Cretaceous Coalition
By Veldeia
Rating: PG-13 for violence, including a bit of torture (though it's not that bad, really)
Category: Drama, action/adventure, angst, hurt/comfort
Spoilers: Late Season 2, after Show and Tell, so everything before that
Summary: Months after their first visit, SG-1 returns to Dinoland. All too soon
their pleasant dino safari turns into a race against time to save a
dinosaur friend, and from there, it only gets worse.
"Now, since the last weeks have been difficult enough for all
of us, your next mission will hopefully prove to be more rewarding,"
General Hammond began the briefing promisingly.
Jack thought it was a bit of an understatement to say that the
last weeks had been difficult. Both SG-1 and the entire SGC had been
running from one crisis to another. From freak alien data downloaded
to Jack's head to a mad old alien swapping bodies with Daniel, from a
dying Apophis left at their mercy with the Devil knocking at the iris
to invisible aliens trying to take over the base...
Then again, it was all business as usual. This job came with more
risks than any other on the planet. The things they could achieve
were greater as well. No pain, no gain, like the cliché
said.
Though right now, Jack would definitely welcome a mission with
slightly more gain and less pain. He raised his eyebrows at Hammond,
waiting to hear what he had to offer.
"Doctor Jackson, I'm pleased to inform you that your requests
concerning P4X-215 have finally been accepted. You're scheduled to
embark at 0900 tomorrow morning, so you'll have plenty of time to get
briefed and acquainted with your mission specialist today."
"P4X..." Jack frowned at Daniel. He thought he could
actually remember the planet that designation stood for. Months and
months had passed since their visit to that world, and it had been a
while since Jack had given any thought to it. "P4X-215, as in
Barney's world?"
Daniel beamed at him and nodded. "We're going back to
Dinoland. Finally."
Jack wasn't exactly sure he'd call that an easy or particularly
rewarding mission. The first and only time they had visited the
world, they'd barely made it back. They'd been captured by a bunch of
Goa'uld-dinosaurs and their goons, and they'd only managed to escape
with the help of an unusually friendly dino, and an uprising that'd
begun when Teal'c had won some weird traditional ritual race.
They had no idea how things were on the planet now. Despite the
fact that the mission had left Daniel very sick, beaten and bruised,
he'd been anxious to get back there to learn about the current
situation. Jack would definitely not want to see him get tossed
around by a Tyrannosaur again. At least they knew what they were
faced with this time, so they'd know to be more careful.
"So, who's this mission specialist?" Carter asked.
"He is one Doctor Leonard Ramsey," Hammond said,
checking the name from his papers. "Apparently, he is one of
today's leading paleontologists, and he is particularly well-known
for his research concerning dinosaur behavior."
"I have heard his name before," Teal'c noted. During
SG-1's first mission to Dinoland they had found out that Teal'c
actually knew more about dinosaurs than the rest of them combined.
"When is he to arrive?"
"Actually, he has arrived already. At the moment, he's going
through the standard briefing and safety procedures. You'll be
meeting him at 1500 hours."
Sam didn't know any paleontologists, but she had a stereotypical
idea of one. She figured it was probably based on movies more than
reality. So, she pictured Leonard Ramsey as an early middle-aged man,
tanned and dressed in clothes well suited to field work.
When she returned to the briefing room for SG-1's first meeting
with their mission specialist, she found a gray-haired man nearing,
if not already past his sixties, dressed in a tweed suit. He looked
like someone who had spent all his life in some dark back room of a
museum. As a woman in the military, Sam had learned to despise all
kinds of prejudice, but she couldn't help wondering if this Doctor
Ramsey really was the best possible person for this mission.
Only when all of SG-1 had entered the room and taken seats, the
paleontologist looked up from a stack of folders. "Good
afternoon," he greeted them. Sam had half-expected him to speak
in a British accent, but at least she'd been wrong about that.
"Likewise, and welcome to the SGC," O'Neill returned his
greeting.
"You must be Colonel O'Neill?" Ramsey nodded towards
him. "And Captain Carter, Doctor Jackson, and Teal'c?" he
checked, nodding to each of them. They returned the nods in turn.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Ramsey," Daniel
told him. "It's been months since I left my official request for
a new mission to this planet, and for a paleontologist who could come
with us. I was starting to think they had decided against it."
"Please, call me Leo--and no, the pleasure is all mine, I
assure you. I've got a hard time trying to understand what I've read
in here," Ramsey pointed to the folders. "That there's
actually a planet out there, in some remote solar system, where
dinosaurs--just like the ones we had on Earth, no less--still live
and flourish. I must say to you, Teal'c, that your debrief is
amazingly accurate when it comes to recognizing and classifying
dinosaurs."
"I have studied some of what has been written about these
animals. Your work was mentioned in many books."
"So, you've already went through all the lessons about the
stargate, the project and so on?" O'Neill moved on from the
small talk.
"I have. I even saw the gate itself, but it's still hard to
believe," Ramsey shook his head. "I hear that going through
it is quite an experience."
"What you hear also happens to be true, and not exaggerated
at all," the colonel declared. "The planet's no piece of
cake either. The dinos aren't just interesting. They've got very real
claws and teeth too."
Sam heard the challenge in O'Neill's voice, and she figured he was
probably having the same doubts she was. That Ramsey might not be up
to this. She knew O'Neill had had doubts about Daniel as well, mostly
because Daniel was a civilian and a scientist. O'Neill was probably
way more prejudiced than she was, so he wouldn't be quick to accept
an old man straight out of some cobweb-covered study chamber as a
team member, even a temporary one.
"I know I may not look the part, Colonel, but I've got
extensive field experience. Years and years in some really uninviting
places. I've been on digs all around the world. Doctor Jackson, you
probably know what it's like."
"I do. Still, Jack's right, there are some real risks about
this mission. We almost didn't make it back last time--but you know
all about that already, since you've read our debriefs. I really
think it'd be a huge mistake if no paleontologist ever got to visit
this world. Besides, you're probably going to be our best asset when
it comes to surviving out there, among those dinosaurs. You know more
about them than any of us."
"When we're talking about something like that honkin' huge
T-Rex, I don't think there's a whole lot of useful advice anyone can
give," the colonel didn't sound convinced. "The essential
skill when it comes to those is the ability to run real fast,"
he added, eyeing Ramsey like he didn't believe the older man knew how
to run at all.
"Jack. Remember the first mission to Abydos. You wouldn't
have wanted me on the team. You figured I'd do no good and just get
into trouble," Daniel reminded.
"You did get into trouble, Daniel. Anyway, I just wanted to
make the realities clear here. This isn't some dinosaur theme park.
This is the real thing."
SG-1 and their fifth temporary member stepped through the stargate
to P4X-215 or Barney's world, as Colonel O'Neill had labeled it,
after the name he had given to their dinosaur friend and ally. The
sight they faced on the other side was exactly like last time. The
green plant growth surrounded the gate and the ramp so thickly that
the only clear area was where the vortex had caused it to
disintegrate. Teal'c listened carefully, but he did not hear any
dinosaurian sounds nearby.
"All right. As much as I don't like it, we're going to head
towards the ruins again. It's the one place where we may find out
what's going on here," O'Neill repeated their orders.
They entered the rainforest, O'Neill leading the way, Daniel
Jackson and Doctor Ramsey right behind him, Captain Carter following
them, and Teal'c securing their backs. What Teal'c caught of Doctor
Ramsey's expression amused him greatly. The look on his face was very
similar to that of Daniel Jackson when he was faced with some
interesting new artifact, language or culture. Although the age
difference between the two men was more than two decades, Ramsey
looked just as wide-eyed, eager and excited. Teal'c could only
imagine how happy the paleontologist would be when they would
actually come across a dinosaur. They had a full day of walking ahead
of them, so they were likely to meet many different species during
that time.
They marched on for several hours without encountering any animal
life at all, aside from the gigantic insects. Doctor Ramsey found
them interesting, but Teal'c thought he could perceive a hint of
disappointment on his face at the lack of dinosaur sightings. Yet,
Colonel O'Neill's worst doubts concerning Ramsey might have been
mistaken. He kept up with the rest of the team without any trouble,
and did not complain once.
When Teal'c first noticed something moving in the jungle to their
right, he found it promising. Perhaps the paleontologist would
finally meet his first living dinosaur. However, he began to grow
concerned when the sounds were repeated to their left, and then
behind them. Teal'c called for the others to stop.
"I believe we are being followed. We may be surrounded
already," he told them in a low voice.
SG-1 took up a defensive formation, with Doctor Ramsey in the
middle, the rest of them raising their weapons towards the
surrounding jungle. For a few seconds, it was completely silent. Even
the typical background of buzzing insects and birds' song had
stopped.
The silence was broken by the sound of several beings moving in
the forest, closing in on them. Soon Teal'c saw their dark forms,
little more than shadows in the greenness, about man-sized or
slightly smaller. The closer they got, the more certain he grew that
these were of the intelligent species of dinosaurs that ruled this
planet, some of which were Goa'uld hosts.
The dinosaurs emerged from the foliage in a circle, surrounding
SG-1. There were eight of them, a number that SG-1 might well be able
to beat in close combat. Of course, they did not fire right away.
Teal'c saw or sensed no sign of Goa'ulds in any of the dinosaurs.
None of them carried a hand device either, indeed, they did not seem
to wear or carry anything at all. For all he knew, these could have
been ordinary dinosaurs, not intelligent ones capable of writing and
speaking the Goa'uld language.
One of the eight stepped closer to SG-1. Teal'c thought the
patterns of greens and browns on his scaly skin looked very familiar.
The dinosaur walked a circle around SG-1, and stopped in front of
Daniel Jackson. It growled a few words at him.
Daniel Jackson cast a tentative smile at the dinosaur, and replied
to it in a guttural grumble.
Daniel's reaction made Teal'c all the more certain that his
thoughts of the dinosaur's identity were correct. He did not actually
believe in luck, but it did seem that SG-1 had met with a truly
fortunate coincidence today. They had been found by the very dinosaur
they had wanted to seek out, the one who had helped them
before--Barney. Yet, as many months had passed and they knew nothing
of the current situation on the planet, they could not be sure Barney
was still on their side.
Daniel had already managed to forget how vicious the so far
unnamed predator dinosaurs were. He froze at the sight of a whole
pack of them approaching SG-1, stepping out of the jungle and
surrounding them. When Daniel realized that these dinosaurs carried
no technology of any kind, he started to grow hopeful--and when they
got near enough, he recognized one of them. The very one he knew by
name.
Ghhrrwuaghr--or Barney, as Jack wanted to call him--stepped out of
the circle of dinosaurs, walked around SG-1, and stopped right in
front of Daniel. The dinosaur greeted him with a word he couldn't
recognize at first. It sounded like "daangghiich". Then he
realized what it was. The dinosaur was trying to say "Daniel",
as best it could.
Daniel smiled back at the dinosaur, and greeted him with
"Ghhrrwuaghr", which was the nearest he could get to the
dinosaur's real name. It wasn't probably all that close. Neither of
them could pronounce the other's language all that well.
Ghhrrwuaghr raised its clawed hands and placed them on Daniel's
shoulders. He had no idea how to return the greeting, so he tried to
repeat the dinosaur gesture. The dinosaur let go again, and tilted
his head up and down and from side to side, scrutinizing Daniel with
his gaze.
"Are you well?" Ghhrrwuaghr asked in his strange,
archaic version of the Goa'uld language.
Daniel wasn't surprised to hear that question. The last time
Ghhrrwuaghr had seen him, he had been too sick to walk and only
barely able to breathe. Daniel had recovered from those injuries
months ago. He figured he'd not need to let the dinosaur know about
the other near-encounters with death he had had since then--such as
his addiction to the sarcophagus and the following withdrawal, and
the bodyswap with the dying Machello.
So, Daniel just answered, "Yes, thanks to you," and then
went on to ask the question he was most anxious about. "How are
you? How are things on your world?"
"That river runs far," Ghhrrwuaghr said, or at least
that was what Daniel thought it sounded like, though it didn't make
much sense. "It is not safe here. Follow us."
By the time Daniel had decided that "that river runs far"
had to be a dinosaur figure of speech for "it's a long story",
Ghhrrwuaghr had already turned around and exchanged a few words with
the others in a language Daniel couldn't understand. It was pretty
amazing that these dinosaurs actually used two languages all along,
one of their own, and a dialect of Goa'uld. Daniel wasn't exactly
sure whether they were all bilingual. The way Ghhrrwuaghr would
switch to Dinosaurian when speaking to his friends suggested that
either they weren't, or if they were, they wanted to make sure the
humans wouldn't understand, which wasn't an encouraging idea.
"What's up?" Jack called, stopping Daniel's linguistic
musings.
"Umm, I really don't know yet. Apparently, it's a long story,
and he wants us to follow the dinosaurs somewhere."
"Do we have any choice?"
"Well, I guess we do, actually, but I see no reason why we
shouldn't go with them."
The dinosaurs had started moving, some of them heading out into
the jungle, into several directions, a few stepping closer to SG-1.
"We should go," Ghhrrwuaghr repeated.
"He says we should go. So..." Daniel translated, and
raised his eyebrows at Jack.
"All right, then. We follow Barney and friends," Jack
quipped.
Ghhrrwuaghr stepped in front of SG-1 and began walking ahead. They
followed him, moving out towards some unknown destination somewhere
in the jungle.
"I think you were right, Teal'c," Daniel heard Leo's
voice behind him. "This seems to be a new species. I don't think
I've ever seen or heard of a dinosaur that would exactly match
these."
"We came up with a theory that these may actually be an
evolved form of some known species. That would explain their high
intellect, ability to speak and other related capabilities. However,
it does not explain why the other dinosaurs on this world have not
evolved similarly," Teal'c told the paleontologist.
"That's definitely odd. I think we should get DNA samples and
have them analyzed, maybe that would reveal something. Anyway, this
new species needs to be named... Of course, it can't be official,
since I know I won't be able to publish anything related to this
Stargate project, not in a while, if ever during my lifetime..."
Daniel glanced at the paleontologist over his shoulder. Teal'c was
wearing his familiar one-raised-eyebrow look, while Leo looked at
least twenty years younger with the excitement of actually seeing
living dinosaurs.
Daniel noticed that the dinosaurs seemed to be equally excited
about the humans. They hardly averted their large, yellow--but not
glowing--eyes from SG-1. Most of them had never seen a human from
this close, if at all.
"The name should give some hint as to their unusual origin,
and their superior intellect compared to what we know of the
dinosaurs that used to live on Earth. I wonder... Sapient-saurus?
Sapiosaur? Or Stellasaur? On the other hand, what I've seen of their
teeth and jaws really points to Troodon ancestry..." Leo went on
about the name. He clearly had some knowledge of Latin, too.
Unlike the other dinosaurs, Ghhrrwuaghr didn't seem all that
interested about Leo. Quite the opposite. They had only been walking
for a few minutes, with Leo talking all the time, when the dinosaur
stopped and turned to face the paleontologist. He hissed a few less
than pleased words at the man. "Speaking must wait. It is not
safe."
Daniel translated the words. Leo looked a bit taken aback by that,
but kept his mouth shut from there on.
They walked through the jungle in silence. The dinosaurs hardly
made any sound as they made their way through the trees and bushes.
Even Teal'c, whose skills in stealth surpassed even Jack's, sounded
loud compared to them.
Teal'c actually spoke up at one point, whispering a few words to
Jack. "Colonel O'Neill, I do not think we are approaching the
ruins. We are going in another direction entirely."
"I noticed that too, Teal'c," Jack answered, keeping his
voice low. "Let's just hope the dinos know where they're going,
and have a good reason for it too."
Daniel was terribly anxious to learn why they needed all this
stealth. Who were they so afraid of, and what was going on on this
world? Hopefully Ghhrrwuaghr would let him know once they reached
their destination, wherever that was. Unless SG-1's former dinosaur
ally had switched sides and they were being lead to a trap, and
Daniel was just too dumb to understand that.
After hours of walking at a faster pace than what SG-1 would've
usually kept, Ghhrrwuaghr and the rest of the dinosaurs stopped.
"From now on, step only where I step. Be very careful,"
the dinosaur told Daniel, and he repeated it to the others in
English.
They advanced much more slowly, in single file behind Ghhrrwuaghr,
tiptoeing their way around roots and rocks just like the dinosaur
did. Daniel couldn't see the other dinosaurs anymore. They probably
knew their way around well enough so that they had no need to go on
this slowly.
"There are countless traps around us," Teal'c noted
after a while, offering a good explanation to their change of pace.
Daniel looked around, but he could hardly spot any. Maybe that odd
shape there among the trees? Or that smooth branch there? He wasn't
much good at this stuff. The dinosaurs were apparently really good at
it, if it'd taken Teal'c this long to notice the danger.
"Seems we might be approaching wherever we're going,"
Jack muttered.
They stopped again in front of a green wall, a thicket so dense
that Daniel couldn't see how they could get through it. Ghhrrwuaghr
crouched low, near to the ground, and pushed his way through a
certain part of the plant growth, which seemed to give in quite
easily. He disappeared into the bush.
Jack shrugged at Daniel, and went in after the dinosaur. He seemed
to get through without any trouble, either, so Daniel followed him,
and heard Leo enter right after him.
They found themselves in a dim, green tunnel traversing the
thicket. There was just enough space for a human or a dinosaur of
this one particular species, crawling or crouching very near to the
ground. It wasn't very long.
On the other side, they met another green wall that gave in
easily, made their way through it and stood up. There were less trees
around them, and the jungle seemed artificially sparse, as if the
plants had been cut away--and they probably had. They had been turned
into shelters, canopies rigged between trees. There were other
dinosaur-made things around as well, such as tables and ropes with
drying fish and meat hanging from them. Several fires were lit in
circles of stones. This was a dinosaurian settlement of some sort,
maybe a camp.
It was a large area, and the green wall of thick plants that they
had traversed didn't surround all of it. On one side, Daniel saw a
wide jungle river, and on the other, two large rocks, half-hidden by
several thick bushes and trees. He thought he saw dinosaur sentries
standing between them, but they were hard to discern, just a few
small, dark-green figures amidst the green.
