The next day in the cell passed entirely without information. Further medical treatment was given, some games and books were delivered, Sumner was taken to see Jones and Colfax, and that was that. Daniel wondered what was going on in the world of politics. Were the Russians asking for some kind of concession to send them home?
Sumner was taciturn at the best of times, but it was easy to tell that the lack of information was galling him. Daniel sympathized. It would be nice if they'd just let them know what was being discussed.
"So, have they told you anything yet?" Dave Harvester asked when Sumner got back from his dinnertime visit to Wendy Colfax and Tamika Jones.
"Not a word," Sumner replied. "I get the feeling they're waiting for something."
"Waiting for what, though?" Harvester asked.
"Waiting for someone to decide that the secrecy of this program doesn't outweigh how irritated the United States is going to be if they don't give us back soon," Daniel said. At the moment he hoped the Russians were listening.
"They shouldn't even have us," Andy said. "It's going to take some thought to figure out how they're going to explain this little situation to the Pentagon."
Sumner sat back. "Well, talking about it isn't going to make it happen any sooner. Jackson, you want to play a game of chess?"
"Sure." They set up the board on one of the chairs and played several games until Daniel was too sleepy to sit up.
Jack was itching to get moving. After a full day of waiting, General Hammond had finally given permission for a recon. He walked into the gateroom with Teal'c at his side. Feretti's team was already there, and so was Carter, getting her science stuff together. Captain Michaels, the temporary fourth that Hammond had insisted on was also waiting.
When Jack stopped, Teal'c came to a halt beside him, his expression dark and foreboding. He, too, had been away from the base for a vacation, visiting with his family. He'd arrived back, ready for war. He had a particular grudge against Cronos, and was not thrilled by the notion that Daniel might have been captured by him.
Hammond walked into the gateroom, grim faced. He nodded towards Jack and put a hand on his shoulder to guide him a little away from the rest of the folks preparing for the mission. "Feretti?" Lou walked over and stood attentively. "I want you to dial the gate as soon as you get through and keep in radio contact. That way you have an easy retreat if it's needed."
"Yes sir," they both said.
"Now go, and godspeed." He nodded up at the control room and they started the dialing process. Squeezing Jack's shoulder, he walked towards the stairs to the control room. Jack looked at the gate. This wasn't even going to tell them where Daniel and the others were. It was just the barest first step in the process.
"We'll find him, colonel," Feretti said.
The gate whooshed on and Jack looked up at the blue circle. "Let's go, people," Jack called. "Feretti, your team is to set up a perimeter. Carter, as soon as we're through, start scanning for ship or com traffic." She nodded. "Michaels, as soon as the gate goes down, dial home and start sending some kind of message through to keep the gate open."
"Yes sir," Carter said, and they all headed through the gate. While the others got about their business, Jack looked around the clearing that the stargate stood in. There were blasted trees, a shattered rock, burned leaves. The ground was churned up, and there were signs of blood in the dirt.
He walked forward, out of the way of the gate so that Michaels could dial it up. He scanned the trees. "We picking up any signs of tech, Carter?"
"No sir," she replied, continuing to work with her scanner.
"That doesn't mean it isn't out there, it just means it's out of range or powered down. Teal'c, Mendez, scout the surrounding area."
Teal'c and the lieutenant from SG-2 nodded and walked out of the clearing together. Jack took a few steps further forward. "Why isn't the gate up yet, Michaels?"
The marine captain looked up, eyes wide. "Sir, I think you should see this."
Alarmed, Jack walked around to where Michaels was standing. On the ground by the DHD there was a small, dark green case, blackened and partially destroyed. He squatted down and looked at it. A narrow strip of metal was poking out the hole in the end. Jack reached out and picked it up. There was blood on it as well as ash. He opened it up and looked at the remains of Daniel's spare pair of glasses. One of the lenses had half-melted.
Carter walked up. "That's Daniel's glasses case," she said.
"Thank you, Carter, for stating the blindingly obvious," Jack snarled. With a supreme effort, he got control of himself. "Let's hope its owner is in better condition."
"Right," Carter said.
