Entry tags:
The Moon Is Not a God
Title: The Moon is Not a God
Author:
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muck_a_luck, posting in brainofckPairing: Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill/Sam Carter, Teal'c/Sam Carter, Teal'c/SG-1 UST
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Teal'c fears the curse of D'eb Al'ealm, but the Tau'ri do not listen. Now SG-1 has fallen to the plague, and Teal'c must save them from their own people. But can he save them from themselves?
Content/warnings: Character death.
Words: Approx. 20,500
Disclaimer: If anybody is planning a script like this for SG-1, I'm certainly not going to claim any rights to it. However, I'd be delighted to work in a co-writing/consulting/first-reader/advisory-type capacity, with my fee to be negotiated at that time. :D
Archive rights: Absolutely none. My journals only.
muck_a_luck and brainofckBeta: Many thanks to
princessofgeeks anduisgich for the alpha read, which was critical to the decision to change from Jack's to Teal'c's POV. And thank you so much to zats_clear for her help with the beta.CLWilson2006 has a masterpost of her art located here: http://clwilson2006.livejournal.com/89251.html. I told her to keep some of it for a surprise, so I haven't even seen it all yet! *is excited* As soon as I have all the art, I will incorporate into the post!
Teal'c entered the council chamber with some trepidation. He rarely felt the need to interrupt the flow of these consultations with General Hammond. He preferred to allow the Tau'ri to consider their resources and goals and make their decisions as they saw fit, only contributing his own input when directly asked. O'Neill of the Tau'ri, not Teal'c of Chulak, was First Prime to General Hammond. They consulted Teal'c as needed, and that was his duty.
But in this instance, this planet they proposed to explore, P2X-179, might be more dangerous than they could anticipate based upon their usual methods of preparation.
"Alright, people, what have you got for me today?" General Hammond opened the meeting, as if he were not more familiar with the proposed mission than anyone in the room.
DanielJackson presented first.
"Well, based on M.A.L.P. telemetry," he began, "we don't expect to find much in the way of first contact possibilities on P2X-179. However, I was reviewing the tablet that SG-11 brought back from the ruins of the goa'uld library on Belote, and came across a reference to P2X-179, which matches the gate address in the tablet for a planet know as D'eb Al'ealm."
DanielJackson paused, eyes alight with the excitement of his next pronouncement.
"D'eb Al'ealm is a forbidden world. Like Cimmeria."
"So there is the possibility that it became taboo to the goa'uld for similar reasons? There is a possibility that we could find another device like the one Thor left on Cimmeria, that would allow us to remove a symbiote from the host?" General Hammond quizzed DanielJackson.
"Yes! Exactly!"
"Maybe you should sit this one out, T," O'Neill murmured to him.
Teal'c shook his head and replied in low tones.
"I will certainly accompany you if you explore this world. There is nothing to suggest that there is a guardian at the gate of D'eb Al'ealm."
"Teal'c, I understand that you do not share Dr. Jackson's optimism? Your pre-mission statement suggests that you have reservations."
"Yes, General. It is my concern that D'eb Al'ealm may be much more dangerous to the Tau'ri than to myself."
"It just looks like a bunch of woods to me," O'Neill stated.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "However, the story of D'eb Al'ealm told among the Jaffa says that no goa'uld should go to this world. It is said to be inhabited by terrible monsters that even a platoon of Jaffa cannot defeat. They rip their prey to shreds, leaving the corpse devoured and destroyed beyond the ability of any symbiote or sarcophagus to heal or repair."
"Wow," Captain Carter said with her usual succinctness.
"Still, my concern is not in regard to these supposed monsters. The legend states that the monsters were once humans. According to the tale, D'eb Al'ealm was once a prosperous settlement of slaves providing agricultural and forest goods to Ra. The people there began falling victim to a new, never-before-seen disease. It ravaged the villages, killing many. Those who survived were changed into the monsters the goa'uld so fear."
"Any human population that could frighten a goa'uld so badly that D'eb Al'ealm got placed on a taboo gate list sounds like a culture we want to meet," DanielJackson proposed. "Who knows what really happened there?"
"And what if the legend is correct, Dr. Jackson, and in fact there was some kind of plague on this planet?" General Hammond cautioned.
"Risk of contagion seems minimal, sir, considering that there isn't a human settlement within UAV flight distance of the gate," Captain Carter replied. "The M.A.L.P. data suggests that the gate is sitting right on top of some of the richest and most easily extractable deposits of naquadah we've identified to date. Whatever disease outbreak there might have been in the mists of goa'uld history, the mineral wealth there makes exploring P2X-179 a necessity."
General Hammond met the eyes of each member of SG-1 in turn, weighing their contributions. He finally turned to O'Neill.
"Colonel, you haven't had much to say."
"Well. I'm not that excited about fighting the corpse-shredding monsters in a CBRN suit, sir, but I figure, we go in ready, get the necessary information for the minerals lab, see what biological samples we can bring back for Dr. Fraiser, then get the hell out. The naquadah seems worth the risk."
"I agree," the general stated. "OK, SG-1, you have a go, but I want the highest epidemiological protocol. I'll be alerting Dr. Fraiser that you need a briefing. Follow her instructions to the letter."
"Yes, sir," O'Neill said, standing as General Hammond rose and withdrew to his offices.
The necessary rites of departure had been performed and SG-1 was attired for battle. Teal'c now understood O'Neill's misgivings. Teal'c was quite concerned about the ability of his comrades to defend themselves in the awkward protective gear. He would need to be even more alert, knowing that O'Neill and Captain Carter would not be able to bring to bear their usual instincts and combat skills. As the event horizon established, he set aside his unease and prepared for the task at hand. He brought his heart rate back to the usual calm rhythm, and regulated his breathing. With a focused mind, he stepped into the unknown.
"Yup," O'Neill commented, his voice muffled by the suit. "Lots of trees."
DanielJackson was striding away from the Chappa'ai. He removed his pack and began laying out the equipment for taking the environmental samples. Captain Carter was doing the same in preparation for her mineral survey. O'Neill signaled to Teal'c that they would begin to establish the perimeter by walking in opposite directions. There was no need for silent communication, but Teal'c noticed that often in the field when O'Neill needed to speak only about military matters and only to Teal'c, that the human found the hand signals effective. Teal'c nodded in acknowledgement of his orders, and began his review of the terrain.
SG-1 had been working together for many Earth months now, and Teal'c appreciated the efficient working relationship they had established. The scientists conducted their surveys methodically, relying on himself and O'Neill to protect them as they performed their scholarly duties, but never dependent. Even DanielJackson, who was only a historian, not a warrior as was Captain Carter, understood how to remain alert and assist in his own defense, or the defense of the group, if it were needed. Though he would not say so to O'Neill, there were no better Jaffa fighters than O'Neill and Captain Carter. Yet after all these months, Teal'c remained amazed at the flexibility and resourcefulness of the Tau'ri. A Jaffa contingent was specialized. Teal'c could never have participated in a mission such as this, with scientists and soldiers blending so that their areas of expertise were nearly indistinguishable.
There was nothing of note in the perimeter of the Chappa'ai's clearing.
"Daniel and Carter need to move out into the woods to do their surveys," O'Neill commented as he met Teal'c at the end of his own circuit.
"You are not attired for mobility, O'Neill. Perhaps you should not venture into the forest until we are certain the area is secure."
"No. We'll do the sweep together," O'Neill said. Teal'c inclined his head. "Stay alert, Carter, Teal'c and I will be out of line of sight."
"Yes, sir!" she answered smartly. Teal'c stepped forward into the brush.
The moved through the heavy vegetation for several uneventful minutes. Teal'c found the density of the trees unsettling. Visibility was poor. He and O'Neill might establish a perimeter even as an enemy lurked only an arm's length away. He felt vulnerable. He also had the feeling of pending danger, as if the enemy's eyes were upon him. He tightened and eased his grip on his staff weapon, a nervous habit he had never fully quelled.
The attack came swiftly and with little warning. Although Teal'c had anticipated it, he was not prepared. The undergrowth rustled and a roughly human-shaped form flew at Teal'c's chest, crashing into him and knocking him over. Teal'c rolled with the blow and came to his feet again. He took aim at the creature with his staff, but it moved as quickly as a Setesh guard running towards the Chappa'ai. Its renewed attack was on O'Neill. His friend had turned, weapon raised, at the noise of Teal'c's fall, but the beast was too close and too fast as O'Neill tried to fire upon it. It bore him to the ground and sank teeth into his arm.
O'Neill punched the creature in the head, and it yelped and released its bite. There was a shout from DanielJackson and weapons fire from the clearing, now to their right. Teal'c turned and ran, dodging between trees and shoving through the vegetation. He found Captain Carter and DanielJackson under attack. Captain Carter had been caught from behind, and was extracting herself from under the twitching body of one of the monsters. DanielJackson held his Beretta in his hand. Clearly he had slain the beast that had threatened Captain Carter, but now one of the monsters had gripped his forearm in its foul jaws. As Teal'c raised and engaged his staff, DanielJackson kicked the animal. Teal'c fired at the same moment as Captain Carter. The creature was blasted across the clearing, away from their friend.
O'Neill stumbled out of the treeline. Captain Carter was already activating the Chappa'ai. Teal'c caught O'Neill, raising his leader's good arm to lay across his shoulder, assisting him toward safety. DanielJackson held his arm tight against his body, but appeared to be steady on his feet. Captain Carter was scooping up what samples she and DanielJackson had already collected.
They retreated through the Chappa'ai with a new battle to add to their lengthening tale.
"I am pleased that your wounds are not serious, Captain Carter," Teal'c said as they observed the live feed from D'eb Al'ealm.
"Just a few scratches," she said absently. Teal'c knew that wasn't completely true. There were deep scrapes into the skin and musculature to either side of her spine, long painful gashes that would leave vivid scars. Still, superficial and not life-threatening or maiming. Teal'c wished she had a proper prim'ta to take away the pain and heal her skin to flawless smoothness again, but he knew she would not appreciate the sentiment, and in any case he found it one of the most honorable aspects of Tau'ri culture that they valued scars.
She stood up from the screen in exasperation. "There must be fifty individuals we've seen so far."
"I don't see how you can tell them apart," Dr. Lee replied.
"They appear to be humanoid. Perhaps this is the result of the sickness described in the legend," Teal'c commented. "Dr. Lee continues to refer to them as 'werewolves.' The plague on D'eb Al'ealm could be the root of more than one legend."
"Do you think they are intelligent enough to dial the gate?" Dr. Lee asked.
"It's hard to tell," Captain Carter said. "If they are werewolves, they may have a more human form that we haven't seen yet. P2X-179 has four moons."
Teal'c was not very good at distinguishing irony and sarcasm, but he was fairly certain Captain Carter was expressing her disdain for Dr. Lee's werewolf theory.
"Well, I'm glad I wasn't bitten by one of them," Dr. Lee said, which Teal'c felt was quite thoughtless under the circumstances.
"Indeed, Dr. Lee, we are all in agreement that you should not be placed in the role of the warrior," Teal'c said mildly. Dr. Lee looked properly shamed.
"There's no such thing as werewolves," Captain Carter resumed.
"I don't know how you can say that as a scientist when you see the evidence right there," Dr. Lee insisted, indignation helping him to regain some of his aplomb.
"Those are some kind of indigenous aliens. Daniel and his staff will figure out how to communicate with them, SG-9 will work out an arrangement for mining. This is a waste of time. SG-11 brought back those cubes with the weird power signatures. I'm going back to the lab. Want to get lunch today, Teal'c?" she asked as she headed out into the corridor.
"It would be my pleasure, Captain Carter. I will join you at 1300 hours in the dining room?" Teal'c replied, feeling some internal embarrassment at how much it pleased him to have the friendship of this woman.
"See you!" she said, walking toward the elevator.
Teal'c felt restless. Dr. Lee had explained werewolves to him extensively over the breaking of the fast earlier, and while everyone Teal'c had met since had dismissed werewolves as "fairy tales," Teal'c was disturbed by how much the creatures they had seen on the video feed appeared to be wolf-men, and how well the legend of D'eb Al'ealm would explain how they became such creatures. Teal'c turned to the infirmary. He would seek reassurance from Dr. Fraiser. Surely the healer would be able to give him more facts than the physicist, Dr. Lee.
"Good morning, Teal'c," she greeted him when he entered her office. "What can I do for you today?"
"Dr. Fraiser, I would like your opinion of Dr. Lee's werewolf hypothesis," Teal'c said. "Captain Carter dismisses it out of hand, and yet, I see the similarities to the legend."
Dr. Fraiser stood up from her desk.
"I've been thinking about that myself this morning," she admitted gravely. "I don't know about the 'werewolf' part, but I read your report on D'eb Al'ealm, and I am very concerned that those aliens might have transmitted some infection or toxin to SG-1. I'm having everything analyzed now. Would you like to walk with me? I'm going to inspect the troops."
By which Teal'c knew the doctor meant that she wanted to strike fear into her subordinates; to remind them of the price of failure, should they fail to bring her quick and clear results. Teal'c found that Dr. Fraiser's leadership style was much more like his own had been when he was First Prime. O'Neill and General Hammond had so much respect for loyalty, intentions, and caution in attaining mission objectives. Dr. Fraiser demanded results, and she got them.