Ghhrrwuaghr had run ahead to speak to some of the dinosaurs in the
camp. Now he returned to SG-1, who were still standing in front of
the green wall, gaping at the unusual camp.
"Welcome," the dinosaur said. "Now it is safe to
talk. You are among friends."
Daniel had barely finished translating it to the others, when Jack
told him to "Then ask Barney what's going on in here!"
Of course, Jack wouldn't have needed to tell him, since that was
what Daniel had wanted to ask all along. "Who are we hiding
from? What has happened on your planet?" he asked.
"There have always been those among us who have challenged
the traditions and questioned those who rule us," Ghhrrwuaghr
began his answer--the proverbial river that ran far, apparently.
"When you arrived, we finally saw some proof that we may indeed
be right, that the traditions do not hold, and that the rulers can be
challenged. When your friend won the Remembrance of Choosing, there
was a great riot. Prince Rrragrathssh overthrew his father. Many were
loyal to him, but some of us wished to be completely free of these
rulers who have come from the stars long ago."
"So, you turned against the prince?" Daniel wasn't
exactly sure he had caught every word and understood it all.
"Not at that time. We stood aside and waited. The followers
of the prince and those of his father fought each other, and many
were slain. The aftermath took many days. We waited, and made our
plans. We spoke to those who were hesitant, and asked them to join
our cause. We built this hideout in secret. There were many of us,
but still, in the end, not enough. We chose Rrragrathssh's first
Great Hunt as our time to act. We attacked him, but his guards and
followers were too many, and we were forced to flee."
"When exactly did this take place?" Daniel asked, only
realizing after he'd said it that he had no idea how the dinosaurs
measured time.
"Two cycles of the moon have passed since. We have been
hiding here for most of that time. The prince and his followers do
all they can to find us and slay us all, so we must be very careful.
We are still hoping to overthrow the rulers one day, but it is very
difficult. We have some agents in the Great Temple of the Rulers.
They bring us news and seek to find new supporters for our cause. We
patrol the forests looking for those who have been cast out and may
wish to join us. We try to come up with plans, but we are weak and
the ruler is strong."
"We can help you," Daniel told the dinosaur. They had
liberated several worlds from Goa'uld rule before. They should do it
here as well. He could imagine that it wouldn't be easy to convince
Jack about it, let alone Hammond, but Daniel would try all he could.
"We will help you free your world," he repeated.
Once Barney had finished explaining things to Daniel, he lead SG-1
deeper into the camp. Daniel translated Barney's story as they
walked. It really was something. Jack was surprised to hear that
SG-1's short visit on the planet had had such an impact.
Barney took them to a table under one of the canopies. There were
no chairs, so they stood around it. It seemed the dinos didn't really
care for chairs. The table was laden with fruits and nuts and dried
meat.
Doc Ramsey was positively excited about the food. "Look at
this! They're--They're not carnivores anymore, they're omnivores,
just like humans! It does make sense, but I never expected... I
really need to get a closer look at their teeth!" he went on and
on. Though his voice was different, the way he spoke was just like
Carter when she got into explaining about some technology, or Daniel
going on about some culture or rock or whatever. Scientists. No
matter what they studied, they were always the same.
"So, these dinos are rebels?" Jack asked Daniel to make
sure he'd understood the story correctly. "We're at the camp of
the locals who resist the Goa'uld rule?"
"That's it, long story short. So, we need to go back to the
gate, call Hammond and ask for help."
"You mean, help for getting rid of the Goa'uldosaurs? Daniel,
you can't expect Hammond to give us enough manpower to storm that
maze-temple-place. We don't know how many dinos we're up against. We
know nothing about the defenses there, except that the dinos can
close doors to trap people in. That's not a lot to go on, and even if
we had more..."
"That won't be a problem! I'm sure Ghhrrwuaghr--Barney, that
is, and the other dinosaurs here, know almost everything about the
temple complex. If they don't have the exact number of hostile
dinosaurs, then maybe their contacts who're still at the temple can
find out."
"No, but... Daniel, no," Jack looked the younger man in
the eye. This was hardly the first time Jack got into a moral debate
with Daniel. The truth was that Jack actually agreed with Daniel in
this, but he knew it just wasn't going to happen. He hated smashing
Daniel's idealism. "Daniel, the point isn't whether we can do
it. The real point is, there's nothing in it for us. Dinoland is
Dinoland, no matter who rules it. This Goa'uldosaur who rules here
has never been a System Lord, he has no ships and doesn't even know
about the gate. He poses us no threat whatsoever. Wasting manpower
and resources to get rid of him just makes no sense."
"But... God, Jack, you can't think like that! 'There's
nothing in it for us'--that's just wrong, and completely besides the
point! Countless innocent beings are forced to live under Goa'uld
rule, and we can free them. Of course we have to do it!"
Jack shook his head. "It's got nothing to do with what I
think. It's not about right and wrong. It's all about what the people
at the Pentagon think. They won't authorize a massive operation that
won't actually give them anything."
"But we've got to do something!"
"We can go back to the gate and call Hammond. We should
contact the SGC anyway, to let 'em know we haven't been eaten yet. I
just don't want you to expect too much. Hammond's going to tell you
exactly what I told you now."
Daniel crossed his arms, let his head droop and stayed silent.
Now that Jack and Daniel had come to a conclusion of sorts, Ramsey
looked up from the table and spoke up again. "Colonel? If I may
suggest. I didn't come here to overthrow a dinosaur prince. I came to
study these animals. Maybe we could spend some more time in the
rainforest, to try and meet more dinosaurs, of different species?"
Oh, great, Jack thought. So, the Doc wanted to see the sights. As
if the debate with Daniel hadn't been enough, he'd need to start
explaining things to Ramsey as well. "Now, look, Ramsey, we came
here to get intel--to find out what's the current situation. Getting
lost and eaten in the jungle isn't a part of the plan. Besides, the
dinos say it's not safe, with the evil prince Goa'uldosaur and his
goons out there to get 'em."
"No, you look, young man," Ramsey began. Jack couldn't
help snorting at that. He definitely wasn't young anymore, not even
compared to Ramsey. Well, maybe the Dino-Doc was ten-ish years older
than him, but no more than that. "I came here to study
dinosaurs. It's what I do. If we're going to leave this camp
anyway..."
"Guys, wait, just wait a sec," Daniel put in, raising a
finger for silence. "There's no need for this. I think we can
easily do both. Go to the gate and see some dinosaurs."
He walked away from the table, to talk to a dino. Of course, it
had to be Barney, though Jack had a hard time telling the dinos
apart. As far as Jack knew, Daniel only talked to Barney. A few
growls and grunts later, Daniel returned.
"There, that's settled. Ghhrrwuaghr says that we should take
a guide. He doesn't believe we can find our way back on our own. And
the guide can take us to some relatively safe places where Leo should
be able to spot more dinosaurs. Some paths, drinking places and so
on," Daniel told them.
Ramsey smiled at him. "That's great. Wonderful. Thank you,
Daniel."
"All right," Jack agreed. That was probably the best
compromise they could get. "So, Barney's coming with us?"
Daniel shook his head. "No, he's going to introduce us to a
friend who speaks Dinosaurian-Goa'uld too. Apparently, not many of
them do. Barney can't come because he's off to meet an agent from the
temple. So, if you have any questions about it, now would be a good
time to ask."
SG-1 stayed in the camp for an hour or so. Sam didn't have a lot
to do, so she, Teal'c and O'Neill ended up standing around the table,
eating and staring at the dinosaurs. Ramsey had sat down to sketch
dinosaurs in his notebook. Daniel spent most of the time deep in a
growled conversation with Barney. Apparently, he was trying to
explain where SG-1 came from, but it wasn't easy when the dinos had
never heard about the stargate.
When Daniel and Barney were done talking, the dinosaur introduced
them to their guide, who was slightly smaller than he. The guide's
name sounded no different from Barney's real name to Sam.
O'Neill clearly had the same problem, since he was quick to ask,
"Okay. Teal'c, do Barney's friends have names, anyway?"
"They do, but I do not think 'BJ' or 'Baby Bop' are suitable
names for this dinosaur," Teal'c answered, his face and tone as
serious as always. "Perhaps Denver would be appropriate. He is
also the star of a television show."
"Denver. That works. Daniel, tell Denver that we're ready to
go."
Daniel growled at the dinosaur, who pointed towards the green wall
with his head. They followed the dinosaur to the natural barricade
and made their way through the hidden tunnel in it, into the dense,
wild jungle outside the camp.
"So, we go straight to the gate. We can see the sights
later," O'Neill added, Daniel translated it again, and the
dinosaur started jogging ahead. It was moving a lot faster than a
marching human. SG-1 didn't have any trouble keeping up with it, but
Leo kept lagging behind. Half the time, it wasn't because he was
older or less fit, but because he'd stopped to gaze at some footprint
on the ground, or a plant, or a giant butterfly.
The planet was amazing when it came to plants and animals, but it
didn't really offer anything of interest in Sam's field. Actually,
the only strange thing was that it was perfectly Earth-like. The
atmosphere was an exact match. The planet orbited a star that was of
the same spectrum as the Sun, same age and same size. The climate was
identical to the tropical regions of Earth. The only thing that
clearly revealed they weren't on Earth was the moon, which was
significantly smaller than Earth's. It was as if whoever had brought
the dinosaurs here had wanted to put them in an environment as near
to the original as possible.
Why the dinosaurs were here and who had brought them was still a
mystery, and, to Sam, the most interesting thing about the planet.
She hoped Leo might be of some help in solving it. At least he could
give an exact dating as to when these particular species of dinosaurs
had lived on Earth. His idea of getting DNA samples from them was
worth trying as well.
To Leo's disappointment, Denver the guide was so good at his job
that they met no other dinosaurs on their way back to the gate. Or
then again, maybe Denver's presence was the direct cause to it. He
was a pretty menacing meat-eater. The peaceful plant eaters would
probably do all they could to stay away from him.
When they reached the exact place where Barney and his friends had
caught SG-1, Denver stopped. He had no idea where the gate was.
Luckily, SG-1 did. After a short whispered conversation and a few
glances at a compass, they were able to find their way back to the
gate. Once there, Daniel quickly dialed home.
Denver started pacing around restlessly at the odd sounds when the
chevrons locked. When the gate opened and the vortex lashed out, the
dinosaur jumped back and hid in a thick bush. It took Daniel a good
few growls mixed with soothing English to get him back again.
The call to the SGC went just like Sam had expected. O'Neill
explained the situation and suggested that with backup, they could
help the dinosaurs overthrow the Goa'uld. Hammond answered that as
much as he'd like to help the dinosaurs, he had to say no, because
there was no way they could justify such use of resources. Daniel
spoke up passionately, trying to convince the general like only he
could, but it was no good.
"Doctor Jackson, I am very sorry, but unless you can come up
with a plan that allows us to free the dinosaurs with minimal risks
and without casualties, my answer is still no. SGC out."
Daniel shook his head at the empty ring of the gate. "We'll
come up with a plan. Once Ghhrrwuaghr returns, we're going to get the
news about what's going on in the temple. The prince doesn't even
know we're on the planet. We'll take him by surprise."
"Before we do that, I'd very much like to get to work. So,
how about we go and find some dinosaurs?" Leo put in, sounding
both more irritating and irritated than ever before. Sam didn't blame
him for that. He had every reason to be annoyed. He'd probably not
expected to get caught in the middle of dinosaur politics and human
moral debates.
"Astrosaur wouldn't work, would it?" Doctor Ramsey asked
Teal'c in a low tone as they walked on, following Denver again. The
dinosaur had promised to take them to a place where they might see
most of the animals that lived in the area.
"I do not think it would," Teal'c answered him. The
paleontologist had apparently been thinking about a suitable name for
Barney and Denver's species ever since they had first met the
dinosaurs.
An odd, melodic howl cut the air. Denver kept going, ignoring it
completely, but SG-1 stopped.
"We have heard this sound before. It is the call of the
Parasaurolophus," Teal'c noted.
"Parasaurolophus? Great," Doctor Ramsey whispered. "By
the sound of it, it's pretty near, too!"
He was about to head towards the source of the sound, but Denver
growled at him and gestured towards another direction. Teal'c thought
he said that they would see the animals better from where he was
taking them. Daniel Jackson's translation confirmed this.
Denver lead them up a steep hill. The vegetation grew lower and
more sparse as they climbed. Teal'c could see bright sunlight ahead,
an area that wasn't green. They were approaching the top of the hill.
When they stopped, he saw that they had actually reached the edge of
a steep cliff that fell to the surface of a sizable lake.
"If we are careful, we will not be seen," Denver told
them.
They crouched close to the ground, and pushed aside some plants to
get a clear view.
Teal'c had never found use for the world "unearthly"
before. Here, it felt fitting. There were several dinosaurs in the
lake below, among them two Parasaurolophus-individuals, whose hooting
they had already heard. Numerous creatures moved around on the shores
around the lake, some fully visible, others only pushing their head
through the leaves to reach the water. Teal'c could count at least
seven different species, from some horned Ceratopsian he could not
name to a herd of Maiasauras. Doctor Ramsey had produced a notebook,
and was scribbling rapidly.
"Hunters seldom come here. There are too many animals, and
they are too big. They make no difference between the large
hunter-animals and the chosen people of the rulers. I would not
survive down there," Denver explained. "There are other
places such as this. We call them Shelter Waters."
"Well, what do you know," Colonel O'Neill noted when
Daniel had repeated it all in English. "They call themselves the
chosen people?"
"Indeed. And I believe 'large hunter-animals' must refer to
large Theropods, such as Tyrannosaurs," Teal'c added.
"It would be amazing to actually see a living Tyrannosaur..."
Doctor Ramsey said without looking up from his notes.
"No, it wouldn't," O'Neill answered, his voice unusually
cold. "And you're not going to see one. I swear to God, there
will be NO Tyrannosaurs on this damn dino safari."
Daniel found it odd that other members of SG-1 had trouble telling
the dinosaurs apart from each other. Grruarch-Denver was entirely
different from Ghhrrwuaghr-Barney. They looked different, their
voices were different, and their personalities as well. Where
Ghhrrwuaghr was friendly but more of a no-nonsense, straight to the
point type, Grruarch was soft-spoken and a bit shy. Daniel asked the
dinosaur about his age, and Grruarch admitted that he was still
young. Fifteen of this world's years, though Daniel had no idea what
that was in Earth years.
They couldn't speak a whole lot when they were out in the jungle.
They all knew perfectly well that it wasn't safe out there. They
walked as silently as they could, and did all they could to avoid
being seen. Even the plant eaters could turn out to be very dangerous
if they got too agitated. Most of them were more than capable of
defending themselves with horns and tails.
In the end, their dino safari, like Jack called it, went quite
well. Of course, there was the inevitable afternoon rain, which left
them all soaked. Daniel had known to expect it, but he still hated
it. Then, Leo got too near to a herd of ostrich-like dinosaurs, which
ran away in a frenzy, almost trampling SG-1. Afterwards, all he said
was that he was sorry he hadn't been able to identify the species,
which could have been Avimimus, or Gallimimus, or possibly
Ornithomimus. Jack had looked like he was ready to strangle Leo, but
he had just settled for a very, very cold stare and a warning that
they'd be tossing the paleontologist back through the gate in a flash
if this ever happened again.
Their second close call was when they had just managed to climb on
top of a rock which gave them a view over an often used path.
Grruarch uttered a low warning, and pointed towards an area of the
jungle ahead of them, on the other side of the path. They froze and
stared and waited. Daniel couldn't hear anything at all, but finally,
he spotted shadows flitting among the thick plant growth. Shadows
that looked a lot like Grruarch, but weren't his friends. They were
some of those loyal to the ruler. SG-1 waited for a good while for
the hostiles to pass, pressed close against the rock, rainwater
running down their backs.
"I have not seen them this close to our home before,"
Grruarch said when it was safe again. He was clearly taken aback by
the near encounter. "I am not sure what this means. I must tell
the others. Come, it would be good for us to return now."
Their way back to the camp was uneventful, except that it was
starting to get dark. They had spent all the day walking around.
Daniel found himself yawning. He noticed that Leo looked tired too,
despite the wide smile that had been on his face ever since they'd
seen the first Shelter Water.
"Thank you, Grruarch," Daniel said to their guide once
they were back. "I have only one more question for you. We can
build our own shelters for the night, but where should we place
them?"
"I shall ask the elders, wait here," the dinosaur
answered.
Soon, he returned to let SG-1 know that they were free to choose
nearly any place they found suitable, but preferably in the area
closer to the boundaries of the camp. Jack picked a spot near to the
river, and declared that even though they were on friendly territory,
they'd keep watch all night.
Daniel was just going about setting up his tent, when he spotted a
dinosaur approaching him. It was Grruarch again.
"Daanniach," the dinosaur growled its Dinosaurian
version of Daniel's name. "There is something I want to show
you."
Daniel followed the dinosaur to one of the canopies, out of the
pouring rain. There, on a low table, were clay bowls with a dark
substance in them--it was hard to see what it was in the dim evening
light. Daniel could also see some sort of sticks with sharp bone
ends, like short arrows, some chisels, hammers and stone slabs. This
was the scribes' hut, it seemed.
"Ghhrrwuaghr told me that you could read our writing,"
Grruarch said.
"Not all that well, really," Daniel answered truthfully.
"When's Ghhrrwuaghr going to be back, anyway?"
Grruarch stepped from one foot to the other, expressing his unease
over the matter. "He should have come already. Yet it is many
leaps to the meeting place. Perhaps there were delays. He should come
soon."
Daniel nodded. "So, you wanted to show me your writing?"
he gestured at the table.
"Yes. And this," Grruarch said, reaching to pick one
particular stone tablet in his clawed hand. "Ghhrrwuaghr said
you would wish to see it."
