Ghosts in the Machine (gen) PG-13 (1/5)
Okay, this is a SG-1 gen story I've written for eve11 and the sg1teamficathon. It won a team choice award in the Stargate Fan Awards! Yippee!
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Yes, I'm aware of the misspelling. *shrugs*
Ghosts in the Machine
By Jennghis Kahn
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Rated- PG-13.
Genre- Action/Adventure, angst, a bit of team whumping, a lot of team love
Pairing- None (my team love can be a bit on the affectionate side though)
Summary- Hm. Sort of alien-ish and sort of cyberpunk-ish. SG-1 struggles within a hostile environment and tries to find their way home.
A/N- Written for eve11 for the SG1 Team ficathon. She wanted a new gate address and didn’t want trees, ruins or the Goa’uld.
Thanks to Courser for the once over. It was duty above and beyond this time, bud.
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[ dislocated ]
Sam
There was an anomaly in the system.
She could feel it. It wasn’t critical, and there were more important matters to attend to so she tried to ignore it. There were little bits of data hanging up on it though, and the anomaly picked at her brain. She kept looking at it.
She could divert the stream around it and return to fix it later, when other systems didn’t need as much attention.
She diverted the flow and then left her signature. She laid down a trail of breadcrumbs so she could find it again.
When the stream was running smoothly, she relaxed. And then she tensed.
Something was wrong.
She felt it like a power surge. Somebody was just outside. Somebody…
Her heart sped up. There was a strange sense of déjà vu and something else… something more tactile. Then it was gone, and the air seemed clearer.
She turned her attention back to the data stream and forgot.
+ + +
Daniel
He hesitated when he saw her. He furrowed his brows.
Suddenly he was standing next to her and he couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do. There was something… something interesting here. Something he needed to study closer. He was leaning close to her and she didn’t move. He thought that maybe he was supposed to touch her, so he brought his fingers close…
There was a click in his head and then he was standing at the door, the woman forgotten. There was an obsolete unit in Sector 10 that needed to be recycled. He started forward, and he didn’t look back.
+ + +
Teal’c
The cell was dark and cool, and he could hear water running somewhere behind the stone walls. He was underground, possibly quite deep.
He was not sure if it was night or day or how much time had passed since they’d stepped through the stargate into this world. Days, weeks… maybe hours, and he only thought it was longer because he was losing his mind.
No. No, it had been days at least. Not much longer. In the time since he woke in this place, no one had approached him. He had not heard any voice other than his own, and no one had brought him food or water.
He was very thirsty. His symbiote was conserving energy. His throat ached from the lack of water and from his shouts into nothingness. He’d called for his captors at first, at times both enraged and calm, but that seemed like a long time ago now. Now he only called for O’Neill. He was not sure if Major Carter or Daniel Jackson were alive or dead, free or confined, but he refused to give away their numbers or risk their possible freedom by calling out their names.
By calling for O’Neill, he called for all of SG-1.
They would not leave him in this place to die; of this he was sure. Whether or not they would find him in time was another matter.
But his symbiote would keep him alive… for awhile at least. For now he had time to wait.
+ + +
[ obsolete ]
Jack
Jack woke slowly and confused. Not always an unusual state for him.
Somewhat more uncommon was the stench that hit his sinuses and sliced through his haze of sleep.
Pain pounded in Jack’s head, and he felt an immobilizing lethargy through every inch of his body. He was weak. He froze when he felt a tugging at his jacket. Fingers pulled at his jacket’s zipper. He heard breathing. He barely opened his eyes, peering out through mere slits.
He was too groggy to notice anything except the man’s beard, dark but threaded with gray, and the way he mumbled to himself as he pulled and grabbed at the jacket’s zipper. Jack brought his hand up suddenly and grabbed the man’s wrist. It took a lot of effort.
The man gasped and looked, startled, into Jack’s open eyes. “You’re alive,” he exclaimed.
“Yes,” Jack whispered hoarsely.
The man easily freed his hand from Jack’s grip, and he jumped back on his heels and considered Jack with a frightened look. “Are you obsolete?”
Jack struggled to stay awake. His head ached fiercely and shadows swam in his vision. “Huh?”
The man ran his gaze down Jack’s form. His eyes stopped on Jack’s chest and with nimble fingers, he picked up one of Jack’s dog tags and stared at it.
Jack grabbed his wrist again. “Mine,” he whispered.
The man jerked his hand back and considered Jack suspiciously. “You’re an Interceptor.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But the man was panicking now, eyes wild. “Then you’re a crawler!” His feet had a hard time finding traction as he scrambled to his feet and ran away.
Jack passed out.
+ + +
[ dissonance ]
When he woke again, his head had stopped with the painful pounding. His body still ached, and he slowly became aware of something hard poking him in the back. He shifted with a groan, and then came fully awake as he slid downward a few feet. He flipped himself over onto his stomach and looked around.
He was lying at the foot of a huge pile of… junk. It could have easily filled the gateroom at the SGC, and there was a foul scent emanating from within it. Metal, plastic, paper, fabric, and things he couldn’t begin to identify surrounded him. The pile was in a big yard and surrounded by a fence. A circular building towered above the yard. He supposed it was a building anyway. It was building-sized, but had no windows. Nor any sharp corners. It was rounded and a dull, dark, gunmetal gray. Actually, it looked as if it were made of metal as well. It was several dozen stories high where he sat looking up at it. He couldn’t see further as the top seemed to disappear into darkness.
There was a sharp, scraping noise above him, and when he looked up, two doors opened in an extension protruding from the building. He was suddenly rained with debris, and he frantically scrambled away from the pile. He sat with his back against a wall and looked around. He saw no sign of the rest of SG-1, nor any other human being, with the exception of the man who’d tried to steal his jacket earlier. Somehow Jack didn’t think he was a typical representation of the people of this world.
He couldn’t remember much. He remembered stepping through the gate. He vaguely remembered coming through the other side with Carter grinning at him like he’d just said something witty, and Daniel had been furrowing his brow because they’d gated into a small, enclosed room. He thought he remembered Teal’c shouting a warning. Then… nothing.
Not good.
He didn’t have his P-90 anymore, nor his pistol or his knife or his radio or anything that was on his belt or in his pack.
Definitely not good.
He debated whether or not to call out and then gave a tentative shout. There was nothing but silence in reply.
From the way his body felt and the way he’d woke, he could logically assume he’d been dumped from the same chute that had created the pile. He approached it again and began digging through it. Maybe he was just the first to wake. Maybe the rest of his team was buried or hurt or… dead. He ignored the tight feeling that thought brought to his chest.
He found his pack all the way on the other side of the pile. It sat alone on the ground, opened and the contents strewn close by. He thought the resident bum must have gone through it. Oddly, most of its contents seemed to be there. MRE’s, rain gear, MOPP suit, flashlight, medkit, his canteens, the small emergency kit he’d put together. A little further around the pile, and he found his zat.
His heart climbed up into his mouth when he found Daniel’s jacket and then Carter’s pack. Carter carried their “odds-and-ends” box, a small kit they’d built together as a team over time. Most platoons had carried one in ‘Nam and later in Iraq. It held incidentals that had proven useful in the past and might prove useful again: extra glasses for Daniel, needles and thread, batteries, a razor blade, a precision toolkit, various small parts for the P-90’s and their pistols, shoelaces, wax, fuses, a magnet. Carter called it their “MacGyver Kit”. It was one of their most valuable possessions as a team.
It was enough to tell him that the rest of SG-1 was not in this area. He was in an enclosed yard. Evidently a dumping place for whoever lived here.
Further exploration revealed several ways out of the junkyard. He peered warily outside and felt a cold lump settle in his gut. There were narrow streets and long, rounded, rectangular buildings. Everything was made of that same dark metal. The ground seemed to vibrate beneath him sometimes, and he heard a continuous low drone, as if this were one big beehive. Ominous.
There was not one person to be seen. It was nearly dark. The streets were shadowed and still.
He dragged the gear he’d found out of the junkyard and into a sort of maintenance alley between the yard and the huge building. He hid both packs and the jacket behind a humming box of metal that seemed warm to the touch. He took his zat and went exploring.
He didn’t go far. The buildings all looked the same; the streets were so similar that he found himself growing confused. He hadn’t found his compass, and there were no specific landmarks to navigate by other than the big circular building next to the junkyard. When he glanced up, he saw only a strange darkness, no stars. This made him pause. He’d lost his watch, but he was sure that several hours had passed since he’d looked out across the city for the first time. He’d thought it was growing dark then, but now he wasn’t so sure. It had grown neither darker nor lighter since he’d set out. The streets stayed shadowed but light enough for him to make his way.
“The hell?” He muttered to himself, glancing upward again. It was then that he could see the faint glow to the black sky. As if something burned behind it. Was he in a dome of some sort? He felt wind on his skin, but if the dome was big enough…
He made his way back to the junkyard and his hidden gear. The entire time, he didn’t see another living soul. He didn’t hear anything but that constant hum and the occasional light scrape of metal on metal. All of the buildings were cool to the touch, and the metal felt strange. It wasn’t finished the way the steel on Earth was. It felt thick and somehow soft, as if he could dig into it with the tip of his knife and carve his initials. It sucked the warmth from his hand when he touched it. Heat resistant.
He’d grown more nervous then. He didn’t like the industrial flavor of this city. Machines didn’t sit well with him. He had Carter to deal with the systems, Daniel to tell him how to deal with the humans, Teal’c to watch their backs and pick up what the rest of them missed. Jack felt a bit naked without them.
The city did eventually grow darker. There were no streetlights or any other sort of illumination for navigation at night, and without the stars it was nearly pitch black. He dragged his gear into an isolated and protected corner of the alley and bedded down. Tomorrow he’d have to decide on a plan. Tonight he’d save his resources and listen to the city and see what happened. He wanted his missing team back.
The temperature dropped much more than he’d expected. The blackness was disorienting and disturbing. He’d been few places in his lifetime where there’d been no light at all. His body still ached from being thrown onto the junk pile. When he eased fingers over the top of his shoulder, he felt the bruising there. He pressed his back to the building’s wall and rested his head on Carter’s pack. Daniel’s jacket worked well as a blanket. And if he took a little comfort in the familiar scents entwined into the fabrics, well, no one ever had to know.
+ + +
The next morning- or at least he thought it was morning since it had grown less dark again- he renewed his search of the junkyard. He found one more zat and Carter’s jacket with a ball of clothing zipped up inside of it. Inspection revealed it to be the rest of both Carter’s and Daniel’s BDU’s and Carter’s boots. It scared him.
He didn’t find Daniel’s or Teal’c’s packs, nor did he find Teal’c’s staff weapon or any of their weapons beyond the zats. He found two more canteens that were marked with Carter’s name, and then he found Daniel’s boots. He found one radio that made his heart race in anticipation, but no one answered his call.
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That afternoon, he saw the lone- so far as he could tell- human occupant of the city again. The bearded man wore an odd-looking, long green coat and stood quite a ways down one of the streets and watched him. When Jack called to him, the man stepped out of sight. When Jack went to investigate, he found the man gone and no sign of him left to follow. Jack left a power bar sitting on the big humming box there. They seemed to be placed on every corner and reminded him of the electrical transformers on Earth. Hopefully the guy would want more and be willing to trade information for food. If not… maybe he could be convinced to talk in other ways.
They’d try the friendship route first. If that failed, well… Jack had never been afraid to make enemies.
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[ non-conformist ]
The circular building next to the junkyard seemed to be bigger than the others. While most of the buildings were several stories high but long and narrow, often running for several blocks, the building next to the junkyard was tall and cylindrical. It rose many of dozens stories in the air, and it took Jack nearly an hour to walk around its circumference. He could see indentations in the metal where doors were placed, some quite large, but no amount of prying or pushing seemed to budge them. He found no hidden latches or buttons either.
