Chapter 6

Connor insisted on coming with them, and Abby didn't want to take the time to argue with him. She made him pull a glove over the injured hand to help keep it clean; Jonas equipped them with night vision goggles and powerful torches and a warning to use one or the other, not both.

"This planet's so weird," Connor said cheerfully, pulling on his goggles and eyeing Abby.

"You love it," she told him.

"Well, yeah," he said. "C'mon. Who's got the engine?"

"I have," Teal'c told him, pulling his goggles on and resettling the backpack on his back.

"All ready?" Jonas asked, glancing at them before turning to start towards the Anomaly.

Abby wandered up to walk with him, showing him how to work the detector to pass the time. "It's not usually this sensitive," she told him. "We've just increased it for now, since we can't build ADDs on all these planets."

"ADDs?" he repeated.

"Anomaly Detecting Devices. The big one in the ARC. It's not practical to build it here."

"So why not use these on Earth?"

"We do, but with the smaller field. The balloon won't last forever; the ADD's the better choice there."

"I see," he said solemnly. "This says we're about two miles off?"

"Yeah, that's about right."

"Ow!" Connor said from behind them, waving her off when she turned. "Tripped and caught myself with my bad hand. It's nothing. Keep going."

"If you bloody up my bandage, Connor Temple," Abby warned him.

"Duly noted," he agreed. "Stop looking at me, you're making me nervous."

"A year surviving in the wild and me looking at you in a wood makes you nervous."

"It's the goggles. You're all green and creepy. I'm having Blair Witch flashbacks."

She laughed, turning to face forward again and pretending not to notice his exaggerated sigh of relief.

"Year in the wild?" Jonas repeated softly. "Don't tell me if you don't want to," he added at her look. "I'm just curious."

Abby considered him before looking over her shoulder. "Conn?"

"Mmm?"

"You wanna tell Jonas about our year off?"

"Sure," he agreed, speeding up until he could fall into step with her. "A couple of years ago, we were chasing a mad woman through the Anomalies, Abby and Danny and me. She was trying to wipe out humanity at the source, when we evolved."

"Is that possible?" Jonas asked with a frown.

"Wasn't for her; she got killed before she could do it. But Abby and me got stuck in the Cretaceous, and Danny was in the Pliocene."

"I'm not very familiar with the ages of your world," he said apologetically.

"Right, sorry. Cretaceous was – well, it doesn't matter how long; well before humans, and during the reign of some really vicious dinosaurs. Danny had proto humans, but also really angry bird things and other predators. Took us a year to get back home, on both sides; Danny was a few months after us on this side, but he'd only been gone six months."

Teal'c considered this. "Anomalies are very confusing."

"Yeah," Connor agreed with a laugh.

"You were trapped for a year?" Jonas asked.

"Yes. We managed, more or less." He glanced down in time to avoid a root on the ground, grinning proudly at Abby. "But I guess I've lost some skill since then."

"You're doing fine," Abby told him, tugging lightly at his arm to steer him around another root.

Connor grinned brightly. "I'd kiss you right now, but I think the goggles would get in the way."

"Probably," she agreed.

"Where's Danny now?" Jonas asked.

"Sorry?"

"You said he came back through, but he's obviously not on your team."

"Um." Connor blinked. "He went back through."

"Back to the Pliocene? Why?"

"Complicated...how far is it now?"

Jonas checked the detector. "About a mile and a half."

"Do they speak English on your world, or did you just learn really fast?"

"They speak English. A lot of worlds around the galaxy do, although some places have altered it through use."

"Yeah, I'm surprised it's so close to what we speak," Connor agreed. "I mean, even three hundred years ago English was a completely different language."

"It is odd," Jonas agreed. "The linguists in the SGC work on it sometimes."

"What about you?" Abby asked, glancing at Teal'c. "What do they speak on Chulak?"

"Goa'uld," Teal'c told her. "But I learned English when I was very young."

"Goa'uld," Connor repeated. "Is that your people?"

"No."

Connor winced at his tone, glancing at Abby, who shook her head and asked loudly, "Connor, throw us your canteen?" Connor obediently unhooked it and passed it to her, and the group travelled on in silence until Jonas looked down at the detector again.

"We're almost at the Anomaly," he told them. "We should take off the goggles, they'll be using torches."

"Aw," Connor complained, reluctantly pulling his off and hooking them on his belt.

"You didn't like it," Abby reminded him.

"I said it was giving me Blair Witch flashbacks. Doesn't mean I didn't like it. I can think of some fun we could have with these."