Daniel took the tablet and squinted at it in the near-dark. He
couldn't quite make out the inscription, so he shone his flashlight
on it. Grruarch had already seen their flashlights when they'd
started setting up camp, but he still stepped back. Daniel murmured
"It's okay" to the dinosaur, but didn't lift his eyes from
the writing.
The text on the stone slab was divided into three sections,
written in two different scripts. The uppermost third was in
hieroglyphic Goa'uld, the two lower ones in the cuneiform-like
Dinosaurian writing. But there seemed to be an odd similarity between
the Goa'uld text and the Dinosaurian one right below it. Could it be
that this was the Dinosaurian equivalent of the Rosetta Stone?
"Do you know what's written here, Grruarch?"
"It is the Great Decree of the Ruler, first in his language
and his writing, then in his language but our writing, and once more
in our language and our writing."
Daniel's guess had been a correct one. The tablet had the same
text in Goa'uld, both in the normal writing and in the Dinosaurian
one, and below those two, in the real Dinosaurian language that
Daniel still hadn't learned. It was incredible--and might offer him a
way to find out more about the true Dinosaurian language.
"Thank you, Grruarch. Thank you very much," Daniel said.
"Is it all right if I stay here to read this?"
"Of course it is, Daanniach."
He found a small rock on the ground near the table and sat down.
Placing the tablet on the table, he grabbed a notebook and a pen and
began working on the translation. He didn't feel even remotely tired
anymore, he was way too eager to get this done.
Matching the Goa'uld hieroglyphic and the Goa'uld written in a
Dinosaurian script wasn't all that difficult, but it took time. The
camp around him fell silent. Sometime in the day, Leo had wondered
aloud if these dinosaurs were nocturnal, like their ancestors. It
seemed to Daniel that they weren't, because they had gone to sleep.
Of course, some might have left the camp to go hunting. He hadn't
been paying attention.
When he was about halfway through the text, Daniel took a break.
He glanced at his watch, which showed midnight. He made his way to
SG-1's camp to get some food. It was Teal'c's guard, and Daniel
exchanged a few words with him, explaining what he was up to. Then he
returned to his translating, with coffee.
He worked on, oblivious to the passage of time, until a sound from
the green barricade caught his attention. He left his work, stood up
and walked towards the sound. It was a soft rustling, like someone or
something making its way through the tunnel. Daniel didn't think
anyone could possibly find the entrance without knowing where it was,
so the chances were it was a friend. Maybe Ghhrrwuaghr had finally
returned. Still, Daniel decided not risk it, and pointed at the wall
with both his flashlight and his pistol.
A dinosaurian head emerged from the wall. Not surprisingly, it was
of the intelligent species. The dinosaur crawled out of the tunnel,
but then he just stopped. Instead of standing up, he slumped to the
ground. Daniel walked closer, and saw the familiar patterns in the
scales of his snout and around his eyes. He also saw the bleeding
cuts all around the dinosaur's body. It was Ghhrrwuaghr, but he was
hurt.
Daniel put away his sidearm and ran closer to the dinosaur. He was
at a loss. How could he assess an injured dinosaur? He knew
dinosaur's definitely weren't mammals, but were they cold-blooded
like reptiles, or warm-blooded, and did that even make a difference?
The dinosaur was bleeding all over, and his breathing sounded fast
and raspy. Daniel didn't need to know anything about dinosaur
physiology to figure out that wasn't good.
Ghhrrwuaghr opened his eyes, just a slit, and peered at Daniel.
"Betrayed," he whispered softly. Though it was just one
word, it was a good enough explanation for what had happened. The
agent had turned against him. The rebel party had probably ran into
an ambush.
"It's all right, you're safe now," Daniel told the
dinosaur, lifting his reptilian head on his lap and patting his scaly
skin.
"The others... others are all dead," Ghhrrwuaghr
growled. "And I shall join them soon." The dinosaur closed
his eyes and clenched his sharp teeth together. His breathing sounded
even more harsh--he was clearly in great pain.
"No, you're not going to die. We'll help you," Daniel
spoke soothingly. "It's all right. Take it easy."
It took Daniel a while to realize that the dinosaur couldn't have
understood one word he had said--he had been speaking English all the
time. Still, his tone had probably conveyed the meaning.
Even though Daniel knew nothing about dinosaur medicine, it seemed
to him that Ghhrrwuaghr wasn't going to make it without help. He did
his best to collect his thoughts so that he could speak a few words
in Dinosaurian-Goa'uld. "Ghhrrwuaghr. I will get help. Stay
still," he said, and stood up.
He saw silent figures standing all around him, other dinosaurs
waiting to see what he was up to. He ran away from them, towards the
far corner of the camp area where SG-1's tents stood.
Jack was keeping guard. His flashlight beam hit Daniel, who kept
running and called out, "Jack, it's me!"
"Jesus, Daniel! What happened to you?" Jack's reply
sounded startled.
Daniel stopped, confused. He looked down and realized there was
blood all over his clothes. "No, Jack, I'm fine. It's not me,
it's Barney. He's badly hurt. We've got to get him back through the
gate."
"Daniel--Fraiser may be a miracle worker, but she's no vet,"
Jack said, standing up.
"She's helped aliens before, and Barney's not even really an
alien. Barney helped me when I was hurt. We've got to save him, I'm
sure he'll die without help-"
Teal'c, Sam and even Leo had emerged from their tents and walked
over to them. Daniel had probably been shouting on top of his voice
without noticing.
"Daniel, slow down. Take it easy. We'll help him, all right.
Maybe Doc Ramsey can help too. That'd be the first time he did
something useful," Jack said bluntly, pointing the flashlight at
the paleontologist.
Leo shook his head determinedly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm
staying right here."
"What?" Daniel uttered, wondering if Leo hadn't heard or
understood what was going on. "A dinosaur is dying out there,
and you're refusing to help?"
"One dinosaur individual of one particular species may be
dying, but there are possibly hundreds of other species out there. If
I leave, how can I ever be sure I'll get back here? No, I'll... I'll
fight you, if I have to, but I'm staying."
Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing. Fighting Leo might
not be such a bad idea. Hadn't the man got any feelings at all? All
for science, no matter what? Studying cultures had never kept Daniel
from caring about the people of those cultures. But he needed to stay
calm, for Ghhrrwuaghr's sake. He took a deep breath and said, "Barney
doesn't have time for this."
"Okay, kids. This is what we'll do. Carter, you're in charge.
Stay here with Teal'c and Ramsey. Daniel and I take Barney back to
base," Jack commanded.
"He's over there," Daniel told Jack, and they ran across
the camp, to where Ghhrrwuaghr was still lying. The other dinosaurs
had gathered close to him, examining his wounds, even trying to stem
the bleeding with leaves. Daniel spotted their guide among them.
"Grruarch! We can help Ghhrrwuaghr, but we must take him to
our home. Through the stargate. Can you take us there?" he asked
the young dinosaur.
"We are afraid we cannot save him and he'll be lost. If you
can help, of course I will take you there," Grruarch answered,
and growled a few words to the other dinosaurs in the Dinosaurian
language. The dinosaurs moved aside, giving room to the humans.
Jack and Daniel moved closer to the injured dinosaur.
"Ghhrrwuaghr?" Daniel uttered, but the dinosaur didn't
answer. His eyes were closed. It seemed he was unconscious, but at
least he was still breathing, which was good, since Daniel had no
idea how to take a dinosaur's pulse.
"Umm... You take the lower part and I'll take the upper
body?" Daniel suggested to Jack, who just nodded and knelt by
the dinosaur's feet.
Daniel put his arms around Ghhrrwuaghr's neck and back, and lifted
him from the ground together with Jack. He wasn't half as heavy as
Daniel had expected. The dinosaur groaned softly and grabbed Daniel's
arm. He felt the claws digging into his bicep, but bit his teeth
together and did his best to ignore it.
"So, we obviously can't go through the wall," Jack
noted. Grruarch had noticed it as well, and he had already headed
towards the side of the camp that was sheltered by large boulders.
They made their way through the passage between them. The sentries
growled at them in Dinosaurian. Daniel hoped they were wishing them
luck, because they'd really need it.
Grruarch ran ahead of them, faster than ever before. With the dead
weight of the injured dinosaur between them, Daniel and Jack had a
hard time keeping up with him. At least Ghhrrwuaghr had let go of
Daniel's arm.
The ground was muddy and soft under their feet, and plants kept
brushing Daniel's face. It was long past midnight, he hadn't slept at
all, and he'd been walking all day. He quickly fell into a stupor,
just running on without thinking at all. It felt as if he was back in
the first time they had been here, running for his life in the
darkening woods, with the rustling and stomping and roaring
Tyrannosaur behind him. Except that this time, he wasn't running away
from a dinosaur to save his life. He was running to save a dinosaur's
life.
Jack couldn't decide which worried him the most, all the creatures
that were probably lurking in the dark jungle around them, or the
injured dinosaur he and Daniel were carrying. He caught himself
thinking that it'd be a lot easier if Barney just stayed unconscious.
Every time the dinosaur woke up, he would start squirming around.
Jack definitely didn't blame him for that, because he was obviously
suffering, but Jack could've done without the sharp claws slashing
the air in front of his face.
Denver was practically flying ahead, little more than a whisper
passing through the foliage in front of them. Jack didn't know the
exact distance between the gate and the dino camp, but it was a
couple of hours' walk. Now that they were running as fast as they
could, it didn't take them long. Finding the DHD would've been next
to impossible in the darkness, but clearly Denver's night vision was
excellent, since he lead them straight to it.
"I'll manage a moment alone, dial the gate," Jack told
Daniel, and took a better hold of Barney. Luckily, the dinosaur was
out again, so Jack had no trouble with him.
Jack wasn't exactly sure whether taking Barney to the SGC was such
a good idea. The dinosaur really deserved all the help SG-1 could
give him, Jack agreed with Daniel on that. They might not be here at
all if it wasn't for Barney. He just didn't like they idea they'd
drag the dinosaur through the gate just to watch him die when no one
knew what to do.
The gate flashed open, the blue glow of the event horizon
shimmering through the dark trees and bushes.
"Jack, I think Denver should come too."
"Sure, the more dinos, the merrier." It actually did
make sense. Maybe Denver could help Fraiser understand how a dino's
insides would normally work. And if Barney would make it, he'd
probably want to have at least one friendly face, or snout, with him
in the weird surroundings.
Daniel had a quick, growled conversation with Denver, and then he
returned to carry his share of Barney's weight again. They made their
way up the ramp and sent the GDO code. Denver was following them for
a chance. He hopped nervously from side to side in front of the open
gate.
"Relax, Denver," Jack told the dino, and stepped into
the gate with Daniel.
The moment they landed on the ramp at the SGC, Barney woke up
again and started thrashing about, his clawed feet kicking around
uncontrollably. Jack did the instinctive thing and let go, and Daniel
followed. Barney hit on the ramp with a clash, groaning pitifully.
The clatter of claws against metal behind them revealed that Denver
had gotten through as well.
"SG-1, take cover," Hammond called from the observation
room. The guards around the gate had their guns pointed at Barney and
Denver.
"No, no, they're friends," Daniel cried out, waving his
hands. "And Ghhrrwuaghr needs medical attention."
"Stand down," Jack ordered. "He's telling you the
truth."
"Very well then," Hammond's voice wasn't entirely free
of hesitation. "Stand down and get a medical team in the
gateroom."
Doc Fraiser ran in with her team and stopped at the foot of the
ramp, just staring at them. "Colonel?" she asked
uncertainly, taking in the writhing, bleeding dinosaur.
"Looked like he was dying. We couldn't think of anything
else."
"Janet, please," Daniel pleaded. "I'm sure he's far
less alien than some aliens you've had here."
"The things we do..." Fraiser muttered, but started
walking up the ramp, her team following close behind. "All
right, what've we got?" she asked, as she knelt to the
dinosaur's side. Barney seemed to have fallen unconscious again.
"We think he was attacked by a team of other dinos just like
him. So, lots of cuts, the sort he'd get from the kind of claws that
he's got," Daniel explained. "And some bites."
"Those claws and teeth, yeah," Jack noted. Fraiser
really wasn't going to have an easy job. "You'd better be
careful, he tends to start wriggling about when he wakes up and you
really don't want to get in the way."
"All right, people. This shouldn't be too difficult. We take
him to the infirmary and patch him up as best we can. And we need to
get a blood sample to the lab, stat," Fraiser ordered.
As the med team maneuvered Barney onto a gurney, Fraiser turned to
face Jack, Daniel and Denver. The younger dinosaur had frozen on his
spot in front of the gate, hiding behind the humans.
"I can already see the problem we're going to have,"
Fraiser said. "This dinosaur friend of yours has clearly lost a
lot of blood. It might be enough to kill him, and then there's
probably not a whole lot we can do, unless..."
"Denver could donate for him, right?" Jack pointed
backwards, at the skittish dinosaur.
"There's another dinosaur? I didn't even notice. Possibly. I
need a blood sample from him as well, and then we'll just have to
hope their blood types match. Escort him to the infirmary."
When Fraiser hurried away with Barney, Daniel turned towards
Denver, and again addressed him in the weird dinosaur speak. Finally,
Denver seemed to have gathered his bearings enough that he let Daniel
lead the way down the ramp and towards the infirmary.
"He's scared," Daniel explained as they walked.
"Hard to believe that something as scary as he can be scared
about something like us."
"The only real building he's ever seen is the temple. And
he's never seen this many humans in one place, and this much
technology. This is all completely alien to him."
Daniel did his best to help Denver adapt to these weird new
surroundings. The infirmary had enough odd technology to freak out a
human, so Denver almost refused to step through the door at all.
Daniel stayed close to him all the time, sat by his side and held a
hand on his scaly neck as a medic did his best to figure out how to
get a blood sample.
They sat and waited. A moment later, another medic showed up to do
some more tests on Denver. She was apparently trying to get the
normal values so they could compare those to Barney's, but like
Daniel told her, Denver was probably way too nervous and agitated to
count as normal.
They had to wait nearly an hour before Fraiser emerged to give
them some news. She took them straight to the injured dinosaur, who
was in one of the isolation rooms. Barney was tightly strapped to a
gurney, and had a bunch of IVs and wires and whatevers on him. Half
his dark green scales were wrapped in white bandages. This had to be
the weirdest sight Jack had seen in this infirmary so far.
"So, you can help him? He's not going to die?" Daniel
asked the Doc hopefully.
Fraiser looked at him in the eye with her worst 'you're not going
to like what I've got to say'-expression. "Well, the good news
is that his physiology really isn't alien at all, but quite
understandable. A veterinarian would've probably had no problem at
all figuring it out. For us, it was more of a challenge, but not
impossible. Unfortunately, in this case, understanding his physiology
only makes it obvious to us that there isn't much we can do."
Denver had edged closer to Barney, staring at the human medical
contraptions so alien to him. He nudged Barney's head cautiously, and
then nuzzled his neck. It looked like a strangely cute thing for a
scary, sharp-clawed dino to do. Barney didn't respond at all. Fraiser
looked at the two dinosaurs and shook her head.
"We've managed to stop most of the visible bleeding, but we
have reason to believe he's bleeding internally as well. He keeps
growing weaker. We can't operate on him, because the blood loss would
certainly kill him. This other dinosaur's blood type seems to be
entirely different from his, so we can't risk giving it to him. I'm
sorry, Daniel. And Denver, if that's his name."
"It's not. His name's Grruarch," Daniel said softly. The
dinosaur turned around at the sound of his name, his large yellow
eyes fixed on Daniel, clearly anxious to hear the news.
"How long does he have?" Daniel asked.
"It's hard to say. If he was a human, a few hours, no more
than that. Considering what I've seen so far, he might last longer,
but I can't promise he will."
Daniel nodded, and growled a few soft words at Denver. Obviously
the bad news, since Denver answered him with the saddest roar Jack
had ever heard. Then he turned to rest his chin on the gurney, right
under Barney's, just sitting there very still.
Daniel had crossed his arms, looking completely miserable. Jack
placed a hand on his shoulder. "We did our best, Daniel. It's
not your fault."
Daniel stayed silent and stared at the two dinosaurs. Jack could
almost hear those genius brains of his working furiously to try and
figure out something more they could do to help. Knowing Daniel, Jack
wouldn't be surprised if he came up with something even though the
situation looked hopeless. And he did.
"If we can't help, maybe someone else can," Daniel
suggested.
"Someone else, as in?"
"These dinosaurs want to fight the Goa'uld, Jack. Who does
that?"
"Me, you and half the universe..." Jack muttered, but
Daniel was gazing at him in a really determined way. He was looking
for a specific answer, and he expected Jack to know it. "No,
just wait a moment. Daniel, you don't mean--the Tok'ra?"
"At least we can ask them."
Jack grinned. "Oh boy, they're gonna love this."
Sam watched Daniel and Jack walk away, turn off their flashlights
and disappear into the dark night with Denver and the injured Barney.
Teal'c and Leo stood close by, staring after them as well.
That one short conversation between Daniel and Leo had completely
changed what Sam thought about the paleontologist. She had thought he
was a gentle old man, maybe a bit obsessed with his field of study,
but then again, who wasn't. Now, she wasn't sure what to think. His
cold attitude towards Barney had taken her completely by surprise.
She decided she'd better just speak her mind right away, to be done
with it.
"So, Leo, you really don't care whether Barney survives?"
"His survival really isn't up to me. I wouldn't have been
able to help anyway. Yes, I may have some idea of dinosaur anatomy,
but it's based on fossilized bones. It's an educated guess at best.
I'm no veterinarian--I know nothing about medicine. Do you really
think that, if he's going to die, I could've saved him?"
"You could've helped others save him. I'm kind of starting to
wonder if you even want him to survive. Doing an autopsy on a
dinosaur really would let you know what their anatomy is like,
wouldn't it?"
"It would be very interesting, now that you mention it, but
that's entirely beside the point," Leo said, speaking slowly and
patiently, like a teacher addressing a student who was a bit slow.
"I'd think it obvious to you, you're a scientist as well, after
all. I'm not here to become friends with these dinosaurs, or to play
doctor for them. I'm here to study them. To learn as much as can be
learned about them. Any individual dinosaur is only interesting as an
example of its species, as a tiny part of the whole. No individual is
irreplaceable."