They examined the clearing and collected what evidence there was. Leaving SG-2 to guard the gate, SG-1 followed the trail left by the Jaffa to what was clearly a site where a tel'tak had landed. There was no sign of any ship now.
"I believe they have gone, O'Neill," Teal'c said.
"But did they take SG-8 with them or not?" Jack asked.
"I do not believe so," Teal'c said, shaking his head in puzzlement. "If there had been prisoners, the tracks would have been different."
"So where would they be?"
"They must be elsewhere on the planet," Carter suggested. "Maybe they were running from the Jaffa, and that's why they were waiting at the gate. Waiting for them to attempt to return to the gate to go home."
Teal'c shook his head. "No, if that were the case, they would still be here. And it makes no sense. They clearly reached the gate, DanielJackson was at the DHD. They would not then have left."
"What else could explain this?" Carter asked.
"Forgive me," Michaels said, "but what would the Goa'uld have done with the bodies if they'd killed them?"
Jack grit his teeth, but he didn't say anything. Carter's lips twitched in a mute gesture of denial. Teal'c cleared his throat. "They would either have left the bodies where they lay, or they would have taken them back as trophies. But I believe they would have tried to take them alive, DanielJackson in particular."
"That whole 'day's rations' thing?" Jack asked. Teal'c nodded. "As it happens, though, I think there's another option we haven't considered."
"What's that?"
"Daniel might have misdialed the gate." Sam looked startled, Teal'c incredulous. "I know, it seems unlikely, but he was hurt. He keeps those glasses in the thigh pocket of his pants. For them to have gotten hit like that . . ."
Carter nodded dubiously. "Still, he's got that address pretty well ingrained. I have difficulty imagining Daniel misdialing."
Teal'c pursed his lips. "If he was injured and unable to dial, someone else might have made a mistake."
"Regardless, we might need to look for them elsewhere."
"There aren't many gate addresses that work that are that close to Earth's."
"Maybe he went somewhere else on purpose," Jack said.
"Why would they go somewhere else?" Carter demanded.
"If they had, they would have contacted us," Teal'c replied. "Nevertheless, we should search any planets that are close enough to Earth's address to be an accidental misdial, and we need to search this planet to see if they have hidden themselves somewhere here."
"Right." Jack grimaced. Picking up his radio, he called the base and reported as much to Hammond. With dismay, the general agreed to the plan and sent through two more teams to help with the searching. Jack sent Carter back to start generating possible gate addresses that Daniel or another team member might have hit in error. He hoped it wouldn't take too long.
Daniel was getting very bored. Several more days passed without much change. The only variation from their first full day was the addition of a trip outside for about an hour each day. Sumner went to sit with Colfax while Tamika Jones joined the rest of them for an hour outside. Then Sumner got his trip outside when they went back in.
No information was provided to them, no news from the outside world. Daniel asked for some every time their guards interacted with them. Sumner grew more and more worried as the days went by, though he tried not to show it.
When Daniel woke up on Wednesday morning, Sumner was already awake, playing solitaire in grim silence. Dave and Andy were still asleep. Daniel rolled over and looked at his watch. It was just past five in the morning.
"Go back to sleep, Jackson," Sumner said quietly. "No need for you to wake up yet."
Daniel sat up. "Did I go to sleep rather abruptly last night?" he asked, blinking.
"Sort of," Sumner said. "Between one sentence and the next. How are you feeling?"
"Very achy. I hate burns."
Sumner nodded. "You should probably sleep."
"Don't think I can, not right away at any rate. Why are you awake?"
Sumner didn't reply. He returned to his cards and Daniel got up to use the facilities. Then he sat back down on the bed to read. Having his leg outstretched was the only comfortable position he could find to do anything in. Daniel imagined the colonel was having trouble sleeping. After all, they'd come through the gate on Friday. It was now Wednesday morning, and they still didn't know what was going to happen to them.
Daniel didn't believe that there was any real risk that the Russians were going to refuse to send them home, but their unwillingness to provide them with any information was growing irritating. There wasn't a lot they could do about it, though.
The book in his hands was one he'd read before, but this was a translation into Russian, and it was very interesting to see how the translator had handled the text. Or mishandled the text, as it happened.
