Of the Sand 11
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Chapter Eleven: The Yellow Brick Road
Toshiro led Jack out of the building and into the streets of the village, where they met up with a couple more men and, to his surprise, Temari. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he fell in beside her.
“I wanted to come with you,” Temari answered. She shrugged. “You’re new to Suna and I bet you didn’t expect all of this, even if you broke into the clinic.”
“Yeah, right,” Jack said. On the one hand, it was nice to see a friendly local, but on the other hand, there was no real way that he could ditch the military team now. Temari was a good lead into the village, but he couldn’t work with her if he obviously blew her and her authority figures off for what seemed like no reason. Temari knew where he and the others were staying, so she would notice if they missed their mark and it wasn’t as if the military team was as bad as SG1’s usual enemies. The Goa’uld never offered to heal his teammates in good faith - though Ba’al would probably be happy to heal his teammates in order to kill them slowly once more.
Of course, it wasn’t as though he was going to shake the military team, anyway, so there really wasn’t much of a use in thinking about it. But, he had to admit that he was still tempted to try and ditch the team before reaching the cavern that SG1 was staying at. If it wasn’t for the fact that Daniel still needed medicine to help him get better, Jack would be glad to slip away before they reached the cavern, gather up the rest of the team, and then head back to break Teal’c, Cam and Janet out of the military building.
Toshiro led the team out of the village, coming to a halt once they reached the desert sands. He turned back to look at Jack. “Okay, which direction are you from? Where do we need to go?”
Jack sighed before motioning towards the cliffs. “We’re staying in a cavern over there.”
“The old temple? I know where that is,” Toshiro answered before blinking at Jack. “Why are you staying there for?”
“It’s cheap?” Jack offered with a shrug.
“Okay, then,” Toshiro said. He motioned for everyone to stay as he walked several feet away. He did a few hand seals before slamming his hand down onto the ground and calling out: “Kuchiyose no Jutsu!”
Impossibly, smoke billowed out from his hand and when it had dissipated, Jack could see a giant bird standing in front of Toshiro. Jack blinked, but the bird was still there. He had seen a lot of strange things over the years, but he had not seen a bird as big as the bird in front of them. It was about as big as a car, if not bigger, and it had come from nowhere.
“What the hell is that?” Jack asked, absently noticing that no one else seemed to be surprised at the giant animal.
“This is Torio, one of my red tailed hawk summons,” Toshiro answered.
“One of those ninja things, right?” Jack asked, trying to remember all of the odd things that Daniel had babbled about when it came to the ninjas in this world.
“Right,” Toshiro said, giving Jack another strange look. “Torio’s going to be giving you and Temari a ride back to your place.”
“What?” Jack blurted out, staring the giant red tailed hawk.
“I’m giving you a ride, kid,” the giant red tailed hawk said, throwing Jack for another loop.
“Am I sick, too?” Jack asked, putting a hand to his forehead. “Because I could have sworn that bird talked.”
“He did talk, some summons can do that,” Temari answered, giving Jack a sympathetic smile.
“I’ve seen some odd things, but a talking giant bird?” Jack shook his head. “And you want me to ride it?”
“We’ll get to your brother quicker that way,” Toshiro answered.
“And what about you guys?” Jack asked, motioning to the two others that had joined them. “Are you going to get your own birds, too?”
“We don’t need to be flown there; we can move pretty fast when needed,” Toshiro reassured. He walked over to Jack and started ushering him and Temari over to the giant red tailed hawk. He then helped Temari aboard the saddle the giant red tailed hawk was wearing and turned to Jack. “You ready to go?”
“Sure, why not. This will be a new experience,” Jack muttered to himself as he got aboard the giant red tailed hawk.
“Head over to the cliffs and land right before them; we’ll catch up to you in no time,” Toshiro instructed the giant red tailed hawk summon.
Torio bobbed his head in acknowledgement. “I’ll watch over your charges until then.”
