Thank you for following this story! I had several questions about a following chapter, so I modified the end of the chapter 2 to fit with a chapter 3. Hope you like it!
Caveman
Chapter 3
It had been several weeks since they last were on the planet, and it was now clear that Winter was settling in. It was a strange feeling to step in the warm and humid tropical forest under the dome: the wind didn't blow so hard, the cold stayed out, and the humidity level was almost suffocating.
"Hey, did you notice how fast the forest has regenerated?" Jack pointed. "Last time that place was completely ruined after we cut through for your measurements, but now it's grown again!"
"You are right Sir! That's amazing!" Sam marveled as they approached the temple.
"The temple's still the same though. You'd think the creepers would cover it too. Any explanation Daniel? Carter?"
"Well, no Sir. It could have been explained by a strong radiation coming from the temple itself, but as we know, the energy readings are constant on ground level"
"That doesn't make sense Sam! Could we have missed something? Maybe some kind of energy we can't register?" Daniel offered.
"It's always possible Daniel but I really doubt it" answered Sam with a pout on her face. Jack could not refrain a smirk to appear on his. She was cute when she was confused!
"I believe the stones used to build this temple are not originated from that planet, Daniel Jackson. It appears to be of the same material as the Ancients usually built their structures with. It is extremely probable that the vegetation of this planet does not enjoy the composition of this particular material to proliferate on" Teal'c mentioned.
"Good point Teal'c!" Daniel answered eagerly. "Why didn't I notice that before! That temple is of typical Ancient design! Except that there is no writings on it of course but the material is sure the same dark gray as any other Ancient monument!"
"Way to go Teal'c, you're right.. I've not seen this kind of stones anywhere else in the area. They're all yellow or red..." Jack acknowledged. The Jaffa bowed his head modestly without a word. SG-1 entered the little pyramid and went straight to the tile in the middle of the floor.
"Nothing's changed here" Jack noticed.
"Good. Sir, this is what I would like you to do: try to concentrate on the temple on the other side of the planet, and if... when you manage to go there, come back at once to let us know it worked. Could you do that for me, Sir?" Sam asked with her big blue eyes fixed on him.
"Anything Carter" he answered smartly. He positioned himself on the tile and focused on what she had asked him to do. The walls of the room began to glow faintly, like they couldn't really decide if they should or should not light up. Jack opened his eyes, moved his feet to get a better balance, and closed his eyes again for a new attempt. The other members of SG-1 were watching him closely, holding their breath in expectation. The walls began to glow harder and suddenly the whole room was flashing with blue light. Jack was gone.
He opened his eyes again.
"Nope. Not working!" he said. Then, noticing the others weren't there, he called: "Carter? Teal'c?! Hey! Daniel! Where have you gone?" He began to walk toward the entrance but a violent headache took him by surprise. He felt like he was in a room full of people all taking at the same time. He covered his ears with his hands and pressed as much as he could but the noise didn't go, it was like it was inside his head!
"Stop that! Shut up!" he yelled. But there was no one in the room. He fled outside, hoping to find his team and the source of that noise but the noise only went louder. It was too much for his brain to process. He just had the time to see some lights moving above the ground in the forest before all went black and he collapsed.
When he woke up, he was in some sort of children hut. There was a little table and tiny chairs, a short bed, and small robes hanging on the wall. He was laying on dry grass on the floor, as he was far too big to fit in the bed. His weapons, shades, watch, and vest had been taken from him but he was not restrained and the door stood open. His head was still aching, as he still heard the babble of voices, but it was somehow attenuated now. From his place on the floor, he could see the trees canopy through the door and windows' openings, like he was high above the ground. He struggled to stand up, hitting his head in the roof and yearning for an aspirin or two. Blinking to clear his sight, he stumbled to the low door and was amazed by what he saw. He was REALLY high up in the trees! At his feet, a maze of hanging bridges was connecting numerous huts together. The huts were of a strange design, roundish and covered with bark, creepers making them difficult to spot. From his observation spot, Jack could see a few bright lights moving on the ground and on one of the bridges under him. His ears only registered birds and wind in the leaves, but in his head, the many voices were still invading and confusing him. He searched for a way to climb down. It looked like there was no ladder anywhere, but the bridges were leading to the lower levels so he began to make his way on them, worry that they would not stand his weight.
