When You're Not Strong

by BullDemon

While stranded in an off world storm, a seemingly harmless artifact leaves a member of SG1 fighting for their life

2. Chapter 2

It had taken them less than an hour to sort through the supplies recovered off the FRED as much of it had been damaged when the Gate disengaged prematurely. There had yet to be any word on the condition of their fallen leader, and the silence from the neighboring room was beginning to take its toll on their patience. Each one worked wordlessly on their own project as they waited, the quiet air filled only with the muted sounds of the continuing storm.

Sam sat closest to the closed bunk area door, surrounded by several pieces of the DHD that had been blown off in the initial strike. Printed plans for the device had miraculously survived the disastrous trip through the Gate, and she was now working on identifying the pieces they had recovered. Daniel was back to work on the large artifact, the gentle scraping sounds of his picks and brushes occasionally heard over the driving rain. Teal'c had positioned himself next to the shuttle's only entrance, and seemed to be completely mesmerized by the game of Solitaire he was engaged in.

"Hey, I think I found another…uh-oh…" Daniel's words dropping off as suddenly as they had begun

She glanced up from her work. "What?"

Looking slightly guilty, Daniel stood up and brought her the awkwardly shaped artifact. "I don't think Jack's going to like this."

Painted on the back of the largest sphere was a glyph depicting an owl holding a key in its talons.

"That is the symbol of the goddess Hecate," Teal'c replied, having abandoned his game out of curiosity.

"Who?"

Daniel adjusted his fallen glasses. "Hecate's the Greek goddess of the underworld, darkness, and witchcraft. She also was known as the goddess of crossroads and change, both for the good and bad."

"So…she's a Goa'uld?"

"She was a Goa'uld," Teal'c explained, his face void of emotion. "Although her reign was brief, Hecate was well revered, protecting those who served her. It was for this reason that she was seen as an outcast among the System Lords."

"A good Goa'uld?"

"Well, that all depends on how you define the word good," Daniel began. "I mean, she did use humans as her personal slaves and ultimately ruled over them with fear."

"Hecate also used her understanding of dark magic to invoke fear in those who would challenge her power," Teal'c explained. "It was said she could destroy an entire harvest with a single pass of her torch, leaving the unfaithful servants to starve. I can recall several accounts of this tactic being employed while I was still in service to Apophis, both towards her own servants and those of other System Lords."

"So what happened to her?"

"The details of her demise are unknown," the Jaffa replied. "It is rumored she was finally overrun by her own slaves in a revolt after she destroyed their yearly harvest when they failed to offer her an acceptable sacrifice."

All heads turned when the crews' quarters door slid open and Janet emerged wearing a bleak expression.

"How is he?" Daniel asked anxiously.

"Asleep at the moment. He slept through most of the exam, actually."

Teal'c frowned. "That is most unlike him."

"Yeah, it is."

"So what did you find?" Sam pushed, moving over to make room for her friend to sit beside her on the floor.

"Well, like I told you earlier, I won't know a whole lot until we get home and I can run some tests, but there's definitely something going on. His vitals are all elevated, and he's running a temperature of around 102. He's got a minor infection started in the wound on his hand, however I'm more concerned about the extensive deep tissue swelling that's surrounding it. As for the spasms he's experiencing, they appear to be concentrated to his abdominal region at the moment, although there are indications that they're starting to spread through most of his lower body."

"What do you perceive to be the cause of this condition?"

"I'm not sure, Teal'c, but if I had to make a guess based solely on his symptoms, I'd have to lean towards exposure to some sort of agent that affects the neurological system."

Daniel snorted. "Neurological? Jack's having bad muscle spasms, not…"

"Something is telling his muscles to contract, and that all starts up here," Janet said, tapping her head.

"Can you help him?" Sam asked, unconsciously wringing her hands together.

"Until I have a better understanding of what's going on, I'm reluctant to introduce anything other than basic saline into his system. If we are dealing with a neurological disorder, anything I give him for pain could potentially make things worse."

"And that means what? He has to keep toughing things out until we get the DHD fixed? Janet that could take days!"

She raised a hand to quiet him down. "I realize that, Daniel, and I am prepared to step in and help if things get any worse. For right now though, he seems to be handling things fairly well on his own."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"I'd like to have someone sitting with him at all times, so I'll definitely need your help with that. Otherwise, just keep working on our DHD problem." The doctor looked at the solemn faces that surrounded her. "I'm sorry, guys. I wish there was more I could do, but…"

"No," Daniel began through a sigh as he rubbed a kink from his sore neck. "Just your willingness to be here is enough. We're just worried, that's all."

The small woman offered her friends an understanding smile as she got to her feet. "Listen, I'd better get back to him in case he needs anything. Sam, if you're up to it, I could use a little help organizing some supplies." After helping her friend to stand up amidst the random pieces of the DHD, she turned to add: "Try to stay positive, guys. We'll get through this."

Neither man said a word as the two women left the bridge, their minds still processing what they had been told. It was Daniel who finally broke the silence with a frustrated grunt as he picked up the misshapen artifact and returned to his corner. "So much for good news…"

"Do not worry, Daniel Jackson. I believe he has the will to survive."

"All the will in the Universe won't matter if we don't get Jack home soon," the younger man muttered almost bitterly.

"Captain Carter has not failed us in the past," Teal'c said confidently as he resumed his abandoned card game. "I am confident she will soon arrive at a solution to our problem."

"I hope you're right, Teal'c," Daniel replied, starting to scrape away the dried mud and ash from the relic once again. "I really hope you're right."

SG1SG1SG1

Janet observed Jack with clinical interest as she gently wrapped her fingers around his wrist and began timing his pulse, discouraged by the paleness of his skin. He was finally asleep after having experienced another set of powerful spasms a short time before, his strength reserves all but gone. The painful episode had lasted for nearly 10 minutes, during which time she found the muscles of his lower back and legs to be contracting almost as severely as his abdomen.

Finding his vitals to be satisfactory for the moment, the doctor quickly checked the condition of the IV she had started earlier before turning around to see how her friend was doing. "Any luck?"

Sam looked up, with a shrug, from the DHD plans she had spread across the adjacent lower bunk. "I've managed to identify five of the seven parts that were knocked loose by the strike. They seem to be in good shape too – or at least I can't find any obvious signs of damage."

"Well, that's good," Janet said as she sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up one of the oddly shaped device pieces.

"Yeah, but unless we find a way to discharge the extra energy from the DHD itself, all this means nothing," Sam replied, dropping down heavily beside her. "I mean even if we were able to dial out now, the extra power would probably just cause the wormhole to jump to another destination, possibly damaging both Gates in the process."

"Any thoughts on how to do that yet?"

"Other than waiting for the energy to dissipate on its own, no. And like Daniel said before, that could take days. Maybe longer."

Both turned to look at Jack when he shifted uncomfortably and moaned quietly in his sleep.

"I don't think we have that long…"

"I know!" the Captain nearly shouted, her face immediately turning red with embarrassment for her outburst. Running a hand through her hair, she forced herself to continue in a much quieter tone. "I know. But, Janet, my mind is so full of stuff right now, I hardly even know what I'm doing."

The doctor reached out and squeezed her friend's arm. "Well, I think you're doing a fine job. Everyone's under a lot of stress right now, both with the Colonel being down and dealing with the fact we're stranded on some alien planet. Have you stopped to consider that maybe you're thinking about this too hard?"

"No."

"Listen. Why don't you go take some time for yourself? Go sit and listen to the rain, read, take a nap – just go do something other than work on the DHD for a while. You might be surprised what you'll come up with after a break."

Puffing out a sigh, Sam looked at her caring friend. "At this point I'll try anything."

Janet nodded her approval. "Well in that case, I don't want to see you back here for at least three hours. And I mean it, Sam. Doctor's orders."

"Yes, ma'am." Reluctantly moving away from her work, the Captain stood up and slowly made her way toward the back of the shuttle. About half way there, she stopped and looked back. "Oh, and Janet?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"We're on a moon, not a planet."

Rolling her eyes, the doctor smiled and shook her head. "Get out of here."

With a mischievous grin, Sam pulled open the door that led into the small engine room and stepped inside to enjoy her time alone.

SG1SG1SG1

Late that afternoon, Daniel found himself alone on the bridge with his work. He was still picking away at the relic, the small piles of dirt at his feet evidence that he was slowly making progress. Despite the amount of material he was removing, the object's basic, overall shape hadn't changed much. There were still two spheres – one the size of a basketball, the other a grapefruit – that were joined side by side. The larger sphere sported five intricately painted glyphs, while the smaller one remained blank. It did, however, have four golf ball sized spheres attached along one side, and he was quite sure there would be another four along the opposite side. As he worked, he kept thinking that he recognized the shape, but for some reason he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Hearing the door to the crew's quarters open, Daniel looked over the top of his glasses to see who had entered. "Hi, Janet."

The doctor gave him a small wave as she sat down on the floor beside him. "Hey."

"How's Jack doing?"

"He's recovering from another round of spasms, but they didn't seem to be as bad as the last ones."

"Sam and Teal'c?"

"Teal'c's with the Colonel, and I ordered Sam to take a few hours for herself before she burnt out," she replied, watching as he rubbed his weary eyes and sighed. "And it looks like maybe I should order you to do the same."

Daniel immediately snapped out of his funk at her words. "Oh, no, I'm fine. I've just forgotten how tedious this part of the job can be since I usually have the archeological team back at the SGC do it. It's fun though – like old times."

"What are you doing anyway?" she asked, looking at the dusty object cradled in his lap.

"Slowly striping away this ancient compacted mud and old volcanic ash," he explained, holding up the dental pick he was currently using. "I've got some stuff back home that will soften this stuff right up, but for now, the old fashion method seems to be the best way to go."

Janet reached out and brushed her fingertips across the smooth surface of the largest sphere. "Any thoughts on what it is?"

"No. Not yet anyway. I want to say the shape is familiar, but I just can't quite put my finger on it. And the glyphs, especially the arachnids, have me at a total loss."

"What's this?" she muttered, having found the wax that he'd wrapped around the metal prongs.

"It's what I think Jack cut himself on when he helped me pull it from the pile of ruins," he explained, gently prying the wax off to reveal the sharp points underneath.

"They almost look like teeth or fangs of some sort…" the doctor remarked as she ran her finger along their gentle curve. When her hand stopped just shy of their obviously sharp points, she thought she felt the golden prongs move ever so slightly. "Did you know they were loose?"

"What?" Taking the dental pick, he firmly tapped each one to find it solidly embedded in the stone above it. "Are you sure?"

"I swear I felt them move…" she uttered, rummaging through her pockets and pulling out a pen. Slipping it behind the curve of the prongs, she slowly lifted up on the pen, her eyes widening as they began to move forward. Increasing the pressure slightly, she tipped the fangs further until a thick, opaque substance oozed out onto her pen.

"Hello…" Daniel uttered, just as surprised as the doctor was.

Slowly withdrawing the pen as not to disturb the small droplets of liquid now clinging to it, she carefully handed it off to the archeologist. "Try not to tip it."

"W-wait, where are you going?" he asked nervously as she stood and made her way to the corner where the supplies were being kept.

"To get a culture kit. Just sit tight," she said, kneeling down to sort through her bags.

Swallowing hard, Daniel looked down at the drops of mysterious liquid like they were made of nitroglycerin. He wasn't so much nervous as he was excited, curious to know what it was they had just discovered. "What is it?"

Settling back down on the floor beside him, Janet began to open up a sterile swab to collect the substance. "I'm not sure…" With a steady hand, she quickly touched the tip of the swab to the opaque liquid, the cotton readily absorbing it. "You said this is what you thought Colonel O'Neill cut himself on, right?"

"Yeah," he replied, watching as she deposited the sample into a clean test tube, sealed it, and made note of what it was on the side. "It's the only sharp contact point I could find. Why?"

"Well, this is just a guess, but if he managed to trigger the movement of the prongs and had any of this substance contaminate the wound, it could be what's responsible for making him sick – there might even be traces of it left in the gash…"

He picked up the relic and began studying the prongs more closely. "What? Like a drug or something?"

The doctor shrugged as she returned to her gear to pack the sample away with the others she had collected. "It could be a drug or a poison of some sort. I won't know for sure until we can have it analyzed back at the lab."

"I can't believe I didn't notice that they moved before…" he muttered, his hands getting dangerously close to the sharp points.

"Ah, Daniel, do we have a case or something we could put that in?"

"Yeah, we should. How come?"

"Daniel, I know you're not going to like this, but I don't want anyone touching that relic until we get it back home and under controlled conditions."

The younger man's face fell. He hadn't been expecting her to say that. "What? But, Janet…"

"If there's even the slightest chance that this is what's making the Colonel sick, I don't want to risk having anyone else exposed to it."