The doctor reviewed the work of her deputies. She took the stack of files and clipboards with raw data over to a work table, spreading the materials out before her. She checked one page, then another, then moved on to another set of paper entirely. Teal'c waited patiently, hands clasped behind him, noting the continued work of the lab, awaiting some comment from her.
She finally sat back on the hard chair where she had perched as she began her study of the data, and seemed surprised to find that Teal'c was still waiting. She smiled and blew out a long breath.
"I can't see anything," she said. "But of course, I always have that lingering question: 'Would I know it if I saw it?'"
Teal'c nodded. He understood that feeling well.
P3R-201 was a beautiful, restful world. After years by the side of Apophis at the helm of a ha'tak or inside one of his many palaces, or leading Apophis's troops, Teal'c relished these opportunities to see the natural beauty of the galaxy. He paced well past the edge of the dig, weapon laid aside for now, just admiring the unusual yellow and orange flowers growing in the tall, brilliantly green grass.
He almost sighed when he heard the screams and gunfire from the archaeologists' encampment. He felt weary resignation to his fate. There was never an escape from responsibility. Perhaps it was a regrettable influence of the Tau'ri that a warrior such as Teal'c of Chulak would wish that he could set aside his burdens, even for a few moments.
But he did not pause or spend more than a few seconds on that one sigh of regret before he ran toward the fighting. He found evidence of combat immediately. The tent SG-1 had been sharing near the edge of the encampment was ripped to shreds, and inside he noted with dismay that O'Neill had been injured. He writhed in apparent agony. His arms and legs were oddly flexed and not fitting together at the proper angles. If Teal'c had not reacted so quickly, he would have thought that O'Neill had been severely beaten, but there had not been time for anyone to wreck this much damage on his friend's body. He approached to offer assistance, only to witness the horrifying transformation of O'Neill's face and head before his eyes. Suddenly, all of O'Neill's disjointed body seemed to reform, and he rose from the puddle of his tattered jacket and shirt, his trousers hanging oddly around the middle of his torso. He shook his boots off his rear legs. His naked skin had sprouted fur.
Teal'c faced a monstrous canine creature of roughly O'Neill's mass and general size. The beast confronted Teal'c, pawing the earth, hackles raised, tail lowered. He bared his teeth, revealing great, heavy fangs.
Teal'c stared into his dark eyes and found nothing but animal there. He spoke to his friend anyway.
"O'Neill, you must control this animal that has taken over your being," Teal'c ordered calmly. O'Neill's response was a snarling growl. He launched himself at Teal'c, but Teal'c was ready. No animal was a match for a Jaffa warrior. He easily blocked O'Neill's leap with a blow of his own forearm. O'Neill crashed to the ground with a yelp. Teal'c attempted to take advantage of O'Neill's disorientation to tackle him, thinking perhaps his friend could be bound or restrained, but O'Neill rolled and leapt and then was moving with amazing speed through the rows of tents, away from Teal'c and toward the sounds of the battle. Teal'c scrambled up from his missed grab and ran behind him.
The scene at the dig was chaotic. Soldiers lay wounded everywhere Teal'c turned. Every fallen warrior appeared to have been disarmed. He could not pause to assist the injured, but ran towards the yelling and snarling still hidden by tents.
He was not surprised to find three beasts, for he knew when he saw O'Neill's transformation and Captain Carter and DanielJackson nowhere in evidence that it must be SG-1, united as a pack as they were united as warriors.
"O'Neill, kree!" he shouted over the general din.
All eyes turned to Teal'c, who stood unarmed atop a pile of earth. "DanielJackson, Captain Carter!" The animal he knew to be O'Neill growled and crouched low, preparing to attack. Of the other two animals, one was slightly less massive, with pale golden fur – Teal'c presumed Captain Carter. She slammed into O'Neill full-force before he could leap and the two great animals rolled together. DanielJackson sat back on his haunches and bayed, a mournful long howl, then he fled, the other two chasing him toward the very meadow where Teal'c had stood admiring the flowers moments before.
"Find all the injured and assist them to the Stargate," Teal'c tersely ordered the frightened scientists. "Leave no one here. Evacuate as quickly as possible. Alert General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser that Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter, and DanielJackson have succumbed to the plague of D'eb Al'ealm. I will observe the progress of their illness and report within twenty-four hours."
"Okay," Dr. Rothman agreed, breathless and frightened, but resolute. The civilians began to fan out in search of their erstwhile protectors. Dr. Rothman seemed to have taken command, shouting orders and organizing the group. Satisfied, Teal'c set off at a run to pursue his friends.
Teal'c spent the following three days listening and observing. The first day, he saw his friends only rarely. When he did see them, they appeared to be hunting the small, quick rodents that inhabited the grasslands. They stalked and pounced, with awkward lack of skill that made Teal'c smile in spite of the circumstances. He was convinced they were aware of his presence, but now that they had discovered the task of hunting, they no longer sought to attack him. In fact, as he did not threaten them in any way, they began to stay near him, so that by the third day, they brought their prey to the clearing where Teal'c sat peacefully enjoying the flowers again, and settled together near the edge of the woods, eating and, Teal'c thought, enjoying the warmth of the bright sun.
He noted that they also engaged freely in other activities. He observed every beast in coitus with every other, and they tumbled and played and slept together. They seemed happy and free. Teal'c felt a slight regret that these three great minds, leaders of the Tau'ri, heroes, could find so much obvious pleasure in laying aside their own burdens. And a more than slight regret that he could not join them.
"They have not returned to human form," Teal'c informed Dr. Fraiser in his report at the end of the second day. "However, I am seeing them more frequently. I believe that I will soon be able to get near enough to them to shoot them with the tranquilizer darts. However, they easily disarmed the warriors here. I believe they will recognize any weapon I carry near them and seek to avoid it."
"I understand," Dr. Fraiser replied. "I believe the best thing for the moment is to continue to observe them. If the course of this disease follows the pattern of werewolf legend, they should eventually revert back to a human form."
"I will stand watch and report to you within a day, or earlier if there is a change," Teal'c replied.
"Thank you, Teal'c. They need you now."
"O'Neill," Teal'c called to his friend softly.
O'Neill responded slowly as Teal'c demanded his attention. SG-1 was steeped in warm lassitude, drowning in deep contentment, or perhaps exhausted by their return from the beast form, or the other exertions of the last few days. Teal'c felt melancholy at the need to leave those days behind them and return from the illusion of freedom to the reality of the fight. Duty called them all.
O'Neill gradually woke. He cracked open an eye. He grunted as he realized that he was sleeping on the bottom of the pile. Captain Carter's tousled golden head lay on one shoulder, DanielJackson's heavy, bony knee pinned his chest.
"Whoa, there, flyboy," O'Neill muttered to himself, his voice rough and scratchy with sleep. The genuine shock of finding himself in a naked tangle with his team appeared to wake him up more effectively than Teal'c's persistent calls had done. O'Neill finally caught sight of Teal'c.
"T?" O'Neill murmured to him. "Why is everybody naked?"
"Your clothes were destroyed when you transformed into wolves," Teal'c replied calmly, matching O'Neill's low tones. He did not want to disturb them, and frowned as O'Neill began trying to nudge SamanthaCarter awake. He frowned even more severely when O'Neill prodded DanielJackson in the cheek with his foot. They continued their deep sleep undisturbed. O'Neill finally muscled himself out from under them.
"We weren't wolves," O'Neill argued. "We were monsters like those things on P2X-179. I guess we caught the plague after all."
"So it would seem," Teal'c agreed.
O'Neill appraised the situation with what Teal'c respected as his usual detached professionalism. SG-1 was sleeping in the bright green grass. All three of them had bits of flowers and other flora in their hair and adhering to their skin.
"Where the hell is everybody?" O'Neill demanded, as he got to his feet. He stood unashamed of his nudity, staring toward the dig site and the tents. "It must have been a helluva party. Did everybody bug out home and leave you with the hung-over werewolves and the cleanup?"
"Indeed," Teal'c said. Though Teal'c perceived no sign of hangover in O'Neill's demeanor. He appeared physically rested and mentally alert.
"Are they okay?" O'Neill asked, looking down on the sleeping remainder of his team.
"I believe so," Teal'c said. "We should bring them clothing and water for when they regain consciousness."
"Sounds like a plan," O'Neill agreed. He began walking toward the encampment and quickly found the shambles of SG-1's tent. He grumbled in annoyance and began searching through the wreckage until he found his own clothing. He brushed away the dirt and grass from his skin and got dressed, as Teal'c located attire for the other two. O'Neill headed deeper into the tent village to the mess tent, and emerged with water bottles and power bars.
"Weird," he said, as he opened a bottle of water. "I'm pretty thirsty, but I don't feel hungry at all. Kind of full, actually. Tell me we didn't eat SG-3 or something? I think Marines would not agree with my digestion."
"What do you remember of the time you were in the beast form?" Tea'lc asked.
"Not a lot," O'Neill admitted. He walked with Teal'c back toward their sleeping comrades. As they passed by SG-1's tent, O'Neill lifted a light blanket from the ruins. "I remember… running. And smells. Everything has a smell. Trees, grass, flowers, rocks. Different kinds of trees smell different." He inhaled a deep breath. "I can still smell a lot of that, even now… Besides that, I don't remember much of anything. But I'm not hungry at all, I know what trees smell like, and something is definitely wrong with my ass." He made the last statement quite emphatically.
"There is much to discuss, O'Neill. It will pass the time until Captain Carter and DanielJackson wake."
"Good. Let's start with which SG team we ate."
"Is everyone okay?" Daniel asked, horrified. "Did we kill anyone?"
"No, DanielJackson, there were no deaths, though there were many very serious injuries, and it is possible that Captain Ritter may yet die," Teal'c said.
"On the upside, Teal'c says that when I tried to jump him, Carter wouldn't let me," O'Neill commented. "And apparently once you noticed the Near Rabbits, we forgot all about trying to attack Teal'c."
"Indeed. I believe you all came to recognize and trust me," Teal'c agreed.
"On the down side," O'Neill continued, "on top of nearly ripping three members of SG-11 to shreds, and severely injuring a couple of Daniel's staff, I'm excited to tell you that Teal'c got front row seats on the three of us having lots and lots of sex."
SamanthaCarter visibly paled.
"What?" she managed to say.
"All of us?" DanielJackson asked. "Like you and me? Like me and Sam?"
O'Neill nodded.
"Well, that's… awkward," DanielJackson said. He turned to SamanthaCarter. "I feel like maybe I should apologize."
"What? I don't get an apology?" O'Neill demanded, in what Teal'c interpreted to be an attempt at levity.
"It's nobody's fault, no apologies are needed," SamanthaCarter said firmly.
"Even if I can't sit?" O'Neill grumbled.
"Even if I get pregnant?" SamanthaCarter countered angrily. O'Neill frowned deeply.
"Nobody's fault, remember," DanielJackson interjected.
Silence fell over the group. The three Tau'ri seemed lost in their own thoughts. Finally, O'Neill stood.
"Well, it's time to let the general know we're up and about," O'Neill stated, stepping back into his role as their leader. "We'll place ourselves in the hands of the good Dr. Fraiser. Hopefully she can figure out what to do before the next full moon."
"Oh, God," SamanthaCarter whispered, resting her head on her bent-up knees.
"Good to hear your voice Colonel," General Hammond's response came crackling though the wormhole.
"Thank you, sir. Teal'c says he has been keeping you up-to-date?" O'Neill replied.
"Yes, he has. It sounds like you've had quite an interesting few days. We have a medical team standing by on this end. You can come home."
"Okay, team. Let's go," O'Neill said with false cheer. Teal'c could feel the palpable apprehension of his friends.
"It doesn't seem like it's been three days," Captain Carter commented nervously, following her commanding officer up the dais toward the Chappa'ai.
DanielJackson bumped her with his shoulder, then made a show of turning and looking back over the dig site toward the horizon.
"I'll miss Near Rabbit. It was so tasty," DanielJackson said, flashing her a smile. She responded with a small laugh.
"And easy to catch," O'Neill mused, which made her laugh more, until he gasped and stumbled at the top of the steps.
"Sorry," he said gruffly, straightening and finding his footing, though his grip on Teal'c's arm was vice-like. "Flashback," he explained.
"I remember their fur was soft, and they were fun to chase," DanielJackson volunteered.
"Let's get the hell home and see if Fraiser can fix us," O'Neill ordered.
"Yeah, good idea," Captain Carter agreed.
They passed through the event horizon and arrived back in the gate room. Teal'c felt unexpected relief upon seeing Dr. Fraiser waiting for them. A relief that was quickly dissipated.
"Oh, shit," O'Neill groaned, doubling over in obvious pain. "Here we go again."
DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter were similarly collapsing with cries of surprise and pain.
"Quickly," Dr. Fraiser ordered her technicians. "Tranquilizers! Now!"
Teal'c spent many hours by the cells where General Hammond had decided to secure SG-1. He watched them through the bars. All three of them paced continuously. They snarled at the attendants who brought them food from the commissary, which none of them would eat. They whined and whimpered softly to one another, clearly unhappy not just with their confinement, but also with the enforced separation of the group.
When they commenced baying, General Hammond appeared to investigate the cacophony.
"Isn't there something we can do about this, doctor?" he asked.
"I don't know, sir. Short of tranquilizing them again?" Dr. Fraiser was showing her stress.
