animals. Maybe we could spend some more time in the rainforest, to try and meet more dinosaurs, of different species?"
Oh, great, Jack thought. So, the Doc wanted to see the sights. As if the debate with Daniel hadn't been enough, he'd need to start explaining things to Ramsey as well. "Now, look, Ramsey, we came here to get intel--to find out what's the current situation. Getting lost and eaten in the jungle isn't a part of the plan. Besides, the dinos say it's not safe, with the evil prince Goa'uldosaur and his goons out there to get 'em."
"No, you look, young man," Ramsey began. Jack couldn't help snorting at that. He definitely wasn't young anymore, not even compared to Ramsey. Well, maybe the Dino-Doc was ten-ish years older than him, but no more than that.
"I came here to study dinosaurs. It's what I do. If we're going to leave this camp anyway..."
"Guys, wait, just wait a sec," Daniel put in, raising a finger for silence. "There's no need for this. I think we can easily do both. Go to the gate and see some dinosaurs."
He walked away from the table, to talk to a dino. Of course, it had to be Barney, though Jack had a hard time telling the dinos apart. As far as Jack knew, Daniel only talked to Barney. A few growls and grunts later, Daniel returned.
"There, that's settled. Ghhrrwuaghr agreed that we should take a guide. He doesn't believe we can find our way back on our own. And the guide can take us to some relatively safe places where Leo should be able to spot more dinosaurs. Some paths, drinking places and so on," Daniel told them.
Ramsey smiled at him. "That's great. Wonderful. Thank you, Daniel."
"All right," Jack agreed. That was probably the best compromise they could get. "So, Barney's coming with us?"
Daniel shook his head. "No, he's going to introduce us to a friend who speaks Dino-Goa'uld too. Apparently, not many of them do. Barney can't come because he's going off to meet an agent from the temple. So, if you have any questions about it, now would be a good time to ask."
SG-1 stayed in the camp for an hour or so. Sam didn't have a lot to do, so she, Teal'c and O'Neill ended up standing around the table, eating and staring at the dinosaurs. Ramsey had sat down to sketch dinosaurs in his notebook. Daniel spent most of the time deep in a growled conversation with Barney. Apparently, he was trying to explain where SG-1 came from, but it wasn't easy when the dinos had never heard about the stargate.
When Daniel and Barney were done talking, the dinosaur introduced them to their guide, who was slightly smaller than he. The guide's name sounded no different from Barney's real name to Sam.
O'Neill clearly had the same problem, since he was quick to ask, "Okay. Teal'c, do Barney's friends have names, anyway?"
"They do, but I do not think 'BJ' or 'Baby Bop' are suitable names for this dinosaur," Teal'c answered, his face and tone as serious as always. "Perhaps Denver would be appropriate. He is also the star of a television show."
"Denver. That works. Daniel, tell Denver that we're ready to go."
Daniel growled at the dinosaur, who pointed towards the green wall with his head. They followed the dinosaur to the natural barricade and made their way through the hidden tunnel in it, into the dense, wild jungle outside the camp.
"So, we go straight to the gate. We can see the sights later," O'Neill added, Daniel translated it again, and the dinosaur started jogging ahead. It was moving a lot faster than a marching human. SG-1 didn't have any trouble keeping up with it, but Leo kept lagging behind. Half the time, it wasn't because he was older or less fit, but because he'd stopped to gaze at some footprint on the ground, or a plant, or a giant butterfly.
The planet was amazing when it came to plants and animals, but it didn't really offer anything of interest in Sam's field. Actually, the only strange thing was that it was perfectly Earth-like. The atmosphere was an exact match. The planet orbited a star that was of the same spectrum as the Sun, same age and same size. The climate was identical to the tropical regions of Earth. The only thing that clearly revealed they weren't on Earth was the moon, which was significantly smaller than Earth's. It was as if whoever had brought the dinosaurs here had wanted to put them in an environment as near to the original as possible.
Why the dinosaurs were here and who had brought them was still a mystery, and, to Sam, the most interesting thing about the planet. She hoped Leo might be of some help in solving it. At least he could give an exact dating as to when these particular species of dinosaurs had lived on Earth. His idea of getting DNA samples from them was worth trying as well.
To Leo's disappointment, Denver the guide was so good at his job that they met no other dinosaurs on their way back. Or then again, maybe Denver's presence was the direct cause to it. He was a pretty menacing meat-eater. The peaceful plant eaters would probably do all they could to stay away from him.