"At least let me work on the other side…"

She shook her head firmly. "There could be more of them still hidden under the mud. I realize you're eager to study it, Daniel, but please try to understand where I'm coming from."

His expression solemn, Daniel walked over to the supply corner and found one of the padded cases that had come on the FRED. Carefully placing the relic inside, he gave it a final long look before snapping down the lid.

"Thank you," she said quietly, seeing the disappointment in his eyes. "It's difficult, I know."

"Yeah, but you're right, it could be dangerous. It's no problem, really. I've got other stuff I can work on anyway."

"Good," she said, giving his arm a gentle squeeze. Gathering up the few items she had excavated from her gear, she turned and headed back toward the bunk area, leaving the scientist staring pensively at the sealed box in his hands.

SG1SG1SG1

"So even if we knew how the engines were fueled, I still doubt they'd start," Sam explained as she helped her friend unwind the bandage that was wrapped around Jack's hand. She was seated at his side; his wounded hand held firmly between her two gloved ones. "There's so much build up and corrosion around most of the integral parts, I think it would just overheat and burn itself out before it even left the ground."

"Well, that's too bad," Janet replied, adjusting the angle of her portable light so she could see the exposed wound more clearly. "It'd be a lot easier for you to study if we could get it home."

"Yeah, it would," she agreed, trying not to watch too closely as the doctor began to examine the crimson, oozing cut on her CO's palm. "Although I'm not sure how useful anything about this ship could be. I mean there're definitely no weapons and the engines aren't worth much. Maybe as an antique…"

Janet nodded and glanced up to check on Jack when she felt him flinch under her probing fingers. "Well, if it was caught in the lava flow like you believe it was, what do you think prevented it from burning up?"

The Captain cocked her head – she hadn't considered that.

"I should have done this earlier…there's a lot more swelling than before," the doctor muttered as she retrieved two sterile swabs from their wrappers. "Okay, Sam, he's probably not going to appreciate this very much -- are you ready?"

"Yeah, sure," Sam replied nervously as she braced Jack's hand against her leg.

Placing her left hand over his thumb to open the wound as much as possible, Janet slowly guided the swabs in as deep as she could before gently rolling them over the raw surface of the wound.

Uttering a curse from his semi-conscious state, Jack stirred and made a weak attempt to pull his hand away from the new source of pain. When he found that he couldn't, he cursed even louder and began to squirm.

"Almost there, sir…" Janet said, increasing her grip on his thumb to help keep him steady.

Doing her best to hold his hand still, Sam looked away and bit down hard on her lip to keep from succumbing to the dizziness and nausea that was being triggered by his pained shouts.

"Damn…damn it…Doc…stop!" he cried, his tone close to begging. He felt a final grating scrape across the length of the wound before the worst of the pain finally subsided, although his hand continued to throb in time with his racing heart.

"All right, I'm done. Sam, get pressure on that wound," she instructed as she quickly sealed the bloodied swabs in a sterile bag. When her friend didn't move, the doctor turned to see that her complexion had become almost as pale as the Colonel's. "Sam, you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah – I-I'm fine, Janet," Sam replied in an unsteady voice. "I guess my stomach's just not as strong as it used to be when it comes to things like this."

"That just means you care," she said, offering her a sympathetic smile before motioning toward the wad of gauze she still had clutched between her fingers. "Keep as much pressure on his hand as he'll allow, okay?"

Nodding, she placed the thick dressing over the readily bleeding wound and held it as tight as she dared. Looking up to check on her CO, Sam was troubled when she saw him in obvious distress with his eyes tightly shut, breathing hard, and his face bathed in sweat. "Is he going to be all right?"

Dampening a small cloth, the doctor returned to his side and began wiping down his flushed skin. "Don't worry -- He's just in a mild state of shock. He should come around shortly."

The two women sat in silence as they watched and waited for their superior to show signs of recovering, both of them becoming concerned by how long it was taking. It was a good ten minutes before he began to visibly relax, and an additional five before he began to stir.

"Colonel?" Janet called quietly, hoping to raise his attention. She watched as he slowly opened his blurry eyes and began taking in his surroundings. "You okay?"

"That hurt," he answered, his voice tired and strained.

"I know – I had to take a culture of your wound, sir," she explained, continuing to wipe his face with the cloth. "I'm sorry."

He looked at her for a moment, his dark eyes glassy and unfocused. "S'okay, Doc," he uttered at last, offering her a slight grin to show there were no hard feelings.

"Just try to relax, Colonel," she said with a warm smile. "I'll rewrap your hand in a minute, all right?"

With a nod, Jack draped his free arm over his eyes and sighed deeply, trying to calm his adrenaline fueled body.

"You hanging in there?" Janet asked as she gathered up the items she no longer required.

"Yeah, I think so," Sam replied, her voice slightly steadier than it had been earlier. "I'm sorry, Janet."

"For what -- getting queasy? Don't worry about it, Sam. It happens to the best of us," she said, lightly squeezing her arm. "Besides, you both handled it just fine."

The Captain smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, I need to go put this stuff away and grab a few things to bandage his hand. You going to be all right here alone for a few minutes?"

"Sure."

"Great. I'll be right back."

Watching as her friend left the small bunk area, Sam shut her eyes and allowed herself a moment to settle down.

You're getting soft, Sam… she scolded herself. You've got a job to do…you can't be fainting at the sight of a little blood…

But even she knew there was more to it than that. She had been in combat. She had seen and even helped with the casualties and coped better than most.

It's him…for a moment you were part of his pain and there wasn't a thing you could do about it… Suddenly feeling guilty for agreeing to help out with the procedure, she began to rub the back of her CO's hand with her thumb.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said quietly, just as Janet returned.

"Did I miss anything?" the doctor asked, setting down her supplies and readjusting the portable light.

"Nope, not even a peep."

"Good. Now, let's get that wound redressed and than we can…" Her words dropped off as the small light flickered wildly for a few seconds before going out completely. "Talk about impeccable timing…"

"What?"

"Oh, the batteries just died," she uttered, holding up the now dark light. "Again. I've always thought we'd be better off if we didn't rely so much on mechanical devices…"

"I sure wish the DHD would do that…"

Janet raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"

"Run out of energy. At least then we could use a secondary power source and manually dial out," Sam said, automatically slipping into explanation mode when her friend looked confused. "Basically the DHD is like a big battery that's been overcharged. Now, we need to bleed out some of that extra energy before it'll work again, but we can't even put our hands on it to do that without running the risk of being electrocuted."

"It's too bad you can't get the energy to leave the DHD and go into something else that can safely hold a charge that big," the doctor suggested, locating the room's lighting controls and turning them up slightly.

"Believe me, I've thought through everything – I've even considered throwing sticks at the damn thing just to get it to…" she stopped, an idea beginning to form in the back of her mind. "What did you have in mind?"

"Oh, it's nothing – what you said made me think about how my car battery died last winter and I had to get a jump from a neighbor who had this huge truck," Janet said, starting to clean the dried blood from Jack's hand. "First time I'd been late to work in years."

"High voltage energy leaving one source and safely going into another…Janet, you're a genius!"

"Sam?" she asked, delighted to see the broad smile that had appeared on the young woman's face.

Resting her superior's hand against her leg, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small notebook. "You may have just given me an idea."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Well, imagine that." After watching her friend hastily make notes in her book for a moment, Janet shook her head and began to work on bandaging the Colonel's hand.

For the first time in nearly 24 hours, things were finally starting to look up.

SG1SG1SG1

Several hours later found Sam leaning over the spare lower bunk, the top of it littered with scraps of paper and various drafting tools. She had been diligently at work on the idea that the doctor had inadvertently given her, her mind totally absorbed in its many formulas, notations, and complex equations.

After checking on her sleeping patient, Janet came up behind her friend to see what she was up to. "How's it going?"

"All right," Sam replied with small shrug. "Although the more I try to work this through, the more I think it's going to be a long shot."

"A long shot's better than nothing, Sam," she said before continuing with a smile. "And as a member of SG-1, I thought you'd realize that by now."

"Yeah, I know."

Both officers turned toward the bridge door when it slid open to admit Daniel.

"Hi, guys," he said, mindfully keeping his voice down. "Everything okay?"

Janet nodded. "Seems to be at the moment. How about you?"

"We're hanging in there. How's Jack doing?"

"He's been fairly quiet for the past few hours," she replied, moving aside a calculator and drawing compass so she could sit down. "I hope that he's finally getting some much needed rest."

The archeologist nodded and produced an object that was wrapped in a white cloth from behind his back. "Well, I know you two are busy and I won't keep you, but I have something I really want to show you guys."

"What is it?" Sam asked, setting her work aside and accepting the item for closer inspection.

"What do you think it is?" he questioned, wrapping his arms around his chest.

The two women looked at each other for a moment in question before turning their attention to the surprisingly heavy object. Shaped like a rough rectangle, the artifact was about the size and thickness of a dinner plate, with a slight concave curve. As far as they could tell through the remaining clay, its outer surface was a dark muddy brown with deep, random lines running through it. The inside of the curve was smooth to the touch and colored with a much lighter tan.

"This came from the pile of ruins?" she asked as she passed it over to the small doctor.

"Yeah – I picked it up at the time because of its unique shape. Teal'c discovered the lines when he was clearing away the first few layers of mud."

Janet lifted an eyebrow. "Teal'c?"

The young man shrugged nonchalantly. "He wanted something to do, so I showed him some basic excavation techniques. He's still got a ways to go, but…"

"Ah."

"Well, assuming this is the outside," Sam began, pointing to the brown, rutted surface. "…It almost looks like the bark off a tree."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" her friend agreed, turning to Daniel to discover a boyish grin on his face. "What?"

"I was hoping you'd say that," he said, gingerly reclaiming the still muddy object.

"Why?"

"There were other pieces like this back at the wreckage site – quite a few of them actually. I wasn't sure what to make of it at the time, but then I got to thinking about the uniqueness of the other artifact. What if that pile of rock was once an altar and the relic was some sort of spiritual centerpiece?"

"An altar?" Janet asked. "Daniel, that looks like it came off a tree."

"But what if the altar was a tree? Or, more specifically, a willow tree."

"Hecate!" Sam uttered, understanding where her teammate was going.

"What?"

"It's a who, actually. Hecate was the Greek goddess of change, life, and darkness. We found her symbol on the relic Daniel's talking about."

The petite doctor shook her head. "I'm sorry, but what does this have to do with an altar made to look like a tree?"

"Like any god, Hecate is associated with certain items or ideas," Daniel explained, his excitement growing as he spoke. "I'd have to double-check my books, but I'm pretty sure she was connected to wild animals, dogs, torches and trees. Willow trees."

"You think the people who lived here were in service to her?" Sam inquired.

"A Goa'uld with her persona, yes. I mean it all adds up: the willow forest, an altar made to look like a tree, a unique relic with her symbol on it… "

"So where is this Hecate now?" Janet interrupted, her interest on the topic building.

"Dead, according to Teal'c. Apparently she wasn't too popular among the System Lords and her disappearance has remained a mystery to them."

Daniel lightly ran his fingers across the textured surface of the artifact still amazed at how much it felt like real tree bark. "Everything we've come up with so far is just speculation, of course. I'm hoping the scrolls we found will have more information about her and the people who once lived here."

Janet shook her head. "You know, I never knew how much a rock could tell you until I met Daniel."

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'I'm hearing voices,'" Sam added, both women bursting into stifled snickers at his expense.

The archeologist rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks, guys. And to think I actually thought you were on my…"

"Shh!" the doctor hissed sharply and held up a hand to quiet him. Plunging the small room into silence, she focused her attention on trying to determine what had caught her attention.

"What?" Sam whispered just as she picked up on the barely audible moan herself.

Janet's face became heavy with apprehension as stood to check on her CO, already knowing there was something wrong even before she had drawn back the thick blanket that covered his restless form. "Colonel?"

Although Jack was curled up facing the wall, she could still tell he was in a great deal of pain just by his rigid posture and labored breathing. Placing the back of her hand against his fevered face, the doctor grimaced as she felt the uncontrolled tremors that were shaking his body. "What's wrong, sir? Is your stomach hurting you?"

He nodded as he turned his face into the pillow with a muted grunt, another wave of spasms overwhelming him.

Pushing away the blanket, she began to gently feel along his side, back, and legs, disturbed by the speed and intensity of his rapidly tightening muscles.

"What is it?" Sam questioned, hovering anxiously beside her.

"Another muscle spasm -- they're definitely affecting his entire lower body now," she replied, cringing sympathetically when he uttered a pained groan and weakly tried to push her probing hands away. "I'm sorry, sir, I know it hurts."

"Is O'Neill's condition worsening?" Teal'c asked, his sudden appearance in the doorway startling his distracted teammates.