He had not been interrupted on his way down, but the hubbub in his head was getting louder as he climbed down, and as he had come half way, he felt that he could not take more, his sight was blurring. He had to sit down before he would pass out and break his neck by tipping over one of the bridges' sides. Sweating heavily and feeling nauseous, he lowered himself against the wall of a hut, patting his pocket to check if, by any chance, he would have an aspirin in there. When he did not find any, he rested his head against the wall, only to see one of the lights he had noticed on the ground coming his way over the bridge facing him. It was not actually a light, but a little person emitting that blue light which was crowning the whole body like an aura. Jack was amazed to see that the tiny personage seemed to float in the air, about one foot above the bridge, and at that point Jack wondered if he was dead, facing some kind of angel... The angel had long hair, wore robes and had fine features but he was clearly a male. The chaos in Jack's head was covered by a clear voice which, amazingly enough, seemed to come from the angel although his ears didn't register any sound coming from its direction. Wincing, Jack seized his ears in an useless attempt to block the noise out, and again, he passed out.
"Why doesn't he come back?!" Daniel asked for the tenth time. "He said he would come back at once!"
"We must assume that he is prevented to do so, Daniel Jackson" Teal'c observed pragmatically.
"Yes but why?! There was no indication of settlements there so he couldn't have been captured. Maybe he's hurt?"
"Oh my god, I hope not!" Sam worried. She blamed herself for having sent him away on his own. It had seemed so simple: he would just go there and back, as he had done when he had visited the control room under the temple. But she could now see how many flaws her plan had: they didn't know if he had made it to the other temple, they had no mean of knowing if he was injured, prisoner, or stranded. Even if he had made it to the other temple, it was possible that the energy there was too depleted for him to be sent back. And they had no way to reach him. Even radio contact was out of the question as he was too far away if he had reached the other side of the planet. That is, if he actually went there. As far as they knew, he could be anywhere. He could even be under their feet in the control room of the temple, unconscious, and they wouldn't know it! She couldn't bear not to know.
"Teal'c, could you stay here and wait for Colonel O'Neill? I want to go back to the camp with Daniel and check the satellite's readings. Maybe we can see if he has arrived on the other side" Teal'c bowed in agreement and took his position at the entrance of the temple while Sam and Daniel hurried back to the camp.
"Major Mansfield, I need the most recent readings from the satellite on the back side of the planet. Colonel O'Neill did not return" Sam demanded as soon as they arrived in the computer facilities. The crew immediately made the necessary adjustments for the satellite to point toward the little temple. After zooming as close as they could, Sam and Lieutenant Stetson found a little red spot on the screen, which had not been there before.
"I assume this could be Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter. These readings detect metallic structures, this is a tiny spot but his weapons would be enough to show on that scale"
"Then why does he not return?" Sam whispered, even more worried now that she had the proof that he had reached his objective. "Have you tried IR readings?"
"No Ma'am. We know there's animal life on the planet, so IR would not give us any information about the source of the heat we would detect" the Lieutenant answered.
"Do it anyway" Sam ordered.
The Lieutenant did as she was told and a new map appeared on the screen, presenting many more red spots this time. She zoomed to the scale they had used for the metal detection but they still had many spots visible.
"Can you superpose both maps?" Sam asked. Daniel left his computer to join them, followed by Mansfield. When Sam used this tone, it meant she probably had something.
"Here you are Ma'am. The metal is now showed by a blue spot"
Silent fell around the screen. The blue spot was at the temple, but there was no red spot nearby, which meant that Colonel O'Neill didn't have his weapons with him. What could have happened?!
"Look" Daniel said. "There are seven red spots around the temple, I'd say they are definitely inside the dome, if we assume both domes are about the same size. They are not really big, though. There is only one big spot, here"
"Do you think it could be Colonel O'Neill?" Major Mansfield asked.
"Yeah, it would be logical to assume it is" Daniel speculated.
"But, what are the other spots then?" Sam wanted to know.
"Animals?" Mansfield suggested.
"Yeah, could be... Something smaller than Jack anyway" Daniel said. "What I find very strange is that they are so close to him... You sure there is no threatening wildlife on this planet?"
"Oh my god!" Sam said, already imagining lions or wolves chasing Jack in the forest.
"We know there isn't any on this part of the planet, as Colonel O'Neill reported. But we have no idea of what lives on the other side. The only thing we know for sure is that there is no settlements made of metal, no large construction of stones except for the temple, and no trace of large living animals, if we go by the size of this IR spots" Mansfield informed.