"Really? Does that go for humans as well? Are we all so
replaceable that you wouldn't care if one of us were sick and dying?"
"It's not that I wouldn't care. What I care about doesn't
matter. It's a fact that we could be replaced as well, each one of
us. Myself included. That's why I have to stay here and get as much
done as is humanly possible. Because I can't be sure when someone
will decide I'm too old and no good, and go on to replace me with
someone younger and better. This is my one chance to do something
I'll be remembered for, always."
Sam frowned. It was an odd thought, but it seemed that Leo's
inhuman coldness came down to a very human fear. He was afraid he'd
be replaced by someone younger, and more than that, afraid he'd die
and be forgotten. His vanity and fear of the slowly but inevitably
approaching death were enough to make him shrug at the impending
death of another intelligent being. It was disgusting, but all too
human, and in a way, she understood. Though she sincerely hoped she'd
never end up like that herself.
"I still think you should've gone with them," Sam
repeated, so softly that she didn't know whether he heard. She didn't
care. "All right, it's time to go back to bed. Teal'c, we'll
split the rest of the night in three shifts, I'll take the first."
"Very well, Captain Carter. I shall be meditating, but do not
hesitate to call if you require assistance."
Sam sat on a log, her hand on the butt of her P-90. The camp had
fallen completely silent again. She could just hear Leo's snoring
from his tent. Apparently his conscience was clear and he really
didn't care about what would happen to Barney. She did care. She was
worried about him, and equally worried about Daniel and Colonel
O'Neill, because the trip to the gate through the dark jungle was
risky enough as it was.
Nothing happened during her first watch. Teal'c came to relieve
her, and she retreated to her tent and sleeping bag. Still, she
couldn't sleep. She spent hours turning around, worrying over her
team mates and their dinosaur friend, and listening to Leo's snoring.
When her watch finally showed that it was time to get up again, she
was glad to do so.
"I do not require more time to rest, Captain Carter,"
Teal'c told her, as she stepped out of her tent to take his place. "I
can keep guard until morning."
"It's all right, Teal'c, I can't sleep anyway," she
replied. "Nothing's to stop us both from sitting here."
So, she sat down next to him, and they just sat there. They had no
need for small talk. Morning was finally approaching. Though it was
still dark, the camp was slowly beginning to stir, dinosaurs sneaking
to and fro silently, lighting fires and carrying foodstuffs from one
place to the other. One party seemed to return from a hunting trip;
they came through the natural gate formed by two boulders, carrying a
dead, rhinoceros-like dinosaur twice as big as they.
Just when the first greenish rays of the sun filtered to them
through the jungle roof, their radios crackled to life. "Carter,
Teal'c, do you read?" O'Neill's voice was unmistakable.
"We hear you, sir," she answered him. "Is everyone
OK?"
"Everyone else is fine, but I'm afraid Barney's not doing
good. That's why I need you to return to the gate ASAP."
"Sir, I don't think Doctor Ramsey will-"
"Forget about Ramsey, it's you and Teal'c we need. Daniel
needs to talk with the dinosaur elders about Barney's situation, so
we want someone on base who can speak Dinosaurian-Goa'uld, and
Teal'c's the only one besides Daniel who does that. And I figured I
should come with Daniel so you can return to base, because there's
someone here who'd prefer working with you."
"Dad?" Sam thought out loud in surprise.
"Aha, that would be one Tok'ra representative Jacob Carter.
Just hurry up, will ya. If Ramsey doesn't want to come, well, then, I
guess he's old enough to manage on his own among the dinos for a few
hours."
"Will do, sir. Carter out."
Ramsey had emerged from his tent, rubbing his eyes sleepily--just
in time to hear O'Neill's last comment. "Oh, thank you very
much, Colonel," he muttered. "I'm not going anywhere, and
I'll manage on my own just fine. Why aren't you running already?"
Captain Carter was uncertain whether they could find their way to
the gate on their own, or whether Teal'c should ask the dinosaurs for
a guide. Teal'c, however, was convinced that he could lead the way
through the traps and the jungle. He knew his skills and did not
exaggerate. They made their way back without encountering any
trouble, except for three Ankylosaurs, which forced them to take a
detour.
When they reached the stargate, Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson
were already waiting for them, looking impatient.
"Carter, Teal'c, what took you so long?" O'Neill asked.
"Sorry, sir, we came as soon as we could," Captain
Carter answered him.
"Okay, we really don't have much time here. I don't know if
we have any time at all, really," O'Neill explained, as Daniel
Jackson moved on to the DHD to dial home. "So, here's the deal.
Barney's dying. We called the Tok'ra, who happened to have a symbiote
in need of a host. But Barney hasn't been conscious for long enough
that we could've asked for his opinion in this. Denver said we should
ask the elders. That's why we're heading back to the camp to talk
with them, and you-"
O'Neill stopped abruptly, as the stargate opened in front of them.
"You'd better go, you'll get a better briefing there. Daniel,
this way to the camp," O'Neill gestured, and headed away from
the gate, Daniel Jackson jogging after him. Seeing that time clearly
was of the essence here, Teal'c and Captain Carter went through the
gate.
They found Jacob Carter and General Hammond waiting on the other
side, at the bottom of the ramp.
"Dad, good to see you again," Captain Carter called out
eagerly, and ran to embrace her father.
"Good to see you too, though once again, seems the
circumstances are just as nasty and urgent as always," the
Tok'ra representative answered. "So, I guess we should go to the
dinosaur right away, we'll explain as we walk."
"Did Colonel O'Neill give you any idea of what's going on
yet?" General Hammond asked, as they advanced through the
corridors towards the infirmary.
"Some. You're actually considering making Barney a host?"
Captain Carter asked.
Her father nodded, and spoke up in the voice of his symbiote,
Selmak. "We have a symbiote whose host died recently. We were
able to save the symbiote, and he's currently in stasis. Actually, we
were going to ask you about possible hosts in the near future, but
now that this happened, we came to think that this unusual
arrangement might serve everyone's interest. We are interested in
learning more about this dinosaur world and these Goa'ulds who use
such unusual hosts, and we may also be able save the life of you
friend."
"But you cannot proceed with the blending as the possible
host is unable to give his opinion on the matter," Teal'c
stated.
"This is indeed the case. This other dinosaur, Denver,
believes that Barney would wish this, and if the dinosaur elders
agree, then we shall proceed. Still, we are hoping that Barney will
wake up for long enough that you could inquire him of his thoughts."
Teal'c nodded. "I shall do my best."
"I'll have to warn you, though," Jacob Carter, the
human, spoke again. "We can't promise anything. Like always,
things could go wrong. We'll basically be throwing a weakened
symbiote right out of stasis into a body different from anything he's
ever encountered. They might both die anyway. It's a risk we'll have
to take. We Tok'ra have already agreed on this, but if the dinosaur
elders resist because of it, then we won't go on with it."
By this time, they had reached the injured dinosaur's bed. Beside
from the fact that he was distinctly non-human, Barney did not appear
that different from any other seriously ill patient in the infirmary.
Denver was there as well, standing right next to him, looking as sad
as an intelligent dinosaur possibly could, drooping his head, his
eyes wide. Doctor Fraiser walked to them from the other end of the
room, greeting Captain Carter and Teal'c.
"How's he doing?" Captain Carter asked the Doctor.
"Hanging on by the skin of his teeth, if I may say so. My
first prognosis was that he wouldn't survive the night, but he has.
It seems these dinosaurs are incredibly hardy. That's why I'm not
going to even try and guess how long he has left. The fact is, he
will die. He's not going to get any better unless we do something.
Truth be told, I can't even be sure he hasn't already suffered
significant brain damage. And so far, the Tok'ra offer is all we've
got."
Teal'c nodded gravely, and walked closer to the dinosaur. "I
am very uncomfortable with the thought of forcing a symbiote on
someone who is unable to give his approval of the matter. I hope he
will regain consciousness at least passingly so I can attempt to ask
him."
"I'd prefer that too, Teal'c, but I wouldn't be too
optimistic," Doctor Fraiser replied, shaking her head.
Teal'c took a chair and sat down by the dinosaur's bedside. He
would wait as long as it took, or--if Barney would not wake up--until
Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson contacted them with the word of
the dinosaur elders.
"Jack, you absolutely sure you know the way?"
"Daniel, come on, how many times have we gotten lost
offworld?"
Daniel didn't answer, because he had to admit that they never
really had. It was just that even though he could usually find his
way around well enough, he'd have gotten lost here in a second if it
wasn't for Jack leading the way. The jungle was way too dense, too
green and completely the same everywhere around. He got even more
wary and worried once they reached the area with traps, near to the
camp, but Jack just snorted at him, exasperated.
"We've already come this way twice, I know well enough were
to step."
So, they made their way through the jungle and the traps to the
green wall. It felt almost too easy. They went through the tunnel in
the plant growth, and emerged in an eerily silent, empty camp.
"Okay, where is everyone?" Jack wondered aloud. "Gone
to some morning ritual to greet the rising sun?"
"Grruarch didn't mention anything like that. And even if they
had, there'd still be someone here."
As far as Daniel could see, the bushes about the boulders that
marked one boundary of the camp were completely empty. There were no
sentries there. He couldn't imagine the dinosaurs leaving the camp
unguarded, unless they had abandoned it altogether.
Daniel and Jack looked around and walked deeper into the camp, but
there really didn't seem to be anyone there. No dinos at all, elders
or younger ones. Some of the fires were still burning, but that was
all.
They found their tents intact in SG-1's corner of the area.
"Doctor Ramsey?" Daniel called out, but got no answer. They
checked Ramsey's tent. It was empty, albeit more than a bit messy.
Once they got out, Daniel spotted something colorful on the ground,
and grinned when he realized what it was. A toothbrush. Amusing as it
was, it worried him. Ramsey wouldn't have dropped it in the mud and
left it there without a good reason.
They returned to the nearest canopy. There were half-eaten pieces
of meat on the ground, and the cups on the table that contained some
tea-sort-of-drink were still warm. Everything seemed to suggest that
the dinosaurs had left in a hurry, taking Leo with them.
"Looks like they had to flee," Jack said softly, a
worried frown on his brow. "And not long ago. It's only been,
what, two hours, tops, since Carter and Teal'c left here, and
considering that the cups are still warm..."
Daniel nodded, pursing his lips. "Okay, so, what do we do
now?"
"Well. We've oviously got to try and find out what happened
and where they went. Not that I'd give a rat's ass about what happens
to Ramsey, but he's still one of our men."
"Yeah, not to mention we're not going to be able to ask
anything from the elders if we can't even find them," Daniel
added. "You sure it's safe?"
"Of course it's not. Which means we'll just have to be
careful."
Jack crouched to the ground, to take a look at the footprints.
There were lots and lots of them, overlapping each other. Last
afternoon's rain had without doubt erased everything from the time
before that, so these had to be from last night, or newer. Most of
the footprints were dinosaurian, with three toes and claw marks. The
most recent-looking ones showed that the dinos had been running.
He located the trail left by Ramsey's boots, and followed it. They
seemed to lead towards the passage between the two boulders. That was
were most dinosaur steps went as well. They'd fled into that
direction, then. Jack just hoped they hadn't been stupid enough to
leave such a clear trail all the way to wherever they had gone.
Though it'd make tracing them a lot easier for Jack, it would be all
too easy to their enemies as well.
There really was only one explanation to what had happened that
Jack could think of. The camp was free of any signs of struggle, so
he didn't believe the dinosaurs had been attacked. They had probably
learned of some danger threatening the camp, and they had run away
because of that. Maybe they had a second hideout somewhere else. If
it was as well hidden as this one, finding it might be well nigh
impossible.
"They went that way," Jack told Daniel, and pointed at
the boulders.
As they both looked in the direction he was pointing, they saw and
heard something moving there. Something was about to enter the camp
through the passage. Jack prayed that it was just the dinosaurs
returning from wherever they had been, but nevertheless, gestured to
Daniel that they should take cover. They retreated to hide behind a
bush at the foot of a thick tree.
A dino stepped into the camp, and right after it, another, and a
third one, and several more. Jack counted eight, altogether. That
seemed to be the standard size of a dinosaur party--there had been
eight dinos in the group of rebels that had caught SG-1 when they'd
first come here.
Jack only needed to take a good look at the first dino to figure
out that these weren't rebels. The dino was wearing a belt with a zat
gun in it. The first time SG-1 had been on this planet, months ago,
none of the dinos had had zats. That had to be one of the weapons
SG-1 had been forced to hand over when they'd been captured. These
were no rebels. These were Goa'uldosaurs, or at least those loyal to
them. The danger that the rebels had fled from.
They didn't have much choice here. Trying to fight their way out
was hardly an option, so they'd just have to stay out of sight and
hope the dinos wouldn't notice them. Jack signaled this to Daniel
with laying a hand on his back and pressing him closer to the ground.
No matter how low they lied, though, they weren't perfectly hidden.
Jack cursed himself for not taking the time to find a better shelter.
He peered through the leaves in front of his face, trying to see
what the dinos were up to. A few had spread out to search the camp.
The zat-carrying one that Jack took to be their leader was speaking
in their guttural language with a few others.
One of the dinos scanning the camp was walking directly towards
them. It seemed Daniel had noticed it too, considering the startled
look on his face, and the fact that he was holding his breath.
The dino walked slowly closer, looking around, tilting its head,
listening, sniffing at things that'd been dropped on the ground. It
stopped less than ten feet away from them, near enough that Jack
could clearly discern every scale on its snout as it prodded the
items on a table. Jack realized he was holding his breath as well.
The dino seemed to have lost interest in the table, and turned its
back to them, as if to go away. Jack heard Daniel sigh out of relief.
The dinosaur stopped again, raising its head, listening. It couldn't
have heard that--Jack had only heard it because Daniel's face was
right next to his.
The dino put its snout to the ground, its sniffing clearly
audible. It turned around and moved towards them, nose still near to
the mud. Jack felt a chill run down his spine. The damn dino had
picked up their scent. He shook his head at Daniel, who grimaced, and
sighed again, this time with despair.
They stood up as the dino walked around the bush and saw them.
Jack aimed his P-90 at it, just to keep it from jumping at them. He
knew fighting would do them no good. The dino didn't attack, but
roared at the other dinos, who arrived instantly, forming a neat
circle around the two humans. Talk about déjà vu,
Jack
thought sullenly.
The dino with the zat, the supposed leader, growled at them. To
his dismay, Jack realized it was clearly addressing Daniel. That
could mean only one thing: it recognized them from the last time
they'd been on this planet, and knew that Daniel could speak their
language. Jack could almost see Daniel pale at the dino's words. He
clearly didn't like what he heard.
"What's it saying?" Jack whispered at him anxiously.
Daniel took a shaky breath. "He says that they've been
searching for us ever since we caused the riot. He's amazed that he
actually found us, even though we vanished without a trace earlier.
He shall receive a royal reward for finding us. Rrragrathssh, the
revered ruler, will question us and then we shall finally face the
consequences of our outrageous actions."
Jack translated that further in his head. The ruler was pissed,
and they were in for interrogation, torture and death. Shit. No
wonder Daniel looked so startled.
The lead dino barked an order of some kind, and two dinos stepped
closer to the two of them, as if waiting for something. "They
want our weapons and radios," Daniel said, already offering his
sidearm to the dino nearer to him, tired resignation on his face.
As much as Jack would've wanted to start shooting at the dinos, he
knew Daniel was right. They were hopelessly outnumbered. They had no
choice. He handed over his radio and gun.
Zat-o-saur barked again, and the dinos started moving, urging the
humans on towards the passage out of the camp.
"They're taking us to the temple," Daniel said, and hung
his head, staring at the mud at their feet.
Soon, they were out of the camp and in the jungle, marching ahead
at the fast pace set by the dinos. Jack took his cap off and ran a
hand through his hair. It was a day's walk to the temple complex. A
day was a long time. They'd have to escape before they got there,
before they were closed in one of those cages on the roof again. If
he could just think of something. But the dinosaurs walked close by,
making sure that they couldn't even consider escaping.
They walked on, and Jack kept trying to think about that something
that'd allow them to escape. The dinos had the home advantage in the
jungle. Trying to run would make no sense, they'd just get caught
again, and probably hurt too.
Afternoon came, and with it, the rain, and Jack was still
thinking. Daniel was trudging on by his side, silent and withdrawn.
Maybe Daniel could say something to the dinos, talk them into... Into
what? Jack had no idea. Returning to the temple with the two of them
would probably give these dinos all the fame and glory a green scaly
Goa'uldosaur could hope for. He couldn't imagine them wanting to
trade it for anything Jack and Daniel had to offer. If freedom from
the Goa'uld meant anything to these dinos, surely they'd have joined
the rebels instead of sticking with their ruler.
Dripping wet from head to toe, Jack was still desperately trying
to think of something when he spotted the pale stone wall of the
temple looming ahead of them. They walked in through the very same
doorway he and Daniel had found when they'd last been here.
He kept thinking as they were lead to an empty throne room and
taken through the transport rings to the rooftop area filled with
cages.
He only stopped thinking when the iron barred door was slammed
closed behind them.
Jack kicked at the bars of their cage and swore loudly. Talk about
déjà vu. Except that this was worse than last
time.
There was no cavalry on the way. No one back home knew they'd been
caught. And this time, they'd be getting no help from the locals,
either. The rebels had fled somewhere, and Barney might well be dead
already.
Sam stood in the briefing room and gazed through the window at the
silent stargate. It was past noon already, and still no word from
O'Neill and Daniel. It was strange. They should've contacted the SGC
by now. It'd been around 8 AM when they'd met at the gate in
Dinoland, and the walk to the camp shouldn't have taken them more
than a few hours. Unless they had gotten lost, but that sounded
unlikely.
Her dad walked into the room and stopped right by her side. He
must've guessed what she was thinking, because he said, "Just
give them some time. It won't be easy to explain this to the
dinosaurs, and then the elders will need a moment to think this
over."
