"Mens Mentis"
-Chapter 3-
Daniel trudged into the Infirmary with two steaming hot cups of coffee in his hands. He was surprised to find not only the chair, but also the bed, in which Sam had lain, empty.
"She was moved to Isolation Room 3."
Daniel turned to find one of the nurses peering timidly at him.
"Isolation? Did something happen?" Panic ripped through his insides, and a million possibilities swept upon his mind.
"You'll have to talk to Dr. Fraiser. I don't know anything else." She smiled apologetically at him, but he was already striding back through the doorway.
As an afterthought, he quickly yelled a "Thank you" over his shoulder. Some coffee spilt onto his hand, and he cursed just as the doorway to the Isolation Room loomed into view. As he hurried through the doorway, he almost bowled over the short doctor. Luckily, only a few drops of coffee fell to the floor.
Janet quickly regained her composure, and looked up into Daniel's worried face. "Daniel, what's-"
"Is she ok? What happened!" He quickly cut her off, and glanced over Janet's shoulder at the single bed in the room which held Sam's form.
"Calm down, Daniel." Jack's tired voice spoke up. He rose from his vigil in the chair by the bed.
"She's still the same; I just thought it would be better to move her somewhere more isolated until we know what's wrong with her." 'If we find out what's wrong with her.'
Daniel frowned, but didn't say anything. He still wasn't sure exactly what was going on. Was he really hearing people's thoughts? A sudden, sharp pain ripped through his head, and he closed his eyes until the pain subsided a second later.
"Daniel? Are you ok?" He opened his eyes to see Janet looking at him, her face full of solicitude. Jack also bore a worried frown
"Headache," Daniel simply explained.
"Still?" Janet's frown deepened at Daniel's nod. "Let me go and get something for that."
As soon as Janet left the room, Daniel walked over and stood in front of Jack. "Something strange is going on, but I don't know if I should say anything."
"Spit it out, Daniel."
At that moment, Teal'c joined them from the Observation Room.
Daniel continued. "Right, well, you're going to think I'm insane, but I think I'm hearing people's thoughts." Daniel readied himself for their reactions. They both remained silent.
"Are you sure Fraiser gave you a full bill of health?" Jack asked skeptically, breaking the moment of silence.
With a sigh, Daniel spoke. "Go ahead, think of something!" He knew it would be the only way to prove it, to Jack, and to himself.
'How about you're insane!'
"Insane? After everything we've been through, you don't think it's possible?"
Jack blinked at Daniel in shock.
"Was Daniel Jackson correct in assessing your thoughts, O'Neill?" Teal'c questioned.
"Lucky guess." Jack mumbled. 'Daniel's a geek.'
"How mature, Jack."
"Well, you are." Jack said with a shrug.
'Can you hear my thoughts, Daniel Jackson?' Teal'cs deep voice questioned in his mind.
"Yes, Teal'c."
"Huh?" Jack asked, looking between the two.
"What?" Daniel looked back.
"This is… confusing. Maybe we should get Fraiser to take another look at you." suggested Jack.
Daniel shook his head furiously. "No, SG-5 is going back to P5X-420 in…" he glanced down at his watch, "in 20 minutes to check if it's safe, and then I'm going to go back through and find out what did this, and how to fix it. There's no way Janet will let me go if she hears about this."
"The other scientists can take care of it, and take lots of photos of the ruins for you." You can translate them here when they get back."
"Jack!" Daniel pleaded, "You know I have more experience than them! If Hammond lets Felger go he'll just screw something up, and end up unconscious himself."
"And that's a problem because…"
"Jack!"
"Fine." Jack raised his hands in surrender.
"And don't think of mentioning this to Janet."
"I wouldn't."
"I know what you're thinking! Look, I promise that as soon as I'm back, I'll let Janet check me out again." Daniel offered.
Jack sighed. "If anything happens I'm going to say 'I told you so'."
"I will accompany Daniel Jackson through the Stargate." Teal'c interrupted them, and they both turned to look at the large Jaffa. "Will that sooth your unease, O'Neill?"
