Ghosts in the Machine (gen) PG-13 (5/5)
Ghosts in the Machine
By Jennghis Kahn
+ + +
[ coagulate ]
Jack
“So, we’re right back to where we started, is that it?” Jack was a bit more snappish than he’d really intended to be. Frustration boiled in his gut.
“Well, if we can’t get into The System’s master building and we can’t knock out the power… “ Daniel shook his head helplessly. “We still have all the information and a way to get more, Jack. We’ll find a way.”
“It is possible we could create a disturbance, O’Neill. When the Interceptors come out, we could ambush them and use them to find another entrance.”
Jack hesitated, glancing at Teal’c. “Not a bad idea. Those guys gotta have some sort of I.D. or keys or something, right?”
Daniel looked wary. “I don’t know… Unless we have the locator chips or we’re hooked in through the mind control, we could just be drawing unwanted attention.”
Jack was getting punchy. He whipped his head around to look for Carter. She was sitting at the table, fingers absently picking at the virtual reality helmet. Her gaze was a million miles away.
“Carter?”
She didn’t hear him, lost in her thoughts.
“Carter!”
Her head jerked up, and the blue eyes found his. “What?”
“What’s on your mind?” He eyed her with hope.
She seemed about to speak and then shook her head. “I’m trying, sir,” she said quietly.
Jack sighed and swallowed the biting remark waiting to get out. She was trying. Both her and Daniel had been on endless duty since regaining their freedom, and Jack knew that if he’d had anyone else on the team, they wouldn’t even have made it this far. He also knew that there was a time to pressure them and a time to let them rest.
“Get some sleep,” he said calmly, giving her shoulder a squeeze as he made his way to his pallet. He sat to take his boots off and felt his impatience ease as he watched Daniel rub Sam’s head affectionately, drawing a reluctant smile from her.
Scientists. Pains in the ass, all of them. But he loved these two anyway.
+ + +
[ recollection ]
Jack was jarred awake in the middle of the night by Sam’s hand planted in the middle of his chest and shaking him thoroughly.
“Colonel!” She whispered sharply.
He blinked up at her, still trying to get his bearings. He could see the light glint of blond around the silhouette of her head. “What is it?” he groaned, only vaguely concerned. He knew Carter’s ‘danger’ voice, and that hadn’t been it. If they were being attacked, she’d have had a different urgency to her voice, not to mention she wouldn’t have been worried about waking Teal’c and Daniel.
She sat back on her heels next to him and whispered quietly. “There’s an anomaly in the system. I remember now! I dreamed about it.”
Jack had closed his eyes again, but he opened one and peered at her. “Carter, it is way too late, and I am far too tired for you to be pulling this scientist crap on me. I’m still half asleep, so how is that fair?”
There was a silence, and he had a feeling she was giving him some sort of long-suffering look. Probably the one that Teal’c had taught her. And then, “Sir, uncovering all this information the past few days seems to have jarred my brain some.”
Oh, and he so wanted to make a comment about that gem of a set-up, but he was too tired and grumpy, and she just went on without waiting for an answer anyway.
“When I was still hooked into The System, I remember coming across an anomaly that I knew could cause trouble in the long run. I had more important things to do at the time, so I re-routed the data stream to avoid that… spot. Then I locked it down with my personal code. I never went back to fix it because you rescued me before I had time. So it’s still there!”
She waited expectantly, so Jack assumed he was supposed to find this information helpful and possibly exciting. “Sweet.” He yawned. Why did scientists always find it necessary to wake him and notify him of every discovery?
He heard her give a little snort of disbelief. “Sir, this means that if I can find some way to connect back in with the system, I can possibly gain enough access to the code to give us some control over it.”
Well, that was good! “Sweet,” he said with a little more enthusiasm.
“I have a hunch about that panel you found near the garage door at the master building. I need to go back to the shelter and have another look around.”
“Carter,” he said, giving another yawn. “Did you really have to wake me for this?”
She sighed. “Well… no.”
“Thank you,” he exclaimed wearily. “Now I’m going back to sleep, okay?”
“Right,” she said, sounding a bit apologetic. “Sorry, sir.”
Jack flipped over on his side, facing away from her, and shifted until he was comfortable. “Good job, Carter. Get some sleep.” He was back into his Mary Steenburgen dream before she could answer him.
+ + +
He woke the next morning to find Carter gone.
“Damn it!” He growled the words as he shook both Teal’c and Daniel awake. “Where’s Carter?”
Daniel glanced sleepily at the pallet next to his and then gave a little shrug. “Maybe she had to go.”
“I did not hear her leave, O’Neill.” Teal’c stood and walked to the edge of the loft to look down into the main body of the church. “She is not nearby.”
Jack hesitated for a moment, not really wanting to go off on an angry search just to come up on her answering the call of nature. Then he remembered her words from the night before.
“Teal’c,” he called, pulling his boots on and lacing them up. “I think she’s at the shelter. Come with me just to be sure there’s no problems.”
The Jaffa gave him a nod and began pulling his own boots on.
“What about me?” Daniel yawned again.
“Stay here in case she isn’t at the shelter and she comes back.”
“Okay.”
+ + +
They were barely 1 block away when they saw her. Jack actually stopped in his tracks and stared, trying to figure out what the hell she was doing. She had the virtual reality gear on, and was standing closely to the wall of one of the long, black buildings. When they got closer, he suddenly realized there was a long cord connecting the helmet to the building.
“Teal’c! Get her out of there!”
Teal’c jerked her back from the wall as Jack grabbed the cord and yanked it from the helmet. “Carter!” He ripped the helmet from her head and glared at her as she stared at him in surprise, eyes wide. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Trying to gain access to the system,” she explained as if it were obvious.
“Oh, for…” he fixed her with a dangerous look. “You’re supposed to be the good one! Not the one always running off on her own!”
“I told you what I needed to do last night, Colonel,” she protested.
He fixed her with a superior officer’s glare then. “Carter… you know damn well I expected you to wait until morning.”
She hesitated but came clean. “I couldn’t sleep.”
Her acquiescence took the fight out of him, and he looked at the gloves on her hands and the cord lying on the ground. “So, did you get in?”
She grew more animated. “Yes! I didn’t poke around much because I didn’t want to give The System the idea that I was harmful, but it worked!”
“What worked?”
She took the gloves off and stowed them carefully in the small pack. “When you told me about the ports in the panel on the side of the building, I realized that I’d seen ports in the back of this helmet too.” She showed him the helmet, and he saw two small, rectangular holes in the back of the helmet. She stowed that in the bag and then squatted down to pick up the cord. “Obviously their purpose was to connect to something or someone by hard-wiring.”
“Obviously,” Jack said, drawing a raised eyebrow and a doubtful glance from Teal’c.
“This get-up receives signals and data from the system, but it’s incapable of actually interacting with the programming or the coding in any meaningful way. Unless it’s hard-wired in. Everyone whose job is to change, compile or code for the system in some way is hard-wired in. Everyone else just has a wireless get-up. They only need to receive the signals.”
“And?” Jack made an impatient motion with his hand. He wasn’t in the mood for her long-winded explanations today.
“And I realized that I’d seen ports like this all around the city, so obviously plugging-in used to be quite common. I searched the shelter, and I found a few of the cords used to hard-wire users to the system. So, um, I gave it a try.”
“What does this mean for us?” Jack asked, feeling a bit tight in the chest.
She smiled at him, and it was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in three weeks. “It means we can go home.”
+ + +
[ hope ]
They sat out on the balcony of the church on their last night. Jack brought out the last two MRE’s and they shared the meal among the four of them, splitting the two Hershey bars with great solemnity. The chocolate felt like home, and Jack felt hope and dread at the same time. The plan they’d spent the past 24 hours working up wasn’t infallible. In fact, it was based in simplicity and speed. It was all they had though, and Sam had warned them that The System was learning and expanding every minute, even if it couldn’t build physically anymore. It would eventually realize they were there all the time and get rid of them.
They didn’t talk much. The plans were set. Carter had spent the morning hooked to the system, with Teal’c guarding her back. She’d done little poking around, but enough to find the anomaly she’d remembered and to realize she’d signed and protected the bit of code with a personal technique and password that she’d learned over her years at the SGC. It was more complicated than that, but Jack had gotten a headache when she’d tried to explain it any further, and she’d shortened it to the lowest common denominator. Their gear was meticulously packed and double-checked by both him and Carter. He didn’t need to tell them that this was their last night here. They already knew. One way or another they would not be here tomorrow evening. They were either going home or, well, they wouldn’t care anymore because they’d be slaves or dead.
He was hoping they’d be able to sleep tonight. He wanted a well-rested crew, but they’d performed under worse circumstances before.
He knew they were nervous because he’d looked up at some point during the evening to catch each of them casting a hopeful and considering glance in his direction. And that’s the way it always was. It was them who came up with the plans, them who inspired such trust on Jack’s part that things would work out, but in the end, it was Jack himself who would have to be their anchor. And he could do that.
He met all of their gazes with steady eyes. This WILL work because I will not let you die. Do you understand me?
They did. They always did.
As the evening crept on, the lights started up in the sky. They watched helplessly as the glow of anti-aircraft fire streaked upward above the dome. When the rumbling started, and the shaking, and the bright flare of a falling ship lit up the city, Jack lowered his head. He saw Sam and Daniel slide closer to each other as they sat against the wall, arms touching. He heard their voices float out softly to each other in comfort. Teal’c stood stoically at the edge, witnessing the event. He’d seen worse.
Jack had too, but it didn’t make it any easier.
His team did. They made it easier. Tomorrow he would get them out of this.
+ + +
They had debated creating some sort of distraction to draw the attention of the Interceptors. Sam could have disassembled several bullets to harvest the gunpowder and built a powerful little grenade that they could have thrown up into the recycling chute.
But Jack decided, and eventually they all agreed, that stealth was the better plan. The system didn’t think like a human being. For the most part, it was unaware of their existence despite the fact that they had been labeled as viruses now. Sam thought it only did periodic scans of everything and everyone so they could still slip through the system like ghosts, unless they were physically spotted by an Interceptor.
Jack watched Sam connecting to the system by way of the panel next to the garage door in the ground. Teal’c walked back and forth behind her, P-90 held in one hand, barrel pointing up. Ready.
Daniel carried the only big pack they’d brought. Most of the equipment inside of it would be used and then abandoned. The GDO was safely in Carter’s pocket; the odds-and-ends kit was tucked into a separate pack on her waist.
Jack was starting to get antsy when Sam exclaimed excitedly, “I’m in!”
He watched her move her gloved hands around, venturing further into the system. “How long is this going to take?” He knew exactly what her answer was going to be, but he asked anyway.
“Hard to say, sir.”
Yep. Always was.
He and Daniel walked out a ways, checking things out. It was quiet. Except for that godawful hum that he’d grown to hate. “I should have had Carter make that homemade grenade. We could have gone down and stuffed it right into this thing’s throat.”
Daniel shot him a sharp look. “These people rely on The System to live, Jack. We’d be sentencing them to death.”
Jack sighed heavily. He knew that. It was hard to tolerate because he had no direction for his anger and frustration. The planet as a whole seemed evil and alive. Maybe the Asgard would blow it to hell.
“O’Neill!”
He turned to find Teal’c with a smug smile on his face and inclining his head toward Jack. “What?”
“Major Carter has found the anomaly and is inside the CPU.”
Jack hurried back over to them, Daniel at his heels. “Carter?”
“Sir, I can open the door right now, but I’ll need a few more minutes to get control of the gate room. I’m going to have to basically lock the system out of its own controls. I’ll protect it with a password, but the system is capable of trying thousands of possible password combinations per minute, maybe even per second. Once it notices the intrusion, we’ll be on borrowed time.”
