A/N: Hi – thanks again for reading this, even after all this time. And special thanks for all of the kind words about it.


Chapter 33 – Bad Start to the Day

There was a hint of color in the eastern sky when Rover returned from his breakfast hunt the next morning to find his favorite people struggling to get out of their coverings. He couldn't actually see them, just saw the sleeping bag moving about as the two were squirming around inside, making noises now and then. It was obvious to Rover they needed help, so he bounded over, grabbed part of the bag and tugged. Hard.

"Agh!" Jack quickly turned when the sleeping bag was literally ripped off of his back. In doing so, he jerked his leg over and knocked his knee into a tree root protruding from the ground. The string of expletives that followed would have made his drill sergeant blush.

Even though Rover was telepathic, he hadn't experienced Jack really angry yet, so he naturally interpreted his current mood as being absolutely ecstatic that the dragon had just saved them from certain death at the hands of a vicious sleeping bag. The shouts were loud thank you's and exclamations of Rover's greatness. So he proudly started prancing around, wagging his tail enthusiastically, elated that he could help.

As Jack calmed down, one of the many thoughts streaming through his head was that he hoped that Danny and Teal'c were having a better start to their day, wherever they may be.


Teal'c looked about as tense as he ever looked, which meant he was staring intently at the view screen. "The main drive is damaged. We must turn back to the planet now, before it fails completely and strands us in space."

"Back to the muck planet? No. Can't we make it to another planet first? I've seen you do some amazing things with these ships. Can't you, you know..." He waived his hands around, "...fix it?"

Teal'c just turned slightly to Daniel and gave him 'the look'.

Daniel sighed. "It's just that I'm really starting to itch and this stench is really getting to me. My eyes haven't stopped watering since we got to that planet in the first place."

"I am afraid there is no other option, we must turn back. I do not enjoy your odor either, but surely you agree it is better to have your senses assaulted and be alive to experience it than to be dead from an explosion of the spacecraft." He had already turned the ship around and was concentrating on the best approach to get them close to the stargate. Telling DanielJackson they needed to turn back was just a formality. There was another bang and a violent lurch of the craft as they started to enter the atmosphere of the planet. "I suggest you enter one of the escape pods. I do not think I can safely land this vessel in its current state. I will endeavor to take us over the area of the stargate so that the pods will land near it and shorten our journey back."

Daniel walked over to one of the escape pods and stared at it. He'd already been in one of these things on two separate occasions, neither of which was a pleasant memory. He got in and strapped himself in, but left the door open, hoping Teal'c would pull off a miracle and actually land safely.


"The escape pods will launch in 10 seconds." Teal'c called as he strode to another pod, strapped himself in and closed the door.

Daniel closed his pod and didn't have to wait long for the sudden roller coaster feeling of the pod being launched and subsequently buffeted by air currents on its swift descent to the planet surface. This trip would surely come back to haunt him in future nightmares. Just when he thought he might lose his lunch, his pod hit the surface with a spectacular splash. The continued constant up and down motion of the pod told Daniel that he had landed in water and was currently floating. He decided to try to get out of the pod quickly before it realized it was probably too heavy to continue floating and sink.

Opening the door caused the pod to pitch to the side and tip over, dumping him into the water. He was in the middle of an extremely slimy pond. His one bit of good luck for the day was that it was only about waist deep, so he wouldn't drown. Or was that bad luck at this point? He started to move and found the pond had a very soft bottom and his boots kept getting stuck as he tried to trudge to the shore.

As he made his journey, he noticed that Teal'c's pod had landed in a tree. It was the only tree Daniel could see anywhere nearby. It had broken through the upper branches and came to rest in a vertical position in some lower branches, so that it was only about a foot off of the ground. The Jaffa only had to open the pod and step out onto solid ground. He waited for Daniel to work his way over to him.

By the time he had reached the shore, Daniel was muttering to himself. "Of course. Only tree and solid ground anywhere within sight and he manages to land there."

Teal'c just raised his eyebrow and started to stride in the direction of the stargate once Daniel had reached him.