They couldn't speak a whole lot when they were out in the jungle. They all knew perfectly well that it wasn't safe out there. They walked as silently as they could, and did all they could to avoid being seen. Even the plant eaters could turn out to be very dangerous if they got too agitated. Most of them were more than capable of defending themselves with horns and tails.
In the end, their dino safari, like Jack called it, went quite well. Of course, there was the inevitable afternoon rain, which left them all soaked. Daniel had known to expect it, but he still hated it. Then, Leo got too near to a herd of ostrich-like dinosaurs, which ran away in a frenzy, almost trampling SG-1. Afterwards, all he said was that he was sorry he hadn't been able to identify the species, which could have been Avimimus, or Gallimimus, or possibly Ornithomimus. Jack had looked like he was ready to strangle Leo, but he had just settled for a very, very cold stare and a warning that they'd be tossing him back through the gate in a flash if this ever happened again.
Their second close call was when they had just managed to climb on top of a sizable rock, which gave them a view over an often used path. Grruarch uttered a low warning, and pointed towards an area of the jungle ahead of them, on the other side of the path. They froze and stared and waited. Daniel couldn't hear anything at all, but finally, he spotted shadows flitting among the thick plant growth. Shadows that looked a lot like Grruarch, but weren't his friends. They were some of those loyal to the ruler. SG-1 waited for a good while for the hostiles to pass, pressed close against the rock, rainwater running down their backs.
"I have not seen them this close to our home before," Grruarch said when it was safe again. He was clearly taken aback by the near encounter. "I am not sure what this means. I must tell the others. Come, it would be good for us to return now."
Their way back to the camp was uneventful, except that it was starting to get dark. They had spent all the day walking around. Daniel found himself yawning. He noticed that Leo looked tired too, despite the wide smile that had been on his face ever since they'd seen the first Shelter Water.
"Thank you, Grruarch," Daniel said to their guide once they were back. "I have only one more question for you. We can build our own shelters for the night, but where should we place them?"
"I shall ask the elders, wait here," the dinosaur answered.
Soon, he returned to let SG-1 know that they were free to choose nearly any place they found suitable, but preferably in the area closer to the boundaries of the camp. Jack picked a spot near to the river, and declared that even though they were on friendly territory, they'd keep watch all night.
Daniel was just going about setting up his tent, when he spotted a dinosaur approaching him. It was Grruarch again.
"Daanniach," the dinosaur growled its Dinosaurian version of Daniel's name. "There is something I want to show you."
Daniel followed the dinosaur to one of the canopies, out of the pouring rain. There, on a low table, were clay bowls with a dark substance in them--it was hard to see what it was in the dim evening light. Daniel could also see some sort of sticks with sharp bone ends, like short arrows, some chisels, hammers and stone slabs. This was the scribes' hut, it seemed.
"Ghhrrwuaghr told me that you could also read our writing," Grruarch said.
"Not all that well, really," Daniel answered truthfully. "When's Ghhrrwuaghr going to be back, anyway?"
Grruarch stepped from one foot to the other, expressing his unease over the matter. "He should have come already. Yet it is many leaps to the Great Temple of the Rulers. Perhaps there were delays. He should come soon."
Daniel nodded. "So, you wanted to show me your writing?" he gestured at the table.
"Yes. And this," Grruarch said, reaching to pick one particular stone tablet in his clawed hand. "Ghhrrwuaghr said you would wish to see it."
Daniel took the tablet squinted at it in the near-dark. He couldn't quite make out the inscription, so he shone his flashlight on it. Grruarch had already seen their flashlights when they'd started setting up camp, but he still stepped back. Daniel murmured "It's okay" to the dinosaur, but didn't lift his eyes from the writing.
The text on the stone slab was divided into three sections, written in two different scripts. The uppermost third was in hieroglyphic Goa'uld, the two lower ones in the cuneiform-like Dinosaurian writing. But there seemed to be an odd similarity between the Goa'uld text and the Dinosaurian one right below it. Could it be that this was the Dinosaurian equivalent of the Rosetta Stone?
