Denver was practically flying ahead, little more than a whisper passing through the foliage in front of them. Jack didn't know the exact distance between the gate and the dino camp, but it was a couple of hours' walk. Now that they were running as fast as they could, it didn't take them long. Finding the DHD would've been next to impossible in the darkness, but clearly Denver's night vision was excellent, since he lead them straight to it.
"I'll manage a moment alone, dial the gate," Jack told Daniel, and took a better hold of Barney. Luckily, the dinosaur was out again, so Jack had no trouble with him.
Jack wasn't exactly sure whether taking Barney to the SGC was such a good idea. The dinosaur really deserved all the help SG-1 could give him, Jack agreed with Daniel on that. They might not be here at all if it wasn't for Barney. He just didn't like they idea they'd drag the dinosaur through the gate just to watch him die when no one knew what to do.
The gate flashed open, the blue glow of the event horizon shimmering through the dark trees and bushes.
"Jack, I think Denver should come too."
"Sure, the more dinos, the merrier." It actually did make sense. Maybe Denver could help Fraiser understand how a dino's insides would normally work. And if Barney would make it, he'd probably want to have at least one friendly face, or snout, with him in the weird surroundings.
Daniel had a quick, growled conversation with Denver, and then he returned to carry his share of Barney's weight again. They made their way up the ramp and sent the GDO code. Denver was following them for a chance. He hopped nervously from side to side in front of the open gate.
"Relax, Denver," Jack told the dino, and stepped into the gate with Daniel.
The moment they landed on the ramp at the SGC, Barney woke up again and started thrashing about, his clawed feet kicking around uncontrollably. Jack did the instinctive thing and let go, and Daniel followed. Barney hit on the ramp with a clash, groaning pitifully. The clatter of claws against metal behind them revealed that Denver had gotten through as well.
"SG-1, take cover," Hammond called from the observation room. The guards around the gate had their guns pointed at Barney and Denver.
"No, no, they're friends," Daniel cried out, waving his hands. "And Ghhrrwuaghr needs medical attention."
"Stand down," Jack ordered. "He's telling you the truth."
"Very well then," Hammond's voice wasn't entirely free of hesitation. "Stand down and get a medical team in the gateroom."
Doc Fraiser ran in with her team and stopped at the foot of the ramp, just staring at them. "Colonel?" she asked uncertainly, taking in the writhing, bleeding dinosaur on the ground.
"Looked like he was dying. We couldn't think of anything else."
"Janet, please," Daniel pleaded. "I'm sure he's far less alien than some aliens you've had here."
"The things we do..." Fraiser muttered, but started walking up the ramp, her team following close behind. "All right, what've we got?" she asked, as she knelt to the dinosaur's side. Barney seemed to have fallen unconscious again.
"We think he was attacked by a team of other dinos just like him. So, lots of cuts, the sort he'd get from the kind of claws that he's got," Daniel explained. "And some bites."
"Those claws and teeth, yeah," Jack noted. Fraiser really wasn't going to have an easy job. "You'd better be careful, he tends to start wriggling about when he wakes up and you really don't want to get in the way."
"All right, people. This shouldn't be too difficult. We take him to the infirmary and patch him up as best we can. And we need to get a blood sample to the lab stat," Fraiser ordered.
As the med team maneuvered Barney onto a gurney, Fraiser turned to face Jack, Daniel and Denver. The younger dinosaur had frozen on his spot in front of the gate, hiding behind the humans.
"I can already see the problem we're going to have," Fraiser said. "This dinosaur friend of yours has clearly lost a lot of blood. It might be enough to kill him, and then there's probably not a whole lot we can do, unless..."
"Denver could donate for him, right?" Jack pointed backwards, at the skittish dinosaur.
"There's another dinosaur? I didn't even notice. Possibly. I need a blood sample from him as well, and then we'll just have to hope their blood types match. Escort him to the infirmary."