“All right,” Jack stated. He glanced up at Teal’c. “Stay with her until she’s done. Daniel and I will get in there and clear the room.”
Teal’c nodded.
Sam turned her head toward him, helmet restricting his view of her eyes. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
Jack glanced at Daniel. Daniel nodded and shifted his P-90, clicking the safety off. Jack tapped Sam on the shoulder. “Okay, Carter.”
She made a few motions, and there was a sudden vibration beneath their feet and a slight groan of stressed metal. The door in the ground began sliding open, revealing a long ramp that declined gradually toward the building and disappeared underground. Jack squatted down to try and peer into the tunnel. He didn’t see anything, but it was sparsely lighted. He motioned to Daniel to follow and stepped onto the ramp, easing his way down.
The ramp ended at a short tunnel and then opened into a huge garage. He’d been right in that this was where the trucks came from. They were all parked in neat lines across the width of the level. He signaled Daniel to stop and listen, and they squatted down just inside the garage, listening.
There wasn’t even the tick of a cooling engine.
He glanced at Daniel and pointed to the right side perimeter of the garage, then he gave the signal for Daniel to move. They’d go opposite directions, sticking close to the walls, and meet on the far side of the garage, which was where the opening to the gateroom was according to the schematics.
Daniel nodded and moved silently off. Jack watched him for a moment and then turned to the left and moved quickly along the wall, pausing now and then to look and listen carefully. There didn’t seem to be anybody in here, but you never took that for granted simply based on silence.
It took several long minutes to make his way around to the far end. He’d heard no suspicious rumblings or alarms, so that was a good sign. Daniel was waiting for him, hunkered down next to a row of vehicles that looked like motorcycles but without the gas tanks.
Jack got down next to him with a questioning look. Daniel shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“Me either.” He glanced around, and then followed Daniel’s gaze to a long, narrow metal plate in the floor. It ran away from them toward the center of the garage. Jack lifted an eyebrow. “Looks stargate-sized to me.”
“Me too.” Daniel studied the plate. “How do we get in though?”
They glanced around, looking for controls. There didn’t seem to be any. Jack felt his frustration mount. There was no way they were going to tear up this plate by themselves. The bolts alone were the size of his thigh.
“Here!” Daniel called in a whisper. He’d walked to the center of the garage and stood looking down at the very end piece of the plate. Jack quickly made his way over to him. Daniel pointed to a small access door embedded in the plate.
Jack grinned. Yes! There was a small sound off to their left, and they both sank to their heels and brought their weapons up. Carter’s shorn blond head appeared between two trucks, and she walked toward them, Teal’c directly behind her.
“Everything okay?” Jack asked when she was hunkered down beside them.
She nodded. “Yes sir, but with all due respect, let’s get the hell out of here. It’s only a matter of time before The System discovers it has been hijacked and starts to work on the password.”
Jack couldn’t have agreed more. He and Teal’c worked on prying the access door open while Daniel pulled a long length of rolled and braided cord from the pack. The door slid open reluctantly, and Jack shone the flashlight down into its depths.
The stargate stood there, just beneath them, and he felt something in his chest unclench.
Daniel handed him the cord, and Jack glanced around at his team. “I’m first, then Daniel, Carter and Teal’c.” They already knew the order. Jack was just repeating it to make sure it went as planned. “Daniel dials P3X-678 and from there we gate home.” They’d decided not to gate directly to Earth. Even though the system didn’t appear to be interested in gate travel, they couldn’t be sure, and they didn’t want Earth’s gate address flashed into its memory. It might already have it from their arrival, but it might not.
Jack dropped the cord, and Teal’c slid the other end around the front wheel of one of the trucks and secured it. Jack took a breath and then lowered his feet down into the shaft and climbed onto the cord. He eased himself slowly downward, trying to look around. They’d been neutralized in moments after coming through the gate when they’d first arrived. Something or someone had been waiting for them, and they couldn’t be sure that something wouldn’t still be there.
Carter shone the beam of the flashlight down past him, keeping its light off of his descent and trained on the area below him. The room was dim like all the others. It was very small, with only just enough room to contain the wave created by the forming wormhole. He crept downwards, and nothing happened.
When he hit the floor, he gave a quick look around. There was a single door in the wall, but it remained closed and silent. There was a suspicious looking device in the wall across from the gate, and Jack didn’t like the looks of it. It was big and round and had a fine, black grating covering its surface. He threw a penny at it and nothing happened. They’d have to keep an eye on it.
He heard Daniel making his way down the cord above him, and he reached out to hold it steady. In moments, Daniel was standing on the ground next to him, and Carter was starting to lower her feet into the shaft. Jack held the cord and listened for anything unusual.
Instead he heard Daniel swearing. He jerked his gaze back to find Daniel circling the room in an agitated state. “Daniel?”
“It’s not here!”
“What?”
Daniel shot him a rather wild look and tossed his hands in the air. “There’s no DHD!”
Jack stared at him. “There has to be!”
Daniel motioned around the room. “Well, there isn’t!”
Jack looked around, eyes scanning each nook of the room, each crack in the wall. “I thought the MALP showed a DHD before we came through! Carter?”
He glanced at her as she dropped down beside him, eyes wide. “It did, sir! It showed one to the left of the gate plain as day!”
They looked to the left, and nothing was there.
“What the hell?” Jack was growing anxious now.
“It must have been moved,” Daniel stated. “Or maybe it just fooled us into thinking it was there and it never was!”
“Crap!” Jack gritted his teeth in anger. He tilted his head back and glanced up to where Teal’c was getting ready to climb down. “Teal’c! Hold up! There’s no DHD!”
“Are you certain, O’Neill?”
Jack glanced back to where both Sam and Daniel were now examining the walls again. They both looked helplessly at him. Jack glanced back at Teal’c. “Yes.” Damn it! He glared at Carter. “What do we do now?”
She thought about it briefly, her gaze going to the door. “Maybe there’s a control room like at the SGC.”
“The maps,” Daniel blurted. She looked at him. “We can go back up and you can plug-in and find the DHD. It has to be on the schematics somewhere. Its energy signature would be pretty unique, wouldn’t it?”
Sam nodded. “Yes.” She gazed at Jack. “That’s really the best idea, sir. We don’t want to waste time looking for it or fumbling into a roomful of Interceptors.”
Jack swore under his breath. This was NOT going well now. He nodded and motioned for her to go up. She climbed onto the rope, and Teal’c pulled her up, then Daniel and Jack.
By the time Jack was standing in the garage again, Sam was at the far end, hooking into a port in a panel there. They waited nervously.
“Okay, here’s the gateroom,” Sam said, hands moving in the air, head tilted downward.
“Where is it?” Jack asked. “Is there a control room?”
Sam hesitated a moment and then tilted her head a bit more. “No.”
“The longer we stay here, the more danger we face,” Teal’c stated, a hint of impatience in his voice.
Jack tightened his jaw. “Thank you, Teal’c. Carter!”
“What the…” Sam was muttering to herself, head frozen in place as she studied something, hands moving deliberately and very slowly. She turned in a circle. “Oh no.”
Jack’s stomach lurched. He glanced at Daniel who didn’t look well either. “What is it, Carter?” He asked with an almost tired reluctance. He did NOT want to stay on this planet one more day.
She pulled the helmet off and unplugged it from the wall. “The DHD isn’t even in this building. It’s eight blocks away in one of the memory warehouses.” She began stuffing the gear into the pack.
“What?” Daniel stared at her. “How can it be that far away?”
“It’s networked through the system,” Sam said, eyes a bit sorrowful. “It’s probably a way to prevent escape.”
“Now what?” Daniel asked.
“We get our asses over there and dial the gate,” Jack stated.
Sam immediately protested. “Sir, it’s eight blocks. We’ll have to get there, connect to open the door, find the DHD and dial and then get back and down to the gate. Once the gate is activated, the system will notice. It will send the Interceptors after us and begin work on the password to regain control. And all of that won’t matter if we don’t get back within 40 minutes, provided the system’s gate protocols allow it to remain open that long!”
Jack stepped right up into her personal space and locked his gaze on hers. “Well, what do you suggest, Carter? You just want to give up and live in a goddamn broken church for the rest of our short lives?” His words were clipped and angry.
She swallowed hard but held his gaze. Daniel and Teal’c were silent witnesses. “No sir,” she finally answered quietly but firmly.
“Then let’s do this. I want to go home.”
She held his gaze a moment longer and then looked away, shoulders slumping a bit. He gave her arm a short squeeze in reassurance. She was frustrated, and she wanted to go home as badly as any of them did. She just came to her own conclusions too quickly. Her mind was all logical assumptions and orderly formulas. She was learning about chaos and the unpredictability of the human factor, but sometimes she slid back.
Jack was deciding whether to send Daniel or Teal’c with her, when Sam suddenly made a startled sound. “Sir!”
He turned to look, and she was staring at the row of bikes down the wall. She returned his glance with a gleam in her eye. Jack licked his lips and considered the motorcycles. “Can you get one to work?”
Sam immediately circled one, examining its parts and its design. It was less bulky than an earth-bound bike. The engine was slimmer and the gas tank non-existent. She stood and straddled the motorcycle, grabbing the handlebars and looking down on each side of the bike. She tapped something on the far side with the toe of her boot, and the bike started up, its engine a quiet rumble. She gave Jack a triumphant look.
“Sweet!” Jack glanced around. “I’ll go with Carter. You two stay here and hold the gateroom. If there’s going to be trouble when we dial, you’ll have to make sure we still have access to the gate.”
“We’re in Interceptor Central!” Daniel argued, motioning at all the trucks.
“Just avoid them for now, and do the best you can. Maybe they’ll come out after us and leave the garage unattended.”
“We will hold the gate, O’Neill,” Teal’c promised.
Jack climbed on the back of the bike and shifted his gun so it was resting on his thigh. He looked back at them. “If the gate engages and it gets too hot in here, you get the hell out. Don’t wait for us.”
Sam glanced back at him, and he met her gaze. She nodded slowly, face grim. She knew the score.
“We’re not leaving you behind,” Daniel protested.
“If it’s your lives or none, Daniel, get the hell out. Understand me?” Jack glared at him.
“Time it, Daniel,” Sam said to him. She handed over the watch. He refused to take it.
“You need that so you can see how much time you have.”
“We’ll get back here as fast as we can, Daniel,” Jack said. “If we don’t make it, we don’t make it.”
“Time it,” Sam repeated. “When it gets close to 40 minutes, you need to get out or you’ll lose your chance.”
Daniel stared at her with worried eyes. “Sam…”
“We must return, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c insisted softly. “If they are captured, we will be their best chance of escape.” He didn’t say that capture was unlikely. They all knew death was the most obvious reason they would not make it back.
Daniel reluctantly took the watch, blue eyes seeking out first Sam’s and then Jack’s gaze. “Get your asses back here in time.”
Sam grinned at him. “Don’t worry.”
“Good luck,” Jack told him, reaching out to give him an affectionate pat on the side of his head.
Daniel nodded under his hand. “You too.”
Jack exchanged a glance with Teal’c. If things go wrong, get him out of here.
Teal’c nodded and handed Jack the pack with the virtual reality gear inside, but there was stubbornness in his eyes that made Jack uneasy.
He hoped they’d get out when… if… the time came, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that if he and Carter came to their ends, Daniel and Teal’c would soon join them.