Without another word, the three men took off running towards the cliffs. Jack and Temari held on to the saddle as the giant red tailed hawk started running. With one bound and a swoop of its wings, the giant red tailed hawk took flight, circling up to the sky.
It was hard to see anything on the ground, as they were positioned at the middle of the body, with the wings stretching out before them, but Jack could spot parts of the ground. To his amazement, the three men had already made a great distance from the village. Jack estimated that they were about a third of the way to the cliffs - all of that in less than ten minutes!
The three men moved in such a way that they seemed to be flying more than running, bounding from one dune to another. In the areas that were level, they didn’t seem to have any trouble with their feet sinking into the sand, which was part of the reason that Jack’s group had taken so long getting to and fro from the cavern to the village. Daniel had said that they did some pretty amazing stuff with the energy that they used.
Jack watched the ninjas for a few minutes before turning his attention back to the cliffs. The hawk had almost reached the cliffs while Jack had been paying attention to the ninjas, but what little time they had gained on the ninjas was lost in their spiral descent. As soon as Torio set down, the men appeared over the last dune and Toshiro was there to help Jack and Temari down off the saddle.
“Thanks, Torio,” Toshiro told the giant red tailed hawk. “Would you mind waiting around for a couple of minutes? I have a feeling that we might need your help again.”
“I do not mind,” Torio answered.
“All right, lead the way, Jack,” Toshiro said as he motioned Jack towards the cliffs.
“Right, follow me,” Jack said as he headed towards the cliffs.
He didn’t try to be silent as they made their way up the pathway; the rest of his team in the cavern would have already heard the giant red tailed hawk’s landing. Still, he made sure not to set off any of the traps that he had set up the day before. He noticed that none of the others in the group set off the traps as well, not even Temari, but that was to be expected, he figured. They were supposed to be ninjas, after all.
“Who goes there?” Vala called down when they reached a bend in the cliffs.
“It’s me,” Jack called up.
“And who are your friends?” Vala asked as she came around the bend, holding onto a staff. “And where are Cam, the big guy, and the doctor?”
“We ran into some trouble during the mission; the others are fine, but we ended up with a few extra people to help,” Jack carefully said.
“You got caught, didn’t you?” Vala asked, giving Jack a knowing look.
“We got caught,” Jack agreed.
“I knew I should have gone along, but it was Daniel,” Vala said with a sigh. She eyed the people behind Jack. “Everything all right, then?”
“Well, we’re getting Daniel the help that he needs, though Janet thinks that it’s just something like the flu,” Jack answered. He started moving up the path and Vala fell in beside him. “How’s Daniel doing?”
“We’ve got his fever down and he’s been sleeping for almost the whole time you’ve been gone,” Vala said as they approached the entrance to the cavern. “Sam’s watching over him right now, giving her a break from her project. The rest of us are pretending to be busy, although I think that Jonas is really absorbed in the writings that he found.”
“Sounds about right,” Jack said.
George met them at the top of the pathway, near the doorway, and raised his eyebrows at the sight of the three men and one girl behind Jack and Vala. “Jack?”
“Picked up some people on the way; the others are still back at the village.” Jack shrugged and offered George a smile. “But they’re here to help out with Daniel.”
“Sekka is a medic nin and he’s here to do what he can with your friend, if you’ll let us see him,” Toshiro said as he motioned towards one of his team. “I’m Toshiro and this is Isago and Temari.”
“The girl from the market place,” Vala said as she looked at Temari in a new light.
“Well, right this way, gentlemen,” George said, motioning towards the entrance.
The young general led the way into the cavern and over to their sleeping place, where the rest of SG1 was. Sam was sitting next to Daniel, sponging off his head with a cloth and a bowl of water and Jonas was sitting near them, reading a dusty old scroll. They both looked up when the group entered, but relaxed when they saw that Jack and George were not disturbed by the strangers’ presence.