"Connor!" she hissed in protest. He grinned, looking forward as they crested the rise and saw lights and people milling around.

"There they are. Matt!" One of the figures raised a hand and the group headed down to join them.

"Nice to finally see you," Becker told them. "What happened to you?" he added, glancing at Connor's hand.

"Nothing. It's fine. What's going on?"

Matt explained the situation. "We were hoping your engine would clear some of the fog away," he finished up.

"It should do," Connor agreed, "but once the fog clears they'll start dying, and they'll probably explode when they do."

"Or they'll just go home and not explode at all," Becker pointed out.

"Yeah. Well, guess all we can do is try. Teal'c?"

"Teal'c?" Jack repeated, watching him.

"It seemed unnecessary to continue to keep it a secret," Teal'c said mildly.

"What secret is this?" Matt asked, taking the backpack and starting to rummage through it.

"His name's really Teal'c, not Murray – Matt, you're going to damage it if you pull it around like that. Let me."

"You can't possibly get a grip with that glove on your hand. I know what I'm doing." He shook the engine free, grinning at the look on Connor's face. "Can I hang onto this and use it?"

"You'll have to be really well braced. It's got a good kick. But yeah, in theory."

"Right." Matt glanced around.

"Here." Emily pointed her torch at a group of trees growing closely together.

"How do the trees grow?" Connor asked. "There's no sunlight on this side, right?"

"They don't photosynthesise," Carter told him. "They draw nutrients from the soil instead."

"But they're green."

She shrugged. "Green nutrients? I don't know, but they don't photosynthesise."

"Ready?" Becker asked, clapping Matt's shoulder.

"Yeah." He'd wedged himself in between the trees. "Connor, this'll do it?"

Connor came around the trees to eye him. "You're going to be bruised."

"Bruises I can handle, as long as this thing doesn't launch me into space or anything."

"It won't launch you into space. Here..." He tilted the engine, pointing it slightly higher. "Like that."

"Yeah?" Matt adjusted his grip. "Sure?"

"Trust me?"

"Not fair to ask that in front of the other kids."

Connor laughed, clapping him on the shoulder and retreating. "We should all back up a bit," he said more loudly. "And have our weapons ready. Matt's about to make a lot of very big worms very very angry."

Jack waved to his team to spread out around the edge of the hollow. Becker obeyed as well, stationing himself between Carter and Jonas; Emily, Connor and Abby arranged themselves on the other side of the hollow, closer to Matt. Connor was practically at his shoulder, ready in case the engine went haywire.

Matt touched the switch and the engine powered up; he jerked, holding onto it, and Connor made to go to help.

"Stay there," he ordered quickly. "I have it. Keep your eyes on that fog."

"You sure?" Connor demanded.

"I have it. You weren't lying about that kick, were you?"

"Masks on," Jack ordered, watching as everyone around the circle checked their masks. The fog under Matt's feet was already thinning, clearing away, and the worms were squealing in protest. "Here we go!"

Tuplo kindly provided water and towels, even though Jack had to refuse his hospitality again. The two teams scrubbed down quickly, clearing as much of the black gunk and general grime as possible. Some of the worms had exploded, but they'd been able to avoid being skewered by the death throes.

Melosha brought a healer to look at Connor's hand and Matt's bruises; both were pronounced essentially healthy, if uncomfortable. Connor kept his glove on to keep the bandage clean, and Matt swallowed painkillers from the ARC med kit and kept going.

Jack took Cameron to one side. "We need to be moving faster," he murmured. "Where are the SGC teams?"

"Running damage control. We've had reports of incursions through some of these Anomalies. We need Major Carter and Connor to get to work on fixing this."

"Right," Jack muttered. "Ok. Let's start getting locking mechanisms and those scanners out to the teams. You know how to use them?"

"Well enough. Abby showed Jonas, too, and I bet I can talk Matt into giving me Emily to help."

"Good luck with that. Make sure and tell him it wasn't my idea." Cameron saluted, heading off to look for Matt, and Jack went looking for Teal'c.

"We need to split up," he told him. Jonas was near enough to hear and turned with a frown. "We're not moving fast enough. Can I give you a locking mechanism and a booster and send you somewhere?"

"I believe I can operate the equipment," Teal'c agreed.

"Is it wise to split up?" Jonas asked. "If there are other Creatures coming through..."

"There're SGC teams on other planets, we just need to get to them. And Teal'c's probably safe on his own. The rest of us will stick in pairs or groups."

Cameron slunk back to them and Jack beamed widely at him. "How'd it go with Anderson?" Cameron made a face at him and he grinned. "Yeah, thought so. Come on, let's get going."