This building was the key. He was sure of it. This was the logical place to start looking for his team. Something or someone had to live there. Whoever was inside had thrown him out along with his team’s gear. The building hummed louder than the rest, and when he put his hands against it, it vibrated beneath them. There was always a cool wind sweeping down the streets around it.
Access was obvious. He’d have to climb back up into the garbage chute when it opened to expel debris. He needed more gear though. He was relieved beyond measure to have the zats, but this planet made him uneasy in the same way the Replicators unnerved him. Maybe they’d thrown the zats away because they were useless weapons here.
While he combed through the odds and ends in the junk pile, hoping to find some rope, he looked up to find the bearded man standing at one of the entrances to the junkyard. Jack stood slowly, watching him. The man took a step back. From his clothing and the wary way he kept returning to this place, Jack deduced that the man probably survived off of what he scavenged here each day. Jack’s presence was interrupting the man’s ability to make a living.
“Hey,” Jack called gently. He forced himself to stay where he was and not dive after the man. The man simply watched him, but his feet shuffled nervously. Jack slowly drew a power bar from his pocket. He held it up. The man stared at it. “I just want to talk to you. You can have this if you answer some questions.”
He had no doubt the man understood. The guy had spoken perfect English to Jack while trying to rob him of his clothing.
The man licked his lips and glanced around before answering. “Throw it to me, and I will answer you.”
Jack gave a snort and narrowed his eyes. “I, ah, no, I don’t think so. You talk to me, and then I’ll throw it to you.”
The man wavered. He looked very nervous and kept glancing behind himself. He must have liked the last bar though because he finally motioned at Jack to continue.
Jack proceeded carefully. “What’s your name?”
“I am a bit.”
Jack stared at him. “You’re… what are you?”
“Bit.”
“Bit,” Jack repeated, brows furrowed. Oh-kaaaay. Jesus, he’d give his left eye for Carter and Daniel right now… The man nodded in certainty though. “All right,” Jack sighed.
Jack pointed up at the chute. “What’s up there, Bit?”
Bit looked at Jack as if he were brainless. “The recycling port.”
Jack tried again. He pointed to the big, circular building. “And there?”
Bit didn’t even glance to where he was pointing. “The system.”
“The system?”
Bit remained silent and didn’t react. Apparently he’d given his answer and he felt no need to elaborate.
Jack hesitated for a moment, thinking. Then, “What’s an Interceptor?”
The man’s eyes widened a bit. He chewed his lip nervously. He balked.
Jack tried again with more Colonel in his voice. “What’s an Interceptor?”
“You aren’t from here. You’re a crawler.”
“What’s a crawler?”
“A bug. Why haven’t the Interceptors quarantined you yet?”
“I’m sneaky,” Jack answered grimly. He pointed to the circular building again. “How do I get in?”
Bit looked sad. “There is no going back.” He fidgeted and started backing away. When a creak came from the chute above, he turned to run.
“Hey!” Jack called. Bit glanced back, and Jack threw him the power bar. Bit scooped it up and ran.
Jack stood back and watched the debris rain down onto the pile. As creepy as the city was with its dark days and its deserted streets and its disquieting, warm, humming heartbeat, he had a feeling that going inside would be even more disturbing. He had a very real suspicion that going in meant very likely not coming out again.
Something snaked out toward him from the hail of garbage and landed next to his boot. He tensed and then relaxed and stared down at the length of thick cord at his feet.
But inside he would go… and he wasn’t coming out again unless he had SG-1 in tow. Or they threw his dead body down this chute and into this pile. In that case, maybe Bit would find something useful.
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The cord turned out to be wire. Similar to the type used on electronics on Earth. Small strands were braided together to make bigger strands. The bigger strands were braided together and then sheathed in rubber. It was quite strong, but stiff and unwieldy, and tying it around anything was out of the question.
Jack used the razor blade from the odds and ends kit to slit open the rubber and reveal a few feet of wire. It was easy, if slightly time consuming, to find a piece of broken and bent metal that would work as a giant hook. He twisted the braids of wire together through his improvised hook and discovered to his surprise that the stiff wire made aiming the climbing device much easier.
He tucked the packs away in the alley, keeping only the two zats, one canteen, his flashlight, the GDO and a swiss army knife he’d found in the bottom of Carter’s pack. Ideally, he’d go in there, find the rest of the team, and they’d find the gate and go home. At the worst, well… there was no need to go there just yet. He hid the packs just in case they’d need them again.
+ + +
He didn’t get into the chute until the next morning. Garbage was dumped several times a day, but he’d had to stand under the stream of debris and look up into it to find a spot to hook his wire. He had a few minutes or so at the end of each dump to make an attempt at securing the wire and then climbing up.
Standing at the top of the pile improved his chances greatly as long as he wasn’t pelted with anything too big.
It took a few tries, including one rather heart-stopping fall back onto the hill of junk that made his shoulder scream in agony, but he finally found himself clinging to the side of the chute on his cord as bits of metal and plastic fell down around him. The chute was lit, and he could see where several smaller chutes emptied into this final, larger one. He also saw a very human-sized access door above him and to the left, a short ladder just below it for use in maintenance.
The lip of the chute, which held his hook, also held his weight like it was nothing. He eased across it to the ladder, dragging the hook with him until it was positioned right beneath the door. He grabbed the ladder and stepped onto its rungs, climbing up to the door. It didn’t budge as he pushed at it, until he tried to slide it sideways. Then it rolled left and revealed a narrow tunnel.
He had to hunch a bit in the tunnel to keep from hitting his head. The lighting was stark and scarce, but it was more than enough to walk carefully and quietly. In here, the hum was more noticeable. Not so much louder as more prevalent. He could feel it in his chest and in his head the way you felt the bass when you stood next to the speakers while watching a band play live. The walls were smooth and shiny and a light color. When he put a hand against them, they felt cool to the touch and purred beneath his palm.
He tried not to touch them too much.
At the end of the tunnel there was a short ladder mounted on the wall leading up through a hatch in the ceiling. He peered upwards, zat ready, but couldn’t see or hear anything. He eased up a few steps and poked his head tentatively through the hatch. He looked into a large, empty room. He heard a sound from one end, and when he glanced over, a human being in a puffy, white, static guard suit, complete with a hood, came through a door and stood at a control panel imbedded into the wall. Jack glanced around, but there didn’t seem to be anybody else in the vicinity.
The human pulled a lever in the wall, and the distinct sound of metal scraping on metal came from the direction of the garbage chute. When lights flashed green on the control panel, the figure turned toward Jack. Jack quickly ducked down below the floor again.
He held the zat ready as footsteps approached the hatch. The figure passed by without a word or even a glance. Jack watched the feet walk by, and then he popped back up to study the figure’s back. The walk was familiar…
Jack hauled himself up and out of the hatch, kneeling on the floor beside it. “Daniel?”
The figure seemed to jerk upright a bit at the sound, and his head turned revealing Daniel’s profile. Then he recovered and simply walked on. Jack frowned. He felt elation at finding one of the members of SG-1 so quickly, but…
He rose quickly and jogged after Daniel. Brief glances behind him told him they were alone. He grabbed Daniel’s shoulder. “Daniel!”
Daniel turned easily in his hands, but his eyes only scanned Jack’s face briefly before he simply walked away.
“Okay. That’s a little zombie-like,” Jack muttered, going after him again. This time, when he grabbed for Daniel’s arm, Daniel simply sidestepped and walked on. “Daniel, goddamn it… “ Jack grabbed his shoulder. Daniel let that shoulder dip down, never breaking stride, and slid out of his grasp. He never looked Jack in the face, nor did he make a sound. It was really creeping Jack out.
He finally stepped in front of Daniel and grabbed him by both shoulders. “Daniel, STOP!”
Daniel stopped. He stood motionless in Jack’s arms, blue eyes locked on a place on Jack’s chest. Jack didn’t like the vapid expression on his face. “What the hell’s the matter with you? Remember me? Jack?”
Daniel stared at his chest and gave no indication he heard or understood. Only his chest moved with the gentle heave of his breath. So he wasn’t a zombie at least… There was a slight glow coming from under the white hood on Daniel’s head, and Jack reached up and shoved the hood off. There was a thin band of metal running over Daniel’s head from temple to temple, faint glowing lights on each end. Jack prodded it with one finger. It stuck fast. He tried to gently pry it up. Daniel grimaced. He let go.
“Great.” Jack glanced around and tried to decide what to do here. He let go of Daniel’s shoulders and Daniel immediately stepped around him and began walking down the corridor again. “Daniel… “ Jack called, frustrated. He realized he had no choice. It was either take Daniel back by force or let him go. And the latter was not an option.
Jack zatted him.
The blue beam swirled around Daniel’s white suit. Daniel gave a soft grunt and sank to the floor. Jack walked up and knelt by his side. The lights on the head device Daniel was wearing were out now. He pressed his fingers to Daniel’s pulse, just to be sure, and then stuck the zat in his belt. He tentatively touched the device, and it slid back easily over Daniel’s hair. Jack ripped it off and tossed it aside. He wrapped his arms around Daniel’s chest from behind and dragged him toward the hatch in the floor. The floor was the same shiny, smooth material as the walls, and made it made the younger, heavier man blissfully easy to drag.
He had a more difficult time easing Daniel’s body down the short ladder, and his knee hollered bloody hell, but finally he had Daniel lying out of sight in the small tunnel.
“Daniel,” he urged, grabbing his chin and shaking it to try and wake him up. Daniel blinked rapidly and this time his eyes focused on Jack. His brows drew together in such a familiar expression that Jack nearly grinned. “You here with me?” Jack asked.
Daniel blinked and seemed to want to fall asleep again.
Jack shook him a bit. “Daniel!” he said sharply, drawing the blue eyes back to his. “Where’s Carter?”
Daniel stared at him, confused.
“Teal’c? Where’s Teal’c?”
More confusion. He was starting to pass out again. Jack took a deep breath and studied him. “The Jaffa? Where’s the Jaffa?”
Daniel’s eyes widened at that, even as they started to close. “Jaffa was quarantined… “
“Where is the quarantine area?”
Daniel’s eyes closed and didn’t open. Jack felt him go limp. He checked Daniel’s pulse again. Strong and steady. He sat there for a moment debating with himself. He could pull Daniel out of here now, take him back to the alley and hope he recovered. Then they could both come back for Carter and Teal’c. Or he could leave Daniel here for a while and try and find the other two on his own. He wasn’t sure if his intrusion had been noticed yet or not. So far there’d been no alarms or people shooting at him, which was good. He should press his advantage while he had it. It might not come again. On the other hand, he had no idea where he was going in here.
He glanced down at Daniel, considering. Finally, he stood. “A few more minutes, okay? If I don’t find anything, I’ll come back and take you out of here.”
He climbed back up through the hatch, glancing back down to make sure Daniel was out of sight.
He walked silently down the corridor, listening intently. He didn’t hear any sounds of human life. Eventually he reached an intersection, and he glanced warily in each direction. They all seemed alike. Nothing stood out in any direction. There were no signs or anything with which to direct himself. He blew a frustrated breath between his lips and ran a hand through his hair. He stuffed a hand into the front pocket of his trousers. At the very bottom tip of the pocket, he felt several coins. He pulled them up and glanced at them. Four pennies and a dime. He squatted down and laid one of the pennies up tight against the wall of the corridor that led back to Daniel and the garbage chute.
Zat up, he ventured left down the intersecting hallway.
+ + +
[ rust ]
The corridors were all long and empty and void of doors or windows or any sort of markings. They were all an off-white, garish hue that was smooth and shiny and cool. Creepy to the extreme. Jack would have rather been searching for his team in a jungle full of snakes and starving tigers.