Sam shook her head. "But we don't have time. Barney doesn't.
And they know that. I'm starting to wonder if something's happened to
them."
He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure they're all right."
They just stayed there in silence for a while. It felt wonderful
to have her dad around again, though she hated it that his presence
almost always meant something else was going wrong. She was happy
that he had such an important job out there, but she missed him.
"Dad, tell me, honestly. What do you think about this? Not
Selmak, but you, as someone who's been in a situation a lot like
Barney. Should we go on with the blending?"
"I'm really biased when it comes to this, Sam. Becoming a
Tok'ra was the best thing that could've happened to me, and I'll
always be thankful that you offered me the option. For Barney, it
would be different. As a dinosaur, he would never be able to become a
normal Tok'ra operative. He'd just serve as a liaison on his own
world, and maybe sometimes as a spy, in some more unusual
circumstances. So, he might not feel like he's a part of the Tok'ra
community. On the other hand, there's no way we can guess what the
dinos would think about him if he had a symbiote. Not to mention that
it wouldn't be easy to the symbiote, either. Ranys is a pensive type
who enjoys reading and studying. I don't know how he'll adapt to a
host who's basically a predator."
Sam nodded thoughtfully. There would be lots of downsides in this
arrangement, and then there were the risks Selmak had already
mentioned several times. That things could go wrong and both Barney
and Ranys might die. But to her, it seemed that was a risk they'd
have to take.
"So, it's not going to be simple or easy. But since it's is
the only way we might be able to save Barney, they'll just have to
manage," she said to her dad.
Teal'c had spent all morning sitting by the injured dinosaur's
side, most of the time in meditation. Denver had stood on the other
side of the bed all that time, almost as still as Teal'c, except when
he bent closer to Barney, to touch him, as if to let him know he was
there.
Barney had not regained consciousness, at least not for long
enough that Teal'c could have explained anything to him. A few times,
he had opened his eyes, tried to lift his head, and growled
pitifully. Teal'c wished there was something they could do to ease
the dinosaur's pain, but Doctor Fraiser was uncertain of the correct
amount of medication. Apparently, she had already given him more than
she would have thought safe, considering the dinosaur's weight, and
was afraid to give more.
Time seemed to have little meaning in this sterile, silent room.
Captain Carter and her father visited them several times, and Doctor
Fraiser and the nurses kept checking on the dinosaur, but nothing
changed. Until sometime after midday, when Barney opened his eyes
once again, and stared right at Teal'c. It seemed he was conscious,
and recognized Teal'c.
Teal'c leaned closer to the dinosaur. He would need to explain
things to Barney as clearly possible, so that the dinosaur might
understand despite Teal'c's limited competence in the
Dinosaurian-Goa'uld dialect.
"You are dying," Teal'c began bluntly. "We can save
you, but then, your life will be changed completely. You will have to
share your body with another being. You will never again be truly
alone. You will be different. The choice is yours. Will you accept
our help?"
Barney blinked slowly, and then, at least it seemed to Teal'c,
inclined his head in a nod. Then he closed his eyes again, and stayed
still, probably unconscious. Had that been the answer? Teal'c could
not be certain. He had never seen the dinosaurs nod to say yes, but
then again, Barney had spent time with SG-1 and had seen the gesture
often enough. He might well know what it meant.
Teal'c was pondering whether he should ran to fetch the Tok'ra
right away, when he realized that something had changed about the way
Barney was breathing, and it was clearly not a change to the better.
It sounded as if the dinosaur could not breathe at all. Teal'c called
out for a medic.
Doctor Fraiser ran to the room, and was immediately on top of the
situation. "We need to intubate," she began shouting orders
to her staff, and then stepped closer to the dinosaur, eyeing him
with a slightly uncertain expression. "All right, I'm going to
need someone to hold his mouth open for me."
"I can do this," Teal'c volunteered. After all, he was
stronger than anyone else in the room, and was familiar with the
dinosaur. He moved in to pry the dinosaur's jaws apart, revealing the
rows of sharp teeth. Doctor Fraiser guided him to turn and tilt
Barney's head into the required position. Barney did not resist at
all--he was completely out of it. He stayed just as lifeless as
Fraiser struggled to force a tube down his long throat. Teal'c kept
his place all through the procedure, which took Doctor Fraiser quite
a while. Finally, it was all done, the tube taped in place and
connected to a ventilator.
"I'm afraid this is the beginning of the end," Fraiser
commented darkly, as she stepped away from the dinosaur. "If
we're going to go on with the Tok'ra blending, we need to do it soon,
or it might be too late. He might be too weak already, or too sick
for the symbiote to heal."
In his current state, no longer breathing on his own, Barney would
not be able to speak even if he did regain consciousness, which
seemed unlikely to happen again. And they had still heard nothing
from Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson. The answer Teal'c had
received from the dinosaur had left him uncertain of whether Barney
had really understood the offer, and whether he had really said yes.
But Teal'c truly believed that Barney would want this. He believed
Barney would want to live. So, although it made him feel like he was
lying, he spoke up.
"Barney was conscious earlier, and he accepted our offer. We
must act now."
"He said yes? You sure about this, Teal'c?"
"I am certain, Doctor Fraiser."
Fraiser ran to the telephone. General Hammond, Captain Carter and
her father arrived in mere minutes, Jacob Carter carrying the stasis
container where the symbiote was. The Tok'ra went straight to the
dinosaur's side.
"So, George? I'm free to proceed?" Jacob Carter gazed at
General Hammond.
"Go ahead," General Hammond answered without a moment's
hesitation.
The Tok'ra looked down, and when he spoke up again, he did so in
Selmak's dual voice. "I'm not going to waste any time here.
Stand aside. Once I open the container, the symbiote will
instinctively jump into the nearest living being it can find. That
must be Barney."
Although it was the usual practice of the Tok'ra symbiotes to
enter their hosts through the mouth, it was not possible here. So,
Jacob Carter unsealed the container right next to the back of
Barney's neck. The symbiote crawled out--it looked just like one of
the Goa'uld Teal'c despised so much. It was impossible to tell the
Tok'ra and the Goa'uld aside by appearance.
The symbiote found the dinosaur's neck, and burrowed into it.
Though he was heavily sedated, Barney bucked against his restraints,
his back and neck arcing spasmodically. Fraiser kept a close eye on
the displays around the bed, and clearly did not like what she saw.
An alarm went off, and she immediately shouted at the nearest nurse
to "Get the crash cart!"
But it was over almost as quickly as it had begun, the alarm sound
stopped, and Barney was completely still and silent again. "Wait,
wait... He's stabilizing," Doctor Fraiser commented, still
gazing at the monitor readings. "Looks like they made it through
the worst part."
"You could call that the worst, in a way, but he's still not
out of the woods. Far from it. Now, it's all up to Ranys, who's faced
with a task more challenging than what he's ever known before. He
needs to blend with a neural system that's probably very different
from what he's familiar with, and then heal injuries that, if I've
got it right, would've already killed a human."
"So, now we wait," Captain Carter commented.
Only now Teal'c noticed the solitary dark green form standing in
one corner of the room. Denver had retreated there not to be on the
way, probably terrified of what was happening, even though it was all
for the good of his friend. Teal'c walked to the dinosaur, and
addressed him softly, much like he would speak to his son.
"The worst is over. Now we wait," he repeated to Denver
in Dinosaurian-Goa'uld.
Daniel's memories of SG-1's previous captivity in this place, in a
cage exactly like this one, were hazy and vague. That was probably
for the best, because he hadn't been feeling all that great at the
time. He could remember how hard it had been to think, to
concentrate, and to breathe. He'd been too sick to get a very good
picture of the surroundings. As he tossed his pack to the ground, sat
down with his back against the bars and looked around, he almost felt
as if he was here for the first time.
The cage was actually quite spacious for the two of them.
Nevertheless, the bars were close enough to each other that there was
no way anyone could be able to escape through them. They were made of
iron, and they were so thick that they'd easily hold even a T-Rex.
Jack was pacing around the cage nervously. "We've got to come
up with something," he muttered. "There's always a way
out."
Daniel wasn't entirely sure about that. All in all, the situation
seemed dire. Maybe their best way would not be through action, but
through talk and reasoning. "If I could just convince them to
let us go. Maybe I could even reconcile between the rebels and the
Goa'uldosaurs."
Even as he considered that, Daniel knew it was a long shot. The
Goa'uld didn't negotiate. They just took whatever they wanted, using
any means necessary. So, when a group of guards arrived to take Jack
and Daniel to meet the ruler, Daniel felt chilled at the thought of
what might be coming.
They were lead through the rings to the throne room again, and
this time, it wasn't empty. A Goa'uldosaur sat on the throne, but not
the old one that'd ruled the last time SG-1 had been here. The old,
senile ruler had been overthrown and killed, and his son had taken
his place. This new ruler, Rrragrathssh, was a younger, stronger and
more aggressive dinosaur. He had dealt with SG-1 the last time, and
he'd never been too gentle. He'd been the one who had forced Jack and
Daniel down the stairs into the catacombs below the temple and closed
the door after them. He'd also hit Daniel with his antique version of
a hand device. Rrragrathssh was still wearing that hand device, in
addition to the golden circlet of the ruler.
Jack and Daniel were taken to the foot of the throne, and then the
guards retreated to give room to their ruler. The old ruler had just
sat there and talked to them, but Rrragrathssh leaped down and stood
right in front of them. He was shorter than they, but that made him
no less threatening--he was armed with teeth, claws and the hand
device, when Daniel and Jack had no weapons at all, except for the
knives the dinosaurs hadn't bothered to take from them.
"I cannot believe you were stupid enough to get caught,"
the ruler hissed at them. "We spent many turns of the moon
looking for you, and then you suddenly show up in the middle of the
traitors' camp! Now that we have you, I will find out where you came
from and how you disappeared like you did, as if you had vanished off
the surface of the planet. Indeed, I believe that is what you must
have done, although I cannot understand why you returned. I will find
out," the dinosaur repeated menacingly, walking a circle around
the two of them.
Jack was gazing at Daniel, raising his eyebrows, trying to express
that he wanted to hear what the ruler was saying. "Just the
usual threats and accusations," Daniel whispered.
Rrragrathssh stopped right in front of Jack, reaching out a clawed
hand to grab his chin. "You. You do not understand me, do you?"
it growled in Goa'uld-Dinosaurian. Of course Jack didn't, and Daniel
desperately hoped that the dinosaur would leave Jack alone because of
that.
"Yeah, roar all you wish, you won't get anything from me,"
Jack spat the words at the dinosaur, in English. Daniel figured the
message was clear enough.
The ruler let go of Jack's face, leaving a set of thin red lines
where his claws had scraped the skin. "I have no use for you,"
he simply declared, and then gestured to his guards, pointing at
Jack. He barked his orders to them in the true Dinosaurian language
instead of Goa'uld-Dinosaurian, so Daniel had no idea what he was
saying. But the thought that he had no use for Jack made Daniel fear
the worst. God, what if they were just going to kill Jack because he
was of no use to them?
"No, no, no, wait, don't! You don't need to!" Daniel
cried out--in English, without thinking--and tried to stop the guards
who'd moved in to grab Jack, but another pair of guards grabbed his
arms and pulled him away.
Surrounded by guards, looking startled, Jack shouted, "Daniel,
what the hell's going on?"
Daniel couldn't tell him, since he really didn't know. He just
shook his head, knowing that the worry and terror on his face would
be enough to warn Jack. The dinosaur guards took Jack and escorted
him away, taking him somewhere through the transport rings. Maybe to
slay him as brutally as only such clawed predators could. To tear him
apart... The thoughts of what the dinosaurs might do to Jack made
Daniel feel sick, and almost made him forget where he was, and what
he was faced with himself.
"You will tell me who you are, what you are, and why you have
come here," Rrragrathssh commanded, taking hold of Daniel's
jacket with his clawed fingers.
Daniel saw no reason why he couldn't answer some of that. "My
name's Daniel Jackson. We are humans, Tau'ri, though I guess that
doesn't mean anything to you. We are the race all Goa'ulds now use as
hosts."
"Lies. Why would they choose such inferior creatures, so soft
and defenseless compared to us and to the first hosts?" the
ruler roared. In one fluid movement, he opened his fist and slashed
down, tearing Daniel's jacket and shirt, and leaving a stinging set
of claw marks on his chest. Gasping out, he pressed a hand on them.
He didn't think the cuts were deep, just superficial, not really
dangerous, but they felt nasty--and the thought that this was only
the beginning made it even worse.
"Do not lie to me, human," Rrragrathssh tried the word
that was strange and new to him, immediately making it sound like an
insult. "So, you are not of this world. How did you come here?"
That was the one question Daniel must not answer. Never. The only
dinosaurs who knew of the stargate were Ghhrrwuaghr and Grruarch, and
in all the galaxy, apparently no one else but the SGC and the Tok'ra
knew that there was a working gate on P4X-215. The planet would stay
safe and sheltered as long as the knowledge of the gate wouldn't
spread. If the Goa'uldosaurs learned of it, they'd use it to contact
other Goa'ulds, and who could know what that would lead to. No,
Daniel would die before he'd let the Goa'uldosaurs know of the gate's
existence.
"I'm not going to tell you," he answered, softly but
determinedly.
The dinosaur stretched out the hand on which he wore the hand
device, and flexed his clawed fingers. "You know what this is,
do you not? You have already felt its effects."
Daniel bit his lip and stayed silent. He really had, from the hand
of this very same dinosaur. He'd rather not feel it again, but he had
little choice.
"Answer my question. How did you come here? In a space ship?"
Maybe he should say yes to that. Lie to the ruler, make him
believe that they had a ship somewhere out there, hidden in the
jungle. But he wasn't sure he could pull it off. He wasn't sure it'd
do any good. He didn't answer.
The dinosaur pointed the hand device at Daniel, and hit him with
it, the energy lashing out at him just like the familiar blue flash
of a zat gun. Last time, the hand device hit had been bad enough to
make him stop breathing, but then, he had been really sick. Now, he
fell to the floor, engulfed in the pain that was all too familiar,
unlike anything else he knew, coursing through his body, burning in
every single cell. He knew it only lasted minutes, but it felt like
hours.
He hadn't had time to recover, he was still lying helplessly on
his back on the floor, when the dinosaur jumped on him, a heavy
weight landing right on his chest, the clawed feet drawing more cuts
in the already injured skin. He groaned out in pain, but the ruler
was relentless. The dinosaur pushed his reptilian face close to
Daniel's. Daniel couldn't quite make his eyes focus on it.
"This is the important question, is it not? There is
something you wish to hide. Tell me, and I may spare you."
No, no, this was going all wrong, Daniel thought. He should've
said they'd come in a ship. Should've said something. He had made
things worse. Now, the ruler was even more suspicious, and would not
take a simple answer.
Rrragrathssh brought the hand device right in front of Daniel's
face. Daniel knew all too well what two zat blasts would do. He did
not want to die, but he couldn't let them know about the stargate.
He was too shocked, too hurt, to come up with anything to say that
would help, that would be convincing enough. He didn't say anything.
He closed his eyes.
He saw the blue flash through his closed eyelids, and then the
agony hit him, and he knew nothing more.
Jack heard the desperation in Daniel's voice as he protested to
the dinos who'd stepped forth to take Jack away.
"Daniel, what the hell's going on?" he asked, but Daniel
only shook his head. The fear was clear on his face. Jack got the
feeling that whatever the dinos were up to, it wasn't good. It might
be very bad. He tried to struggle against them, but the clawed hands
tightened their hold of his shoulders, digging through his jacket.
The guards activated the transport rings, and took Jack away from the
room. Away from Daniel.
Daniel had clearly been afraid that the dinos were going to do
something awful to Jack--kill him--eat him--whatever, but when Jack
found that they'd taken him back to the roof, he realized that Daniel
had probably got it wrong. The dinos dragged him back to the cage,
and just locked the door after him and went away.
Jack grabbed the bars with both hands. "Hey! Come on! What's
going on? You gonna bring Daniel back too?" he shouted after the
dinos, but of course they didn't understand, and didn't even care
enough to look back.
He sat down on the wet stone floor. At least it wasn't raining
anymore. It was getting dark. He checked his watch--2100 hours. By
now, Barney would either be Tok'rasaur, or dead.
Daniel might be dead too. Jack couldn't be sure, though he didn't
really believe that. The ruler had wanted to interrogate them, and
Jack wasn't much good when it came to that, since he couldn't speak
the dinos' language. So they'd interrogate Daniel. Jack couldn't
begin to guess what they'd do to him. One thing Jack knew for sure,
and that was that Daniel wasn't going to break. Jack trusted him.
Daniel knew the dinos mustn't learn about the gate, so he wouldn't
tell them. Maybe they'd torture him and then kill him when he
wouldn't speak. Jack tried all he could to force that thought out of
his head. No, they wouldn't kill him yet. They'd not be that rash.
Jack couldn't think of anything useful to do. He went through
every single iron bar around him, searching for any signs of weakness
that might make it possible to break them somehow, but he found none.
He sat down again, closed his eyes, leaned back against one of the
all too strong bars and waited.
The distant sound of claws against stone made him jump up
instantly. He gazed through the bars. The faint light of a quarter
moon revealed the approaching dinosaurs. There were only two of them,
and they were carrying something. As they got nearer, he saw that it
was Daniel. He looked lifeless. Unconscious, Jack told himself.
Daniel was just unconscious. They wouldn't bring him here if he was
dead.
The dinosaurs opened the door, dropped Daniel carelessly on the
floor, and left again.
Jack found his flashlight and pointed the beam at Daniel. Less
than a day ago, he'd done the same, and found Daniel covered in
Barney's blood. Now, the blood Jack saw on Daniel's chest was clearly
his own. Daniel's jacket and shirt were torn, revealing several
bleeding cuts, which looked nasty, but hopefully not
life-threatening. Jack placed his fingers on Daniel's neck, and
easily found a pulse--it was strong, but horribly fast. Daniel's skin
felt warm to the touch. It didn't look like shock to Jack, but
something was obviously wrong. What had the damn dinos done to him?