Never leave a man behind…
+ + +
[ maintain chaos ]
Sam
It took her a few shaky starts to learn how to drive the motorcycle. It changed gears automatically, but the throttle was under her left boot, the brakes were under her right. Opposite of most Earth vehicles. No hand controls like most Earth bikes. It was a bit awkward at first, and with the Colonel’s weight on the back, she almost dumped it a couple of times.
She smoothed out fairly quickly though with a few practice lurches and plenty of Jack’s swearing.
“For cryin’ out loud, Carter, you’ll kill us before the Interceptors even know we’re here!”
“Sorry!”
Then they were speeding down the street, eating up the distance, heading to the one, long building she knew was the key.
They circled it slowly on the bike, Sam trying to picture the map in her head. She drove around to the far side and there was the door. It was big. Truck-sized.
“Maybe we can drive right in,” Jack said.
Sam stopped the bike and climbed off, letting Jack slide up into the driver’s seat and take control. She took the pack and slid the gear on, plugging in. The black and blue world of The System surrounded her. She easily found the control board she was looking for and opened the door. Beyond it was a long, wide hallway. She took the gear off quickly and slid behind Jack on the bike. He’d been watching how she controlled it, and his first ride was much smoother than hers had been. He was a capable motorcycle rider on his own, she already knew.
They followed the hallway as quickly as Jack dared to ride. They didn’t want to suddenly come up on a group of Interceptors. Sam leaned forward against Jack’s shoulder. “There’s a spiral ramp coming up. There’s a control panel at the bottom. That’s where the signal from the DHD is coming from.”
He nodded once indicating he’d heard, and then they were riding down the ramp, circling lower and lower. Sam looked off to the sides as they went, and could see into the different levels of the building. On each floor there were rows upon rows of humans, reclined in chairs, wires connecting them to The System. It was eerily quiet and the air was heavy. As they got deeper, they came upon levels with rows of glass tanks, each filled with a clear liquid and a human being, cords running from their heads and their hands, bodies motionless and suspended in time.
“Jesus…” Sam whispered, mouth running dry.
“I know,” Jack murmured quietly, not looking to the sides. His gaze remained forward and focused on the ramp, but Sam could see the tightness in his jaw.
She couldn’t help it. She had to look. How much memory was in a human mind? Science thought it might be infinite. Enough to run a computer system? How much was in thousands of human minds? It was creepily fascinating, but Sam was tiring of it. She just wanted to go home now.
There was no DHD at the bottom of the ramp, so Sam connected to the panel there. Immediately she found it, isolated inside the control board. When she brought it up on her visor, a panel suddenly opened in front of the plug-in port. She lifted the helmet and glanced down. It was a small, flat panel of gate symbols. “It’s here,” she said, relief coursing through her.
“Finally,” Jack muttered.
But even as she pressed the first symbol, the rumbling started around them, and there was an ominous flickering of the lights.
+ + +
[ unwavering ]
Daniel
The rumbling started nearly 20 minutes after Jack and Sam had ridden off. Daniel ran to the access door and glanced down inside. Nothing had happened yet, but the rumbling was getting louder. He glanced up at Teal’c who appeared quite concerned.
“I believe The System has become aware of our intentions,” Teal’c said.
Daniel agreed. He was about to suggest they get down to the gateroom, when the doors opened at one end of the garage and Interceptors began filing silently in. Teal’c ducked quickly and moved silently toward Daniel.
“What do we do?” Daniel whispered.
Teal’c grabbed the cord and yanked it free of the truck wheel then motioned for Daniel to follow him. They moved quietly around the vehicles avoiding the silent Interceptors who began climbing into the trucks. The low grumble of engines filled the room.
“They’re going after Jack and Sam,” Daniel said, looking pointedly at Teal’c.
Teal’c nodded. “We cannot fight them all. We will let them go.”
Daniel realized they didn’t have a choice. They watched from behind a worktable as the trucks filed out and drove up the ramp. When the last one had cleared the door, they heard it slide shut with a loud clang. They glanced at each other.
“The door has closed,” Teal’c said worriedly.
“Maybe there’s a way to switch to manual override,” Daniel suggested. “If Jack and Sam come in hot, they can’t stop to open the door.”
Teal’c nodded, and they made their way up toward the garage door.
+ + +
Sam
She pushed the last gate symbol and then glanced at Jack. He was looking nervously around them, feet tapping against the floor, legs flexing as he held the weight of the bike. She pushed the center button which she was quite sure was the button to engage the gate, and then she picked up the helmet and slid it on.
“What are you doing?” Jack demanded.
“Checking to make sure the gate engaged. You don’t want to have to drive all the way back here, do you?”
Jack grimaced at her, but he let her plug in without protest. She moved quickly through the panels looking for the gateroom again.
“Shit!” Jack’s voice was anxious behind her. She heard him shuffling and then she heard the distinct sound of an engine approaching. More than one, down the ramp.
She looked up just as a truck nosed around the corner. Jack was coming up behind her, gun raised. “Do what you’re going to do, now!” he ordered.
She dove into the virtual display and started sliding panels aside as fast as she could. Behind her, she heard Jack’s P-90 start chattering. The air whistled around her. Suddenly she was in the virtual gateroom, and she pulled up the energy readings. She felt something knock against the helmet and realized it was a dart. Suddenly Jack jerked back against her, his weight nearly sending her headlong into the wall. He grunted, and she felt a cold sick feeling in her gut.
“Colonel?”
“I’m fine! Are you done yet?”
“Almost!” She swallowed her worry and looked at the readings. It was negative. What the? She lifted the helmet and glanced down at the panel. Behind her, Jack grunted again, and his back bumped hers. She gritted her teeth and studied the panel. “Sir?”
“Carter, just do it!”
She heard a tapping sound and something moved in the corner of her vision. She glanced down and saw dark drops of liquid pattering onto the floor. The arm of Jack’s shirt was turning deep crimson. He was standing directly behind her, protecting her from the darts, but some of them were obviously hitting their mark on him. She quickly scanned the panel. There was another button off to the side, this one blue. She hit it and it lit up. The panel pulled itself automatically back into the wall. She didn’t bother sliding the helmet back on.
“Let’s go, sir!”
He backed toward the bike with her behind him, P-90 firing at the oncoming Interceptors. Sam threw herself on the bike, and spun it around. They’d have to ride head-on into the Interceptors to get out. Jack had to finally give up his protective position, and he climbed on behind her. She tried to ignore the dark stains on the front of his uniform. He was shooting ahead of them as she gunned the engine and charged toward the trucks. The air whistled heavily with the oncoming darts, and they both crouched low over the bike. The handlebars afforded some protection, but Sam felt sharp pricks along her legs and one across her shoulder. She turned sharply as they reached the first truck, driving around the men and the vehicles. The Interceptors ran after them and tried to pull them from the bike, but she hit the throttle, and the bike leapt through the mass of men. She had to brake hard and put a foot down to catch their weight as they reached the first sharp curve. Jack grabbed her around the waist and swore in her ear.
The darts hit the ground around them, but then she had them balanced again and they were riding up on the continuous curve, the spiral protecting them from anymore shots.
+ + +
Daniel
“The gate is activated!” Daniel yelled.
Teal’c waved at him from his position at the bottom of the ramp. He stood with chains in hand, the garage door opened a few feet to keep trucks from getting in, and so they could keep watch outside. The manual override had been painfully easy. Teal’c had pulled the wires from the door that led into the wall, and the door had settled more heavily on it’s wheels. The chain controlled the massive door manually.
Daniel checked the watch and noted the time as the wormhole formed and whooshed out below him in the gateroom. It cast the room in a bluish glow, the surface reflecting in waves off the walls and the floor. Daniel lowered the cord and re-fastened it to the truck’s wheel.
“Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c called. Daniel lifted his head and glanced up. Teal’c motioned to him. “We have one truck returning.”
Daniel ran up the ramp and took a position across from Teal’c, lying down just below the opening of the door, heads and guns the only things sticking out. They trained their weapons on the approaching truck.
+ + +
Sam
The trucks began to catch up with them as they raced toward the open door of the memory archive building. They remained a distance behind, but the darts began to streak toward them again.
“Carter, you’re going to have to go faster,” Jack muttered at her.
She laid on the throttle some more, and the bike’s engine took on a higher tone and sped up. She was worried about Jack. He was pressed against her back, and she could feel his blood seeping through her shirt. It was too much.
“Sir, please hold on,” she pleaded as they approached the door.
“I’m fine, Carter,” he said in reply, but his voice sounded strained, and of course he’d lie about that.
As they shot through the open door, they were confronted by more trucks, some already in motion to pursue them. Darts hit the side of the bike, and then Jack groaned and slammed heavily into her back. The bike swerved as Sam jarred the handlebars, and she struggled to bring it back under control. One wrong move at this speed and they were dead anyway, never mind the darts.
Jack leaned heavily against her back now. He’d started firing as they came through the door, and now she felt the rifle tap lightly against her hip as he lowered it and fought to hold on. “Colonel!”
“Get down, Carter!” He pushed her angrily down over the bike so she was protected from the darts but still able to drive.
She realized there was nothing to do but get them back to the gate and off of this planet. She said a silent prayer and urged the bike faster.
+ + +
Daniel
“I’m almost out of ammo!” Daniel yelled as another Interceptor fell, this one before he got out of the truck.
Teal’c gave him a troubled glance, and tossed him a clip. “It is our last!”
Daniel felt his hopes start to sink as his weapon clicked empty. He released the empty clip and loaded the new one. Jack and Sam had to get here soon, or else they’d lose the gate.
“There!” Teal’c shouted, pointing between two trucks that were parked several dozen yards from the garage door. Daniel looked, and there was the bike racing toward them, trucks behind them, Interceptors leaning out and firing.
“Get ready!” Daniel fired a few more shots and then ran back down into the nearly empty garage to lower the cord.
+ + +
Sam
Jack had dropped the P-90 a few blocks before. He had hooked one arm around her waist, and she drove with one hand and held his wrist tightly with the other. He wasn’t completely out of it, but he was slumped heavily against her back, and tilted dangerously from time to time until Sam yelled at him or jerked his wrist, bringing him awake. He’d struggle to right himself and couldn’t disguise his grunts of pain and effort. The back of her shirt was soaked through.
There were trucks parked in front of the garage door. Sam swore loudly. There was a narrow channel between the two vehicles. She could fit. She could definitely fit, but… The trucks behind her gained as she slowed, and she had to speed up again, afraid that one more dart would take Jack down for good.
She suddenly saw Teal’c stand up briefly in the garage-door opening, gun in hand and firing to cover them. She felt an explosion of relief and gratitude in her chest. She’d have to go in fast and then dump the bike and hope they didn’t hit anything.
The trucks didn’t even slow behind her. They ran right up behind her and crashed headlong into the parked vehicles as she shot between the two of them and then barreled into the garage. Immediately she released the throttle and wrenched the bike sideways, laying it down on the ramp and letting it slide away from them as she tightened her grip on Jack’s arm. They hit the floor hard and slid fast and then they were tumbling and Jack was ripped away from her, and she felt pain shooting through her arms and her legs and then her head as she came to a sudden stop against the far wall of the garage. Moments later, Jack’s limp form crashed into her, and the wall rushed up to meet her, the left side of her face exploding in pain.
She laid there in the aftermath, panting and trying to breathe through aching lungs. She wasn’t sure she could move.
+ + +
[ faith ]
Daniel
“Sam! Jack!” Daniel ran toward them as they slid across the floor and into the wall. The bike crashed noisily into one of the empty trucks, sending scrap metal and parts ricocheting across the smooth black floor. He heard the echo of the big garage door slamming back into place as Teal’c closed it behind the bike. He reached them seconds later, and eased Jack’s still form away from Sam. She turned with difficulty to face him, still conscious. She had blood on her face and her breath sounded labored, but she looked up at him with sharp, aware eyes.