He’d used up 3 of the pennies when the corridor he was in suddenly turned right and opened up into a small room. He saw white-suited people moving around and working over tables of equipment. He eased forward, trying to see their faces. They were silent and didn’t talk or cough or make any sort of noise. They stood at their tables and worked on what looked like computer or electronic equipment. When one of them suddenly looked up and straight at Jack, he froze, finger tapping the trigger of his zat. The worker looked away again without a word and nothing happened.
Jack chewed at his lip, thinking about this. Daniel had acted the same way. It was as if he hadn’t seen Jack at all until Jack had interfered with him and made him stop.
Jack conducted an experiment and stepped out into the middle of the hall. He walked slowly into the room. A few workers glanced up, seemingly momentarily disturbed, but then they all returned to work. No alarms. No yelling, no screaming, no shooting.
It sent a prickle along the back of his neck. The Replicators were the same way. They ignored you as long as you weren’t a threat, but bump the wrong one and suddenly they swarmed.
He eased his way into their midst, searching the faces. Carter wasn’t here.
A man with vacant eyes walked past him and out of the room. Jack hurried to follow. They walked a long way down a corridor, bypassing any intersecting hallways. When they reached the end, the man stepped onto an elevator, and Jack let the doors close before he got there. He didn’t want to press his luck. There were no call buttons of any sort, so he stood there until the doors opened again. The elevator was empty. He turned and laid his last penny right along the edge of the doorway.
When he stepped in, the doors shushed closed behind him. He glanced around the unit. It didn’t feel like he was moving. He saw a faint outline in the wall of the car, and he studied it. There were several small indentations with holes in them. They looked like some sort of electrical plugs. When he touched the outline, a small panel opened. And finally… some buttons!
They were old and cracked, and grime was caked around their edges. A thick layer of dust covered everything, and it was in stark contrast to the white, eerily clean walls of the elevator. It hadn’t been disturbed in a very long while. It would have taken a long time to get that much dust in a place that was basically enclosed and protected.
Jack scanned the lettering. Numbers, letters, a few specifics like: SHELTER, MEDICAL, TESTING, and… Jack’s heart skipped… QUARANTINE. Seriously? It was going to be that easy?
He hit the button, and he felt the slightest ripple as the elevator began to move. He suddenly began to think that maybe walking directly into Quarantine wasn’t such a good idea. If there were any non-zombie-ish type humans or robots around, it was very likely that they’d be involved in security. He took the second zat from his belt and held them both ready, facing the door.
It did him no good since when the car gave a small jerk and stopped, the door he hadn’t seen that was set into the wall behind him opened instead. He whirled around, surprised, fingers already squeezing on the triggers of the zats.
No one was there.
It was very dark.
He stepped out of the elevator and stood there. The doors shut behind him again, taking away what little light he’d had. A moist, clammy, cold settled against his skin. He heard water running somewhere, hitting stones. When he clicked his flashlight on, he aimed it toward the walls. They were gray stone, crumbling but thick. In a few long, deep cracks, green algae grew.
There were old light fixtures on the ceiling, but a brief search found no switches to turn them on. The room he had stepped into was abandoned. And not recently. Tables and chairs sat awkwardly on broken legs, covered in dust. His feet shuffled through disintegrating paper and powdery dirt.
It was a small and enclosed area. Only one lowly and dark corridor led off from the main room. He aimed his flashlight down it and crept forward.
There were metal bars embedded into the stone. They were broken and bent and had once separated the long hallway into different segments. When he stepped through the first set, he began to see doors in the walls. Metal doors molded to the stone, covered in steel bars. In some, the stone had given way and the doors leaned perilously away from their hinges, or they had just fallen down instead.
He took the time to aim the light into each cell. Most were empty. Some held bones. He saw a few human skulls. A few skeletons that looked anything but human as well.
The far end of the cellblock seemed to have faired better than the rest. It was newer and the stones were filled in with some sort of cement. Metal girders supported the ceiling. There were few cells here, all of them closed and dark and silent. When he shone his light into one, something moved. The barred window was small and he couldn’t get a good angle. He tried to move the light around and identify what he was seeing, but it was difficult.
“Hey!” he whispered loudly.
There was a soft noise in return. Jack thought he heard a whisper-thin, “O’Neill”.
He pulled back and slid the light around the outside of the door, looking for a way in. The bars across it were thick and sat neatly in snug cavities carved into the stone just to hold them. He had to walk back down the hall scanning the wall with the flashlight until he found a lever. He breathed a sigh of relief that was short-lived when he attempted to move the lever and found it stuck fast. He kicked at it. Nothing.
He swore under his breath and tramped back up the corridor to the main room, looking through the debris there for anything useful. He found a mostly intact table leg and returned to give the stubborn lever a good whack. He swung it against the lever and the wooden leg broke with a loud crack. Splinters spun off into the darkness.
Jack gave a growl of anger and kicked the lever again. It didn’t budge. In a rather insane moment, he felt like yelling at the building itself to give Teal’c up or face the wrath of Earth. It would have been stupid and untrue since if Hammond could have helped them, he would have by now.
He pulled out one of the zats and fired at the lever. There was a crackling sound and the lever suddenly drooped a few inches. Jack stared at it with renewed vigor and stuffed the zat back into his belt. He tapped the lever first, testing for any nasty surprises that the zat’s beam might have set into motion. It was cold and dead, so he pulled on it. It grudgingly gave way, and the bars across all the doors on that side of that corridor slid back.
He hurried back to the occupied cell. The door pulled open easily, and Jack aimed his flashlight ahead as he entered warily. He heard movement from the corner and swung his flashlight in that direction. There was a body moving there on the floor, and suddenly his beam centered on something familiar. A SGC arm patch.
“Teal’c?” He moved the light upward, catching the glint of a gold symbol on a dark forehead. Dark eyes squinted into the light, and Jack shifted it slightly so it was less blinding.
“O’Neill,” Teal’c said conversationally, as if Jack had just stopped in for tea on a Sunday afternoon. His voice was scratchy and weak though, and when he held an arm up against Jack’s light, it trembled.
Jack went down hard on his knees next to the Jaffa. “Teal’c! For cryin’ out loud… “ Jack had to grab Teal’c and steady him as he started to lean over.
“Water,” Teal’c said.
Jack pulled his canteen from the back of his belt and unscrewed the cap. He lifted it to Teal’c’s mouth and let him drink. Teal’c drank greedily and his big hand closed around Jack’s and tried to tip it further. Jack pulled the canteen out of his grip carefully. “Not too much. Let your system absorb it.” He rested back on his heels and squeezed Teal’c’s shoulder warmly. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“As are you, O’Neill,” Teal’c replied. He seemed to have no energy to smile, but his dark eyes glinted in relief.
“And you’re not a zombie either. That’s good. Very good.”
Teal’c managed to raise his eyebrow. Jack lifted the canteen and let him have a little more water. “I found Daniel on my way here.” He explained the rest briefly, omitting the details.
Teal’c listened and leaned back against the stone wall with a troubled expression. “I woke here and have not seen nor heard another living being until this moment.”
Jack took the canteen back. “No food or water?”
“None.”
Jack sighed. “I don’t suppose you know where Carter is then?”
“I do not, O’Neill.” Teal’c’s voice softened.
“All right, well, we’ll find her.”
“Indeed.”
“How about the stargate?”
“I do not know.”
Jack nodded and took a deep breath. “Can you get up now?”
“I will try.”
Jack hooked his canteen back onto his belt and looped an arm across Teal’c’s back, pulling him upward. Teal’c slowly stood, his legs a bit unsteady, his arm clutching Jack’s shoulder heavily.
“We’ve got a ways to go, T. We’ll stop to rest, but I don’t know how much longer they’re going to let me walk around in here without doing something about it.”
Teal’c grunted in reply, and they stepped out of the cell. Jack had to support him to a great degree, and they lumbered slowly down the hall. When they reached the elevator, Jack propped Teal’c up in the corner and then discovered his next problem. He had no idea what level he’d been on when he first entered the elevator to come down. The buttons hadn’t been lit and there’d been no screen to tell riders what level they were currently at.
He sighed and pushed the lowest number. The elevator began moving. He turned back and considered Teal’c. He’d have to take Teal’c and Daniel and get out of here. They’d have to come back for Carter when Teal’c was in better shape. If he found Sam and she was in bad straights, or he had to zat her, there’d be no way he could get all three of them out by himself. He had a feeling from all he’d seen so far that Carter would likely not be as easy to find. If they had a way to brainwash people, and they had any knowledge at all of what Carter’s mind was capable of, then she’d be held in a much more secure location.
The doors opened, and Jack glanced down for the penny. Nope. He hit the next number.
Nine numbers later, he spied the penny and shuffled his arm under Teal’c’s again to help him out into the corridor. He picked up the penny.
Teal’c seemed to get a bit stronger as they walked. Jack stopped twice to let him take a long drink from the canteen. As Jack picked up his last penny, he heard a loud rumbling. It rose in pitch and volume until it seemed to be a painful whine. The building vibrated with it, and as they made their way down the last long corridor and toward the recycling chute control room, there was a soft shuffling behind them. Jack glanced back to see people in white suits moving quickly across the intersecting hallways in the distance.
“What is happening?” Teal’c asked.
“I think they know we’re here,” Jack said tightly. He stepped up their pace, grabbing the arm Teal’c had slung across his shoulder in one hand and his belt in the other. Teal’c moved his legs stubbornly, but Jack still half-dragged him. “T, I left Daniel unconscious. I had to zat him to keep him from walking away. I’m going to need you to walk or I’ll have to leave one of you behind and come back for you.”
Teal’c’s voice was quiet and determined. “I will walk.”
Jack glanced behind them, but no one pursued them. He helped Teal’c ease through the hatch and onto the ladder by sitting on the edge and bracing his feet against the opposite edge while Teal’c climbed down. When he’d landed safely on the floor and confirmed that Daniel was still lying where Jack had left him, Jack stood and jogged over to the control panel at the far end of the room. He jerked the lever down that Daniel had moved earlier. There was a grating sound of metal on metal. Jack raced back and jumped down through the hatch.
Daniel was moving but out of it. Far more out of it than a simple zatting would have created. He didn’t seem to know where he was or who he was, or even how to move his own body. Jack hauled him up, pulling him along the same way he’d dragged Teal’c. T walked disjointedly behind them, arm braced on the wall to direct him and keep him balanced.
The whine was still there. It hadn’t changed any further in pitch or intensity. Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe it was something normal, and they hadn’t been found out at all. He wasn’t going to bet on his luck right now though.
Daniel muttered nonsensically as they made their way through the narrow tunnel. Jack hoped there wasn’t more to opening the garbage chute than the lever or they’d be royally screwed.
The chute was open. He sent Teal’c down first. His shoulders screamed under the strain of trying to ease the Jaffa down to where the cord waited. Teal’c’s arms quivered as he tried to lower himself down the rope. He gave up half way down and let go, falling onto his back on top of the junk heap. Jack stared down anxiously until Teal’c got to his knees and looked back up at him.
He pulled Daniel to the edge and eased them both down to the ladder. Daniel moved by himself, but only sporadically. Jack wished he had some rope to tie around Daniel’s chest. He was sure he was going to drop Daniel as soon as their weight left the ladder. Teal’c stood below, directly beneath them. Jack didn’t think he’d have the strength to catch someone Daniel’s size and weight, but they’d have to go with it.
As he started to swing around and grab the rope with his legs, Daniel suddenly gasped and tightened his hold on Jack’s shoulders. It helped. Jack lowered them; air tight in his lungs, pain blossoming along his biceps and his shoulders, until he felt Teal’c tap his boot. He felt Daniel tugged from his grasp, and he let go, falling onto his ass and sliding down the side of the heap a little ways.
When he looked back up, Teal’c was sliding down beside him, Daniel under his arm. Jack pulled Daniel up, and Teal’c helped him drag the archeologist toward one of the doorways.