"Daniel, wake up," Jack shouted, and shook his friend
gently, but he got no answer. After several unsuccessful attempts at
waking Daniel up, his dread growing with each one, Jack gave up and
began cleaning the cuts instead.
Once Jack had finished bandaging the wounds, he checked Daniel's
pulse again, and felt his anxiety lift slightly when he found it
clearly slower.
Unable to think of anything more he could do, Jack sat down by
Daniel's side and waited.
Sam rested her elbow on the control room table, and put her hand
over her mouth to hide a yawn. It was close to midnight, and she'd
sat here for several hours, just staring at the gate. She'd witnessed
the return of two SG teams and a radio conversation with a third, but
no word, nothing at all, from Daniel and O'Neill. They'd even tried
dialing P4X-215 and radioing them, but they hadn't answered.
Something had gone wrong, she was sure of it. General Hammond shared
her concern, but he'd suggested that they'd wait until Barney had
recovered enough that they could all go back to Dinoland together.
Teal'c was still sitting by Barney's side, together with Denver.
It seemed to Sam that he was there more for Denver's sake than for
Barney's. Barney had been unconscious ever since the early afternoon,
when the blending had taken place. Doctor Fraiser said he was
improving fast, thanks to the symbiote, Ranys. Before Sam's dad had
had to leave again to take part in some Tok'ra meeting on some
distant planet, he had estimated that the blending would be complete
and Barney fully healed in the morning. Then, Ranys could take care
of explaining things to Barney. Denver, on the other hand, was still
nervous and afraid, and he refused to leave Barney's side. The last
time Sam had visited the infirmary, she'd actually found Teal'c
trying to offer food to the younger dinosaur, who had refused.
As the digital display of her watch changed to show all zeros for
midnight, Sam finally forced herself to get up and leave. She had to
admit that it was unlikely her two missing team mates were going to
contact them anymore. Sitting here was no good. No matter what, they
wouldn't leave to search for O'Neill and Daniel before the morning.
She turned her back to the silent gate and walked away. Maybe she
could catch a few hours of sleep--though she was almost sure she
wouldn't. Not when half her team was somewhere out there.
Ghhrrwuaghr, the former head librarian of the Great Temple of the
Rulers, currently a councilor of the rebel elders and their
reluctant, unofficial leader, woke up feeling that something had
changed. He could not point it with his forefinger's claw, as the
saying went, but something was different.
He remembered the betrayal and the attack. He and his party had
been at the meeting place, waiting for Rwghaurg. She had indeed come,
but with her had followed a dozen of Rrragrathssh's guards. The
rebels had been taken by surprise, and they had been badly
outnumbered. They had fought, but it had been hopeless. The ruler's
guards had had weapons, and they had used them against their own
kind, even though ageless tradition forbade it.
Ghhrrwuaghr had seen his friends fall, one by one. He had went
down as well, and the ruler's guards had taken him for dead. But he
had had enough strength left to crawl all the way back to the camp.
It had been a nightmare. The pain had been unimaginable. He had been
injured before, several times, on hunts, but he had been young at
that time. Since then, he had grown too fond of the old archives, of
reading, writing and learning, to care about the thrill of running in
the jungle. And these injuries, caused by the claws of those of his
own kind, were far worse than the heavy hit of a shell-bearer's tail
or the piercing stab of a three-horn.
Ghhrrwuaghr had been sure he would die, but he had made it back to
the other rebels, and the humans. The one called Daniel, whose name
Ghhrrwuaghr could not say, had been there, trying to help. Just like
Ghhrrwuaghr had been trying to help him when he had been hurt.
He did not have many memories from the time between that moment
when he had been lying on the ground in the camp, and the present. He
remembered the pain. He remembered that it had felt even worse every
time he had woken up. From the fragments, he could make up a whole:
the humans had carried him through the jungle, and taken him to their
world. They had tended to his wounds, but he had still felt weaker
and worse. He had been asleep, deep in nightmares. Then, the tall,
dark-skinned human called Teal'c had spoken to him. He had asked if
Ghhrrwuaghr would accept their help if it would change his life. The
human's speech had been hard to understand, but that had not
mattered. Ghhrrwuaghr had agreed. He would take any help that would
allow him to live.
Now, Ghhrrwuaghr was alive. He was no longer in pain. And
something was different. It must be the change Teal'c had spoken of.
As Ghhrrwuaghr thought back on things that had happened, memories
came up that were not his. That were from a span of years far longer
than his life, far stranger than anything he had ever done. The
memories of someone who was not he, and yet they were his.
"Worry not. I am Ranys, and we are now one," a voice
spoke inside his head, a voice within him that was not his and yet it
was a part of him.
"How can this be?" he thought.
"Seek the memories and you will understand. You are now one
of the Tok'ra. The resistance who wish to overthrow the Goa'uld. I am
a symbiote, of the same race as the Goa'uld, but completely different
from them in all that truly matters."
Ghhrrwuaghr sought his memories, and slowly, he began to
understand how his life had changed. It was different in a good way.
Now, he knew languages that he had never even heard of, and hundreds
of planets, and many things about the stargates, about weapons and
space ships. More than Rrragrathssh would ever know. This knowledge
would help him fight Rrragrathssh and win. Ranys was pleased as well,
of the knowledge of Ghhrrwuaghr's people, their language, their
tales. He enjoyed learning and studying, just like Ghhrrwuaghr. They
were very much alike.
Ghhrrwuaghr, who was now also Ranys, opened his eyes and looked
around. He knew he had been in this room before, but he could barely
remember it. The walls were white, and there were many strange things
around him, although Ranys could explain many of them, and then they
were no longer strange.
Grruarch was there as well, not far from him, and as soon as she
saw that his eyes were open, she ran to him.
"Ghhrrwuaghr?" Grruarch asked. "Can you hear me?
Can you speak?"
"I can. I am well again, Grruarch," he answered, his
voice coming through weak and soft. "Although perhaps I should
say that we are well, for I am now different. There is another being
who is now a part of me. But you need not fear. It is good."
Others stepped into his field of vision, taking their places by
Grruarch's sides. There was Teal'c, who had been with him when he had
been sick, and Carter, the female with hair light as the morning sun.
But Jack was not there, and neither was Daniel. Ghhrrwuaghr didn't
know why they were not here. He would have expected to see
Daniel--though he barely knew the human, he had come to consider him
a friend.
"Doctor? He's awake--Barney's awake," Carter called. It
took Ghhrrwuaghr a good while to realize that he had understood.
Carter had spoken in the humans' language, and Ghhrrwuaghr had
understood every word.
The Doctor, a short female who often appeared in Ghhrrwuaghr's
hazy memories of this place, emerged before him, and the others gave
way so she could get near enough to examine him.
"Yes, I am awake," Ghhrrwuaghr told her, in the human
language. He knew he still could not pronounce it well, because it
was simply, physically too strange. Nevertheless, the Doctor must
have understood him, because she stopped and stared at him with wide
eyes.
It was the strangest thing to hear Barney suddenly speak up in
English. The dinosaur seemed to have as much trouble pronouncing the
words as Teal'c had when speaking the Goa'uld-Dinosaurian dialect,
but it was unmistakable. Of course, Ranys, the symbiote, would know
many languages, and now, Barney shared that knowledge. They would no
longer need Daniel Jackson to translate each time they wished to
negotiate with the dinosaurs. Barney could do it as well.
"Barney--I am sorry, I cannot pronounce your real name well,
and this is the name we use for you," Teal'c told the dinosaur,
who was still lying in his infirmary bed, though Doctor Fraiser had
already removed the restraints. "Daniel Jackson and Colonel
O'Neill went through the gate to your home world, to speak with the
elders. A day has passed since. They have not contacted us again, and
we have been equally unable to reach them. We fear that they are in
danger, and we wish to return to search for them. Can you come with
us?"
"The blending was successful, but Ghhrrwuaghr is still weak,"
Ranys answered this time, his speech doubly distorted, as the
symbiote spoke with the dinosaur's mouth. "Nevertheless, we can
accompany you to the planet. We are worried for your friends. They
are our friends as well."
The dinosaur climbed off his bed, and took some time to step
around, searching his balance. Denver eyed him curiously, like he
couldn't decide what to make of this Barney who wasn't exactly Barney
anymore.
"So, how soon can we leave?" Barney growled in his
Dinosaurian English.
The guards were back again, for the third time in a few hours'
time. They walked to the cage, stood there, stared, growled a few
words at each other, and left. Jack got the disturbing feeling that
they were checking to see whether Daniel was conscious. That they
were waiting for him to wake up so they could take him away again.
Jack sat and waited. Hours passed, the dinosaurs came again and
went away and returned and left. Daniel stayed unconscious, and Jack
didn't see any change in his condition, which was both good and bad.
Good, because he didn't seem to be in any pain, and his vitals were
perfectly steady. Bad, because it just wasn't normal for anyone to be
out and completely unresponsive for this long.
As he listened to the soft, regular sound of Daniel's breathing,
Jack couldn't help thinking about their last time here. About the way
Daniel's breathing had sounded then--all wrong, loud, raspy and
strained. Maybe this time wouldn't be that bad after all, he tried to
convince himself. Come morning, a full day would've passed since
they'd left the SGC. By now, the folks back home would already have
guessed that something had happened, and they'd come to look for
them. Though Jack didn't know how they'd ever be able to figure out
what had happened, if all they'd find would be an empty dino camp.
The moon had just begun its descent, showing that morning really
was approaching, when Jack thought he picked up a slight catch in
Daniel's breathing. His worry doubling instantly, he crouched closer
to check him again, and found that Daniel had finally opened his
eyes. They were wide, the look on his face bewildered.
"Daniel, thank God," Jack uttered, pushing a few stray
locks from his friend's forehead, and then placing a hand on his
shoulder. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"Jack? I... I should be dead!"
Just speaking a few words made Daniel feel like his head was about
to implode. Every muscle in his body was aching, even the ones he had
never realized he had. It was the sort of feeling that he'd come to
associate with a recent zat hit. His chest was wrapped in bandages,
and his torn jacket was spread over it. The stinging pain of the cuts
could barely rival his headache. The only place that actually wasn't
hurting was where Jack's warm hand rested on his shoulder.
The surroundings were dark, lit only by faint silvery moonlight.
Jack's face was hovering above his, looking hazy, which wasn't that
strange, since Daniel had lost his glasses somewhere. Jack was
frowning.
"Huh? Of course you shouldn't be dead! Why do you say that?"
Jack said incredulously.
"Two zat hits," Daniel answered, his voice actually
sounding better than he felt. "And I thought you'd be dead too."
He'd thought he was dead for sure. The last moments had been
horrifying. He'd thought they were both going to die, that the guards
were going to kill Jack, but there Jack was. Daniel could just
discern the bars of the cage behind him. They were both alive, and
still imprisoned.
"They brought me back here and left me to rot," Jack
explained. "And dragged you back a bit later. You've been out
for several hours. So--two zat hits? Really?"
Daniel frowned, and realized where he'd gone wrong. "Hand
device, actually," he clarified it to Jack. Rrragrathssh had hit
him twice with the hand device, and even though it both felt and
looked like a zat blast, it seemed it wasn't exactly the same. Two
hits wouldn't kill.
"All right. So, it's not a zat," Jack came to the same
conclusion as Daniel. "But it's no healing device either."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Daniel grimaced.
"How bad is it?"
"Pretty much feels like how it'd feel to be zatted twice and
live."
"Good thing they let us keep our stuff," Jack commented,
and offered Daniel a couple of painkillers--the strongest sort they
had--and water. Lifting his head from the stone floor enough to get a
drink was a feat he might not have managed on his own. His limbs felt
like lead, except that lead wouldn't be this achy.
Apparently, running out of supplies wouldn't pose a problem
anytime soon, but if Rrragrathssh would continue his interrogation,
simple survival might. Daniel didn't know how many of those hand
device zat hits it'd take to kill him, and he'd rather not find out.
Daniel didn't really say much about how he felt, but Jack could
tell by the look on his face that he was really sore. He stayed still
on the ground, and didn't even try to get up. Jack didn't want to
hurry him to do it, either, since he was afraid that all too soon,
the dinos would return and take him. Unless they could cheat them.
So, when Jack heard the sound of the approaching dinos again, he told
Daniel to close his eyes and lie very still.
The dinos came, stared at them, talked, and left.
"Yess," Jack whispered under his breath. "Any idea
what they said?"
"None whatsoever. They spoke in Dinosaurian. I only do
Goa'uld."
"Okay. Well, if this is going to be this easy all the time, I
won't complain."
Sitting around without anything to do felt a bit easier with
Daniel around. At least they could talk. To Jack's relief, Daniel
seemed to be thinking as fast and clear as always, and he seemed to
be getting better, too. After the dinos had paid their second visit
and Daniel had played dead for them again, Daniel actually sat up,
and then stood, with a bit of help from Jack.
"Okay. I'm okay," Daniel assured Jack, sounding pretty
convincing. "If something unexpected happens and we get the
chance to run, then I can run."
Of course, something unexpected happened, but they didn't get the
chance to run. The dinos returned all too soon, taking them by
surprise, and they found Daniel on his feet. They opened the cage and
grabbed Daniel by the arms.
"Oh for crying out loud, cut him some slack, can't you even
wait till the morning?" Jack shouted at them uselessly. All he
got was an angry roar and a pair of jaws snapping menacingly in front
of his face.
"Daniel, just..." Jack started, but he didn't really
know what he was trying to say. Don't give up? Daniel wouldn't, Jack
knew that. Take care? That would be a really stupid thing to say.
"I know, Jack," Daniel answered--it didn't make much
sense in reply to Jack's unfinished sentence. Jack got the feeling
that Daniel had some trouble trying to figure out what to say too.
The dinos were dragging Jack's best friend away so the ruler could
torture him again, and neither of them could do anything to stop
that. It was a nightmarish situation. There really wasn't anything to
say that would make it any better.
"Daniel, I'll be seeing you. Got that? See you soon,"
Jack finally called out when the dinos had already closed the cage
door in front of his face.
Daniel shivered. Mostly because the night air felt cool against
his bare skin, though he wouldn't deny he was afraid. The dinos had
showed up so suddenly that he hadn't even gotten his jacket on. All
he had were the bandages wrapped around his upper body. As the
lingering aches and soreness of the hand device hit had slowly faded,
the sting of the cuts had grown worse in turn. Daniel had to use all
his willpower to keep himself from touching them, since it really
wouldn't do any good.
The dinos took him to the throne room again. The ruler was waiting
for him, standing at the foot of the throne, talking with a few other
dinosaurs. One of them was holding Daniel's glasses, so it seemed
that this time, Daniel actually hadn't lost them himself. The dinos
had taken them when he'd been unconscious. Of course, they'd never
seen glasses before. Last time, Daniel had lost them when the
Tyrannosaur had attacked, before he'd even entered this temple.
"Finally!" Rrragrathssh greeted Daniel, sounding as
exasperated as only a Goa'uld could. "I thought you were never
going to wake up! Truly, I am amazed that creatures as weak as you
can stay alive at all."
The ruler walked closer to Daniel. He crossed his arms
protectively across his chest. As if that would help.
"Wargrawh, my counselor here, says that it was the wounds and
the loss of blood, but Arrwgrawh, his brother, blames the hand device
hit. They would like to make this an experiment, and dissect you once
it is over. I, however, don't care. Once I have the information I
need, you will die, and they can do whatever they wish to your body."
"And.... About my friend," Daniel tried cautiously,
knowing that just asking might put Jack at risk. So far, the ruler
had seemed to have completely forgotten about Jack.
"He will take part in the next Remembrance of Choosing, and
we shall make sure that he will not win. We will prove once and for
all that the last time, you humans cheated, and that we are still the
true chosen hosts. He will pay for your attempts to undermine our
divine rule. But why do you care? You will be dead long before him!"
the dinosaur's voice suddenly grew menacing, and he aimed the hand
device ominously at Daniel's face.
"Wargrawh expressed an interest in how long you will endure
the pain. Perhaps we should try, just to let him know. Unless you are
willing to tell me how you came to this planet, and how you vanished
so fast again."
Daniel shook his head slightly. "If you kill me, you'll never
find out," he said softly.
"I will find out," Rrragrathssh roared, and activated
the hand device.
The blue flash hit Daniel, and he fell to his knees, but--unlike
before--unlike a zat blast--the pain was even more intense, and it
didn't let go of him. Didn't even let him fall. He felt his muscles
cramp, like from some strong electric current, he was frozen on his
spot, on his knees, his back bent and head tilted backwards, and the
pain... Was he screaming? His mouth was open, but he couldn't hear...
God, the agony...
Suddenly, finally, it let go of him, and he crashed to the floor,
face first. Even the lingering echo of the pain was so bad that
landing on the recent cuts on his chest felt like nothing at all.
Rrragrathssh was speaking, somewhere far away--he barely heard it
past the thunderous sound of his heartbeat ringing in his ears--he
could feel it pounding against the floor.
As the pain receded, all too slowly, he could think again,
concentrate enough to realize what had happened. Rrragrathssh had
held him in the hand device's grip just like Ra or Apophis had done
with theirs, only the pain was completely different. Worse, if such a
thing was possible. The Goa'uldosaur's hand device was definitely not
a zat.
A heavy weight landed on Daniel's back, followed by the
unmistakable sting of a dinosaur's claws. Rrragrathssh had stepped on
him, pressing him against the floor.
"You are still there, aren't you?" the dinosaur hissed,
and grabbed Daniel's hair to yank his head up from the floor.
"Speak!"
Daniel didn't know what'd happen if he'd let the dinosaur use the
hand device for a second time. All he wanted was to prevent that from
ever happening again. The stargate... He couldn't let them know about
the stargate... but did the Goa'uldosaurs even know what stargates
were, anyway? Daniel had to say something. He had to come up with a
story. A good one. Think fast, even through the pain...
"We... We came in a ship," he gasped out. "A ship
that's cloaked."
"As simple as that? And you would take all this torment just
to keep that knowledge to yourself?"
