10.

Jack finally headed into the living room where Daniel and Teal'c were ensconced at the kitchen table staring at a laptop.

"Look, I know you want to know what happened, but…"

Daniel looked up. "Actually, we don't, Jack, or rather, we already know. You left the camera running through all of it." He paused. "It's really …nasty… footage. And I understand now why you were so concerned about Sam. That was a major hit, worse than a Gou'ald hand device, and those can throw you across a room."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, well, I think she's sleeping now. We'll see. I've contacted Hammond. He didn't give me any science updates though."

Teal'c broke in. "I have already made contact with the SGC, O'Neill, asking this question. Drs. Harris and Lee have indeed confirmed that the emissions occurred again at the exact time listed on your camera during your first contact."

"Do they have any idea what it was?"

Daniel answered. "No. I think they need Sam for that. But it's definitely alien technology that they've never seen before. And, although we don't know what it was, I think I know *who* it was."

"What?" Jack stared at him, unable to take in the comment.

"Everett Ruess."

"Who's Everett Ruess?"

"Here, see for yourself." Daniel adjusted the laptop and pulled up two adjacent images, one of the being who had beckoned Jack in the cave and another of a cowboy, in dirty western clothes. They were identical.

Jack stared at the screen. "I don't get it."

Daniel rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "I don't either. But it's real. Ruess was here in the 30s. Remember that I mentioned there were some strange things documented in Davis Gulch back then? Well, his was the most famous story. He was an artist, poet and naturalist that came out here from the east as a young man, and fell in love with the canyons. It was really wild here then; nothing and no one for hundreds of miles. In '34, he went out on his own and was never seen again. They searched the area and found his burros in a corral at the top of Davis, but never found any trace of him. He just disappeared."

Jack blew out a breath, sat down on the couch and rubbed his hands through his hair. "There are just too many things disappearing around here for my taste."

Daniel shrugged sympathetically. " Yeah, I see your point." He paused. "Only in this case, Ruess has apparently reappeared, or something that someone or something wants us to think resembles him has."

"I'm not sure that's any better."

Teal'c joined the conversation. "Indeed. It is not. I have questions concerning this film, O'Neill. Why did you move toward the apparition of Everett Ruess at first? It was most unwise and unlike you. "

"I couldn't do anything else, Teal'c. It was literally pulling me into the back of the cave, into the light. But then it saw Carter. And well, you saw. Whatever is in that cave deliberately attacked her. And pushed me away." He swallowed. "I almost didn't get to her."

"The film is unclear on what occurred next. You obviously reached Major Carter, but this must have been difficult."

"Yeah, it was suddenly freezing and the current was incredibly strong. It was weird. It was pushing me out of the cave at the same time that it was crushing her up against the wall. Her tanks were destroyed. I stayed next to the wall, got to her, got her tanks off and then we swam like the devil. Once we were out of the cave, it stopped."

"It allowed you to remove her from the location."

"I don't – I don't know. It didn't seem like it at the time, but … I don't know, Teal'c. Maybe."

"I think Teal'c's right, sir."

Jack looked up at Carter's entrance, exasperated. "I thought you were going to rest."

"I did. I'm fine."

He watched as she limped over to the couch. "Yeah, sure you are."

She ignored the comment, but accepted his offer of a blanket as she settled on the couch next to him. "I think we're mistaken, sir. It wasn't trying to kill me, just nullify what it saw as a threat, although I could never have broken free of the beam without you there. But once you came back for me, it let us both leave."

Jack raised his eyebrows. He moved her feet over to his lap casually to make more room on the couch. "It crushed you against the wall."

She leaned back against the side of the couch, putting a pillow behind her back to be more comfortable. "It crushed my tanks, although I'm not sure that was the intent. It just wanted to stop me."

"Why you, Sam? Why didn't it go after Jack?" Daniel stared at them both from his makeshift office on the table of the houseboat.

She grimaced, shifting. "I don't know, Daniel. Maybe something I touched? I did touch the anthromorphs outside the cave, or maybe it was the scanning device."

Daniel looked back at his laptop. "Ruess was talking to you, Jack. Could you understand what he said?"

Jack shook his head and moved his arm underneath Sam's blanket just to check once again that there were no broken bones, this time, the ankle on the leg she'd been limping, which was currently in his lap. Yeah, she did seem ok. At least, the light pressure he'd put on her ankle hadn't made her react. If it were joint ache from the bends, it would have hurt.

"Jack?"

He ignored what he thought was a really stupid question from Daniel when there were more important issues to consider.

"Jack?"