"It looks that way."

"But you're going to give him something, right?" Daniel inquired, occasionally able to see his friend's muscles rippling unnaturally from where he stood. "You said if he got worse…"

Janet sighed hesitantly as she took a step back to allow Sam to sit at Jack's side. "Realistically speaking, I don't know if I can. Should the medication interact with whatever is making him sick, there's virtually nothing I could do to stop a reaction if one started."

As her colleagues continued to converse in the background, the Captain reached out and rested a hand on her superior's arm in hopes of offering him some comfort. Recoiling slightly at her touch, Jack immediately curled himself into a tighter ball and tried burying his face deeper into the pillow. His apparent attempt to hide just about breaking her heart, Sam gathered his fisted hand into both of hers and gave it a small squeeze.

"Colonel, it's me – it's Carter. Can you hear me?" When he didn't respond, she sighed and began to gently rub his hand. "I'm sorry you're in pain, sir. I really wish there was something I could do to help." As she continued to rub his hand, she gradually became aware that something warm and sticky was slowly coating her palm. Lifting her hand into the light, she gasped when she found streaks of fresh blood on her skin. "Janet, he's bleeding."

The first thing that crossed the petite doctor's mind was that he'd reopened gash on his right hand, but all thoughts of this were scrubbed out the moment she saw the worry in her friend's eyes. "What is…? Oh my god…" As she approached his bedside, she felt more then a pang of clinical compassion when she saw what had happened. At some point during the worst of his pain, he had made such a tight fist of his left hand that his fingernails cut deeply into the soft flesh of his palm to create a raw, bleeding sore.

"Janet," Sam said, her voice breaking slightly. "Damn the risks."

The doctor frowned and turned her gaze back to Jack, her thoughts reeling over what to do next. In accepting her role as a physician, she had sworn to help people in need and to ultimately do them no harm. But now, as she watched her CO and close friend struggling against an unidentified foe, she found herself between the proverbial rock and hard place. By administering the drugs to help control his pain, she would be opening the door for a potentially fatal reaction, and that was unacceptable. However, by not doing anything at all, she was allowing someone she cared for to suffer needlessly all because she was afraid to take a calculated risk. She knew all too well that prolonged suffering was harmful to the human mind and body, and in some cases it could even lead to death. This was also unacceptable.

"All right," she replied quietly and ducked out of the room to get her gear.

"Just hang on, Jack," Daniel said, kneeling down beside him as they waited for her to return. "We're all right here with you, okay?"

The older man nodded but made no attempt to look up. He was still in a tremendous amount of pain as his muscles continued to spasm and seize, making him wish for nothing more than the welcoming refuge that only unconsciousness would provide. But for some cruel reason, its beckoning pull would not come.

Janet returned a moment later with a loaded syringe clutched in her hands. "I want to warn you guys that I have no idea how he's going to react to this. You might want to move back." When neither of her friends made any attempt to move away, she sighed and slowly began introducing the drug through her superior's IV line.

At first nothing seemed to happen. Jack remained tightly curled up with his face hidden deeply within the pillow under his head. Several tense moments passed before they could see that the medication was starting to work, his tense body gradually beginning to relax as the severe pain was reduced to a dull ache.

"That's it, Jack," Daniel said as his colleague gave a shuddering sigh. "Just let it help."

"Is his reaction favorable, Doctor Fraiser?" Teal'c asked, watching attentively as she timed his pulse.

"So far, so good," she said, feeling the rapid but steady throbbing beneath her calibrated fingers. "Can I have some help moving him to his back?"

Trusting the supporting hands of his teammates, Jack gave no resistance as they carefully repositioned him on the mattress.

"He's been crying…" Sam muttered, a knot instantly forming in her throat when she saw the distinct trails of moisture leading from his dark brown eyes. "Colonel, I am so sorry…" she said, gently wiping the sweat and tears from his face. It was the first time in the several years she had been with SG-1 that she'd seen her CO break down, and it was beyond painful for her to see.

Seemingly unaware of the sorry, somber people surrounding him, Jack sniffed and blinked heavily a few times as he began to succumb to the drugs flowing through his body. "I'm tired…" he uttered in a quiet voice.

"Go to sleep, Colonel," the doctor said with a reassuring smile. "Everything's going to be okay."

With just enough energy left to nod, he shut his eyes and allowed himself to drift off, vaguely hearing Janet's final urgent comment to the others.

"We got very lucky this time. We have to get him out of here…"

SG1SG1SG1

Although it was nearly midnight, Sam found it difficult to sleep. Sitting against one of the smooth, slightly slimy walls of the shuttle's bridge, she worked diligently on trying to recreate the drawing she had made earlier of what she hoped would be their ticket home. Surrounded by a an odd assortment of materials, including several lengthy pieces of wire, gator clamps, a long metal bar, and some rubber tubing, she was attempting to make what would become a path for the extra energy stored within the DHD to travel out of and into a more stable capacitor.

Sighing quietly and looking around the room, she spied Janet's still form curled up in a sleeping bag not far from the door. Teal'c was near by, seated in one of the pilot's chairs deep in a state of meditation. Once Jack had been declared stable, they had agreed on a three-hour rotation schedule that would keep someone awake and at his side at all times. Even though he had initially tolerated the drugs well, the small doctor became concerned when she found he was much harder to rouse than he should have been. As a precaution, she had ordered his vitals to be taken and recorded every 15 minutes, as they would be the first indicators of trouble.

They had decided to use the bridge as their sleeping quarters, wanting to afford their leader as much quiet and privacy as possible. Daniel had first watch, then she, Teal'c, and finally Janet. It made for a long night for everyone, but there would be no complaints, as they all knew the man they were watching would readily do the same for them if the need ever arose.

Turning back to her work, Sam carefully rechecked the half dozen or so lengths of wire she had been splicing together, essentially creating a durable, homemade cable. Satisfied there were no breaks along the entire 12-foot length, she picked up the role of rubber tubing she had borrowed from Janet's supplies and began to slowly slide the crude cable into it.

Allowing her mind to wander as she worked, the Captain couldn't help but mull over the events of the past 36 hours. The entire mission seemed to be a wash; their string of bad luck having started the moment they stepped through the Gate when lightening struck the DHD. Although the storm was dampening their spirits, it was the slow, steady decline of the Colonel that had them all on edge, especially since they still had no idea what was making him so sick. All they knew was that he had taken a sudden turn for the worst soon after injuring himself on a mysterious artifact, an artifact that bore the symbol of an allegedly well-revered Goa'uld.

Well revered by her servants or not…she was still a Goa'uld. Her possible involvement with this place can only add up to one thing: no good… she thought, feeding the remaining few inches of the wiring through the gum colored tubing.

Once completed, Sam selected one of the gator clamps from the pile on the floor and began connecting it to one end of the makeshift cable. She knew her plan was a long shot, and was quite certain it wouldn't work as well as they needed it to. Her plan was to transfer the extra energy in the DHD through the cable and into the battery cells of the damaged FRED, assuming they were still intact. She was well aware of the dangers involved, but was mostly concerned that there would be a back flow of energy, which if strong enough, could cause irreparable damages to the Stargate itself. Plus the fact she was working with less than adequate equipment that had been scrounged from around the ship didn't ease her mind any.

Looking down at the homemade jumper cable in her hands, her thoughts wandered back to the Colonel and how much it had hurt to find him in tears. Seeing him in pain had greatly shaken them all, and served to compound the need to get home even more. And if her plan to get the DHD running safely didn't work…

I'll have to make it work then… she thought with certainty as she snatched up another gator clamp and began fastening it to the opposite end of the cable. Because "ifs" just aren't acceptable in this situation…

SG1SG1SG1

Caught in the restless state of being half asleep and half awake, Janet rolled over in her sleeping bag with an inward sigh. She knew part of her problem was that she'd never been off world overnight before. Added to that were the howling storm and dank, cramped conditions of the alien ship, creating an all around difficult situation. But she realized there was more contributing to her insomnia than simply being uncomfortable. She was worried about the Colonel's worsening condition, and the many 'what ifs' they'd face if Sam couldn't get the DHD functioning again.

Rolling over on the hard, damp floor once again, the doctor tried ordering herself to relax. To her amusement, she actually began to feel drowsy and would have drifted off to sleep if a new sound in the room hadn't caught her attention. Slowly opening her eyes, she immediately recognized the large form beside her. "Teal'c?"

"I am sorry to awaken you, Doctor Fraiser," he said in a hushed whisper.

As the doctor sat up and stretched the knots from her stiff body, she glanced around the room to find both Sam and Daniel comfortably curled up in their own sleeping bags. Shaking her head at how easy they made it look, she turned her attention back to the concerned Jaffa. "That's okay. What's wrong?"

"O'Neill requires your immediate assistance."

His response causing an instant knot to form deep in her stomach, Janet quickly unzipped her bag and hurried to her feet. Carefully picking her way over and around her sleeping friends, she felt all traces of sleep dissolve from her mind when she heard a painful, choked cough coming from the bunk area. Rushing into the compact sleeping quarters, she found Jack perched on the edge of the bed with one bandaged hand pressed to his chest, and the other clutching at the mattress for support. Even in the dim lighting, she could see that his face was tight with pain and there was an obvious tremor shaking his entire body.

"Colonel O'Neill?" she asked, grabbing her small gear bag from the floor and sitting down beside him. Brushing a hand across his sweat-dampened forehead, Janet frowned when she discovered it to be significantly warmer than before. "Sir? Can you hear me?"

The older man didn't respond, seemingly oblivious to her presence and touch.

"He has been awake for several minutes. It is when he began to draw insignificant breaths that I summoned you," Teal'c explained sitting on the bunk opposite his friends.

"It's a good thing you did," she said, retrieving her stethoscope from the depths of her bag and settling it in her ears. Pushing the sleeping bag from around his shoulders, she rested the cool metal against his skin and listened closely to the short, rapid gasps he was taking. "Oh yeah…we've definitely got something going on here."

"What do you believe it to be?"

"I'm not sure just…" Her response was cut off as her patient suddenly began to cough, a horrible, strained choking sound filling her ears as he fought for enough air. In all her years of practicing medicine, she had never heard sounds quite like what she was hearing now, and this was something that worried her greatly. Placing a reassuring hand on his back, she continued to listen, trying to figure out what was going on. It seemed that each time he tried to inhale, a spasm from somewhere within his chest would abruptly force all the air from his lungs, leaving him breathless.

"Janet, what's going on?" Sam asked sleepily from the doorway, having been awakened by all the commotion.

"Sam, go to my gear – there's some mini oxygen tanks in there. Bring me one and a mask – they're in the same compartment. Hurry," the doctor ordered, fairly certain that her CO wasn't getting enough oxygen on his own. "Sir, listen to me. I know this is frightening, but you need to calm down."

Barely aware of the small woman beside him, Jack coughed and gasped again, his neck muscles stretched tight in effort. It felt like he was having the wind painfully knocked out of his lungs with each breath he drew, never quite getting the chance to fully recover before it happened again.

"Janet, what is it?" Sam demanded as she burst back into the room with the supplies she had asked for.

"The spasms have spread to his chest," she replied, unraveling the clear hose that was attached to the mask and connecting it to the small, olive green tank. "Turn the air up all the way." Once certain the oxygen flowing through the mask was unimpeded, she reached up and positioned it over the Colonel's mouth and nose before giving his arm a sharp squeeze to get his attention. "Colonel, I need you to take as deep of breaths as possible. I know it's hard, but you have to try. Deep breaths, come on, sir."

Biting at her lip anxiously, Sam could see that her CO was trying his hardest to do as he was told, but his body simply refused to let him.

It didn't take long for the doctor's trained eye to see that he still wasn't getting enough air and she was on her feet heading towards the door, pausing only to address her apprehensive friend. "Stay with him. Talk to him. I'm going to get another shot."

Sam was unsure what to say as she hesitantly sat down on the bed beside him, finding that his choked gasps were even harder to bear up close. Taking one of his bandaged hands into her own, she was shaken to see that his nail beds were tinted pale blue. "Colonel, listen to me. You're going to be fine. You've got to hang on though, all right? Sir?"

To Jack, time seemed to have radically slowed down. He was fairly certain that it was Sam clutching at his hand, or else Teal'c's fingernails were in desperate need of a good trimming. Whoever it was, their words were coming to him all garbled and distorted as if he were hearing them from underwater. His chest felt as if it were on fire, and each strangled breath he managed to take merely added to the intensity of the hot, smoldering flames. Only dimly aware that he was beginning to lose consciousness, he never knew he was falling forward until he heard Sam shout and Teal'c's strong arms wrapping around him.

"You must be calm, my friend," the Jaffa said quietly, sitting down and allowing Jack to lean against his wide shoulder for support.