"Well, if we can't stop this, I am going to have to request that they be moved to another facility. This is unacceptable."
"I believe you could attempt to offer them more appropriate food," Teal'c suggested. "On P3R-201 the spent most of their time in animal form hunting small mammals, which they consumed raw. Perhaps they would prefer to eat uncooked meat."
He did not suggest that the three be placed in a single cell. While he was certain they would prefer that at the moment, he was also certain that if they engaged in sexual activities while in wolf form, upon return to their usual existence they would be humiliated to know that people had observed this behavior.
Their change lasted longer than the first one on P3R-201 – nearly eight days. However, in accordance with the werewolf legend, they reverted to their human forms two days after the moon waned from full.
The doctors had witnessed the metamorphosis with extreme excitement, loudly proclaiming their regret that they could not attach equipment to their transforming patients quickly enough to gather data.
DanielJackson stirred first, groaning pitifully as he sat up on the bed, swinging his legs over the side with apparent stiffness. Dr. Fraiser hastened into the observation area.
"Daniel? How do you feel?" she asked with concern. Teal'c did not understand the Tau'ri need to ask questions with obvious answers. However, perhaps it was partially their scientific process, to confirm every data point to the extent possible, rather than making assumptions. Teal'c was neither a scientist nor a scholar, so he reserved judgment.
"Horrible," DanielJackson admitted. "Like I was hit by a bus, then it backed up, ran over me again, poured a bottle of vodka down my throat, and then drove off."
"Running you over a third time?" the doctor asked, her joke making her patient smile as she went through the familiar routine of checking vitals.
"What made us change?" DanielJackson asked.
"I don't know," the doctor said regretfully. "Maybe Gate travel sets it off. Maybe it happens randomly. This time was longer, though, which may account for your discomfort now. Teal'c said that after the three days on P3R-201 you all seemed fine, almost refreshed. But this time, it was eight days."
DanielJackson blinked at her in confusion. Or perhaps it was just the headache Teal'c presumed he had been referring to when he commented about the vodka.
"That does not sound good," DanielJackson said. "The three days on P3R-201 corresponded to the time of the full moon. I don't have any idea when the moon was most recently full on Earth…"
"Two days ago," the doctor told him. "That should account for about three days of the time you were in the wolf form. I'm sorry, Daniel, but we just don't have a lot to go on yet."
Teal'c was displeased to learn that the medical staff were making their long-awaited report to General Hammond on the condition of SG-1 not in the council chamber, but rather in the observation deck of the isolation rooms. His friends were forced to attend the meeting as specimens of scientific study, rather than as equals.
"Even in human form, Col. O'Neill, Capt. Carter and Dr. Jackson all exhibit heightened sense of smell, and more acute vision and hearing," Dr. Fraiser was saying. "We found that they also have vastly increased strength and cardio-vascular stamina."
"Super-strength freaks me out," DanielJackson muttered to SamanthaCarter, audible over the sound system.
"Me, too," SamanthaCarter agreed.
"I wonder what could be causing it?" O'Neill said with mock thoughtfulness. DanielJackson chuckled. General Hammond turned a disapproving gaze on his elite team and they fell silent, though only SamanthaCarter appeared chagrined.
"We have identified a retrovirus in all their blood samples that we are currently hypothesizing is what triggered their change, but we have not been able to form a theory about the pattern of the metamorphic cycle."
"How much observation will be required before you can form an hypothesis?" Teal'c asked. SG-1 had been medical prisoners of the SGC for over two weeks.
"We will probably need to observe several cycles of changes to see if they actually seem to stabilize to occurring around the time of the full moon," Dr. Fraiser said unhappily. "I'm concerned that we don't know enough about the epidemiology of this virus for them to be out of isolation, much less moving at large through populated areas."
"But it seems the contagion is spread through the bite of the animal form," Teal'c objected.
"We don't know that for a fact, Teal'c. If they go through a contagious stage of the human period of the cycle, they could bring on an epidemic that would make Earth another P2X-179."
Teal'c nodded grimly.
"So we're talking months, then?" O'Neill stated. DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter exchanged looks of dismay.
"Yes, realistically," Dr. Fraiser said. "General Hammond, I'm recommending off world quarantine, were we can safely observe SG-1, without having to confine them to isolation for extended periods of time."
"Gee, thanks," O'Neill interjected. The doctor ignored him.
"That would also more effectively limit the possibility of contagion here."
"SG-1 it looks like you just brought Dr. Fraiser's offworld quarantine and medical research facility to the top of my priority list," General Hammond sighed. "I'll put staff on determining an appropriate site, with your input," General Hammond said to the doctor.
"See if you can find something tropical," O'Neill suggested. General Hammond turned to the observation window and addressed his warriors.
"Meanwhile, SG-1, I am going to ask you to continue to remain in isolation. We cannot risk a major outbreak of whatever you've contracted."
"Of course not," SamanthaCarter said in agreement, as DanielJackson said, "Right."
O'Neill said, "Your wish is our command, mon General," which Teal'c felt was insubordinate, but then, General Hammond has always accepted a certain amount of flippancy from O'Neill.
"Thank you for your patience. The medical team is instructed to let me know if there is anything we can do to make this more comfortable for you."
"Thank you, sir," DanielJackson said.
Teal'c left the observation area without any feeling of reassurance.
"This is not tropical," O'Neill declared as they arrived at the selected quarantine site. They were surrounded by rolling grassland as far as the eye could see. A small encampment had been built of prefabricated buildings, outfitted with an advanced virology laboratory. All the SGC staff wore CBRN protection. Only Teal'c, with the protection of his prim'ta, could risk exposure to SG-1.
"Sorry, Colonel," Dr. Fraiser said, not sounding the slightest bit apologetic to Teal'c's inexperienced ear. "All the tropical real estate was too pricey for a scientific facility. How are you feeling?" She addressed the question to the three of them. Teal'c had regarded the shackles and restraints placed on his friends for the trip through the Chappa'ai as an insult, but the three of them had accepted them as a necessity of their condition, especially after the apparent consequences of their most recent travel by wormhole, over a month ago now.
"Fine," DanielJackson said, sounding surprised.
"Not the slightest bit wolf-y," O'Neill confirmed.
"Good!" Dr. Fraiser said, relieved. "Well, let's show you your new digs." They followed her through the small outpost to a large structure at the opposite side of facility from the Chappa'ai.
Earth had passed through another lunar cycle before this facility had been completed. The scientists and physicians had not made any progress on the basis of the careful and controlled observation of SG-1's predicted and expected change. Teal'c knew that on Earth such medical research could go on for years, conducted by hundreds of scientists in the case of cancer research or other prominent diseases, with only modest progress and the distinct possibility of no satisfactory resolution. It was unreasonable to expect a cure to a rare condition to be produced by one small contingent of scientists within thirty days.
And yet, Teal'c felt that the nature of his friends' condition made waiting even more impossible than if they suffered from a fatal, rapidly progressive illness. In such an event, they could face a dignified, if possibly early or painful death. His friends were confronted with a lifetime of imprisonment. Teal'c was determined that these three heroes would not suffer such a fate. He would see to it.
There was great relief in the encampment when SG-1 did not transform after their trip through the Chappa'ai.
"So if the wormhole travel didn't trigger it last time, what did?" Daniel Jackson was asking as they were brought to their new accommodations and their bonds were removed. The isolation area of this facility was set up as an apartment with two bedrooms, an entertainment area, a kitchen/dining area, and a quiet room for reading or using the computers separately from the entertainment area. It was an improvement over the cell-like single rooms of the SGC, but the doors remained secured, with his friends on the inside. And there were still cells adjacent for the times of metamorphosis.
"I've been thinking about that," SamanthaCarter volunteered. "What I've been wondering is, why would lunar cycles have the effects they do? We certainly couldn't be affected by the light of the moon while inside the SGC. I was entirely prepared to think it was coincidental, maybe that the virus ran on a 28 day cycle that sometimes coincidentally synched up with the moon, but then why would moons on two different planets impact us?"
"Gravity," O'Neill suggested.
"Exactly what I was thinking, sir," SamanthaCarter declared.
"P3R-201 was heavy," DanielJackson noted.
"So returning to Earth we came back to lighter gravity," SamanthaCarter said.
"At a full moon gravity would be lighter, too, technically, but it seems like it would be a micro-gravitational change. How could that make a difference to the viruses inside us?" O'Neill said. He sounded skeptical.
"It's just a theory," SamanthaCarter said.
"But an interesting one." Dr. Fraiser sounded thoughtful. "That gives me some ideas. We should brainstorm execution of a few experiments," she said to SamanthaCarter. "Meet you on the video feed in five minutes." Dr. Fraiser left the isolation area.
"So what's up, T?" O'Neill asked. "You're wearing your unhappy face."
"I am displeased by your continued confinement," Teal'c said plainly. He felt no need to hide his feelings, and had not done so at any time.
"Gotta protect the general population from the plague," O'Neill said blandly. But DanielJackson was suddenly very focused on their conversation. Teal'c had noticed that all three of them had become very intense since their infection, and more attuned to the emotions of others, including himself. He had used his inscrutability as a shield among the Tau'ri, but it seemed to hide nothing from them now. "I appreciate your concern, T, but the doc and General Hammond are doing their best."
"Teal'c doesn't think their best is good enough," DanielJackson said.
"Well, Carter isn't ready to give up on finding a solution yet," O'Neill countered. His gaze upon Teal'c was dark and serious. "We all move together, or not at all."
Teal'c nodded. There was no need to say more. He would be there for them when they needed him, and the two of them understood.
Teal'c returned to what had become his new life among the Tau'ri without SG-1. He had been reassigned to SG-3, which in some ways he found quite rewarding. The Marines reminded him very much of the Jaffa in their attitude toward battle and their internal cohesion and loyalty. He in no way faulted the other warriors of the Tau'ri, who were brave in the face of danger, noble, and honorable. But he felt a deeper warrior's bond with SG-3 that offered some solace when he missed O'Neill's biting wit or DanielJackson's open curiosity, or SamanthaCarter's enthusiastic scientific worldview.
SG-3 had a heavy schedule, but Teal'c made a point of knowing the lunar cycles of PKX-775, the planet of SG-1's banishment. He requested leave to begin two days prior to the full moon there. He was greeted by a member of the military contingent assigned to the facility.
"It's good to see you, sir. Everyone's waiting to see if they're going to wolf out again or not," said Sgt. McElvoy, by way of welcome. "Dr. Fraiser is planning to see if anti-viral medication will make any impact."
"I too will be interested to learn the result of this treatment," Teal'c said, ignoring the insulting sound of the term 'wolf out.'
When the treatment failed, Teal'c had not planned to stay to witness their entire period of wolf form, but rather to return to SG-3, which was leaving on a dangerous mission in the morning. But when he met the eyes of the O'Neill wolf through the observation room barrier, Teal'c felt compelled to stay. He felt in his mind the longing to be free and the confidence that the pack was now ready to move as one. Teal'c waited after all.
Teal'c did not hurry toward the sounds of combat. He heard repeated zat'ni'katel discharges and the cries of the fallen, but no gunfire. The facility was currently sparsely manned, with only a single security team, and very few medical staff. The outbreak of a particularly virulent stomach virus had caused General Hammond to recall his doctors from research off-world to patient care on Earth.
"You done in there, Carter?" O'Neill called as Teal'c approached the isolation building.
"Yes, sir," she said, emerging with the heavy pack resting on one shoulder. To Teal'c it was clear she was exerting very little effort.
"OK, Carter, I want you to grab a laptop or three and be sure you have everything the doc has been able to find out about us. Hopefully, there's something useful there. Then you're on generator patrol. I insist on all the amenities in my new seaside villa. Widescreen TV, VCR, enough hot water for a really long shower. Daniel, you're with me." O'Neill and DanielJackson set off toward the armory.
"Can I be of assistance, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked. O'Neill turned to him.
"T, it might be better if you can honestly say you had nothing to do with what we did here."
Teal'c nodded.
"My compliments to you, Captain Carter, for deactivating the door lock," Teal'c said as the two men left them.
"Electronic locks are stupid," she said bluntly.
Teal'c merely nodded again.
"May I offer this small contribution?" Teal'c suggested. He held out his hand, showing her what he carried.
She rewarded him with a bright smile and happily accepted the dialing crystal from the Chappa'ai's dialing device.
"Thanks, Teal'c. How did you know?"
"I happened to be in the control center when the unauthorized opening of the isolation area door raised the alarm. I do not believe my actions were observed."
"There will be footage from the security cameras," SamanthaCarter commented, looking quite serious.
"There might have been," Teal'c agreed mildly. "However, the cameras have been working poorly of late, and today were not operating at all. It was quite fortunate for me." That earned him another delighted smile.
"Why are we hauling three crates of ammunition to the Gate?" DanielJackson complained, as he and O'Neill returned on their way toward the Chappa'ai.
"Because the guns don't work that well without it," O'Neill retorted.
"I'm just saying three giant crates seems excessive," DanielJackson replied.
"Have we heard anything from the SGC?" O'Neill asked SamanthaCarter as he and DanielJackson continued past them.
"No," SamanthaCarter replied. She held up the crystal.
"Genius," O'Neill puffed approvingly, the crate quite difficult even for two super-strong werewolves to manage.
She shared another smile with Teal'c.