“I’m assuming that’s Daniel?” Sekka said as he moved forward after spotting Daniel. He paused after kneeling down before Daniel and looked towards Sam and Jonas. “I’m a medic nin, here to look at your friend.”
“Jack?” Sam called out, looking up to him for reassurance. He knew that she was also asking what had happened to Janet and the others, but it wasn’t like they had time or the privacy for a debriefing.
“They wanted to help and they refused to let Janet handle it by herself,” Jack explained.
“I’ve told you, kids should not be diagnosing other kids; you should let the professionals handle it,” Toshiro scolded.
Jack shrugged at the looks that SG1 gave him. They knew as well as he did that the physical adults in the room wouldn’t know about Janet’s qualifications. “Hey, I did let you come back here to check on Daniel, didn’t I?”
“Good job, kid,” Toshiro agreed. He glanced around at the room before turning back to Jack and George. “You guys don’t have parents, do you?”
“You’re one sharp tack,” Jack replied, shaking his head. He hadn’t expected Toshiro to guess so soon, although it would have been obvious when it was time to head back to the village.
“I figured, the way you talked about them.” Toshiro sighed. “I guess you all are going to come back with us. I’ll call up more of my red tailed hawk summons when it’s time.”
“I don’t suppose we can’t just leave a few of us here?” Jack asked, trying hard not to glance towards the Quantum Mirror. “We’ve become quite attached to the place, you see.”
“I can’t let any of you kids stay here on your own, it wouldn’t be right,” Toshiro refused. “Someone can take you back here later to pack up your stuff, though, because I’m sure that we can find you a place in the village.”
“You can even join the academy,” Temari said.
“You’re interested in the academy?” Toshiro asked. He inspected Jack for a moment before nodding to himself. “I’d be willing to sponsor you guys to get you in.”
“We’ll see,” Jack blurted out before any plans were made for them. “First step is getting Daniel better.”
“You almost ready to go, Sekka? How’s the kid?” Toshiro asked, focusing on the medic nin.
“From what I can tell, it does seem like a simple virus, but it has hit the kid hard,” Sekka answered, looking up at his leader. “He should be all right to travel, although I would like to be with him if we send him by bird.”
“Torio can handle one adult and one kid,” Toshiro confirmed. “And I’ll summon Taichi and Hiroto for the rest of the kids to get them back.”
“If you give the kids a moment to gather any supplies that they might want to take, I’ll be ready to transport Daniel,” Sekka said.
Jack snagged Vala’s arm and walked with her to where they were keeping their stuff so that he could talk to her without Toshiro or the others over hearing. “Help me gather up Carter and Jonas’ stuff so that they can deal with getting the Mirror’s stuff out of the way.”
“Right,” Vala nodded and moved away to gather up Sam’s stuff. Jack veered away to head back to where Jonas and Sam were.
“You two deal with getting the Mirror squared away, we’ll get your stuff,” Jack hissed to them, making sure that they weren’t overheard.
“Right,” Sam said, her mind instantly on the Mirror.
“Don’t forget about Teal’c, Janet and Cam’s stuff, too,” Jonas reminded before he hurried after Sam.
“We just need to get a few things together and pick up after ourselves a bit,” Jack called over to Toshiro, hoping to distract him and Isago from what Sam and Jonas were doing. SG1 really didn’t have too much to call their own, although Cam and Teal’c had bought some actual clothing for them during their one market trip. Most of the things that Jack grabbed were the odds and ends that they had found in the room and had gotten attached to. Things like some of the scrolls that Daniel had been so absorbed in and a few of the ancient gizmos that Sam had been fiddling with when she wasn’t fiddling with the Mirror. He also grabbed the weapons that he had bought at the market place when Temari had dragged him off, figuring that the ninjas couldn’t protest that much about their presence; although, that was if they ever found out that Jack currently had them.
When Jack had finished gathering up the important stuff, he wrapped it up in a bed sheet and handed it to Toshiro to hold before heading over to where the Mirror was. Jonas had already emerged from the screened off area, but Sam was still gathering up loose pieces of the Mirror.
