Chapter Two

For a moment, Jack just stared at the youthful face beneath him in disbelief, then shook himself back into dealing with practicalities. He checked the boy's pulse, and was relieved to find it slow but steady. A gentle once-over revealed no obvious injuries, nor did the boy--oh hell, he might as well stop avoiding proper names--nor did Teal'c rouse at the handling, or at the sound of his name.

After laying the reduced Teal'c in the recovery position, he walked quickly over to the console, both hoping and dreading to find the rest of his team in the same condition. It did beat "fried to a crisp by weird alien energy" after all. Though "perfectly normal and uninjured, just briefly rendered unconscious," was his preference.

But unfortunately he wasn't to get what he wanted. He saw a head of white-blond hair at the top end of a crumpled set of now-overlarge BDUs before he got around the console, Carter's painter's field cap laying on the floor next to it. Like Teal'c she was limply unconscious, with no evident injuries and good vitals. She appeared to be about eight years old.

Beyond her, where he'd been initially hidden by the console, was an even smaller boy, maybe six years old. If Jack hadn't seen Carter first, he would have suspected this was her because of the mass of thick golden-blond hair. Boy, Daniel hadn't been kidding when he said he'd been a lot blonder as a kid. He, too, was unconscious, but seemed otherwise stable and unhurt.

Jack rocked back on his heels and considered the situation. He had three teammates, who though apparently not in immediate physical danger, definitely needed medical attention. In addition to their transformed state, their continued unconsciousness was a serious concern in itself. Another lesson from his field medic training: Unconsciousness is always considered a medical emergency until competent medical personnel determine otherwise.

The problem was, the nearest competent medical personnel were yea-many light years away on the other side of the Stargate, which was a klick-and-a-half away. His radio would reach IF there was an open wormhole to Earth, but their next scheduled check-in was... four hours and 40 minutes away. Too long. But the alternative was leaving his companions unattended while he trekked out to the gate and back, and risking their condition deteriorating or their waking up disoriented and coming to some harm. And then there was that freakin' thunderstorm...

Which meant that he couldn't leave right now anyway; if he got killed by another lightning bolt or crushed by a falling tree, there'd be neither medical help nor anyone to take care of his kids. He grimaced wryly at how very accurate that commonly used phrase now was.

It occurred to him that he needed to get his team out of this room, just in case there was any continuing youthening effect going on. He shuddered at the thought of leaving and returning with medical help to find three dead fetuses... Great, just what he needed, more images for his vault of nightmares.

Well, Daniel was the obvious first choice to move, as he was the one with the fewest years left to lose. Odd; according to his file he was three years older than Carter. Of course, Teal'c was far older than either of them, and he'd been... kidified... too. He pulled a space blanket out of his tac vest and started to wrap it around Daniel, floating in his oversized clothes, when he noticed Daniel's Beretta, still in its now-loosely dangling holster. With a grimace he removed the gun and tucked it away in his own gear, taking a few seconds to secure Carter's zat and both their utility knives as well.

That left one P90 and a staff weapon, both of which were too big for Jack to secure on his person. Jack glanced around, then placed the two items in a recess on the wall that was hopefully too high for any of his downsized teammates to reach.

Then he carefully enfolded Daniel in the copious space blanket and lifted the small boy like a swaddled infant. One that weighed forty pounds or more. Jack grimaced as his knee twanged angrily as he stood. Well, at least he wasn't getting any younger. That might be only because he'd missed being sensitized, so he didn't delay.

He carried Daniel quickly along the hallway until he reached what he thought was a reasonable compromise between the still-raging thunderstorm and any residual weird alien energy from the planetorium, and gently laid him on his side, in the recovery position. Damn, Daniel always looked like such a little boy when he slept, and that was even BEFORE this had happened.

He returned to get Carter, snagging the space blanket from Daniel's discarded tac vest. Thankfully she didn't appear to have shrunk in the interim. She didn't swim in her clothes quite so badly as Daniel, since she was larger as an child and had been smaller as an adult. He noted as he lifted he that she didn't really seem much heavier than Daniel, despite her additional height. Well, Carter was lean and long-boned as an adult, too.

He carried her out and laid her beside Daniel, also on her side. To his joy, she stirred slightly as he positioned her, and her eyebrows crooked in a brief frown before smoothing again. "Carter? Can you hear me? Carter!" But there was no further response from her, nor any response at all from Daniel.

He went back to the planetorium to pick up his third teammate. But as he knelt beside Teal'c, the boy's eyes flew open, and he stared at Jack in stark terror.

"Who... who are you? What is this place?" Teal'c asked in alarm. "Why have I been brought here?" Damn, it was strange to hear Teal'c's inflections and speech pattern in a boyish treble.

The boy sat up rapidly, but was impeded from further rapid movement by his enveloping BDUs, the neckline of his previously tight black tee now drooping off one shoulder, the jacket slipping down so completely that Teal'c automatically shook it off to free his hands. Looking down, he asked with a note of surprise added to the fear, "Why have you dressed me in this strange, ill-fitting garb?"

Then he snapped his gaze back to Jack, eyes narrowed with sudden suspicion, "Are you an agent of Cronus, seeking to kill me in addition to my father? Well, I tell you this, my father did NOT fail his lord, his efforts were sabotaged so that none could have accomplished his orders! And so I will say, no matter how you threaten me, for I will consider it not shame, but honor to be slain in my father's name!" Teal'c's chin was tilted up in a familiar angle, and his voice was full of defiant pride, dark eyes flashing with passion and fury.

"Whoa, whoa, easy Big Guy!" Jack said in a placating voice, keeping his body as still and non-threatening as he could. He had no doubt that Teal'c could be dangerous, even at his current size. "Don't you remember me? I'm your friend, Colonel Jack O'Neill. We met at Chulak, remember?" He was really hoping that Teal'c's adult memories were still there, and could be stirred to life with prompting, though everything he'd said so far indicated he had no memories past his current age.

"I have never met you before in my life! Do not seek to deceive me!" retorted Teal'c in sharp fury. He suddenly produced the zat gun Jack had forgotten he had and armed it in a smooth competent movement. "And if you do not return me to Master Bra'tac and my fellow warriors-in-training, I will kill you!"

Damn, why didn't I disarm HIM before moving Daniel and Carter?