Breakfast came and the others woke up. A doctor came in and checked their injuries and gave them their medications. As always, Daniel tried to ask them for information, but as always, they stuck to the bare minimum of communication. Daniel got Sumner to play chess with him, Harvester and Andy played some gin rummy. It was better than sitting around doing nothing.
Just before lunchtime, the door opened to admit Colonel Stanislav. "Dr. Jackson, Colonel Sumner, if you would both please come with me?"
Daniel looked up, a little surprised. Sumner rose and helped him to his feet. Daniel could tell that the colonel was as startled as he was, but neither of them said anything. Andy handed Daniel his cane, and, though the lesson Jack had taught him about appearing weak in prison was floating in his head, Daniel took it.
They followed the Russian colonel through the halls, Sumner watching warily as they walked, keeping his pace down to Daniel's, and thereby forcing their guide and guards, for there were two men following behind them, to slow down as well.
They stopped at a door and Colonel Stanislav opened it. Sumner turned to Daniel and, grimacing, Daniel walked forward into the room. It was empty apart from a couple of chairs and a table. He heard a voice behind him. "No, colonel, not –" Daniel turned to see the door closing behind him. Immediately, Daniel tried the door, but the knob wouldn't turn.
"Hey!" He pulled on the door, trying to open it. "What's going on?"
There was no answer but silence and he licked his lips uncomfortably. Turning, he looked around the room again. There were no windows and no other doors. There was a mirror, one of those big wide mirrors like you see on Law & Order, where the cops and lawyers stood on one side and watched what was going on while someone else questioned the prisoner inside the room. Daniel glared at it and took a deep breath. They probably just wanted to know more about the American stargate program, and if they had Maybourne in their pay, they knew how high up Daniel was in that program.
Not that they were going to get anything out of him, but if that was how the wind was blowing, it might take even longer to get home than he'd initially thought. If they were willing to risk diplomatic incidents to find out more details . . .
He walked over and shifted the two chairs so that he could sit with his leg up. He drummed his fingers on the table, fully aware that ordinarily he'd have been pacing, but his leg wasn't up to it after the walk. The blisters that had come up after the burn were finally subsiding, but bending his leg was still painful.
His suspicion that they were already watching him was confirmed when the door opened and a young blond man walked in carrying a chair. Another man, older, with streaks of gray in his dark hair, followed him, carrying some files, one very large, several quite small. The young man looked very military in his bearing and precision of dress, but the second was paunchy and somewhat sloppy. The soldier with the chair set it down on the opposite side of the table from where Daniel was sitting and left again. The other man put his files down and looked at Daniel. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Dr. Jackson."
"Sorry, I can't say the same," Daniel said, "but I can't really be said to have met you yet."
The man blinked at him in surprise, then smiled. "I apologize, Dr. Jackson. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Gavril Herszkowiczow, doctor of linguistics."
Daniel nodded. "I see." He could well believe it. The man's English was absolutely perfect. "I'm sorry, I've never heard of you."
Herszkowiczow shrugged self-deprecatingly. "You would not have. My work has all been military in nature, during the Cold War. However, I have heard of you." He tapped the largest file. "In fact, we've heard a great deal about you, your recent work in particular. May I offer my condolences on the death of your wife?"
Daniel stiffened. "Right, well . . ." How much had Maybourne told them? Sha're hadn't been dead for much more than six months, and his emotions were a little too raw for close examination. He shook his head. "So, when are you folks going to send us home?"
"I really do not know," Herszkowiczow said without much interest. "I've just been asked to have you look at a few things, to see if you can tell us anything about them." Daniel looked at him disbelievingly as he pushed the smaller files towards him. "They're all a little beyond me, but given your vast experience, we thought you might be able to see something I can't."
Though he was burning with curiosity, Daniel didn't even touch the files. "I'd have to get permission from my superiors first."
"Come now, Dr. Jackson," Herszkowiczow said persuasively. "I'm sure they would not object to your taking a look and talking to us about a few tablets."