"Yes, yes, I would," Daniel stuttered, suddenly coming
up with something that'd let him know what Rrragrathssh knew. "And
I did, because... Because there's a stargate on board the ship."
"Stargate? A stargate inside a ship?" the dinosaur let
go of Daniel's hair. Grateful, he rested his cheek against the cold
floor. But his story hadn't been good enough. "No, such a thing
is not possible," Rrragrathssh declared.
The Goa'uldosaur knew what a stargate was, then--of course he did,
since he had the Goa'uld genetic memory. But his memories were from
the distant past, since the contact between this world and the other
Goa'ulds had been completely cut. It seemed that in that distant
past, no Goa'uld had figured out that a gate could be positioned in a
ship. Which was bad, really bad, for Daniel.
"You take me for a fool, human, and I will not suffer it,"
Rrragrathssh growled, and for the fourth time in all too short a
time, the zat-like pain of the hand device hit Daniel. Mercifully, he
blacked out right away, so he never found out how long it went on.
The strangest team Sam had ever commanded arrived on P4X-215 just
in time to prove yet another sunrise of the very Sun-like star that
the planet orbited. They saw no sign of O'Neill and Daniel, and no
clue as to where those two might've gone, so they decided to go where
their friends had been supposed to go. The Tok'ra-dinosaur, the
dinosaur, the Jaffa and the human marched into the jungle again.
Barney lead the way, with Denver jogging along close by.
They reached the rebel camp in an hour, and found that it was
completely empty, abandoned. It didn't look like anyone had been
there in a while. All the fireplaces were filled with mud mixed with
ash, courtesy of last evening's rain. There were things, like food
and cups, lying here and there on the ground. To their dismay, they
also noticed that SG-1's tents had been partially torn apart, and a
few tables had been turned around, the things on them scattered to
the ground. It looked as if something, or someone had been wreaking
havoc, turning the place upside down, for some reason.
"Okay, what's happened here?" Sam thought aloud.
Teal'c had already put his nose near the mud to look for
footprints, but it was no good. The rain had washed away whatever
tracks there might've been, so they couldn't be sure Daniel and
O'Neill had been here at all. Of course, the lack of recent
footprints said that no one else had been here either, not since the
previous evening's rain.
By the look of it, they had more than just two people missing.
Aside from the fact that a campful of rebel dinos had left their
dwelling and disappeared without a trace, Leo Ramsey was nowhere to
be seen either.
"Barney, any ideas?" she called out to the
Tok'ra-dinosaur, who was examining the entrance to the camp between
the two boulders, together with his younger dinosaur friend.
Barney had already learned to respond to the name the humans had
picked for him. He turned around to face Sam, and gestured with his
hand that she should get closer.
"It is quite obvious, and this here confirms it," Barney
began, pointing at a particular spot on one of the large rocks. To
Sam, it only looked like a random darker patch, but apparently, it
meant something to Barney. As Sam gazed at it, she realized it wasn't
natural after all, but painted, with some kind of a dark paint, or
maybe drawn with charcoal.
"The others found out that the ruler's guards were
approaching, and fled," the Tok'ra-dinosaur continued.
That, of course, explained why the camp looked like it had been
abandoned in haste, and turned upside-down. The ruler's guards must
have found it. SG-1 and Denver had run into a party of guards just
the other day, during their dino safari. Maybe the guards had somehow
found their tracks. This could be all their fault. But Barney didn't
seem to think about that at all, didn't seem to blame anyone. And the
good thing was, at least the rebels had been able to flee. They
wouldn't have put that mark there if they'd been caught. And O'Neill,
Daniel and Leo had probably followed the rebel dinosaurs.
"We have known this might come to pass, so we planned our
escape routes well. There are several hideouts in the rainforest."
Barney tapped the dark patch with a claw, "This here is a sign,
a code symbol, that lets us know which one they have retreated to.
I'll take you there."
"This is good news, Ghhrrwuaghr," Teal'c said, making an
effort to use the dinosaur's true name. "Yet, it does not
explain why Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson have failed to answer
our calls."
"It does not, and there is much else it does not tell. It
merely says that my people attempted to escape to a particular site.
They may or may not have made it there. The only way to find out is
to go there. Come, I shall lead the way."
The dinosaurs ran ahead, out of the camp, through the passage
between the boulders, into the jungle--two small dark shadows
fleeting between the trees and bushes. The humans followed, far
clumsier, less at home in the thick green forest, but doing all they
could to keep up with their agile guides.
Teal'c was not used to feeling slow and clumsy. He had run cross
country on many planets and in very different terrains. The
dinosaurs, however, were much smaller and lighter than he, and knew
the ways of this jungle, knew which plants were pliable and gave way
easily, which trees had large roots, and so on. Teal'c tried to
imitate their movements, but it was not easy. Yet they were all
making their way through the rainforest faster than ever before. That
was why Teal'c could not exactly estimate the distance between the
abandoned rebel camp and the hideout, which they found after an hour
and a half of running.
This hideout was nothing like the original camp. It was far
smaller, but more sheltered. They met several rebel dinosaurs at the
shore of a wide jungle river. These were the guards patrolling the
perimeter, as the hideout was on a long, narrow island. They had to
cross the river to reach it. Though the current of the surprisingly
warm brownish water did not feel strong to Teal'c, the dinosaurs
seemed to have a hard time with it, lighter as they were. Any
attacking dinosaurs would be greatly slowed down by it, and the camp
was also completely invisible to any onlookers on the shore.
There were hardly any artificial constructions in the hideout.
Merely one large circle of stones with a continuously burning fire,
and two canopies to provide shelter from rain to items that would not
take it. As the rebel dinosaurs shared a smaller space than in the
previous camp, it looked as if there were more of them. The one
solitary human stood out among them, both because he was taller, and
because his gray hair and pale skin almost seemed to gleam among all
the green scales and plants.
As the dinosaurs gathered around Barney, eager to learn what had
happened to him, Doctor Ramsey ran to Teal'c and Captain Carter. He
seemed quite disheveled, his hair greasy and sticking into odd
directions, his clothes covered with mud--but there was still a
boyish look of excitement on his face.
"Finally!" Doctor Ramsey greeted them. "I was
starting to think you'd forgotten about me, or just decided to get
rid of me once and for all!"
"We did no such thing, Doctor Ramsey," Teal'c answered
him. "We only needed time to deal with Barney's injuries. The
manner in which we did this was unusual, but now he is fine. But are
Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson not here with you?"
Ramsey frowned, expressing his surprise at the question. "O'Neill
and Jackson? No, I'm all alone here. It'd barely been a quarter of an
hour since you two left to the gate, when all the dinos suddenly went
nuts, and started running out of the camp. A few of them dragged me
with them, and we came here. I've been here ever since. I've got to
say, I've gotten along with the dinos pretty well, and this location
by the river is just perfect. You know, the things I've seen--I've
counted fifty different species, can you believe it, fifty!"
"This must wait, Doctor Ramsey," Teal'c told him
sternly, his words almost overlapped by those of Captain Carter.
The anxiety was clear on her face, as she exclaimed, "No sign
of the colonel and Daniel? None at all?"
"I thought they were with you! I haven't seen them ever since
they left to take Barney back to Earth, what was it, not last night
but the one before that."
Just as Teal'c and Captain Carter turned to exchange worried
glances, Barney hurried towards them, pushing his way past the other
dinosaurs. "We must make haste! I fear our friends are in grave
danger," he growled in his strange English.
"What? You know what's happened to them?" Captain Carter
asked impatiently.
"As they retreated, my rebel friends left a few scouts
behind, to keep an eye on the camp. They were skilled enough not to
get caught, and they witnessed a party of Rrragrathssh's guards enter
our abandoned camp. They left it with two prisoners. Two humans."
"Rrrag..." Captain Carter tried to make out the name.
"You don't mean, the ruler? The Goa'uldosaur?"
"Indeed," Teal'c clarified it for her.
"Oh, no," she uttered.
"The ruler has wished nothing as much as to get some of your
kind in his claws again. We must get Daniel and Jack out of there
soon! If Rrragrathssh has not killed them right away, then they are
likely to suffer greatly."
Carter nodded, looking determined now. She knew that worrying
would not get their friends out. "If they're in the temple, then
we'll need a very good plan to get them out--but we don't have a lot
of time for making plans, just getting to the temple will take up to
eight hours."
"There is a plan, or the beginning of one," Ranys, the
Tok'ra symbiote spoke up. "But it will require assistance from
Earth, including a significant amount of manpower."
"Then we'll get that. The general will grant it. He's got to.
Let's get back to the gate right away, we can work on the details as
we run," Captain Carter decided the course of action.
"This time, I'm coming with you," Doctor Ramsey added.
The first rays of the rising sun fell on Daniel's face, revealing
to Jack how sick his unconscious friend looked. Daniel's skin was
pale enough to match the light gray of the stone floor. The dinos had
come to drop him back in the cage an hour ago, and he was completely
unresponsive again. Jack had known to expect that. But unlike first
time, now there was no way anyone could've mistaken Daniel for
someone who was just asleep. The frown on his brow still showed a
trace of how bad the dino hand device hit must've felt like. His
breathing didn't sound normal, but shallow and restless.
For the umpteenth time, Jack placed two fingers on Daniel's
carotid artery and took time with his watch, counting the rapid beat.
Around 120--slower than the last time he'd taken it, but still way
too fast for someone who'd been unconscious for over an hour. Jack
couldn't help worrying, young and healthy though Daniel was. Such
continuous stress just couldn't be good for anyone.
Jack had done pretty much all he could think of, which wasn't a
lot. He'd found some new claw marks, on Daniel's back and on the back
of his head, but they all looked superficial. The actual torture was
the hand device, not the claws. The ruler was probably used to
handling dinosaurs, not humans. From Barney's injuries, Jack had
learned that a dino could take a tremendous amount of painful cuts
and still be able to crawl a long distance in the jungle, and survive
far longer than a human would. The pure, simple pain of the zat-like
hand device might be more effective on dinos. On humans, too, in a
way, but at least Daniel wasn't going to bleed to death.
As Jack waited, and waited, and watched the dino guards come and
go, the sleepless night of terrible waiting started getting to him.
The sun climbed slowly higher, the first, gentle rays turning into a
promise of the scorching heat that was to come. They'd have no
shelter from the direct noon sunlight. For now, the warmth was still
pleasant, and Jack found himself starting to nod.
Daniel was looking slightly better. His face was still pale and
haunted, but at least his vitals had finally returned to near normal.
He might wake up soon, or not. At least he'd probably not take a turn
to the worse. Jack could take a nap. If he'd get a few hours of
sleep, he'd be better prepared to escape when help came. Because it
would come. He was sure of it. The real question was, how soon.
Jack lay down on the cool stone floor, closed his eyes, and fell
asleep.
He woke up at around noon, when the sunshine blazing on his face
finally got too hot. He put on his cap and his sunglasses. Daniel was
still out, and didn't wake up, no matter how Jack shouted and shook
him. Jack placed Daniel's boonie halfway over his face, to give him
at least some cover from the sun.
Though he didn't feel even remotely hungry, Jack had a lonely
breakfast or lunch or whatever. He'd have more energy to make a run
for it that way. He was just considering whether he should have a
cookie for dessert, when Daniel groaned, announcing that he was
finally waking up.
Jack crouched to his friend's side. "Daniel? You with me?"
"Sorta..." Daniel said in a hoarse whisper, and licked
his lips. "Water?"
Jack realized that Daniel had to be really thirsty, especially
with this intolerable sunshine, and helped him to a sip from the
canteen.
"Was it the same as before? Two hand device-zats?" Jack
asked, hating himself for forcing his friend to return to those
thoughts, but he needed to know.
"Worse," Daniel's anguished tone made Jack's heart sink.
"Longer blasts," Daniel added.
"Daniel, I think we have morphine in the first aid kit, would
you..." Jack began, and Daniel quickly nodded his reply, eyes
closed, lips pursed. If the after effects were this painful, Jack
didn't even want to imagine what the actual hit must have felt like.
When Jack busied himself with searching for the auto-injector,
Daniel spoke up again. "Jack--next time they take me, I'm not
going to make it," he uttered softly, keeping long pauses
between words, sounding so desperate that it made the hair stand up
on the back of Jack's neck. "Jack, you can make a run for it.
When they open the door. Run and climb down, you have rope, right?"
"Daniel, shush!" Jack told him firmly, straightening the
hat on his head. "I'll do no such thing. Of course you'll make
it, and I'll be right here waiting for you."
Daniel might not be dead yet, but he surely was in hell. Every
inch of his body hurt. Though it was not the intense pain of the
actual hit, it was still awful. So bad he could barely think. The
suffocating heat of the blaring sun made it worse. He wouldn't be
able to run. If they'd have the chance to escape, Jack would have to
do it alone. And he was sure he'd not be able to take any more of
those hand device hits.
As the effects of the morphine slowly kicked in, the pain turned
into a dull ache, much like what it'd been the first time. The drug
definitely didn't make thinking any easier, though. After a while
Daniel couldn't even make out Jack's face anymore, it was all a blur.
And then the dinosaurs came, and stepped into the cage, and though
the fair and honest truth was that Daniel was as good as unconscious,
they took him anyway. Tore him up by the arms, and hauled him out. He
couldn't even stand, let alone walk, so his feet dragged along the
ground. He heard Jack shouting after them, sounding angry.
When they reached the throne room, the guards let go of Daniel,
and he sagged to the floor. He heard Rrragrathssh speak, but he
couldn't concentrate enough to be able to understand one word of that
wretched growling.
Only when the ruler grabbed the bandaging on Daniel's upper body
to lift him from the floor, so that they faced each other directly,
Daniel heard him say, "You disappoint me, human. Speak now,
while you still can."
But Daniel couldn't.
And the blue flash struck him again, and the pain, the lighting,
the fire...
Daniel's ominous words kept ringing in Jack's ears. "Jack--next
time they take me, I'm not going to make it," he had said. But
he had to make it. He'd made it every time before, survived lethal
staff weapon blasts and Tyrannosaur attacks and sarcophagus addiction
and more bad things than Jack cared to think about. No way Daniel was
going to die at the hands of this Goa'uldosaur, a creature mad enough
that even the other Goa'ulds had thrown its ancestor out of their
club of evil maniacs.
Jack tried to pass time by figuring out when help was most likely
to arrive. It was now 1600 hours. He and Daniel had left Earth
yesterday, early in the morning. They'd been supposed to report back
in a few hours, which they'd failed to do. The folks back home
would've started getting worried by the evening. Maybe they'd waited
for the morning before they'd returned to Dinoland for the search and
rescue, but even then, if they'd had any luck in tracing the two of
them, they should show up soon. But maybe something unexpected had
come up. Anything could've happened. Still, Jack didn't think it
completely unreasonable to expect that help would arrive soon.
Tonight. Only tonight might be too late for Daniel.
The last hours Jack had spent with Daniel, he'd been afraid of
when the dinos would return, and had hated every time they showed up.
Now, he was anxious to see them back. If they returned, if they
brought Daniel back, then he'd have to be alive. There just wouldn't
be any point in keeping a dead body in a cage.
After an hour of restless pacing around the limited space, Jack
caught the sound of approaching dinos. He peered through the bars,
and his knees almost failed him at the relief. The dinos really were
carrying Daniel back.
Jack knew what to expect, so that when the dinos dropped his
friend like a sack of potatoes, he was able to catch him before he
hit the floor. Jack lowered Daniel down gently, noting that his face
looked white compared to the gray stone below his head. His breathing
sounded fast and shallow, and this time, his skin was cool to the
touch. Jack could see the signs of shock which he had been fearing
all along. He felt for a pulse--it was weak and irregular, fluttering
almost too fast to be countable at all. And then he lost it. He kept
his fingers in place, but there was nothing. That awful realization
hit Jack like a punch to the gut.
"Daniel, no, you're not gonna do this to me!" he cried
out, feverishly trying to think back about all the first aid training
he'd had. He wasn't just going to let Daniel die, no way, if there
was anything he could do.
He fisted his hand above Daniel's chest, over those cuts he'd
bandaged himself just hours ago. He wasn't sure this was such a good
idea. Grimacing at himself, eyes partly closed, he hit his friend in
the chest, one carefully placed sharp blow on the lower part of the
sternum. Like he'd been taught years and years ago.
Jack forced his fist to open, and placed his badly shaking fingers
at Daniel's throat again--and--thank God, that had actually done the
trick! It wasn't just his fingers trembling, it was there again, a
heartbeat, rapid but steadier than before. And by the sound of it,
Daniel had resumed breathing on his own, too. Jack felt like fainting
from the sheer relief of it.
"That's it. Good job, keep it up," Jack patted Daniel's
chest lightly, and sat back, struggling to catch his own breath.
Help really had better come soon, he thought, as he covered Daniel
with his jacket. The sun was already low on the sky, the shadows
long. The rain would start soon. And again, all Jack could do was
wait.
There was no sign of any help. Instead, though Jack couldn't have
imagined it was possible anymore, things seemed to be getting even
worse. He cursed under his breath when he heard the dual growl of a
Goa'uldosaur from afar, and then, the approaching clawed footsteps. A
party of three dinos was walking towards the cage. One of them had a
zat gun, and it spoke in that Goa'uld voice. It had to be the ruler.
The Goa'uldosaur turned the key in the lock and opened the cage
door. Jack stood up, placing himself protectively over Daniel in a
fighting stance, his hands clenched in fists. He'd fight the damn
lizards with his bare hands if he'd have to, but by God he'd not let
them take his friend away ever again--they'd only get to Daniel over
his dead body.
But the dinosaurs didn't attack. Instead, the Goa'uldosaur shook
his head, an eerily human gesture, and made another very human
gesture with his hands, raising them soothingly.
"Fear not. It is I, Barney," the dinosaur said, without
the Goa'uld tone this time, in perfectly understandable English.
Barney/Ranys's plan had been far wilder than anything Sam could've
come up with, she really had to give the Tok'ra-dinosaur credit for
that. Barney had wanted to know if the humans happened to have any
means of getting someone to the temple roof. Sam had told him about
grappling hooks that could be attached to ropes, which Barney had
found to be a magnificent invention.