“So, how’s it coming?” Jack asked, meaning more than just how she was doing in cleaning up for the time being.
“It would be easier if I had my computers, but near as I can tell, it’s a communication error between the control device and the Mirror,” Sam answered as she slotted the back of the Mirror closed. “I mean, it’s obvious that the Mirror works, but our control device will not work on it.”
“Is there a chance in it activating while we’re gone?” Jack asked, nodding towards the Mirror.
“A slim chance; it’s not like I’ve taken out any of the necessary crystals for the Mirror, but who knows.” Sam shrugged, unwilling to voice what they were both thinking. The Mirror hadn’t activated the whole time that they were there and they didn’t even know if their originals knew about them just yet.
“Better leave a note, then,” Jack said. He took up a bit of paper that they had gotten during the shopping trip and scribbled something before weighting it down with a stone right in front of the Mirror.
“Gone fishing?” Sam asked with a snort when she read it.
Jack shrugged. “Let’s them know that we’re okay, but not in the immediate vicinity.”
“Let’s go, then,” Sam said, grabbing the control device before leading the way back to the main part of the room.
Toshiro gave them a questioning look, but didn’t say anything as he handed Jack back the bundle of things. They headed back down the pathway to where the giant red tailed hawk was waiting; Sekka carrying Daniel with Vala keeping a careful eye on him. Sam, George, Jonas and Vala were all surprised at the giant red tailed hawk, but they managed not to freak out too visibly. Sam started muttering under her breath the moment Toshiro preformed his jutsu once more. This time two giant red tailed hawks appeared out of the smoke and then there were three.
Toshiro and Isago helped Sekka get settled with Daniel on Torio before the giant red tailed hawk took off. The two men then got Temari and the rest of SG1 onto the backs of the other two giant red tailed hawks. Jack and Jonas were put onto Hitoro’s back and Temari, Sam, and Vala were on Taichi’s back. And then they were off, with the adults racing back to the village.
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Chapter 12
Chapter Eleven: The Yellow Brick Road
Toshiro led Jack out of the building and into the streets of the village, where they met up with a couple more men and, to his surprise, Temari. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he fell in beside her.
“I wanted to come with you,” Temari answered. She shrugged. “You’re new to Suna and I bet you didn’t expect all of this, even if you broke into the clinic.”
“Yeah, right,” Jack said. On the one hand, it was nice to see a friendly local, but on the other hand, there was no real way that he could ditch the military team now. Temari was a good lead into the village, but he couldn’t work with her if he obviously blew her and her authority figures off for what seemed like no reason. Temari knew where he and the others were staying, so she would notice if they missed their mark and it wasn’t as if the military team was as bad as SG1’s usual enemies. The Goa’uld never offered to heal his teammates in good faith - though Ba’al would probably be happy to heal his teammates in order to kill them slowly once more.
Of course, it wasn’t as though he was going to shake the military team, anyway, so there really wasn’t much of a use in thinking about it. But, he had to admit that he was still tempted to try and ditch the team before reaching the cavern that SG1 was staying at. If it wasn’t for the fact that Daniel still needed medicine to help him get better, Jack would be glad to slip away before they reached the cavern, gather up the rest of the team, and then head back to break Teal’c, Cam and Janet out of the military building.
Toshiro led the team out of the village, coming to a halt once they reached the desert sands. He turned back to look at Jack. “Okay, which direction are you from? Where do we need to go?”
Jack sighed before motioning towards the cliffs. “We’re staying in a cavern over there.”
“The old temple? I know where that is,” Toshiro answered before blinking at Jack. “Why are you staying there for?”
“It’s cheap?” Jack offered with a shrug.
“Okay, then,” Toshiro said. He motioned for everyone to stay as he walked several feet away. He did a few hand seals before slamming his hand down onto the ground and calling out: “Kuchiyose no Jutsu!”