He gathered the others together near the 'Gate. "We need to split up," he announced. "Carter, Connor, we need to get a handle on this. I'm going to send you to the Tok'ra; they've reported this problem too, and once you get their Anomaly locked down they might be able to help with – you know, the math part."

"Math part," Connor echoed softly to Abby. "Makes me feel all warm inside."

"Shush," she told him.

"Anderson, I'll leave you to split your team, tell me what you're doing. You'll be meeting SGC teams wherever you end up going, all you'll need to do is walk them through the equipment."

"Got it," Matt agreed, drawing his team away some distance.

"Major Carter," Cameron said, "you should probably know right now Jacob is unavailable; you won't be seeing him with the Tok'ra."

"Another mission?"

"Mmm. They can't tell you anything about it; security risk. I'm sorry."

She waved it off. "Getting used to it. Thanks, Cam."

"Sure."

Matt came back to join them. "Emily and me, Abby's going with Connor, Becker with one of yours."

"Jonas," Jack ordered. "Orban's pretty quiet, and they like us well enough. Take him there."

"Sir," Jonas agreed, stepping to one side to explain Orban to Becker.

"Anderson, you're with me," Jack added. "Voice, you'll have to dial us out since you won't tell me where we're going."

"Yes sir. Let me go get in touch with one of the teams." Cameron headed for the 'Gate.

"And Voice! You're with the brain trust!"

"Yes sir!" drifted back to them.

"Is that us?" Connor asked Abby.

"Make you feel better about yourself?"

"Definitely better," he agreed with a grin.

"Good. Major Carter, what can you tell us about the Tok'ra?"

"About the planet," Connor added quickly. "I'm sure the people are lovely, but they don't matter so much right now."

"The Tok'ra move around," Carter said. "But they tend to stay on desert planets. They live in tunnels underground."

"Deserts," Connor repeated. "And tunnels."

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?"

Abby glanced sideways at him. "Conn?"

"No." He visibly shook himself. "No, it's fine. Let's just make sure we're not caught in any sandstorms, though?"

"No sandstorms," she promised gently. "I'll make sure. Look, go check the locking mechanisms, make sure they're ok to be handed out, yeah?"

"Yeah," he agreed distantly, heading away. Abby looked after him for a moment before turning to Carter.

"Is there a problem?" Carter asked quietly. "We can change the assignments."

"Is there a chance of sandstorms?"

"I don't know. Hang on." Looking around, she called "Cam?"

"Yep." Cameron came to join them, glancing back at Jack briefly.

"The Tok'ra planet. Desert?"

"Is it ever anything else?"

"Sandstorms?" Abby asked.

Cameron shook his head. "I haven't been there, but I don't think so. Not severe, anyway."

"Good," Abby murmured, relaxing.

"Is that important?"

"No. It's fine. Just gathering information. Thank you."

"Sure," he said slowly, looking at Carter. She shook her head and he headed back to rejoin the colonel.

"Abby, we can go somewhere else," Carter said again.

"No. It'll be fine. Don't worry about it, honestly."

"If you're sure."

Connor came back, absently stuffing a calculator into his pocket. "Major, your teams'll use the calculator, yeah? The more readings we get, the more chance we can fix this."

"They'll use it," Carter agreed. "It'll take a while for the readings to start coming back to us, though."

"Long as we get them at some point. Are we going?"

"I'll go find out," Carter offered, heading away.

Jack waited until the others were gone first before turning to Cameron. "Better get going, then. Where are we going?"

"We're going to see the Nox," Cameron told him, turning to the DHD.

"And you couldn't tell me that?"

"Sorry, sir." He pressed the home symbol and the 'Gate flared open.

"Who are the Nox?" Matt asked.

"Humanoid non humans. More or less allies." Jack glanced past him at Emily. "They like us well enough, but sort of the way we like dolphins or really clever dogs. They're further along than we are."

"I see."

"The last time we were on Gaia they'd buried the 'Gate."

"They've opened it to allow us through for this mission," Cameron told him.

"They can't possibly need our help dealing with Anomalies."

Cameron shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, sir, the 'Gate's open and they're expecting us."

Jack sighed. "Well, onwards, then." Cameron nodded, stepping easily through the 'Gate.

"We like the Nox?" Matt asked.

"Yeah. They're pretty ok." Jack waved them on ahead of him.

Nafrayu was waiting on the wide open plain on the other side of the 'Gate. "Colonel," he said politely, bowing his head.

