Perspicacity By Kalimyre

“Jack, we have to help them.”

Jack peered through his field binoculars, flat on his belly in the grass, perched at the top of a low rise. “We’re outnumbered,” he said without looking at Daniel.

“By one.”

“Daniel...”

“They’re not expecting company, sir,” Carter added. “And we’re behind them. I think we could do it.”

Jack sighed, rolled onto his back, and then slid down the hill until he was covered enough to sit up. “I know we could,” he said. He raised a hand to Daniel, freezing him with a look. “But that doesn’t mean we should.”

“Jack—”

“They are searching for hosts,” Teal’c said, peering down the hill without the aid of binoculars. Four Jaffa and what appeared to be a Goa’uld, judging by the hand device he wore and the lack of forehead marking, were culling people from a milling crowd of natives. The Jaffa held their staff weapons up and ready, but had so far met with no resistance. A small line of the young and beautiful had already been selected, and they stood in front of the crowd, still and silent.

“Yes, and we can stop them,” Daniel pressed.

“And what happens when their boss comes by wondering where the hell his new hosts are?”

Daniel frowned at Jack and turned back to watching the selection process. “There’s something strange about those people,” he muttered to himself.

Carter slid up beside him, lying flat and peeking through a thick clump of grass. “They don’t seem that worried, do they?”

Daniel nodded. “Yes, there’s no panic, no attempts at escape. And we’re close enough to hear the Jaffa yelling at them, but do you notice none of the natives are speaking? How often do you see a completely silent crowd?”

“Perhaps they are too intimidated to offer resistance,” Teal’c said. Below, another young woman was drawn from the crowd. People touched her as she went by, hands brushing against her shoulders and hair, brief squeezes on her arms. She nodded to them, acknowledging the contact, and stood where she was directed without any sign of fear. The other selected ones touched her as she joined their group, one man brushing his fingertips over her face. She smiled at him and returned the gesture.

“Weird,” Jack muttered. “It’s like they want to be chosen.”

“No,” Daniel said slowly. “Nobody is stepping forward, or trying to attract the Jaffas’ attention. They’re just waiting. It’s more like they simply don’t care.”

“Maybe there’s more going on here than we know about,” Carter suggested.

Jack snorted. “Isn’t there always?”

“So what are we going to do?” Daniel asked, twisting to look at Jack over his shoulder.

“Keep your head down.” Jack brought his binoculars back to his face and surveyed the situation again. Five unfriendlies, a whole assload of spooky, quiet, apathetic natives, and four on his side. High ground, element of surprise, and close enough range to make hitting any of the bystanders unlikely. They even had enough zats with them to take crossfire casualties out of the equation. So yeah, they could take them. Still didn’t answer the question of whether they should.

“Teal’c, you know the snake?”

“I do not,” Teal’c answered. “He is most likely a minor underling in the service of a System Lord. Which one, I do not know.”

Jack nodded. If they mixed in here, they could be making things worse. Pissing off whichever Goa’uld had sent the little raiding party would only come back to bite the natives on the ass. On the other hand, there had to be a reason the locals didn’t seem even slightly worried. Nobody had that good a poker face. Hell, there were kids in that crowd, little kids, and they were playing, darting in between the adults’ legs, completely unconcerned. Something was totally out of whack here.

“Suggestions?”

“Zat them all,” Daniel said immediately. “Send them through the gate to Cimmeria.”

Jack couldn’t help a little smile. Only Daniel would still be thinking of the host, although he figured the Jaffa were screwed either way.

“Zats would eliminate crossfire problems,” Carter said, and Jack nodded at her.

“What’s the SOP here, Teal’c? If a host hunting party just disappears, what happens next?”

“That depends on many factors,” Teal’c replied. He spoke without once taking his eyes off the activity down the hill. “If the Goa’uld who sent them is badly in need of hosts, or if the Jaffa were highly trained and valued, another group would be sent, searching for them. But if the Goa’uld is powerful, and has many Jaffa, then the planet will simply be passed by, the lost Jaffa forgotten.”

“Just makes you warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?” Jack muttered. “Okay, we need more intel. Carter, go around to that ridge,” he pointed, and she followed his arm and nodded once, already strapping her weapon up and preparing to rise. “Once you’re there, see if you can tell us which snake they’re working for.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, drawing back from the visible hilltop and slinking through the trees, her hat pulled low over her head to hide bright blonde hair.

Jack looked back at Teal’c, who was frowning slightly and watching her go. “I know you’re better at the stealth thing, T,” he said, “but I need you here for all that Goa’uldy knowledge.”

Teal’c simply nodded, but the frown eased.

“Jack,” Daniel said softly. “Come look at this.”

Jack got back on the ground, lying beside Daniel with their shoulders pressed tight together. He handed over his field glasses without being asked, and Daniel took them absently, flicking Jack a brief smile. “What’s up?” Jack asked.

“Looks like the Goa’uld in charge isn’t happy with their attitude.” Daniel twisted the focus knob, craning his neck forward as if an extra couple inches would make things clear. “He’s yelling and making the hand device light up, but so far, he hasn’t actually used it. They’re all pretty much ignoring him.”

Jack chuckled and narrowed his eyes, squinting down at the crowd. He could hear the Goa’uld speaking, his low, scraping voice hollering something about bowing before their god. The natives weren’t buying it, obviously. They went where the Jaffa told them to go, but for the most part, they could have been a bunch at a social get-together. Small clumps of people formed, others circulating among the crowd at large, while children played on the fringes, wholly unconcerned with the weapons pointed at them.

“They’re still not speaking,” Daniel mused, speaking more to himself than Jack. “I thought maybe they were just very quiet, but with the binocs, I can tell their mouths aren’t moving. Maybe they don’t have a spoken language? They do seem to touch quite a bit. People face each other and make some kind of contact, usually from the waist up although there are exceptions... eye contact is prevalent, fingers and knuckles against the face are also quite common... they seem calm, relaxed... crap!” he said suddenly, ducking his head.

Jack followed suit, dropping flat in the grass and turning to face Daniel. “What?”

“One of them saw me. Looked right at me.”

“One of the Jaffa?”

Daniel shook his head slightly, his cheek rubbing in the dirt and leaving a long streak of reddish brown on his face. “No, the natives. I was looking at one particular pair, and suddenly, they both turned and looked straight at me. I swear they were smiling at me.”

“Great. Didn’t I tell you to keep your head down?”

Daniel dropped his gaze for a moment, but said nothing. Jack sighed and cautiously raised his upper body, propping himself on his elbows and making sure the top of his head was still concealed behind the thick, wiry grass. “Well, it looks like your friends didn’t give us away. At least, nobody is yelling and pointing this way, which is a good sign.”

“Right.” Daniel dragged his belly along the ground, edging forward until he could see again. “I don’t think they could have seen me, Jack. I was pretty well hidden. It’s more like they knew where I was.”

“Uh-huh,” Jack said. Not to knock Daniel’s ability in the field, but sometimes the guy did let scientific curiosity get the better of common sense. And after five years of this crap, he should know better.

Jack’s radio clicked twice, and he pulled back, skidding down the hill on some loose dirt and sitting up. “Carter?” he said into the mouthpiece, keeping his voice low.