"I'm taking a risk by doubling the dose I gave him last time," Janet warned as she returned to Jack's side and quickly fed the contents of the syringe she held into his IV. "But we need to get him breathing properly again and fast." Slipping on her stethoscope, she began listening for the slightest sounds of improvement.

Still clinging to her superior's hand, Sam looked up to find Daniel standing in the doorway, his mouth slightly agape as he watched the commotion through sleep blurred eyes.

"That's it, easy, sir," Janet crooned as she finally began to hear his hitching, choked gasps gradually being replaced with shaky gulps for air. "Slow, deep breaths, Colonel – that's right." Several tense minutes passed as she waited for him to calm down even further, allowing time for the drugs to work their magic. Once satisfied that he was out of immediate danger, she took a step back to find his eyes tightly shut and sweat rolling down his face and neck. "Colonel? Can you hear me?"

Only the sounds of grumbling thunder and driving rain could be heard as the cramped room fell silent, the team anxiously waiting to see if their leader would be all right. When a response didn't come, the doctor began to gently wipe the moisture from his face with the damp cloth they had been keeping close by. By the time she had finished, he seemed to be nearly asleep, leaning heavily against Teal'c's arm. "Colonel?"

"…Janet…" he uttered in a mere whisper, his dark eyes finally slitting open to meet her concerned gaze.

With a kindhearted smile, she reached up and smoothed his damp hair from his face. "That was scary, wasn't it?" she asked, her tone sounding more like she was comforting a sick, frightened child rather than a battle honed USAF Colonel.

He nodded and swallowed hard behind the fogged up oxygen mask, his eyes growing heavy once again. "…sleepy…"

"I'll bet you are," she said lightly, turning to look over her shoulder. "Daniel, go grab my sleeping bag for me, will you?"

"I-Is he going to be all right?" Sam asked, just as worried about his passive behavior as she was what he'd gone through.

"I hope so," Janet replied quietly, standing from her crouch as Daniel appeared with her sleeping bag. "All right, Teal'c, I need you to help Sam support the Colonel so Daniel can slide the sleeping bag under his shoulders as we lay him back. Hopefully by keeping him propped up a bit, he'll be able to breathe easier. Now, he's pretty much out of it, but I still want this to be as smooth and painless as possible. Okay?"

The group nodded in understanding, and once Daniel was ready with the sleeping bag, the process began and ended without a hitch.

"Well done, guys, thanks," she said sincerely as she straightened out the tangled IV line before double-checking the placement of the cushion under his back. He had remained quiet the entire time, and now seemed to be resting quite comfortably in his semi-reclined position. "I want to sit with him until that tank runs out of air to be sure the medication doesn't depress his breathing too much. Then I think we need to talk."

Teal'c settled himself on the adjacent bunk. "I shall remain as well."

Knowing there was no use in arguing, the doctor simply sighed and turned to the others who were obviously just as hesitant about leaving Jack as Teal'c was. She was saddened to find Sam still reassuringly rubbing his hand, and Daniel's face as somber and blank as a slate. "He's doing all right, you guys. He just needs to rest. Why don't you two go get some coffee started while I finish up in here? I think we could all use a little lift."

"Yeah, sure," Daniel uttered, turning to leave the room. When his friend didn't follow, he reached out and wrapped a sympathetic arm around her shoulders. "Come on, Sam. It'll keep your mind busy."

Afraid her voice would crack if she tried using it, she simply nodded and replaced her CO's hand on the blanket beside him. With a final long look at his pale, fevered face, she allowed herself to be led out of the room, feeling as though her heart was in her throat.

SG1SG1SG1

Taking a moment to breathe in the rich, refreshing aroma that was coming from the coffee Daniel was busy preparing, Sam actually felt a tiny bit of tension fading away. It was early – just past 0430 – but no one was even considering going back to sleep. Once Janet was been certain that Jack was out of immediate danger, the group gathered on the bridge to talk.

Their discussion wasn't pleasant either. The doctor informed them that the Colonel's symptoms were indeed worsening, and that his most recent episode had affected his diaphragm and lungs like a severe, uncontrollable case of hiccups. Although she'd been able to stabilize his breathing with a fairly low dose of muscle relaxants, she feared the spasms could easily spread to his heart next. And while she could help him breathe, she wouldn't be able to keep his heart going for very long.

The decision to go through with Sam's plan of draining the DHD was unanimous. She and Teal'c were to start out for the Gate as soon as they could, while Daniel and Janet remained back at the ship with Jack.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Daniel asked skeptically, watching as Sam carefully stowed the homemade jumper cable into her pack. Even in its finished form, the crude object truly looked bizarre. The gum-colored cable itself was about 15 feet long, with a rusted gator clamp attached to each end. One of these clamps bit firmly onto a 2 foot long corroded metal bar that she had found while searching through the ship's engine room.

"No," she replied, pulling a rain cover over her pack. "But it just has to, Daniel. We can't let ourselves think otherwise."

Daniel bit his lip nervously. "Right."

"I am ready to embark when you are, Captain Carter," Teal'c affirmed, stepping out of the crew's quarters already in his raingear and firmly gripping his staff weapon.

"Good – just one more minute and we can leave," she said as she began to pull on her own gear, allowing Daniel to help her into the equipment laden pack. Everyone froze when a sudden crash of thunder made the ground under their feet tremble, the storm seemingly warning them not to leave the relative safety of the ship.

"I really hate asking you guys to go out in this. It seems to be getting worse…"

The others turned to find the small doctor standing in the doorway, her face clearly showing her unease.

"Do not worry, Doctor Fraiser. Captain Carter's data has shown a break in the storm. It should arrive just as we reach the Stargate. We shall be fine," Teal'c assured confidently.

"Are you sure you guys don't need me?"

"I think we'll be okay, Daniel," Sam replied, quickly checking over her night vision goggles before sliding them on. "Besides, Janet might need help with the Colonel if he wakes up. Okay, Teal'c, you ready to face the music?"

The Jaffa frowned. "Music? I do not recall having heard any sound that resembles music since our arrival."

The three humans exchanged an amused glance before Daniel finally took pity on the confused man and slapped him on the shoulder. "It's just another Earth expression, Teal'c. Don't worry about it."

"I will not."

The scientist smiled and turned to escort his friends to the door. "Well, good luck, you guys."

"And please be careful," Janet added.

Sam nodded and opened the door, the strong winds nearly taking it out of her hands. "We will. Keep the lights on for us!" Holding her hat to her head, she stepped out into the darkness with Teal'c close behind.

Ignoring the cold rain and wind that was blowing through the open door, Daniel and Janet watched in silence as the advancing darkness of the storm appeared to rise up and callously swallow their two friends whole.

SG1SG1SG1

A couple hours later found Daniel seated on the bridge with his notebook open and the cargo box containing the relic at his side. Janet had agreed to let him sketch the glyphs as long as he promised to only look and not touch. He was nearly finished his drawings when he heard her voice coming from the next room and he looked up to find her seated at Jack's side. Curious, he set his work down and wandered over to the open doorway just as she was tucking away her penlight and quietly calling her patient's name.

"Can you squeeze my fingers, sir?" she asked, lightly gripping his hands with her own. Although a little slow to respond, Jack finally closed his hands around hers, the doctor frowning when she felt how faint it was. "That was a good try, Colonel. You can go back to sleep now."

"How is he?" Daniel asked, watching as she tucked the blanket in around him.

"He's weak but stable. His blood pressure's lower than I'd like to see it, although, I'm not sure if it's being caused by his condition or the medication I gave him," she replied, increasing the drip speed on his IV slightly.

Daniel entered the room and sat down on the neighboring bunk. "Do you think this is still neurological?"

"I'm not sure what to think at this point, Daniel, especially after that surprise discovery we made involving that artifact of yours," she explained almost sadly. "His symptoms do suggest the presence of a neurological irritant, but without the proper tests, it's still only a guess." She paused to let out a discouraged sigh before changing the subject. "How about you? How's your research coming?"

The archeologist shrugged. "All right. I've just been doing some more thinking on the stuff that came out of the artifact."

"Oh? What about it?" Janet asked, wringing out a damp cloth before lightly brushing it across her patient's overly warm face and neck.

"Well, I've been running with the assumption that this is what's making Jack sick, and it just doesn't make any sense. I mean, why would anyone ever put something so dangerous inside of a religious artifact?"

"Then maybe it's not a religious artifact. Maybe it's a weapon or another means of defense."

Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose. "Yeah, I've been thinking about that too. It just all seemed to make sense though: an altar erected to house a culture's central item of worship..."

"The worship of a Goa'uld."

"Yeah – Good point."

As a moment of silence fell in between them, both found their attention drawn to the sleeping man. Although his expression remained pained, he was totally unaware of the current struggles his team was facing, and for that they could almost envy him.

The quiet becoming uncomfortable, Daniel cleared his throat and checked his watch. "Sam and Teal'c should be at the Gate by now. Do you think they made it all right?"

"Sam said they'd contact us or return if they ran into problems. I guess no news is good news in this situation. And Teal'c was right – the storm has let up a bit, so at least they've got that working for them. They're probably doing just fine."

He nodded absently in agreement, still feeling guilty for not going with them to help out. But he understood why he was asked to stay behind, and knew if he had gone and something had happened that the doctor couldn't handle on her own; he would never be able to forgive himself.

Besides… he thought. Sam is going to need all the muscle power she can get out there – Teal'c can give her that. I'd probably just get in the way…

After concluding his private pity party, Daniel looked up to find his friend sitting with her eyes closed and head drooping. "Janet?"

Startled, the doctor's head snapped up, her gaze automatically falling on Jack who hadn't moved. "What…?"

"Everything's all right – you just dozed off."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Daniel…" she uttered, her face flushing slightly with embarrassment. "I just got listening to the rain and that's always put me right to sleep…"

"Listen, why don't you take a break? Get some coffee and something warm to eat. I don't mind sitting with Jack," the young man offered seeing how tired his friend was.

The offer was tempting. "Are you sure? I don't want to interrupt your work…"

He grinned, recalling what Jack had said to him earlier about the ship. "Bah. Those things have been here for what? A couple thousand years? I think they can wait a little longer."

Janet returned the smile as she stood, reaching out to give his shoulder a small squeeze. "Thank you, Daniel. Give a shout if you need me, okay?"

"You bet." Watching as she left the room for some time alone, Daniel leaned back against the wall and folded his hands behind his head. After a moment of thought, he withdrew his journal from his pocket and began recording all that he and the team had seen, done, and discovered over the past three days -- three days, he knew, that none of them would ever forget.

SG1SG1SG1

Although the rain had momentarily stopped, the storm still grumbled lazily overhead, its dark clouds casting an occasional deadly bolt of electricity toward the soggy ground below. A stiff, chilling wind whipped through foliage-laden trees, sending a spray of cold rainwater cascading through the air. In the past just two days, the relatively firm ground the team had found on their arrival had turned to sloppy mud, turning even the simplest tasks into a struggle.

Captain Carter stood on the Gate platform with her back against the wind, watching as Teal'c pushed with all his might against the FRED, literally going nowhere fast. Each time he attempted to move the wrecked vehicle closer to the DHD, the wheels would abruptly lock and sink deeper into the soupy ground. It was only after an intense 45-minute battle that the large man gave up, frowning at the few meager feet he had managed to advance.

"I am sorry, Captain Carter, but I do not believe I can move this vehicle any further."

Grimacing as she stepped off the platform and into the chilly mud, she quickly surveyed the distance between the FRED and DHD. It would be close, but she was fairly certain her jumper cable would just span the gap. "It's all right, Teal'c. I think this will do. Get the battery door off and I'll be right back with the cable."

As she sloshed over to where she'd set down her pack, Sam couldn't help but feel relieved that they'd actually found the FRED's battery cells intact. The wormhole had cleanly shorn off the last quarter of the vehicle where most of the supplies were kept, but all of the machine's integral bits had been spared. So far everything seemed to be working in their favor -- all she had to do now was get her homemade jumper cable to cooperate and they could be on their way home within a few short hours. And, in the Colonel's case, time was of the essence.

Uncoiling the cable as she slowly picked her way back to the work site, she found that Teal'c had been able to pry the FRED's battery door off without much trouble. With the 'no guts, no glory' cliche running through her mind, she began to search for the best place to attach the rusty clamp.

"Have you preformed this task before?" Teal'c asked, waiting patiently beside her.

"Well, I used to have to jump start my brother's van when my dad wasn't around so… that must count for something," she said, glancing up at him to find a frown of uncertainty frozen on his face. "I'm pretty sure we'll both be fine, Teal'c."

Although not appearing to be completely convinced, the large man nodded just the same.

