AN: Oh, I'm just so evil. So many of you seemed very disappointed that this story was over in just one more chapter, I decided there was enough content to turn the ending into two more. (Runs away laughing maniacally)
Chapter Four: A Cure
As soon as the last of the light disappeared, Daniel flicked on his flashlight. Briefly, he shined the beam around the room, coming to rest on a nearby oil lamp. Crossing the room, he inspected it before announcing, "It seems to be in good condition. The oil is full and the wicks are trimmed, ready for lighting. Maybe we should take advantage," he suggested.
"Good idea Daniel, save the flashlight batteries. We don't know how long we might be stuck here," Sam agreed. Teal'c showed his approval by digging out matches.
The lamp burned brightly, enough to dimly illuminate the room at least as much as a single one of their flashlights would have. Several more lamps were visible around the room, but by unspoken agreement, they decided to only burn one at a time.
"We should make O'Neill as comfortable as possible while we endeavor to find a way out of this place," suggested Teal'c, nodding toward the couch. Daniel moved immediately to assist. Unable to help much, Sam hovered out of their way, returning to perform her own check on the still unconscious man once he was settled.
After Jack was settled, Daniel wandered over to the scroll that had earlier occupied his interest. "I should keep working on this," he said, "It might contain something useful that might help Jack or get us out of here," he explained to their curious looks.
"Teal'c, if it's ok with you, I'd like to run a few experiments on the vines, and see if I can pinpoint what is controlling the plants and maybe neutralize it," Sam requested, and Teal'c nodded agreement.
Over the next hour or so, the three worked more or less silently on their self-appointed tasks. Sam's attempts at isolating the source of whatever it was controlling their thorny prison ended in frustration. Worried about the risk paired with instigating another attack, she'd cautioned Teal'c to be discreet with his actions. He'd approached warily with bare hands, a knife, staff weapon and Zat drawn, and once, even a bit of burning paper, kindled with a donation from one of Daniel's spare notebooks. Each time, Sam recorded energy spikes as the plants responded with each attack, not letting them get near. Unfortunately, the mechanism seemed to be outside the room or possibly underground, in either case, equally inaccessible to them.
Deciding to give up on the problem for the time being, she went back to studying the spindle, which seemed to have been the source of the scan and energy beam that had hit Jack, and might also still be the source of the energy field. If she could find the field, perhaps she could reconfigure it to push the thorn plants away from the door. She knelt down in front of the pedestal, looking to see if she could see any hidden seams or catches that might conceal an access panel to possible technology.
After another long hour, Sam was ready to bang her head against the wall. Like whatever it was that controlled the vines, whatever controlled the force field was also underground. Instead of fruitless head banging, she finally gave in to the throbbing pain of her injured arm, and got to her feet with a groan. Across from where she'd been working, Daniel sprawled with the scroll and an open text, muttering to himself. Sam decided to leave him be, wandering over to join Teal'c, who sat cross-legged on the floor with his back against the couch where Jack rested, surrounded by the packs he'd been inventorying. At her approach, Teal'c wordlessly handed her several pills and a canteen. "Thanks," she murmured, gratefully swallowing the pills and handing the canteen back. Teal'c inclined his head in acknowledgement, closing his eyes in meditation. Choosing not to disturb the man, Sam leaned over the couch, pressing her fingers to the Colonel's neck to find the reassuring pulse. Surprised at the amount of warmth she encountered at the brief contact, she frowned and touched the back of her hand to the unconscious man's forehead.
"Teal'c," she asked, unable to keep concern from creeping into her voice. "Is it just me, or does the Colonel seem warm?" Now that she was looking, she noted that Jack's cheeks were flushed, while the rest of his skin seemed pale.
Eyes snapping open, Teal'c rose in one fluid movement, turning to make his own assessment. "O'Neill does indeed feel feverish," he confirmed.
"A fever…" she considered. "What if that beam caused some sort of virus to infect the Colonel, and that's why he hasn't woken up?" She bit her lip, worrying the problem, and wishing she could figure a way for them to get out of here. She'd feel better with the Colonel firmly ensconced in Janet's infirmary, with or without the big needles he frequently griped about.
"Sam! That's it!" Daniel stood up suddenly from where he'd been sitting, taking the scroll with him. Sam hadn't even been aware he'd been listening. "I've been going over this and it hasn't made any sense. I thought it was the different dialect, which might be because this piece is written by some sort of court scribe, while the pillar in the village was in the more common tongue with a straightforward message… but that still doesn't explain…"
"Uh, Daniel, what exactly are you trying to tell us?" Sam interrupted gently, lines of pain and worry etching deep shadows on her face.
Daniel stopped, and looked mildly embarrassed. Recovering, he lifted the script, waving at it with the back of his free hand. "A virus. This document explains that the princess, on her fifteenth birthday, pricked her finger on that spindle, was surrounded in bright lights, and then fell into a deep sleep that no one could wake her from. It said her cheeks were flushed, but her skin pale as if she had a fever. They placed her in this room, supposedly to 'preserve her spirit' and doctors were brought, but no one could wake her."
"Do you believe this sickness has recurred and is what has happened to O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, glancing down at his comrade, lines of concern noticeable on his usually smooth forehead.
Taking a deep breath, Daniel paused, adjusting his glasses, and the other two waited expectantly. "I think so, but what I really wanted to tell you, is there was a cure." Sam's eyes widened, and Teal'c straightened.
