Chapter 2: Something So Wrong
Jack dropped everything and ran up the hill towards the temple and sounds of distress as fast as his legs could carry him. Abruptly, the screaming cut off, within only a minute or two of having started, but it still seemed like an eternity to Jack who was still too far away to aid his teammates. The sudden silence seemed unnaturally loud in the absence of sound, and his steps pounded into the loose stone and worn dirt path. He took the last few steps two at a time; not caring for his own safety, his weapon at the ready, every sense alert, but the only noise was the sound of his own harsh breathing.
Flattening against the wall, Jack pressed himself around the doorway, alert for any signs of danger or attack, but even as he dropped to one knee, his P-90 held at the ready, finger tight against the trigger, eyes scanning the area, he spied no one else in the room and nothing out of the ordinary. Rising cautiously to a half crouch, Jack made his way carefully into the temple, checking all the corners and looking above, but all he saw were three motionless green forms lying near the alien device. "Carter? Teal'c? Daniel?" he called softly, but they didn't stir.
His eyes flicked over to the machine that had been the center of their scrutiny earlier, and the main reason for their visit, but it was silent, not giving him any clues as to what had just occurred here. What had happened while he was outside, on Carter's errand? Had Carter disobeyed him, and activated the machine against his express orders? He didn't think so, but perhaps it had been unintentional. Or perhaps Daniel or Teal'c had inadvertently moved something. Or maybe his very leaving the room had caused something. Perhaps it was nothing any of them had done. Or maybe the machine had nothing to do with anything; it certainly looked harmless now, and didn't appear to be doing anything at the moment. Whatever the cause, Jack's mind was focused only on one problem, the well being of his team.
He continued to approach his fallen teammates, still scanning for hidden dangers, and his jaw hardened as he realized that Teal'c and Carter were clinging to each other, their arms wrapped around each other's body, and he knew that whatever had made the three of them scream minutes earlier would have had to have been intensely painful to incite such a reaction in such hardened warriors. His eyes fell on the prone form of Daniel Jackson, who was stretched out not all that far from the other two, one arm outstretched, as if he was reaching for his two companions. Carter had one arm flung out towards Daniel, as if she too were trying to reach the younger man as well, their fingers nearly meeting.
It was then, as he looked at the fingertips, that were nearly swallowed in the sleeves of the green uniforms that suddenly seemed too large, that Jack got his first clue, even from his position several feet away, that there was something drastically wrong, something so radical, so completely mind shattering it was enough to stop him in his tracks. He stared in amazement, jaw opened in shock, feet rooted to the spot unmoving. Because Jack O'Neill had just realized that the hands visible inside the uniform sleeves were not the familiar, strong, calloused hands he was used to seeing on his teammates, but instead were the small, soft, underdeveloped hands of children.