"Okay…I think I've got it…" Sam muttered as she quickly rechecked the cable's connection to the battery, mindful that the storm overhead was becoming active once again. "If this works, the DHD is going to start dumping all its energy into these battery cells. We have to be careful not to drain it completely, or we could wind up being stuck here for a very long time."

"How will we know when the Dial Home Device becomes safe to use?"

Satisfied with the connection, she began slowly backing up toward the DHD with the other end of the cable in her hands, carefully stretching it out as she went. "According to my calculations, a seven second power transfer should drain away enough of the excess energy without purging the DHD completely. But it's all based on estimation so we still need to be cautious when we first approach it."

Pausing only to collect a short, stocky branch from the soggy ground, she took a few steadying breaths as she came to a stop several feet from the DHD. "You'll want to stand back," she called over her shoulder. "I have no idea how the cable or those battery cells are going to react to this much energy going through them."

Waiting until Teal'c had disappeared into the dense forest for cover, the Captain took a moment to size up the distance between her and her target. "…Please let this work…" Puffing out a final anxious sigh, she heaved the metal rod toward the DHD and bolted for protection behind the nearby MALP, all in one fluid motion. There was a spectacular explosion of fiery blue sparks as it made contact with the circular faceplate, the terrific surge of electricity causing both the bar and attached cable to shudder and jerk.

Oblivious to the fact that she was kneeling in cold mud, Sam tried to ignore the sizzling and popping in the background as she watched the seconds rapidly tick down on her timer. The moment it reached the five second mark, she was on her feet and taking aim with the branch she had collected earlier. With a determined grunt, she threw the piece of wood as hard as she could at the dancing metal rod, knocking it clear of the smoking faceplate. Momentarily stunned that she had actually made the shot, she jumped when she looked up to find Teal'c looming beside her.

"That was most impressive, Captain Carter," he said with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

"Let's not celebrate just yet," she replied, hesitantly making her way towards the quietly ticking DHD. Leery about secondary shocks, she purposely avoided the smoking remains of her homemade cable as she retrieved another stick and tossed it against the randomly sparking faceplate. To her relief, nothing happened. "Well, that answers the first question…"

Satisfied there was no longer any danger, Teal'c reached out to touch the device.

"Teal'c, wait!" she exclaimed, grabbing his muscular arm just as his hand was about to make contact. "There could still be a fairly strong charge…"

"Do not worry. My symbiote will protect me from the effects of minor electrocution," the large man assured her.

Reluctantly releasing his arm, she took a few steps back as she watched him confidently touch each of the seven symbols for Earth, ending with the ruby colored dome in the center. "The Dial Home Device is approachable once again."

Realizing that the first part of her plan had actually worked, Sam suddenly felt like the entire weight of the moon had been lifted off her shoulders. She knew the victory could be short lived, however, if she had been off in her calculations and had accidentally drained the DHD of too much energy.

Only one way to find out… she thought, rummaging around in her pockets for the DHD pieces that had been blown free during the initial strike. As she set to work reassembling the device, she became aware of an odd ticking sound coming from somewhere behind her. Doing her best to ignore it as she continued sliding pieces into place, she began to get concerned when a slightly acidic smell found its way to her nose. "Teal'c, do you…?" She turned around to find the Jaffa looking curiously at the FRED, a small amount of smoke coming from the battery compartment.

"Should the battery cells be behaving in that manner?" he asked, referring to the ticking that had begun to increase in volume and speed.

"No…" she uttered, watching as blue sparks began to spurt out of the small compartment, filling the air with a thick, black smoke. It was when the ticking stopped that her blood suddenly ran cold. "Teal'c, I think we should…"

Her words had been unnecessary, however, as Teal'c was already herding her toward the DHD for cover. No sooner had he shielded her with his body did the battery cells violently explode, sending a spray of burning metal and flaming sparks showering down on top of them. Her senses greatly overwhelmed by the resulting explosion, Sam didn't know how long she had clung to the stone pedestal for dear life before realizing that Teal'c was trying to get her attention.

"Are…damaged, Captain…?" he asked, though most of his words were lost in the loud ringing between her ears.

While giving herself a moment to recover, she quickly determined that she was still in one piece and accepted Teal'c's helping hand to get to her feet. "I-I'm fine. Thanks. You?"

"I am uninjured as well," he replied, his skin only showing a few minor burns and cuts from falling debris.

"Good, I'm glad to hear…oh wow…" she uttered as she turned to see the small crater where the FRED had been only moments before. By the look of things, the worst of the explosion had luckily gone straight down, creating a hole about the size of a child's swimming pool in the mud. "I guess those cells weren't made to take that kind of charge after all."

"It would appear not."

Smiling meekly at his seriousness, she started to collect the pieces of the DHD she had dropped in her haste to take cover. "Come on. Help me get this thing back together so we can get the Colonel home and feeling better."

Inclining his head, the Jaffa joined his young friend on the ground and began helping her search, the still smoking crater behind them all but forgotten.

SG1SG1SG1

Time was moving slowly back at the abandoned shuttle, each minute seeming to take an eternity to finally pass. They had been waiting for over three hours to hear back from their friends, eager to know if the Captain's plan had been a success or not. Failure at this point meant an almost certain death for the team's leader, something neither of them wanted to even consider as an outcome for the mission.

Carefully balancing her cup of coffee on her knee, Janet reestablished her grip with Jack's bandaged hand as he began to grow uneasy once again. His restlessness had started about an hour after his teammates had left for the Gate, and she and Daniel had been doing their best to reassure him back to sleep. It was difficult for the small doctor to hear him calling out to his absent team, sometimes shouting orders at them to get to the Gate or dial out before the imagined Jaffa patrol caught up.

"You're all right, sir. SG-1 is safe," she said quietly, squeezing his hand when she felt it twitch beneath her light grasp.

The older man groaned and shifted restlessly under the blankets. "…They're almost on us...dial us home...Daniel…dial us…no!" Without warning, Jack shot straight up in the narrow bed, his head roughly striking the underside of the low hanging upper bunk. Seemingly unaffected by the abrupt and undoubtedly painful impact, his dark eyes began wildly searching around the dimly lit room for the horrors he'd just been battling in his dream.

Nearly leaping off the bed in fright, Janet completely forgot about her precariously balanced coffee mug as she automatically moved to restrain her panicking CO. "Easy, Colonel. You're all right!"

Recoiling from the doctor's touch, Jack met her anxious gaze with wide, unfocused eyes. "Where…?"

"We're off world, sir. We've taken shelter from a storm on an abandoned shuttle. You've been…"

"Daniel?" he asked, her words clearly not sinking in. "Where's Daniel?"

"He's in the other room trying to reach Sam and Teal'c on the radio…"

"Carter?"

"She's gone with Teal'c to the Stargate to try and get the DHD working so we can go home."

"Home…" he uttered, looking at her with a perplexed expression. "Daniel?"

Janet hung her head and sighed at his repeated question, wondering if he really was incapable of comprehending what she was saying, or he just wasn't listening. When she looked up again, she found that he was already beginning to tire; his lean form trembled visibly and beaded sweat rolled freely down his face. "He's still in the other room. Now come on, sir. I want you to lie back down." When he didn't respond to her request, she began to slowly push him back towards the pillows, surprised when he offered up no resistance.

Once he was back in a semi reclined position, the doctor took a moment to pass her fingers through his silvering, regulation length hair to see if he had done any serious damage when he'd struck his head on the upper bunk. Fairly certain he'd have nothing more than a nasty bruise, she picked up the damp cloth and began wiping the perspiration from his skin. "Colonel," she said, watching his face closely. "Are you in any pain?"

"No."

She smiled warmly. "That's good. Do you think you can try to go back to sleep now?"

With a small nod, Jack allowed his increasingly heavy eyelids to drop shut as the pull of sleep became prevalent once again.

Confident her patient was settled, Janet carefully drew up his blankets before preparing to tackle the sticky mess that her coffee had made of the floor. Standing with a sigh, she began scouting around for something to wipe up the puddle with when Daniel came bounding into the room.

"Janet, they did it! They fixed…oh, what happened?" he asked, stopping just short of the brown mess.

Having located a wad of paper towels, the doctor dropped to her hands and knees. "The Colonel caught me off guard when he woke up suddenly. Good thing it wasn't too hot, huh?"

The young man nodded as he knelt to help her clean. "Is Jack okay?"

"His fever's causing some pretty vivid dreams. It's to be expected," she explained, watching as his face went somber. "Now, what were you saying about Sam and Teal'c?"

Daniel's eyes widened with excitement once again. "Oh! They did it. Sam and Teal'c got the DHD working again! They've already contacted Earth and are on their way back here now to help with Jack. Sam said we should start packing up the gear and to leave behind whatever we can to lighten the load."

"That's wonderful news. I knew she would figure it out if she just didn't think about it too hard."

"They should be back within a couple of hours," he announced after a quick look at his watch. "Maybe we could have the gear all packed and ready by the time they arrive."

"Sounds good. You want to start out there and I'll get my stuff together in here? I'd like to stay close to the Colonel in case he needs anything."

"You're the boss, Doc," Daniel said with a smirk, before hurrying out of the room.

Shaking her head at his remark, Janet started looking around for a bag in which to stow her gear when she heard Jack groan softly in his sleep and roll over under the covers. Going to his side, she gently rubbed his arm until she felt him start to relax under her touch. "Just hang tight, sir. We're getting ready to go home." Then, adding silently to herself: And not a moment too soon…

SG1SG1SG1

It was just past 0800 when SG-1 began to put the finishing touches on their packing, the mood on the ship a bit more upbeat now that the prospect of going home had become a reality. Sam and Teal'c had returned to the ship to find most of the work done, and Jack comfortably dressed in a clean uniform and rain poncho. Now, quietly seated at his side, Sam watched his pale face twitch and frown as he dozed, his head resting heavily on her shoulder.

"How's he doing?" Janet asked, coming into the room with a thermal blanket tucked under her arm.

"I think he's dreaming."

"He's been having some pretty vivid ones lately, that's for sure," the doctor replied, realizing that if it wasn't for his bandaged hands or haggard expression, he would have looked right at home resting against her friend's shoulder.

"Doctor Fraiser," Teal'c said, his large form appearing in the doorway. "Daniel Jackson and I are ready to embark."

"Did you get the field stretcher figured out all right? I know I didn't give you guys much help…"

"It has been assembled per your instructions, Captain Carter. I believe you will be…" The Jaffa's words were lost as a sudden crash of thunder caused the small ship to shudder and tremble all around them. "…most satisfied with our effort."

"That's good because it sounds like the storm's regrouping. We should get moving," she said, a look of urgency on her face.

"All right, let's wake him up – I don't want him to panic when we move him."

Although content with the thought of supporting her CO for as long as necessary, Sam began lightly rubbing his arm to slowly bring him around. "Colonel? You awake?"

"Hmm?" the dozing man uttered without lifting his head.

Janet knelt in front of him and picked up his hand. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but Sam got the DHD working and we're getting ready to go home. Teal'c's here to give you a lift into the next room, okay?"

Jack simply nodded, and offered no resistance as the blanket was wrapped around his shoulders and he was moved away from his second's side. It was only when he felt himself being drawn into Teal'c's strong arms that he opened his eyes and uneasily looked around.

"You're okay, Colonel," Sam assured him as she fell into step behind the large man. "Teal'c's got you."

Covering the distance between the two rooms in several ground-eating strides, Teal'c slowly crouched down and gently settled his friend on the awaiting field stretcher they had just assembled.

"Hey, Jack," Daniel greeted, kneeling down to fasten the stretcher's safety belts around his body. "How you feeling?"

"Terrific…" he mumbled, dropping a hand over his eyes to shield them against the bright lights of the bridge.

"Okay, guys, let's get our packs on and get out of here," Sam said once her superior was situated and ready for travel.

As the others moved to get their gear, Janet began tucking a waterproof tarp around the pile of blankets covering Jack. "You comfortable, sir?"

"Mm…tired…"

The small doctor smiled and smoothed the hair away from his face. "Well, all I want you to do is just lay back, relax, and try to enjoy the ride, okay? It's going to be a long trip back." She watched as he nodded and settled back into the padding of the stretcher with a small sigh.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked, her friend's backpack at her feet.

"Yeah, he just needs to rest," she replied, looking around at the small shuttle for the final time. They were leaving very little behind: some bulky clothes, basic camping gear, food, and a few broken artifacts Daniel had been willing to part with. Hefting her over stuffed backpack from the floor with a grunt, she allowed Sam to help her into it while the others lifted Jack's stretcher from the floor with ease. "We ready to go?"

The Captain looked around at her slicker clad friends and nodded. "I'll take point if you're okay watching our six? I think it'd be best if Daniel and Teal'c stayed between us with the Colonel."

"Yes, ma'am," she answered with a small grin.

Sam gave her a wink as she headed for the door. "Good. Now let's go home."