"Yeah, ok." 'Good, that way Teal'c will be able to keep Daniel out of trouble.' Jack thought to himself.
"Hey! I don't always get into trouble!" Daniel protested.
"Please! You're always getting hurt! How many times is it that you've died now?"
"It's not like you haven't died either."
"Not as many times as you."
"Doctor Jackson, should we not make our way to the Control Room?" Teal'c said, stopping their childish argument.
"Right."
"Have fun," Jack smiled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Daniel headed towards the doorway with Teal'c on his tail. When he reached the doorway, he paused, and turned around, his face turned back to all seriousness. "I promise I'll do whatever it takes to get her back."
Jack opened his mouth to reply, but knew Daniel could hear his thoughts 'Be careful.' "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
Daniel nodded. He heard Jack's thoughts of complete helplessness, and Daniel was determined to help Sam. "I will." He cast a quick glance back at the bed where his friend lay. And he knew that he would do anything within his power to make sure that he'd see her smiling again, and with her smiling, Jack as well.
Daniel and Teal'c disappeared into the hallway, their footsteps echoing after them. Seconds later, Janet entered the doorway, with pills grasped in her hand. A frown appeared on her face when she noticed Daniel was not in the room.
"Where's Daniel?"
"He ran off to the 'Gate Room with Teal'c."
Janet sighed and placed the bottle on the counter next to Sam's bed. She looked curiously at Jack as he moved back to the chair. "How are you doing?" She asked, although it was pretty much guaranteed that he'd say he was 'fine', even if it wasn't the truth.
"I'm fine." He mumbled, taking a seat.
She wasn't sure if she should challenge him on his response. An irate Colonel wasn't something she currently felt like dealing with. She wasn't stupid though, it was obvious where his mood was coming from. The feelings Jack shared with Sam were none too subtle, and so was the fact that Sam returned those feelings. What Janet wondered was how long they'd let the Air Force and regulations get in the way. She'd hate to see either one of them lose their lives in the fight against the Goa'uld without having a chance to tell the other how they feel.
Their sturdy walls which kept their feelings back were beginning to crumble though. Janet already noticed the look on Colonel O'Neill's face at that precise moment. It wasn't one of a CO whose 2IC was injured, but that of a man who is breaking inside for someone he cares about, more than he's supposed to.
"Sir, the area is secure. There's absolutely no sign that anyone has been here at all, except for SG-1's footprints." Colonel Reynold's faced filled the screen of the monitors which were strung across the Control Room.
Daniel grinned, and looked to Hammond who gave a curt nod. "All right, you have a go. You can ship out in half an hour."
"Thank you, Sir!" Daniel ran from the Control Room to gear up to go off world. Teal'c followed at a steady pace behind him.
"Copy that Colonel." Hammond responded to Colonel Reynolds via the MALP. "Dr. Jackson, Teal'c and a group of scientists will join you in approximately half an hour."
"Yes, Sir. SG-2 out." The transmission ended, and the screens filled with grey static. A few moments later, the 'gate shut down.
The UAV Hammond had sent out to survey the ruins buzzed over head as SG-2, Daniel, Teal'c, and the four scientists reached the building where Daniel and Sam and fallen unconscious.
Daniel, who wanted to find out what was going on as quickly as possible, suggested that the group split up, half go to the ruins, and the other half into the building.
"Ok, Teal'c and Wilson can stay here with Dr. Jackson, Dr. Coombs, and Dr. Felger." Reynolds instructed. "The rest of SG-2 and I will take Dr. Lee and Dr. Ryan."
Daniel looked panic stricken at Reynolds. "Uh, why don't you take Felger and Coombs, and I'll take Ryan and Lee."
"That makes no sense, you see, Dr. Felger is a scientist, why would he be needed to look at the ruins?" Reynolds smiled sweetly at Daniel. 'I'm not getting stuck with that idiot Felger.'
Daniel frowned at the Colonel's thoughts, as he himself had been thinking something along the same lines. "Fine, I'll take Felger and Ryan, you take Coombs and Lee."