Impossibly, smoke billowed out from his hand and when it had dissipated, Jack could see a giant bird standing in front of Toshiro. Jack blinked, but the bird was still there. He had seen a lot of strange things over the years, but he had not seen a bird as big as the bird in front of them. It was about as big as a car, if not bigger, and it had come from nowhere.
“What the hell is that?” Jack asked, absently noticing that no one else seemed to be surprised at the giant animal.
“This is Torio, one of my red tailed hawk summons,” Toshiro answered.
“One of those ninja things, right?” Jack asked, trying to remember all of the odd things that Daniel had babbled about when it came to the ninjas in this world.
“Right,” Toshiro said, giving Jack another strange look. “Torio’s going to be giving you and Temari a ride back to your place.”
“What?” Jack blurted out, staring the giant red tailed hawk.
“I’m giving you a ride, kid,” the giant red tailed hawk said, throwing Jack for another loop.
“Am I sick, too?” Jack asked, putting a hand to his forehead. “Because I could have sworn that bird talked.”
“He did talk, some summons can do that,” Temari answered, giving Jack a sympathetic smile.
“I’ve seen some odd things, but a talking giant bird?” Jack shook his head. “And you want me to ride it?”
“We’ll get to your brother quicker that way,” Toshiro answered.
“And what about you guys?” Jack asked, motioning to the two others that had joined them. “Are you going to get your own birds, too?”
“We don’t need to be flown there; we can move pretty fast when needed,” Toshiro reassured. He walked over to Jack and started ushering him and Temari over to the giant red tailed hawk. He then helped Temari aboard the saddle the giant red tailed hawk was wearing and turned to Jack. “You ready to go?”
“Sure, why not. This will be a new experience,” Jack muttered to himself as he got aboard the giant red tailed hawk.
“Head over to the cliffs and land right before them; we’ll catch up to you in no time,” Toshiro instructed the giant red tailed hawk summon.
Torio bobbed his head in acknowledgement. “I’ll watch over your charges until then.”
Without another word, the three men took off running towards the cliffs. Jack and Temari held on to the saddle as the giant red tailed hawk started running. With one bound and a swoop of its wings, the giant red tailed hawk took flight, circling up to the sky.
It was hard to see anything on the ground, as they were positioned at the middle of the body, with the wings stretching out before them, but Jack could spot parts of the ground. To his amazement, the three men had already made a great distance from the village. Jack estimated that they were about a third of the way to the cliffs - all of that in less than ten minutes!
The three men moved in such a way that they seemed to be flying more than running, bounding from one dune to another. In the areas that were level, they didn’t seem to have any trouble with their feet sinking into the sand, which was part of the reason that Jack’s group had taken so long getting to and fro from the cavern to the village. Daniel had said that they did some pretty amazing stuff with the energy that they used.
Jack watched the ninjas for a few minutes before turning his attention back to the cliffs. The hawk had almost reached the cliffs while Jack had been paying attention to the ninjas, but what little time they had gained on the ninjas was lost in their spiral descent. As soon as Torio set down, the men appeared over the last dune and Toshiro was there to help Jack and Temari down off the saddle.
“Thanks, Torio,” Toshiro told the giant red tailed hawk. “Would you mind waiting around for a couple of minutes? I have a feeling that we might need your help again.”
“I do not mind,” Torio answered.
“All right, lead the way, Jack,” Toshiro said as he motioned Jack towards the cliffs.
“Right, follow me,” Jack said as he headed towards the cliffs.
He didn’t try to be silent as they made their way up the pathway; the rest of his team in the cavern would have already heard the giant red tailed hawk’s landing. Still, he made sure not to set off any of the traps that he had set up the day before. He noticed that none of the others in the group set off the traps as well, not even Temari, but that was to be expected, he figured. They were supposed to be ninjas, after all.
“Who goes there?” Vala called down when they reached a bend in the cliffs.
“It’s me,” Jack called up.
“And who are your friends?” Vala asked as she came around the bend, holding onto a staff. “And where are Cam, the big guy, and the doctor?”