Daniel smiled tightly, keeping his temper in check with some effort. "Then why don't you let me call them, and I'll ask?" Herszkowiczow pursed his lips irritably. "And why did you separate me from Colonel Sumner?"
"We have different things to talk to him about. He would not be able to answer any questions about alien languages."
"No, I suppose not," Daniel said. He looked down at the files, curiosity and anger warring within him. He looked up to the other man's eyes. "I don't suppose you know if my people have been contacted yet?"
Herszkowiczow shook his head. "I don't know. It's not my department, Dr. Jackson. I'm a linguist, I'm not privy to those kinds of decisions."
Daniel rolled his eyes and leaned back, crossing his arms. "I'm not sure what we have to talk about, then."
The other linguist gave him a puzzled look. "Surely your work matters more than some meaningless political debate," he said. "Lives could be saved by the translation of those documents."
Daniel's anger snapped free from control. "Lives could be lost in the search for us. The SGC won't just give us up for lost. They're going to be searching for us, and that means they're taking serous risks."
"There's nothing you or I can do about that," Herszkowiczow said. "We're civilians. The military only pays attention to us when they feel like it. You might as well be useful as sit in a room with nothing to do."
He narrowed his eyes. "I would prefer to work, I admit, but I do need permission. See if you can arrange that, and then we can talk."
Herszkowiczow gave him a long, measuring look, then he reached forward and opened the file that sat in front of Daniel. There were photographs, notes and a rubbing. The other linguist launched into an explanation of the origin of the artifact pictured, but Daniel just looked away, trying to close his ears. With the other man talking, though, mentioning details about the site and the methods used to excavate the artifact, the age of the object, Daniel was hard-pressed to feign a lack of interest.
Finally, he turned to face Herszkowiczow. Cutting across his lecture, he said, "Look, there's no point in saying that I'm not interested. You damned well know I'm interested, but I'm not playing this game. You contact my government, let me talk to my superiors. If they agree to my working with your artifacts, I will be glad to, but without that, I categorically refuse to help you."
Herszkowiczow took a deep breath. "Is that your final word, Dr. Jackson?" he asked.
"I'm afraid so," Daniel replied, glaring up at Dr. Herszkowiczow.
The other linguist rose and left the room, taking the files away with him. Daniel wondered what was next. He also wondered what was happening with Sumner.
Lunchtime came and went, and Daniel's rear end started to fall asleep. He was alone in a room with absolutely nothing to do but think. His stomach started rumbling, but he ignored it, focusing his thoughts on what little they had discovered on P4L-429 before the Jaffa had come. He was reasonably certain that he knew what had brought the Jaffa. During the attempt to unbury enough of one of the monuments they'd found, they'd uncovered a piece of abandoned computer equipment which had started beeping the minute Harvester had touched it. They'd managed to shut it off, but it must have sent a signal.
Sumner had decided against heading home immediately, and Daniel had continued to work on the monument, getting as much useful data from it as he could. It had appeared to be part of an ancient temple to Cronos, but there was clear evidence of vandalism on the text, and a few runes. Daniel suspected that the planet had come under Asgard protection at some point in the distant past, but that the peoples who had lived there had either moved elsewhere or died. As such, there could be some useful information to learn about how the Asgard fought the Goa'uld. They might not deliberately share their technology, but there was no saying that the humans couldn't use anything that they found out on their own.
Eventually, the door opened and another man came in. This one didn't have the paunchy look the academic had. His hair was white and cut short with precision. He wore fatigues marked with the rank of colonel, and his eyes were cold and hard. "Dr. Jackson, I understand that you are refusing to do any work with Dr. Herszkowiczow," he said without preamble.
"Not exactly," Daniel replied carefully.
"Then you will work with him?" asked the colonel. His English was accented, but very fluent. "I am glad to hear it."
"That's not quite what I said either," Daniel replied. He was finding this more than a little alarming. Where in the hell was Sumner? "I told Dr. Herszkowiczow that I would work with him if I had the permission of my superiors. Without that, I'm afraid I can't."
"I see." The strange colonel walked over and leaned one hip on the table right in front of Daniel, forcing the archeologist to look up to see his face. "Perhaps you would like to reconsider? We do need your help, and diplomacy can take a very long time to work.'