SG1SG1SG1

SG-1 had been walking for just over an hour when Sam called for a break, the rough, sloppy terrain beginning to take its toll on everyone. The trip was taking far longer than anyone had anticipated as the storm-caused washouts and fallen debris kept forcing the team to seek alternate routes through the dense forest.

"I think this is the driest ground we've seen all morning…" Daniel puffed as he and Teal'c slowly lowered the stretcher to the wet, but puddle free ground. Moving beneath the shelter of a nearby tree, he immediately shed his pack and began trying to stretch out the overworked muscles in his back and arms.

"Indeed. The storm has caused significant damage since our previous journey through this location," Teal'c agreed, observing the vast number of fallen willow trees around them.

After leaving the men in charge of retrieving the group's supply of energy bars and extra water from the gear, the two women set to work checking on the condition of their superior. Carefully peeling back the moisture-laden tarp, both were relieved to find Jack sound asleep, his features actually calm and relaxed.

"Guess he's doing okay," Sam whispered over the quiet patter of the rain.

"It looks that way, doesn't it?" Janet concurred, withdrawing a small equipment bag from under her poncho. "I still want to do a quick check of his vitals – just to be sure. Why don't you see how the others are doing?"

With a nod, the Captain stood and walked over to where her teammates were resting on several large rocks that were sheltered by a bushy tree. She found Daniel occupied with massaging his palms, while Teal'c sat beside him in a meditative posture, his dark eyes closed.

"How's Jack?" the young archeologist inquired when she dropped down on a rock next to his.

"Still asleep. Janet's checking him over right now," she replied, accepting the canteen he offered her. "How are you two holding up?"

"I am prepared to resume my duties whenever you wish to proceed, Captain Carter," the Jaffa never opening his eyes as he spoke.

Daniel self-consciously stuffed his hands under his coat when her gaze came to him. "I'm just a little sore, but I'll be…hey! Ow!"

Not buying his act, Sam grabbed his wrist and tugged his hand out for her to see. "Not with hands like that you won't," she said, relinquishing the squirming man's hand once she'd had a good look at the red, blistering skin. "I'll help Teal'c with the Colonel – you lead for a while. Okay?"

"Fine," he uttered reluctantly, sliding over on his rock to give Janet room to sit.

"Thanks," she said, dropping down heavily beside him and taking the canteen and energy bar that was passed to her. "You guys holding up all right?"

"Daniel's hands are a little raw, but other than that, I think we're all just wet, tired, and cold."

"What of O'Neill's condition?" Teal'c asked, finally joining in on the discussion.

"He's doing pretty good, actually," the doctor said, pausing for a drink to wash down a bite of her energy bar. "He's warm, fairly dry, and deep asleep. His vitals are all a little elevated, which is probably just a response from the stress of the trip. But overall, he doesn't seem to be any worse for wear than when we left the ship."

Relieved to hear his friend was holding his own, Daniel asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "How much further do we have left?"

"Well, assuming there are no more surprise washouts or too many fallen trees along the way, we should be at the Stargate in another mile, mile and a half. It shouldn't take too much…"

Her words were abruptly lost when the sky came to life, a jagged bolt of lightening piercing the dark clouds as a deafening crash of thunder assaulted their ears. Scrambling to get their raingear situated as the light rain suddenly became an icy deluge, all members of the team simultaneously decided it was time to get moving. Once everyone had struggled into their respective packs, Sam handed her weapon off to Daniel before taking up her new position at Jack's feet.

"Is he still asleep?" she asked, watching as the doctor gave him a final look over before drawing the rain tarp over his head.

"Out like a light," Janet replied, her tone doing nothing to indicate whether this was a good thing or not.

Giving her hands a final stretch, Sam knelt and wrapped her hands around the smooth padded handles of the field stretcher. "You ready, Teal'c?"

"I am," he affirmed as both lifted the litter from the ground with ease.

"Where to, Captain?" Daniel called playfully from the front, his arms resting across the butt of her weapon the way he'd seen Jack do for years.

"Well, like the Colonel says, "there's no place like home."

With a mock salute, the archeologist turned on his heel and pointed in the direction of the Stargate. "Next stop: Earth. Land of blue skies, green grasses, and most importantly, dry pants."

SG1SG1SG1

SG-1 was exhausted. They had been traveling nonstop for the past two hours, their progress significantly impeded by the steadily worsening storm that seethed around them. They were cold, soaking wet, and plumb worn out physically, mentally, and emotionally. A heavy silence had fallen between them not long after leaving the rest site, everyone deeply absorbed in their own thoughts, fears, and concerns for their downed leader.

This is totally my fault… Daniel thought wearily as he slowly led the team through the thick, boot sucking mud. If I had just accepted Jack's decision to stay at the Gate when it was disabled and waited for Earth to dial in, we wouldn't be going through all this. Why did I have to make such a big deal out of exploring those ruins? What did I possibly think that I could find there that was so important it couldn't wait?

He sighed and looked out through his foggy glasses at the seemingly endless forest that lay ahead. I wish I had never found that artifact – or whatever it turns out to be. And if something winds up happening to Jack…I don't know what I'm going to do. Nobody deserves something like this – especially not Jack. Sure, he can be a hard ass sometimes, but he can't help himself -- that's just who he is. He's helped me out so many times in the past…and all I do in return is keep making things more difficult for him. And I really screwed up this time…I'm sorry, Jack. I really am…

Not far from Daniel's lead position, Teal'c forged on at a steady pace, his arm muscles beginning to burn from bearing the weight of the be stretcher for so long. Although his face was as blank as a slate, he was deeply concerned for the wellbeing of the man whom he considered his brother. Jack was the first Tau'ri to ever trust him with his life, and for this the man had forever earned a special place in the Jaffa's large heart.

For all the good that O'Neill has done in his time, he does not deserve to suffer so. I want to believe he has the will to win this battle, but I fear Daniel Jackson may be correct --all of the Universe's will may not be enough to see my trusted friend through his sickness. I can only hope Doctor's Fraiser's healing abilities are able to restore his strength once again…and that O'Neill possesses enough strength to emerge victorious.

You must be strong, my brother… he silently urged. …And know that even when the battle seems impossible, you will not be alone.

At the opposite end of the heavy stretcher, Captain Carter was lost deep in her own thoughts and misgivings. She was unsure how much more abuse her body could take as she struggled to keep up with Teal'c's brisk pace -- her arms, back, and legs beginning to feel like they were made of solid lead. It was when she began envisioning that her aching muscles were calling out "are we there yet?" in a childish voice that she realized just how tired and worn out she really was.

The Gate can't be much further…we've been at this for so long…too long. We should have had the Colonel back hours – no days ago. This wouldn't have even happened at all if I hadn't pushed recovering the UAV after he'd clearly made up his mind to stay with the disabled DHD. I overstepped my boundaries and this is what happens, he's the one who suffers. I'm sure Daniel feels he's responsible – and he shouldn't. He was just so eager to explore the ruins by the crash site…but who could blame him?

Readjusting her tiring grip on the stretcher, Sam grimaced as several of the blisters across her palm broke and began to bleed. She thought about changing positions with Daniel again, but immediately dismissed the idea as soon as it entered her mind. This is your job, not his…she told herself firmly. He's your CO, your superior—you helped get him into this mess, now buck it up, soldier, and get your man home.

She stopped her self-lecture when she realized there was more going on than just her feeling soldierly. The only thing that hurt her more than seeing her friend in so much pain was knowing there wasn't a thing she could do to make him better. She knew deep down that she couldn't expect herself to be able to fix everything – especially people. She also knew she was allowing her personal feelings for the Colonel to drive her actions and that was something she couldn't afford to let herself do. You're in charge now, Sam. Think with your head, not your heart. Yes, you care deeply for the man, but this is neither the time nor the place to let that affect your performance. There's nothing you can do for Jack right now other than get him home, and wearing yourself out with all this worrying isn't going to help...

Giving a quick check to the tracking device she had strapped around her wrist, she found they were just entering the last half-mile before the Gate. Oh, thank god…she thought, relief flooding through her aching body as the end of their journey was at last in sight. About to call out the good news to her friends, Sam's wide grin gradually faded when she noticed the movement beneath the tarp covering the stretcher. "Hey, Teal'c, Daniel, hold up a minute."

"What's going on?" Janet asked as she quickly closed the gap between her and the halted procession.

"I think he's awake – he just started moving around."

"Let's set him down," she instructed, unable to stop an apprehensive knot from forming in the pit of her stomach. I knew things were going too smoothly to last… As she knelt down beside the grounded litter, she thought she could hear what sounded like low moaning coming from beneath the tarp. Uh-oh… "Sam, give me a hand with this thing, will you?"

Carefully drawing back the heavy rain cover, the women shared a worried look when they saw the condition of their commanding officer. No longer resting comfortably, Jack had somehow managed to free himself from most of the stretcher's safety belts and curl into a tight ball on his side. He had both arms wrapped around his midsection in a protective hug; his face completely buried in the dark green material of his poncho. Despite the intense patter of the falling rain, they could easily hear his harsh, irregular breathing, and the soft, distressed grunt that often came with it.

"He does not look well," Teal'c remarked solemnly, voicing the opinion that they all shared.

Leaning down close to his trembling form, Janet pushed aside the bulky poncho and rested a hand against his fever-flushed face. "Colonel -- can you hear me?" She felt him barely nod beneath her hand – a response so subtle that she would have missed it had she not been in contact with his cheek. "Sir, are you in pain?" she asked, although the answer was already obvious to her and everyone present.

Nod.

"Are you able to speak?"

She felt him shake his head no.

"That's okay, sir, we can work around that. I'm going to take a quick look at you to see what's going on – is that all right?"

Nod.

"Sam," she said as she stood, indicating for her friend to take her place.

This can't be happening… Sam thought as she knelt down at her superior's side, paying no notice to the mud as it began seeping into her clothes. Not now – not when we're so close to the Gate – to home. I really hope the old saying "bad things happen closest to home" isn't always true. He has to pull through this though – he just has…

An anguished cry startled the Captain out of her thoughts. Looking down, she found Jack squirming uncomfortably as he tried to pull himself into an even tighter ball. "Shh, easy, sir," she uttered, taking a reassuring grip on his tense arm. "It's all right, she's almost done. Hey, Janet, he's really getting upset."

With a discouraged sigh, the doctor discontinued her exam and replaced his blankets prior to rejoining the others. Kneeling down in the mud, she took a moment to soothe her distraught CO before turning to address the rest of the team. Even if she hadn't spoken, they all would have known something was seriously wrong just from the look on her face.

"Is it happening again?"

"It looks that way, Daniel. Most of the muscles in his lower body and abdomen are being affected. The fact that some of them are fully contracted and locked makes me think that this has been going on for a while. It also means his condition is worsening again."

"Can you not medicate him?" Teal'c asked, his golden serpent emblem shimmering in a distant flash of lightening.

Janet shook her head. "I used the last of the muscle relaxant I had on the Colonel early this morning when the spasms moved into his chest. And, where his condition is rapidly deteriorating, trying something new in such an uncontrolled environment could be disastrous. I think our best option would be to make a break for the Stargate and get him home as quickly as possible."

Daniel turned to Sam. "How far are we from the Gate?"

"Less than half a mile," she replied after double-checking her tracking device. "We could be there in about fifteen minutes, but the deep footing is going to make it tough."

"We'll have to chance it," Janet said, beginning to fish around in the small gear bag she'd pulled from beneath her poncho. "There's no other way. Daniel, take this…" She pressed the empty medication vial she'd been searching for into his open hand. "I need you to get to the Stargate as fast as you can, and tell them…"

"Whoa, wait…And leave you guys?"

"Daniel, she's right," Sam urged, understanding where her friend was headed. "Go on ahead of us -- dial home and let them know we're coming. We'll be following right behind you."

The doctor nodded in agreement. "If the spasms start affecting his ability to breathe while he's in this condition, every second will count. Please, Daniel – you'll be fine."

But it's not me that I'm worried about… he admitted to himself, watching as Sam tried her best to comfort the older man. "What do you want me to do?"

Relief momentarily crossed the doctor's face. "Dial Earth. Tell them I need a medical team on the ramp and a 10 cc dose of the medication that's printed on the vial I just gave you."

"A medical team and 10 cc's…gotcha," he said, a hesitant look crossing his face as he turned to leave. "Take care of Jack, you guys – and good luck."

"Yeah, you too," Sam replied, watching as he quickly dissolved into the swirling fog of the forest. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the spot where he had just disappeared from; hoping that sending him off into the alien woods alone wasn't a mistake.

"Sam, Teal'c – you ready?" Janet asked as she began preparing her patient for travel.

The Jaffa inclined his head and made his way to his position at the head of the stretcher. "I am."

