Chapter 11

Within seconds, SG-1's hostess was pelting across the snow laden fields, refusing to allow the deep snow to effect her pace in the slightest. Her long brown skirt billowed out behind her as she ran with the team in tow. Halfway there, the small figure of a young boy was seen racing towards them.

"Bartok!" Lunasa called, panicked and panting, "What happened?"

"I don't know, Miss Lunasa. One moment everything was fine, and the next there was a great roar and a huge pile of snow was tumbling down the side of the mountain. It covered Haylar's home and fields…"

"What? Haylar's place? Have you seen my sister, Lauria? Speak, child, quickly!" she shouted as she compulsively grabbed the boy's shoulders, fear etched into her sheet white face and wide brown eyes.

"She went into the house some time ago, Miss, and I did not see her come out before I ran to find you," Bartok answered as fast as he could, frightened by the terrified look the young leader wore.

"Go, rouse everyone who can come. Tell them to bring shovels! Run!"

The boy dashed off towards the city and Lunasa continued toward the now dwindling white cloud and breakneck speed. SG-1 followed, each member unsure of how they could help, but knowing that they had to try.

By the time they reached the tragic site the white cloud had all but settled. Snow was piled around the foot of the mountain, and it was very deep indeed. If there had been a house there, it could no longer be seen. Here Lunasa finally stopped. She stared at the mound of snow before her, dumbstruck.

Daniel slowly approached her from behind. Softly, trying hard not to jar her, he said, "Lunasa?"

The young woman continued to stare, apparently unaware that Daniel and his teammates were there. Under her breath, she began to mutter to herself. At first Daniel couldn't make it out, but then he understood.

"My sister…My sister is here…Where is she?…What?…My sister…"

Daniel carefully placed his hand on her shoulder and called to her again. This time Lunasa jumped and turned quickly to stare at him with glazed brown eyes.

"How can we help?" said Daniel.

She only blinked at him, clearly in shock. Her clouded eyes cleared briefly and she was heard to mutter, "I don't know," but then her gaze returned to the snow and she was lost again.

Jack waved Daniel back a few feet, leaving the poor woman frozen in place, and said "There isn't much we can do here."

"What are you saying, Jack?" Daniel asked suspiciously.

"Now don't gimme that, Daniel!" Jack retorted. "It's obvious that they need our help right now as much as we need theirs if we're going to get home. However, short of digging with bare hands in the snow until we've all got frostbite, there's not much we can do."

"We have to try something, sir." Sam said.

Jack stood for a moment, considering a course of action. "There is one thing we can try that may help some," he said. Pointing to some large unknown trees a few meters off, "We need some really long braches that are thin and light, but won't bend easy."

"For what purpose, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, perplexed by the need for wood at such a time as this.

"To probe the snow with," Sam said enthusiastically, catching on fast as usual. "It will make it easier to figure out where to dig, otherwise they'll look for hours in all the wrong places."

"Exactly, Carter." Jack led the way to the trees, selected a branch, and with his knife began hacking way at where it emerged from the tree's trunk. Daniel joined him, working to cut of the smaller branches that grew from the main piece while Teal'c and Sam went to the next tree and did likewise.

"How did you know about this, Jack?" Daniel asked hoarsely as he worked to cut off the extra limb. His knife was not exactly meant for wood.

"This may surprise you, but I do actually read those National Geographics I have. Besides, I used to ski a long time ago, before um…" he stretched his knees experimentally, "and I saw a rescue team drilling once. I guess I picked up a few things…"

The team continued to work as men and women from the city arrived with shovels and roused Lunasa out of her stunned state. A man's voice rose above the others, pointing out where the house had been.

SG-1 finished with some help from Teal'c's staff to knock off the remaining branches ("Why didn't you think of that before, Teal'c?" Jack demanded, rubbing his now sore shoulder.), and joined the newly formed rescue party just in time. Soon the position of the house was marked with the help of the probes, and the digging began around it.

As the sun rose directly over the valley, the front door of the small single person house was finally unblocked and pulled open. Lunasa was the first to rush through the door. Inside it was dark and damp, and the air was growing stale. The light that came through the door revealed a grizzled middle-aged man sitting at a table with his head down on his arms in an attitude of defeat, unconscious.

"It's Haylar!" she called to those who where following her in, beginning to cough from the lack of oxygen. "The air is poor in here. We have to get him out!"

Several pairs of hands carried the man's limp form out onto the snow bank and gently laid him down on his back. Sam rushed forward to help, instinctively feeling for a pulse, and after finding a weak one, she leaned her head down over the man's face to listen for his breath. It was present, but shallow.

"He's alive, but barely. Everyone back up! He needs fresh air."

As everyone stumbled backward in compliance, the man began to cough, gasping for air. After a minute his breath became more regular and his eyes fluttered open, looking first at Sam, and then scanning the faces around him until they rested on Lunasa.

"Haylar! Haylar, what happened? Where is Lauria?" Lunasa asked, getting down on her knees in the snow next to him and clutching his hand.

"The snow…the snow came out of nowhere," he croaked, dazedly staring to the mountain where the snow had fallen from as he spoke. His eyes were out of focus, as if the whole scene was playing before his eyes just as it had happened. "Lauria had just left when it started…it was…so loud…. The melting of the snow must have caused it. When I heard it I went out to see what was happening. Lauria was halfway across my fields…. I called to her…told her to run, to come back into my house where we might both survive…but she didn't hear me. Instead she ran away, but she could not have outrun the snow…. My door was pushed shut by the avalanche just as I got back in. I was trapped."

Lunasa had sat there as though made of stone as Haylar recounted events. Her brown eyes had grown wide as he had described what had befallen her sister, but still did not move, as if unable to register what he was saying. It was now when he fell silent that she came to life once more. She swiftly stood and, grabbing one of the long branches from nearby, ran out into the middle of the snow-covered field and began carefully probing with it.

Sam wandered back to Jack's side as the rest of the rescue party tended to Haylar. "Sir, even if Lunasa does find Lauria…she's gone by now, sir."

Jack remained silent. His thoughts, like those of Daniel, Teal'c, and Sam, dwelled on his own memories of loss as they all watched the loan woman search for the only family she had left.

Charlie…

Sha're…

Father…

Mom…

After several moments Jack said in a gentle, hushed tone, "I know, Carter…. Let's go help her."