It was like riding a bull, Sam imagined – several horrible seconds of bucking and twisting while just trying to hold on (though, unlike the bull riders, she had no saddle). It was followed, of course, by a moment – half a second, maybe – of peace. Blissful, utterly silent, zero-gravity peace as the wormhole ejected her with force, sending her flying through the air.

And it ended with her hitting the dirt. Hard. She tried to roll a little, to cushion the shock, but even the small pack she carried stopped her efforts and left her skidding across the ground on her left arm, instead. "Ow," she managed, giving herself a second to recover before even attempting to get up.

"What the hell was that?" The Colonel sounded as beaten up as she felt – and pissed off.

"Not sure, sir," she said, quickly checking her surroundings before pushing up to sitting and checking herself for injuries. Luckily, her jacket had protected her arm pretty well. "Something must have happened to the wormhole."

"No. Really?"

She chose to ignore the sarcasm as they both got to their feet. "It lost stability, sir."

"I got that. Now just tell me Danny and Teal'c's molecules haven't been scattered to the wind."

Yeah, she was pretty sure they hadn't made it through even as she'd been bouncing through the great nothingness of the vortex. Sure enough, they were nowhere to be seen. "I don't think so, sir."

"What are the odds they're stuck in the gate again?" he asked, and a glance at him confirmed her suspicions – in part, at least, his irritation was an attempt to hide his serious concern for them.

"I don't think so. I don't think they ever even made it through the event horizon, sir. My guess is they're standing in the Gate Room right now trying to figure out what happened."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You seem awfully certain of that, Major."

"Yes, sir. See, whatever happened... well, happened right before I stepped through. I saw the wormhole flicker once, so my guess is it all shut down right after that. Daniel was maneuvering FRED, and Teal'c was behind him. They were probably still halfway down the ramp."

The silence stretched long, charged, as he stared at her. Finally, incredibly uncomfortable, she asked, "Sir?"

He chewed his lip a moment. "You saw it? You saw it wig out... and you still went through? Are you nuts?"

"Well, I was... I mean, I..." She sighed. "It was a last-second thing, sir. Past the point of no return, y'know. I barely even saw it."

"Hmph." He didn't look entirely convinced, but he let it go. "So what now?"

"I'll check the DHD on this end, sir, for anything that might have caused the problem. If I don't find anything, we'll try dialing home."

Two large hands gestured politely toward the alien device... though the kindness of it was diminished more than a bit by the deep frown on his face. Wincing, hoping she'd find some huge, glaring problem, she hurried to the DHD and rolled up her sleeves.