"Come on," she said to him. "Help me get this equipment packed up. If the Colonel is going to take the whole armory, we might as well raid the hospital."
Teal'c stood at parade rest in the office of General Hammond.
"And you expect me to believe that it was a simple coincidence that you were present on PKX-775 the same day that SG-1 escaped."
"I was not under the impression that my friends were considered prisoners," Teal'c stated, though in fact he had been thinking the very thing since the beginning. This was simply the first time their true status had been acknowledged. "And indeed it was a coincidence. I requested leave so that I could be there as Dr. Fraiser attempted her newest treatment protocol. When it failed, I waited to visit them when they returned to their human form."
General Hammond frowned.
"You don't know where they went?" he asked severely.
"They restrained me out of sight of the Stargate. I was unable to see the address they dialed," Teal'c answered truthfully.
"Did you offer resistance to being restrained or make any effort to stop them?" General Hammond demanded.
"No, I did not," Teal'c replied, more sharply than he normally would do, his patience close to an end. "They had been held captive by their own people long enough. If they no longer desired to participate in research toward their cure, I saw no reason to prevent them from seeking their freedom."
"Or taking an armory full of equipment and ammunition, crates of medical supplies, several computers containing valuable medical research, an entire commissary full of various personal care products and a naquadah generator?" General Hammond growled.
"O'Neill stated that the guns work better with ammunition," Teal'c commented in an attempt at humor. He was rewarded by a snort of laughter from the general.
"I'll bet he did."
The alarm sounded for unscheduled off-world activation. The general rose and moved swiftly down the stairs to the control center as the iris closed.
"Receiving SG-1's most recent code, sir," Sgt. Harriman said.
"SG-1, this is General Hammond. Your security codes have been cancelled and you are not authorized to travel to this facility unescorted. The iris is closed. I repeat, the iris is closed."
"Thank you for letting us know, sir. Wouldn't want to be a bug on the windshield," came O'Neill's response, made distorted and tinny in transmission. "However, I've considered the circumstances, and at this point I would like to officially let you know that I am not planning any return to Dr. Fraiser's lovely facilities. I am resigning my commission as of now."
General Hammond did not reply immediately.
"Colonel, if you surrender now, I'm prepared to consider the events of the last 24 hours an unfortunate result of your illness and to pursue no charges," the general finally said. "I am sure Dr. Fraiser will find a solution to this problem. I'd like to encourage you and your team to tell us where you are so that we can come get you and continue seeking a treatment."
"Be that as it may, sir," O'Neill said, interrupting him, "How long would that be likely to take, even if she had a team of experts available to her and unlimited time to work on the project? We are all happy to continue to contribute whatever we can to Dr. Fraiser's research, but we will do it remotely. Sir."
"This is not you decision to make, Colonel. Need I remind you of your duty as an officer in the United States Air Force…" he began.
"Not any more, sir," he said simply. "I believe Carter would like to have a word with you."
"Captain, if you tender you resignation…" the general sounded menacing.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid I'm with the Colonel on this one," SamanthaCarter said.
"Does Dr. Jackson also agree?"
"Yes," DanielJackson said simply. "My experience with the Machello nano-machines has strongly informed our decision as a group. A decision that has only been reinforced by the promise of perpetual offsite quarantine as research subjects."
General Hammond considered, his face grim.
"Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter. I do not accept your resignations. You are officers on active duty. If you insist on following this course of action, I will declare you deserters and when you return to Earth you will face court martial."
To Teal'c's surprise it was SamanthaCarter who responded.
"You do what you have to do, general," she nearly snarled at him. "We've made our decision, and we've informed you. Sir. We'll contact you again soon to see if Dr. Fraiser needs anything else from us. Carter out."
They must have shut off their radios. The communications officer continued attempting to reach them for the full thirty-eight minutes, but it seemed SG-1 was no longer listening.
"Let me know if they respond," the general ordered, and then indicated that Teal'c should follow him. Behind the closed doors of his office, the general took the seat at his desk with a deep sigh.
"Sit down, Teal'c," he said. Teal'c did as commanded.
"I want to keep the channels open to SG-1," he said frankly. "I assume that Col. O'Neill didn't take a whole armory's worth of munitions just so that he could fish himself into a state of zenlike bliss. I don't like the idea of them out there, trying to take the fight to the goa'uld alone."
"I too believe their good intentions may be unwise," Teal'c confided to the general.
"Well, since we are in agreement, I'd like you to act as go-between. I'm giving you carte blanche to use the gate and to transport through it whatever supplies you see fit, no questions asked. You can help Dr. Fraiser with any medical follow-up she requests and you can assist SG-1 with any intelligence that we can reasonably provide. Obviously, I would like you to persuade them not to undertake any activities, but I realize that may be a vain hope."
"I appreciate your confidence and trust in me," Teal'c replied. "But did you not just promise retribution to O'Neill and Captain Carter for their insubordination and desertion?"
The general sighed again.
"They contracted this illness in the line of duty. They escaped without injuring anyone. They have violated quarantine, but they have done so by further isolating themselves from Earth populations. The fact is, under the circumstances I am willing to disregard the assault on SGC staff and the missing supplies. I just wish we could have done more, so that they didn't feel the need to do what they did."
Teal'c nodded. He respected General Hammond above all other Tau'ri, primarily because of this honor and loyalty to his warriors.
"Unfortunately, General Hammond, I stated the truth. I do not know where they have gone. I believe I will be able to find them, but it may take some time," Teal'c said thoughtfully.
"Well, take the time," General Hammond ordered. He rose from his desk. "Talk to my secretary and get on my calendar for a briefing on your plans before you leave. I would like regular reports on your progress. Requisitions can be classified under the usual categories for establishing trade and diplomatic relations."
Teal'c rose to his feet, bowed, and regressed from the general's office, formulating his plan of search.
It took him two weeks of searching to find them. He emerged into the bright sunlight of MV8-988 feeling weary of the hunt. He had reviewed the gate addresses available to the SGC, and had already visited 27 planets he thought would appeal to SG-1 as a haven. There were eleven planets that had come up in conversation over campfires as possible places to "retire" or as hypothetical meeting points if the team ever became separated but for some reason were unable to return to Earth. When he failed to locate SG-1 on those planets, he began a search of other places he thought likely. Locations with mild climates, little or no goa'uld activity, and no local inhabitants. And of course, potential for fishing.
The Chappa'ai on MV8-988 stood at the foot of a road leading into the main square of an abandoned village. Teal'c saw no sign of recent passage, but he felt certain that O'Neill would have removed any indications of SG-1's presence near the Chappa'ai. As he proceeded into the village, he keyed his radio.
"This is Teal'c. Can any member of SG-1 hear my voice?"
He sighed when there was no answer. However, lack of response was not definitive evidence. SG-1 might not be using their radios, or might be out of range. The small island was mountainous. They could merely be on the other side of one of the large hills.
Teal'c spent the afternoon exploring. He first looked for tracks or sign around the edges of the main village. When he found nothing, he made his way down the road leading to the beach. There he found the evidence he was looking for. There were crab pots and lobster cages in the water, all of them full of living crustaceans. They were in good condition, untroubled by any bad weather. Teal'c took this as an indication that they had been set recently. He looked up into the sky to find the planet above was gibbous but not full. His friends should not be in wolf form. He wondered why the traps had been abandoned.
He searched the dunes until he found a faint path leading into the woods. He proceeded cautiously. He heard only the sounds of birds, insects, wind and ocean. He called again on the radio. He followed the path up a steep incline, emerging in a recently maintained clearing around a large building with several small outbuildings. The signs of recent habitation were very clear here. He was gratified to see easily identifiable boot prints. A quick review of the outbuildings revealed SG-1's supplies, carefully protected. Their packs were missing, but the large main building still housed the computers and the naquadah generator.
So SG-1 was gone, but intended to return.
Teal'c felt as if a large burden had been lifted, his relief was deep and great.
Of course, that raised new questions. From the state of their new home, he felt they had been gone for a week, at least. Where had they gone that would keep them for so long, and to do what? He felt a different concern grow. Had they attempted some mission of their own devising and been captured, with no one to notice or come to their rescue?
He began to examine the large shelter carefully. He powered up the generator and booted up the computers. He quickly found SamanthaCarter's notes.
His friends had returned to D'eb Al'ealm twelve days ago. Teal'c shook his head. They could be capable of such foolishness.
With a heavy sigh he returned down the mountainside toward the Chappa'ai.
Teal'c stood in the Chappa'ai's clearing on D'eb Al'ealm. The forest was full of birdsong and the fragrance of the evergreens, peaceful and serene. He keyed his radio.
"This is Teal'c. Can you hear me, SG-1?"
There was no response. Teal'c gripped his staff weapon more firmly and set out into the thick trees. He found their discarded uniforms and packs right away, just beyond the edge of the clearing. Far off, he heard baying. He carried their belongings and equipment back to the Chappa'ai, dialed MV8-988, and tossed them back through.
For lack of a better plan, he then turned in the direction of the calling werewolves. He soon happened upon a well-worn game trail. There were more howls, rapidly coming closer.
They burst upon him with the merest rustle of undergrowth, bearing him to the ground with excited yelps.
"O'Neill, DanielJackson," he said to them calmly as SamathaCarter sat back on her haunches with a long, mournful cry. They all bore nips and marks of fighting, but seemed not to be seriously harmed. SamanthaCarter suddenly growled, and the whole group became very still. O'Neill bounded away into the woods, followed closely by the other two. Teal'c followed as quickly as he was able.
They appeared to be stalking a deer-sized beast. Teal'c was pleased to see that by coincidence the creature was leading them directly back toward the Chappa'ai. DanielJackson suddenly stiffened, head turning as if he had scented game, and then he dashed to the DHD. He stood upright. Even in their wolf forms, they retained a strongly human appearance. O'Neill and SamanthaCarter watched him intensely. Suddenly he began moving his long furry arms, dialing MV8-988 confidently and without hesitation. With a series of yelps, he dove toward the wormhole. His companions followed him through the event horizon.
Teal'c still had to wait nearly two more days for his friends to return to their human form. He watched over them as they finally curled into a sleepy pile on the beach. They transformed in their sleep.
SamanthaCarter was the first to awaken.
"Oh my God, what did I eat?" she groaned. "And why didn't you stop me?"
"Boar," O'Neill responded groggily. "We hunted boar."
"That didn't go as planned," DanielJackson commented, his voice muffled by SamanthaCarter's hip. "I think we need moon charts for P2X-179."
"There was a plan?" Teal'c asked.
"T!" O'Neill shouted joyfully. He struggled to sit, over the protests of SamanthaCarter and DanielJackson, who again had curled atop him during the transition. As they sorted themselves out, they all had warm smiles for Teal'c. "When did you get here? How did you find us?" O'Neill demanded.
"It was a long and difficult search," Teal'c said. "Perhaps the story would be better shared after you have refreshed and clothed yourselves."
"Oh," DanielJackson said.
"Right," SamanthaCarter agreed. To Teal'c it seemed that none of them were particularly concerned, but Samantha Carter said, "Be back soon," and headed up the slope toward their home.
"Yeah, a bath to get all the sand off," DanielJackson agreed, following her.
O'Neill simply availed himself of the clothing Teal'c had brought down to the beach for them.
"Thanks, Teal'c. You must be the reason we're not all still scratching fleas with the werewolves on 179?"
"I believe I am only partially responsible. When I arrived, you were near enough to the Chappa'ai to detect my presence and you came to greet me. However, a large stag-like creature ran past us as we met, and DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter immediately pursued it. The creature led us back to the Chappa'ai, which DanielJackson appeared to recognized. It was he who dialed the address of this moon and encouraged you to return here."
O'Neill stood before him fully clothed.
"That all sounds familiar," O'Neill said, they began walking up the hill. "We went to 179 hoping to learn something about the disease. When we got there, the situation went FUBAR immediately. As you can imagine, we didn't learn a lot, though we had a lot of furry interactions with the locals. I get the feeling we were there a lot longer than the usual three days."
"You left PKX-775 eighteen days ago, and you have been back here approximately forty hours."
"That makes 12 days on 179," O'Neill said.
They walked on quietly until they arrived at SG-1's compound.
"General Hammond sends his compliments," Teal'c said. "And though he understands your need for weapons, he questions your motivations for 'clearing out' the entire commissary."
"Hey, it's not like we're going to be able to run down to King Soopers if we're out of toothpaste. Besides, I watched 1900 House. Shampoo is a miracle of modern Earth chemistry. I'm not risking the universe being totally incompetent to produce something useable. Not that either you or the general would necessarily be moved by that argument," O'Neill acknowledged, mimicking Bra'tac's familiar hand gesture to indicate baldness. Teal'c covered his urge to smile with a raised eyebrow.
"Since arriving here, I have been wondering why this moon is not higher on the list of Earth evacuation sites," Teal'c commented.
"Nobody was comfortable with sending survivors to a recently inhabited volcanic island," O'Neill said. "They never did come up with a good explanation as to what happened to the locals. Debate raged between ash cloud, poisonous volcanic gas release, and goa'uld host harvest."
As they entered SG-1's home, DanielJackson snorted. He had obviously heard O'Neill's comments.
"That's because nobody took the whole endeavor very seriously. Anybody can see it had to be the goa'uld. The buildings are intact and there are no human remains."