He looked down at Jack. His uniform was soaked in blood, and Daniel could see the tip of one dart sticking out of his arm. It was a very narrow projectile. Maybe that was good? Less damage?
Jack opened his eyes when Daniel spoke to him, but his gaze wasn’t solid and he mumbled something that didn’t make sense.
“Did the gate open?” Sam demanded, pushing herself up to a sitting position.
“Yes,” Daniel answered. They looked up as Teal’c ran down the ramp to join them.
“Let’s get out of here, now!” Sam ordered. “The Colonel is in bad shape. We have to get him home if he’s going to have a chance.”
They picked him up and dragged him toward the access door with Teal’c following behind them, weapon ready and pointed toward the garage door. The door was shaking with the effort to slide it from the outside.
They set Jack down next to the shaft to the gateroom, and Daniel quickly slid down onto the cord. He lowered himself quickly, taking a quick look around to establish that no one was waiting for them and that the gate still shimmered brightly beckoning them home.
He was a few lengths from the floor when the air suddenly closed in around him violently and pain exploded in his head. He dropped the last few feet to the floor and gasped for breath.
“Daniel!”
He heard Sam shouting at him from above. What the hell just happened? He struggled to stay conscious, and when he regained the air in his lungs, he pushed himself up on his arms to look around.
Something hard smashed into him, surrounded him, squeezed him painfully tight and tried to break him apart. There was a sharp pain in his ears, and he saw blood falling on the floor below him, felt it running down his neck as he collapsed back down.
It took longer this time to regain his faculties. He was aware of the pain first, throbbing in his extremities and in his ears and his sinuses. He could hear Sam shouting his name, but she sounded far away. He didn’t want to move, but he remembered Jack and the gate and… he twitched, trying to move.
“No!” he heard Sam yelling at him. His ears opened a bit and he focused on the sound. “Daniel! Don’t move! It can sense when you’re moving and it sends out a concussive wave!”
A… what? He wriggled a bit, his position uncomfortable.
“Stop moving, Daniel!”
“Sam?” It sounded too quiet to his ears so he gathered strength. “Sam!”
“I hear you! I think you found the weapon that neutralized us when we first came through the gate, Daniel! I think it’s some sort of concussive blast. Teal’c and I could feel it all the way up here! The activation of the gate must trigger it, and it senses motion and living beings!”
“What do I do?”
There was nothing for a moment, and then Sam said, “I can’t get to the panel to shut it down! The Interceptors are coming through the garage door!”
Daniel could now hear shooting above. Oh God. Oh crap. “Sam?”
“I’m here. I think it’s coming from that strange device on the wall, Daniel. Remember it?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to lower myself and try to take it out with a zat. The Colonel had good luck with that before.”
“No!” Daniel twitched with the desire to move.
“Daniel…”
“Stay there! You have to lower Jack down. I’ll take out the device.”
“Daniel… you’re hurt.”
“So are you.”
There was a moment of silence in which Daniel could only hear the guns chattering above him. And then, “Try to hit it dead-on. If you don’t get it, I’ll give it another shot when I come down.”
Daniel moved his hand slowly, bringing it up toward his belt. It would take a few seconds to arm the zat and then aim and fire. He’d have to get to his knees at least to have the best shot. He tried to move his eyes and get his bearings in the room.
Above him, he heard Sam yell, “Teal’c!”
Not good. He counted to three and then pushed himself up, grabbing for the zat. He aimed as the device suddenly vibrated and let out another concussive wave. He fired as the wave slammed into him and pain enveloped him. He tasted blood and felt like he was choking on it as both darkness and the floor raced up to meet him.
+ + +
Sam
Teal’c was hit. She heard the whistle in the air, and saw him stagger. He waved away her concerned yell. He would be okay for a while longer. She turned back to Daniel’s still form on the floor below and called to him. He shifted a bit but didn’t answer. The last concussive wave had seemed to end prematurely, and Sam was pretty sure the zat fire had done the trick. She was reluctant to lower Jack into the line of fire to find out, but Teal’c couldn’t last forever.
Her face hurt, and her vision had been slowly darkening in one eye as the tissue above her left cheekbone swelled painfully.
“Sam?” Daniel’s voice came weakly from below, and Sam expelled a harsh breath of relief.
“Daniel! Are you okay?”
“Not really, no,” he answered dryly, and Sam smiled. “Did I get it?”
“I think so, but there’s no way to tell unless we test it.”
“Ah. Great.”
“Want me to slide down?”
“No. Get Jack ready. I’ll try it.”
She watched as Daniel shifted a bit more. He made a major move and brought his hands up over his head. Nothing happened. He lifted his upper body off the floor. Nothing happened.
“I think you got it, Daniel!”
He sat up completely, and she saw him glance at his wrist. “Sam! There’s only a few minutes left! You two have got to get Jack down here.”
Sam pulled the cord up and quickly started winding it around Jack’s shoulders in a make-shift harness. It wasn’t the best way to lower him considering his injuries, but leaving him here was an obvious death sentence. Teal’c backed up to her position as she led the cord around her body and then braced her feet on the lip of the access hatch. She felt Teal’c at her back, picking up the cord, letting it curl around his waist as an anchor. She eased Jack over the edge, and with Teal’c’s strength, they lowered him down.
+ + +
Daniel
Daniel grabbed Jack’s legs as soon as they were within reach. He directed the taller man’s form down onto the floor and then untied the cord, glancing up at Sam. “He’s clear!”
There was a flurry of movement above, and he heard Sam and Teal’c yelling to each other.
“Go!” Teal’c shouted.
Sam dropped down onto the cord and slid downwards rapidly. Daniel tapped her hip when she was close, and she dropped down beside him with an involuntary grunt. When she stood facing him, they stared at each other.
“Holy crap,” Sam exclaimed, her eyes studying his face.
He said the same thing as he looked at hers. Her left eye was swollen nearly shut, and her uniform was soaked in blood. “It’s Jack’s,” she told him worriedly. She focused her one good eye on him, and he saw the concern in her eyes. He could feel the blood running over his face, had to blink it out of his eyes, so he knew he looked a mess.
Above them Teal’c’s P-90 went alarmingly silent.
“Teal’c!” Daniel shouted. He and Sam craned their necks upward trying to see him. The whistle of the darts whined overhead.
There was a flurry of movement and then Teal’c’s boots appeared in the shaft. He grabbed one handful of the cord and then slid down far too fast, losing his grip and falling the last few yards. He landed on his back with a sickening thump, and the front of his shirt was as soaked as Jack’s. Daniel pulled a shallowly buried dart from his thigh, the crimson stain already spreading rapidly.
“Teal’c?”
Teal’c tried to struggle groggily to his feet, and Daniel slid an arm under his and across his back, helping him up. He looked over to where Sam struggled to get Jack up. “Teal’c, you have to help me out. We need to get both you and Jack through the gate, and we don’t have much time!”
Teal’c nodded tiredly, shifting his feet to get them beneath him. “Let us go.” He grasped one of Daniel’s shoulders, but didn’t lean on him heavily. Daniel got them both over to Sam and Jack, and together he and Sam pulled Jack up between them.
Steadily they walked up the ramp toward the gate.
“Please stay open,” Daniel muttered under his breath.
“Quick,” Sam urged.
They glanced at each other and tightened their hold on the other two, and then they walked through the gate.
+ + +
They landed in a heap in a small grassy meadow, sun shining high above them. Behind them the wormhole from The System’s planet evaporated.
Daniel laid there in numb disbelief. The sun was warm, and he stared up at blue sky above. A fresh breeze blew across his blood-wet skin. There was no persistent hum, only the light brush of wind through the grass and something that sounded like a bird in the distance.
Then Jack gasped.
Daniel struggled to his feet and helped Sam up. She looked wearily at him through her one uninjured eye. “Dial it up, Daniel, before they figure out where we went.”
They helped Jack and Teal’c away from the danger zone of the gate, and Daniel dialed home, leaving bloody hand prints on each symbol. He wiped at them superfluously with his sleeve and then gave up. The wormhole engaged, and Sam entered their code in the GDO. Daniel went to join her.
“It’s clear,” she reported, meeting his gaze with a faint smile.
He took a deep breath, and they picked up Jack and Teal’c. All four of them staggered up the ramp and through the gate toward home.
+ + +
[ satellites ]
George
“Sir! Unscheduled off-world activation!”
George Hammond made his way lithely down the stairs to the control room. Unscheduled activations weren’t that unusual, but it’d been weeks since the last one, and they still had one team out there MIA.
Sergeant Harriman looked up at him in wonder. “It’s SG-1, sir!”
George glanced at him but said nothing. It was too early for celebration. With a few words, he put the defensive team on guard around the gate and told Walter to open the iris. The iris slid open, and they waited anxiously, eyes on the stargate.
They came through together, all of them in a line, arms around each other to keep them upright. George took in a silent breath as he realized their condition. “Medical team to the gateroom immediately!” He was already on the intercom and then barreling down the stairs to the gateroom. “Stand down!” he told the guards as he entered, and they obediently lowered their weapons but remained alert.
“Major Carter!” He addressed Sam since Jack was obviously incapacitated. She looked up him through a fine layer of grime and blood and swollen tissue.
“Yes, sir.”
“Where the hell have you been all this time?”
She looked to answer him, mouth opening wearily, but then Daniel’s legs gave out, and he was falling into her, and she stopped looking at George altogether to catch him. They went down together next to Jack and Teal’c, and the medical team swarmed into the room and over the fallen team. All George could do was get out of their way and hope there would still be a team to talk to once this was over.
“Well done, SG-1,” he said quietly, even though no one could hear him.
+ + +
[ a new day ]
Jack
Jack woke slowly, uncertain of where he was. There was a fogginess to his brain that took a while to evaporate. He tried to open his eyes and blinked rapidly.
Several dark shapes moved into his line of vision.
“Sir?”
Carter? He moved a little, a good-sized wave of pain moving through his body. He groaned.
“Jack?”
And that was Daniel. Awareness came rushing at him, and he took a deep breath, opening his eyes.
They all stood there next to him. He stared at them. They were covered in bandages and looked tired and worn, but they looked healthy and happy, and they all smiled at him. Even Teal’c.
“Where?”
Daniel leaned over a bit. “You’re in the infirmary, Jack. We’re back on Earth.”
Jack glanced at Carter. She nodded in confirmation. Jack sank back into his pillow in relief.
“What’s the last thing you remember, sir?” Sam’s voice was soft, and Jack realized it was quite late at night. He glanced at the clock to be sure. 23:00.
“The bike,” he answered, his own voice sounding thick and slow. “Riding out of that building…”
Sam nodded. “You were hit several times by darts. You lost a lot of blood. You’re going to be okay with some rest.”
Jack didn’t respond, but he met her gaze with understanding eyes.
“We met with the Asgard this morning,” Daniel said. “Several of their ships are on their way to The System’s planet right now. They’ll analyze the situation and take care of it.”
Jack managed a nod. He’d felt a cold shiver at the mention of The System. He looked up at all of them. “You got me out.”
They glanced at each other, smiling, and then at him. “Well, you took us most of the way, sir,” Carter said.
“So we brought you home,” Daniel finished.
Jack felt his eyes growing heavy. He could sleep now. He could relax. They were home.
Teal’c gazed down at him with a faint smile. “Sleep, O’Neill. We will still be here in the morning.”
“Yeah. You will, won’t you?” Jack returned the smile. A warm hand landed on his shoulder.
“Indeed.”