Reynolds looked cautiously at Coombs before nodding. "Ok then, keep in contact, radio every half hour."
"Will do." Daniel replied before the group turned and headed off towards the ruins. He looked pointedly at Felger. "No touching anything! We're here to look for any kind of information, probably written. We want to find something that can tell us about the device."
The two doctors nodded, and the group headed into the building. Daniel headed straight for where he'd found the device.
He found it lying on the floor. It must have fallen from his hand when he'd lost consciousness. Daniel bent down and carefully picked it up. It had closed back up into its original pyramidal form.
Expecting the device to snap open, Daniel was surprised when it remained firmly shut.
"Is this the device you were holding when you fell unconscious, Daniel Jackson?"
Daniel jumped. He hadn't noticed Teal'c walk up and stand directly behind him until he'd spoken. "Yes it is."
"Is it wise to be holding it then?"
"Last time nothing happened until I touched the red dome inside, so I should be safe." Daniel reasoned.
Teal'c inclined his head, and after looking at the device for a moment, he returned to the doorway to stand guard.
'Dr. Ryan is so hot!'
Daniel raised his eyebrows, and turned to look at Felger who was practically drooling over the doctor standing a few metres away from him.
Ryan, feeling Felger's eyes on her, looked up. She gave him a small, uninterested smile, and returned to the shelves she'd been looking at. 'I wish he'd stop staring at me like that.'
Despite himself, Daniel grinned. He had to admit, Dr. Ryan was an attractive young women with her long blonde hair and hazel eyes. She'd been assigned to the SGC archaeological department only several months ago, and this was Daniel's first time working with her. But from what he'd seen of her, she seemed like a nice person.
"Dr. Ryan, could you come help me over here?" Daniel called across the room to her.
Abandoning her search through the shelves, Ryan walked over to Daniel's side. "Yes, Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel cast a quick glance over at Jay Felger to make sure that he wasn't listening. "Actually, I just thought that you may want to get away from Felger. And please, call me Daniel."
She broke into a grin and chuckled lightly. "Well thank you and you can cal me Jessica."
"You're welcome, Jessica." Daniel grinned back.
'The nurses were definitely right about him.'
Daniel's eyebrows shot up.
"So, that's the device?" Jessica asked, turning slightly red by the way Daniel was looking at her.
"Yes, when I picked it up last time, the sides split open." He pointed at the lines in the side where it opened. Jessica leaned in to look closer to look. "Inside there's a red dome at the base. I touched it, it began to glow, and began emitting a quiet hum. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the Infirmary."
"How did you open it?"
"I just picked it up, and it opened."
She peered curiously at the strange device. "Well, you must have done something, otherwise it be open now, if it simply opened by touch."
"Perhaps it isn't opening because it somehow recognizes me."
"Or, it could be out of power. It may only work once."
Daniel nodded. "Well, unfortunately there are no inscriptions on it, I'm sure the tiny carvings are purely decorative, but you never know. So, we're not going to be able to figure anything out unless we find some sort of writing."
Jessica nodded. "I'll start looking."
"I originally found the device on this table, so I guess it's a good place to start." Daniel suggested.
She began searching the table, while Daniel walked over to a wall nearby and began searching a shelf. He found several devices that looked either completely useless or broken. Also, he found few things that he decided to keep for study later, and placed them in his backpack.
Amongst the chaos on the table, Jessica spotted some paper creeping out underneath a pile of wires. She shifted them aside, and discovered a pile of leather bound books. Picking up the top book, she flipped the cover open.
'Oh my god!'
Daniel stopped his inspection of a large box, and turned around. Dr, Ryan had her back to him, so he couldn't see what she held in her hands.
"Dr. Ja- I mean Daniel!" Jessica turned around holding the book open with a huge grin in place. "You're never going to believe this! Whoever this person was," She turned the book so that its contents could be seen by Daniel. "They were an Ancient!"
A/N: I'm interested in what everyone thinks of Dr. Ryan, I'm not sure if I'm going to have much more of her in the story or not. Thanks once again everyone!