"Which is why I've always had this place so high on my list of planets to use in case I ever wanted a hidey-hole," O'Neill replied. "Private tropical island. Bikini clad women and plenty of good fishing. Opportunity for funny little drinks in coconut shells with tiny umbrellas."
"Temperate climate, plenty of fresh water, protein, and year-round edible vegetation. Not to mention shelter," DanielJackson riposted.
"I notice that several of the village houses are in good condition and would only need minor repairs to be usable," Teal'c agreed.
"The lagoon down there is full of crabs. I'm definitely not going swimming in there, but the crabs will keep us in good eatin' until we're all thoroughly sick of them." O'Neill said. "I see crab as the possible basis for us to trade with other planets, if we can figure out how to make the trip without going all furry."
"Our first trading partners should be the nearest planet with high quality butter," SamanthaCarter added as she rejoined the group. "Also, we need to track down equipment to reroof all of these buildings."
"What are your intentions?" Teal'c asked. SamanthaCarter began booting up computers as the three men seated themselves on the wobbly stools surrounding her worktable.
"I assume from the crates and crates of ordnance, the col…" at O'Neill's raised eyebrow SamanthaCarter looked sheepish, "…Jack plans to continue to fight the good fight."
"Well, tropical paradise or not, this place doesn't have zip lines or parasailing. A man can only fish for so many hours in the day," O'Neill said.
"On this point, General Hammond wishes you would choose to 'stand down.' He asked me to remind you that it will be very dangerous without the support of Stargate Command," Teal'c said.
"Is that why you're here, Teal'c? I thought you were joining us," SamanthaCarter said.
Teal'c bowed his head. "I have come here first and foremost as your friend," he said quietly. "But despite his harsh words at your last communication, General Hammond has already 'covered for' your escape, which he now categorizes as an extreme form of offworld quarantine. He has asked me to extend to you every support he can provide, including equipment and intelligence. He also asked me to let you know that he has not accepted your resignations, so you continue to draw salary as active-duty personnel during your quarantine."
"Good old George," O'Neill said. Teal'c could see that they were all pleased. "He didn't actually order us not to amuse ourselves, though, right?"
Teal'c shook his head.
"He expressed doubt that such an order would be obeyed."
"Well, as a practical matter, we have to figure out how to control the changes before we can travel," DanielJackson said.
"Are we going to change on any planet when there is a full moon?" O'Neill asked. "Oh! What if we are on a moon?"
"This is a moon," SamanthaCarter reminded him, laughter in her voice.
DanielJackson had a smile sneaking out, too.
"Why am I finding it so hard to take all this seriously?" O'Neill asked.
"I'm just glad I didn't give up my pension," SamanthaCarter chuckled. "Dad would have killed me."
DanielJackson waved vaguely in the direction of the outbuildings.
"That stuff is worth a year of Jack's salary. He'll be lucky if General Hammond doesn't drain his bank account to pay for it."
"I wouldn't care. Best investment of my life," O'Neill declared. "So what do we know about werewolves? Werewolfs? Like, what can kill them?"
"A zat," SamanthaCarter suggested. DanielJackson burst out laughing.
"Good one, Carter. Sam. Sam Carter," O'Neill said. "Also silver, right? Ha! Goa'uld never like silver. Score one for SG-Werewolf."
"It seems like we'll have a lot on our side, once we get back out there. We're all stronger, faster, more aware of our surroundings…" DanielJackson said. "Even if we accidentally change, we'll be fighting machines."
"Yeah," SamanthaCarter said. "But there are reasons why humans fight wars and animals don't. Give me human physical capabilities, a human brain, and an M-16 any day over animal fighting instincts."
"Animals are too smart to stick around for the fight, anyway," O'Neill said.
"Actually, we don't really know that, do we? I still don't remember much from being changed," DanielJackson said.
"I remember Daniel calling us on P3R-201," Sam said hesitantly. "And chasing the NearRabbits. I remember a lot of hunting on 179, too."
"We fought the other werewolves on 179," O'Neill commented. "None of us were particularly interested in furry hanky-panky with the locals."
DanielJackson snorted.
"None of those guys was gonna out-Alpha Jack O'Neill," DanielJackson said. "Though I remember a lot of furry hanky-panky from 179, just not with the locals."
"Thanks for bringing that up, Daniel," O'Neill said. He shifted uncomfortably.
"Well, I agree with Daniel. I think we are on stand-down until we get a better idea of how this works," SamanthaCarter said. "We should spend some time establishing our base here. Maybe after a few changes outside of captivity, we'll get the hang of it and figure out if we can control it."
"Your lips to God's ears," O'Neill replied.
Teal'c left MV8-988 assured that SG-1 would not travel via Chappa'ai again prior to his return. He delivered their lists of requested personal items to General Hammond. The general reviewed O'Neill's with some skepticism.
"Colonel O'Neill is very specific and… comprehensive… in his requests," the general commented. "You can let him know from me that I am intrigued and skeptical about what he plans to do with all these hand tools."
"He informs me that he has all of this equipment in his home," Teal'c replied.
"I'll send a couple of airmen to help you identify and collect it," the general said.
"Also, Captain Carter says she 'would kill for a good mattress.'" Teal'c indicated her phrasing by intonation. The general barked a laugh.
"I imagine she would."
Teal'c sat with them on the beach by the firepit that had become their outdoor kitchen. They cooked outside, for the time being eating freshly gathered fruit and freshly caught crabs every day. That meant part of their time had to be devoted to 'bringing in the groceries,' as O'Neill phrased it, but the chores were easily accomplished.
Every night, SamanthaCarter had been charting the phases of the gas giant they orbited.
"I think the virus must be effected by micro-gravitational changes," she said. "That's the only way we could be impacted by tidal forces."
"If it's tidal, then a planet with one moon should have two spring tides for that planet's month. We should feel the effects at the full and the new moon," DanielJackson pointed out.
"Or in our case, the full and the new phase of the planet," SamanthaCarter said.
"Those guys on 179 have been in the wolf state every time we've been there," O'Neill replied skeptically.
"Twice," DanielJackson countered.
"We were there for a week," O'Neill argued. "That's a heck of a long spring tide."
"The duration could depend on the size of the planet. Not to mention that 179 has four small moons instead of one large one. That's going to be a lot more complicated tidal system than we're used to."
"Maybe," O'Neill said. "Or maybe it's something else."
SamanthaCarter shrugged.
"Bottom line, if we go into a new planet/moon system blind, we have no idea if we'll be SG-1 or the wolfpack after we get there," O'Neill grumbled.
"You make us sound like a high school basketball team," DanielJackson complained.
O'Neill glared at him.
Even while the men were still completing the roof work, SamanthaCarter was already surveying the terrain to bring in running water.
"I would kill for some high quality plumbing supplies," she groused to Teal'c as she trimmed the bamboo poles they had cut and dragged over from the other side of the island.
"I swear, if we let her loose in a Lowe's today, we'd have front-loading washers and driers, flush toilets, a water heater, high quality mattresses, and twenty dead customer-services associates," O'Neill called down from the edge of the roof where he perched, drinking from a coconut shell. Teal'c could not understand his obsession with drinking coconut water in this way, but O'Neill found the concept highly entertaining.
"That's how she got banned from Advance Auto Parts," DanielJackson deadpanned. He had climbed down from the roof to rest in the shade and eat one of the mango-like fruits offered in a grove near the Chappa'ai. "She has to order all her bike parts over the internet now."
SamanthaCarther whacked him in the arm with her bamboo pole.
"That is not the reason I got banned from Advance…" she began. Then she choked, and doubled over.
"Oh, great, here we go. Now I'll probably never find out how she got thrown out of there," O'Neill complained. He moved quickly to get down from the roof before he too was taken by the process of the metamorphosis. He reached the ground safely. DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter were struggling to remove their clothing while it could still be salvaged.
Teal'c had observed this terrible process the three times they had changed while in the custody of Dr. Fraiser. Yet he still witnessed the elongation of their skeletal structure, the strange sudden growth of hair, the total transformation of their skulls with horror. Teal'c loathed the idea that there was something inside his friends, changing them into monsters.
Teal'c sat by them in the aftermath. They would not remain unconscious long. He was nearest to O'Neill. He reached out hesitantly to touch the silver-streaked black fur of his haunch. Though his coat appeared coarse, the texture of the hair was smooth and soft. O'Neill made a sighing whimper in his sleep. Teal'c sighed in return.
"I know, my friend," he murmured meaninglessly.
They began to stir within the hour. SamanthaCarter was the first to wake. She rose to four feet like a wolf, though the proportions of her limbs were more human than wolf, and her front feet resembled a human hand far more than an animal's paw. She bent over DanielJackson and sniffed at him, nudging him with her long nose. She gnawed gently at his shoulder with her huge white fangs. When he did not respond she turned toward O'Neill. She brushed against Teal'c on the way, leaning against him like an affectionate dog, before attempting to wake her friend. When O'Neill, too, continued to sleep, she cast an exasperated look at Teal'c, butting him again with her head before trotting off into the trees.
DanielJackson woke soon after. He greeted Teal'c much as SamanthaCarter had done, then after observing O'Neill for a few moments, faded away into the woods as well. O'Neill slept nearly a full hour before waking. He sat and scratched behind his large, batlike ear, though with his hand, not with his foot like a dog. He got to his feet in wolf-fashion, though, as had DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter, then gave a toss of his head and a growl to Teal'c that was unmistakably an invitation to follow him.
Teal'c could hear the other two, panting just inside the treeline. They found them sitting on their haunches, side-by-side. DanielJackson growled a welcome. SamanthaCarter's head turned immediately and she bayed, suddenly dashing away, the other two hard on her heels.
They moved agilely and very fast. Teal'c kept up with them as best he could and they never left him behind, a fact for which he felt absurdly grateful. He realized with sudden insight how much he feared losing them. They were his brothers and his sister now. His home was with them. What if they left him behind completely?
The two men split apart, DanielJackson moving to aid SamanthaCarter in her hunt, but rather than select a path to help the other two, O'Neill hesitated, then turned. He appeared to now be stalking not prey, but rather his friends. Teal'c smiled. This was something he truly envied, this freedom they had now to lose themselves in the physicality and sensuality of life. Teal'c wondered which of them O'Neill pursued at the moment.
O'Neill moved cautiously, listening for his mate. Teal'c saw him startle when SamanthaCarter gave her killing cry. Then a heavy, hard body slammed into him. They crashed to the ground, growling and snapping, scrabbling in the leaf mould. DanielJackson may have surprised him, but O'Neill quickly recovered the upper hand as the grappled. He caught the back of DanielJackson's neck in his jaws, a gentle but warning bite, and the other man yielded. Teal'c turned away from the coupling. He followed SamanthaCarter's growls as she snarled her displeasure at hunting alone. He sat by her as she ripped meat from the carcass of the mountain goat, and waited for the two men to saunter the quarter mile or so to join her at the kill. They did not appear for some time.
"There are things I know I should care about, but I don't anymore," DanielJackson said thoughtfully.
"Definitely," O'Neill agreed. They seemed lethargic, lulled by the warmth of the sun. Teal'c himself had been drowsing on the beach, waiting for them to awaken. O'Neill's head rested on DanielJackson's chest. He idly stroked the smooth skin of SamanthCarter's warm back.
"That could be a problem," SamanthaCarter commented, voice slurred with sleep and contentment.
"Only if the new perspective causes us to make bad decisions," O'Neill disagreed.
"We declined to remain in quarantine so the SGC could try to help us," DanielJackson pointed out. He stretched his arms long overhead, back arching luxuriously. O'Neill lifted his head long enough to glare at him, then they all resettled around DanielJackson's shifted position.
"Fraiser gets lucky sometimes and she has amazing staff, but I don't think it was an error in judgment to decide we didn't want to be prisoners. They couldn't even pick a good planet for us. We were stuck out in the middle of a big prairie, when this place was in their database." O'Neill shut his eyes, as if this brief excursion into argument were tiring and he might go back to sleep.
DanielJackson hummed. Teal'c couldn't tell if it was agreement, demurral, or sun-warmed drowsiness.
"I'm really OK with the whole hunt-and-eat-raw-prey thing," SamanthaCarter interjected.
"I think we only need to worry about that if you start doing it while in human form," DanielJackson said with a chuckle.
"I don't care that I'm having sex with both of you," O'Neill said bluntly. "Or rather, I like having sex with both of you, I'd do it right now, in human form, and I really don't care."
"Huh, that seems like a problematic one," Samantha Carter replied, despite the fact that her leg was lying across DanielJackson's naked penis, her bare breasts pressed against his unclothed torso.
"Maybe," O'Neill murmured. "Daniel smells really good, even to my human nose."
SamanthaCarter buried her nose in DanielJackson's hair and inhaled deeply.
"I agree," she said.
"You both retired," DanielJackson pointed out helpfully. "None of us have any obligations to anyone else at the moment. Considering we've been unprofessionally close for a couple of years now, I don't see this impacting us in the field, assuming we can figure out any way to travel when we could change forms at any time."
SamanthaCarter shifted to lever herself up. She kissed DanielJackson's nipple and O'Neill's shoulder and stood, wading out in to the water to rinse off the sand. Then she strolled back up the beach toward the path that would take her over the mountain, across the island, and back to their home. As she passed Teal'c she extended her hand to him. He took it, though he didn't need her aid to stand. To his surprise, she tugged him against her, reaching up to kiss his mouth with curiosity and the beginnings of passion. Teal'c found himself responding with alarming alacrity, deepening her kiss, catching her in his arms. She was slender, tall and strong and only a third of everything he wanted in this moment. He wished she could communicate the virus to him in her kiss.