"Turn the camera on Lieutenant." Sam ordered. The screen changed again, showing a picture of the forest surrounding the temple. It was so dense that they hardly could see the top of the temple, hadn't it be for the faint orange light coming from the chimney emitting the dome. Superposing the picture and the IR readings, they could position Jack and the other living beings, but due to the dense vegetation they saw nothing more. Sam was completely frustrated now. She could not think of anything else they could do to assess Jack's state at that point.
"Alright" Daniel said. "I'll radio Teal'c to let him know what we have"
"The radio! Daniel, you are a genius!" Sam cried. Astonished by her statement, Daniel was looking at her, waiting for an explanation. "We can use the satellite as a relay to radio Colonel O'Neill!" she explained.
"Good!" Daniel smiled. "Let's try that!"
Lieutenant Stetson entered the parameters to relay Sam's radio signal through the satellite and gave her the green light.
"This is Captain Carter. Colonel O'Neill can you hear me?." Sam tried. "Colonel O'Neill, this is Captain Carter! Please respond!" But no answer came.
"We have to assume that his radio is in the temple with the rest of his weapons. He can't hear you" Mansfield stated in an all too military tone for Sam's taste. How could he remain so calm!?
"Daniel, signal Teal'c. We have to report to General Hammond" she said, leaving the facility.
As he woke up for the second time, Jack found himself back in his children hut. Or maybe it was no children hut. The angel-man had been about half his height, so perhaps it was the standard size for their huts. He was still free of his movements, so Jack assumed that the people were not hostile. He found a tray with a couple of round, flat breads and a bowl of fresh fruits on the floor at his side. He sat up and began to eat, as he realized he was actually hungry, although still nauseous from the never ending chaos in his head.
"I need to go back to the temple" he thought. "The guys must be worried by now.. How long have I been out?" He had no way of knowing the time as his watch was missing, but judging by his body's needs and the falling evening, he assumed it had been several hours. Considering that he was on the back side of the planet, and that it was morning at the gate, it would only be logical that it was evening here, but with the angle of the planet's inclination, he should expect this part to be in the beginning of the Summer. As he was in the dome, the climate was tropical anyway so he could not test his theory, but if he was right, then the night should fall later in the evening. Now how late would it be? 10? 11? With that constant headache, he did not really feel fit for astronomical considerations... He just knew he should be back, and that no one would come for him before a Tok'ra ship was available in this part of the galaxy. That was a problem... The noise had been louder as he went down, and he had obviously passed out again because of it. Even if he somehow managed to creep back to the temple, his head was too full and he would never manage to concentrate hard enough to activate the teletransport or whatever it was his mind commanded. He was there in his pondering when the light changed in the hut, a bright light appearing at the door.
"Be greeted, Ancient friend" a voice said clear and loud in Jack's head. He winced in pain, grabbing his temples and throwing himself down on his bed.
"Geez! Stop it!" he whined. The voice hesitated, then it came again, much softer this time, which was still painful but bearable.
"I apologize. I can not communicate with you by any other mean"
"What you mean?!" Jack complained, trying to sit back up.
"I can not produce the vibrations you make with your throat, nor can I decipher them. I can only communicate with your mind" the voice said. Jack observed the being floating in the air in front of him. It didn't seem to have ears, and it didn't move its lips to talk. What was this guy?!
"I am Eolan, of the Alveonan people. Don't you know us?" the voice said again. Jack realized Eolan had answered the question he had in his mind before he could speak it aloud. He was immediately alert. He had no intention to let the guy know more than he should!
"I can not read your mind if you don't allow me to. Do not be afraid, I mean you no harm"
"How do you know what I say if you cannot hear me?!"
"You form your words in your mind before you vibrate them in your throat, therefore I can receive them through your mind, Ancient friend"
"Why do you call me ancient friend? I don't think we've met before..." Jack wondered.
"Are you not of the Ancient?"
"Er... no..."
"Then how did you come here? I clearly sense the Ancients in you"
"What you mean you sense the ancient in me? I'm not that old! And I came here through the temple"
"One has to be Alveonan or Ancient to activate the temple's transporter. How could you do this if you were not an Ancient?"
"You tell me!" a confused Jack wanted to know. "I'm human, from Earth."
"Earth?"
"Tau'ri."
"The Tau'ri was a planet of the Ancients. You must be of Ancient descent. This is how you could master the temple" Eolan posed.