When Fraiser hurried away with Barney, Daniel turned towards Denver, and again addressed him in the weird dinosaur speak. Finally, Denver seemed to have gathered his bearings enough that he let Daniel lead the way down the ramp and towards the infirmary.
"He's scared," Daniel explained as they walked.
"Hard to believe that something as scary as he can be scared about something like this."
"The only real building he's ever seen is the temple. And he's never seen this many humans in one place, and this much technology. This is all completely alien to him."
Daniel was doing his best to help Denver adapt to these weird new surroundings. The infirmary had enough odd technology to freak out a human, so Denver almost refused to step through the door at all. Daniel stayed close to him all the time, sat by his side and held a hand on his scaly neck as a medic did his best to figure out how to get a blood sample.
They sat and waited. A moment later, another medic showed up to do some more tests on Denver. She was apparently trying to get the normal values so they could compare those to Barney's, but like Daniel told her, Denver was probably way too nervous and agitated to count as normal.
Barney was somewhere out of sight, and they had to wait nearly an hour before Fraiser emerged to give them some news. She took them straight to the injured dinosaur, who was in one of the isolation rooms. Barney was tightly strapped to a gurney, and had a bunch of IVs and wires and whatevers on him. Half his dark green scales were wrapped in white bandages. This had to be the weirdest sight Jack had seen in this infirmary so far.
"So, you can help him? He's not going to die?" Daniel asked the Doc hopefully.
Fraiser looked at him in the eye with her worst 'you're not going to like what I've got to tell'-expression. "Well, the good news is that his physiology really isn't alien at all, but quite understandable. A veterinarian would've probably had no problem at all figuring it out. For us, it was more of a challenge, but not impossible. Unfortunately, in this case, understanding his physiology only makes it obvious to us that there isn't much we can do."
Denver had edged closer to Barney, staring at the human medical contraptions so alien to him. He nudged Barney's head cautiously, and then nuzzled his neck. It looked like a strangely cute thing to do for a scary, sharp-clawed dino to do. Barney didn't respond at all. Fraiser looked at the two dinosaurs and shook her head.
"We've managed to stop most of the external bleeding, but we have reason to believe he's bleeding internally as well. He keeps growing weaker. We can't operate on him, because the blood loss would certainly kill him. This other dinosaur's blood type seems to be entirely different from his, so we can't risk giving it to him. I'm sorry, Daniel. And Denver, if that's his name."
"It's not. His name's Grruarch," Daniel said softly. The dinosaur turned around at the sound of his name, his large yellow eyes fixed on Daniel, clearly anxious to hear the news.
"How long does he have?" Daniel asked.
"It's hard to say. If he was a human, a few hours, no more than that. Considering what I've seen so far, he might last longer, but I can't promise he will."
Daniel nodded, and growled a few soft words at Denver. Obviously the bad news, since Denver answered it with the saddest roar Jack had ever heard. Then he turned to rest his chin on the gurney, right under Barney's, just sitting there, completely still.
Daniel had crossed his arms, looking completely miserable. Jack placed a hand on his shoulder. "We did our best, Daniel. It's not your fault."
Daniel stayed silent, and stared at the two dinosaurs. Jack could almost hear those genius brains of his working furiously to try and figure out something more they could do to help. Knowing Daniel, Jack wouldn't be surprised if he came up with something even though the situation looked hopeless. And he did.
"If we can't help, maybe someone else can," Daniel suggested.
"Someone else, as in?"
"These dinosaurs want to fight the Goa'uld, Jack. Who else does that?"
"Me, you and half the universe..." Jack muttered, but Daniel was gazing at him in a really determined way. He was looking for a specific answer, and he expected Jack to know it. "No, just wait a moment. Daniel, you don't mean--the Tok'ra?"
"At least we can ask them."
Jack grinned. "Oh boy, they're going to love this."
Author's Note: Dum-dah-dum, I wonder if anyone can guess where this is going... Anyway, even if you can't, how about writing a review? You know, just to let me know if this is the silliest thing you've ever read or if there's actually some point to it?