“Sir. I’m about eighty yards from your position, at two o’clock.”

Jack tapped Daniel’s leg and held his hand out, and his binoculars were grudgingly passed back to him. He scanned the area Carter had indicated and saw nothing in the first two passes. Then, on the third look, a tiny flicker of movement and a flash of paleness that might have been her face, or her hair. “Gotcha. What do you see?”

“If I remember the cheat sheets Daniel made for us correctly, then they’re working for Ba’al.”

Jack nodded even though she couldn’t see him. “Alright. Hold your position. If this goes down, you’re going to be our lead shooter.”

“Yes, sir,” Carter said, and Jack saw the brief flicker of movement again as she pulled back further, disappearing entirely into the trees.

“Teal’c? What do you know about Ba’al?”

“He is a System Lord,” Teal’c said. “He is known to be cold, deliberate, and not prone to unconsidered actions. I do not know him personally, as Apophis never saw fit to challenge him in battle.”

“Uh-huh.” Jack looked toward Daniel again, but the other man was absorbed in watching the natives. Jack was happy to see that at least his head was down. “Okay, so, is Ba’al the type to come sniffing after a few missing Jaffa?”

“It is unlikely. Ba’al has thousands of Jaffa. One scouting party and one minor Goa’uld will not be greatly missed.”

“Jack?”

He turned back toward Daniel. “Yeah?”

“We’d better choose one way or another soon. It looks like they’re almost done, and we’re between them and the gate.”

Jack flopped down beside Daniel again and wriggled forward. The Jaffa had stopped circling the crowd now and stood back, holding their weapons out halfheartedly, as if they realized they wouldn’t get to shoot anyone today. Ten natives had been drawn out, and now stood in a small, separate clump next to the Goa’uld, who was waving his arms and making some big dramatic speech. Jack caught the phrase “bestowed upon you the great honor of serving your god” and rolled his eyes.

“These guys need to get some new lines.” He reached over and put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, getting his attention. “Okay, we’re doing this. Zats only. You take the Jaffa on the left there.”

Daniel nodded and pulled his zat, lifting his shoulders and stretching his arms out in the prone firing position.

“Carter,” Jack said into his radio.

“Sir?”

“We’re taking them. I want you to hit the Goa’uld first, in case he’s got one of those shields. Then you pull back, and we’ll take the rest. Zat him twice if you have to, but make sure he goes down.”

“Got it.”

Jack turned to Teal’c, his eyebrows raised. Teal’c nodded once and crept forward, his zat ready. Since Jack was the only one without a zat, he snapped the scope onto his P-90 and drew a bead on the Jaffa furthest to the right. Teal’c saw his aim and moved to cover the two remaining Jaffa.

“Carter,” he said. “Now.”

It was over fast. The Goa’uld went down with one shot, and the Jaffa all wheeled toward Carter’s position, weapons up, but she was already gone. Daniel and Teal’c fired at the same time, and Daniel took Jack’s mark before Jack had a chance to fire. The natives stood still and watched the Jaffa drop, and then immediately swarmed over them.

“Crap,” Jack muttered. The Goa’uld wasn’t going to stay out long, not from one zat blast, and the Jaffa would bounce back quickly as well. They’d wake up mad.

“Jack?” Daniel was already standing, edging toward the silent, busy crowd.

“Yeah, I know.” He clicked his radio. “Carter, nice shot. You and Teal’c are going to hang back and cover us in case more company shows up. Daniel and I are going in.”

“Yes, sir,” Carter sent back. Jack caught Teal’c’s eye and received a curt nod. Then he ran down the hill after Daniel, who was already several feet ahead of him.

“Dammit, Daniel,” Jack snapped, catching him by the arm and holding him back. “Can you, for once, wait for my orders before you go charging in?”

“I knew what you were going to say,” Daniel retorted, tugging them both forward. “Jack, they’ll wake up soon.”

Jack sighed and let him go. “We’ll talk about this later,” he warned.

“Sure, Jack.”

Yeah, that sounded like Daniel was taking him seriously. He wished the man would realize Jack did know what he was doing, and he generally had a reason for orders, and the reason was usually saving Daniel’s ass. But no, for all his genius, Daniel couldn’t seem to grasp that one.

The natives pulled back as they reached the bottom of the hill, revealing four Jaffa and one semi-conscious Goa’uld, neatly hogtied.

“Huh.” Jack stopped, staring at them. They were even laid out in a row, heads all facing the same way. The staff weapons, zats, and the hand device were in a pile well out of their reach.

“I get the feeling these people know what they’re doing,” Daniel murmured out of the side of his mouth.

“Ya think?”

“Release me at once!” the Goa’uld shouted, his voice slightly muffled by the way his face was mashed into the ground. “You will suffer for this insolence!”

“Yeah, give it a rest,” Jack muttered. “Shut up unless you want me to shoot you again.”

The Goa’uld twisted and looked at him, his eyes flashing gold. “Tau’ri,” he spat, and then fell silent.

“Nice to meet you too.” Jack turned, spread his hands, and smiled at the natives. “Hi, folks. Quick work with the ropes there. Didn’t know you had it in you.”

Daniel stepped up beside him, giving him a none too subtle nudge with his shoulder and a quelling look. “Hello. We’re peaceful explorers.”

A man stepped forward, short, round, and balding, and beamed at them. “Hello, Daniel,” he said. “Hello, Jack.”

Okay... Jack looked behind him, wondering when he’d entered the twilight zone. “Daniel?” he asked, in his you-better-have-an-explanation tone.

Daniel glanced at him distractedly. “Ah... you know us?”

That was not the explanation Jack had been hoping for.

The man nodded, reached up, and pressed his palm flat against Daniel’s chest. “We know you. Also your friends, in the trees.” He lifted his hand and pointed unerringly to Carter’s position, then Teal’c’s. “We knew you were here, and that you would stop the raiders.”

“Right,” Jack said slowly. “Well, that’s a neat trick, since I didn’t even know we’d be stopping them until about five minutes ago.”

The man smiled and said nothing.

“So, you know our names,” Daniel said, trying to steer things back on track. “May we know yours?”

“I am Alten. I speak for my people.”

“You lead them?”

He shook his head. “I speak for them.”

“Yes, well, this is all lovely,” Jack cut in, “but maybe we should deal with these guys before we all get to know each other?” He waved at the Jaffa, who were now stirring, and the Goa’uld who was glaring balefully and struggling against his bindings. His wrists were beginning to bleed noticeably.

Two women standing near the Goa’uld frowned at him, then touched Alten, who turned and touched them in return, hands on shoulders and arms and one fingertip to the taller woman’s cheek. They looked at each other for a long moment, and then Alten reached down and placed a hand on the Goa’uld’s forehead. “Stop,” he said softly.

The Goa’uld stopped struggling immediately, and lay still.

“Nice,” Jack said, raising his eyebrows. “Think you can teach me that one?”

Alten laughed, but Jack heard nothing derisive in it. The alien sounded fond, indulgent. Several others in the crowd came forward, touching Jack, patting him, an especially tall man running his fingers through Jack’s hair. “Jack,” Alten said, shaking his head and smiling. “You are just as we imagined.”