“We ran into some trouble during the mission; the others are fine, but we ended up with a few extra people to help,” Jack carefully said.
“You got caught, didn’t you?” Vala asked, giving Jack a knowing look.
“We got caught,” Jack agreed.
“I knew I should have gone along, but it was Daniel,” Vala said with a sigh. She eyed the people behind Jack. “Everything all right, then?”
“Well, we’re getting Daniel the help that he needs, though Janet thinks that it’s just something like the flu,” Jack answered. He started moving up the path and Vala fell in beside him. “How’s Daniel doing?”
“We’ve got his fever down and he’s been sleeping for almost the whole time you’ve been gone,” Vala said as they approached the entrance to the cavern. “Sam’s watching over him right now, giving her a break from her project. The rest of us are pretending to be busy, although I think that Jonas is really absorbed in the writings that he found.”
“Sounds about right,” Jack said.
George met them at the top of the pathway, near the doorway, and raised his eyebrows at the sight of the three men and one girl behind Jack and Vala. “Jack?”
“Picked up some people on the way; the others are still back at the village.” Jack shrugged and offered George a smile. “But they’re here to help out with Daniel.”
“Sekka is a medic nin and he’s here to do what he can with your friend, if you’ll let us see him,” Toshiro said as he motioned towards one of his team. “I’m Toshiro and this is Isago and Temari.”
“The girl from the market place,” Vala said as she looked at Temari in a new light.
“Well, right this way, gentlemen,” George said, motioning towards the entrance.
The young general led the way into the cavern and over to their sleeping place, where the rest of SG1 was. Sam was sitting next to Daniel, sponging off his head with a cloth and a bowl of water and Jonas was sitting near them, reading a dusty old scroll. They both looked up when the group entered, but relaxed when they saw that Jack and George were not disturbed by the strangers’ presence.
“I’m assuming that’s Daniel?” Sekka said as he moved forward after spotting Daniel. He paused after kneeling down before Daniel and looked towards Sam and Jonas. “I’m a medic nin, here to look at your friend.”
“Jack?” Sam called out, looking up to him for reassurance. He knew that she was also asking what had happened to Janet and the others, but it wasn’t like they had time or the privacy for a debriefing.
“They wanted to help and they refused to let Janet handle it by herself,” Jack explained.
“I’ve told you, kids should not be diagnosing other kids; you should let the professionals handle it,” Toshiro scolded.
Jack shrugged at the looks that SG1 gave him. They knew as well as he did that the physical adults in the room wouldn’t know about Janet’s qualifications. “Hey, I did let you come back here to check on Daniel, didn’t I?”
“Good job, kid,” Toshiro agreed. He glanced around at the room before turning back to Jack and George. “You guys don’t have parents, do you?”
“You’re one sharp tack,” Jack replied, shaking his head. He hadn’t expected Toshiro to guess so soon, although it would have been obvious when it was time to head back to the village.
“I figured, the way you talked about them.” Toshiro sighed. “I guess you all are going to come back with us. I’ll call up more of my red tailed hawk summons when it’s time.”
“I don’t suppose we can’t just leave a few of us here?” Jack asked, trying hard not to glance towards the Quantum Mirror. “We’ve become quite attached to the place, you see.”
“I can’t let any of you kids stay here on your own, it wouldn’t be right,” Toshiro refused. “Someone can take you back here later to pack up your stuff, though, because I’m sure that we can find you a place in the village.”
“You can even join the academy,” Temari said.
“You’re interested in the academy?” Toshiro asked. He inspected Jack for a moment before nodding to himself. “I’d be willing to sponsor you guys to get you in.”
“We’ll see,” Jack blurted out before any plans were made for them. “First step is getting Daniel better.”
“You almost ready to go, Sekka? How’s the kid?” Toshiro asked, focusing on the medic nin.