"I'm sorry," Daniel said, swallowing nervously. "Maybe this will give you some incentive to get things worked out a little faster." The other man's eyes snapped with anger and Daniel lifted his chin. "So, what's your name?" he asked.
"I am Colonel Metzov."
"Well, Colonel Metzov, I'm getting very hungry, and I need to use the restroom." Daniel looked around the room. "Is there any way that a solution to those problems could be arranged?"
"We shall see, Dr. Jackson," Metzov said. "Get up."
Carefully, Daniel lowered his injured leg to the floor and grabbed his cane to help him stand up. Without a word, Metzov turned and opened the door, leading Daniel out of the room. There were two soldiers waiting, and they took up the rear as Daniel followed the colonel. The pace they kept up was not easy for him, but he wasn't about to ask them to slow down.
They reached an elevator and stopped. Daniel didn't recall any elevators, stairs or even sloping floors on his trip to that interrogation room from the cell he'd been sharing with Sumner, Andy and Harvester. "Where are we going?" he asked. Metzov didn't reply, he merely pressed the call button, and the two soldiers looked completely stolid. "Colonel Metzov, where are you taking me?" When there was still no response, Daniel shook his head. "I won't move another foot until you tell me where you're taking me."
The elevator doors opened and Metzov walked inside. Daniel didn't move. He was uncomfortably aware of the soldiers behind him, blocking any hope of retreat. Metzov reached out to the keypad inside the elevator. "Come in, Dr. Jackson," he said calmly.
"Not unless you tell me –" Metzov made a gesture, and the men behind Daniel hustled him into the elevator car. Daniel tried to remain where he was, but injured and not trained to the same standard, he didn't have any real hope of succeeding. They got him into the elevator and Metzov took his hand off the open doors button and pressed another. Daniel guessed the translation of the abbreviation would come out to 'Basement Level 3.' This wasn't looking hopeful. "Where are you taking me?" he asked. "Did you move the others?" No answer. "I want to see Colonel Sumner."
The elevator came to a stop and Daniel took a step backwards, grabbing onto the handrail on the back wall. Metzov turned and glared at him. "Dr. Jackson, let go."
Daniel shook his head. "I'm not moving until you answer my questions," he said. "What's going on here?" Metzov raised an eyebrow towards the two soldiers who came towards Daniel. "I'm not going to go quietly," Daniel said, raising his cane. "And injuries might be a little hard to explain, since we're not prisoners."
The soldiers looked at Metzov who nodded. One of them grabbed for the cane and Daniel whacked him with it. They made short work of subduing him, taking the cane away and making him walk out of the elevator. Daniel wondered if this meant he wasn't going to see the others again, because Sumner would raise holy hell when he heard about this.
They marched him down the hall and around a corner to a room that contained a long bench, a toilet and a sink. There was a tray of food on the bench. They pushed him inside and closed the door behind him. Daniel turned and looked out the grill in the upper part of the door. Metzov gazed in at him without apparent emotion. "Hand the tray out through the slot when you're done, Dr. Jackson, and give some thought to what we've asked you to do. It's not as if it would be treason."
With that he left, and one of the two soldiers took up a post beside the door. Daniel took a deep breath and walked over to the toilet. He really didn't like the fact that there was a window in the door, depriving him of privacy, but needs were needs. He used the facilities and sat down to eat. If they thought that the American government wouldn't be willing to lend them his skills as a translator and anthropologist, they were probably right, but this treatment wasn't likely to change their minds. It certainly wasn't recommending them to Daniel.
Stress and the weariness created by the healing process combined to make Daniel very sleepy. Once he'd finished his food, that tiredness only increased. He put the tray out through the slot and went back to the bench to lie down.
He really hoped that he'd be returned to Sumner and the others in the morning, but he didn't have any idea what to expect. Things had taken a sudden left turn today, and he was lost.
When Daniel woke up, he got himself cleaned up the best he could and went to the door of the cell. There was no one outside, and his watch said it was past six a.m. He tried to open the door, not expecting it to move, and his balance was thrown off completely when it came open smoothly in his hand. He stumbled backwards, cursing in Abydonian. Catching himself, he peered around the doorway and saw no one.