“Where are we, O’Neill?” Teal’c’s voice was still scratchy but sounded stronger.
“The creepy city outside of the creepy building,” Jack answered in clipped tones. Teal’c fell silent.
When they reached the street, Jack glanced around. “I found some of our gear and stashed it over there.” He jerked his head toward the alley to their right. “We’re going to have to find a place to hunker down for a while. I’ll come back for the gear.”
But even as they started into the street, there was an unusual sound from a distance. Jack stopped them in the middle of the narrow road and cocked his head, listening. “What the hell is that?”
It was a low, uneven rumbling that sounded like a fleet of Humvees coming toward them. It surprised Jack for a moment, until he heard the unmistakable squeal of heavy air brakes.
Teal’c glanced at him. “I do not like this.”
Jack nodded. “Me either. Let’s go. Back there.”
They turned around and headed for the alley. The packs were stowed exactly where Jack had spent the past two nights, tucked away in an obscure corner of the architecture and shielded by the square bulk of a humming energy transformer. They lowered Daniel to the ground next to the packs, and Jack drew the two zats. He handed one to Teal’c. “Stay with Daniel. I’m going to take a look.”
“Be careful, O’Neill.” It was not a request. It was a Jaffa order.
Jack nodded absently, and readied his zat, creeping up to the street again. He could still hear the rumbling, but nothing was in sight yet. He’d been in the building longer than he thought. The disorienting, black night that came to this city was creeping up quickly. He suspected the days on this planet were shorter than on Earth, but it was hard to tell without a watch. He had time to miss Carter who would have blinked at him and shrugged and then built him a sundial or some other sort of time-keeping device, and he’d have known how long the days were down to the tenth of a second by dinnertime.
Who the hell were these people? Were they even people?
He jogged toward the noise, and when he reached the end of the block, he plastered himself up against the wall of the building there. He peered around the corner and looked down the street. At first he didn’t see anything, but then… He saw lights in the distance. Red beams moving back and forth across the road and over the buildings. Jack watched them for a while. They moved slowly and came minutely closer as time passed.
He didn’t dare move any closer for a better look, so he waited. The street he stood on remained empty and mostly silent. Eventually, he made out a line of vehicles coming down the road. Trucks with heavy engines and big wheels and large beds in the back for cargo. Troop carriers. Something told him he’d just discovered the Interceptors.
Thin, dark, humanoid shapes moved around them. The red beams of light were coming from helmets they wore. It looked like some sort of night vision technology, and Jack’s mouth ran dry. As the convoy reached an intersection, two of the trucks split off and turned down the perpendicular streets. A group of the humans went with them. A man that stayed with the convoy motioned up the street in Jack’s general direction, and they started forward again.
There were two more intersections before the street that Jack stood on, but he’d seen enough. More trucks would branch off at those intersections, and the red beams would hit everything. They were searching for something. Someone.
Probably an escaped prisoner and an abducted zombie.
Jack hurried back to Teal’c and Daniel. Teal’c sat with his back against a building wall, zat resting on his knee, canteen between his legs. His eyes glinted at Jack in the growing darkness. “What is it?” He demanded.
“Convoy of troops. The soldiers have these helmets with weird red beams they’re aiming everywhere.”
“Thermal imaging?” Teal’c looked concerned.
“Don’t know, but there’s no way we’re getting out of here without being seen. Not with Daniel unconscious and you barely able to walk.”
Teal’c started to protest, but Jack shushed him with a waving hand. He glanced around at the building’s walls and then laid a hand on the energy transformer that hid them from view of the street. It wasn’t a bad hideout really. He had to make a decision. Now.
“We stay here,” he ordered. Teal’c looked alarmed, but Jack repeated the shushing motion and hunkered down, pulling their packs in tight behind the transformer along with them. “If it is thermal imaging, this transformer… thing, will mask our body heat. It’s almost hot to the touch. The rest of the buildings are covered in some strange sort of metal. I think it’s heat resistant. Unless they walk right up on us, I don’t think they’ll see us. We’re tucked away in a corner, but it’s still sort of out in the open. Maybe they won’t waste the time.”
Teal’c looked doubtful, but he nodded his agreement that there was little option for anything else. “Very well.” He slid over and helped Jack push their packs up against the wall that formed the end of the alley. They pulled Daniel in to lie between them. They rested with their backs against the transformer and their feet against the packs.
They could hear the distinct sound of the trucks clearly now. There was no sound of humans talking. No shouts or orders or soldiers running. Just silence and the occasional sound of a truck braking.
Between them, Daniel fidgeted and let out a low moan. Jack gritted his teeth in the dark and pulled Daniel up against him so Daniel rested against his side. Jack slid an arm around his shoulders, ready to clamp a hand over the unconscious man’s mouth if he started making noise. Daniel’s head drooped down against his chest.
Teal’c froze. “O’Neill.”
Jack jerked his head up at Teal’c’s warning tone. In the darkness he saw it. It had been hidden before by the light in the building, and because he hadn’t been looking. But now he saw it clearly.
A small red light glowed beneath Daniel’s skin at the base of his skull. Jack stared at it. He glanced up at Teal’c. Teal’c returned the worried stare.
“Tracking device?” Teal’c asked quietly.
“Possibly.” Jack poked at the light with his index finger. It moved along with the skin on Daniel’s nape. “Looks like it’s only skin deep.”
The light flickered and then started a steady pulsing.
“I do not think that is good,” Teal’c said.
“Shit,” Jack swore with a violent whisper and nudged Daniel into Teal’c’s arms. “Hold him, Teal’c.” The brawny arms closed around Daniel, and one hand wrapped around his head.
Jack dug the swiss army knife out of his pocket and flipped up the smallest blade. It was shiny, even in the darkness, and had a fine, sharp edge to it. Thank God for Carter’s neurotic cleanliness and order concerning her weapons.
“Are you going to attempt to cut it out?” Teal’c asked.
“Yeah.” Jack got on his knees awkwardly, trying to keep his head down and shielded by the transformer. He turned toward Teal’c and Daniel and sat on his heels.
“You could injure Daniel Jackson severely,” Teal’c pointed out, but he pressed the side of Daniel’s head to his chest and held it tightly, his other arm wrapping around Daniel’s back and arms to hold him steady.
Jack took an uneasy breath and shot Teal’c an irritated glance. “I know… “
Teal’c nodded.
Jack brought the knife up and considered the blinking light. It was about the size of a dime and looked to be embedded just under the skin. Hopefully it didn’t have any extra wiring that ran deep into Daniel’s brain. Jack really didn’t relish the idea of giving Daniel a lobotomy. The archeologist could be difficult and demanding and geeky to a fault, but Jack had grown rather used to hearing Daniel’s voice in his head when he faced a difficult decision. He’d never admit it to anyone, but he rather enjoyed their sparring. When the fate of the Earth wasn’t resting on the outcome that was.
He slid the sharp tip of the knife into Daniel’s skin at the edge of the light. A dark speck of blood sprang up and Daniel’s body stiffened. Teal’c held him tighter. Jack sliced quickly across the width of the light and then tried to prod the light through the small incision. When that didn’t work, and Daniel gave a grunt, he cut up from the corner of the incision to make an ‘L’. He used the knife tip to lift the flap of skin, and there was a small, clear, square chip, flashing red. Jack used his thumb to hold the flap of skin and used the tip of the knife to pry at the corner of the chip. It came up easily and fell off Daniel’s skin and onto Jack’s leg.
“Ehh,” Jack grimaced.
“Take it,” Teal’c ordered. “I will take care of Daniel Jackson.”
“Bit bossy when you’re hungry, aren’t you?” Jack lifted a brow, but he wiped the knife quickly on his sleeve and closed it, sliding it into his jacket pocket. He picked up the chip and the flashlight and gave a quick glance over the top of the transformer. No one there yet. He slipped away down the alley.
+ + +
Teal’c
Teal’c tried to open the nearest pack without letting go of Daniel. Daniel still moved restlessly, and Teal’c feared he’d alert the beings searching for them. Even sitting, Teal’c’s legs complained and trembled a bit from their forced march out of his prison. It wasn’t something he was used to, and he pushed down a wish for O’Neill to return quickly. He was a Jaffa. He could handle such things as this.
The medkit was at the top of O’Neill’s pack, and he fumbled it open, pulling out a bandage and an antiseptic wipe in a foil packet. Daniel seemed to settle back down again, and Teal’c quickly tried to bandage his neck in the darkness.
He took another long drink from the canteen when he was finished. Hunger had come and gone back in the cell, but the thirst had grown and driven him nearly crazy. Kel-no-reem had helped, and it had allowed his body to use its scarce resources at a much slower pace, but still he and his symbiote weakened steadily.
But O’Neill had found him, and Teal’c could not help the burst of pride in his own good choice of friends. O’Neill would never let him down. Daniel Jackson would recover, and they would find Major Carter. Teal’c had been a soldier longer than O’Neill had been alive. He knew the unpredictability of battle and of life. O’Neill had given him hope where once there was none, and when O’Neill said it was not over, well, it was not over.
The trucks were closer now. It sounded like they were on this street or very close. It was nearly black as pitch except for the ungodly reflection of the odd, smooth, dark metal of the buildings and the power transformer.
There was a scuffling sound and then O’Neill dropped roughly down on the other side of Daniel, breath hard in his lungs. Teal’c lowered the zat he’d jerked up in surprise.
“They are near,” Teal’c stated, very quietly. He waited for O’Neill to confirm.
“Yeah,” Jack confirmed. “Stay down and stay quiet.”
“The chip?” Teal’c inquired.
“I took it back and threw it on the junk pile. Hopefully it’s close enough that they’ll think the signal was coming from there the whole time.”
Teal’c nodded. It was good. O’Neill’s strategy was sound.
A thin, red beam of light moved across the wall above them. They froze, crowding in toward Daniel to keep him encased between them, and then they held their breath and waited.
+ + +
[ mechanical law ]
Jack
Neither he nor Teal’c slept that night. Jack wanted to tell him to kel-no-reem but didn’t dare. He needed another set of senses and a steady zat hand. Well, T wasn’t the most steady he’d ever been, but Jack would rather have a weakened Teal’c at his back than two Marines any day.
The thin, red beams of light swept the alley again and again. They could hear the trucks and the scuff of boots on the surface of the road. The Interceptors were apparently relying only on technology though, and not the eye of man. Technology could be fooled. So could man, but that was harder since men knew how other men thought. No one walked down the alley to physically check behind the power transformer. They remained unfound.
When the sounds became more distant, Jack pulled an MRE from his pack and handed it to Teal’c. Teal’c met his eyes over Daniel’s sleeping body. “How much do we have, O’Neill?”
Jack grimaced a bit. “I’ve only found Carter’s and my own pack so far. 11 MRE’s. We’re down to 2 canteens of water.”
Teal’c’s jaw tightened. He motioned at the plastic pouch. “Take your share first.”
“This one’s all yours. I had one yesterday. Come on… you need the calories.”
Teal’c hesitated, but Jack put on his hard expression and Teal’c capitulated. “Very well.” He took the pouch and the fork offered and began to eat. Jack felt better then. If they were going to have any chance of recovering Carter and getting off this miserable planet, they needed Teal’c at full strength.
Daniel looked healthy enough, except for the weird mumbling and unconsciousness. Jack managed to get some water down him during one of his semi-lucid moments. Jack was beginning to become concerned that he’d done permanent damage to Daniel when he’d zatted him.
“Teal’c. Can you hold on for a while without kel-no-reem, uh, -ing?”
“I can.”
“Good. You’re going to have to. When it gets light, I’m going to go find us a real place to hide. You’ll need to watch Daniel.”
“I understand.”
Jack glanced at him with a deep breath. “I don’t know what the hell we wandered into here, but we are getting out. All of us.”