Following suit, Sam gave her CO's arm a final reassuring squeeze before moving to take her place at his feet.

"Colonel?" Janet said, settling the rain tarp just below his shoulders. "Sir, we're going to start moving again, okay? We'll be going at a pretty good clip so things might get a little rough, but we're going to try and keep it as smooth as possible." When there was no response of any kind from Jack, the doctor shook her head and looked to the others. "Okay, guys – whenever you're ready."

Wrapping her sore, stiff hands around the stretcher's solid handles, Sam prepared herself mentally for the physically demanding journey to come. "Teal'c, ready on three. One, two, three lift!" With only a slight grunt on her part, the two members of SG-1 lifted the litter from the ground with little effort at all.

Despite the warning he'd been given, the sudden upward motion caused Jack to groan and shift uncomfortably beneath the pile of blankets.

"It's all right, Colonel," Janet said, pushing aside the material covering his face and resting a hand against his cheek. "Just hang on, sir. Another fifteen minutes and we'll be home. Things are going to get a little bumpy now, but I'm going to be here with you the whole time, okay?" Feeling him nod a single time beneath her touch, she frowned and looked up to the others. "We need to get moving, you two. Try to keep things as smooth as possible, but we really need to push the pace."

"As you wish, Dr. Fraiser," Teal'c replied, and started off in the direction of the Gate.

Falling into step beside her patient, Janet took a moment to glance back at her quiet friend, finding Sam's eyes focused not on the ground ahead, but on the motionless form of CO. "We'll make it, Sam," she said reassuringly before adding silently to herself: I just hope it's in time…

SG1SG1SG1

The situation was teetering on critical. The small group had been on the move for less than ten minutes when they heard the first of the choked, strangled coughs coming from their leader. Without needing to be told, Teal'c increased his pace to a brisk trot and used his strong arms like shock absorbers to keep the stretcher as level as possible. At the other end of the litter, Sam struggled in the deep footing to keep up with the large man, her equipment-laden backpack bouncing painfully against her shoulders.

"Colonel – It's all right…" Janet soothed over the noise of the rapidly intensifying storm. She was also having a hard time keeping up with the Jaffa's hastened pace, all the while trying to maintain contact with the deteriorating officer's hand.

"Captain Carter!" Teal'c's loud voice boomed over the low, dieing rumbles of a thunderclap. "The Stargate lies just up ahead."

Squinting through the driving rain, Sam found that the familiar blue and white shimmer of an active wormhole was now tantalizingly close. Nearly stumbling on a root hidden by the sloppy mud, she immediately began berating herself for not looking where she was putting her feet. Good going, Sam…You do something stupid like falling down now and you'll be hurting a lot more than just your pride…

"Colonel?" Janet shouted, ducking reflexively as a streak of lightening forked violently across the sky. "Stay with me, sir – we're almost home." Unsure if the ailing man had heard her or not, she increased the reassuring grip on his hand as an outburst of short, painful coughs roughly shook his long form. Even without the help of her elaborate monitoring equipment, she could tell the spasms going through his chest were preventing him from pulling in enough air and that he was failing fast.

It was then that the dense, willow dominated forest gave way, the small group bursting through the tree line and into the sloping field that surrounded the Gate. All eyes fell on Daniel who stood beside the motionless MALP, frantically waving his arms around to get their attention in the swirling mist of the storm.

"Hey, guys! Over here! I just talked to General Hammond! They're waiting for…" Daniel's shout was abruptly cut off as a thunderous roar rolled through the clouds, immediately followed by a deafening crash as a dazzling bolt of lightening impacted the MALP.

"Daniel!" Sam cried, watching helplessly as the concussion knocked her friend from his feet and threw him back several meters into the mud.

"Keep going! I'll check on him!" Janet ordered, leaving her place at Jack's side. Putting a wide berth between her and the now flaming MALP, she rushed over to where the archeologist was just sitting up. "Daniel! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" he shouted, holding the sore spot on the back of his head where it had abruptly met the ground. "Go with Jack! I'll be right behind you!"

"But…"

"Go!" He watched as the doctor hesitated for a moment before turning on her heel and hurrying off to rejoin the others. With a loud grunt, Daniel forced himself to his feet and started off toward the Stargate as fast as his tired legs would go. Concentrating on remaining upright in the deep mud, he failed to notice the progress of his friends and by the time he was able to look up again, Sam's backpack was disappearing through the open Gate.

Running on pure adrenaline, Daniel forced his body to move faster and reached the Gate platform just as another thunderous crack filled the sky. With scarcely a look back at the alien landscape or flaming MALP, the archeologist clamored up the stone steps and launched himself through the event horizon, barely missing the bolt of lightening that slammed into the platform where he'd stood only moments before.

SG1SG1SG1

Sam Carter felt sick. Standing between Daniel and Teal'c at the top of the ramp, she watched through tear brimmed eyes as Janet and her team fought to bring Jack's contracting muscles under control. No one had even considered the possibility that their brief trip through the Stargate would adversely affect his condition and they were all surprised to hear his strangled coughs and cries of pain when they emerged on the other side.

Over five agonizingly long minutes had passed since Janet had ordered the stretcher to be set down on the ramp, trapping the remaining members of SG-1 at the top where they had little choice but to watch and listen as the med team worked to stabilize their leader. Although adrenaline had allowed him to resist the medics' help at first, his condition rapidly deteriorated, leaving him barely conscious and scarcely able to breathe on his own. Left feeling completely helpless and frightened, the tightly bonded team could only stand back and pray that they'd made it in time.

Daniel watched through slanted glasses as yet another injection was administered to his failing friend. "Come on, Jack…Fight it…"

"O'Neill will make it," Teal'c said with unyielding confidence. "He is strong."

Sam simply nodded in concurrence, afraid her voice would break should she try to speak aloud.

A tense moment passed as everyone – base and medical personnel alike –waited to see if the SGC's much respected second in command would be all right. Nearly all activity had stopped in both the Gate and Control Rooms, no one daring to make a sound as they watched the situation unfold through anxious eyes. So intent was their attention that virtually everyone jumped when Jack abruptly stirred and began to cough, the spasms in his chest finally starting to subside.

"Easy, sir. You're all right," Janet said, releasing the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Just relax."

Agitated, disoriented, and still in a fair amount of pain, Jack protested loudly when he was prevented from shifting onto his side to escape the discomfort.

Acknowledging his distress, the doctor turned to the nurse at the base of the ramp. "Let's try another 5 cc's of diazepam," she called, turning back just in time to catch her patient's hand as he attempted to push the hissing oxygen mask from his face. "Ah-ah, leave it, Colonel." Maintaining a firm grip across his fingers, she watched him closely as the additional dose of medication quickly began taking effect.

"That's it, sir, let it work," she uttered, oblivious to the others in the room as she continued to speak quietly and stroke back his sweat matted hair. "Just take your time. You're going to be okay." Several minutes passed before he finally puffed out the deep, exhausted sigh she'd been waiting for, all of his muscles seeming to relax at once. "Keep it up, sir. You're doing fine."

"Doctor, the Colonel's heart rate and blood pressure are stabilizing," the medic in charge of monitoring said a short time later.

"All right. Let's move him," she said as she stood. "Daniel, Teal'c, can you lend a hand?"

Without a moment's thought, the two men shed their packs and immediately stepped forward to help. Still in a state of shock, Sam slowly made her way down beside the doctor and watched as the med team quickly organized the various leads and lines that were connected to their patient. Although her primary concern was for the Colonel, she couldn't help but steal an occasional glance at Daniel whose face was still ghostly pale. As if the close call with the lightening hadn't been bad enough, something had caused the Stargate to malfunction while he was en route, and caused it to prematurely disengage. When it did, the archeologist had hardly cleared the wormhole when it shut down, taking nearly a quarter of his backpack with it. The look on his face had been nothing short of pure terror.

"Sam? You okay?"

She blinked. "Huh? Oh, yeah, Janet, I'm fine…All things considered anyway…"

"Of course," Janet replied, her face clearly showing the concern she had for her friend.

Puffing out a shaky sigh, Sam looked back to the activity surrounding her CO, the group having successfully moved him onto the awaiting gurney. "Janet, what happened? What made him react like that?" she asked, the sound of his pained cries still echoing in her head.

"I don't know," the doctor admitted honestly as she began making her way down the ramp, careful not to trip over the bits of paper, plastic, and cut clothing left behind by the medics. "It could have had something to do with the reintegration process and its effect on the human body, or maybe the sudden rush of adrenaline he got caused the spasms to sharply intensify. Truth is, we may never know."

"Could I see him before you take him away?"

"Sure, real quick," she replied, turning to a nearby tech to pass off some samples she'd collected for the lab while on the moon.

Sam stepped over to her superior's side and carefully took one of his limp, bandaged hands in her own. Aware of the numerous other officers still in the room, she made a conscious effort to keep her emotions in check as she watched him doze. "You're going to be okay, Colonel," she said quietly, lightly rubbing her thumb across his fingers. "You're home now, sir. You're safe. We're all safe."

"Sam?" Daniel said, wrapping a comforting arm around her back. "It's time."

Reluctantly, she gently placed Jack's hand by his side and allowed Daniel to draw her away, watching as the medics began wheeling the gurney toward the door.

"We'll get him through this," Janet assured her with a small smile as she left with her team through the sliding blast doors and out of the Gate Room.

Making no effort to move out of her friend's consoling embrace, Sam shut her eyes and tried to clear her mind of all they'd been through.

"Captain Carter?"

"General Hammond!" she exclaimed, abruptly wheeling around and straightening up from her slouch as the stocky man appeared from behind. "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't know you were…"

"At ease, Captain, please," he said, his voice mellow and full of concern. He'd had a clear view from the Control Room of the medical team as they worked with Jack, and the sight had left him feeling almost as drained as the present members of SG-1 looked. "What the hell happened out there, Sam?"

"It's a long story, sir," she replied, looking up to find a weary Daniel and Teal'c nodding in agreement.

"Very long."

"Indeed."

"I understand. And it's one I'd really like to hear."

"A-about that, General…"

"Permission granted."

Sam gave him a questioning look. "Sir?"

"I've already postponed SG-1's debriefing until 1630 hours to allow you all some time to get cleaned up and settled in. Hopefully Dr. Fraiser will be able to join us by then as well."

"Thank you, sir."

"Thanks, General."

"Thank you, General Hammond."

"You're welcome," he said, smiling broadly at the chorus of gratitude that came from the small, muddy group. "Now, go get yourselves into some clean clothes before you track any more of that mud through my base."

Sam ducked her head in embarrassment when she noticed the murky puddles that had been forming beneath them all. "Yes, sir," she uttered and headed for the door with both men trailing silently behind her.

SG1SG1SG1

It was quarter of five by the time Dr. Fraiser was able to step away from the infirmary, leaving a very sick Jack O'Neill in the capable hands of her staff. She was late to the debriefing with SG-1, but she'd spent the last twenty minutes soothing her patient through a fever induced nightmare and hadn't felt comfortable leaving until she was certain he had settled down.

Heels clicking loudly against the concrete flooring, she double-checked the contents of the folders she had tucked beneath her arm. The past few hours of steady testing had revealed very little, and what she did have wasn't exactly encouraging news.

There are only a few things I dislike about this job… she thought as she began to ascend the open well of stairs leading up to the briefing room. …And admitting that the situation is worse than you initially thought is one of them…

"…I'd have to run a full Gate diagnostic to be certain it wasn't a glitch on our end, but it sounds like lightening was to blame for both instances. When it struck the second time, the Gate's capacitors overloaded and abruptly terminated the wormhole's connection," Sam was deep in the midst of explaining as the doctor reached the landing.

"But why didn't the wormhole jump like it has in the past?" Hammond asked.

"Probably because it wasn't a direct hit. When a nearby object is struck, the energy would have time to dissipate before reaching the Gate itself. If that's the case, sir, then we're looking at an isolated incident."

"I'd like you to run your diagnostics just the same, Captain. I want to be damn certain this was a freak accident and not something more serious," he said, turning his attention to the petite woman by the stairs. "Doctor, please join us."

Janet made her way over to the paper and artifact-strewn table and settled into a seat beside Sam. Jack's usual chair – she noticed – had been left empty out of respect for the missing officer. "Thank you, sir. I'm sorry I'm late."

The Captain read her troubled expression like a book. "Is everything all right?"

"The Colonel is still experiencing some pretty vivid nightmares. He's very restless and has awoken several times since our return in a fairly agitated state. I didn't feel comfortable leaving the infirmary until he had settled down."

"That's understandable, Doctor," Hammond said, noticing that the small physician wore the same tight expression of fatigue and concern as the others around the table. "What can you tell us regarding his condition?"

