Chapter 2

Colonel Jack O'Neill was not a happy man. It was a simple mission: go to the planet, look around, take some samples, take some pictures, and then go home to report. Simple. Very simple. It was something they'd done thousands of times before. Easy.

Unfortunately, it ceased being simple when those…things had come into the ancient temple where the Stargate was located. They waited only long enough for Daniel to say hello before they struck. The next time Jack was conscious, one of the things had been in the room with him and gabbled at him, as if he were expecting Jack to repeat the words. Once he'd gotten clothes on, Jack demanded to know where his friends were and then told the alien that Daniel was the linguist, not him!

The alien didn't understand, and that made Jack's situation all the more frustrating. He had no idea where any of his team were, and he knew he couldn't take any kind of action that might endanger them. All he could do at the present time was wait until he learned something.

It was his—second time? Third time?—awake when the alien arrived carrying something very interesting.

"Shia, Jack," the alien said, coming in. What was the guy's name? Tree? Tray? No, wait, it was Tehere.

"Shia, Tehere," Jack answered, using their word for 'hello.' He'd learned that much, at least. Daniel would most likely be fluent at this point, though, if he were even in the same place.

Tehere sat down by the table and placed an object on it. Jack glanced at it and did a double-take. The object was Daniel's glasses.

"Daniel!" Jack said. "These belong to Daniel! Where is he?"

Tehere shook his head. "Heihn. Primeh Jack por."

That was frustrating in the extreme. "I don't even know what you're trying to tell me! Daniel could probably tell what you're saying, so if he's here, take me to him and we can all talk until we're hoarse if you want!"

The alien looked at him and shifted colors. That was…disturbing, in some slight way. "Jack por." He sounded determined.

"Pour? Pour what? I don't see a pitcher of water on that table!"

The alien shook his head and shifted colors again. Lifting his hand to his face, he held it in front of his lips. "Por. Por. Waha, waha. Por."

Jack watched him, perplexed, and he mimicked the action. "Por? Por is talk? You're asking me to talk?"

The alien shifted pink, which Jack knew meant it was pleased or happy.

"I'm talkin' now!" Jack complained.

The alien shifted to a bluish-green. Disappointment.

"You and me both, brother," Jack muttered, sitting down. "Okay, I think you want to teach me your language even though I'm not a linguist. Okay. I'll learn some words, you tell me about my friends. Deal?"

The alien regarded him with a tilted head, but he shifted pink, understanding that Jack was willing to speak with him.

"Okay, teach me this word," Jack said, tapping the table. "What's this?"

"Kabule," Tehere said, tapping it in response. "Kabule."

"Kabule," Jack repeated. "Table. Okay, not hard to remember. What's next?"

Space

Liora was very, very pleased. Sam was putting together short sentences already and using the words she'd learned to communicate! The only other subject to do that was Dannul! It was Ahntas' theory that Dannul was a linguist, which was no end of interesting. Two linguists working together to learn a language. Every member had watched the recordings of his or her fellow team members interacting with his or her assigned subject, and they were always interesting to watch.

Sam seemed to use the same methods that Dannul did in learning the words: writing them down on the table. Their one difference was that Dannul grouped his words in "classes" that went together while Sam had her words all in one list.

"Sam? Kabule?"

Sam checked her list and then pointed to the table. "Kabule, Liora."

"Eh litha?"

Sam went to her bed and tapped it. "Bed." She'd learned that Liora only used pointing for things that were right next to her.

"Bashe?"

Sam squatted and tapped the floor. "Floor."

"Murr?"

Sam scooted to the wall and tapped. "Wall." She was enjoying this. An alien was trying to communicate with her! How many people on Earth could boast to that?

"Brode?"

It took Sam a moment to spot the almost-invisible cupboard and tap it. It opened under Liora's fingers, but it had yet to work for her.

"Liora?"

Sam grinned and tapped Liora's shoulder. "Liora."

"Ban!" Liora said, shifting to a bright pink. "Ban!" Good!

"Daniel, Jack, Teal'c, mosa uh abend?" Sam asked. Are my friends asleep or awake?

"Mosa." The pink faded, and for a moment Sam saw a trace of orange. What did orange mean?

"Sam abend," Sam said. "Sam ahteh." She had learned that 'ahteh' meant 'eat' or 'hungry,' and she was. That and thirsty. "Ahteh eh suafe."

Liora smiled and fetched things from the cupboard to set the table with. Sam smelled something delicious and her mouth watered. Oh, they'd given her something hot! Wonderful!

When she saw it, she didn't think it was so wonderful. It looked like old oatmeal with…things…floating in it. The bad thing was that it was the source of the wonderful smell. Liora was urging her to eat, so she tried a tentative spoonful and realized that there was such a thing as heaven in a bowl! She downed the entire bowl and eagerly asked for some more by holding out her bowl, but Liora shook her head and took Sam's bowl away. "Por, Sam. Aposh."

"Aposh?" Sam repeated. "Is that what that heavenly stuff is called? Aposh?"

Loria nodded and ladled some more aposh into Sam's bowl before handing it to her. "Aposh."

"Whoever invented aposh knew what he was doing, then," Sam remarked, digging in.

Space

"Aposh, Tilk," the alien repeated, seeming tired. "Por, Tilk."

Teal'c looked at him, regarded the bowl warily, and looked away. "I wish to see my friends. I will not cooperate until I do."

The alien, who Teal'c had learned was called Soro, set the bowl down in front of Teal'c. "Por, Tilk."

"Where are Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, and Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c persisted.

Soro was so frustrated he actually put his head down on the table and muttered something. Jaffa persistence was something he had not come across before, and he found it very wearing. "Sam mosa. Jack mosa. Dannul mosa."