When they reached the exact place where Barney and his friends had caught SG-1, Denver stopped. He had no idea where the gate was. Luckily, SG-1 did. After a short whispered conversation and a few glances at a compass, they were able to find their way back to the gate. Once there, Daniel quickly dialed home.
Denver started pacing around restlessly at the odd sounds when the chevrons locked. When the gate opened and the vortex lashed out, the dinosaur jumped back and hid in a thick bush. It took Daniel a good few growls mixed with soothing English to get him back again.
The call to the SGC went just like Sam had expected. O'Neill explained the situation and suggested that with backup, they could help the dinosaurs overthrow the Goa'uld. Hammond answered that as much as he'd like to help the dinosaurs, he had to say no, because there was no way they could justify such use of resources. Daniel spoke up passionately, trying to convince the general like only he could, but it was no good.
"Doctor Jackson, I am very sorry, but unless you can come up with a plan that allows us to free the dinosaurs with minimal risks and without casualties, my answer is still no. SGC out."
Daniel shook his head at the empty ring of the gate. "We'll come up with a plan. Once Ghhrrwuaghr returns, we're going to get the news about what's going on in the temple. The prince doesn't even know we're on the planet. We'll take him by surprise."
"Before we do that, I'd very much like to get to work. So, how about we go and find some dinosaurs?" Leo put in, sounding both more irritating and irritated than ever before. Sam didn't blame him for that. He had every reason to be annoyed. He'd probably not expected to get caught in the middle of dinosaur politics and human moral debates.
"Astrosaur wouldn't work, would it?" Doctor Ramsey asked Teal'c in a low tone, as they walked on, following Denver again. The dinosaur had promised to take them to a place where they might see most of the animals that lived in the area.
"I do not think it would," Teal'c answered him. The paleontologist had apparently been thinking about a suitable name for Barney and Denver's species ever since they had arrived.
An odd, melodic howl cut the air. Denver kept going, ignoring it completely, but SG-1 stopped.
"We have heard this sound before. It is the call of the Parasaurolophus," Teal'c noted.
"Parasaurolophus? Great," Doctor Ramsey whispered. "By the sound of it, it's pretty near, too!"
He was about to head towards the source of the sound, but Denver growled at him and gestured towards another direction. Teal'c thought he said that they would see the animals better from where he was taking them. Daniel Jackson's translation confirmed this.
Denver lead them up a steep hill. The vegetation grew lower and more sparse as they climbed. Teal'c could see bright sunlight ahead, an area that wasn't green. They were approaching the top of the hill. When they stopped, he saw that they had actually reached the edge of a steep cliff that fell to the surface of a sizable lake.
"If we are careful, we will not be seen," Denver told them.
They crouched close to the ground, and pushed aside some plants to get a clear view.
Teal'c had never found use for the world "unearthly" before. Here, it felt fitting. There were several dinosaurs in the lake below, among them two Parasaurolophus-individuals, whose hooting they had heard before. Numerous creatures moved around on the shores around the lake, some fully visible, others only pushing their head through leaves to reach the water. Teal'c could count at least seven different species, from some horned Ceratopsian he could not name to a herd of Maiasauras. Doctor Ramsey had produced a notebook, and was scribbling rapidly.
"Hunters seldom come here. There are too many animals, and they are too big. They make no difference between the large hunter-animals and the chosen ones of the rulers. I would not survive down there," Denver explained. "There are other places such as this. We call them Shelter Waters."
"Well, what do you know," Colonel O'Neill noted when Daniel had repeated it all in English. "They call themselves the chosen ones?"
"Indeed. And I believe 'large hunter-animals' must refer to large Theropods, such as Tyrannosaurs," Teal'c added.
"It would be amazing to actually see a living Tyrannosaur..." Doctor Ramsey said without looking up from his notes.
"No, it wouldn't," O'Neill answered, his voice unusually cold. "And you're not going to see one. I swear to God, there will be NO Tyrannosaurs on this damn dino safari."
Author's Note: I've got the horrible feeling that this is the dullest, most boring story I've written so far. I hope I'm not right there. It might be simply because I'm such a sucker for hurt/comfort and there hasn't been any yet. So, just so you know, there will definitely be whumping and angst in the very next chapter--but surprisingly enough, it's not Daniel... Not quite yet. But just you wait... ;-P