“From what I can tell, it does seem like a simple virus, but it has hit the kid hard,” Sekka answered, looking up at his leader. “He should be all right to travel, although I would like to be with him if we send him by bird.”
“Torio can handle one adult and one kid,” Toshiro confirmed. “And I’ll summon Taichi and Hiroto for the rest of the kids to get them back.”
“If you give the kids a moment to gather any supplies that they might want to take, I’ll be ready to transport Daniel,” Sekka said.
Jack snagged Vala’s arm and walked with her to where they were keeping their stuff so that he could talk to her without Toshiro or the others over hearing. “Help me gather up Carter and Jonas’ stuff so that they can deal with getting the Mirror’s stuff out of the way.”
“Right,” Vala nodded and moved away to gather up Sam’s stuff. Jack veered away to head back to where Jonas and Sam were.
“You two deal with getting the Mirror squared away, we’ll get your stuff,” Jack hissed to them, making sure that they weren’t overheard.
“Right,” Sam said, her mind instantly on the Mirror.
“Don’t forget about Teal’c, Janet and Cam’s stuff, too,” Jonas reminded before he hurried after Sam.
“We just need to get a few things together and pick up after ourselves a bit,” Jack called over to Toshiro, hoping to distract him and Isago from what Sam and Jonas were doing. SG1 really didn’t have too much to call their own, although Cam and Teal’c had bought some actual clothing for them during their one market trip. Most of the things that Jack grabbed were the odds and ends that they had found in the room and had gotten attached to. Things like some of the scrolls that Daniel had been so absorbed in and a few of the ancient gizmos that Sam had been fiddling with when she wasn’t fiddling with the Mirror. He also grabbed the weapons that he had bought at the market place when Temari had dragged him off, figuring that the ninjas couldn’t protest that much about their presence; although, that was if they ever found out that Jack currently had them.
When Jack had finished gathering up the important stuff, he wrapped it up in a bed sheet and handed it to Toshiro to hold before heading over to where the Mirror was. Jonas had already emerged from the screened off area, but Sam was still gathering up loose pieces of the Mirror.
“So, how’s it coming?” Jack asked, meaning more than just how she was doing in cleaning up for the time being.
“It would be easier if I had my computers, but near as I can tell, it’s a communication error between the control device and the Mirror,” Sam answered as she slotted the back of the Mirror closed. “I mean, it’s obvious that the Mirror works, but our control device will not work on it.”
“Is there a chance in it activating while we’re gone?” Jack asked, nodding towards the Mirror.
“A slim chance; it’s not like I’ve taken out any of the necessary crystals for the Mirror, but who knows.” Sam shrugged, unwilling to voice what they were both thinking. The Mirror hadn’t activated the whole time that they were there and they didn’t even know if their originals knew about them just yet.
“Better leave a note, then,” Jack said. He took up a bit of paper that they had gotten during the shopping trip and scribbled something before weighting it down with a stone right in front of the Mirror.
“Gone fishing?” Sam asked with a snort when she read it.
Jack shrugged. “Let’s them know that we’re okay, but not in the immediate vicinity.”
“Let’s go, then,” Sam said, grabbing the control device before leading the way back to the main part of the room.
Toshiro gave them a questioning look, but didn’t say anything as he handed Jack back the bundle of things. They headed back down the pathway to where the giant red tailed hawk was waiting; Sekka carrying Daniel with Vala keeping a careful eye on him. Sam, George, Jonas and Vala were all surprised at the giant red tailed hawk, but they managed not to freak out too visibly. Sam started muttering under her breath the moment Toshiro preformed his jutsu once more. This time two giant red tailed hawks appeared out of the smoke and then there were three.
Toshiro and Isago helped Sekka get settled with Daniel on Torio before the giant red tailed hawk took off. The two men then got Temari and the rest of SG1 onto the backs of the other two giant red tailed hawks. Jack and Jonas were put onto Hitoro’s back and Temari, Sam, and Vala were on Taichi’s back. And then they were off, with the adults racing back to the village.
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Chapter 12