Chapter 21

Swimming Home

It was a long way down. Intellectually, Jack knew that. Knowing that it takes a while for the elevator to carry him down, however, and actually climbing the distance down a ladder is not quite the same thing.

"How will we know when we have reached the correct level?" Teal'c asked, looking down towards the other two.

"The panels are numbered," Jack answered, and then saved his breath for climbing. Sam, a short ways above him, was beginning to discover yet another aspect of being ten that she didn't like. Her arms and legs were much shorter and her strength lessened by a great deal. After the first fifteen minutes of climbing down her arms were already beginning to feel the strain.

"Can't we just slide down the ladder?" she demanded breathlessly. When they had suggested that she, like Daniel, was harnessed to someone's back she had vehemently insisted she could climb. She now regretted that hasty decision. The blow to her pride would be much easier to take than the aches in her arms and legs.

"Too risky," Jack answered, and that was the end of conversation. They climbed onwards and down, occasionally pausing to rest, until the silence was broken by a soft humming. The tune was unfamiliar to the three climbers, as were the softly mumbled words the hum transformed into. It didn't help that only Jack knew Arabic, the language of the song. Daniel had woken up.

Later, Sam would swear that they climbed eight hours straight, and that Daniel either sang softly or hummed for the majority of the climb. Jack and Teal'c insisted it wasn't nearly that long of a climb and that they had to break often for Sam to rest. Daniel didn't really remember the climb at all but he still insisted that he had not been singing and even if he did it wasn't for the entire climb. However long it actually took, Jack finally reached the access panel to the proper level. There was absolutely no way to tell what lay on the other side. He listened carefully and finally opened the panel a crack and peaked out. It opened onto a room very similar to the one they had left behind. In fact, the access panel was even hidden in the exact same spot of the room. The room was empty and so Jack climbed out, followed by Sam who immediately flopped down on the bed and then by Teal'c and Daniel.

"Do you think they have noted our absence?" Teal'c asked, his voice low.

"If they have they're being very quiet about it," Jack answered, "Either they're too busy up above with weird bubble monsters, or they didn't figure out how we got out or where we were going." Then they all felt the familiar jolt they had come to associate with the time rift. It was much stronger here underground, like a sudden static shock. Sam sat up on the bed.

"I'll bet it gets worse the closer we get to the Stargate," she said, "Since that's where the bubble came from."

"Terrific," Jack mumbled, and then, "Well, let's move out."

"Carry me," Sam demanded, holding out her arms from the bed. Jack rolled his eyes and started for the door, Teal'c following behind him. Grumbling to herself, Sam finally slid off the bed and walked leadenly after them.

No one was about in the hallways either. It was eerie. Teal'c had told them about how no one was around the first time he came through either, and they were beginning to wonder if something else was going on besides the lateness of the hour. Then they heard the swift clomp of approaching feet and had to duck into a storage closet. Jack felt oddly relieved that they weren't alone. The footsteps faded quickly into the distance and they left the closet to continue on. Just as Teal'c had described, there was no difficulty getting to the Stargate. There were no people. There were creatures.

They were short and green skinned with finned ears and red eyes and teeth like a shark. They looked like they would have been at home in the middle of the ocean but they were creatures of the air, swimming through it like water.

"Now I really need my alien gun," Sam whispered as they all three stared in horror at the creatures. Daniel, on Teal'c's back and half asleep, was in no position to see them. He started to scream anyway. Jack and Sam turned swiftly, first to look at Daniel, and then to see back the way they came. There was a humongous snake. Caught between the peacefully swimming shark people and a actively charging serpent, Jack, Sam, and Teal'c ran into the gate room and slammed the door shut behind them. Once the door was secure, the three of them turned slowly to face the creatures in the room. They were now swimming towards them, red eyes staring unblinking. Jack stared at them nervously, finally spreading his arms and saying, "We come in peace?"