Except he knew he didn't wish that. It was only a fantasy – a beautiful dream. No matter how much he longed to find rest and quiet and peace – no matter how deeply he loved these three Tau'ri – Teal'c of Chulak was not prepared to leave behind his responsibilities to his people and General Hammond. He would not abandon his aspirations for freedom for the galaxy and the destruction of the evil that was the goa'uld, not even if he could find peace and rest and quiet with these people he loved.
She broke away, laughing, pulling on his hand still in hers. Behind him, O'Neill growled. Teal'c did not fear that territorial possessiveness.
"No, SamanthaCarter," Teal'c said, standing unmoving. "Although I desire you, I do not believe you would desire me, if not for your illness."
She appraised him with the intense stare of the wolf. He met her eyes, unflinching.
"What do you know about what I want?" she challenged him. "This is what I've always wanted. My illness just makes it something I can have."
"Then with regret, my duty is to Captain Carter of the SGC," Teal'c replied. He withdrew his hand. "That is my duty to all of you," he said. "You should be who you once were. I will find a way."
Then he turned away from them and followed the overgrown path to the Chappa'ai.
He returned briefly to the SGC. Dr. Fraiser had passed the work on the problem of SG-1's virus to specialists. He visited their laboratory often, whenever he was not occupied with SG-3, but they never had much to offer him. The virus was always incubating, or experiments were being designed, or they were waiting for the results from this or that test. There was nothing conclusive. He was glad that SG-3 did not usually take the more diplomatic missions that had been assigned to SG-1. Teal'c found he had little patience for thoughtful negotiation. He was grateful for many opportunities to encounter the enemy – and fire upon them.
However, he began to feel that he needed to contribute more to the cause of finding a solution. With the leave of General Hammond, he headed out into the universe to consult with scholars that the Tau'ri would not even know existed, much less how to find.
SG-1 cycled through two full months on MV8-988. By the time Teal'c returned to them again, they had lost half a year to the disease. He wondered what welcome he would get from them, but he need not have been concerned. SamanthaCarter threw herself into his arms for a huge welcoming hug, and DanielJackson joined her. Teal'c caught O'Neill's glance over their heads, but O'Neill held back.
"Dignity. Age. Command," O'Neill said with a smile. "Lookin' hot in the leather, T! SGC get a fashion consultant?"
Teal'c stepped back from SamanthaCarter and DanielJackson, smiling at them both, and looked down on his clothes.
"Indeed, I may have made a poor choice of attire for this visit. Your new home world is quite warm."
O'Neill smirked at Teal'c's deliberate misinterpretation of his comment.
"Never change, buddy. Come on, we're having crabs with clarified goat butter for dinner. Daniel's developed a real knack for goat husbandry."
DanielJackson was pulling the lid off one of the totes that had preceded Teal'c through the gate.
"Thanks for the presents, Teal'c. What's in there?" O'Neill asked.
"Various items," Teal'c replied vaguely. DanielJackson held up a sun dress with a raised eyebrow. "I considered the climate here and thought that SamanthaCarter might enjoy some items from her personal wardrobe that were not included in the selections packed by the SGC." SamanthaCarter beamed at him.
DanielJackson suddenly perked up, and made a beeline for the sixth crate, which also happened to be the farthest from him.
O'Neill and SamanthaCarter realized at the same moment.
"Coffee," SamanthaCarter grinned, just as O'Neill said "Chocolate."
"I also realized that perhaps your supplies of these two critical items needed replenishment."
"You're a genius, Teal'c," DanielJackson called. He hefted the coffee box and headed toward their home. SamanthaCarter picked up her tote and followed him.
"The remaining boxes contain ammunition," Teal'c said quietly. O'Neill gave a low whistle.
"You bought out the store, huh?" he asked.
"I thought you would find it only slightly less useful than the coffee and chocolate," Teal'c replied.
O'Neill sighed.
"Seems premature," O'Neill said. "Unfortunately, we're having a little logistical problem." He took the end of a crate, Teal'c the other. They walked in companionable silence. When they arrived at SG'1's small, snug compound and placed the crate in their armory shed.
"We should go down to the lagoon and catch dinner," O'Neill said.
"O'Neill, I will not join you for fishing," Teal'c rumbled in warning.
"Not fishing, T, crabbing. Plus, no mosquitoes down there."
Teal'c swirled hard-gotten meat from broken shells of the claws through the golden butter.
"You could develop trading relationships with many people on the basis of these creatures," Teal'c said. He felt content, sitting on the beach, eating crabs with clarified goat butter under the alien sunset.
"I've thought that, too," DanielJackson said. "I've even picked out a few places where I think we have likely trading partners and a favorable gravity ratio. Mostly we just need to sort out the moon question so that we can know we won't endanger anyone."
"Want to be our forward scout, T?" O'Neill proposed. "You could take month long vacations to all the planets we want to visit."
"It would be simple enough to just ask the nearest farmer," DanielJackson suggested.
"I believe I can offer a better resource," Teal'c replied.
"Do tell," O'Neill said, leaning forward a bit. Teal'c felt for him, a man of action trapped, even if he was trapped in paradise.
"Every System Lord must know how best to exploit the slaves inhabiting his various planets. Apophis had a class of priestesses entirely devoted to knowing when harvests would occur on any world, and what each world would produce."
"Why wouldn't he just program that stuff into a computer?" SamanthaCarter asked.
"Why does a System Lord do anything? For his own aggrandizement," Teal'c said scornfully.
"So these priestesses know about moon phases on hundreds of worlds?" DanielJackson asked skeptically.
Teal'c nodded.
"Cults have grown up around these priestesses of the harvest," Teal'c stated. "Many people go to their temples for advice on the best time to plant, or to the most favorable time to conceive. The priestess consults her tablet showing the faces of moons across the galaxy, and then offers her wisdom."
"We could use one of those tablets," O'Neill said.
"I know where we can find one," Teal'c said. It was very difficult to remain calm and inexpressive as the three of them burst into smiles, but he had his dignity to maintain.
"And Smeinarti's gravity is heavier than this moon?" SamanthaCarter confirmed.
"Indeed, SamanthaCarter, as I have reiterated several times."
DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter were suffering the effects of excessive consumption of coffee and chocolate, bouncing and jittery. Even O'Neill had consumed more sugar and caffeine than Teal'c thought was his usual habit.
SamanthaCarter nodded in response to Teal'c's reassurance. Teal'c noted that at least her hands weren't shaking.
Teal'c was reminded of the first days of their friendship. Again they were disguised in priest's robes. While Teal'c knew they felt ridiculous and awkward, he was again surprised at how the holy attire moved him, casting their now familiar faces in a new light. He scowled deeply. Why should he be so affected by these symbols of false gods? He did not know, but he felt the fealty demanded by the robes, nonetheless.
"It's been awhile since we were out there. Are we ready to do this?" O'Neill asked his team.
"Yes, sir," SamanthaCarter responded crisply, reverting to ingrained habits. DanielJackson wore what Teal'c was coming to think of as his wolfish grin, the inappropriate one that always seemed to bring an answering and similarly toothy smile from O'Neill. DanielJackson prodded SamanthaCarter in the side with his elbow.
"Hey!" she protested, poking him back.
Teal'c took in their behavior with a severe silence.
"Alright, then. Dial it up, Daniel," O'Neill ordered, apparently unfazed.
They emerged from the event horizon. Teal'c adopted a prayerful posture, head bowed over folded hands. They emulated him, and let him lead them toward the temple. They had just cleared the Chappa'ai's dais when the wormhole engaged again behind them.
A phalanx of guards emerged, wearing the helmets of Nirrti, followed by the herald, with his long horn of the meewa. He blew a prolonged, eerie note, then Nirrti herself emerged, standing imperiously at the event horizon, surveying her domain.
A visit from the local System Lord had not been part of their planning. This was a world of only moderate importance in Nirrti's systems, though the priestess here was thought to be particularly gifted and an oracle of human fertility. They had expected the priestess to be better defended than some targets they could have chosen, but this planet had their new prerequisites - high gravity, correct phase of the moon. They had not anticipated that the System Lord might come for a personal consultation.
They had dressed as low-ranking priests, bringing the queries of supplicants on their own world, so unimportant that it did not have a harvest priestess of its own. It seemed very unlikely that Nirrti would notice them, unless they somehow didn't bow deeply enough. Teal'c risked a glance at his friends, to see that they were following his example. To his distress he realized that DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter both appeared ill. In fact, DanielJackson at that moment doubled over and yield up his chocolate-and-coffee lunch. SamanthaCarter's nausea overtook her only seconds later.
This was precisely the scenario they had feared. He hoped that they were far enough back in the crowd that the vomiting would go unnoticed and they would appear only to be genuflecting deeply. Teal'c maintained his bowed head, watching Nirrti and her contingent as they swept past. O'Neill so far showed no signs of undergoing the change. Teal'c attempted to calculate the possibility that with O'Neill's help they could direct DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter back through the Chappa'ai after the goa'uld left. Teal'c tried to split his attention between the retreating enemy and his two friends. Their bodies were obviously changing within their robes. Their arms were lengthening, their legs reforming, their shoulders and hips shifting so that instead of humans on their hands and knees, there were wolf people on their haunches, suddenly ready to spring.
It happened too fast. Teal'c heard DanielJackson snarl inside his hood - heard SamanthaCarter's answering growl. Then they were up and gone, lightening fast after Nirrti and her guards.
"Protect them, O'Neill. I will get the tablet," Teal'c ordered.
"What do you mean, 'protect them?'" O'Neill demanded. "Those helmets aren't even slowing them down!" Teal'c saw that DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter were moving so swiftly, they were able to deactivate the helmets before the Jaffa could stop them, causing the protective armor to retract, ripping into the necks and heads thus revealed.
O'Neill certainly could not protect them, not when they were moving like that, taking down soldier after soldier in close quarters.
Why had they changed, when O'Neill had not? There were no moon or gravitational factors. There was nothing but the excitement of being in the field, or the thrill of a possible engagement. Or, Teal'c realized, possibly to much coffee and chocolate. The thought occurred to Teal'c in a flash. What if they could control these changes? What if SG-1 was not completely at the mercy of external forces?
The same realizaton seemed to have come to O'Neill.
"I'm going to try to get them to go back through the Gate," O'Neill announced. He stood still, then suddenly, with hardly any transition, no physical side effects, there stood in the place of the man, a wolf. O'Neill bayed and gave chase, urging them on, yapping and barking. Teal'c broke away in a run toward the temple, leaving O'Neill to cope with SG-1's metamorphosis.
People began to run before Teal'c in panic. He turned to find the three wolves, loping in a loose line behind him, howling and snarling, driving fear before them. The gates to the temple were open and SG-1 stood upright, effortlessly brushing frightened humans out of their path, as the four of them faced the temple guards. At the sight of the three werewolves, coated in blood and clad in the tattered remains of priests robes, the guards abandoned their post. They entered the priestess's chamber.
She stood straight and tall by her altar. O'Neill caught his two mates by their long upper arms, holding them back as Teal'c went forward and took the tablet from its place of honor. The priestess moved to defend it, but at a snarl from O'Neill, her hand fell away. The wolves escorted Teal'c back though the chaos to the Gate.
Nirrti lay dead, her head ripped off her body. Teal'c regretted that he had not seen her demise.
He dialed an intermediate address to an empty, safe world, and the three other members of SG-1 followed him through.
SamanthaCarter was the first to wake, and she awoke hungry. O'Neill slept on as she extricated herself from them, pressing his face into DanielJackson's chest and groaning his displeasure at being disturbed. She rose somewhat stiffly, plucking in irritation at the remains of the priest's garb she still wore, which remained surprisingly intact.
She headed into the woods without speaking to him, shedding the tattered robe as she went, moving naked and silently through the undergrowth. Teal'c followed her, struggling to match her speed and stealth, but soon fell behind. It was not difficult to find her again. She was headed to the rocky broken cliffs above their compound where the large mountain goats hopped about on the treacherous cliff face. When he reached there she was already climbing down with her kill. In silence they found the footpath down the mountain and headed back toward the firepit on the beach.
On the way they passed a cool clear pond where SG-1 often bathed together after their return to human form. They heard DanielJackson and O'Neill well before they could see them.
"My head is pounding," DanielJackson announced. "And I feel like I could eat a goat."
"A goat would be really good right now," O'Neill agreed. "You see Sam on your way up here?"
"Nope," DanielJackson replied without elaboration.
"What if we can control this?" DanielJackson posited.
"I think you'll have to cut down your coffee and chocolate cravings first," O'Neill retorted tartly.
"Jack," he began. He sounded like pre-wolf DanielJackson.
"I know, I know," O'Neill cut him off. "I was just thinking about that."
"It might not be that useful, if all we can do is change on purpose," SamanthaCarter said as they emerged into the clearing around the pond. "What we need to learn to do is not change." Teal'c was amused to see that the two men were clearly startled by their sudden appearance.
"It's creepy when you stalk us," DanielJackson complained.
SamanthaCarter tossed her hair as she skirted the edge of the pool.