"Sure. Of course I could understand Ruess. No problem. We were 135 feet underwater in a cave. Great place for a conversation."

Daniel stared in annoyance. "I just meant that it could have telepathed the conversation." At Jack's look of incredulity, Daniel defended himself. "We've seen weirder things."

"Well, it didn't."

"It's too bad we can't decipher the words. The cave wasn't always underwater. It could have been a message."

Daniel started replaying the film.

Jack grimaced. "Daniel, I don't think Carter nor I need to relive that again."

"What?" Daniel looked up. "Oh, sorry." He moved his laptop out of Jack's visual range. "I just can't -. We need to contact the SGC. "

Jack stared at Daniel, exasperated. "I already did, Daniel, and Teal'c's already confirmed that there were emission signatures they don't understand yet. They know we're all right. I'm not doing it again until I have a plan."

"That's my point. I think I have part of the plan. We need Hoffman. She reads lips a lot better than I do. I can tell that Ruess isn't speaking English, German, French, Chinese, Italian, or, well, any of the 23 languages I'm familiar with, and it's not Gou'ald or Ancient either as far as I can tell. In fact, I think it's a variation of the Hopi native language. If she could mouth the words, I might be able to translate; or talk to some colleagues that could. It might be a message."

"Oh, here we go. Not everything wants to communicate."

"Well, this was. Think about it. It was motioning towards you until it saw Sam. We need to know what it was saying."

"I agree with Daniel, sir."

Jack sighed. "Of course you do."

Carter ignored him. "And as for an MO, I think we should hold off on the SGC sending in reserves. Daniel can send the film to Hoffman and she can use the Mountain's facilities to help translate. We need to go back down there ourselves. Now that I know what to expect, I should be able to get the data we need without putting any of the other scientists at risk."

Jack grimaced. He'd already decided they needed to revisit the site, but this time it was going to be on their terms, not the entities. "You are not going back down there, Carter. Teal'c and I will reconnoiter."

"But.."

"Ah, no. No diving until we're sure about decompression, the ribs and the ankle. You stay on the boat or evac to Page to get checked out. Your choice. You can update Teal'c and I on what we need to be looking for with the scanners."

"But…"

Jack stared her down.

She grimaced, acknowledging the order. Her disgruntled expression indicated that he hadn't heard the last of it, but for now she'd accepted the directive. He sighed. When he'd started this vacation idea, he hadn't expected Carter to be annoyed with him for the whole trip; part, sure, but the whole trip? Yeah. Murphy's law. It was predictable.

Daniel broke in. "I need to go as well, Jack."

"Of course you do."

"I mean it."

He rubbed his hands through his hair, thoroughly annoyed. "So do I. Stop, Daniel. I agree. We do need you down there; photographing and … doing whatever it is that you do. I must have missed something when I was filming."

"Not likely."

"What?"

Daniel cocked his head. "I said that it's not likely you missed anything as far as a threat assessment is concerned. But I need to see more of the ruin and what was around it. It's stunning - perfectly preserved, which is just not possible. There's no documentation that the archaeologists who researched this area before it was drowned ever located it."

He paused and rubbed his eyes, under his glasses. "And yet, for this area, it's a huge dwelling. There are much bigger sites elsewhere, Chaco, Mesa Verde, but this is perfect and was never identified. It looks like the construction is typical of the Chacoan era, somewhere between 900 and 1150 A.D, which should be impossible, or at least improbable. The Chaco phenomena didn't reach this far as far as we know. The T shape of the door and the careful layering of bricks gives it away. And yet, it's a cliff dwelling - which is more reminiscent of Mesa Verde, which was much later – 1100 to 1250, long after Chaco had been abandoned for the most part. So Chaco building techniques but Mesa Verde cliff dwelling design. It's unique. I need to see it."

"Daniel, this isn't about archaeology."

"I know. I mean, yes, I want to see it for that reason, but there's a lot more there. It's an anomaly. Something's off. It could provide us with information about who and what is causing this." He paused. "And that additional data could answer some questions about why Sam and not you was … nullified."

Jack got back to the point. "It's a deep dive, Daniel." He raised his hand when it looked like Daniel was going to interrupt. "I know you went through the training, but Carter and I barely made it out and we're both certified for deep diving and for unpressurized flying above 18,000 feet."

Daniel looked confused.

Jack grimaced and clarified. "Same decompression problem."

"Oh. Well, that's ok, then." He stared back at the laptop.

Jack closed his eyes, and then started in. "So, if I agree to this, you understand that we will have only ten minutes at depth, and that two of those Teal'c and I will need to make sure the situation there is secure." Teal'c's larva would protect him if things got ugly. Daniel was another case entirely.