"Do you know what's written here, Grruarch?"
"It is the Great Decree of the Ruler, first in his language and his writing, then in his language but our writing, and once more in our language and our writing."
Daniel's guess had been a correct one. The tablet had the same text in Goa'uld, both in the normal writing and in the Dinosaurian one, and below those two, in the real Dinosaurian language that Daniel still hadn't learned. It was incredible--and might offer him a way to find out more about the true Dinosaurian language.
"Thank you, Grruarch. Thank you very much," Daniel said. "Is it all right if I stay here to read this?"
"Of course it is, Daanniach."
He found a small rock on the ground near the table and sat down. Placing the tablet on the table, he grabbed a notebook and a pen and began working on the translation. He didn't feel even remotely tired anymore, he was way too eager to get this done.
Matching the Goa'uld hieroglyphic and the Goa'uld written in a Dinosaurian script wasn't all that difficult, but it took time. The camp around him fell silent. Sometime in the day, Leo had wondered aloud if these dinosaurs were nocturnal, like their ancestors. It seemed to Daniel that they weren't, because they had gone to sleep. Of course, some might have left the camp to go hunting. He hadn't been paying attention.
When he was about halfway through the text, Daniel took a break. He glanced at his watch, which showed midnight. He made his way to SG-1's camp, to get some food. It was Teal'c's guard, and Daniel exchanged a few words with him, explaining what he was up to. Then he returned to his translating, with coffee.
He worked on, oblivious to the passage of time, until a sound from the green barricade caught his attention. He left his work, stood up and walked towards the sound. It was a soft rustling, like someone or something making its way through the tunnel. Daniel didn't think anyone could possibly find the entrance without knowing where it was, so the chances were it was a friend. Maybe Ghhrrwuaghr had finally returned. Still, Daniel decided not risk it, and pointed at the wall with both his flashlight and his pistol.
A dinosaurian head emerged from the wall. Not surprisingly, it was of the intelligent species. The dinosaur crawled out of the tunnel, but then he just stopped. Instead of standing up, he slumped to the ground. Daniel walked closer, and saw the familiar patterns in the scales of his snout and around his eyes. He also saw the bleeding cuts and wounds all around the dinosaur's body. It was Ghhrrwuaghr, but he was hurt.
Daniel put away his sidearm and ran closer to the dinosaur. He was at a loss. How could he assess an injured dinosaur? He knew dinosaur's definitely weren't mammals, but were they cold-blooded like reptiles, or warm-blooded, and did that even make a difference? The dinosaur was bleeding all over, and his breathing sounded fast and raspy. Daniel didn't need to know anything about dinosaur physiology to figure out that wasn't good.
Ghhrrwuaghr opened his eyes, just a slit, and peered at Daniel. "Betrayed," he whispered softly. Though it was just one word, it was a good enough explanation for what had happened. The agent had turned against him. The rebel party had probably ran into an ambush.
"It's all right, you're safe now," Daniel told the dinosaur, lifting his reptilian head on his lap and patting his scaly skin.
"The others... others are all dead," Ghhrrwuaghr growled. "And I shall join them soon." The dinosaur closed his eyes and bit his sharp teeth together. His breathing sounded even more harsh--he was clearly in great pain.
"No, you're not going to die. We'll help you," Daniel spoke soothingly. "It's all right. Take it easy."
It took Daniel a while to realize that the dinosaur couldn't have understood one word he had said--he had been speaking English all the time. Still, his tone had probably conveyed the meaning.
Even though Daniel knew nothing about dinosaur medicine, it seemed to him that Ghhrrwuaghr wasn't going to make it without help. He did his best to collect his thoughts so that he could speak a few words in Dinosaurian-Goa'uld. "Ghhrrwuaghr. I will get help. Stay still," he said, and stood up.
He saw silent figures standing all around him, other dinosaurs waiting to see what he was up to. He ran away from them, towards the far corner of the camp area where SG-1's tents stood.