As Sam hid behind the thick trunk of a tree to reload, she
wondered if Barney had already made it to the roof and found her
missing team mates. She, Teal'c and all the other men General Hammond
had been able to send at such a very short notice were storming the
temple, attacking the entrance directly. They were going to do their
best to take down as many of the ruler's guards as possible. Leo had
finally returned to Earth, realizing that he'd just be on the way in
such a battle.
In the meantime, Barney, Denver and a few other rebel dinosaurs
had made their way past the guards, armed with zat guns, attempting
to get directly to the roof. Once there, Barney would easily be able
to trick the guards into letting him go, even giving him the keys to
the cage. After all, there weren't that many Goa'uldosaurs on the
planet, and Barney would easily pass for one, with Ranys's kind
assistance.
Sam couldn't linger on the thoughts and the worry over her
friends, both human and dinosaur. She felt the ground tremble with
the heavy footsteps of some great beast. She left the shelter of the
tree, and saw that on the opening in front of the temple, a pair of
guards were driving forth a Tyrannosaur, guiding it towards SG-2, who
stood at the edge of the opening, struggling with at least ten guards
already.
"Teal'c! The T-Rex," Sam called out, and the Jaffa cast
her a quick glance and a nod, acknowledging that he'd noticed. The
monstrous dinosaur wasn't exactly easy to miss.
After their previous mission to this planet, they'd learned from
Colonel O'Neill that the way to take down one of these huge dinosaurs
was to hit the vulnerable parts on its head. Teal'c aimed his staff
weapon carefully, and Sam did the same with her gun. She wasn't sure
whether they were getting anywhere, but at least they annoyed the
dinosaur enough that it turned away from SG-2, and changed its
direction. Sam kept her aim steady, ignoring the fact that the huge
creature was rushing straight towards her. It felt like staring at a
speeding train while standing on the tracks.
Just when she thought they weren't going to get it, when the
dinosaur's huge snout was already brushing the leaves above their
heads, it went down. She and Teal'c stepped aside to avoid getting
caught under it, as it hit the dirt with a ground-shaking thud.
Using the corpse as cover, she glanced at the opening to get a
general view of the situation. Apparently, the dinos were taken aback
when their biggest asset had actually been taken down. They were
gathering closer to the temple entrance, backing away.
Sam and Teal'c made their way past the dead Tyrannosaur and joined
the other SG-teams, surrounding the dinosaurs. There were now so many
guns pointed at the guards that they didn't even try to fight. Most
of the dinos were unarmed, though some had spears and crude bows. As
they started retreating into the doorway, Sam called out, "Don't
let them escape! Fire at will!"
It was crucial to Barney's plan that they'd take down as many
guards as possible. The dinos could take many more bullets than a
human would, but they weren't invulnerable. Many of them fell. It was
brutal, it was as close to a massacre as Sam had ever come. After
she'd gotten to know Barney, there was no way she could trick herself
into thinking that these were just lizards and animals. They were
sentient beings, and who knew how they'd have ended up without the
continued Goa'uld rule.
When there were no living guards left outside the temple, the
SG-teams ceased their gunfire. A wave of dinosaurs that looked just
like the guards stepped out of the jungle around them, and approached
them. Some of the men pointed their guns at the newcomers in turn,
but Sam told them to stand down. These were the rebels.
"Look carefully," she told everyone else. "They've
got those thick stripes of white paint on their snouts. Any dinosaur
that has one of those is our friend. Don't shoot, no matter what.
There will be a few dinosaurs in there who don't have those markings,
but are nevertheless friendly. Take care, think and look carefully
before you shoot."
She gave some more orders, leaving two teams outside the temple in
case more guards should come, and then lead the rest into the temple.
The dinosaurs followed them as well.
The hall they entered looked very familiar. They'd been here
before, after all. Though this wasn't the hall where Teal'c and Sam
had gotten sealed in, it was the one where Daniel and O'Neill had
been. Two doorways lead into two other halls. Sam knew the first of
them had stairs leading down, into the catacombs. The second one
should have a door that'd open to the throne room, though it might be
closed.
They ran into that room, meeting little resistance, just some
guards that'd retreated in. They found no door in any of the walls,
but Barney had told them to expect that. One of the rebels stepped
forth, carrying a small device of some sort, and waved it in front of
a wall. A part of the wall slid aside to reveal the enormous hall
that was the throne room, and a scene amazing enough to make Sam stop
on her tracks.
The door was behind the throne, to the right of it, and in front
of it stood two dinosaurs engaged in combat. There were several other
dinos in the hall, and all but those two were standing still in a
wide circle around them. There a few dead dinosaurs in the room as
well, lying on the ground here and there.
Almost in the middle of the room, on the ground, were O'Neill and
Daniel. The younger man looked very still and pale, his eyes closed.
His upper body was bare except for bloodstained bandages. The colonel
was holding on to him tightly, Daniel's head resting against his
shoulder. Sam felt her breath catch in her throat as she took in that
sight. "Oh, no," she whispered under her breath.
The SG-teams and the rebels crowded into the hall, but Sam held up
a hand to keep them from engaging in any action. They spread out,
joining the gathered dinosaurs, and all stopped to witness the
struggle in front of them.
One of the two dinosaurs that were fighting was obviously the
ruler. He had a golden circlet on his head, and a hand device, but
for some reason, he wasn't using it. The dinosaur fighting the ruler
had to be Barney. He had the belt with the zat gun that the SGC had
given to him, to make it even easier for him to pose as a
Goa'uldosaur. But he wasn't using the zat either.
A rebel dinosaur close to them growled something at Teal'c, and
Teal'c translated it to Sam. "They will fight to the death, and
the one who wins will be the rightful ruler. It is tradition. If
Barney wins, no one will question his right to rule."
Teal'c had witnessed many fights to the death before, but none
like this. Even though use of all weapons was banned, the dinosaurs
still had plenty at hand--their teeth and claws. Both were bleeding
from more cuts than he could count, but they were steady on their
feet, still fighting, growling at each other in Dinosaurian and
Goa'uldian voices and languages in turn.
It was an even fight. The dinosaurs were about the same age.
Barney had the advantage of being slightly larger, and his Tok'ra
symbiote might be better versed in different combat techniques than
the ruler's Goa'uld, who had lived in isolation on this planet. On
the other hand, Barney had the disadvantage of being weakened by his
recent injuries.
If Barney lost, then there would be another riot, a general fight
among all those in the hall. That was why the rebels all had markings
to tell them apart from those loyal to the ruler. If it came to such
a fight, the rebels and the SG-teams easily outnumbered the ruler's
followers, but it would be ugly, and many would die.
Barney did not lose. He turned the course of the fight with one
blow that hit the side of the ruler's head badly enough to blind him.
It stopped Rrragrathssh for a passing moment, and with that moment,
Barney was able to finish him, tearing a long, deep cut down his
neck. The ruler fell to the ground, his growling changed into wet
groaning as his blood flowed freely to stain the floor at the foot of
the throne. Barney placed a foot on the ruler's head, pressing it to
the ground.
"In this day, I, Ghhrrwuaghr, claim the rule of this world,
all its animals and this chosen people, and as is tradition, I shall
rule for a whole cycle of the moon before anyone can challenge me
again," Barney announced victoriously, first in
Goa'uld-Dinosaurian, and then went on in Dinosaurian, probably
repeating the same words.
The rebels answered it in a joyful, excited roar. Some of the
former ruler's guards growled as if they wanted to fight, but they
didn't. They realized that they were hopelessly outnumbered. It would
be up to Barney and the rebels to decide how to deal with them.
Teal'c's concern was now for his friends.
Not only he and Captain Carter, but Barney as well ran to Colonel
O'Neill and Daniel Jackson.
"Way to go, guys, that was some rescue operation,"
O'Neill greeted them, and though his voice was strained, it was not
as grief-stricken as Teal'c would've expected if Daniel Jackson was
dead. Apparently, he was not, only severely injured and unconscious.
"And good job, Barney. That damn Goa'uldosaur finally got what
he deserved."
"Is Daniel..." Captain Carter began, crouching to the
ground in front of them.
"He's been out cold for hours. The bastards wouldn't leave
him alone. The ruler tortured him. Used the hand device on him who
knows how many times. We need to get him back home and fast,"
Colonel O'Neill answered urgently.
He made to get up, and Teal'c lent him a hand. Captain Carter was
already working to put together a collapsible stretcher to help in
transporting Daniel.
A nerve-racking, sorrowful roar from behind made them all freeze.
They turned around, and saw Barney crouched over one of the dead
dinosaurs. There weren't many injuries on the body, and none that
looked lethal. More likely, he had been taken down with a zat gun. As
Teal'c gazed at the deceased dinosaur, he recognized him as Denver.
The young, kind and gentle rebel had become one of the many
casualties of this battle. It was a noble death. The fight had been
more than just to save O'Neill and Daniel. It had been to liberate
the dinosaurs from Goa'uld rule as well, and it had been a success.
The dual voice of a Goa'uldosaur penetrated the half-conscious
haze where Daniel had been floating for some indeterminable time. He
was instantly wide awake. If the ruler was still talking to him, then
he couldn't have been unconscious for a very long time. He opened his
eyes, and saw the blurred figure of a dinosaur not far from him. The
dinosaur spoke again, and pushed its face closer to his. Daniel
shrank back from it. Why wouldn't the ruler just leave him alone?
Wasn't it clear enough that he'd die rather than tell anything?
"Daniel?" the dinosaur said. Daniel frowned. He hadn't
thought the ruler could pronounce his name at all. He felt a soft
touch on his forehead, not claws, but a snout. There was something
strangely familiar about that feeling. "It is all right,"
the dinosaur added--in English, of all things, and it didn't sound
Goa'uldish anymore.
"Daniel?" someone repeated his name again, but the voice
was not dinosaurian. It was familiar. The voice he'd heard just
before they'd taken him. Jack! Jack's hand landed on his shoulder,
just like back in the cage. "Daniel, relax, it's okay. You're
home."
Daniel blinked, trying make sense of the two blurs that looked
like Jack and a dinosaur. There seemed to be other people behind
them. Out of thin air, his glasses appeared on his nose. Or not out
of thin air, since it was clearly Jack pushing them in place. The
surroundings fell into focus. It wasn't just Jack and a dinosaur, but
also Sam, Teal'c, and Leo Ramsey.
It all added up. Now that he thought about it, he didn't even feel
like he was lying on the floor of the Goa'uldosaurian throne room. He
wasn't hurting anymore. There was a soft pillow under his head, and
the sheet covering him was warm and thick. Then there were other
little things that didn't fit, like the needle in his arm, the
patches on his chest and the oxygen things in his nose that were a
sure sign that he was in the infirmary.
"Do you not recognize me, Daniel?" the dinosaur asked.
Now that he could see properly, he actually could recognize the
dinosaur. Daniel licked his parched lips, cleared his throat, and
tried, "Ghhrrwuaghr?" The way it came out, he could've been
just growling anything. It didn't sound anything like the dinosaur's
name.
"Yes, it is I," the dinosaur answered nevertheless. "But
it is a new me that you have not yet met. I am now also Ranys, of the
Tok'ra. You saved my life."
"What happened?" Daniel asked, his English sounding
barely any better than his Dinosaurian. All in all, he felt groggy,
but not nearly as bad as he should've expected. Considering that the
last memories he had were of the ruler zatting him with the hand
device, and he'd been certain he'd not survive one more of those
prolonged blasts.
"Barney saved our asses. Though, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't
have succeeded without Teal'c and Sam. Oh, and we freed the dinos,
too," Jack explained simply.
Daniel could barely believe that. "Really? No more
Goa'uldosaurs?" he asked, and made to sit up on his bed. He
didn't get very far, though. His muscles weren't doing what he told
them to. All he managed was a slight twitch.
Jack's hand pressed his shoulder gently. "Take it easy,
Daniel. You've been out for over two days," he said.
"Huh?" That long? He'd never been out for more than some
hours after the zat-hand device blasts before this.
"Yeah, well, most of that is probably courtesy of Doc
Fraiser, she insisted on keeping you sedated. Didn't want you to go
through any unnecessary stress."
"But I'm..."
"Doc seemed pretty concerned at first, but she says you're
going to be fine. No lasting effects, unless it's some scars from all
those claw marks. If all goes well, you should be out of here in less
than a week. She said you'd probably feel a bit weird when you woke
up, but that it's to be expected, it's just all the drugs."
Daniel nodded, and turned his head to look at Ghhrrwuaghr. "So,
I still owe you one," he smirked at the dinosaur.
"You helped set my people free. You do not owe me anything,"
the dinosaur answered. "Now that I have seen you wake up, I'm
reassured enough that you will be fine again. I shall soon return to
my world. We have much work ahead."
"I can imagine," Daniel said, his voice sounding
stronger already, at least to his ears. "You'll... You have to
start from scratch, redefine yourselves, your society, all that you
are."
"It will be challenging, but it will also be rewarding. We
shall be the people that we should always have been, instead of the
pawns of some alien parasite. Of course, I now represent that very
race of alien parasites. As is tradition, I must rule for one cycle
of the moon, but after all is settled, I hope to stand aside. The
Tok'ra may have use for me as well."
"Ghhrrwuaghr, there's something, something very important you
must do." It came to Daniel in a sudden flash of intuition. The
thing that was most important of all. The stargate. The one amazing
secret of Dinoland was the strange fact that the gate seemed to be
unknown to most beings in the universe. He didn't know how that could
be, since the address had been on the Abydos Cartouche. But whatever
the reason, it must always stay that way. "You have to bury the
gate. To keep anyone from ever coming there again to disturb you. The
Tok'ra have ships and other means of keeping in touch with you."
"I know this already, Daniel. I have spoken of it with
others, with Jack, Teal'c and Sam. Leo, as well."
Daniel had completely forgotten about the paleontologist. "Oh.
I'm sorry, Leo," he said quickly. They'd given the man his
dream, a place with living dinosaurs, and now they were going to take
it away again.
"No, don't be," Leo replied. There was something strange
about his tone, oddly pleased. "I'm going back to Dinoland with
Barney."
"But the gate..."
"The gate will be buried. I'll be on my own. I know. You did
the same when you stayed on Abydos, didn't you? I've already been
given the official permission for this. I'll manage. It's all an
aging paleontologist could possibly hope for. I'll spend the rest of
my days there, and leave my notes with the dinosaurs, so some day,
someone may collect them. Although I am leaving behind the work I've
already done. My studies on the newly found species, Neotroodon
Sapiens Stellaris."
Daniel grinned. Leo had finally decided on a name for Barney's
species. It was a bit long, but then again, just Neotroodon would
work fine, and they could even use it in public. Just introduce this
as a new species found somewhere far away, not mentioning that it was
Sapiens--as in, wise, and Stellaris--from the stars.
"We both thank you, from the bottom of our heart, Daniel,"
Ghhrrwuaghr added. "It is thanks to you, more than anyone else,
that our lives have been completely changed, and all to the better."
Daniel didn't know what to say to that. He just blushed at it. Leo
reached for his heavy, somewhat lax hand and shook it firmly.
Ghhrrwuaghr bent closer to give him another dino kiss. And then they
left, leaving him in the company of his three team mates.
"He's right, you know," Sam said softly, now stepping
closer to him, grasping his hand. "You were the one who
requested for another mission to P4X-215 in the first place, and for
a mission specialist. Without that, none of this would've happened.
No paleontologist would ever have learned of their dream come true."
"And if it was not for your compassion for Barney, and swift
thinking in contacting the Tok'ra, he would not have survived to see
this day," Teal'c added in his steady, deep voice.
"But I..." Daniel tried, but Jack stopped him again.
"Shush, just take the praise as it is. You went through hell
because you wanted to help these dinos. I know, because I was there,
I saw it all. It's just fair that you should get some credit for it
too."
"Jack, I'm sure I wouldn't have made it without you. And
neither of us would've made it if Sam and Teal'c and Ghhrrwuaghr
hadn't done whatever they did to get us out. But what about
Grruarch--I mean, Denver--wasn't he there too?"
Daniel saw the others exchange troubled glances, which almost told
him enough without any words at all. He frowned at them, the bad news
making him feel even more uncomfortable about the earlier praise.
"She didn't make it, Daniel," Sam said sadly, confirming
his fears.
"But her death was a noble one, and she shall be remembered
as a hero among her people," Teal'c added.
"She?" Daniel repeated, confused. Of course, the
Goa'uld-Dinosaurian language did not have grammatical gender. The
pronouns for 'he' and 'she' were exactly the same. But he'd
thought...
"Aha," Jack replied. "We had more than enough time to
talk about things with Barney when you were asleep, so we finally
found out. Barney's a boy, but Denver was a girl."
"She wasn't his..." Daniel started, feeling even worse
about it. He'd seen how close the two dinosaurs had been, how
Grruarch had always stayed near to Ghhrrwuaghr when he had been
injured.
"...his mate? No, she was his niece," Jack answered.
"They're considering making a statue of her, a memorial of the
victory over the Goa'uld. Might be that some of us will be in it too.
Probably you. Though, since they're going to bury the gate, they
might have to use Leo as the model."
The dinos making a statue of him? With Leo posing as him? Sad
though Daniel was, that was just so completely ridiculous that he
couldn't help laughing. "You're kidding, right?"
Jack smirked, and ruffled Daniel's hair. "Yeah, of course I
am," he admitted. "The truth is, we wouldn't let them do
that. So, we gave them your picture."
Author's Note: Instead of begging for feedback once again (though I'd very much like some ;-)), I'll
note that there should be a part III to the DinoGate series one day,
since there's still a lot of unexplained stuff left. Like, how and why
the dinos got to Dinoland to begin with. Can't promise when I'll get to writing it, though.
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of
Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all
other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1
together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright
property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp,
Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod.
Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon
those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other
characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property
of the author. Ghhrrwuaghr/Ranys the Tok'rasaur most of all. Grrraurgh.
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