"Is that a goat?" O'Neill asked.
"Don't mind me," she said. "And the wind direction was a coincidence. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to butcher this goat."
"It's also scary when you hunt naked," O'Neill called after her, "and with your bare hands!"
"Less messy, though," DanielJackson said practically.
"Scary," O'Neill reiterated.
"That wasn't as good as I anticipated," DanielJackson said thoughtfully.
"I was surprised when you recommended this meat so enthusiastically," Teal'c commented. "I have always preferred the flesh of the bull, or even sheep. While amoung the Taur'i, indeed I have come to prefer poultry of various forms over all these other meats."
"Didn't slow you down much," Jack muttered.
"My hunger was great," Teal'c declared with dignity.
"I think cooking changes the texture," SamanthaCarter said.
"Probably better for our cheese and butter supply if we don't eat them for meat, anyway," DanielJackson said.
"I'm making no promises," O'Neill said. "Goat for dinner is definitely one of the best things about being a werewolf."
"One of?" DanielJackson prompted.
"One of," O'Neill said. He looked away, sweeping his eyes over the horizon and the twilight sky.
"Why are we waiting to change?" DanielJackson asked. "We could have another one of the best things anytime we wanted."
"Maybe it would be like eating goat cooked," O'Neill argued.
SamanthaCarter was watching him with her newly-predatory gaze. Teal'c wondered if perhaps SamanthaCarter and DanielJackson were both somehow more wolf than O'Neill.
"I think he's getting over the not-caring stage," SamanthaCarter said to DanielJackson.
"He might have a point," DanielJackson said. "If we can get control of the change, we might be able to go home again."
SamanthaCarter moved her penetrating stare to DanielJackson.
"No," she replied. "Even if we can control everything perfectly, nothing changes about the reasons we left in the first place. They will never trust us again. We aren't human anymore."
"Sam," DanielJackson said, reaching out to her. But she was already getting up from the sand and leaving them.
Teal'c arrived at the inn at the appointed time, his tattoo carefully hidden beneath a plain black scarf tied over his head, and a heavily cowled cloak. He found Jacob and Selmak already dining at a table in a dark, far corner with a good view of the entrance.
"Good to see you, Murray," Jacob greeted him. He pushed the loaf of bread toward him.
"It is good to see you as well," Teal'c replied.
"I'm disappointed it took you so long to get back to me," Jacob said. "How is she?"
"SamanthaCarter is healthy and safe, as are O'Neill and DaneilJackson, though they still suffer from the affliction of D'eb Al'ealm."
"Well, I'm hoping maybe I have something that can help with that," Jacob said.
"So I was informed. SamanthaCarter is anxious to see you and we all desire to learn what information you bring, but we require your assurance that the location of SG-1 will be revealed to none."
"Teal'c, this isn't the way to handle this. They should be at the SGC where Fraiser can help them and where they can be protected. I heard what happened on Smeinarti. They can't go ripping through the System Lords, even minor ones like Nirrti, and expect not to be hunted down."
"The assassination of Nirrti was mistake," Teal'c explained. "We did not know we would meet her there, nor that they would undergo metamorphosis under the conditions on that world. It was a very fortunate mistake."
"Yeah, well, that's my point, Teal'c. You don't know what you're dealing with. Fortunate mistakes are all well and good, but unfortunate mistakes get people killed."
Teal'c inclined his head in acknowledgement.
"The requirement of secrecy remains," Teal'c stated implacably.
"Of course it does. And of course, I won't tell anyone where they are," Jacob replied peevishly.
"Then if you are replete, we may return there immediately," Teal'c said. "We are all very anxious to learn the possible cure you mentioned in your message."
"Dial it up, Teal'c," Jacob said briskly, pushing back his chair. "I'm ready to see this fisherman's paradise Jack has found for himself."
"So your plan is to see if you can not change at the next spring tide," Jacob said. He sounded skeptical.
"We know Jack changed deliberately," DanielJackson began.
"We think," O'Neill corrected him.
"In any case," SamanthaCarter cut in. "We could really use more information about this virus. We'd appreciate any help Selmak could offer. We don't have a lot of resources available to us from here."
"Believe it or not, we've been working on that ever since I heard about your… condition," Jacob said.
He paused, then Selmak was speaking to them.
"This affliction is quite rare. It originates on P2X-179. The goa'uld call it D'eb Al'ealm, and it is a place no goa'uld will go. The reasons for the prohibition are lost in legend, as was the case with Cimmeria. One supposes that the people there very rarely discover the function of their own Stargate, so the virus is contained, more or less, on D'eb Al'ealm."
"But occasionally an infected person figures out how to dial the Gate, comes to a planet like Earth, and does okay until the first full moon?" DanielJackson mused.
"That's exactly what Selmak and I have been thinking since we started looking into it," Jacob agreed. "But it's pretty unusual. And usually the native humans deal with the werewolf fairly brutally long before any goa'uld needs to become involved. Most of the gou'ald think werewolf stories are just human folktales, to put it politely. The idea that they are real has never been seriously investigated, and they certainly don't know any more about it."
"Well, Jacob, great to see you, but as usual…" O'Neill said, clearly about to begin some version of his usual complaint about the Tok'ra being useless, earning glares from SamanthaCarter and DanielJackson and a raised eyebrow from Teal'c.
"Aht!" Jacob held up his hand. O'Neill snapped his mouth shut and SamanthaCarter smirked.
"So Selmak and I, we went looking at some really old books of fokelore collected by some even older System Lord who's not around anymore. We Tok'ra do have a fairly extensive library. It's a bitch to move it around all the time, I can tell you. Anyway, we found a few things. I thought Daniel might be interested in them."
Jacob went over to where he had left his pack. He rummaged inside it and brought out a half dozen scroll tubes.
"Wow. Those must be ancient!" SamanthaCarter said.
DanielJackson accepted the tubes.
"Okay," DanielJackson said, lifting the cup dubiously.
"Right," SamanthaCater said, she peered into her cup with suspicion.
"Hey, I did exactly what Daniel told me to do!" O'Neill said defensively. The tea smelled foul.
"Well, bottoms up." SamanthaCarter resolutely raised the cup and drank it down in one long gulp. She slammed it down on the table with a shudder.
"That was disgusting," she complained.
"The best medicine always is," O'Neill commented airly. He toasted DanielJackson, and they both drank together. DanileJackson gagged openly, though O'Neill remained stoic.
"Now what?" O'Neill croaked. So much for manly stoicism.
"Now supposedly we don't change tonight," DanielJackson wheezed. "But it isn't automatic. This just helps us to resist the metamorphosis. The tea should make it much easier than it would be on our own."
"I don't know," SamanthaCarter replied. "Maybe if this works, next month's experiment should be to try it without the meds."
"According to the scrolls, it gets easier the more times we do it," DanielJackson groaned. He was huddled in on himself just outside the door, sitting on a low stool. He was suffering uncontrollable nausea and he did not want to soil their home. O'Neill was shaking violently. SamanthaCarter was a whimpering, rocking ball of blanket on one of the beds. Between them they were wrapped in every blanket Tela'c could find, but the blankets did not warm them. Teal'c could do nothing more to comfort them, aside from fetching clear water when asked.
"I'd lie down, but it hurts," O'Neill muttered. "The blankets hurt. My clothes hurt. My skin feels like it wants to crawl off."
"It has to get better," SamanthaCarter declared. "Because there is no way this would be worth it if it doesn't."
"It would be worth it if you were trying to live in a village full of your human friends and neighbors and loved ones," DanielJackson disagreed, staring blearily at the puddle of sick on the ground, though Teal'c doubted he could see it. He had taken his glasses off before he drank the tea.
"If it's not a cure," SamanthaCarter said, her teeth chattering so badly she was barely understandable. "If it's not a cure…then I'm not doing it again. We can't go back if it's not a cure, and the only thing that makes this tolerable is…" She couldn't finish. Her voice was tremulous with pain.
"The pack," DanielJackson finished for her.
O'Neill made a guttural noise, almost like growling. Teal'c wasn't sure if he was protesting or agreeing.
SamanthaCarter and DanielJackson rose together.
"You smell disgusting," SamanthaCarter told her friend softly. O'Neill still slept.
"Thanks," he replied, equally considerate of O'Neill's rest. "Let's go find something to eat," he suggested.
"I will stay," Teal'c told them. DanielJackson nodded and went down to the beach with SamanthaCarter.
O'Neill woke much later.
"How long was I asleep?" he groaned. When Teal'c began to reply, O'Neill made desperate waving gestures. "No. Please don't talk," he pleaded. "Head." He held both hands to his forehead. He clambered to his feet unsteadily and made his way to their barrel of rainwater for a long drink. Teal'c offered aspirin, which O'Neill took and gulped down with a handful of water. Then in silence they, too, walked down to the beach.
They joined DanielJackson watching the waning moon. SamanthaCarter was swimming in the high tide.
"I don't think we've found the solution," DanielJackson commented blandly.
"Ya think?" O'Neill said. "Because I love gate travel when I have a serious stomach flu."
DanielJackson gave him an exasperated sideways glance.
"We couldn't ignore it."
They were quiet for a while.
"Do we know how many months we'd have to do it before it 'got easier?'" O'Neill asked. "And also, exactly how much 'easier' will it be?"
"No idea," DanielJackson said.
"Anybody we can ask?"
"I doubt it. If they knew about this on D'eb Al'ealm, and it worked, they'd probably all be using it. And there's no other place that anybody seems to know about with a concentration of werewolves," DanielJackson said resignedly.
"There could be places on D'eb Al'ealm where they use it," O'Neill said. "We could go there and see if we can find any pockets of non-changing werewolves."
DanielJackson turned to look at him full-on.
"Are you serious about that?" he asked.
Teal'c saw that O'Neill's eye followed SamanthaCarter as she waded up the shore, emerging from the sea like a daughter of Poseidon, or perhaps the moon, beautiful, limned in the reflected light of the planet above them, fit to be a goddess. But Teal'c knew well that the moon is not a god. There were no gods, only planetary bodies and parasites and their hosts.
O'Neill returned his attention to DanielJackson. He took a strand of his friend's hair between his fingers. The two men stared deeply into each other's eyes. Teal'c could see over O'Neill's shoulder that DanielJackson's eyes were a deep midnight blue in the light of the moon.
"Not really," O'Neill admitted in a hoarse whisper. He leaned toward DanielJackson. Their kiss was deep and passionate. Teal'c rose from the sand in resignation, even as SamanthaCarter knelt to insinuate herself between the two men.
DanielJackson found Teal'c in the hut. His arrival was like a pebble dropped into the still waters of kel'no'reem. As he stood hesitating on the threshold, Teal'c raised his eyes and acknowledged him.
"I'm glad you didn't leave," DanielJackson said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the Chappa'ai. He did not enter, but met Teal'c's gaze steadily from the doorway. SamanthaCarter and O'Neill stood silently behind him. "You know you could have stayed."
"SG-1 is not a pack, DanielJackson," Teal'c replied. "You are a great scholar and historian. Captain Carter is a scientist of renown. O'Neill is a leader of men who should not turn away from his duties. I will not be part of a descent to the behavior of animals."
"It's not quite to that point yet, Teal'c," DanielJackson protested. They came into their home, moving together, alert and watchful, eyes fixed upon him, as if perhaps Teal'c would rise up to challenge them, and they must be prepared to defend one another.
Or perhaps as if Teal'c were prey.
Then they were not stalking him anymore, and Teal'c thought perhaps his care for them had given him an over-active imagination. O'Neill sank onto the end of their long, low sleeping platform with a groan, and DanielJackson followed SamanthaCarter to stare at one of the computers with her.
"P4F-889," she said, bringing the laptop around so that O'Neill and Teal'c could also see. "SG-8 visited them several months ago. They've got a healthy agrarian economy, no recent or likely goa'uld activity, and absolutely nothing of interest to the SGC. From the harvest temple database, it looks like their lunar cycles are almost identical to our planetary ones, and SGC records put gravity on P4F-889 substantially heavier than ours. I think we should catch a big sack of crabs and take some of the pretty shells and driftwood Daniel has been insisting on piling up in the shed, and see if we can trade with them. And on the way back, one of us should drink the Tea of Gastroenterological Joy, and the other two should just try to resist changing without it. We can accelerate our experiments with the two strategies to control the change, and start establishing trade relationships, all in one fell swoop."
"I like it," O'Neill said. "But we still don't know for sure what caused the change on S'mores."
"Smeinarti," DanielJackson corrected reflexively. "I thought we were going with 'too much caffeine and sugar' as the reason."
"What if it was caused by Gate travel itself?" O'Neill asked.
"You didn't change," SamanthaCarter replied. "Only Daniel and I changed."
"I did," O'Neill objected.
"Purposely," Teal'c countered. He was immensely relieved that the pack had been replaced by the SG-1 he knew, even if just for the moment.
"I'd like to think that," DanielJackson replied thoughtfully. "We know we had two non-changing trips through the Gate. Once between Earth and PKX-775 and once between PKX-775 and here. Every other time we've gated anywhere, we've changed."
"We can account for all those changes with other explanations," SamanthaCarter argued.