~end!~
I hope you found this story entertaining. :)
By Jennghis Kahn
+ + +
[ coagulate ]
Jack
“So, we’re right back to where we started, is that it?” Jack was a bit more snappish than he’d really intended to be. Frustration boiled in his gut.
“Well, if we can’t get into The System’s master building and we can’t knock out the power… “ Daniel shook his head helplessly. “We still have all the information and a way to get more, Jack. We’ll find a way.”
“It is possible we could create a disturbance, O’Neill. When the Interceptors come out, we could ambush them and use them to find another entrance.”
Jack hesitated, glancing at Teal’c. “Not a bad idea. Those guys gotta have some sort of I.D. or keys or something, right?”
Daniel looked wary. “I don’t know… Unless we have the locator chips or we’re hooked in through the mind control, we could just be drawing unwanted attention.”
Jack was getting punchy. He whipped his head around to look for Carter. She was sitting at the table, fingers absently picking at the virtual reality helmet. Her gaze was a million miles away.
“Carter?”
She didn’t hear him, lost in her thoughts.
“Carter!”
Her head jerked up, and the blue eyes found his. “What?”
“What’s on your mind?” He eyed her with hope.
She seemed about to speak and then shook her head. “I’m trying, sir,” she said quietly.
Jack sighed and swallowed the biting remark waiting to get out. She was trying. Both her and Daniel had been on endless duty since regaining their freedom, and Jack knew that if he’d had anyone else on the team, they wouldn’t even have made it this far. He also knew that there was a time to pressure them and a time to let them rest.
“Get some sleep,” he said calmly, giving her shoulder a squeeze as he made his way to his pallet. He sat to take his boots off and felt his impatience ease as he watched Daniel rub Sam’s head affectionately, drawing a reluctant smile from her.
Scientists. Pains in the ass, all of them. But he loved these two anyway.
+ + +
[ recollection ]
Jack was jarred awake in the middle of the night by Sam’s hand planted in the middle of his chest and shaking him thoroughly.
“Colonel!” She whispered sharply.
He blinked up at her, still trying to get his bearings. He could see the light glint of blond around the silhouette of her head. “What is it?” he groaned, only vaguely concerned. He knew Carter’s ‘danger’ voice, and that hadn’t been it. If they were being attacked, she’d have had a different urgency to her voice, not to mention she wouldn’t have been worried about waking Teal’c and Daniel.
She sat back on her heels next to him and whispered quietly. “There’s an anomaly in the system. I remember now! I dreamed about it.”
Jack had closed his eyes again, but he opened one and peered at her. “Carter, it is way too late, and I am far too tired for you to be pulling this scientist crap on me. I’m still half asleep, so how is that fair?”
There was a silence, and he had a feeling she was giving him some sort of long-suffering look. Probably the one that Teal’c had taught her. And then, “Sir, uncovering all this information the past few days seems to have jarred my brain some.”
Oh, and he so wanted to make a comment about that gem of a set-up, but he was too tired and grumpy, and she just went on without waiting for an answer anyway.
“When I was still hooked into The System, I remember coming across an anomaly that I knew could cause trouble in the long run. I had more important things to do at the time, so I re-routed the data stream to avoid that… spot. Then I locked it down with my personal code. I never went back to fix it because you rescued me before I had time. So it’s still there!”
She waited expectantly, so Jack assumed he was supposed to find this information helpful and possibly exciting. “Sweet.” He yawned. Why did scientists always find it necessary to wake him and notify him of every discovery?
He heard her give a little snort of disbelief. “Sir, this means that if I can find some way to connect back in with the system, I can possibly gain enough access to the code to give us some control over it.”
Well, that was good! “Sweet,” he said with a little more enthusiasm.
“I have a hunch about that panel you found near the garage door at the master building. I need to go back to the shelter and have another look around.”
“Carter,” he said, giving another yawn. “Did you really have to wake me for this?”
She sighed. “Well… no.”
“Thank you,” he exclaimed wearily. “Now I’m going back to sleep, okay?”
“Right,” she said, sounding a bit apologetic. “Sorry, sir.”
Jack flipped over on his side, facing away from her, and shifted until he was comfortable. “Good job, Carter. Get some sleep.” He was back into his Mary Steenburgen dream before she could answer him.
+ + +
He woke the next morning to find Carter gone.
“Damn it!” He growled the words as he shook both Teal’c and Daniel awake. “Where’s Carter?”
Daniel glanced sleepily at the pallet next to his and then gave a little shrug. “Maybe she had to go.”
“I did not hear her leave, O’Neill.” Teal’c stood and walked to the edge of the loft to look down into the main body of the church. “She is not nearby.”
Jack hesitated for a moment, not really wanting to go off on an angry search just to come up on her answering the call of nature. Then he remembered her words from the night before.
“Teal’c,” he called, pulling his boots on and lacing them up. “I think she’s at the shelter. Come with me just to be sure there’s no problems.”
The Jaffa gave him a nod and began pulling his own boots on.
“What about me?” Daniel yawned again.
“Stay here in case she isn’t at the shelter and she comes back.”
“Okay.”
+ + +
They were barely 1 block away when they saw her. Jack actually stopped in his tracks and stared, trying to figure out what the hell she was doing. She had the virtual reality gear on, and was standing closely to the wall of one of the long, black buildings. When they got closer, he suddenly realized there was a long cord connecting the helmet to the building.
“Teal’c! Get her out of there!”
Teal’c jerked her back from the wall as Jack grabbed the cord and yanked it from the helmet. “Carter!” He ripped the helmet from her head and glared at her as she stared at him in surprise, eyes wide. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Trying to gain access to the system,” she explained as if it were obvious.
“Oh, for…” he fixed her with a dangerous look. “You’re supposed to be the good one! Not the one always running off on her own!”
“I told you what I needed to do last night, Colonel,” she protested.
He fixed her with a superior officer’s glare then. “Carter… you know damn well I expected you to wait until morning.”
She hesitated but came clean. “I couldn’t sleep.”
Her acquiescence took the fight out of him, and he looked at the gloves on her hands and the cord lying on the ground. “So, did you get in?”
She grew more animated. “Yes! I didn’t poke around much because I didn’t want to give The System the idea that I was harmful, but it worked!”
“What worked?”
She took the gloves off and stowed them carefully in the small pack. “When you told me about the ports in the panel on the side of the building, I realized that I’d seen ports in the back of this helmet too.” She showed him the helmet, and he saw two small, rectangular holes in the back of the helmet. She stowed that in the bag and then squatted down to pick up the cord. “Obviously their purpose was to connect to something or someone by hard-wiring.”
“Obviously,” Jack said, drawing a raised eyebrow and a doubtful glance from Teal’c.
“This get-up receives signals and data from the system, but it’s incapable of actually interacting with the programming or the coding in any meaningful way. Unless it’s hard-wired in. Everyone whose job is to change, compile or code for the system in some way is hard-wired in. Everyone else just has a wireless get-up. They only need to receive the signals.”
“And?” Jack made an impatient motion with his hand. He wasn’t in the mood for her long-winded explanations today.
“And I realized that I’d seen ports like this all around the city, so obviously plugging-in used to be quite common. I searched the shelter, and I found a few of the cords used to hard-wire users to the system. So, um, I gave it a try.”
“What does this mean for us?” Jack asked, feeling a bit tight in the chest.
She smiled at him, and it was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in three weeks. “It means we can go home.”
+ + +
[ hope ]
They sat out on the balcony of the church on their last night. Jack brought out the last two MRE’s and they shared the meal among the four of them, splitting the two Hershey bars with great solemnity. The chocolate felt like home, and Jack felt hope and dread at the same time. The plan they’d spent the past 24 hours working up wasn’t infallible. In fact, it was based in simplicity and speed. It was all they had though, and Sam had warned them that The System was learning and expanding every minute, even if it couldn’t build physically anymore. It would eventually realize they were there all the time and get rid of them.
They didn’t talk much. The plans were set. Carter had spent the morning hooked to the system, with Teal’c guarding her back. She’d done little poking around, but enough to find the anomaly she’d remembered and to realize she’d signed and protected the bit of code with a personal technique and password that she’d learned over her years at the SGC. It was more complicated than that, but Jack had gotten a headache when she’d tried to explain it any further, and she’d shortened it to the lowest common denominator. Their gear was meticulously packed and double-checked by both him and Carter. He didn’t need to tell them that this was their last night here. They already knew. One way or another they would not be here tomorrow evening. They were either going home or, well, they wouldn’t care anymore because they’d be slaves or dead.
He was hoping they’d be able to sleep tonight. He wanted a well-rested crew, but they’d performed under worse circumstances before.
He knew they were nervous because he’d looked up at some point during the evening to catch each of them casting a hopeful and considering glance in his direction. And that’s the way it always was. It was them who came up with the plans, them who inspired such trust on Jack’s part that things would work out, but in the end, it was Jack himself who would have to be their anchor. And he could do that.
He met all of their gazes with steady eyes. This WILL work because I will not let you die. Do you understand me?
They did. They always did.
As the evening crept on, the lights started up in the sky. They watched helplessly as the glow of anti-aircraft fire streaked upward above the dome. When the rumbling started, and the shaking, and the bright flare of a falling ship lit up the city, Jack lowered his head. He saw Sam and Daniel slide closer to each other as they sat against the wall, arms touching. He heard their voices float out softly to each other in comfort. Teal’c stood stoically at the edge, witnessing the event. He’d seen worse.
Jack had too, but it didn’t make it any easier.
His team did. They made it easier. Tomorrow he would get them out of this.
+ + +
They had debated creating some sort of distraction to draw the attention of the Interceptors. Sam could have disassembled several bullets to harvest the gunpowder and built a powerful little grenade that they could have thrown up into the recycling chute.
But Jack decided, and eventually they all agreed, that stealth was the better plan. The system didn’t think like a human being. For the most part, it was unaware of their existence despite the fact that they had been labeled as viruses now. Sam thought it only did periodic scans of everything and everyone so they could still slip through the system like ghosts, unless they were physically spotted by an Interceptor.
Jack watched Sam connecting to the system by way of the panel next to the garage door in the ground. Teal’c walked back and forth behind her, P-90 held in one hand, barrel pointing up. Ready.
Daniel carried the only big pack they’d brought. Most of the equipment inside of it would be used and then abandoned. The GDO was safely in Carter’s pocket; the odds-and-ends kit was tucked into a separate pack on her waist.
Jack was starting to get antsy when Sam exclaimed excitedly, “I’m in!”
He watched her move her gloved hands around, venturing further into the system. “How long is this going to take?” He knew exactly what her answer was going to be, but he asked anyway.
“Hard to say, sir.”
Yep. Always was.
He and Daniel walked out a ways, checking things out. It was quiet. Except for that godawful hum that he’d grown to hate. “I should have had Carter make that homemade grenade. We could have gone down and stuffed it right into this thing’s throat.”
Daniel shot him a sharp look. “These people rely on The System to live, Jack. We’d be sentencing them to death.”
Jack sighed heavily. He knew that. It was hard to tolerate because he had no direction for his anger and frustration. The planet as a whole seemed evil and alive. Maybe the Asgard would blow it to hell.
“O’Neill!”
He turned to find Teal’c with a smug smile on his face and inclining his head toward Jack. “What?”
“Major Carter has found the anomaly and is inside the CPU.”
Jack hurried back over to them, Daniel at his heels. “Carter?”
“Sir, I can open the door right now, but I’ll need a few more minutes to get control of the gate room. I’m going to have to basically lock the system out of its own controls. I’ll protect it with a password, but the system is capable of trying thousands of possible password combinations per minute, maybe even per second. Once it notices the intrusion, we’ll be on borrowed time.”