Teal’c held his gaze for a few moments in silence before answering. “I believe you, O’Neill.”
+ + +
Part 2
+
+
Yes, I'm aware of the misspelling. *shrugs*
Ghosts in the Machine
By Jennghis Kahn
+ + +
Rated- PG-13.
Genre- Action/Adventure, angst, a bit of team whumping, a lot of team love
Pairing- None (my team love can be a bit on the affectionate side though)
Summary- Hm. Sort of alien-ish and sort of cyberpunk-ish. SG-1 struggles within a hostile environment and tries to find their way home.
A/N- Written for eve11 for the SG1 Team ficathon. She wanted a new gate address and didn’t want trees, ruins or the Goa’uld.
Thanks to Courser for the once over. It was duty above and beyond this time, bud.
+ + +
+ + +
[ dislocated ]
Sam
There was an anomaly in the system.
She could feel it. It wasn’t critical, and there were more important matters to attend to so she tried to ignore it. There were little bits of data hanging up on it though, and the anomaly picked at her brain. She kept looking at it.
She could divert the stream around it and return to fix it later, when other systems didn’t need as much attention.
She diverted the flow and then left her signature. She laid down a trail of breadcrumbs so she could find it again.
When the stream was running smoothly, she relaxed. And then she tensed.
Something was wrong.
She felt it like a power surge. Somebody was just outside. Somebody…
Her heart sped up. There was a strange sense of déjà vu and something else… something more tactile. Then it was gone, and the air seemed clearer.
She turned her attention back to the data stream and forgot.
+ + +
Daniel
He hesitated when he saw her. He furrowed his brows.
Suddenly he was standing next to her and he couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do. There was something… something interesting here. Something he needed to study closer. He was leaning close to her and she didn’t move. He thought that maybe he was supposed to touch her, so he brought his fingers close…
There was a click in his head and then he was standing at the door, the woman forgotten. There was an obsolete unit in Sector 10 that needed to be recycled. He started forward, and he didn’t look back.
+ + +
Teal’c
The cell was dark and cool, and he could hear water running somewhere behind the stone walls. He was underground, possibly quite deep.
He was not sure if it was night or day or how much time had passed since they’d stepped through the stargate into this world. Days, weeks… maybe hours, and he only thought it was longer because he was losing his mind.
No. No, it had been days at least. Not much longer. In the time since he woke in this place, no one had approached him. He had not heard any voice other than his own, and no one had brought him food or water.
He was very thirsty. His symbiote was conserving energy. His throat ached from the lack of water and from his shouts into nothingness. He’d called for his captors at first, at times both enraged and calm, but that seemed like a long time ago now. Now he only called for O’Neill. He was not sure if Major Carter or Daniel Jackson were alive or dead, free or confined, but he refused to give away their numbers or risk their possible freedom by calling out their names.
By calling for O’Neill, he called for all of SG-1.
They would not leave him in this place to die; of this he was sure. Whether or not they would find him in time was another matter.
But his symbiote would keep him alive… for awhile at least. For now he had time to wait.
+ + +
[ obsolete ]
Jack
Jack woke slowly and confused. Not always an unusual state for him.
Somewhat more uncommon was the stench that hit his sinuses and sliced through his haze of sleep.
Pain pounded in Jack’s head, and he felt an immobilizing lethargy through every inch of his body. He was weak. He froze when he felt a tugging at his jacket. Fingers pulled at his jacket’s zipper. He heard breathing. He barely opened his eyes, peering out through mere slits.
He was too groggy to notice anything except the man’s beard, dark but threaded with gray, and the way he mumbled to himself as he pulled and grabbed at the jacket’s zipper. Jack brought his hand up suddenly and grabbed the man’s wrist. It took a lot of effort.
The man gasped and looked, startled, into Jack’s open eyes. “You’re alive,” he exclaimed.
“Yes,” Jack whispered hoarsely.
The man easily freed his hand from Jack’s grip, and he jumped back on his heels and considered Jack with a frightened look. “Are you obsolete?”
Jack struggled to stay awake. His head ached fiercely and shadows swam in his vision. “Huh?”
The man ran his gaze down Jack’s form. His eyes stopped on Jack’s chest and with nimble fingers, he picked up one of Jack’s dog tags and stared at it.
Jack grabbed his wrist again. “Mine,” he whispered.
The man jerked his hand back and considered Jack suspiciously. “You’re an Interceptor.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But the man was panicking now, eyes wild. “Then you’re a crawler!” His feet had a hard time finding traction as he scrambled to his feet and ran away.
Jack passed out.
+ + +
[ dissonance ]
When he woke again, his head had stopped with the painful pounding. His body still ached, and he slowly became aware of something hard poking him in the back. He shifted with a groan, and then came fully awake as he slid downward a few feet. He flipped himself over onto his stomach and looked around.
He was lying at the foot of a huge pile of… junk. It could have easily filled the gateroom at the SGC, and there was a foul scent emanating from within it. Metal, plastic, paper, fabric, and things he couldn’t begin to identify surrounded him. The pile was in a big yard and surrounded by a fence. A circular building towered above the yard. He supposed it was a building anyway. It was building-sized, but had no windows. Nor any sharp corners. It was rounded and a dull, dark, gunmetal gray. Actually, it looked as if it were made of metal as well. It was several dozen stories high where he sat looking up at it. He couldn’t see further as the top seemed to disappear into darkness.
There was a sharp, scraping noise above him, and when he looked up, two doors opened in an extension protruding from the building. He was suddenly rained with debris, and he frantically scrambled away from the pile. He sat with his back against a wall and looked around. He saw no sign of the rest of SG-1, nor any other human being, with the exception of the man who’d tried to steal his jacket earlier. Somehow Jack didn’t think he was a typical representation of the people of this world.
He couldn’t remember much. He remembered stepping through the gate. He vaguely remembered coming through the other side with Carter grinning at him like he’d just said something witty, and Daniel had been furrowing his brow because they’d gated into a small, enclosed room. He thought he remembered Teal’c shouting a warning. Then… nothing.
Not good.
He didn’t have his P-90 anymore, nor his pistol or his knife or his radio or anything that was on his belt or in his pack.
Definitely not good.
He debated whether or not to call out and then gave a tentative shout. There was nothing but silence in reply.
From the way his body felt and the way he’d woke, he could logically assume he’d been dumped from the same chute that had created the pile. He approached it again and began digging through it. Maybe he was just the first to wake. Maybe the rest of his team was buried or hurt or… dead. He ignored the tight feeling that thought brought to his chest.
He found his pack all the way on the other side of the pile. It sat alone on the ground, opened and the contents strewn close by. He thought the resident bum must have gone through it. Oddly, most of its contents seemed to be there. MRE’s, rain gear, MOPP suit, flashlight, medkit, his canteens, the small emergency kit he’d put together. A little further around the pile, and he found his zat.
His heart climbed up into his mouth when he found Daniel’s jacket and then Carter’s pack. Carter carried their “odds-and-ends” box, a small kit they’d built together as a team over time. Most platoons had carried one in ‘Nam and later in Iraq. It held incidentals that had proven useful in the past and might prove useful again: extra glasses for Daniel, needles and thread, batteries, a razor blade, a precision toolkit, various small parts for the P-90’s and their pistols, shoelaces, wax, fuses, a magnet. Carter called it their “MacGyver Kit”. It was one of their most valuable possessions as a team.
It was enough to tell him that the rest of SG-1 was not in this area. He was in an enclosed yard. Evidently a dumping place for whoever lived here.
Further exploration revealed several ways out of the junkyard. He peered warily outside and felt a cold lump settle in his gut. There were narrow streets and long, rounded, rectangular buildings. Everything was made of that same dark metal. The ground seemed to vibrate beneath him sometimes, and he heard a continuous low drone, as if this were one big beehive. Ominous.
There was not one person to be seen. It was nearly dark. The streets were shadowed and still.
He dragged the gear he’d found out of the junkyard and into a sort of maintenance alley between the yard and the huge building. He hid both packs and the jacket behind a humming box of metal that seemed warm to the touch. He took his zat and went exploring.
He didn’t go far. The buildings all looked the same; the streets were so similar that he found himself growing confused. He hadn’t found his compass, and there were no specific landmarks to navigate by other than the big circular building next to the junkyard. When he glanced up, he saw only a strange darkness, no stars. This made him pause. He’d lost his watch, but he was sure that several hours had passed since he’d looked out across the city for the first time. He’d thought it was growing dark then, but now he wasn’t so sure. It had grown neither darker nor lighter since he’d set out. The streets stayed shadowed but light enough for him to make his way.
“The hell?” He muttered to himself, glancing upward again. It was then that he could see the faint glow to the black sky. As if something burned behind it. Was he in a dome of some sort? He felt wind on his skin, but if the dome was big enough…
He made his way back to the junkyard and his hidden gear. The entire time, he didn’t see another living soul. He didn’t hear anything but that constant hum and the occasional light scrape of metal on metal. All of the buildings were cool to the touch, and the metal felt strange. It wasn’t finished the way the steel on Earth was. It felt thick and somehow soft, as if he could dig into it with the tip of his knife and carve his initials. It sucked the warmth from his hand when he touched it. Heat resistant.
He’d grown more nervous then. He didn’t like the industrial flavor of this city. Machines didn’t sit well with him. He had Carter to deal with the systems, Daniel to tell him how to deal with the humans, Teal’c to watch their backs and pick up what the rest of them missed. Jack felt a bit naked without them.
The city did eventually grow darker. There were no streetlights or any other sort of illumination for navigation at night, and without the stars it was nearly pitch black. He dragged his gear into an isolated and protected corner of the alley and bedded down. Tomorrow he’d have to decide on a plan. Tonight he’d save his resources and listen to the city and see what happened. He wanted his missing team back.
The temperature dropped much more than he’d expected. The blackness was disorienting and disturbing. He’d been few places in his lifetime where there’d been no light at all. His body still ached from being thrown onto the junk pile. When he eased fingers over the top of his shoulder, he felt the bruising there. He pressed his back to the building’s wall and rested his head on Carter’s pack. Daniel’s jacket worked well as a blanket. And if he took a little comfort in the familiar scents entwined into the fabrics, well, no one ever had to know.
+ + +
The next morning- or at least he thought it was morning since it had grown less dark again- he renewed his search of the junkyard. He found one more zat and Carter’s jacket with a ball of clothing zipped up inside of it. Inspection revealed it to be the rest of both Carter’s and Daniel’s BDU’s and Carter’s boots. It scared him.
He didn’t find Daniel’s or Teal’c’s packs, nor did he find Teal’c’s staff weapon or any of their weapons beyond the zats. He found two more canteens that were marked with Carter’s name, and then he found Daniel’s boots. He found one radio that made his heart race in anticipation, but no one answered his call.
+ + +
That afternoon, he saw the lone- so far as he could tell- human occupant of the city again. The bearded man wore an odd-looking, long green coat and stood quite a ways down one of the streets and watched him. When Jack called to him, the man stepped out of sight. When Jack went to investigate, he found the man gone and no sign of him left to follow. Jack left a power bar sitting on the big humming box there. They seemed to be placed on every corner and reminded him of the electrical transformers on Earth. Hopefully the guy would want more and be willing to trade information for food. If not… maybe he could be convinced to talk in other ways.
They’d try the friendship route first. If that failed, well… Jack had never been afraid to make enemies.
+ + +
[ non-conformist ]
The circular building next to the junkyard seemed to be bigger than the others. While most of the buildings were several stories high but long and narrow, often running for several blocks, the building next to the junkyard was tall and cylindrical. It rose many of dozens stories in the air, and it took Jack nearly an hour to walk around its circumference. He could see indentations in the metal where doors were placed, some quite large, but no amount of prying or pushing seemed to budge them. He found no hidden latches or buttons either.