Daniel shrugged in helpless frustration, starting to pace. "I haven't quite puzzled it out yet, the scribe who wrote this seemed inclined towards a lot of symbolic poetry, but it's clear that there was at least one person who was immune to the 'sleeping sickness' and he was able to cure the princess and wake everyone else that was eventually affected. I mean that's why everybody left this planet, they didn't take kindly to being 'cursed' as they put it…"
"Daniel Jackson," interrupted Teal'c, "Do you mean to say that this sickness is one that can spread?"
With a wince, Daniel stopped pacing and nodded. "There was a delay, I'm not sure how long, maybe only hours, but according to this account, people in the castle first, and then the surrounding area, began to fall into a deep sleep from which they could not be roused."
Sam chewed her lip. "Ok, so we might be affected too. Daniel, why don't you tell us what it says about the cure, maybe we can help you figure it out," she suggested. Teal'c nodded in agreement.
"Um, ok," he answered; adjusting his glasses and skimming the scroll for the relevant text he wanted. "And it came to pass, that time went on while the world slumbered. Presently there came a prince. The handsome prince, from a distant land, was daring and…" he paused, "Um, it actually goes on in great detail about how heroic, magnificent, clever… well you get the picture," Daniel cleared his throat. "I'll just skip ahead here… umm… ok, "And the handsome prince looked down upon the sleeping princess, who laid still as death, her cheeks flushed, pink as rosebuds, and he was taken with her beauty, her youth, her innocence, ahem… etc, etc, and he could not resist one kiss... uh skipping some more, and when their lips touched, the heavens rejoiced, and light shined upon the pair, and the princess awoke…" Daniel trailed off, and found his companions deep in contemplation. "Well, that was the salient points, as I said, there was a lot of poetic symbolism… What?"
"Perhaps it was more than symbolism, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c looked considering as he spoke.
Sam nodded in agreement; starting to pace in the area Daniel had been moments earlier. "Yeah, you're right Teal'c, I mean, take the bathed in light thing. That actually did happen. What if there was one survivor, or someone that was immune? Maybe he passed on the cure."
"With a kiss," pointed out Daniel, his tone showing he was clearly unconvinced.
"Stranger things have happened," responded Teal'c. The large man moved around to the far side of the couch, to give his two younger teammates more room to move about in as they fretted over the issue.
Sam shrugged slightly, tilting her head a bit as she considered the issue. "Well maybe the kiss is just the symbolic part, like you said Daniel," she allowed finally.
"And perhaps it is not. The text may be an accurate retelling of events as they occurred," Teal'c debated, defending the unlikely.
Eyes narrowed, Sam studied the alien warrior. "You mean like an anti-virus, spread by direct contact?" she murmured.
"The kiss?" Daniel's gaze turned introspective. "You know, according to this scroll, the princess's parents were deeply grieved, and the Queen apparently lamented that she couldn't join her daughter. The author notes that it wasn't long afterwards that the entire castle and the nearby village all fell with the same illness. Apparently it moved so swiftly that someone so struck fell where they stood, usually in the middle of what they were doing. I'm not clear on the length of time that the afflicted slept, but it was long enough for the people of this planet to call it a day rather than ever risking the same thing happening again, can't say I blame them." His eyes held a distant look, as if imagining that long ago time. "Supposedly, they thought the Queen had brought the curse on the rest of them with her words. Without servants or a nearby village to sustain them, the ruling family had no choice but to leave also." He shook his head. "It really doesn't seem like much time passed at all from the moment the princess fell ill, until the rest of the population was affected."
"If the people of this planet were affected so swiftly by the sickness, than why have we not also succumbed?" wondered Teal'c.
Sam's brow furrowed, and she started to pace again, thinking out loud. "Maybe not enough time has passed. Or maybe there was only enough energy to affect the Colonel. It has been dormant for years, if not decades or longer," she pointed out. "Even the most sophisticated batteries run out of charge after that long." She stopped pacing to turn and face her teammates again, seeing both of them considering her speculations.
After a moment of thought, Teal'c suggested, "Might we be immune?"
Daniel shrugged. "If we are immune, maybe we can pass that immunity onto Jack."
Sam shook her head. "Daniel, without Janet and a full medical lab, I don't know if we could manage it. And so far, I haven't figured a way out of here yet that doesn't involve getting sliced to ribbons in the process. And that's just out of this room. There were more bushes outside the main entrance if you remember, and some rather unpleasant leftovers in them." Suddenly, she realized just how closely she'd come to ending up like the owners of the skeletons outside. If it had not been for Teal'c and his lightning quick reflexes… She buried the thought. Right now, she had more important things to consider than a few what-ifs and maybes.
Fortunately for her, Daniel spoke with a well-timed interruption. "No, no, no… We don't need a lab." The others stare in disbelief, and Daniel spread his hands. "The kiss? You said it yourselves, it might have meant the anti-virus was spread by direct contact."
Teal'c looked thoughtful. "We have nothing to misplace," he pointed out.
"That's lose Teal'c," Sam corrected absently. Teal'c raised an eyebrow but she continued without noticing. "Daniel, are you suggesting we kiss Colonel O'Neill?" she finished, piercing the young man with her gaze.
Daniel only returned her stare silently, giving her time to draw her own conclusions. Sam broke eye contact with him to find Teal'c standing next to the other man, watching her just as thoughtfully.
The Major took an unconscious step back away from her teammates. "Uh, why are you both looking at me like that?" she demanded.
AN: Go ahead now; tell me how evil I am!