"Well... that would explain a few things..." Jack conceded. "What's that noise anyway? It's..." he paused, wincing. "painful!"
"I see. You hear my brothers and sisters' minds. It would be confusing. You have to shut them out of your own mind and choose what you want to receive, or your mind will get lost in the confusion of so many voices"
"Yeah. I noticed. How do I do that?" Jack answered with a hint of sarcasm.
"I fear your mind is chaos. As you use the vibrations of your throat to communicate, you have not learned to discipline your mind. The Alveonans are bound to organize their minds so that only what we wish to communicate is available, while we can shut other parts, and choose who we listen to. I'm not certain how to teach this to you, as this is something small children learn naturally at a very young age"
"Yeah well, see, that's a problem! I'm far past that very young age, and my brain's about to fry here!"
"Allow me to ask the advice of my sister" Eolan said, reaching his forehead with both hands. What Jack had thought to be a piece of jewelry there, began to glow under Eolan's hands as he looked like he was in a deep meditation. Then, he lowered his hands and the blue stone ceased to glow.
"My sister will send help for you" he said. After a few instants, a kind of crown floated in from outside and stopped in front of them. It was a circle of intertwined dark vines and some other plants Jack couldn't identify. The twigs were swirling around different gems to hold them in place, and the result was both delicate and beautiful.
"Please, place this on your head, it should help you keep undesired voices out of your mind"
"You must be kidding, right?" Jack smiled. That crown would make him look like some god from the Greek mythology! But Eolan looked very serious, so he complied, and the chaotic sounds in his head were immediately reduced to a faint whisper, which he could live with.
"Good! That helps, thanks" he said.
"I am relieved that you are not in pain anymore. Would you tell me how you name yourself?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Jack" Eolan frown a little before he tried to get familiar with the name.
"Really... This is a very harsh name... Is it truly what you are called?" Eolan wondered.
"Yep. Jack O'Neill. That's me" Jack posed.
"Would it be suitable if I called you O'Neill? This name is much softer"
"Suit yourself!" Jack agreed. He had never reflected about that, but it was fine with him so, whatever! He wondered, however, if that would be the reason why aliens always called him by his last name...
"Alright. So, tell me.. Eolan? How many of you are there? I thought that planet was uninhabited" Jack wanted to know.
"There is only a few of us left. We live close to the temple, we can not survive outside the dome. We need the Silva to live"
"The Silva? You mean, the tropical forest?"
"Yes. The climate outside is too harsh for the Silva and for us. But the dome has regressed greatly during the last hundreds of years, and only a few of us have survived" Eolan explained.
"Why didn't you repair it then?"
"Repair? I do not understand this word"
"Repair? Find what is wrong and fix it" Eolan seemed to be confused by the concept, which surprised Jack as it was simple enough to understand.
"We do not... repair? How do you... fix?"
"Well, obviously the crystals of the temple are depleted so you need to change them to keep the dome working"
"How do you know this thing? How do you... change...?"
"Carter found out about it. Er... she is a.. woman of my team... she's very smart. She can fix anything!" said Jack proudly. But he realized Eolan's people must be a little fatalistic, and showed little ability to evolution and adaptability. "So when you got a problem, you folk just sit there and wait?"
"It is the time of the Alveonan"
"Yeah right. You'll just let it happen without lifting a finger?"
"It is our way. We follow the Silva" Eolan posed.
"OK, well, that's not my people's way. If something goes wrong, we look for solutions, we fight. Anyway, how is it that you have a temple to suit your needs if you don't do the adaptation-and-repair-thing?"
"The Ancients gave the temples to us. They helped us find this planet when our world was destroyed by Phaeton, and they built the temples to make the planet favorable to Silva. This was a long time ago" Eolan recalled.
"Phaeton... That sounds familiar..?"
"He was the one who drove the sun too close to our planet, and burnt it down. Silva could not survive it. The Ancients provided this for us"
"Good guys, the Ancients! Listen, I could get Carter to help you folks, but I have to return to my team first. And she can not activate the temple or anything, only me. Why am I the only one to do that?"
"You must be the only one of your people from Ancient descent. Only my people and the Ancient can use the Ancient technology"
"OK. Would that mean that you can come with me then?"
"I could. But the dome on the other side is much smaller than this one. We could not live there very long"
"Er... no, I suppose not. My people has established a camp there anyway so it would be difficult. But you know, you could come just to say hello and explain to Carter what your problem is! No need to step out of the dome!" Jack offered cheerfully.