"Nafrayu," Jack answered. "Shouldn't you be taller by now?"

The boy glanced down at himself. "We do not grow as quickly as you."

"No, of course you don't. Do you know Cameron Mitchell? And this is Matt, and Emily."

"It's very nice to meet you," Nafrayu told them.

"It's nice to meet you," Emily agreed.

"Nafrayu, are you having trouble with the Anomalies?"

"The Anomalies are here," Nafrayu agreed carefully. "Nothing has come through."

"Can you show us?"

He nodded, turning away. "This way."

"They don't look very advanced," Matt murmured softly.

"Appearances," Jack told him. "They like living in the woods for some reason. They've got whole flying hidden cities, though. Nafrayu! How are the others?"

"The others?" he repeated.

"Anteaus, and Lya, and Opher."

"Ah. They are very well, thank you."

"Good to know. Tell them I said hello."

He smiled faintly. "I will, Colonel O'Neill."

The hike to the Anomaly didn't take too long; it was hovering in the middle of a clearing in the forest. Nafrayu stood quietly to one side while Matt pulled out the calculator and aimed it at the Anomaly. "Late Pliocene," he said. "You're lucky nothing came through, Nafrayu, there were some very angry animals on Earth at that time."

"I am glad, then," Nafrayu told him. "We thought to go through, but Anteaus thought it would be dangerous."

"It would be," he agreed. "It wasn't a very safe time on Earth."

"Nafrayu, we can lock it down so nothing can get through," Jack told him. "If another one appears somewhere else, will you know about it?"

"We will know."

"Good. No need for the booster then, Matt. Just lock it and let's go. Nafrayu, is Anteaus around?"

"He is busy elsewhere. Is there a problem?"

"Do you want us to leave the locking machine? Will you use it if another Anomaly appears?"

"We will call you."

"Ok, but something dangerous might come through while you're waiting for us."

He shook his head, smiling gently. "Nothing will come through. We will wait for you."

Jack gave up. The Nox were pretty much always immovable once they'd decided on a plan. "All right, then. Make sure you do call us, won't you?"

"We will call you," he agreed.

"Good man." He stepped away, joining Matt as he set up the locking mechanism.

"You're not going to insist?" Emily asked.

"Wouldn't do any good. The Nox have some..." he caught himself just in time. "Beliefs that we don't," he said instead. "They're very hard to persuade into anything, and I don't think they're in danger from anything that might come through anyway."

Matt triggered the locking mechanism, watching the Anomaly shrink. "Nafrayu," he called, turning towards the boy. "Can I leave this machine here? It won't be in anyone's way or get damaged?"

"It's not in our way," Nafrayu told him, leaning closer to examine it. "This is how you seal the Anomalies?"

"Yes."

"It's a very clever machine."

"I'll tell Connor you said so." He checked the calculator once more before pocketing it and turning to Jack. "I'm done."

"Great. Let's head out. Voice, you got somewhere else for us to go?"

"Yes sir."

"Good." He tapped Nafrayu's head. "It's good to see you. Don't be a stranger."

The boy laughed. "You'll see me again, Colonel O'Neill."

"Good to know."

"It was nice to meet you, Emily and Matt," he added.

Emily smiled, holding out a hand for him to shake. "Thank you for letting us see your world, Nafrayu."

"Goodbye." He grinned before turning and darting off between the trees.

"I guess we're on our own for getting back?" Jack yelled after him.

"Don't tell me you can't find the way, Colonel O'Neill," Matt said in badly feigned surprise.

"You didn't exactly grow up in a forest, Matt," Emily reminded him.

"No, but I know how to pay attention to which way we're going."

"Unfortunately, that won't help here." Jack glanced around before choosing a random direction. "The Nox like to move things," he called over his shoulder.

"Does he know that's the wrong way?" Matt asked Cameron.

"Probably."

"It's this way!" Jack sing songed back at them.

Cameron shrugged, shaking his head. "Let's go."

Sam watched as Abby leaned over Connor's shoulder, pointing to something on a readout. She'd been with Connor constantly since they'd reached this planet, hanging on to him as they slogged through the sand and never out of arms' reach while they were in the tunnels. Connor himself seemed fine, if busy, talking a lot and constantly moving, going from one set of readings to another.

Thoran was watching from the doorway, frowning as Connor talked. "What's wrong?" San asked, pausing beside him.

To her surprise, the host answered. "He hasn't stopped. Not since he got here."

Sam frowned. "That's a day and a half."

"Yes. His friend..."

"Abby."

"Has brought food, or I don't think he'd have eaten. Are the reports so time consuming?"