"At this point, sir, not a whole lot. I'm still waiting to hear back from the lab on a number of things, however it has been confirmed that the Colonel is suffering from the effects of a very potent neurotoxin."

"Oh god…" Sam uttered under her breath.

"MRI results show that no physical change has occurred in the brain or nerve structure, but his blood work is telling us a completely different story," the doctor continued. "As far as we can tell, the toxin attaches itself to red blood cells as a means of transportation throughout the body. When these cells pass through a vessel supplying a muscle, the toxins leave the cell and adhere to the nerves that are controlling it. When enough of the toxin has accumulated, the nerves become overwhelmed and unnaturally stimulated, which causes the muscles to contract far beyond and longer than what they're safely meant to. Several of his muscles have already torn from the prolonged stress."

"And you're certain this is being caused by a neurotoxin?"

"Yes, sir, very certain. I have a young man on my team who did some field work in Australia, and he mentioned that the Colonel's symptoms seemed to be similar to several arachnid venoms found here on Earth. However, it's going to take a more comprehensive analysis before we know how comparable they really are."

Daniel's eyes rose from his notes. "Wait. Did you say a spider?"

"Yes…"

"That is impossible," Teal'c declared. "We saw no insects of any kind whilst exploring M4G-887."

"Except the ones embossed on the relic…" Sam added.

The General drew his head back. "Well, if there were no insects in a physical sense, then how was he exposed?"

"The relic bit him…" Daniel uttered to no one in particular.

"I beg your pardon, Dr. Jackson?"

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about the joke Jack made when he cut himself while helping me lift this artifact from the rubble," he said, idly tapping his pen against the thick plastic case that now housed the object. "He said the rock bit him. That stuff we found coming out of the relic – it's what made him sick, isn't it?"

Janet nodded. "I had the sample of fluid we collected from the artifact compared with the culture I took from the injury on his hand. There was still a substantial amount of the toxin in the wound even though it had been thoroughly flushed several times."

"And there is nothing you can do to help O'Neill recover?"

"I won't know until the complete chemical breakdown of the toxin comes back from the lab. For now we're treating his symptoms and providing as much support as necessary to keep him comfortable. Since I'm able to monitor him correctly, I've got him on several strong muscle relaxants to try and alleviate, if not eliminate, the spasms altogether. Other than that, there's nothing else I can do until we know exactly what we're dealing with."

"Does he know?" Daniel asked.

"I've told him everything I know, however I'm not sure how much he understood," Janet replied solemnly. "This toxin is affecting him mentally as well as physically. You've all witnessed the compliant, sluggish, and at times almost fragile behavior – which are all very uncharacteristic for the Colonel."

Sam shifted uneasily in her seat. "Is there anything we can do?"

The archeologist jumped at the opportunity. "We could start by checking out the artifacts we brought back. I mean it's probably a long shot, but they might shed some light on things. Maybe even explain what's going on and how to correct it."

"I have no problem with you studying the scrolls and smaller artifacts, Dr. Jackson, but as for the relic…"

"But, General, that's the one we need to study."

"It's also proven to be the most dangerous," Hammond contended.

"I promise I'll be careful. I'll work around the part Jack injured himself on."

"There could be more points of exposure that you don't even know about. I'm sorry, son. I can't risk another person being poisoned."

Sam watched in silence as the two men argued over the table, finding validity on both sides. Daniel was right to suspect that the relic could hold valuable information about Jack's condition, but the General's caution was equally warranted as well.

There must be another way… she thought, her gaze being drawn to several MRI films that Janet was busy sorting through. That's it…

"Sir, what if I could make the artifact safe for Daniel to handle?"

"How?" the question came simultaneously from the still quarrelling men.

"Well…" she began, turning to the doctor beside her. "Can we borrow your MRI machine for a few minutes?"

"I guess so, but…" Her eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh! I didn't think of that."

"Think of what?"

"We can use the MRI to get an inside view of the artifact without needing to handle it directly. It'll clearly show us if and where any more of the prongs are hidden, even beneath the hardened ash and clay."

Daniel pounded an elated fist against the table. "Yes! Sam, that's brilliant!"

"But that still doesn't prevent accidental contact with the toxin," Hammond pushed, although sounding a little less reluctant than before.

"Then we'll find a way to extract it," Sam said simply. "I mean there must be something here on the base we can use."

"I may have something right in the infirmary. Besides, having a larger sample of the toxin to work with would help us in our research, General," Janet added.

"Although there are risks, it may be in our best interest to discover the purpose of the artifact and perhaps even a way to help O'Neill."

Hammond gave the Jaffa an astounded look. The normally stoic man was starting to get in on the act too. "All right," he conceded with a sigh. "I see your point. There are risks, but there's too much at stake not to take them. You may go ahead and try to remove the toxin from the relic, however, if at any point I see that the risks start to outweigh the potential gain, I will put a stop to your efforts. Understood?"

Daniel spoke first, answering for them all. "Yes, General. We understand. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now if there's nothing else, then I suppose I should let you people get to work," he said, meeting each gratified gaze in turn. When nothing more was said, the General nodded, gathered his mission notes, and stood. "Very well. Good luck in your efforts and please do be careful. You're dismissed."

SG1SG1SG1

What am I going to do with you, sir? Janet asked herself as she skimmed through the additions that had been made to his chart during her absence. Aside from a slight increase in temperature, she found that nothing much had changed since she'd left for the debriefing. He'd remained restless despite her team's best efforts to keep him quiet, and it concerned her that even with the help of medication he was unable to relax enough to sleep and recover. And that's exactly what he needs the most right now…

Returning the chart to the foot of the bed, she took a moment out of clinical interest to observe her patient. What she saw left no doubt in her mind that the man occupying the single hospital bed was extremely sick. If his pale, almost translucent skin pallor didn't give it away, than the amount of monitoring and support machinery that surrounded him certainly did. And amidst the jungle of assorted leads and lines, Jack O'Neill lay twitching in his sleep as he battled demons that only he could see.

"I wish there was more I could do for you, sir," the doctor said quietly as she straightened out the tangled mess he was making of his blankets. "We're working on it though. You just have to hang on."

His body gave a sudden jerk.

"Colonel?" she called, her hand immediately reaching for the call button.

"No…" he uttered and began to shift uneasily beneath the covers, his bandaged hands locking into tight fists. "Gate…go…"

The doctor relaxed as she realized he was only dreaming and not starting to seize as she had originally thought. "You're all right, sir. You're home now -- you're safe."

"Get to the Gate…hurry…coming…" He jerked again, the sudden movement causing several of the monitoring units to screech. "Daniel, dial home…Teal'c…cover fire…"

"Easy, sir," she soothed, passing a cool cloth over his face. "You're okay."

"No…" he groaned and shied away from her touch.

"Janet, what's going on?"

She looked over her shoulder to find the other members of SG-1 gathering in the doorway of the isolation room, the same look of apprehension stamped across all three faces. "Great timing, guys, he's dreaming again. Come here, all of you. Talk to him – let him know you're all right. Maybe you'll have better luck at getting through."

"Jack?" Daniel was first to his bedside. "It's okay, Jack. We're all here – Sam, Teal'c, and I. We're all fine. You got us home safe and sound."

"…Cover the Gate…Go…go!"

"Colonel, please wake up," Sam pleaded, picking up his hand. "You're having a bad dream. We're home, Colonel, we're all right."

"Jaffa…"

Teal'c's eyebrows rose. "I am the only Jaffa present, O'Neill. And, as always, I mean you no harm."

At the large man's reassurance, Jack seemed to relax, and a collective sigh of relief passed through the room's occupants. The small group stood in silence for a moment, content just to listen to the fast but steady beep of their leader's heart monitor.

"Is it over?" Daniel asked hesitantly. "Is he asleep?"

"It looks that way," Janet replied, equally uncertain. "Thank you, you three. I'm sorry you had to…"

"No!" Jack shouted, catching everyone off guard as he suddenly shot upright in bed. With wild, unfocused eyes he frantically searched around the room, his chest heaving as he drew in panicked, ragged gasps of air.

"Colonel? Take it easy, sir. You're all right," the doctor said, hastily turning down the volume on several of the now shrieking monitors. "Daniel, Sam, watch yourselves. Just give him some room."

"What is causing this most disturbing behavior?" Teal'c asked, allowing a hint of concern into his voice.

"The toxin," she replied as she surveyed the damage he'd caused, finding that he had only dislodged one of the IV lines and several EKG leads. "It's messing with his brain chemistry."

"Jack? Can you hear me?" Daniel asked, his arms wrapped insecurely around his chest.

"D-Daniel?"

"Yes, Jack, I'm right here. Are you okay?"

He slowly shook his head. "No…I'm so sorry, Danny. I tried…I tried to hold them back…I really did…"

"Sir, what are you talking about? Hold back who?"

"Carter?" He turned toward the sound of her voice, his bleary eyes seeming to look through rather than at her. "Is that you? But the…how…?"

The Captain took a tentative step forward, wanting nothing more than to be able to get through to her confused and obviously frightened CO.

"Sam…"

"I'll be careful, Janet," she assured her, deliberately reaching out and touching his trembling shoulder. "It's really me, sir. See? I'm really here."

"But how? You and Teal'c – I couldn't hold them back. They were waiting for us…I'm sorry…"

"It was a dream, Jack," Daniel calmly insisted. "A horrible, hellish dream. But it's over now. We're all home – all safe."

The sick man's gaze softened as reality returned and he actually "saw" his team standing around him for the first time. "Dream?"

The Jaffa inclined his head. "Indeed."

"But I thought I lost…" Jack clutched his face with bandaged hands. "Oh god…"

Sam's heart welled into her throat as she watched a tear slide down his cheek. Without a second thought, she slipped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug just as he'd done for her on many occasions. "You're okay," she whispered, gently rubbing his back as he sobbed softly against her uniform. "It's all right, Jack, it's over. You're okay now."

As visibly shaken as her friends, Janet took a deep breath to compose herself before going to her patient's side. "Colonel?"

"Janet, he's tight as a knot."

With a concerned frown, the doctor went to the supply cabinet and expertly drew an opaque liquid into a syringe. Forcing out the air, she slipped the needle into one of the remaining IV lines and depressed the plunger. Within a matter of seconds, he began to relax.

"Colonel," she said, approaching him once again. "Can you look at me, sir?"

With a little coaxing from Sam, Jack slowly lifted his head from her shoulder and turned his unfocused gaze toward the doctor. Her heart aching with sympathy, Janet reached up and gently wiped the moisture from beneath his reddened eyes.

"Do you hurt anywhere, sir?"

He blinked sleepily against the medication and shook his head.

"That's good," she replied, offering him a warm smile. "I am so sorry you had to go through that, Colonel. What I just gave you will help you rest without those dreams coming back, okay?"

He managed a partial nod before sagging heavily against the Captain's arm.

Janet shut her eyes and tried to rub out the knot of tension that had formed at the base of her neck. "All right, can you help me get him settled?"

With the four of them working together, it wasn't long before the sleeping man was situated and reconnected to the equipment he had torn free. Having secured a nasal cannula beneath his nose, the doctor briefly rested her hand against his overly warm face. "The meds should help him sleep comfortably for a few hours at least."

"Thanks, Janet," Daniel said. He turned and offered his hand to a very pale Sam. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a little shaken." She fingered the damp patch on her uniform left by her superior's uncharacteristic tears. "I've just never seen him like that before."

"I don't think many have…"

"Sam?" Janet lightly touched her friend's arm. "I hate to push but I'd really like to get you set up with the MRI machine so we can get a scan of that artifact. There's a few SG teams due back first thing in the morning and it'll be tied up for hours once they do."

"Sure. I'll go get it," she uttered and quietly left the room.

"I should get to work trying to open those scrolls we brought back," Daniel said, although reluctant to leave his friend's side. "They might be able to tell us more about what's going on. Teal'c, since we are dealing with a Goa'uld here, I could probably use your help with the translations."

"Will you be needing my assistance immediately, Daniel Jackson?"

"Um – no. Probably not for a few hours…"

"Than I shall remain here with O'Neill until my presence is required."

"Oh, Teal'c, you don't have to do that. The Colonel's going to be asleep for quite awhile and my staff will be…" Janet realized her words were fruitless when the Jaffa settled himself into a plastic chair beside the bed.

"I wish to remain."

"All right…I'll let my people know to expect you here then," she said with a small shrug before excusing herself to prepare the MRI scanner.

With a disheartened sigh, the linguist returned to Jack's side and gave his limp hand a squeeze. "Hang in there, Jack. We're all pulling for you out here." He looked to Teal'c. "Keep an eye on him. I'll call when I need you."

The Jaffa inclined his head and watched as he left for his lab. Once alone, Teal'c turned to the bed and rested a large hand on the human's shoulder. "Do not let your dreams trouble you, my friend, for you are not alone."