Jack batted the hands away when they became a tad too personal, and grabbed his hat back, tugging it hard onto his head. “Well, thanks. I think.”

“You’re telepathic, aren’t you?” Daniel asked excitedly. “That’s why no one is speaking? Can they speak at all, or is it only you? How do the rest of you communicate? Is touch necessary to transmit thoughts?”

Alten laughed again. “Daniel. Oh, Daniel. You, too, are what we expected.”

Daniel blinked, shut his mouth, and then opened it again. “Right... well, okay, you were expecting us? Is that a function of the telepathy? Precognition? You knew we would save you from the ‘raiders,’ as you called them...” He frowned, looking down and tapping a finger on his lips. “But you also knew who we are? You knew what to expect of us, personally?”

“Perhaps you should ask your friends to join us,” Alten invited. “There is no more danger.”

“You know, I get the feeling there was never any danger to begin with,” Jack said, folding his arms. “You guys don’t really worry about the Goa’uld, do you?”

Alten smiled. “So you will ask your friends to come out of hiding? We would like to meet them as well.”

“I’ll bet,” Jack muttered. He keyed his radio. “Carter, Teal’c, come on down. Apparently they’ve been expecting us.”

He waited for them to acknowledge, and then eyed the aliens again. They were feeling up Daniel now, crowding in around him, reaching up to touch his chest, shoulders, and hair. His cheekbones seemed to especially fascinate them, and one removed his glasses to better touch his forehead and the bridge of his nose.

“Um, okay... I’ll need those back... hey! That’s, ah... attached...”

Jack grinned and folded his hands over his P-90, clipped to his vest, the muzzle pointing down. He noticed that with all their touching, the aliens never once reached for their weapons.

“Oh...” Daniel sounded dazed now, rather than merely flustered. Jack straightened and leaned forward, frowning. He could barely see his archeologist, so surrounded by the silent, curious people. He pushed forward and two of them shifted, until he spotted Daniel in the middle of what looked very much like a group hug.

“Daniel?”

“Jack? They’re, uh... very friendly, aren’t they?”

Jack snorted. Friendly was something of an understatement. The aliens were actually petting Daniel now, stroking his back and his hair, and the group seemed to rock slightly.

“You alright?”

“Oh, sure,” Daniel mumbled. “Just a little, you know... crowded...”

“Hey, sir,” Carter said, coming up behind him. “Where’s Daniel?”

“Daniel Jackson appears to be somewhat overwhelmed,” Teal’c said, as he joined the group.

“What do you... oh.” Carter began to smile as she stared at Daniel, who was succumbing to the inevitable and had relaxed into the close group. “Daniel?” she called. “Need any help?”

Daniel’s eyes opened lazily, revealing widely dilated pupils. “Actually... maybe I do... something that feels this good has to be bad for you...”

The smile dropped off Jack’s face. Should’ve known better. His whole team was down here now, and surrounded. He raised his weapon, pointing into the air, but ready to take aim if it became necessary. “Alright, let him go. Now.”

“There is no need to worry,” Alten said, putting a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “They only wish to help.”

“Yeah, well they can help by backing off. I mean it,” Jack shot back. He glared at Alten, who, oddly, smiled again.

“So protective,” he murmured. “Of course.” He leaned over and touched a woman on the outside of Daniel’s group, which was growing by the second. She frowned, but passed the touch on, and soon the aliens were backing away until Daniel stood in the middle of a loose crowd, his eyes closed, swaying slightly. Several hands remained on his shoulders and sides, holding him up.

“All the way,” Jack growled, gesturing with his gun. Carter and Teal’c had both backed out of reach of the aliens and raised their own weapons, eyes scanning the crowd constantly.

Alten chuckled, sighed, and looked toward those still touching Daniel. They met his eyes and pulled their hands back, and Daniel sank slowly to the ground, sitting back on his knees. Jack gave Carter a look, and she moved in, patting Daniel’s cheek lightly and feeling his pulse.

“He seems okay,” she called over her shoulder. “It’s like he’s been lightly sedated, but he’s coming around.”

“You don’t have to yell,” Daniel muttered, leaning away from her. He yawned, arched his back, and got to his feet, looking around. Jack was pleased to see his eyes had returned to normal, and he looked no worse for the wear. In fact, he looked relaxed, peaceful, and oddly sated.

“What was that all about?” Jack asked Alten.

“They were helping him.”

“Want to be more specific?”

“No.”

Jack glared. Alten smiled indulgently.

“Do not approach me,” Teal’c said suddenly, and Jack turned. A couple of the aliens had reached for Teal’c, but they backed away at his forbidding look.

“Good idea. In fact, let’s make that a rule. No more touching us. You guys pack a little too much punch.” Jack took two steps back, and Carter and Teal’c followed suit, Carter pulling a sleepy and unresisting Daniel with her.

Alten spread his arms, and his people fell back behind him, several of them casting wistful stares after Daniel. Jack gritted his teeth. Why was it, wherever they went, everyone seemed to want Daniel? Just once, he’d like to be the center of attention.

“We mean you no harm.”

“Yeah, well, ditto,” Jack said. “Peaceful explorers and all that. But you just about knocked out one of my team, and in my book, that’s harm.”

“He would not have been hurt.”

“You just let me be the judge of what hurts him, okay?”

Alten smiled in a way that made Jack very nervous. “We thank you for your rescue,” he began. “Although we have our own ways of repelling the invaders.” Behind him, several people joined hands and stared at the tied up Jaffa, and as one, they lifted from the ground and floated in a neat line, six inches in the air. Jack made a concerted effort to look unimpressed.

“Wow,” Daniel gasped. “Telekinesis too?”

“Or anti-gravity,” Carter added.

“I have not seen anti-gravity that could be focused in such a way without visible machinery,” Teal’c said. “This is technology beyond my experience.”

“Or not technology at all,” Daniel argued.

The group with the joined hands began to walk away, and the floating Jaffa followed, the Goa’uld taking up the rear. He was still clearly awake and aware, but didn’t struggle at all.

Daniel stared, leaning down and trying to see in the gap between the Jaffa and the ground. “Where are you taking them?”

“We have a place,” Alten said serenely.

“What kind of place?”

“They will be taught. We will not hurt them.”

“Taught,” Jack echoed. “Kind of like you ‘taught’ the Goa’uld to quit moving?” This was beginning to smell like mind control, which smacked of all kinds of unpleasant things. Reminded him of Hathor.

Alten reached out for Jack’s shoulder, then dropped his hand when Jack edged away. “He was hurting himself in his effort to escape. I merely spared him further injury.”

“You should know, the Goa’uld is actually two separate entities,” Daniel began earnestly. “The host has no control. The Goa’uld itself is a parasite that lives in the host. If you can separate them and save the host... can you do that?”

“Ah, Daniel.” Alten went to him, standing a head shorter, and pressed his hand against Daniel’s chest again. “You live up to our hopes.”

Daniel smiled uneasily. “That’s... good. So, does that mean you can?”

“They will be taught,” Alten repeated. Jack nudged his hand off Daniel’s chest, which Alten didn’t seem to take offense at. He simply withdrew and laced his hands behind his back, rocking back on his heels and grinning at them.