"No. We've only started getting readings in in the last six hours or so." She turned to study them again; now that she was looking, she could see the edge of mania in Connor's movements. "Thanks for pointing it out."

"It's easier to see from the outside." He blinked and then Thoran added, "We need this fixed, and he can't fix it if he can't focus."

"True. Thank you." Sam stepped away from him, going to join Abby and Connor at the table.

"Sam!" Connor said brightly. His accent had thickened; tiredness, she thought. "Have you seen these readings?"

"Yes." Sam glanced down at them anyway; Connor's notes were scrawled all over the sheets, fading in and out of legibility. "Listen, we're not going to get any more readings for a while. Why don't the two of you get some rest? I'll work on these and I'll come and get you when we get anything else."

Connor froze for a second before turning away, picking up a random handful of sheets. "Nah, I think I'm in the flow right now."

"All right," Sam agreed lightly, catching Abby's eye. "Abby, do you want to go ahead? You haven't slept since we got here. I'll be here working on this."

Abby bit her lip, glancing at Connor; he was standing with his back to them, absently fiddling with something. "Conn?" she asked softly.

"Yeah." He turned, catching her hand and smiling at her. "You go on. Get some rest."

"Come with me."

"Can't. Not yet. 'm sorry."

"Take a radio," Sam said quietly. "The sleeping chambers aren't far, we'll call you."

"Thanks." Abby caught Connor's chin, drawing his eyes up to hers. "Tell Sam what's wrong," she told him.

"Yeah."

"Promise?"

"Promise. Go on. I'll come in a bit."

Abby nodded, brushing her fingers over his cheek before turning away. Sam stared steadily at the readouts until Connor sat next to her, sighing.

"It's stupid," he said after a minute.

"They call them 'phobias' for a reason, Connor."

"Isn't really a phobia. It – a while back, I fell through an Anomaly. A future one; a bad place, all sand and rock, dead and dying. Sandstorms and poisoned wind, nearly choked me to death – Matt came through after me, him and Abby, and we found tunnels, but it was bad down there too. Dark and small and things coming after us. It nearly killed us just getting back to the Anomaly."

Sam nodded slowly. "We can go somewhere else, Connor. We don't have to be on this world."

"It's just a stupid – there aren't even sandstorms on this world, and the tunnels here aren't anything like the ones there. And we've stopped that future anyway, it isn't going to happen."

"Knowing it and knowing it are two different things." She thought for a moment. "We haven't told you about the Goa'uld, have we?"

"It's a language," Connor said blankly. "Teal'c speaks it."

Sam blinked in surprise. When had Connor learned that? "That too. But it's also a race of aliens, parasites. They take over your body and control – what's wrong?"

Connor shook his head quickly. "Nothing. Go on. Parasites."

"They control the host body. Mostly they're evil megalomaniacs, and they take hosts by force. The Tok'ra, though, are a faction who fight the Goa'uld, and they take willing hosts only."

"Those guys?" Connor glanced towards the door. Something was shadowing his face, some problem she didn't understand.

She nodded, though, continuing. "We came into contact with them first because a Tok'ra operative, undercover on a world we just happened to be visiting, was injured beyond hope of recovery and she jumped from her host into the nearest person."

Connor turned back to look at her. "You."

"Me," she agreed. "It worked out fine; we gained new allies."

"And you're alone in there?" His eyes drifted up to her forehead before he jerked them back to her face.

"I'm alone in here," she agreed with a smile. "But sometimes, here on their bases, I get – well, the colonel calls it good sense. I call it paranoid, and annoying. Either way..."

"Right," Connor said vaguely.

"It isn't a failing. We don't often come to Tok'ra bases; they usually come to us. I talked my father into becoming a host for them, to serve as our liaison. I trust them and I know they wouldn't jump me here in the middle of their base." She caught and held his gaze. "But it itches, sometimes."

"That's it exactly. It itches inside me brain." He scrubbed a hand through his hair, sighing.

"You should try and rest," Sam told him. "I know it seems counter intuitive, but the more tired you are the harder it will be to focus on anything, and the more paranoid you'll get. Get some rest now before the next lot of readings come in."

"Yeah." Connor rubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah. Look, I made a lot of notes there. I'm pretty sure I can decipher them, once the room stops moving. Just ignore them for now."

"I will. Go on. You remember where the rooms are?"

"Right, second left. Got it."

Sam watched him out, signalling the nearest Tok'ra to keep an eye on him, and returned to the desk to try and sort through the pages he'd left behind.