He didn't know what to think. He walked slowly and nervously out of the cell, not sure what might happen. Who had unlocked the door? He'd checked it the night before when he sent the tray through and it had been locked then. Why wasn't it locked now? He walked carefully along the corridor and around the corner that led to the elevator.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" demanded a voice in startled Russian. Daniel turned and bit down on a groan as a soldier seized his arm and shook him.
"It's the American they were looking for upstairs, Dimi," another young soldier said in Russian, coming up next to him. In very careful English, he said, "Please do not move." Daniel bit his lip. Returning to his native language, he added, "Be careful with him, Dimi, he's supposed to be hurt."
The American they were looking for . . . Daniel was baffled. Who was looking for him and why?
Within minutes, Colonel Stanislav showed up and took custody of Daniel. "Come along, Dr. Jackson," he said gruffly. Daniel followed him haltingly into the elevator. "How did you get down to this level?" Daniel gulped but didn't say anything. He wasn't sure what to say. "How did you get out of that room?"
Daniel took a deep breath. "Aren't there video tapes?" he asked. "Surely there's a camera."
Stanislav pursed his lips and didn't ask anything else. He returned Daniel to the cell where the others were, ushered him inside and left.
"Jackson, where have you been?" Sumner demanded. Daniel leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. The other men went into a flurry of action, getting him to the bed and lying down. Daniel grimaced when they inadvertently grabbed him on some bruise or another from the previous night's rough treatment, but he didn't say anything. Andy brought him a cup of coffee, and he smiled his thanks. Sumner pulled up a chair beside the bed and said, "Jackson, where have you been? Stanislav said that when he went back to that room we left you in, you weren't there, but that he wasn't sure how you'd escaped."
Daniel blinked. "Escaped?" He snorted. "Did he tell you why I was in there?" Daniel asked.
Sumner opened his mouth and closed it again. He cleared his throat. "He said they wanted you to look over some projects of theirs to see what you thought." Daniel nodded. "What did happen?"
"More or less that, at first," Daniel said. "A linguist, or at least he said he was a linguist, a man named Dr. Gavril Herszkowiczow came in and asked me to do some work for the Russian program, do some translation that he wasn't up to. I told them I couldn't without the permission of my superiors."
Sumner nodded. "That's what they told me." He grimaced. "They asked me to order you to, and I said I couldn't, and that you wouldn't be bound by my orders in any case. They didn't like that answer, I must say."
"I would imagine not," Daniel replied.
"You said 'at first.' What happened later?"
Daniel shook his head. "Something extremely fishy is going on here," he said. "After Herszkowiczow left, I was alone for hours, and then a Colonel Metzov came in and seemed to be taking up where Herszkowiczow had left off. He asked me to reconsider, told me that they need my help and that diplomacy can take time." Sumner raised an eyebrow. "I still refused," Daniel continued, "but I asked for a bathroom and food. He took me out of there and down to a room on another level. A prison cell. He told me I should think about doing what they wanted, then left me there. When I woke up this morning, the door was unlocked. Some young soldiers grabbed me and called in that they'd found the 'missing American.' I really don't understand what's going on here."
"So you didn't escape?" Sumner asked.
"No, sir. I was a little freaked when they took me to an elevator, since I knew I was still on the same level with this room, and I tried to get away, but –" He shook his head. "I didn't have any success."
"Did they hurt you?" Sumner asked.
Daniel shrugged. "Not much. Bruises. They took the cane, though, after I hit one of them with it."
"Bruises where?"
"My arms, I'd say, mostly."
"Get your shirt off. Let me see."
Unwillingly, Daniel took off his shirt and Sumner gazed with stern disapproval at the hand-shaped bruises on Daniel's upper arms. "They didn't hit you?" he asked.
"No," Daniel replied. "But just now Stanislav acted like he didn't know anything about it. He asked how I got out of the room, and when I asked him if there wasn't a video tape, he shut up completely." Sumner looked quietly furious and the two younger men looked ready to kill something. They were looking at Daniel's upper arms, white except for the purpling bruises. He pulled his shirt back on and said, "I don't know what's going on."