Jack was startled to see perfect teeth, which was usually an indicator of civilization. The less advanced places tended to not have dentists. Their clothes were simple, homespun things, and he had yet to see any sign of technology, but these people clearly had more than they were letting on.

“How did you lift them from the ground?” Carter asked. “Are you using some technology we can’t see?”

“Together, we are strong,” Alten replied.

Daniel nodded rapidly, apparently recovered from his impromptu nap earlier. “So it is telekinesis, then? When that group joined hands, they combined their abilities? And you didn’t answer my earlier question about touch being necessary for communication. Are there any other abilities we don’t know about? Pyrokinesis, for example? That’s the ability to create fire. And can you read us, or just each other?” He paused, holding a hand up. “Oh, wait, you can read us, can’t you? You said we were behaving as you expected. Or is that more a function of the precognition?”

Alten chuckled, shaking his head. “Ah, Daniel. We knew we would like you. And I can offer you some answers.” He turned to include the whole team in his gaze. “We can give you much. We do not have the technology you seek, but there are other gifts.” He frowned, looking more closely at Carter and Teal’c. “Although these cannot receive what we have to give.”

“We can’t?” Carter asked, raising her eyebrows. “Why?”

Alten walked up to her and rested a hand on her forehead, allowing his fingertips to slide through her hair. Carter held still, but shot him a warning look. “You were once joined, like the one I made still,” he said. “A trace remains.”

“Jolinar,” Teal’c supplied. Carter nodded, frowning. “And I assume you cannot touch me because of the larval Goa’uld I carry?”

“Yes,” Alten replied. “We could take it from you, and then offer you gifts, but you would not live long to use them.”

“Yeah, so let’s not do that,” Jack cut in. “And what gifts are we talking about?”

Alten gave him another one of those worrisome smiles. He looked far too knowing for Jack’s taste. He had the uneasy sense this guy knew every single thing that went through his head. “I will give you something myself, Jack,” he said. “Because you rescued us.”

Jack took a step back, his hands on his weapon. “Ah, you know, I think I’ll pass. Besides, you never needed rescuing in the first place. That’s why you clearly didn’t give a rat’s ass what the Goa’uld did.”

“Because we knew you would save us.”

“And what if we hadn’t been here?” Jack countered.

“Then we would have stopped them ourselves.”

Daniel frowned, holding a hand up in Jack’s direction, stilling his next question. “Wait, wait... you could have stopped them at any time? And yet you continued to let them push you around? Because you were... what, waiting for us to act? What if we’d missed them and accidentally shot one of you? What if we’d been hurt ourselves?”

Alten spread his hands. “Those things did not happen.”

“Lemme guess,” Jack said. “You knew it would go down that way?”

“Now, you begin to understand.”

“But why?” Daniel insisted. “Why go through all that?”

“We knew we would like you.” Alten swept all of them with his eyes again before focusing on Daniel. “You are so interesting. We wanted to meet you. So, we allowed it to happen this way. What is the harm? No one is hurt, and see, we are friends now.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jack muttered. “Seems to me you tricked us.”

“You made your own choices,” Alten replied. “We did nothing to deceive you. You chose to see us as helpless, and you chose to intervene.”

Jack opened his mouth, and then shut it again. The little guy had a point, much as he hated to admit it. “Well, either way, we didn’t really save you. So thanks for the gift, but no thanks.”

“Do not thank us now, Jack,” Alten said, with his little, knowing smile. “You will bless our name later, when the gift comes to fruition.”

“And I say again, not getting the gift.”

Alten laughed, shaking his head. “Oh, Jack. You are simply delightful. Do you not realize? You already have it.”

“What?” Jack scowled, taking another step back. “Oh, hell no. What did you do?”

“Sir, maybe we should go,” Carter said, looking back and forth between Jack and Daniel. “Daniel was nearly unconscious earlier, and now they’re saying you have... something. We should probably get you checked out, just in case.”

“Oh, Sam, no, we can’t go yet!” Daniel protested. “We have so much more to talk about. And really, I feel fine. Great, actually. What about you, Jack, you feel alright?”

Jack shrugged. “I don’t feel any different, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. And Carter’s right, you were seriously out of it.”

“But, Jack—”

“Ah!” Jack held a finger up, waving it at Daniel. “We can come back later. They’re not going anywhere, and clearly, they can take care of themselves. They like us. We can visit anytime, right?” He looked at Alten expectantly.

Alten shook his head sadly. “You will not return, Jack. You do not trust us, and we are too powerful for your leaders to risk you. Since we have no technology to make us worth the risk, we will not see you again.”

Jack stared at the little alien. If he’d needed any more indication this psychic stuff was the real deal, he just got it. Alten had him pegged, dead on.

“Jack? Is he right?”

Jack gave Daniel a level look. “The final decision on any mission is up to Hammond, you know that.” At Daniel’s impatient expression, Jack sighed and admitted, “But yeah, he’s probably right. Let’s face it, Daniel, there’s a lot they aren’t telling us, and hanging out with mind readers isn’t exactly good for security.”

“Sir?”

Carter sounded alarmed, and Jack wheeled to look at her, then spotted the group of aliens coming up behind them. He turned back to Alten, and the crowd still lingering with him. Many in that crowd were pressing forward as well.

“O’Neill,” Teal’c said. “They are surrounding us.”

“They only wish to say goodbye,” Alten said. “Please do not be afraid. You will not be harmed.”

“You say that a lot,” Jack retorted. “Tell them to back off. I mean it.”

“You will not hurt us,” Alten said quietly. “You know that, and so do we. Allow us this, and we will let you go.”

Jack scowled at him. It was no use bluffing these guys, and the truth was, he really didn’t want to go spraying bullets into the crowd. If it meant saving his team’s life, then yes, he’d do it, but if it was a choice between tolerating a little excessive touchy-feely stuff or killing a bunch of innocent people, he knew what he would choose. And apparently, so did they.

“Don’t go making anyone sedated, or whatever you did last time,” Jack warned, lowering his weapon. “And no more gifts!”

Alten smiled at him. “We have already given our gifts to you, and to Daniel.”

“Hey, I thought I was the only one! What did you do to Daniel?”

“Your gift is his as well,” Alten said. Then he reached up and put his hand on Jack’s shoulder, which seemed to be his spot of choice. Others were coming in now as well, lightly tracing his back, gentle squeezes to his arms, stroking the back of his neck.

Carter and Teal’c had their share of curious touches, and Carter’s hair in particular attracted a lot of interest. Probably because all the aliens had variations of brown and lightly tanned skin, and dark hair. Blue eyes, however, were ignored, although Daniel’s cheekbones remained a hit. Daniel himself had at least twice the number of groupies than anyone else, all pressing close to him.

“Yeah, hi, you’re great too,” Jack grumbled, pushing the hands away when they got close to dipping below his waist. “Isn’t this cozy.”

“It’s actually kind of nice,” Carter said, leaning down to allow a particularly short woman to reach her hair. “They’re not being rough or pulling or anything like that. It’s almost... relaxing.”

“Just don’t relax too much,” Jack cautioned.

“They never touch the exterior of my symbiote pouch, or my tattoo,” Teal’c informed them. Jack nodded, and noticed Teal’c’s smooth head seemed to be almost as fascinating as Daniel’s high cheekbones. Many of the aliens were tugging on Teal’c’s shirt, encouraging him to bend so they could reach his head.