“All right,” Jack stated. He glanced up at Teal’c. “Stay with her until she’s done. Daniel and I will get in there and clear the room.”
Teal’c nodded.
Sam turned her head toward him, helmet restricting his view of her eyes. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
Jack glanced at Daniel. Daniel nodded and shifted his P-90, clicking the safety off. Jack tapped Sam on the shoulder. “Okay, Carter.”
She made a few motions, and there was a sudden vibration beneath their feet and a slight groan of stressed metal. The door in the ground began sliding open, revealing a long ramp that declined gradually toward the building and disappeared underground. Jack squatted down to try and peer into the tunnel. He didn’t see anything, but it was sparsely lighted. He motioned to Daniel to follow and stepped onto the ramp, easing his way down.
The ramp ended at a short tunnel and then opened into a huge garage. He’d been right in that this was where the trucks came from. They were all parked in neat lines across the width of the level. He signaled Daniel to stop and listen, and they squatted down just inside the garage, listening.
There wasn’t even the tick of a cooling engine.
He glanced at Daniel and pointed to the right side perimeter of the garage, then he gave the signal for Daniel to move. They’d go opposite directions, sticking close to the walls, and meet on the far side of the garage, which was where the opening to the gateroom was according to the schematics.
Daniel nodded and moved silently off. Jack watched him for a moment and then turned to the left and moved quickly along the wall, pausing now and then to look and listen carefully. There didn’t seem to be anybody in here, but you never took that for granted simply based on silence.
It took several long minutes to make his way around to the far end. He’d heard no suspicious rumblings or alarms, so that was a good sign. Daniel was waiting for him, hunkered down next to a row of vehicles that looked like motorcycles but without the gas tanks.
Jack got down next to him with a questioning look. Daniel shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“Me either.” He glanced around, and then followed Daniel’s gaze to a long, narrow metal plate in the floor. It ran away from them toward the center of the garage. Jack lifted an eyebrow. “Looks stargate-sized to me.”
“Me too.” Daniel studied the plate. “How do we get in though?”
They glanced around, looking for controls. There didn’t seem to be any. Jack felt his frustration mount. There was no way they were going to tear up this plate by themselves. The bolts alone were the size of his thigh.
“Here!” Daniel called in a whisper. He’d walked to the center of the garage and stood looking down at the very end piece of the plate. Jack quickly made his way over to him. Daniel pointed to a small access door embedded in the plate.
Jack grinned. Yes! There was a small sound off to their left, and they both sank to their heels and brought their weapons up. Carter’s shorn blond head appeared between two trucks, and she walked toward them, Teal’c directly behind her.
“Everything okay?” Jack asked when she was hunkered down beside them.
She nodded. “Yes sir, but with all due respect, let’s get the hell out of here. It’s only a matter of time before The System discovers it has been hijacked and starts to work on the password.”
Jack couldn’t have agreed more. He and Teal’c worked on prying the access door open while Daniel pulled a long length of rolled and braided cord from the pack. The door slid open reluctantly, and Jack shone the flashlight down into its depths.
The stargate stood there, just beneath them, and he felt something in his chest unclench.
Daniel handed him the cord, and Jack glanced around at his team. “I’m first, then Daniel, Carter and Teal’c.” They already knew the order. Jack was just repeating it to make sure it went as planned. “Daniel dials P3X-678 and from there we gate home.” They’d decided not to gate directly to Earth. Even though the system didn’t appear to be interested in gate travel, they couldn’t be sure, and they didn’t want Earth’s gate address flashed into its memory. It might already have it from their arrival, but it might not.
Jack dropped the cord, and Teal’c slid the other end around the front wheel of one of the trucks and secured it. Jack took a breath and then lowered his feet down into the shaft and climbed onto the cord. He eased himself slowly downward, trying to look around. They’d been neutralized in moments after coming through the gate when they’d first arrived. Something or someone had been waiting for them, and they couldn’t be sure that something wouldn’t still be there.
Carter shone the beam of the flashlight down past him, keeping its light off of his descent and trained on the area below him. The room was dim like all the others. It was very small, with only just enough room to contain the wave created by the forming wormhole. He crept downwards, and nothing happened.
When he hit the floor, he gave a quick look around. There was a single door in the wall, but it remained closed and silent. There was a suspicious looking device in the wall across from the gate, and Jack didn’t like the looks of it. It was big and round and had a fine, black grating covering its surface. He threw a penny at it and nothing happened. They’d have to keep an eye on it.
He heard Daniel making his way down the cord above him, and he reached out to hold it steady. In moments, Daniel was standing on the ground next to him, and Carter was starting to lower her feet into the shaft. Jack held the cord and listened for anything unusual.
Instead he heard Daniel swearing. He jerked his gaze back to find Daniel circling the room in an agitated state. “Daniel?”
“It’s not here!”
“What?”
Daniel shot him a rather wild look and tossed his hands in the air. “There’s no DHD!”
Jack stared at him. “There has to be!”
Daniel motioned around the room. “Well, there isn’t!”
Jack looked around, eyes scanning each nook of the room, each crack in the wall. “I thought the MALP showed a DHD before we came through! Carter?”
He glanced at her as she dropped down beside him, eyes wide. “It did, sir! It showed one to the left of the gate plain as day!”
They looked to the left, and nothing was there.
“What the hell?” Jack was growing anxious now.
“It must have been moved,” Daniel stated. “Or maybe it just fooled us into thinking it was there and it never was!”
“Crap!” Jack gritted his teeth in anger. He tilted his head back and glanced up to where Teal’c was getting ready to climb down. “Teal’c! Hold up! There’s no DHD!”
“Are you certain, O’Neill?”
Jack glanced back to where both Sam and Daniel were now examining the walls again. They both looked helplessly at him. Jack glanced back at Teal’c. “Yes.” Damn it! He glared at Carter. “What do we do now?”
She thought about it briefly, her gaze going to the door. “Maybe there’s a control room like at the SGC.”
“The maps,” Daniel blurted. She looked at him. “We can go back up and you can plug-in and find the DHD. It has to be on the schematics somewhere. Its energy signature would be pretty unique, wouldn’t it?”
Sam nodded. “Yes.” She gazed at Jack. “That’s really the best idea, sir. We don’t want to waste time looking for it or fumbling into a roomful of Interceptors.”
Jack swore under his breath. This was NOT going well now. He nodded and motioned for her to go up. She climbed onto the rope, and Teal’c pulled her up, then Daniel and Jack.
By the time Jack was standing in the garage again, Sam was at the far end, hooking into a port in a panel there. They waited nervously.
“Okay, here’s the gateroom,” Sam said, hands moving in the air, head tilted downward.
“Where is it?” Jack asked. “Is there a control room?”
Sam hesitated a moment and then tilted her head a bit more. “No.”
“The longer we stay here, the more danger we face,” Teal’c stated, a hint of impatience in his voice.
Jack tightened his jaw. “Thank you, Teal’c. Carter!”
“What the…” Sam was muttering to herself, head frozen in place as she studied something, hands moving deliberately and very slowly. She turned in a circle. “Oh no.”
Jack’s stomach lurched. He glanced at Daniel who didn’t look well either. “What is it, Carter?” He asked with an almost tired reluctance. He did NOT want to stay on this planet one more day.
She pulled the helmet off and unplugged it from the wall. “The DHD isn’t even in this building. It’s eight blocks away in one of the memory warehouses.” She began stuffing the gear into the pack.
“What?” Daniel stared at her. “How can it be that far away?”
“It’s networked through the system,” Sam said, eyes a bit sorrowful. “It’s probably a way to prevent escape.”
“Now what?” Daniel asked.
“We get our asses over there and dial the gate,” Jack stated.
Sam immediately protested. “Sir, it’s eight blocks. We’ll have to get there, connect to open the door, find the DHD and dial and then get back and down to the gate. Once the gate is activated, the system will notice. It will send the Interceptors after us and begin work on the password to regain control. And all of that won’t matter if we don’t get back within 40 minutes, provided the system’s gate protocols allow it to remain open that long!”
Jack stepped right up into her personal space and locked his gaze on hers. “Well, what do you suggest, Carter? You just want to give up and live in a goddamn broken church for the rest of our short lives?” His words were clipped and angry.
She swallowed hard but held his gaze. Daniel and Teal’c were silent witnesses. “No sir,” she finally answered quietly but firmly.
“Then let’s do this. I want to go home.”
She held his gaze a moment longer and then looked away, shoulders slumping a bit. He gave her arm a short squeeze in reassurance. She was frustrated, and she wanted to go home as badly as any of them did. She just came to her own conclusions too quickly. Her mind was all logical assumptions and orderly formulas. She was learning about chaos and the unpredictability of the human factor, but sometimes she slid back.
Jack was deciding whether to send Daniel or Teal’c with her, when Sam suddenly made a startled sound. “Sir!”
He turned to look, and she was staring at the row of bikes down the wall. She returned his glance with a gleam in her eye. Jack licked his lips and considered the motorcycles. “Can you get one to work?”
Sam immediately circled one, examining its parts and its design. It was less bulky than an earth-bound bike. The engine was slimmer and the gas tank non-existent. She stood and straddled the motorcycle, grabbing the handlebars and looking down on each side of the bike. She tapped something on the far side with the toe of her boot, and the bike started up, its engine a quiet rumble. She gave Jack a triumphant look.
“Sweet!” Jack glanced around. “I’ll go with Carter. You two stay here and hold the gateroom. If there’s going to be trouble when we dial, you’ll have to make sure we still have access to the gate.”
“We’re in Interceptor Central!” Daniel argued, motioning at all the trucks.
“Just avoid them for now, and do the best you can. Maybe they’ll come out after us and leave the garage unattended.”
“We will hold the gate, O’Neill,” Teal’c promised.
Jack climbed on the back of the bike and shifted his gun so it was resting on his thigh. He looked back at them. “If the gate engages and it gets too hot in here, you get the hell out. Don’t wait for us.”
Sam glanced back at him, and he met her gaze. She nodded slowly, face grim. She knew the score.
“We’re not leaving you behind,” Daniel protested.
“If it’s your lives or none, Daniel, get the hell out. Understand me?” Jack glared at him.
“Time it, Daniel,” Sam said to him. She handed over the watch. He refused to take it.
“You need that so you can see how much time you have.”
“We’ll get back here as fast as we can, Daniel,” Jack said. “If we don’t make it, we don’t make it.”
“Time it,” Sam repeated. “When it gets close to 40 minutes, you need to get out or you’ll lose your chance.”
Daniel stared at her with worried eyes. “Sam…”
“We must return, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c insisted softly. “If they are captured, we will be their best chance of escape.” He didn’t say that capture was unlikely. They all knew death was the most obvious reason they would not make it back.
Daniel reluctantly took the watch, blue eyes seeking out first Sam’s and then Jack’s gaze. “Get your asses back here in time.”
Sam grinned at him. “Don’t worry.”
“Good luck,” Jack told him, reaching out to give him an affectionate pat on the side of his head.
Daniel nodded under his hand. “You too.”
Jack exchanged a glance with Teal’c. If things go wrong, get him out of here.
Teal’c nodded and handed Jack the pack with the virtual reality gear inside, but there was stubbornness in his eyes that made Jack uneasy.
He hoped they’d get out when… if… the time came, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that if he and Carter came to their ends, Daniel and Teal’c would soon join them.