This building was the key. He was sure of it. This was the logical place to start looking for his team. Something or someone had to live there. Whoever was inside had thrown him out along with his team’s gear. The building hummed louder than the rest, and when he put his hands against it, it vibrated beneath them. There was always a cool wind sweeping down the streets around it.
Access was obvious. He’d have to climb back up into the garbage chute when it opened to expel debris. He needed more gear though. He was relieved beyond measure to have the zats, but this planet made him uneasy in the same way the Replicators unnerved him. Maybe they’d thrown the zats away because they were useless weapons here.
While he combed through the odds and ends in the junk pile, hoping to find some rope, he looked up to find the bearded man standing at one of the entrances to the junkyard. Jack stood slowly, watching him. The man took a step back. From his clothing and the wary way he kept returning to this place, Jack deduced that the man probably survived off of what he scavenged here each day. Jack’s presence was interrupting the man’s ability to make a living.
“Hey,” Jack called gently. He forced himself to stay where he was and not dive after the man. The man simply watched him, but his feet shuffled nervously. Jack slowly drew a power bar from his pocket. He held it up. The man stared at it. “I just want to talk to you. You can have this if you answer some questions.”
He had no doubt the man understood. The guy had spoken perfect English to Jack while trying to rob him of his clothing.
The man licked his lips and glanced around before answering. “Throw it to me, and I will answer you.”
Jack gave a snort and narrowed his eyes. “I, ah, no, I don’t think so. You talk to me, and then I’ll throw it to you.”
The man wavered. He looked very nervous and kept glancing behind himself. He must have liked the last bar though because he finally motioned at Jack to continue.
Jack proceeded carefully. “What’s your name?”
“I am a bit.”
Jack stared at him. “You’re… what are you?”
“Bit.”
“Bit,” Jack repeated, brows furrowed. Oh-kaaaay. Jesus, he’d give his left eye for Carter and Daniel right now… The man nodded in certainty though. “All right,” Jack sighed.
Jack pointed up at the chute. “What’s up there, Bit?”
Bit looked at Jack as if he were brainless. “The recycling port.”
Jack tried again. He pointed to the big, circular building. “And there?”
Bit didn’t even glance to where he was pointing. “The system.”
“The system?”
Bit remained silent and didn’t react. Apparently he’d given his answer and he felt no need to elaborate.
Jack hesitated for a moment, thinking. Then, “What’s an Interceptor?”
The man’s eyes widened a bit. He chewed his lip nervously. He balked.
Jack tried again with more Colonel in his voice. “What’s an Interceptor?”
“You aren’t from here. You’re a crawler.”
“What’s a crawler?”
“A bug. Why haven’t the Interceptors quarantined you yet?”
“I’m sneaky,” Jack answered grimly. He pointed to the circular building again. “How do I get in?”
Bit looked sad. “There is no going back.” He fidgeted and started backing away. When a creak came from the chute above, he turned to run.
“Hey!” Jack called. Bit glanced back, and Jack threw him the power bar. Bit scooped it up and ran.
Jack stood back and watched the debris rain down onto the pile. As creepy as the city was with its dark days and its deserted streets and its disquieting, warm, humming heartbeat, he had a feeling that going inside would be even more disturbing. He had a very real suspicion that going in meant very likely not coming out again.
Something snaked out toward him from the hail of garbage and landed next to his boot. He tensed and then relaxed and stared down at the length of thick cord at his feet.
But inside he would go… and he wasn’t coming out again unless he had SG-1 in tow. Or they threw his dead body down this chute and into this pile. In that case, maybe Bit would find something useful.
+ + +
The cord turned out to be wire. Similar to the type used on electronics on Earth. Small strands were braided together to make bigger strands. The bigger strands were braided together and then sheathed in rubber. It was quite strong, but stiff and unwieldy, and tying it around anything was out of the question.
Jack used the razor blade from the odds and ends kit to slit open the rubber and reveal a few feet of wire. It was easy, if slightly time consuming, to find a piece of broken and bent metal that would work as a giant hook. He twisted the braids of wire together through his improvised hook and discovered to his surprise that the stiff wire made aiming the climbing device much easier.
He tucked the packs away in the alley, keeping only the two zats, one canteen, his flashlight, the GDO and a swiss army knife he’d found in the bottom of Carter’s pack. Ideally, he’d go in there, find the rest of the team, and they’d find the gate and go home. At the worst, well… there was no need to go there just yet. He hid the packs just in case they’d need them again.
+ + +
He didn’t get into the chute until the next morning. Garbage was dumped several times a day, but he’d had to stand under the stream of debris and look up into it to find a spot to hook his wire. He had a few minutes or so at the end of each dump to make an attempt at securing the wire and then climbing up.
Standing at the top of the pile improved his chances greatly as long as he wasn’t pelted with anything too big.
It took a few tries, including one rather heart-stopping fall back onto the hill of junk that made his shoulder scream in agony, but he finally found himself clinging to the side of the chute on his cord as bits of metal and plastic fell down around him. The chute was lit, and he could see where several smaller chutes emptied into this final, larger one. He also saw a very human-sized access door above him and to the left, a short ladder just below it for use in maintenance.
The lip of the chute, which held his hook, also held his weight like it was nothing. He eased across it to the ladder, dragging the hook with him until it was positioned right beneath the door. He grabbed the ladder and stepped onto its rungs, climbing up to the door. It didn’t budge as he pushed at it, until he tried to slide it sideways. Then it rolled left and revealed a narrow tunnel.
He had to hunch a bit in the tunnel to keep from hitting his head. The lighting was stark and scarce, but it was more than enough to walk carefully and quietly. In here, the hum was more noticeable. Not so much louder as more prevalent. He could feel it in his chest and in his head the way you felt the bass when you stood next to the speakers while watching a band play live. The walls were smooth and shiny and a light color. When he put a hand against them, they felt cool to the touch and purred beneath his palm.
He tried not to touch them too much.
At the end of the tunnel there was a short ladder mounted on the wall leading up through a hatch in the ceiling. He peered upwards, zat ready, but couldn’t see or hear anything. He eased up a few steps and poked his head tentatively through the hatch. He looked into a large, empty room. He heard a sound from one end, and when he glanced over, a human being in a puffy, white, static guard suit, complete with a hood, came through a door and stood at a control panel imbedded into the wall. Jack glanced around, but there didn’t seem to be anybody else in the vicinity.
The human pulled a lever in the wall, and the distinct sound of metal scraping on metal came from the direction of the garbage chute. When lights flashed green on the control panel, the figure turned toward Jack. Jack quickly ducked down below the floor again.
He held the zat ready as footsteps approached the hatch. The figure passed by without a word or even a glance. Jack watched the feet walk by, and then he popped back up to study the figure’s back. The walk was familiar…
Jack hauled himself up and out of the hatch, kneeling on the floor beside it. “Daniel?”
The figure seemed to jerk upright a bit at the sound, and his head turned revealing Daniel’s profile. Then he recovered and simply walked on. Jack frowned. He felt elation at finding one of the members of SG-1 so quickly, but…
He rose quickly and jogged after Daniel. Brief glances behind him told him they were alone. He grabbed Daniel’s shoulder. “Daniel!”
Daniel turned easily in his hands, but his eyes only scanned Jack’s face briefly before he simply walked away.
“Okay. That’s a little zombie-like,” Jack muttered, going after him again. This time, when he grabbed for Daniel’s arm, Daniel simply sidestepped and walked on. “Daniel, goddamn it… “ Jack grabbed his shoulder. Daniel let that shoulder dip down, never breaking stride, and slid out of his grasp. He never looked Jack in the face, nor did he make a sound. It was really creeping Jack out.
He finally stepped in front of Daniel and grabbed him by both shoulders. “Daniel, STOP!”
Daniel stopped. He stood motionless in Jack’s arms, blue eyes locked on a place on Jack’s chest. Jack didn’t like the vapid expression on his face. “What the hell’s the matter with you? Remember me? Jack?”
Daniel stared at his chest and gave no indication he heard or understood. Only his chest moved with the gentle heave of his breath. So he wasn’t a zombie at least… There was a slight glow coming from under the white hood on Daniel’s head, and Jack reached up and shoved the hood off. There was a thin band of metal running over Daniel’s head from temple to temple, faint glowing lights on each end. Jack prodded it with one finger. It stuck fast. He tried to gently pry it up. Daniel grimaced. He let go.
“Great.” Jack glanced around and tried to decide what to do here. He let go of Daniel’s shoulders and Daniel immediately stepped around him and began walking down the corridor again. “Daniel… “ Jack called, frustrated. He realized he had no choice. It was either take Daniel back by force or let him go. And the latter was not an option.
Jack zatted him.
The blue beam swirled around Daniel’s white suit. Daniel gave a soft grunt and sank to the floor. Jack walked up and knelt by his side. The lights on the head device Daniel was wearing were out now. He pressed his fingers to Daniel’s pulse, just to be sure, and then stuck the zat in his belt. He tentatively touched the device, and it slid back easily over Daniel’s hair. Jack ripped it off and tossed it aside. He wrapped his arms around Daniel’s chest from behind and dragged him toward the hatch in the floor. The floor was the same shiny, smooth material as the walls, and made it made the younger, heavier man blissfully easy to drag.
He had a more difficult time easing Daniel’s body down the short ladder, and his knee hollered bloody hell, but finally he had Daniel lying out of sight in the small tunnel.
“Daniel,” he urged, grabbing his chin and shaking it to try and wake him up. Daniel blinked rapidly and this time his eyes focused on Jack. His brows drew together in such a familiar expression that Jack nearly grinned. “You here with me?” Jack asked.
Daniel blinked and seemed to want to fall asleep again.
Jack shook him a bit. “Daniel!” he said sharply, drawing the blue eyes back to his. “Where’s Carter?”
Daniel stared at him, confused.
“Teal’c? Where’s Teal’c?”
More confusion. He was starting to pass out again. Jack took a deep breath and studied him. “The Jaffa? Where’s the Jaffa?”
Daniel’s eyes widened at that, even as they started to close. “Jaffa was quarantined… “
“Where is the quarantine area?”
Daniel’s eyes closed and didn’t open. Jack felt him go limp. He checked Daniel’s pulse again. Strong and steady. He sat there for a moment debating with himself. He could pull Daniel out of here now, take him back to the alley and hope he recovered. Then they could both come back for Carter and Teal’c. Or he could leave Daniel here for a while and try and find the other two on his own. He wasn’t sure if his intrusion had been noticed yet or not. So far there’d been no alarms or people shooting at him, which was good. He should press his advantage while he had it. It might not come again. On the other hand, he had no idea where he was going in here.
He glanced down at Daniel, considering. Finally, he stood. “A few more minutes, okay? If I don’t find anything, I’ll come back and take you out of here.”
He climbed back up through the hatch, glancing back down to make sure Daniel was out of sight.
He walked silently down the corridor, listening intently. He didn’t hear any sounds of human life. Eventually he reached an intersection, and he glanced warily in each direction. They all seemed alike. Nothing stood out in any direction. There were no signs or anything with which to direct himself. He blew a frustrated breath between his lips and ran a hand through his hair. He stuffed a hand into the front pocket of his trousers. At the very bottom tip of the pocket, he felt several coins. He pulled them up and glanced at them. Four pennies and a dime. He squatted down and laid one of the pennies up tight against the wall of the corridor that led back to Daniel and the garbage chute.
Zat up, he ventured left down the intersecting hallway.
+ + +
[ rust ]
The corridors were all long and empty and void of doors or windows or any sort of markings. They were all an off-white, garish hue that was smooth and shiny and cool. Creepy to the extreme. Jack would have rather been searching for his team in a jungle full of snakes and starving tigers.