“Daniel? You staying awake?”

“Mmm-hmm...” Daniel had his eyes closed again, and Jack noticed that around him, the aliens weren’t staying at arm’s length as they did with the rest of the team. They pressed close, encouraging Daniel to lean against them.

“Hey, Daniel!” Jack snapped, and Daniel opened his eyes. “Stay with us, you got it?”

“I am, Jack... it’s just so nice...” His eyes were drifting shut again, his head dropping to rest on someone’s shoulder.

“That’s it.” Jack began pushing his way to Daniel, yelling over his shoulder at Alten. “I told you not to do this again! Make them stop, right now.”

“They only give him what he needs,” Alten protested, but the group parted before Jack obediently, stepping away from Daniel just as he reached him.

“Daniel?” Jack caught him as he started to fall, grabbed his shoulders and kept him on his feet. “You alright?”

Daniel opened his eyes dreamily. “Mmm... yeah... Jack, it’s so nice... warm...”

“Great,” Jack muttered. “Daniel’s high.” He looked over his shoulder, where Carter and Teal’c were now standing alone, each with a ring of aliens at a respectful distance. At least they both looked awake and alert. “Hey, Carter, we got anything to wake him up?”

Carter shook her head. “If you’re talking stimulants, then no, sir. We’re only carrying basic medical supplies, mostly painkillers, field dressings, and antibiotics.” She spread her hands and shrugged. “Maybe coffee?”

“Coffee has proven most effective in waking Daniel Jackson in the past.”

“Thank you, Teal’c,” Jack said. He turned back to Daniel and shook him, then thumbed open one heavy eyelid, peering into widely dilated blue eyes. “Daniel! Snap out of it!”

Daniel wrinkled his nose and pulled away, staggering over to the nearest clump of aliens and reaching for them. “Cold,” he complained, his hands spread wide, searching, his eyes half-lidded and sleepy.

“Oh no you don’t.” Jack grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back. He unclipped his canteen from his belt, opened the lid one handed, his other still holding Daniel in place. Then he upended it over Daniel’s head, soaking his hair and most of his shirt in cold water.

“Ah!” Daniel gasped, jerking away. “Hey! What was that for?”

Jack could hear Carter snickering behind him. “Needed to wake you up, Daniel,” he said, fighting back a laugh of his own. Daniel’s hair was plastered to his head, his shirt clinging to his shoulders, and water dripped down his face and neck, pattering to the ground when he shook his head like a dog.

Daniel glared at him. “And you couldn’t try coffee?”

“I did suggest it,” Carter said from behind him. Jack shot her a dirty look. She was smiling sympathetically at Daniel, as if she hadn’t been laughing a few seconds ago, the traitor.

Daniel shivered and sneezed three times in rapid succession. “Thank you, Sam,” he said, pointedly ignoring Jack. He turned toward Alten and smiled. “I hope we get to come back and see you again. I have so many questions. And even if we don’t, I want to thank you.”

Alten beamed and put his hand on Daniel’s chest, his fingers spread wide. “Daniel,” he said. “You will be missed.”

“Okay, I hate to interrupt the love fest, but it’s time we got going.”

“Jack—”

“Daniel,” Jack interrupted shortly. “You’ve almost passed out twice now, and a few minutes ago, you sounded pretty damn high. You said yourself something that feels that good has to be bad for you. Now we’re getting out of here, and that’s final.”

Daniel scowled for a moment, but shut his mouth, nodding.

“Alten, buddy, it’s been fun,” Jack said, waving. “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

Alten grinned. “Jack,” he said, fondly. “Don’t ever change.”

Jack dropped his hand and cleared his throat, aware of Daniel and Carter chuckling behind him. “Right,” he mumbled. He turned to his team, striding past them on his way back up the hill. “You guys about done?” he called without looking back.

“Just about, Jack.” Followed by a not so muffled chortle.

“Smartass.”

~~~

“Are you sure you didn’t ingest anything?”

Daniel sighed and began buttoning his shirt. “I’m sure, Janet. We came, we zatted, we did this interesting group touch communication thing, and we left.”

Jack sauntered over, holding a cotton ball to the inside of his elbow, wearing his fatigue pants and black tee. “Translation—Daniel got group hugged by a bunch of telepathic aliens, got high, and nearly passed out. Twice.”

Daniel glared. Jack grinned at him, removed the cotton ball, and tossed it across the room, missing the trash can by a good two feet.

“Well, he’s in perfect health,” Janet said, frowning at the chart in her hands. “I haven’t gotten the blood work back yet, but all his vitals are excellent. Better than when he left, actually. His blood pressure is down to a much healthier level.”

“Great.” Daniel hopped off the bed. “So I can take a shower and write my report? I want to get some of my observations down right away, while they’re still fresh.”

Janet frowned, studied the chart again, and then sighed. “Well... pending your blood results, there’s really no reason to keep you. But stay on base, alright?”

“Sure, Janet,” Daniel called over his shoulder, already halfway out the door.

“What, I don’t get a goodbye?” Jack shouted to his retreating back.

“Bite me, Jack.”

Jack smiled at Janet and nodded. “He’s fine.” He turned to leave as well, looking forward to a change of clothes. P3R-whatever, which would hereafter be known as the planet of the touchy-feely aliens, had been damn hot. His shirt felt unpleasantly damp all down the center of his back, chilly in the temperature-controlled infirmary, and he could feel grit on the back of his neck.

“Hold on, Colonel.”

Jack winced and halted. “So close,” he muttered under his breath. “Yeah, Doc?” he asked, turning and offering his best charming smile.

“Sam tells me these aliens seemed to have certain psychic abilities—and that they said they gave you a ‘gift.’”

Jack felt his smile falter. “They said a lot of crap. Personally, I don’t buy the psychic bit for a minute.” Which was a bald faced lie, but he didn’t need to be tested to within an inch of his life just to satisfy the doc. He felt fine.

“Nevertheless, I want you to remain on base as well, until I get your lab results. At that time, I may want to do an MRI.” Janet fixed him with a steely gaze, daring him to object.

“Okay.” Jack felt sure that wouldn’t be a problem. His blood work would be normal, and he’d be out of there. Hey, he had to stay on base anyway, until the mission debrief, so it wasn’t like he lost anything by agreeing.

She nodded, folding her arms and studying him. Jack mirrored her pose and raised an eyebrow, waiting. “You’re sure you don’t feel any different?” she asked.

Jack raised one hand to his forehead, closed his eyes, and said, “Wait, wait, I’m getting something. Your favorite color is... blue? And right now you’re thinking...” He dropped the hand and stared at her, his jaw dropping. “Doctor! I’m shocked! And you’re a medical professional. Really, it’s not as if you don’t see my naked ass on a regular basis anyway. There’s no call for such thoughts.”

Janet snorted and waved him away. “You’re definitely not psychic,” she said. “If you knew what I was really thinking...”

“Sure, Doc,” Jack grinned, heading for the door. “Sure.”

~~~

“Colonel?”

Jack leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on his desk, crossed at the ankles. “Carter. What’s up?”