Never leave a man behind…
+ + +
[ maintain chaos ]
Sam
It took her a few shaky starts to learn how to drive the motorcycle. It changed gears automatically, but the throttle was under her left boot, the brakes were under her right. Opposite of most Earth vehicles. No hand controls like most Earth bikes. It was a bit awkward at first, and with the Colonel’s weight on the back, she almost dumped it a couple of times.
She smoothed out fairly quickly though with a few practice lurches and plenty of Jack’s swearing.
“For cryin’ out loud, Carter, you’ll kill us before the Interceptors even know we’re here!”
“Sorry!”
Then they were speeding down the street, eating up the distance, heading to the one, long building she knew was the key.
They circled it slowly on the bike, Sam trying to picture the map in her head. She drove around to the far side and there was the door. It was big. Truck-sized.
“Maybe we can drive right in,” Jack said.
Sam stopped the bike and climbed off, letting Jack slide up into the driver’s seat and take control. She took the pack and slid the gear on, plugging in. The black and blue world of The System surrounded her. She easily found the control board she was looking for and opened the door. Beyond it was a long, wide hallway. She took the gear off quickly and slid behind Jack on the bike. He’d been watching how she controlled it, and his first ride was much smoother than hers had been. He was a capable motorcycle rider on his own, she already knew.
They followed the hallway as quickly as Jack dared to ride. They didn’t want to suddenly come up on a group of Interceptors. Sam leaned forward against Jack’s shoulder. “There’s a spiral ramp coming up. There’s a control panel at the bottom. That’s where the signal from the DHD is coming from.”
He nodded once indicating he’d heard, and then they were riding down the ramp, circling lower and lower. Sam looked off to the sides as they went, and could see into the different levels of the building. On each floor there were rows upon rows of humans, reclined in chairs, wires connecting them to The System. It was eerily quiet and the air was heavy. As they got deeper, they came upon levels with rows of glass tanks, each filled with a clear liquid and a human being, cords running from their heads and their hands, bodies motionless and suspended in time.
“Jesus…” Sam whispered, mouth running dry.
“I know,” Jack murmured quietly, not looking to the sides. His gaze remained forward and focused on the ramp, but Sam could see the tightness in his jaw.
She couldn’t help it. She had to look. How much memory was in a human mind? Science thought it might be infinite. Enough to run a computer system? How much was in thousands of human minds? It was creepily fascinating, but Sam was tiring of it. She just wanted to go home now.
There was no DHD at the bottom of the ramp, so Sam connected to the panel there. Immediately she found it, isolated inside the control board. When she brought it up on her visor, a panel suddenly opened in front of the plug-in port. She lifted the helmet and glanced down. It was a small, flat panel of gate symbols. “It’s here,” she said, relief coursing through her.
“Finally,” Jack muttered.
But even as she pressed the first symbol, the rumbling started around them, and there was an ominous flickering of the lights.
+ + +
[ unwavering ]
Daniel
The rumbling started nearly 20 minutes after Jack and Sam had ridden off. Daniel ran to the access door and glanced down inside. Nothing had happened yet, but the rumbling was getting louder. He glanced up at Teal’c who appeared quite concerned.
“I believe The System has become aware of our intentions,” Teal’c said.
Daniel agreed. He was about to suggest they get down to the gateroom, when the doors opened at one end of the garage and Interceptors began filing silently in. Teal’c ducked quickly and moved silently toward Daniel.
“What do we do?” Daniel whispered.
Teal’c grabbed the cord and yanked it free of the truck wheel then motioned for Daniel to follow him. They moved quietly around the vehicles avoiding the silent Interceptors who began climbing into the trucks. The low grumble of engines filled the room.
“They’re going after Jack and Sam,” Daniel said, looking pointedly at Teal’c.
Teal’c nodded. “We cannot fight them all. We will let them go.”
Daniel realized they didn’t have a choice. They watched from behind a worktable as the trucks filed out and drove up the ramp. When the last one had cleared the door, they heard it slide shut with a loud clang. They glanced at each other.
“The door has closed,” Teal’c said worriedly.
“Maybe there’s a way to switch to manual override,” Daniel suggested. “If Jack and Sam come in hot, they can’t stop to open the door.”
Teal’c nodded, and they made their way up toward the garage door.
+ + +
Sam
She pushed the last gate symbol and then glanced at Jack. He was looking nervously around them, feet tapping against the floor, legs flexing as he held the weight of the bike. She pushed the center button which she was quite sure was the button to engage the gate, and then she picked up the helmet and slid it on.
“What are you doing?” Jack demanded.
“Checking to make sure the gate engaged. You don’t want to have to drive all the way back here, do you?”
Jack grimaced at her, but he let her plug in without protest. She moved quickly through the panels looking for the gateroom again.
“Shit!” Jack’s voice was anxious behind her. She heard him shuffling and then she heard the distinct sound of an engine approaching. More than one, down the ramp.
She looked up just as a truck nosed around the corner. Jack was coming up behind her, gun raised. “Do what you’re going to do, now!” he ordered.
She dove into the virtual display and started sliding panels aside as fast as she could. Behind her, she heard Jack’s P-90 start chattering. The air whistled around her. Suddenly she was in the virtual gateroom, and she pulled up the energy readings. She felt something knock against the helmet and realized it was a dart. Suddenly Jack jerked back against her, his weight nearly sending her headlong into the wall. He grunted, and she felt a cold sick feeling in her gut.
“Colonel?”
“I’m fine! Are you done yet?”
“Almost!” She swallowed her worry and looked at the readings. It was negative. What the? She lifted the helmet and glanced down at the panel. Behind her, Jack grunted again, and his back bumped hers. She gritted her teeth and studied the panel. “Sir?”
“Carter, just do it!”
She heard a tapping sound and something moved in the corner of her vision. She glanced down and saw dark drops of liquid pattering onto the floor. The arm of Jack’s shirt was turning deep crimson. He was standing directly behind her, protecting her from the darts, but some of them were obviously hitting their mark on him. She quickly scanned the panel. There was another button off to the side, this one blue. She hit it and it lit up. The panel pulled itself automatically back into the wall. She didn’t bother sliding the helmet back on.
“Let’s go, sir!”
He backed toward the bike with her behind him, P-90 firing at the oncoming Interceptors. Sam threw herself on the bike, and spun it around. They’d have to ride head-on into the Interceptors to get out. Jack had to finally give up his protective position, and he climbed on behind her. She tried to ignore the dark stains on the front of his uniform. He was shooting ahead of them as she gunned the engine and charged toward the trucks. The air whistled heavily with the oncoming darts, and they both crouched low over the bike. The handlebars afforded some protection, but Sam felt sharp pricks along her legs and one across her shoulder. She turned sharply as they reached the first truck, driving around the men and the vehicles. The Interceptors ran after them and tried to pull them from the bike, but she hit the throttle, and the bike leapt through the mass of men. She had to brake hard and put a foot down to catch their weight as they reached the first sharp curve. Jack grabbed her around the waist and swore in her ear.
The darts hit the ground around them, but then she had them balanced again and they were riding up on the continuous curve, the spiral protecting them from anymore shots.
+ + +
Daniel
“The gate is activated!” Daniel yelled.
Teal’c waved at him from his position at the bottom of the ramp. He stood with chains in hand, the garage door opened a few feet to keep trucks from getting in, and so they could keep watch outside. The manual override had been painfully easy. Teal’c had pulled the wires from the door that led into the wall, and the door had settled more heavily on it’s wheels. The chain controlled the massive door manually.
Daniel checked the watch and noted the time as the wormhole formed and whooshed out below him in the gateroom. It cast the room in a bluish glow, the surface reflecting in waves off the walls and the floor. Daniel lowered the cord and re-fastened it to the truck’s wheel.
“Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c called. Daniel lifted his head and glanced up. Teal’c motioned to him. “We have one truck returning.”
Daniel ran up the ramp and took a position across from Teal’c, lying down just below the opening of the door, heads and guns the only things sticking out. They trained their weapons on the approaching truck.
+ + +
Sam
The trucks began to catch up with them as they raced toward the open door of the memory archive building. They remained a distance behind, but the darts began to streak toward them again.
“Carter, you’re going to have to go faster,” Jack muttered at her.
She laid on the throttle some more, and the bike’s engine took on a higher tone and sped up. She was worried about Jack. He was pressed against her back, and she could feel his blood seeping through her shirt. It was too much.
“Sir, please hold on,” she pleaded as they approached the door.
“I’m fine, Carter,” he said in reply, but his voice sounded strained, and of course he’d lie about that.
As they shot through the open door, they were confronted by more trucks, some already in motion to pursue them. Darts hit the side of the bike, and then Jack groaned and slammed heavily into her back. The bike swerved as Sam jarred the handlebars, and she struggled to bring it back under control. One wrong move at this speed and they were dead anyway, never mind the darts.
Jack leaned heavily against her back now. He’d started firing as they came through the door, and now she felt the rifle tap lightly against her hip as he lowered it and fought to hold on. “Colonel!”
“Get down, Carter!” He pushed her angrily down over the bike so she was protected from the darts but still able to drive.
She realized there was nothing to do but get them back to the gate and off of this planet. She said a silent prayer and urged the bike faster.
+ + +
Daniel
“I’m almost out of ammo!” Daniel yelled as another Interceptor fell, this one before he got out of the truck.
Teal’c gave him a troubled glance, and tossed him a clip. “It is our last!”
Daniel felt his hopes start to sink as his weapon clicked empty. He released the empty clip and loaded the new one. Jack and Sam had to get here soon, or else they’d lose the gate.
“There!” Teal’c shouted, pointing between two trucks that were parked several dozen yards from the garage door. Daniel looked, and there was the bike racing toward them, trucks behind them, Interceptors leaning out and firing.
“Get ready!” Daniel fired a few more shots and then ran back down into the nearly empty garage to lower the cord.
+ + +
Sam
Jack had dropped the P-90 a few blocks before. He had hooked one arm around her waist, and she drove with one hand and held his wrist tightly with the other. He wasn’t completely out of it, but he was slumped heavily against her back, and tilted dangerously from time to time until Sam yelled at him or jerked his wrist, bringing him awake. He’d struggle to right himself and couldn’t disguise his grunts of pain and effort. The back of her shirt was soaked through.
There were trucks parked in front of the garage door. Sam swore loudly. There was a narrow channel between the two vehicles. She could fit. She could definitely fit, but… The trucks behind her gained as she slowed, and she had to speed up again, afraid that one more dart would take Jack down for good.
She suddenly saw Teal’c stand up briefly in the garage-door opening, gun in hand and firing to cover them. She felt an explosion of relief and gratitude in her chest. She’d have to go in fast and then dump the bike and hope they didn’t hit anything.
The trucks didn’t even slow behind her. They ran right up behind her and crashed headlong into the parked vehicles as she shot between the two of them and then barreled into the garage. Immediately she released the throttle and wrenched the bike sideways, laying it down on the ramp and letting it slide away from them as she tightened her grip on Jack’s arm. They hit the floor hard and slid fast and then they were tumbling and Jack was ripped away from her, and she felt pain shooting through her arms and her legs and then her head as she came to a sudden stop against the far wall of the garage. Moments later, Jack’s limp form crashed into her, and the wall rushed up to meet her, the left side of her face exploding in pain.
She laid there in the aftermath, panting and trying to breathe through aching lungs. She wasn’t sure she could move.
+ + +
[ faith ]
Daniel
“Sam! Jack!” Daniel ran toward them as they slid across the floor and into the wall. The bike crashed noisily into one of the empty trucks, sending scrap metal and parts ricocheting across the smooth black floor. He heard the echo of the big garage door slamming back into place as Teal’c closed it behind the bike. He reached them seconds later, and eased Jack’s still form away from Sam. She turned with difficulty to face him, still conscious. She had blood on her face and her breath sounded labored, but she looked up at him with sharp, aware eyes.