He’d used up 3 of the pennies when the corridor he was in suddenly turned right and opened up into a small room. He saw white-suited people moving around and working over tables of equipment. He eased forward, trying to see their faces. They were silent and didn’t talk or cough or make any sort of noise. They stood at their tables and worked on what looked like computer or electronic equipment. When one of them suddenly looked up and straight at Jack, he froze, finger tapping the trigger of his zat. The worker looked away again without a word and nothing happened.
Jack chewed at his lip, thinking about this. Daniel had acted the same way. It was as if he hadn’t seen Jack at all until Jack had interfered with him and made him stop.
Jack conducted an experiment and stepped out into the middle of the hall. He walked slowly into the room. A few workers glanced up, seemingly momentarily disturbed, but then they all returned to work. No alarms. No yelling, no screaming, no shooting.
It sent a prickle along the back of his neck. The Replicators were the same way. They ignored you as long as you weren’t a threat, but bump the wrong one and suddenly they swarmed.
He eased his way into their midst, searching the faces. Carter wasn’t here.
A man with vacant eyes walked past him and out of the room. Jack hurried to follow. They walked a long way down a corridor, bypassing any intersecting hallways. When they reached the end, the man stepped onto an elevator, and Jack let the doors close before he got there. He didn’t want to press his luck. There were no call buttons of any sort, so he stood there until the doors opened again. The elevator was empty. He turned and laid his last penny right along the edge of the doorway.
When he stepped in, the doors shushed closed behind him. He glanced around the unit. It didn’t feel like he was moving. He saw a faint outline in the wall of the car, and he studied it. There were several small indentations with holes in them. They looked like some sort of electrical plugs. When he touched the outline, a small panel opened. And finally… some buttons!
They were old and cracked, and grime was caked around their edges. A thick layer of dust covered everything, and it was in stark contrast to the white, eerily clean walls of the elevator. It hadn’t been disturbed in a very long while. It would have taken a long time to get that much dust in a place that was basically enclosed and protected.
Jack scanned the lettering. Numbers, letters, a few specifics like: SHELTER, MEDICAL, TESTING, and… Jack’s heart skipped… QUARANTINE. Seriously? It was going to be that easy?
He hit the button, and he felt the slightest ripple as the elevator began to move. He suddenly began to think that maybe walking directly into Quarantine wasn’t such a good idea. If there were any non-zombie-ish type humans or robots around, it was very likely that they’d be involved in security. He took the second zat from his belt and held them both ready, facing the door.
It did him no good since when the car gave a small jerk and stopped, the door he hadn’t seen that was set into the wall behind him opened instead. He whirled around, surprised, fingers already squeezing on the triggers of the zats.
No one was there.
It was very dark.
He stepped out of the elevator and stood there. The doors shut behind him again, taking away what little light he’d had. A moist, clammy, cold settled against his skin. He heard water running somewhere, hitting stones. When he clicked his flashlight on, he aimed it toward the walls. They were gray stone, crumbling but thick. In a few long, deep cracks, green algae grew.
There were old light fixtures on the ceiling, but a brief search found no switches to turn them on. The room he had stepped into was abandoned. And not recently. Tables and chairs sat awkwardly on broken legs, covered in dust. His feet shuffled through disintegrating paper and powdery dirt.
It was a small and enclosed area. Only one lowly and dark corridor led off from the main room. He aimed his flashlight down it and crept forward.
There were metal bars embedded into the stone. They were broken and bent and had once separated the long hallway into different segments. When he stepped through the first set, he began to see doors in the walls. Metal doors molded to the stone, covered in steel bars. In some, the stone had given way and the doors leaned perilously away from their hinges, or they had just fallen down instead.
He took the time to aim the light into each cell. Most were empty. Some held bones. He saw a few human skulls. A few skeletons that looked anything but human as well.
The far end of the cellblock seemed to have faired better than the rest. It was newer and the stones were filled in with some sort of cement. Metal girders supported the ceiling. There were few cells here, all of them closed and dark and silent. When he shone his light into one, something moved. The barred window was small and he couldn’t get a good angle. He tried to move the light around and identify what he was seeing, but it was difficult.
“Hey!” he whispered loudly.
There was a soft noise in return. Jack thought he heard a whisper-thin, “O’Neill”.
He pulled back and slid the light around the outside of the door, looking for a way in. The bars across it were thick and sat neatly in snug cavities carved into the stone just to hold them. He had to walk back down the hall scanning the wall with the flashlight until he found a lever. He breathed a sigh of relief that was short-lived when he attempted to move the lever and found it stuck fast. He kicked at it. Nothing.
He swore under his breath and tramped back up the corridor to the main room, looking through the debris there for anything useful. He found a mostly intact table leg and returned to give the stubborn lever a good whack. He swung it against the lever and the wooden leg broke with a loud crack. Splinters spun off into the darkness.
Jack gave a growl of anger and kicked the lever again. It didn’t budge. In a rather insane moment, he felt like yelling at the building itself to give Teal’c up or face the wrath of Earth. It would have been stupid and untrue since if Hammond could have helped them, he would have by now.
He pulled out one of the zats and fired at the lever. There was a crackling sound and the lever suddenly drooped a few inches. Jack stared at it with renewed vigor and stuffed the zat back into his belt. He tapped the lever first, testing for any nasty surprises that the zat’s beam might have set into motion. It was cold and dead, so he pulled on it. It grudgingly gave way, and the bars across all the doors on that side of that corridor slid back.
He hurried back to the occupied cell. The door pulled open easily, and Jack aimed his flashlight ahead as he entered warily. He heard movement from the corner and swung his flashlight in that direction. There was a body moving there on the floor, and suddenly his beam centered on something familiar. A SGC arm patch.
“Teal’c?” He moved the light upward, catching the glint of a gold symbol on a dark forehead. Dark eyes squinted into the light, and Jack shifted it slightly so it was less blinding.
“O’Neill,” Teal’c said conversationally, as if Jack had just stopped in for tea on a Sunday afternoon. His voice was scratchy and weak though, and when he held an arm up against Jack’s light, it trembled.
Jack went down hard on his knees next to the Jaffa. “Teal’c! For cryin’ out loud… “ Jack had to grab Teal’c and steady him as he started to lean over.
“Water,” Teal’c said.
Jack pulled his canteen from the back of his belt and unscrewed the cap. He lifted it to Teal’c’s mouth and let him drink. Teal’c drank greedily and his big hand closed around Jack’s and tried to tip it further. Jack pulled the canteen out of his grip carefully. “Not too much. Let your system absorb it.” He rested back on his heels and squeezed Teal’c’s shoulder warmly. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“As are you, O’Neill,” Teal’c replied. He seemed to have no energy to smile, but his dark eyes glinted in relief.
“And you’re not a zombie either. That’s good. Very good.”
Teal’c managed to raise his eyebrow. Jack lifted the canteen and let him have a little more water. “I found Daniel on my way here.” He explained the rest briefly, omitting the details.
Teal’c listened and leaned back against the stone wall with a troubled expression. “I woke here and have not seen nor heard another living being until this moment.”
Jack took the canteen back. “No food or water?”
“None.”
Jack sighed. “I don’t suppose you know where Carter is then?”
“I do not, O’Neill.” Teal’c’s voice softened.
“All right, well, we’ll find her.”
“Indeed.”
“How about the stargate?”
“I do not know.”
Jack nodded and took a deep breath. “Can you get up now?”
“I will try.”
Jack hooked his canteen back onto his belt and looped an arm across Teal’c’s back, pulling him upward. Teal’c slowly stood, his legs a bit unsteady, his arm clutching Jack’s shoulder heavily.
“We’ve got a ways to go, T. We’ll stop to rest, but I don’t know how much longer they’re going to let me walk around in here without doing something about it.”
Teal’c grunted in reply, and they stepped out of the cell. Jack had to support him to a great degree, and they lumbered slowly down the hall. When they reached the elevator, Jack propped Teal’c up in the corner and then discovered his next problem. He had no idea what level he’d been on when he first entered the elevator to come down. The buttons hadn’t been lit and there’d been no screen to tell riders what level they were currently at.
He sighed and pushed the lowest number. The elevator began moving. He turned back and considered Teal’c. He’d have to take Teal’c and Daniel and get out of here. They’d have to come back for Carter when Teal’c was in better shape. If he found Sam and she was in bad straights, or he had to zat her, there’d be no way he could get all three of them out by himself. He had a feeling from all he’d seen so far that Carter would likely not be as easy to find. If they had a way to brainwash people, and they had any knowledge at all of what Carter’s mind was capable of, then she’d be held in a much more secure location.
The doors opened, and Jack glanced down for the penny. Nope. He hit the next number.
Nine numbers later, he spied the penny and shuffled his arm under Teal’c’s again to help him out into the corridor. He picked up the penny.
Teal’c seemed to get a bit stronger as they walked. Jack stopped twice to let him take a long drink from the canteen. As Jack picked up his last penny, he heard a loud rumbling. It rose in pitch and volume until it seemed to be a painful whine. The building vibrated with it, and as they made their way down the last long corridor and toward the recycling chute control room, there was a soft shuffling behind them. Jack glanced back to see people in white suits moving quickly across the intersecting hallways in the distance.
“What is happening?” Teal’c asked.
“I think they know we’re here,” Jack said tightly. He stepped up their pace, grabbing the arm Teal’c had slung across his shoulder in one hand and his belt in the other. Teal’c moved his legs stubbornly, but Jack still half-dragged him. “T, I left Daniel unconscious. I had to zat him to keep him from walking away. I’m going to need you to walk or I’ll have to leave one of you behind and come back for you.”
Teal’c’s voice was quiet and determined. “I will walk.”
Jack glanced behind them, but no one pursued them. He helped Teal’c ease through the hatch and onto the ladder by sitting on the edge and bracing his feet against the opposite edge while Teal’c climbed down. When he’d landed safely on the floor and confirmed that Daniel was still lying where Jack had left him, Jack stood and jogged over to the control panel at the far end of the room. He jerked the lever down that Daniel had moved earlier. There was a grating sound of metal on metal. Jack raced back and jumped down through the hatch.
Daniel was moving but out of it. Far more out of it than a simple zatting would have created. He didn’t seem to know where he was or who he was, or even how to move his own body. Jack hauled him up, pulling him along the same way he’d dragged Teal’c. T walked disjointedly behind them, arm braced on the wall to direct him and keep him balanced.
The whine was still there. It hadn’t changed any further in pitch or intensity. Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe it was something normal, and they hadn’t been found out at all. He wasn’t going to bet on his luck right now though.
Daniel muttered nonsensically as they made their way through the narrow tunnel. Jack hoped there wasn’t more to opening the garbage chute than the lever or they’d be royally screwed.
The chute was open. He sent Teal’c down first. His shoulders screamed under the strain of trying to ease the Jaffa down to where the cord waited. Teal’c’s arms quivered as he tried to lower himself down the rope. He gave up half way down and let go, falling onto his back on top of the junk heap. Jack stared down anxiously until Teal’c got to his knees and looked back up at him.
He pulled Daniel to the edge and eased them both down to the ladder. Daniel moved by himself, but only sporadically. Jack wished he had some rope to tie around Daniel’s chest. He was sure he was going to drop Daniel as soon as their weight left the ladder. Teal’c stood below, directly beneath them. Jack didn’t think he’d have the strength to catch someone Daniel’s size and weight, but they’d have to go with it.
As he started to swing around and grab the rope with his legs, Daniel suddenly gasped and tightened his hold on Jack’s shoulders. It helped. Jack lowered them; air tight in his lungs, pain blossoming along his biceps and his shoulders, until he felt Teal’c tap his boot. He felt Daniel tugged from his grasp, and he let go, falling onto his ass and sliding down the side of the heap a little ways.
When he looked back up, Teal’c was sliding down beside him, Daniel under his arm. Jack pulled Daniel up, and Teal’c helped him drag the archeologist toward one of the doorways.
“Where are we, O’Neill?” Teal’c’s voice was still scratchy but sounded stronger.