The closest creature wiggled its ears, gnashing its teeth. Jack moved in front of the others protectively, ready to tackle it with his bare hands if he had to.

Peace? As clear as though it were spoken, they heard the word in their heads. Daniel began to squirm on Teal'c's back, wanting to see the creatures.

"Yeah," Jack answered slowly, not entirely convinced he heard what he thought he had heard, "You understand us?" The creature did the ear wiggle again as it considered them. Up close, all those teeth were very intimidating and the red eyed stare didn't help. Still, they hadn't attacked yet.

Understand, they heard, again in their heads, Not understand. Why?

"You understand and you don't understand?" Jack asked, confused, "What are you asking?"

"Let me down!" Daniel exclaimed, "I can talk to them!" Teal'c hesitated. "They don't speak English," Daniel said, "It's my job. Isn't it? I think I remember that. And I think I know what they mean."

"I get it a bit," Sam said, her voice anything but confident, "I think they're confused about the time bubble."

"They don't know how they got here," Daniel insisted, "I can talk to them!" Finally, when the creatures still didn't attack, Jack nodded towards Teal'c. Teal'c cautiously undid the harness, sliding it around until he could hold Daniel over his chest rather than his back. He couldn't very well set him on the ground, after all.

"Hello," Daniel said, once he was finally able to face the creatures properly, "I know you're confused. We want to help." The creatures came closer. There were five of them in all, one of them smaller than the others. The smallest creature darted forward, only to be stopped by one of the larger ones. It gave off a loud emotion without words, something like excitement and interest. Jack moved himself to make sure he was between the creatures and Daniel.

Help? the creature asked, Home?

"We need to go through the...the ring with water," Daniel answered, "It takes us to another planet."

Machine, door, the voice said, and Daniel smiled, apparently delighted.

"We need to fix time," Daniel continued explaining, "On the planet is a machine to fix time."

Fix, good, the voice agreed. How Daniel was understanding this, Jack didn't know, unless the voice was somehow telling him more. If he concentrated, he got images with the words, or emotions, but it was like a puzzle. The message was all in different pieces and to understand it they had to be fit together until it was more than just the words. Apparently Daniel, even pint sized Daniel, was good at puzzles.

Show, the voice said, and all six creatures moved away, the smallest one reluctantly, to give them access to the gate.

"Come on," Daniel said, "They want us to dial it!" Even Jack, slow though he could be at communication, was able to understand that. He was still wary of an attack, but there wasn't really any choice but to do what they had come here to do. As though sensing his unease, all of the creatures stayed well back.

The gate had to be turned by hand. Jack was still trying to figure out the best way to do that when a creature approached again.

Turn? It asked.

"I'll show you!" Daniel exclaimed, and then he squinched up his eyes as though he were concentrating really hard. Jack wished he had a camera. Before the others could even begin to wonder what was going on, the creatures swam up to the gate and started to turn it. Being able to swim in the air gave many advantages.

"Is it hooked up to a power source?" Jack asked.

"I already checked that," Sam said, "It should work. It looks like they've been doing experiments since we left." With hardly any trouble at all, the creatures began to dial the planet.

"Don't...hover...in front of it!" Jack called, when some of the shark creatures got too curious while the others dialed. Remembering how he had gotten images from them, Jack tried to project the image of what was about to happen, and what would happen if anyone was standing in front of the ring. His projection must have worked because the creatures backed up quickly, and the dialers paused for a moment. After shifting their bodies to make sure they were not in front of the ring, they continued to dial.

They backed up further as the Stargate began to warm up, pulsing with energy. The gate room was shaking. Finally, the last chevron was locked and everyone pulled swiftly away from the gate as it exploded into a vortex before finally calming into the familiar portal. Together, SG 1 and the creatures of the rift approached the blue surface.

"Are you sure I won't need to swim?" Daniel whispered softly, tugging gently on Teal'c's shirt.

"You will not," Teal'c answered, "I will hold you." Together, they stepped through.