"Yes."

Daniel was clearly ignoring him.

Jack tried again. "So, if I give the go ahead on including you in this expedition, you agree that Teal'c and I will do the heavy lifting, so to speak, you'll stay back and you will only have eight minutes to check this out."

"Yes, of course."

Huh. It had to be a first. Daniel was agreeing with him on procedure. Nah. He'd just been lulled into a false sense of security. "So, you will stay away from the ruin until Teal'c and I check it out."

"Sure. I want to investigate Sam's anthromorphs at the entrance to the cave first."

Jack repeated himself. With Daniel it was best to be really, really clear. "And you will only have eight minutes to play."

Daniel ignored him, staring at his laptop and the film again.

"Daniel."

"What?"

"Do you understand you will have less than ten minutes?"

Daniel finally looked up, something in Jack's tone breaking finally through. "Yes, of course. I know the diving tables. The SGC's training was a refresher course for me, although some of it was pretty… redundant. I spent a lot of time diving in Greece."

Carter broke in, clearly confused. "When did you do that, Daniel? I thought you researched Egyptian culture and history before the SGC."

He looked back down at the laptop. "Oh, I did. But there was a period when I thought it was possible to find Atlantis. Diving was necessary."

Jack broke in; he couldn't help it. "Atlantis? It's a myth."

Daniel looked up at that. "So are aliens that land space ships on pyramids."

Jack put his head back on the couch, incredibly tired and got back, yet again, to the point. "You will only have eight minutes in the cave. And that's only if Teal'c and I OK site. Got it?"

"Yes."

Jack wasn't sure that Daniel had gotten anything, but he was too tired to argue. He closed his eyes, resting.

And then woke as Daniel interrupted the break. He didn't know how long he'd been sleeping, but it couldn't have been that long. The sun was still up around the canyon walls. He turned and looked at Carter, pleased that she was asleep, resting on the couch.

"Jack -"

"Ack. Thanks for the wake up call, Daniel."

"Ah. Sorry."

Jack sat up and ran his hands through his hair, carefully moving Carter's feet off his lap and onto the couch.

"What?"

"I am sorry. It's only been about five minutes. I thought you were awake."

Jack shrugged, getting the cobwebs out of his brain. "What is it, Daniel?"

"It's just that the film is really unclear about what you saw inside the ruin. I think you were too close to document it effectively. If you'd … well, anyway, what did you see?"

"There was nothing in it, just some carvings on wall next to it. They weren't highlighted or anything. I'm sure there are some views of it on the film. "

Sam stirred, waking from her own nap. She raised her arms above her head. "What did you say, Daniel?"

"I asked Jack about the carvings on the wall next to the ruin."

Sam broke in, looking at him. "You touched them."

Jack stared at her, confused. "I did nothing of the sort."

She shook her head, and shifted, sitting up. "You did, sir. I saw you."

"Jack actually touched something?" Daniel grinned. Jack could tell that Daniel was going to use this for years. After all, he had repeatedly reamed both Daniel and Carter out for doing the same for the last three years. It usually resulted in … yeah, whatever.

But in this case, Carter was wrong. He was sure she was. "I didn't touch anything. "

Sam broke in, apologetically. " You really did, sir. It was right before the wall started vibrating."

Daniel looked back at the film. "I think you did, Jack. Here, look at this." He turned his laptop toward the couch.

As evidence, it was unarguable. But it still wasn't true. "I don't remember doing it. In fact, I would never do that."

There was silence as they all took in the implications. Daniel finally responded. "And yet, you did." Daniel paused, thinking, and then continued on. "Maybe that's what started the... interaction."

He looked back at Jack. "Nothing happened until you put your hand on the wall, right?"

"I told you, Daniel. I don't remember putting my hand on the wall."

"Sir, Daniel has a point. The glow and … the cowboy…did show up after you touched the wall."

"Everett Ruess."

Carter stared at Daniel. "You know who it is?"

Daniel waved his hand, staring at his laptop. "Yeah, I'll update you later. The thing is I am almost sure I have seen the design of the petroglyph Jack touched somewhere else. I can't remember …"

"Daniel." Jack decided it was time to bring the man back on track, yet again.

"Huh? Oh, sorry."

Carter jumped in. "It's possible, sir. You could have activated something by touching the wall - we've seen it before."

And that was not something he wanted to remember. In fact, he couldn't remember it. The whole head sucky thing was best totally forgotten, in his opinion, even if it had meant that the Asgard had taken a renewed interest in Earth.

"I don't remember touching the wall."