“The creepy city outside of the creepy building,” Jack answered in clipped tones. Teal’c fell silent.
When they reached the street, Jack glanced around. “I found some of our gear and stashed it over there.” He jerked his head toward the alley to their right. “We’re going to have to find a place to hunker down for a while. I’ll come back for the gear.”
But even as they started into the street, there was an unusual sound from a distance. Jack stopped them in the middle of the narrow road and cocked his head, listening. “What the hell is that?”
It was a low, uneven rumbling that sounded like a fleet of Humvees coming toward them. It surprised Jack for a moment, until he heard the unmistakable squeal of heavy air brakes.
Teal’c glanced at him. “I do not like this.”
Jack nodded. “Me either. Let’s go. Back there.”
They turned around and headed for the alley. The packs were stowed exactly where Jack had spent the past two nights, tucked away in an obscure corner of the architecture and shielded by the square bulk of a humming energy transformer. They lowered Daniel to the ground next to the packs, and Jack drew the two zats. He handed one to Teal’c. “Stay with Daniel. I’m going to take a look.”
“Be careful, O’Neill.” It was not a request. It was a Jaffa order.
Jack nodded absently, and readied his zat, creeping up to the street again. He could still hear the rumbling, but nothing was in sight yet. He’d been in the building longer than he thought. The disorienting, black night that came to this city was creeping up quickly. He suspected the days on this planet were shorter than on Earth, but it was hard to tell without a watch. He had time to miss Carter who would have blinked at him and shrugged and then built him a sundial or some other sort of time-keeping device, and he’d have known how long the days were down to the tenth of a second by dinnertime.
Who the hell were these people? Were they even people?
He jogged toward the noise, and when he reached the end of the block, he plastered himself up against the wall of the building there. He peered around the corner and looked down the street. At first he didn’t see anything, but then… He saw lights in the distance. Red beams moving back and forth across the road and over the buildings. Jack watched them for a while. They moved slowly and came minutely closer as time passed.
He didn’t dare move any closer for a better look, so he waited. The street he stood on remained empty and mostly silent. Eventually, he made out a line of vehicles coming down the road. Trucks with heavy engines and big wheels and large beds in the back for cargo. Troop carriers. Something told him he’d just discovered the Interceptors.
Thin, dark, humanoid shapes moved around them. The red beams of light were coming from helmets they wore. It looked like some sort of night vision technology, and Jack’s mouth ran dry. As the convoy reached an intersection, two of the trucks split off and turned down the perpendicular streets. A group of the humans went with them. A man that stayed with the convoy motioned up the street in Jack’s general direction, and they started forward again.
There were two more intersections before the street that Jack stood on, but he’d seen enough. More trucks would branch off at those intersections, and the red beams would hit everything. They were searching for something. Someone.
Probably an escaped prisoner and an abducted zombie.
Jack hurried back to Teal’c and Daniel. Teal’c sat with his back against a building wall, zat resting on his knee, canteen between his legs. His eyes glinted at Jack in the growing darkness. “What is it?” He demanded.
“Convoy of troops. The soldiers have these helmets with weird red beams they’re aiming everywhere.”
“Thermal imaging?” Teal’c looked concerned.
“Don’t know, but there’s no way we’re getting out of here without being seen. Not with Daniel unconscious and you barely able to walk.”
Teal’c started to protest, but Jack shushed him with a waving hand. He glanced around at the building’s walls and then laid a hand on the energy transformer that hid them from view of the street. It wasn’t a bad hideout really. He had to make a decision. Now.
“We stay here,” he ordered. Teal’c looked alarmed, but Jack repeated the shushing motion and hunkered down, pulling their packs in tight behind the transformer along with them. “If it is thermal imaging, this transformer… thing, will mask our body heat. It’s almost hot to the touch. The rest of the buildings are covered in some strange sort of metal. I think it’s heat resistant. Unless they walk right up on us, I don’t think they’ll see us. We’re tucked away in a corner, but it’s still sort of out in the open. Maybe they won’t waste the time.”
Teal’c looked doubtful, but he nodded his agreement that there was little option for anything else. “Very well.” He slid over and helped Jack push their packs up against the wall that formed the end of the alley. They pulled Daniel in to lie between them. They rested with their backs against the transformer and their feet against the packs.
They could hear the distinct sound of the trucks clearly now. There was no sound of humans talking. No shouts or orders or soldiers running. Just silence and the occasional sound of a truck braking.
Between them, Daniel fidgeted and let out a low moan. Jack gritted his teeth in the dark and pulled Daniel up against him so Daniel rested against his side. Jack slid an arm around his shoulders, ready to clamp a hand over the unconscious man’s mouth if he started making noise. Daniel’s head drooped down against his chest.
Teal’c froze. “O’Neill.”
Jack jerked his head up at Teal’c’s warning tone. In the darkness he saw it. It had been hidden before by the light in the building, and because he hadn’t been looking. But now he saw it clearly.
A small red light glowed beneath Daniel’s skin at the base of his skull. Jack stared at it. He glanced up at Teal’c. Teal’c returned the worried stare.
“Tracking device?” Teal’c asked quietly.
“Possibly.” Jack poked at the light with his index finger. It moved along with the skin on Daniel’s nape. “Looks like it’s only skin deep.”
The light flickered and then started a steady pulsing.
“I do not think that is good,” Teal’c said.
“Shit,” Jack swore with a violent whisper and nudged Daniel into Teal’c’s arms. “Hold him, Teal’c.” The brawny arms closed around Daniel, and one hand wrapped around his head.
Jack dug the swiss army knife out of his pocket and flipped up the smallest blade. It was shiny, even in the darkness, and had a fine, sharp edge to it. Thank God for Carter’s neurotic cleanliness and order concerning her weapons.
“Are you going to attempt to cut it out?” Teal’c asked.
“Yeah.” Jack got on his knees awkwardly, trying to keep his head down and shielded by the transformer. He turned toward Teal’c and Daniel and sat on his heels.
“You could injure Daniel Jackson severely,” Teal’c pointed out, but he pressed the side of Daniel’s head to his chest and held it tightly, his other arm wrapping around Daniel’s back and arms to hold him steady.
Jack took an uneasy breath and shot Teal’c an irritated glance. “I know… “
Teal’c nodded.
Jack brought the knife up and considered the blinking light. It was about the size of a dime and looked to be embedded just under the skin. Hopefully it didn’t have any extra wiring that ran deep into Daniel’s brain. Jack really didn’t relish the idea of giving Daniel a lobotomy. The archeologist could be difficult and demanding and geeky to a fault, but Jack had grown rather used to hearing Daniel’s voice in his head when he faced a difficult decision. He’d never admit it to anyone, but he rather enjoyed their sparring. When the fate of the Earth wasn’t resting on the outcome that was.
He slid the sharp tip of the knife into Daniel’s skin at the edge of the light. A dark speck of blood sprang up and Daniel’s body stiffened. Teal’c held him tighter. Jack sliced quickly across the width of the light and then tried to prod the light through the small incision. When that didn’t work, and Daniel gave a grunt, he cut up from the corner of the incision to make an ‘L’. He used the knife tip to lift the flap of skin, and there was a small, clear, square chip, flashing red. Jack used his thumb to hold the flap of skin and used the tip of the knife to pry at the corner of the chip. It came up easily and fell off Daniel’s skin and onto Jack’s leg.
“Ehh,” Jack grimaced.
“Take it,” Teal’c ordered. “I will take care of Daniel Jackson.”
“Bit bossy when you’re hungry, aren’t you?” Jack lifted a brow, but he wiped the knife quickly on his sleeve and closed it, sliding it into his jacket pocket. He picked up the chip and the flashlight and gave a quick glance over the top of the transformer. No one there yet. He slipped away down the alley.
+ + +
Teal’c
Teal’c tried to open the nearest pack without letting go of Daniel. Daniel still moved restlessly, and Teal’c feared he’d alert the beings searching for them. Even sitting, Teal’c’s legs complained and trembled a bit from their forced march out of his prison. It wasn’t something he was used to, and he pushed down a wish for O’Neill to return quickly. He was a Jaffa. He could handle such things as this.
The medkit was at the top of O’Neill’s pack, and he fumbled it open, pulling out a bandage and an antiseptic wipe in a foil packet. Daniel seemed to settle back down again, and Teal’c quickly tried to bandage his neck in the darkness.
He took another long drink from the canteen when he was finished. Hunger had come and gone back in the cell, but the thirst had grown and driven him nearly crazy. Kel-no-reem had helped, and it had allowed his body to use its scarce resources at a much slower pace, but still he and his symbiote weakened steadily.
But O’Neill had found him, and Teal’c could not help the burst of pride in his own good choice of friends. O’Neill would never let him down. Daniel Jackson would recover, and they would find Major Carter. Teal’c had been a soldier longer than O’Neill had been alive. He knew the unpredictability of battle and of life. O’Neill had given him hope where once there was none, and when O’Neill said it was not over, well, it was not over.
The trucks were closer now. It sounded like they were on this street or very close. It was nearly black as pitch except for the ungodly reflection of the odd, smooth, dark metal of the buildings and the power transformer.
There was a scuffling sound and then O’Neill dropped roughly down on the other side of Daniel, breath hard in his lungs. Teal’c lowered the zat he’d jerked up in surprise.
“They are near,” Teal’c stated, very quietly. He waited for O’Neill to confirm.
“Yeah,” Jack confirmed. “Stay down and stay quiet.”
“The chip?” Teal’c inquired.
“I took it back and threw it on the junk pile. Hopefully it’s close enough that they’ll think the signal was coming from there the whole time.”
Teal’c nodded. It was good. O’Neill’s strategy was sound.
A thin, red beam of light moved across the wall above them. They froze, crowding in toward Daniel to keep him encased between them, and then they held their breath and waited.
+ + +
[ mechanical law ]
Jack
Neither he nor Teal’c slept that night. Jack wanted to tell him to kel-no-reem but didn’t dare. He needed another set of senses and a steady zat hand. Well, T wasn’t the most steady he’d ever been, but Jack would rather have a weakened Teal’c at his back than two Marines any day.
The thin, red beams of light swept the alley again and again. They could hear the trucks and the scuff of boots on the surface of the road. The Interceptors were apparently relying only on technology though, and not the eye of man. Technology could be fooled. So could man, but that was harder since men knew how other men thought. No one walked down the alley to physically check behind the power transformer. They remained unfound.
When the sounds became more distant, Jack pulled an MRE from his pack and handed it to Teal’c. Teal’c met his eyes over Daniel’s sleeping body. “How much do we have, O’Neill?”
Jack grimaced a bit. “I’ve only found Carter’s and my own pack so far. 11 MRE’s. We’re down to 2 canteens of water.”
Teal’c’s jaw tightened. He motioned at the plastic pouch. “Take your share first.”
“This one’s all yours. I had one yesterday. Come on… you need the calories.”
Teal’c hesitated, but Jack put on his hard expression and Teal’c capitulated. “Very well.” He took the pouch and the fork offered and began to eat. Jack felt better then. If they were going to have any chance of recovering Carter and getting off this miserable planet, they needed Teal’c at full strength.
Daniel looked healthy enough, except for the weird mumbling and unconsciousness. Jack managed to get some water down him during one of his semi-lucid moments. Jack was beginning to become concerned that he’d done permanent damage to Daniel when he’d zatted him.
“Teal’c. Can you hold on for a while without kel-no-reem, uh, -ing?”
“I can.”
“Good. You’re going to have to. When it gets light, I’m going to go find us a real place to hide. You’ll need to watch Daniel.”
“I understand.”
Jack glanced at him with a deep breath. “I don’t know what the hell we wandered into here, but we are getting out. All of us.”
Teal’c held his gaze for a few moments in silence before answering. “I believe you, O’Neill.”
+ + +
Part 2