He looked down at Jack. His uniform was soaked in blood, and Daniel could see the tip of one dart sticking out of his arm. It was a very narrow projectile. Maybe that was good? Less damage?
Jack opened his eyes when Daniel spoke to him, but his gaze wasn’t solid and he mumbled something that didn’t make sense.
“Did the gate open?” Sam demanded, pushing herself up to a sitting position.
“Yes,” Daniel answered. They looked up as Teal’c ran down the ramp to join them.
“Let’s get out of here, now!” Sam ordered. “The Colonel is in bad shape. We have to get him home if he’s going to have a chance.”
They picked him up and dragged him toward the access door with Teal’c following behind them, weapon ready and pointed toward the garage door. The door was shaking with the effort to slide it from the outside.
They set Jack down next to the shaft to the gateroom, and Daniel quickly slid down onto the cord. He lowered himself quickly, taking a quick look around to establish that no one was waiting for them and that the gate still shimmered brightly beckoning them home.
He was a few lengths from the floor when the air suddenly closed in around him violently and pain exploded in his head. He dropped the last few feet to the floor and gasped for breath.
“Daniel!”
He heard Sam shouting at him from above. What the hell just happened? He struggled to stay conscious, and when he regained the air in his lungs, he pushed himself up on his arms to look around.
Something hard smashed into him, surrounded him, squeezed him painfully tight and tried to break him apart. There was a sharp pain in his ears, and he saw blood falling on the floor below him, felt it running down his neck as he collapsed back down.
It took longer this time to regain his faculties. He was aware of the pain first, throbbing in his extremities and in his ears and his sinuses. He could hear Sam shouting his name, but she sounded far away. He didn’t want to move, but he remembered Jack and the gate and… he twitched, trying to move.
“No!” he heard Sam yelling at him. His ears opened a bit and he focused on the sound. “Daniel! Don’t move! It can sense when you’re moving and it sends out a concussive wave!”
A… what? He wriggled a bit, his position uncomfortable.
“Stop moving, Daniel!”
“Sam?” It sounded too quiet to his ears so he gathered strength. “Sam!”
“I hear you! I think you found the weapon that neutralized us when we first came through the gate, Daniel! I think it’s some sort of concussive blast. Teal’c and I could feel it all the way up here! The activation of the gate must trigger it, and it senses motion and living beings!”
“What do I do?”
There was nothing for a moment, and then Sam said, “I can’t get to the panel to shut it down! The Interceptors are coming through the garage door!”
Daniel could now hear shooting above. Oh God. Oh crap. “Sam?”
“I’m here. I think it’s coming from that strange device on the wall, Daniel. Remember it?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to lower myself and try to take it out with a zat. The Colonel had good luck with that before.”
“No!” Daniel twitched with the desire to move.
“Daniel…”
“Stay there! You have to lower Jack down. I’ll take out the device.”
“Daniel… you’re hurt.”
“So are you.”
There was a moment of silence in which Daniel could only hear the guns chattering above him. And then, “Try to hit it dead-on. If you don’t get it, I’ll give it another shot when I come down.”
Daniel moved his hand slowly, bringing it up toward his belt. It would take a few seconds to arm the zat and then aim and fire. He’d have to get to his knees at least to have the best shot. He tried to move his eyes and get his bearings in the room.
Above him, he heard Sam yell, “Teal’c!”
Not good. He counted to three and then pushed himself up, grabbing for the zat. He aimed as the device suddenly vibrated and let out another concussive wave. He fired as the wave slammed into him and pain enveloped him. He tasted blood and felt like he was choking on it as both darkness and the floor raced up to meet him.
+ + +
Sam
Teal’c was hit. She heard the whistle in the air, and saw him stagger. He waved away her concerned yell. He would be okay for a while longer. She turned back to Daniel’s still form on the floor below and called to him. He shifted a bit but didn’t answer. The last concussive wave had seemed to end prematurely, and Sam was pretty sure the zat fire had done the trick. She was reluctant to lower Jack into the line of fire to find out, but Teal’c couldn’t last forever.
Her face hurt, and her vision had been slowly darkening in one eye as the tissue above her left cheekbone swelled painfully.
“Sam?” Daniel’s voice came weakly from below, and Sam expelled a harsh breath of relief.
“Daniel! Are you okay?”
“Not really, no,” he answered dryly, and Sam smiled. “Did I get it?”
“I think so, but there’s no way to tell unless we test it.”
“Ah. Great.”
“Want me to slide down?”
“No. Get Jack ready. I’ll try it.”
She watched as Daniel shifted a bit more. He made a major move and brought his hands up over his head. Nothing happened. He lifted his upper body off the floor. Nothing happened.
“I think you got it, Daniel!”
He sat up completely, and she saw him glance at his wrist. “Sam! There’s only a few minutes left! You two have got to get Jack down here.”
Sam pulled the cord up and quickly started winding it around Jack’s shoulders in a make-shift harness. It wasn’t the best way to lower him considering his injuries, but leaving him here was an obvious death sentence. Teal’c backed up to her position as she led the cord around her body and then braced her feet on the lip of the access hatch. She felt Teal’c at her back, picking up the cord, letting it curl around his waist as an anchor. She eased Jack over the edge, and with Teal’c’s strength, they lowered him down.
+ + +
Daniel
Daniel grabbed Jack’s legs as soon as they were within reach. He directed the taller man’s form down onto the floor and then untied the cord, glancing up at Sam. “He’s clear!”
There was a flurry of movement above, and he heard Sam and Teal’c yelling to each other.
“Go!” Teal’c shouted.
Sam dropped down onto the cord and slid downwards rapidly. Daniel tapped her hip when she was close, and she dropped down beside him with an involuntary grunt. When she stood facing him, they stared at each other.
“Holy crap,” Sam exclaimed, her eyes studying his face.
He said the same thing as he looked at hers. Her left eye was swollen nearly shut, and her uniform was soaked in blood. “It’s Jack’s,” she told him worriedly. She focused her one good eye on him, and he saw the concern in her eyes. He could feel the blood running over his face, had to blink it out of his eyes, so he knew he looked a mess.
Above them Teal’c’s P-90 went alarmingly silent.
“Teal’c!” Daniel shouted. He and Sam craned their necks upward trying to see him. The whistle of the darts whined overhead.
There was a flurry of movement and then Teal’c’s boots appeared in the shaft. He grabbed one handful of the cord and then slid down far too fast, losing his grip and falling the last few yards. He landed on his back with a sickening thump, and the front of his shirt was as soaked as Jack’s. Daniel pulled a shallowly buried dart from his thigh, the crimson stain already spreading rapidly.
“Teal’c?”
Teal’c tried to struggle groggily to his feet, and Daniel slid an arm under his and across his back, helping him up. He looked over to where Sam struggled to get Jack up. “Teal’c, you have to help me out. We need to get both you and Jack through the gate, and we don’t have much time!”
Teal’c nodded tiredly, shifting his feet to get them beneath him. “Let us go.” He grasped one of Daniel’s shoulders, but didn’t lean on him heavily. Daniel got them both over to Sam and Jack, and together he and Sam pulled Jack up between them.
Steadily they walked up the ramp toward the gate.
“Please stay open,” Daniel muttered under his breath.
“Quick,” Sam urged.
They glanced at each other and tightened their hold on the other two, and then they walked through the gate.
+ + +
They landed in a heap in a small grassy meadow, sun shining high above them. Behind them the wormhole from The System’s planet evaporated.
Daniel laid there in numb disbelief. The sun was warm, and he stared up at blue sky above. A fresh breeze blew across his blood-wet skin. There was no persistent hum, only the light brush of wind through the grass and something that sounded like a bird in the distance.
Then Jack gasped.
Daniel struggled to his feet and helped Sam up. She looked wearily at him through her one uninjured eye. “Dial it up, Daniel, before they figure out where we went.”
They helped Jack and Teal’c away from the danger zone of the gate, and Daniel dialed home, leaving bloody hand prints on each symbol. He wiped at them superfluously with his sleeve and then gave up. The wormhole engaged, and Sam entered their code in the GDO. Daniel went to join her.
“It’s clear,” she reported, meeting his gaze with a faint smile.
He took a deep breath, and they picked up Jack and Teal’c. All four of them staggered up the ramp and through the gate toward home.
+ + +
[ satellites ]
George
“Sir! Unscheduled off-world activation!”
George Hammond made his way lithely down the stairs to the control room. Unscheduled activations weren’t that unusual, but it’d been weeks since the last one, and they still had one team out there MIA.
Sergeant Harriman looked up at him in wonder. “It’s SG-1, sir!”
George glanced at him but said nothing. It was too early for celebration. With a few words, he put the defensive team on guard around the gate and told Walter to open the iris. The iris slid open, and they waited anxiously, eyes on the stargate.
They came through together, all of them in a line, arms around each other to keep them upright. George took in a silent breath as he realized their condition. “Medical team to the gateroom immediately!” He was already on the intercom and then barreling down the stairs to the gateroom. “Stand down!” he told the guards as he entered, and they obediently lowered their weapons but remained alert.
“Major Carter!” He addressed Sam since Jack was obviously incapacitated. She looked up him through a fine layer of grime and blood and swollen tissue.
“Yes, sir.”
“Where the hell have you been all this time?”
She looked to answer him, mouth opening wearily, but then Daniel’s legs gave out, and he was falling into her, and she stopped looking at George altogether to catch him. They went down together next to Jack and Teal’c, and the medical team swarmed into the room and over the fallen team. All George could do was get out of their way and hope there would still be a team to talk to once this was over.
“Well done, SG-1,” he said quietly, even though no one could hear him.
+ + +
[ a new day ]
Jack
Jack woke slowly, uncertain of where he was. There was a fogginess to his brain that took a while to evaporate. He tried to open his eyes and blinked rapidly.
Several dark shapes moved into his line of vision.
“Sir?”
Carter? He moved a little, a good-sized wave of pain moving through his body. He groaned.
“Jack?”
And that was Daniel. Awareness came rushing at him, and he took a deep breath, opening his eyes.
They all stood there next to him. He stared at them. They were covered in bandages and looked tired and worn, but they looked healthy and happy, and they all smiled at him. Even Teal’c.
“Where?”
Daniel leaned over a bit. “You’re in the infirmary, Jack. We’re back on Earth.”
Jack glanced at Carter. She nodded in confirmation. Jack sank back into his pillow in relief.
“What’s the last thing you remember, sir?” Sam’s voice was soft, and Jack realized it was quite late at night. He glanced at the clock to be sure. 23:00.
“The bike,” he answered, his own voice sounding thick and slow. “Riding out of that building…”
Sam nodded. “You were hit several times by darts. You lost a lot of blood. You’re going to be okay with some rest.”
Jack didn’t respond, but he met her gaze with understanding eyes.
“We met with the Asgard this morning,” Daniel said. “Several of their ships are on their way to The System’s planet right now. They’ll analyze the situation and take care of it.”
Jack managed a nod. He’d felt a cold shiver at the mention of The System. He looked up at all of them. “You got me out.”
They glanced at each other, smiling, and then at him. “Well, you took us most of the way, sir,” Carter said.
“So we brought you home,” Daniel finished.
Jack felt his eyes growing heavy. He could sleep now. He could relax. They were home.
Teal’c gazed down at him with a faint smile. “Sleep, O’Neill. We will still be here in the morning.”
“Yeah. You will, won’t you?” Jack returned the smile. A warm hand landed on his shoulder.
“Indeed.”
~end!~
I hope you found this story entertaining. :)