“I finished my mission report.” She waved a folder in one hand, as if he couldn’t see it.

Jack twirled one hand. “And? So? Therefore?”

“So I wanted to go over a few things with Daniel before I turned it in. Make sure I got the details right.”

He nodded. “Well, Daniel’s not here, Major.”

She gave him one of the smiles that he suspected covered a whole slew of insubordinate things. “Yes, sir, I can see that. I thought he might be, since he wasn’t in his office.”

“Try the commissary,” Jack said, dropping his feet to the floor with a thump. He turned back to his computer.

“Are you writing your report, sir?”

“Carter, you know better than that.” Jack turned his monitor slightly so she could see.

“Freecell?”

“It’s damned addictive, isn’t it?”

She blinked. “I wouldn’t know, sir. I prefer minesweeper myself.”

Jack shook his head. “Your loss, Carter. Go on, get Daniel. You’ll have to hurry, he’ll be almost done eating by now.”

“Yes, sir,” Carter said, backing away. Freecell. Huh.

~~~

“Hi, Daniel,” Jack said as he walked into the briefing room. Daniel was standing in front of the coffee machine, pouring himself a steaming mug.

“Jack,” Daniel said coolly.

Jack flopped into a chair and groaned. “Oh, for crying out loud. How long are you going to hold this against me? You know we had to leave.”

Daniel set his mug down, took a breath, and abruptly sneezed. He gave a long sniff, coughed, and cleared his throat. “I know we had to leave. What you didn’t have to do was dump a whole lot of water on me and give me a cold.”

“What? Come on, you know better than that. It was hot out there anyway! Getting a little wet does not give you a cold.”

Daniel’s glare was punctuated by another sneeze. “Sure, Jack. It’s just a coincidence.” Then he sank into a chair and curled around his coffee cup, inhaling the steam, his eyes closed and his lips parted.

Carter came in, closely followed by Teal’c. She poured herself some coffee and sat beside Jack, passing her report down to him. “That’s the revised version, sir. Daniel was able to clear up a few details for me.”

Jack nodded, stacking the report on top of his own. Carter’s was, as always, much thicker. Probably speculation about the anti-gravity or whatever the aliens had used. He’d read the bullet summary in the front cover of the original, and it seemed to be mostly about possible technologies and why they should go back.

“So you found him?”

“She caught me just as I was leaving the commissary,” Daniel answered for her. “Where I was having a bowl of hot soup. Not that it helped.”

Jack slouched in his chair. “Geez, Daniel, sulk a little louder. I don’t think they heard you up at NORAD.”

Daniel sneezed, getting in the last word without even speaking.

“Good afternoon, SG-1,” Hammond said, sweeping into the briefing room. “Shall we begin?”

Jack leaned back and allowed Carter and Daniel to take the floor, each one arguing to head back to the planet on a follow up mission for different reasons. Carter was convinced they had technology that they weren’t talking about, especially as she’d noticed the perfect teeth as well. Since the natives seemed so friendly, and seemed to like them so much, negotiation for trade seemed like a good possibility.

Daniel’s argument centered around the unique mental capabilities the aliens seemed to possess, and the fact that they’d had absolutely no fear of the Goa’uld. He didn’t come right out and say that these abilities might be transferable, but he hinted around it. He also noted that SG-1 had been particularly well liked, and already had a rapport with the alien spokesman, so therefore should be the team sent back to planet.

Hammond let them run for a while, and then held a hand up, gaining immediate silence. A trick Jack had yet to master.

“Colonel? Teal’c? Any thoughts on this?”

Jack nodded to Teal’c, allowing him to speak first. Teal’c inclined his head, and said, “There was much they kept hidden, General Hammond. We do not know the extent of their abilities, nor their true intentions.”

“Which is exactly my point,” Daniel interjected. “We weren’t there long enough to find out anything. For all we know, their talents are based on something in the environment. There could be a plant there, or something in the air that with long exposure encourages the development of psionic ability. If we could find the cause, and possibly duplicate it, we’d have a solid defense against the Goa’uld.”

“Whoa,” Jack said, flapping a hand at him. “First of all, even if we can all become mind readers, would you really want that? We’re talking total chaos if everyone got it, and everyone would have to get it for it to be a viable defense.”

Daniel folded his arms and sank back in his chair, scowling. “I still think we should go back.”

Jack frowned at him. Daniel didn’t like to lose an argument, but this kind of petulant behavior was not normal. Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t even trying to listen to reason.

“I would recommend against that,” Janet said from the door. She held up a sheaf of papers, neatly clipped together, and nodded to the General. “Excuse me, sir, but I have information relevant to the mission.”

Hammond nodded. “Join us, Doctor. What do you have?”

She took a seat and placed her packet of paper in front of her, flipping several pages over until she found the one she wanted. “I’m concerned about some of the blood work results I just received,” she said. “Particularly those for Doctor Jackson.”

Daniel shifted in his seat and stared at the table, pointedly not meeting her eyes.

“Yeah?” Jack asked. “Give.”

“The initial workup showed slightly elevated endorphin levels. Now, since endorphins leave the bloodstream rapidly, given the amount of time elapsed between his exposure to the aliens and his blood test, his levels must have been extremely high. Which would explain the behavior you described, Sam,” she said, looking at Carter. “However, those high levels have caused his body to lower dopamine levels to compensate. The endorphins are gone now, but the dopamine is still low. Yours as well, Colonel,” she added, “although to a lesser extent.”

Jack waved a hand. “Meaning...?”

Janet indicated Daniel’s slumped pose with a flick of her eyes. “I’m sure you remember your experience with the light device on P4X-347? This is a similar affect, leading to irritability, depression, and irrational behavior. Now, the imbalance is much less severe in this case, but I would still strongly advise against returning to the planet.”

Daniel raised his head slowly. “Are you suggesting that I’m somehow addicted to some alien mind influence? Again?”

Jack snorted and received a poisonous glare.

“I wouldn’t say addicted,” Janet hedged. “You aren’t experiencing withdrawal. The imbalance is only borderline clinical depression, and should correct itself within a day or two. I’d like to draw more blood and see if there has been any improvement. If not, we can try some medication.”

“What about me?” Jack asked.

She shook her head. “Your dopamine levels are still within an acceptable range. They’re lower than your last blood test, but not something to worry about. You may notice a tendency toward irritability,” she paused and gave him a slight smirk, “but there won’t be any real mood changes.”

“So Major Carter and Teal’c were unaffected?” Hammond asked.

Janet nodded. “Yes, their results came back normal.”

“The aliens said they could not give us their... gifts,” Teal’c said, curling his mouth around the last word as if it tasted bad.

“Something to do with naquada, I’m guessing,” Carter added. “Although they were able to manipulate the Goa’uld, and I assume they would have been able to do the same to the Jaffa, if they’d had to. So naquada probably doesn’t block them altogether. Maybe it only limits their ability to induce the effect they had on Daniel.”

Daniel flicked his hand, as if dismissing the whole discussion. “But you said I’d return to normal in a few days. If the effects are only temporary, and not really that serious, I think it’s worth it. I’m certainly willing to volunteer.”

Hammond frowned, leaning forward and giving Daniel a long look. “Doctor Jackson, I must say I’m troubled by your single-minded devotion to this. These aliens are obviously powerful enough to overcome any team we send, and apparently they fixated on you as a particular target. What’s clear to me is that you were all essentially defenseless against a group of unknowns with the likely ability to anticipate your actions and, in a literal sense, read your minds. Not only is that a significant security risk, it represents an unacceptable level of danger.” He sat back in his chair and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow another mission to that planet.”

Daniel opened his mouth, then shut it with an audible snap. “And Alten knew it all along,” he said after a moment of stony silence. “He told us he knew his people wouldn’t be worth the risk, because they didn’t have obvious technology. Guess he had us pretty well figured, didn’t he?”

“If his people hadn’t brought you to near collapse, twice, then things might have been different,” Hammond said levelly. “And perhaps you should go back to the infirmary now, Doctor Jackson.”

Daniel’s hands clenched into fists on the tabletop, and he ground his teeth together, taking a long breath. “Yes,” he said quietly, frowning at his tight hands. “Maybe I should.”

He stood and strode out of the briefing room without waiting for dismissal, leaving stunned silence in his wake.

“Well,” Janet said after a moment. “I think that confirms the dopamine problems.”

Hammond nodded. “You’d best go after him, doctor. Keep him in the infirmary if you feel there’s any risk he might do something... drastic.”

Jack felt his stomach clench and he took a controlled sip from his water glass. He knew all too well what Hammond was talking about, and he had no desire to find Daniel on the edge of another balcony.

“I don’t think that will be a factor, unless the imbalance has gotten considerably worse,” Janet replied. “Really, this is a much milder case than his experience with the light.” But that didn’t stop her from rising from the table and heading off after Daniel, her rapid steps clicking on the concrete floors.

“Well, that was fun,” Jack said, dragging his fingertip through the ring of condensation his water glass had left on the table.

“There may be an element of addiction after all,” Carter guessed, frowning in the direction Daniel had gone. “He wanted so much to go back to the planet, which suggests a certain degree of withdrawal.”

“Daniel Jackson may be susceptible to such influences, due to his past experiences,” Teal’c added.

“Yeah, don’t remind him of that, okay T? I don’t think he’s in the mood.”

Teal’c inclined his head as if to say, ‘duh.’

“Is there anything else?” Hammond asked, bringing the debrief back on track.

Carter’s “No, sir.” overlapped Jack’s “Nope.” Teal’c simply shook his head.

“Very well, you’re all dismissed. Take the weekend, people, get some rest.”