"I do not understand this word, O'Neill" Eolan asked confused.
"Which one? Oh yeah. You folk don't have problems of course. That's a concept... But she could fix it anyway" he insisted.
"Your intentions are pure O'Neill. I will meet this Carter. This is however a harsh name too. Do all your people have such names?" Eolan complained.
"You think Carter's harsh? How about Sam, then?"
"This is much better, thank you O'Neill. She is your mate" the Alveonan stated.
"What!? No! Why would you say such a thing!?" Jack protested.
"I did not mean to offend you O'Neill. Your mind colors with many feelings when you speak of her, which is why I was mistaken to think she was your mate. Please accept my apologies"
"Yeah... Well... T's OK..." Jack mumbled. Damn! The guy could read his feelings too! Better be careful then... "How do I get down from here? I need to go back now, my team certainly worries about me"
"I will guide you O'Neill" Eolan said, leading the way on the hanging bridges.
"You know... You don't actually... walk.. do you? So why don't you just... fly down?" the Air Force Colonel wanted to know.
"I can not fly like a bird. The energy between Silva and me is necessary" the Alveonan answered.
"You mean you...? er... What do you mean?" asked Jack confused.
"Silva sends energy, I send energy. I do rest my feet on the bounding"
"Er... like... you kind of roll on an energy pillow between the forest and you?"
"It is an approximate description O'Neill, but it is correct" Eolan indulged.
"Cool! Wait til Carter hears about that! She'll be speechless!" he rejoiced.
"Really O'Neill. If she is not your mate, what is your relationship to her?" Eolan wondered. He could clearly feel a whole cocktail of deep feelings in O'Neill's mind when he mentioned her. Why would he refuse to admit it? Lies were not possible in the Alveonan people due to their mode of communication, and it was very confusing for Eolan to experience someone who's words were in contradiction with his feelings.
"She is my 2IC. I work with her. That's it" Jack affirmed, trying to convince himself.
"This is confusing O'Neill. Your words and your feelings say differently"
"Yeah well.. We are friends too, if you have to know" Jack admitted.
"It is rare to have so deep and various feelings for one's friends in my culture" Eolan insisted.
"Too bad for you" Jack forced in his mind, hoping it would cloud his too obvious feelings.
"Do you have other friends O'Neill?"
"Yeah of course I have. Daniel, Teal'c, for starters" Jack answered, happy to change the subject.
"These are males, aren't they?"
"Yeah. I also work with them"
"Your mind does not color with the same feelings for these friends" Eolan observed.
"For crying out loud! Can you give it a rest? Carter's not my mate, end of the story" Jack protested.
"This is a shame O'Neill" the Alveonan concluded smartly.
"You can address your complaints to the Air Force" Jack muttered.
During the course of the conversation, they had climbed down from the complex structure of bridges and huts. Jack had observed 3 or 4 other lights -Alveonans- from above in the twilight. When they reached the ground, the other Alveonans gathered around them. Now, even with his crown of twigs, Jack found it difficult to hold them out of his head and he winced, which Eolan noticed. He explained to his brothers and sisters that O'Neill was new to mind communication and he asked them to restrain themselves, to spare their guest. The noise reduced immediately, which Jack was grateful for. He was introduced to Eolan's three sisters and two brothers. They were all half of Jack's size, all floating over the ground, and all bearing a jewel on their forehead, although each had a particular gemstone on it. With the six Alveonans floating in the air around him in their robes and long hair, glowing with blue light like auras, Jack felt like he had come in a fairy tale of some sort. He was certain Daniel would be able to track the Elves legends back to these people... It was all nice and well, but now he wanted to go back, and his mind gave him easily away. He was afraid he could have offended them, but a people used to communicate by mind reading could not afford to be offended by true feelings, and the Alveonans simply accompanied him to the temple. There, he found his weapons waiting. The Alveonans had obviously no sense for his stuff and they stepped back when he took them on.
"I will not hurt you" Jack felt he had to precise.
"We know you won't, but our people is sensitive to the material they are made of. It is too different from Silva" one of Eolan's sister explained.
"Oh... So.. no metal for you then?"
"No" Eolan smiled. "Only Silva"
"Only Silva" Jack repeated. He stepped in the temple while the Alveonans left the area so their minds would not disturbed his when he concentrated on activating the transporter.