"I'm going to find out," Sumner said with a growl in his voice.
After that they all settle down to silence. Daniel got a book and started reading, and ate the left overs from breakfast.
When Stanislav returned just before lunch, Daniel looked up at him apprehensively, but he just summoned Sumner.
Lunch came and they ate it, and Sumner came back about an hour afterwards. "Well, that was charming," he said when the door was closed.
"What did they say?" Daniel asked.
"They claim that there is no Colonel Metzov on the base, and that you probably made up the story to avoid explaining how you got out of the interrogation room."
"How do they explain those bruises?" Andy asked.
Sumner grimaced. "Stanislav apologized for the fact that the two young guards who found you had apparently gotten a little over-zealous in their handling of you, and told me that they would be reprimanded."
Daniel shook his head incredulously. "I'm not making this up," he said.
"I believe you," Sumner replied, sitting down. "I can't make heads or tails of this."
"Did you get to see Colfax and Jones today?" Daniel asked.
Sumner nodded. "They're fine, and don't report anything odd."
"Good."
"Any news on when we're getting out of here?" Harvester asked.
"Stanislav said that the top brass of this program haven't yet decided how they want to go about revealing the truth to our government, so it's going to take a little longer."
Daniel thumped his head against the wall. A little longer meant that they had more time to mess with him. What were Jack, Sam and Teal'c doing? If one of them got hurt or killed, if anyone got hurt or killed because of this delay, Daniel was going to . . . He gritted his teeth. "Could someone grab me a book? I need to not think about this."
Wordlessly, Andy handed Daniel the book he'd been reading earlier. He tried to lose himself in reading, but he couldn't. What was going on here? The Russians had screwed up, playing secrets and lies with a second gate, but didn't they realize that holding them would only make the problem worse? They couldn't be planning on holding them too much longer, surely.
Were they still using their gate?
Jack stood in Hammond's office, out of options. They'd searched all the gate addresses that could even remotely be thought to be misdials for Earth. They'd searched P4L-429 and had found no signs of their people, either hidden or dead. Jack didn't know what to do.
"We have officially declared them missing in action," Hammond said. "Beyond that, I don't know what else we can do. I contacted the Tok'ra on the second day after they went missing, but I haven't heard back from them."
"Sir, we can't just give up," Carter said earnestly. "Those Jaffa belonged to Cronos. Maybe we can find one of his worlds and see what we can learn."
Hammond shook his head. "The Tok'ra are much better suited to that kind of work," he said. "If they can't or won't help us, I will consider that option, but in the meantime, I don't want to risk anyone else on that hazardous an endeavor."
"I would not have difficulty insinuating myself," Teal'c said. "As Jaffa, I could –"
"You're known, Teal'c," Hammond said. "Specifically, you're known to Cronos, and we all know you have a particular grudge against him. I don't think it's a good idea."
"So what do we do now?" Jack asked.
"We go on," Hammond replied. "We do our jobs and keep our eyes and ears open for any hint of what might have happened to them."
"That's not good enough!" Carter exclaimed. "Sir," she added.
"Daniel wouldn't give up on us," Jack said.
"Indeed, he would not," Teal'c added.
Hammond's face contorted with frustration. "Have any of you got a viable plan to offer for a way to find them?"
"I . . ." Carter shook her head. "I don't, sir," she said. "But I don't want to stop trying to find one."
"No one's saying you have to," Hammond replied. "But we can't neglect our other duties when there's no clear path to take to find them." He looked at all three of them, catching their eyes. "Dismissed." The others left, but Jack move. "Yes, colonel?" Hammond said, sounding tired.
"I can't stop looking for him, sir," Jack said.
"Jack –"
"If you won't let me go to one of Cronos' worlds, let me go to the Tok'ra and try to convince them to help."
"I'll give it some thought, colonel," Hammond said. "Dismissed."
Jack left the office feeling utterly furious. He didn't know what to do. He went to Daniel's office and gazed around at the piles of papers, artifacts and other debris. "Damnit, Daniel! Why couldn't you just have stayed here and played with your rocks?"