Daniel broke in. "You did, so just give it up, Jack."

Jack rubbed his hands eyes. "OK, even if I did, why did it want to play nice with me and beat up Carter?"

Carter swallowed and turned away, and it suddenly clicked for Jack as well. He wished he could take back the sentence - he didn't want to hurt her or remind her of her experiences, but he couldn't leave it alone and ignore the possibility. They had to work it out.

She finally commented, "It could be Jolinar. It could have recognized the residue."

Teal'c interrupted. "It is possible, Major Carter. It is also possible that whatever is there simply did not expect two individuals or a female. On the mission tomorrow, we may be able to verify your premise if …it… reacts to my Gou'ald larva."

Daniel interrupted, supporting Teal'c. "We don't have anything yet, Sam. Just some theory that could be all wrong."

Jack grimaced, finally waking up, sort of. "Yeah, that's just great. So, Carter's emissions are playing mind games and being picky about who gets have play dates in the playground. We have thousands of dead unaccounted for 1000 years ago, a dead poet who's decided to speak Greek -"

"I really think it's a derivative of Hopi."

Jack glared at Daniel, "—as I said, a dead poet who's decided to speak an unknown language and who's probably a hologram anyway that -"

"Not a hologram, sir. I'm pretty sure of that. And the emissions aren't playing mind games. There's something else there; something's controlling what we've seen. And anyway, I'm not the one that, theoretically, identified the emissions. It was the Asgard technology that -"

He glared at Carter as well and then calmed down, thinking about what she'd said, or rather the fact that she'd said it. If she was well enough to get technical with him she was probably OK.

"- and that's why I really need to be there to check on the data related to the emissions."

He broke out of his funk at that comment. "Not going to happen, Carter."

"But-"

Teal'c broke in. "O'Neill, the rain has stopped. The clouds are breaking, with the promise of good weather tomorrow. The mission is best left until then. There are no obvious threats emerging from Davis Gulch at this time, but General Hammond must be informed of our next steps."

"I know." Jack grimaced. While he had the rest of the op tomorrow clear in his head, he was still debating whether or not to evac Carter out to Page before.

Teal'c seemed to read his mind. "As you have outlined, Major Carter will remain on the boat and we will monitor her progress this evening. If necessary, she will be conducted to Page, Arizona where there is a medical base tomorrow."

Carter looked like she was going to kill someone, probably him, but subsided when T gave her the eyebrow.

Jack grinned.

"All right, kids. Here's the plan. Daniel, send the film off to Hoffman. Let's see if she comes up with anything. You, Teal'c and I will head back down to the cave, after Carter gives us a science lesson on her equipment tomorrow at first light. Carter stays on the boat. I'll contact Hammond and let him know what's up so the SGC can monitor for emissions and have another team ready if needed. Carter will run SAR from here if things go FUBAR."

Carter shifted. "I can rig up communication between the speedboat and the houseboat in order to keep up to date." She started to get up.

"Tomorrow, Carter. You'll do it in the morning."

"I can't – "

He stared her down.

She put her head back on the pillows and closed her eyes. "Fine."

He didn't say anything, because he didn't know what to say. The CO half wanted to ream her out for the attitude and another part of him was just thankful that she'd agreed to lay low for a while.

Eventually, even he noticed that the silence in the room was getting uncomfortable.

Teal'c finally broke in. "Your plan is sensible, O'Neill. In the interim, we all require sustenance as it is late in the day and your excursion with Major Carter eliminated what you call….'lunch.'. I propose that we cook dinner. You mentioned ribs last night. And there are sufficient vegetables and fruit to be adequate." He glanced at Daniel. "We should prepare the meal."

For once, Jack actually couldn't read Daniel's expression as the man stared at Teal'c. Then Daniel stood up heading to the refrigerator. "Sure. Time enough for other things, unless of course, the cave explodes in the next hour or so. And of course we have no way of knowing that. So, time is right. Let's eat." The irony in his voice was unmistakable.

Sam broke in. "We will know. The SGC will alert us immediately if there's a problem. You know that, Daniel."

Teal'c interrupted. "We are aware of that, Major Carter." He stared at Daniel again. "You will help prepare the meal."

Daniel seemed to come out of some sort of funk. He shook his head. "Sorry. I was just thinking about—of course I'll help." He headed off to the kitchen area of the cabin to help Teal'c.

And that, Jack thought, seemed to be that, as he settled down on the couch, closed his eyes, and slipped into a nap that was essential, and welcoming. Daniel and T were watching their backs, and Sam and he were resting after a damned awful day for her. He moved his hand back onto her sore ankle.

It would be all right.