Jack was keeping guard. His flashlight beam hit Daniel, who kept running and called out, "Jack, it's me!"
"Jesus, Daniel! What happened to you?" Jack's reply sounded startled.
Daniel stopped, confused. He looked down and realized there was blood all over his clothes. "No, Jack, I'm fine. It's not me, it's Barney. He's injured. We've got to get him back through the gate."
"Daniel--Fraiser may be a miracle worker, but she's no vet," Jack said, standing up.
"She's helped aliens before, and Barney's not even really an alien. Barney helped me when I was hurt. We've got to save him, I'm sure he'll die without help-"
Teal'c, Sam and even Leo had emerged from their tents and walked over to them. Daniel had probably been shouting on top of his voice without noticing it.
"Daniel, slow down. Take it easy. We'll help him, all right. Maybe Doc Ramsey can help too. That'd be the first time he'd do something useful," Jack said bluntly, pointing the flashlight at the paleontologist.
Leo shook his head sternly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here."
"What?" Daniel uttered at him, wondering if he had understood what was going on. "Our dinosaur friend is dying, and you're refusing to help?"
"He's not my 'friend'. He's just one dinosaur individual of one particular species. There are possibly hundreds of other species out there. If I leave, how can I ever be sure I'll get back here? No, I'll... I'll fight you, if I have to, but I'm staying."
Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing. He felt like fighting Leo might not be such a bad idea. Hadn't the man got any feelings at all? All for science, no matter what? Studying cultures had never kept Daniel from caring about the people of those cultures.
He needed to stay calm, for Ghhrrwuaghr's sake. He took a deep breath and said, "Barney doesn't have time for this."
"Okay, kids. This is what we'll do. Carter, you're in charge. Stay here with Teal'c and Ramsey. Daniel and I take Barney back to base," Jack commanded.
"He's over there," Daniel told Jack, and they ran across the camp, to where Ghhrrwuaghr was still lying. The other dinosaurs had gathered close to him, examining his wounds, even trying to stem the bleeding with leaves. Daniel spotted their guide among them.
"Grruarch! We can help Ghhrrwuaghr, but we must take him to our home. Through the stargate. Can you take us there?" he asked the young dinosaur.
"We are afraid we cannot save him and he'll be lost. If you can help, of course I will take you there," Grruarch answered, and growled a few words to the other dinosaurs in the Dinosaurian language. The dinosaurs moved aside, giving room to the humans.
Jack and Daniel moved closer to the injured dinosaur. "Ghhrrwuaghr?" Daniel uttered, but the dinosaur didn't answer. His eyes were closed. It seemed he was unconscious, but at least he was still breathing, which was good, since Daniel had no idea how to take a dinosaur's pulse.
"Umm... You take the lower part and I'll take the upper body?" Daniel suggested to Jack, who just nodded and knelt by the dinosaur's feet.
Daniel put his arms around Ghhrrwuaghr's neck and back, and lifted him from the ground together with Jack. He wasn't half as heavy as Daniel had expected. The dinosaur groaned softly and grabbed Daniel's arm. He felt the claws digging into his bicep, but bit his teeth together and did his best to ignore it.
"So, we obviously can't go through the wall," Jack noted. Grruarch had noticed it as well, and he had already headed towards the side of the camp that was sheltered by large boulders. They made their way through the passage between them. The sentries growled at them in Dinosaurian. Daniel hoped they were wishing them luck, because they'd really need it.
Grruarch ran ahead of them, faster than ever before. With the dead weight of the injured dinosaur between them, Daniel and Jack had a hard time keeping up with him. At least Ghhrrwuaghr had let go of Daniel's arm.
The ground was muddy and soft under their feet, and plants kept brushing Daniel's face. It was long past midnight, he hadn't slept at all, and he'd been walking all day. He quickly fell into a stupor, just running on without thinking at all. It felt as if he was back in the first time they had been here, running for his life in the darkening woods, with the rustling and stomping and roaring Tyrannosaur behind him. Except that this time, he wasn't running away from a dinosaur to save his life. He was running to save a dinosaur's life.