~~~

Jack stared into the fridge as if it might suddenly grow food if he looked long enough. He’d checked in with Fraiser just before going home the previous night, and had been told Daniel’s blood work was improved, and he’d been sent home. He’d spent the rest of the night eating pizza and watching TV, his all time favorite way to unwind after a mission.

Now, however, it was Saturday morning, he wanted some real breakfast, and the cupboard was indeed bare. “Crap,” Jack muttered, opening the freezer again. It was still occupied by a few microwave burritos, thoroughly frosted, and a box of ice cream with two extremely old scoops in the bottom.

Grocery shopping. Jack grumbled to himself as he got his coat and keys and headed for the car. He’d saved the planet, dammit. He shouldn’t have to go grocery shopping. Thor owed him, didn’t he? Maybe the Asgard could come through with a fridge that never emptied. Or better yet, one of those cool food things they had on Star Trek, where you just told it what you wanted, and zap, there it was. No cooking, no dishes. Jack could totally get behind that.

Jack’s Star Trek addiction was a closely guarded secret, though. He’d even made the occasional disparaging remark about sci-fi in general, just to throw people off the scent. It wouldn’t help his cynical colonel image if his Trekker tendencies were discovered. Too bad, or he would have suggested just such a food replication device to Carter. She could probably come up with it. The woman was more inventive than MacGyver.

The grocery store was immediately aggravating, cold and overly bright, with a droning voice announcing a clean-up on some aisle or another. As Jack watched, a little girl, maybe two years old, went running by shrieking with laughter and carrying a bag of candy the size of her head. Three steps behind and carrying a baby on her hip, the girl’s mother yelled at her to stop right this second. She was blithely ignored.

Jack felt his lips curve into a smile. Maybe his day hadn’t started out well, but clearly, it could be worse.

He grabbed a cart and started pushing it up and down the aisles, frowning when nothing was where he expected it to be. They changed the layout on this place every time he came in. He wound up in the shampoo aisle puzzling over the differences in brand name and price. A box a couple feet to his left caught his eye, and he studied it surreptitiously. Hair dye for men. Huh. The guy in the picture was grinning, his hair a dark brown, and beside him was a smaller picture of the same guy with gray hair.

Jack quickly glanced around, wondering if he’d been caught considering the dye. Two young women pushing their carts next to each other and chattering glanced at him, and the shorter one, a slightly plump twenty-something with dark blonde hair and glasses, gave him a distinctly flirty smile.

Jack grinned and pushed his cart past the hair dye, grabbing a bottle of store brand shampoo as he went by. He still had it, alright, silver hair and all.

Besides, if he showed up at work with brown hair, Daniel would wet himself laughing.

Hey, maybe he should mention the ladies to Daniel. It’d give him an opportunity to gloat a little, especially since half the universe seemed intent on getting into Daniel’s pants. They could have a little contest, going through the grocery story together, seeing who got the most appreciative looks. It would make the shopping less boring, anyway. Jack glanced down at himself, noting the worn jeans and dark green tee, overlaid with his favorite leather jacket. Nothing special, but he figured he had a fair chance of holding his own.

Decision made, he pulled out of the shampoo aisle, skipped the next two, and veered into the specialty foods, where he found Daniel poring over couscous and hummus.

“Daniel,” he said, bumping their carts together.

Daniel lifted his head, startled, his eyebrows lifting high over the rims of his glasses. “Oh, hi Jack. I didn’t know you were here.”

Jack shrugged and spread his hands. “Hey, even colonels have to eat.” He peered into Daniel’s cart, shifting a few items with a fingertip. “What the hell are you buying?”

“We can’t all live on pizza and beer,” Daniel replied dryly. “There are these whole other countries in the world with their own food, you know?”

“Communist,” Jack muttered. “Besides, I eat other things.”

Daniel looked pointedly at Jack’s cart, which so far contained milk, eggs, pancake mix, a case of beer, and a stack of five frozen pizzas.

“Not a word, Doctor Jackson,” Jack said sternly. “I would eat other things, if they didn’t require so much... you know, cooking.”

“Sure, Jack.”

“I’ll have you know I make a mean pancake. Old family recipe.”

“Yes, provided you’re a member of the Bisquick family.”

Jack snorted and grinned at Daniel, who grinned back. “I see you’re feeling better,” Jack said. “No more cold?”

A sheepish look. “Ah... no, actually, I’d forgotten to take my allergy pills.”

Jack rocked back on his heels and offered a bland smile. “Ah.”

“You don’t have to say it.”

Jack blinked. “Moi? Did I say anything?”

Daniel eyed him suspiciously, and then broke into a smile.

“So, your dopa-whatevers are better as well?”

Daniel’s smile faded. “Yeah, I had to go in this morning to get re-tested, and Warner says I’m within a normal range now.” He dropped his gaze for a moment, then turned back to his food selection. “Sorry about yesterday.”