"I do not know what this word 'mosa' means," Teal'c told him.

Soro looked at him, shifting colors. The expression on his face was plain for anyone, human, Jaffa, or otherwise, to read: That's part of the problem here!

Teal'c regarded him silently. Soro rose and left the room, muttering and shifting colors. The wall opened to let him through, but when Teal'c tried to go through the still-visible opening, he felt as if he had slammed into a wall. So, there was no way out through that way. He would have to wait.

Space

Dannul helped Ahntas clean up after their meal (that had featured something completely delicious called aposh) and asked a question. "Jack, Sam, Teal'c abend?"

Ahntas shook his head. "Heihn. Mosa. San mosa."

"'All asleep,' huh?" Daniel said, translating the words aloud. "Why is is that whenever I'm awake, they're asleep?"

Ahntas just looked at him for a moment before heading to a box he'd brought with him. "Vena, Dannul."

Daniel had learned the meaning of "vena" the second time he'd been awake. "Vena" meant "come" or "come here." Daniel went, and Ahntas shifted to pink. As Daniel took a seat beside Ahntas at the table, Ahntas poured all of the contents in the box out onto the table.

What he saw surprised him. Blocks, balls of various sizes, what appeared to be toys of some sort. A few small books that were made out of no material Daniel was familiar with, and several other things he couldn't even understand. What was going on here? "Ahntas, qeh shesh?" Ahntas, what are these?

"Shesh cova, spi, livri, eh jos," Ahntas said, pointing to the blocks, balls, books, the odd toys, and the other objects that Daniel couldn't name.

"So these are blocks, balls, books, and...toys? Keihn? Cova, spi, livri, jos?" he said, pointing to each the way Ahntas had. "Keihn?"

"Keihn!" Ahntas confirmed. "Ban! Oldas ban!" Good! Very good!

Daniel soon learned what all the toys were for. He was learning how to identify objects and give them to Ahntas when he was asked for them. Also, he learned the colors and what the odd toys he couldn't identify were called. Whenever Ahntas asked for something, Daniel had to hand it to him and say what it was. Soon, he was using the verb dounda, "to give," as well as Ahntas was. Daniel was pleased because it was his first reflexive verb in this language. So far, he had sleep, walk, come, eat, drink, and give. Not bad.

While Ahntas was setting the blocks aside, Daniel examined one of the odd toys. It reminded him a bit of a Rubik's cube, but the squares on it were really circles, and the circles were all the same color. When he nudged one, it slid along the surface of the cube a lot longer than it should have, almost as if it were moving on its own. Sam would have found it fascinating.

Ahntas took it from him. "Hey!" Daniel complained. "I was looking at that, Ahntas!"

"Dannul tiera jos?"

Daniel blinked at him. "Tiera" was new. What did it mean? Daniel tried to take it from Ahntas' hand, but Ahntas moved his hand away. "Heihn. Dannul tiera jos?" He seemed to be waiting for Daniel to do something.

"I want that back, now," Daniel persisted.

Ahntas shifted to pinkish-purple. Daniel had realized that that particular shading meant "amused." Then, it dawned on him: Ahntas was asking him if he wanted the toy! He felt himself smile. "Daniel tiera jos."

Ahntas gave it back to him, a bright, happy shade of pink. Then, he brought something out of the box and sat beside Daniel so they were facing the same way before holding the object out in front of both of them. Daniel saw it was a mirror.

"Ahntas vie Dannul," Ahntas said, pointing at the image in the mirror. "Dannul vie Ahntas." He flipped the mirror so the back was facing them. "Ahntas heihn vie Dannul. Dannul heihn vie Ahntas."

"See," Daniel said, feeling a slow smile spread over his face. "Ahntas sees Daniel, Daniel sees Ahntas, Ahntas doesn't see Daniel, Daniel doesn't see Ahntas. I get it!"

After that, they reviewed all the words and phrases that Daniel knew, and Ahntas smiled and repeated "Oldas ban!"

"Merga," Daniel said in reply. Thank you.

Ahntas stood, and motioned with his hands. "Vena, Dannul." Daniel followed, but when he saw Ahntas was heading for the bed, he stopped. Ahntas, realizing that Daniel wasn't with him, stopped as well and turned to look at him. "Vena, Dannul. Vena."

"Mosa? Daniel mosa?" Daniel asked, just to make certain.

"Keihn," Ahntas said. "Vena."

Daniel shook his head. He didn't feel like going to sleep. "Heihn."

"Keihn. Dannul mosa." At that, Ahntas reached (Daniel had forgotten how far his arms could reach!) and took Daniel's arm and drew him towards the bed to put him to sleep.

Determined, Daniel twisted away, breaking Ahntas' grip and stood on the far side of the room, out of reach. "Heihn, Ahntas. Daniel heihn mosa. Daniel abend. Daniel tiera vie Jack, Sam, Teal'c."

"Heihn," Ahntas said, approaching Daniel. "Dannul heihn vie Jack, Sam, Tilk. Dannul mosa."

Daniel moved a few steps away. "Heihn. Daniel heihn mosa."

"Keihn. Dannul mosa."

"Heihn," Daniel insisted, moving away whenever Ahntas reached for him.

That was when Daniel bumped into someone. It was a very tall someone, and immediately he knew that one of Ahntas' friends had come to help Ahntas with Daniel. He moved quickly to the side, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him, and arms lifted him and carried him towards the bed. "Heihn!" he shouted, determined not to go without a fight. "Heihn! Heihn!"

"Mosa, Dannul," Ahntas said, putting a hand over Daniel's face. "Ahntas gehend." I will come back.

That was the last thing Daniel knew for a while.