"Yes, but our sample is still very small. It would be good to confirm via more experimentation that the Gate is not a trigger." He took the computer from SamanthaCarter's grasp to pull up a different planet profile that he displayed to the rest of them. "I propose a preliminary trip to P2R-547. It's gravity is even heavier than P4F-889, and it doesn't have a moon to worry about. And the SGC couldn’t locate any kind of settlement or indications of human habitation anywhere within flight of a UAV. There's no one for us to hurt if things go wrong. We stay overnight, then come back. We can even get an extra test of the Tea of Gastroenterological Joy."
SamanthaCarter considered it.
"What do you think, sir?" she finally asked, turning to O'Neill for leadership.
"I say I'm too old to be in the TGJ-drinking part of the experiment. The elderly are much more vulnerable to dehydration and…"
"P2R-547 it is," DanielJackson interrupted with a noise of derision and an exasperated look towards O'Neill. "I'll drink the tea. You guys can have fun trying to not change without it."
They waited a few days to recover from the effects of their first experiment with the tea. In the evenings, DanielJackson sorted through his collection of natural treasures for a selection of things they could take to P4F-889. Teal'c assisted O'Neill and SamanthaCarter with the fishing, crabbing and gathering to prepare for their trade excursion.
Upon their arrival at P2R-547, O'Neill looked upon the barren waste that surrounded the Chappa'ai and adopted an expression of extreme displeasure.
"If you'd shown me the whole brochure, I would have demanded an experiment with a better view," he complained.
"That's why we didn't show you," SamanthaCarter replied seriously. DanielJackson chuckled.
They did not change. To celebrate, SamanthaCarter and DanielJackson took O'Neill between them.
That was when Teal'c knew that he could not stay. He had watched over them, and assisted them to prepare for their trading excursion, but he saw them come together in this way and he knew that they were not going back to their old lives, no matter the outcome of the experimentation with control.
Swallowing a thick bile of regret, Teal'c pressed the familiar sequence and entered the necessary codes into his GDO and left them.
General Hammond himself greeted Teal'c when he stepped through the event horizon. "Teal'c! Good to see you again! We were starting to wonder if you'd forgotten about us?"
"No, indeed, General, though I admit there have been times that you have been far from my mind," Teal'c said. He bowed to the General. They walked together along the corridors toward the infirmary.
Dr. Fraiser looked up from her work as they arrived. She smiled broadly upon seeing Teal'c, but she immediately turned her attention back to her patient and finished her examination and instructions to him. Then she hurried to greet them.
"Teal'c!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him and embracing him. "Come into my office," she suggested, and the three of them left the clinical area.
"So, what have you got to tell us, Teal'c?" she prompted.
"I have spent these last few weeks with O'Neill, Captain Carter, and DanielJackson," Teal'c said. "They are well, and have learned much about their ailment."
The general nodded and the doctor listened raptly.
"I have also consulted with the Tok'ra. Jacob and Selmak were able to provide some helpful texts. DanielJackson's translations yielded a recipe for a tea that they hoped would stop the metamorphosis to wolf form."
"Did it?" the doctor asked with interest.
"The results of their first experiment were hopeful. However, the side effects of the tea were so objectionable that they are now planning to attempt to prevent the metamorphosis by sheer force of will, which they have no idea whether they will be able to achieve."
"That doesn't sound like a lot of progress," the general declared grimly. Dr. Fraiser looked thoughtful.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "I am hoping that Dr. Fraiser's work has yielded more promise."
"We have some very exciting avenues of research that we are pursuing," she said, though Teal'c thought her voice was not very hopeful. "The virology lab has developed a serum that they believe will destroy any retrovirual infection. It was actually the result of basic research that began after you were infected on BP6-3Q1."
"Do not remind me," Teal'c intoned. The doctor smiled sympathetically. "But this is not a cure?"
"I believe that there is a good chance that if we remove the retrovirus from their bodies, they will revert back to normal and stop undergoing metamorphosis," the doctor said. "But there are many other possibilities. Perhaps the retrovirus has made permanent changes to their genetic material. Or perhaps they need the retrovirus to maintain either form. I won't be able to progress to human trials until I can get more results in the laboratory."
Teal'c nodded in understanding. The doctor sighed.
"We are designing a variety of animal studies before trying to test the efficacy of the therapy on animals. Unfortunately, we have been unable to achieve SG-1's infection in any lab specimens. The serum definitely kills the retrovirus in the blood samples and leaves other blood components unharmed. But for now we cannot get beyond that level of experimentation."
Teal'c felt great disappointment, though he had not had much hope.
"I had hoped for better results. I am afraid that if there is not a cure found very soon, SG-1 will be too changed to accept any assistance we can eventually offer," he said grimly.
"You just said they are healthy and still working to find a solution on their own," Dr. Fraiser replied. "Have there been changes in their condition?"
Teal'c considered how much he should say.
"They still pursue a solution, but I believe the longer they live as werewolves, the less they value their former lives. Many times I have seen you and your staff develop cures to terrible diseases that you administer quickly and efficiently."
The doctor's face was very serious.
"I'm so sorry, Teal'c, but those times were different. Under those circumstances, the choice was between an untried, dangerous treatment, or death. Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter, and Dr. Jackson are healthy and safe. Under these circumstances, I can't condone the use of experimental therapies that could worsen their condition or endanger them further. I don't know when there will be a useful treatment. I wish I had a better answer for you."
Teal'c bowed his head in acknwoledgement.
"Then I will place my hope in your continued research," Teal'c replied. The general rose.
"Are you ready to join SG-3 again?" the general asked. "Or do you have other plans?"
"I will be returning," Teal'c declared, also rising. "But I have one more errand away from Stargate Command before I would like to accept any more assignments."
"Thank you doctor," the general said. "As always, I appreciate your good work and your professional opinion."
"Thank you, general," she said. Then she and Teal'c were alone. They regarded each other in silence for a moment, then Teal'c made a bow and left.
He decided to take his rest that night in his quarters in the SGC. In truth, he did not know what he should do next. He could not think of anything else he could do to assist O'Neill, Samantha Carter, and DanielJackson. The Tok'ra had nothing more to offer. Perhaps he could return to D'eb Al'ealm. It was quite possible that O'Neill was correct, and that there were indeed people there living as humans, not animals, who could advise how one could live more normally with the virus.
He was grateful when his meditation was disturbed by a knock on his door, as he was achieving no peace or rest through kel'no'reem that night.
Dr. Fraiser stood in the corridor, wearing a look of indecision. Teal'c stepped back from the door, bowing deeply and gesturing that she should enter. She stepped inside and presented him with a small case, about the size of a videocassette. He accepted it and opened it. Inside were three vials and three syringes. He lifted his eyes to hers in surprise.
"It isn't safe," she said. "I think it would be a terrible idea for them to try it. And if they do, I think you should be sure Jacob is there to help in case something goes wrong."
"Why are you bringing these to me?" Teal'c asked. "You do not believe they should use this treatment."
"I don't," she said emphatically. "But realistically? It will be years, conceivably decades, before we can treat them safely, and more likely we will never come up with an answer better than the one you are holding in your hand." She took a deep breath and continued, "With that prognosis, the decision should be theirs, not mine."
Teal'c carefully closed the container.
"Thank you," he said simply.
"No," SamanthaCarter said angrily. "I don't like the risks and Janet clearly advises against it. We're not doing it."
Teal'c looked to the two men.
DanielJackson was frowning, his brow furrowed, as always when he contemplated a difficult question.
"I think I agree with Sam," he said. "There seem to be more questions than answers about what could happen."
"I'll do it first, then," O'Neill declared. He was already rolling up his left sleeve to expose the vein inside his elbow.
SamanthaCarter began to protest, only to fall silent in response to O'Neill's forbidding stare.
"You don't belong here, Carter," he said with an air of calm command that he had not been in the habit of adopting for many months now. His use of her family name made DanielJackson visibly flinch. "You belong in a laboratory shaking the foundations of physics. Daniel belongs at the forefront of galactic exploration, making friends and influencing people. I should be out there, kicking goa'uld ass, not sitting around some desert island trying to figure out the exchange rate between corn and crabs. Come on, T. Let's do it."
Teal'c's relief battled with fear. He felt a sudden reluctance to allow O'Neill to take this rash decision.
"Dr. Fraiser advises that Jacob and Selmak be present when we administer the treatment," Teal'c warned.
DanielJackson made an exasperated noise and deftly took the case from Teal'c's
hands.
"Daniel," SamanthaCarter said advancing a step.
"Carter," O'Neill replied. She turned to him, and seemed to deflate. She retreated across the room to sit on her accustomed stool on the other side of the table, the open computers blocking most of her view. She stared resolutely at the screen in front of her, jaw set in anger.
DanielJackson prepared the syringe. Teal'c offered alcohol and swabs from the medical kit he had brought with him. DanielJackson said nothing as he held the needle poised to enter the vein. He waited until O'Neill nodded, once, then he slipped the needle under O'Neill's skin and pressed the plunger.
The three men gave a collective sigh as Daniel removed the needle. SamanthaCarter still refused to look at them. DanielJackson applied a bandage to the wound.
"So, how long do we have to…" O'Neill's question broke off in a cry of pure agony, as he collapsed with a crash from the stool where he was sitting onto the floor.
He writhed, suffering spasms, or possibly seisures. SamanthaCarter flew to his side, but there was nothing to be done but bear witness to the effects of the drug. It was impossible to know even if the pain and convulsions were a positive or negative effect. Teal'c assisted DanielJackson in clearing away their meager furnishings so that O'Neill could not injure himself. O'Neill endured these paroxysms for approximately a quarter of an hour, then with a spine-snapping arch of his back, O'Neill fell still. In fact, he hardly appeared to breathe.
SamanthaCarter began to examine him. She placed her fingers on his throat in search of a pulse.
"He's got a fever," she declared. "His pulse is racing and thready." She jerked her hand away as the metamorphosis began.
Teal'c sat vigil with them over the sleeping form of O'Neill. The fur covering his elongated limbs shimmered, black laced with silver. His breathing was slow and even in the light of the setting Cheshire moon. Now that the metamorphosis was complete, he seemed to be suffering no lasting effect of the treatment. Teal'c felt fortunate, that his friend had not died as a result of impetuously reaching for the false hope that Teal'c had presented.
O'Neill rose in the middle of the day and paced off into the forest. He hunted, he drank from the clear pools. SamanthaCarter and DanielJackson followed him, much quicker in the woods and the dark now than Teal'c, even in human form.
The three of them kept watch for one day, then two. Then on the third day, O'Neill did not undergo metamorphosis. Nor the fourth, nor the fifth.
At the full moon, SamanthaCarter and DanielJackson undertook their natural metamorphosis, and though Teal'c waited to the next new moon, he did not see them again, only heard their far-off calls and barks.
Upon the next new moon he understood that O'Neill's metamorphosis must certainly be permanent, and DanielJackson and SamanthaCarter had chosen to remain in the wolf form as his companions.
There was nothing more Teal'c could do. It was time for him to take his leave. As he approached the Chappa'ai he heard all three give voice, very near, and he turned to see them seated at the turn in the path that led to the water, watching him.
"Ral'tor'kee," he said to them, his heart heavy. "Lek tol. Good luck. Farewell." He bowed to them deeply. They rose and disappeared toward the beach.
Teal'c left them behind.
The shadow crossing his threshold disturbed his mediation. It had been a very long time since he had practiced true kel'no'reem, but even the Tau'ri understood the great benefits of regularly seeking a quiet mind.
His visitor moved with quiet assurance through Teal'c's apartment, though it was lit by only the guttering light of a single flickering candle. Teal'c thought perhaps it was his granddaughter, Aeshema, come to admonish him that he should be sleeping.
Sometimes he still found himself amazed that all Jaffa now required sleep.
Alas, he also knew from personal experience that just as sleep often eluded the elderly among the Tau'ri, so, too, a Jaffa of his advanced years could find the pursuit of rest and dreams fruitless.
But his guest was not Aeshema. He crossed the room and seated himself beside Teal'c in the candlelight. His clothes fit him loosely, and were much the worse for age and wear, but their fashion was well-known to Teal'c.
DanielJackson's hair was silver, his body was too thin, but his face was strangely youthful still, though his eyes showed a depth of age well beyond any achieved by any Tau'ri of Teal'c's acquaintance.
"You are alone?" Teal'c asked him, only realizing belatedly that he had addressed his old friend in the language of Chulak, not that of the First World. It had been long since Teal'c had spoken English.
"Now," DanielJackson replied. He sounded sad. "I haven't seen you in a long time."
"I can no longer travel easily," Teal'c replied.
They sat in the light of the candle until dawn, not speaking. As the sun rose, Teal'c found that his age had betrayed him, and he had fallen into dreams after all, and DanielJackson was no longer there, if he ever had been.
If you're interested, all my stories, in order, from one page. Also, my fiction recommendations.
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I find myself mourning them instead of celebrating their freedom.
Great job!!!!!!! Very eerie. You created a world and drew me in.
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I found it enthralling, also.
Teal'c POV was perfect to tell the story.
Thank you for such a wonderful AU!
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I enjoyed the entire story, start to finish. At first I thought there would be a fourth act resolution that would take them all safely home, but by the time the story reached the point where Jack volunteered to test the drug, I knew that wouldn't fit the tone of the story. I'm glad you went the way you did, and sad, sad, sad for everything that they, and Teal'c, lost. I hope the pack had lots of splendid hunting and humping to make up for it. :-)