Jack shrugged. “No problem. I know you really wanted to go back there.”

“They could have taught us so much,” Daniel said earnestly, dropping a package of brown rice into his cart and turning back to Jack. “Wouldn’t you like to have the attitude they had about the...” He looked around the busy supermarket and twirled his hand.

“Sure, it’d be nice to not care who showed up at our door, but Daniel, you’ve gotta know what would happen if we could all do what they did. I don’t know about you, but there’s plenty of stuff in my head I want to stay there.” Jack kept his voice low, leaning close to Daniel as they walked down the aisle, pushing their carts.

Daniel sighed, walking in silence for a few steps. “I guess it’s another case of us being ‘too young.’”

“Yeah, but hey,” Jack slung an arm around his shoulders for a moment, “I’d rather be too young than too old any day.”

Daniel chuckled, giving Jack a sideways grin. “You would know.”

“I could take offense at that, Doctor Jackson, but I’m not going to,” Jack said primly. “Because there were these two women...”

~~~

Jack took a deep breath, held it, and then pushed out with his feet, feeling his knees protest as he worked the leg press. Technically, he had a bit more weight on there than Fraiser recommended for him, but he was increasingly aware he was the oldest man at the SGC still on active field duty. Not counting Teal’c, because competing with him never ended well.

Grunting, Jack pushed the weight out again, his hands tight on the grips and sweat trickling down his chest, dampening his tee shirt. He never worked out this hard the day before a mission, but they had nothing scheduled for the rest of the week, and he could afford to be a little sore. If he was going to keep up with Carter and Teal’c, not to mention Daniel, who was getting pretty built himself, he needed this.

Working out one last rep, Jack let the weights drop against the bar and sat up, wiping his face. “Hey, Daniel,” he said, not looking up.

Behind him, Daniel paused, blinking. “How’d you know I was here?”

“Hey, you can take the colonel out of Special Ops, but you can’t take the Special Ops out of the colonel.” Jack turned and grinned, raising his eyebrows at Daniel’s red running shorts. “Whoa... nice Daisy Dukes.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “You’re exaggerating. And it’s not my fault. I ran out of clean workout clothes, and Sam said I could borrow these.”

Jack stared, and then slumped against the backrest of the leg press and burst into laughter, one hand thrown over his eyes and the other pointing in Daniel’s direction. “You borrowed... you’re wearing Carter’s shorts? You... you... oh, I’m never gonna let you forget this, Danny. Till the end of your days.”

“Grow up, Jack,” Daniel grumbled. “They’re not that bad.” He tugged at the hem of one leg, wincing when it sprung back and rode up higher on his thigh. Turning and twisting his upper body, he tried to see his own ass, while Jack fell off the leg press and lay on the floor, howling.

“Oh god... Daniel, stop... you’re giving me a heart attack,” he gasped. “Seriously, they are that bad. Those things are painted on. How did you even get into them? They must be loose as hell on Carter.” He snorted and grinned up at Daniel, craning his neck until he got a view of sculpted ass, outlined in red cotton. “Or at least, they’ll be loose now.”

Daniel crossed his arms and stared down at Jack, turning to face him directly so Jack couldn’t look at his behind. However, this gave Jack an unobstructed view of his front, from below, which meant that Daniel’s loose tee hid nothing.

“Oh, crap,” Jack chuckled, sitting up and leaning against the leg press, still laughing in little fits and snorts. “The front’s even worse, Daniel. I mean it, don’t wear those things. I can’t be responsible for what happens if someone else sees you in them. You’ll be mobbed.”

“The front? What?” Daniel looked down, swallowed, and pulled the hem of his tee down in an effort to cover his groin. “Oh,” he said. “Uh... maybe I should skip the workout today.”

Jack pushed his laughter down and stood, clapping a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. Daniel was managing to control his blush reflex, but Jack could tell he was embarrassed as hell. “Hey, I’ve got some spares you can borrow,” he said. “Let’s just get you changed before anyone sees, or you really will never hear the end of it.”

“Good idea,” Daniel muttered, turning toward the locker room. Jack stayed behind him for a couple steps before shaking himself and catching up.

Jack took off his own sweaty tee and tossed it in the bottom of his locker, then grabbed a clean towel and wiped his face and chest. He pulled some loose gray cutoff sweats from his locker and handed them to Daniel, keeping his back turned while Daniel changed. When he looked, Daniel was wearing the gray shorts and holding a wad of red cotton in one hand, staring at it distastefully.

“You know,” he said, “Sam did seem awfully eager for me to borrow them. Maybe I should have suspected something then.”

“Seems likely.”

Daniel sighed. “Well, thanks for these.” He stretched the waistband of his borrowed shorts out, pleased when they offered plenty of room.

“No problem. Have a good workout.” Jack waited for Daniel to reach the locker room door, and then called after him, “By the way, wearing skintight shorts and going commando is probably a bad combination.”

Daniel froze, his hand on the door knob and his back to Jack. Then he nodded once and made his escape.

Jack grinned and dropped his own shorts, wrapping a towel around his waist and heading for the shower. Those shorts really had been ill conceived, particularly with the obvious absence of underwear. It occurred to him Daniel was now wearing Jack’s shorts, still sans underwear. Hmm. Maybe he should get Carter a gift. Some chocolate or something. Just to say thanks.

~~~

Jack winced as he jumped off a low ledge, landing in a slightly deeper level of the tunnel. He waved his flashlight around, a long white blade of light swishing across the dusty room. The walls were not simple rock, as they appeared at first glance, but dirt encrusted mosaics, thousands of tiny little tiles making up scenes of some long ago civilization. All the pictures seemed to feature a bright golden sun overhead, so Jack was at a loss to explain why the people who made them stuck them underground.

The place was a warren, an interlocking network of tunnels, rooms, and unexpected steps ready to spill the unwary explorer on his ass. Which Jack had discovered about two rooms ago. Dust trickled down from the ceiling and covered the floor, ankle deep in places, hiding bigger chunks of rock just waiting to be tripped over.

If Jack had known he would be hanging out in a place like this, he wouldn’t have worked his legs so hard the day before. But then SG-11 had sent word back about the mosaics and the mysterious writing that was apparently further in, Daniel had promptly begun having kittens over some of the rubbings that were sent back, and he’d pleaded to be allowed to go.

Fraiser had grudgingly cleared him, and Jack, knowing the track record SG-11 had in general, and specifically with his archeologist, had insisted on going along. Carter and Teal’c had chosen to skip this one, which meant Jack was stuck alone with Daniel and SG-11, who apparently all thought of Daniel as a living god. They constantly went to him with questions, observations, and new findings, hanging from his every word. Daniel was incredibly happy. Jack was bored out of his head.

“The things I do for you, Daniel,” he muttered, kicking the dust up as he shuffled across the room. He shifted the package under his arm up a little when it began to slip, surveyed the three tunnels in front of him, and took the one on the right. The next intersection, a round room with a high domed ceiling and bands of alternating blue and green along the walls, offered seven possible branch tunnels. Jack was glad he wasn’t claustrophobic.

He took the third tunnel from the left and hopped down another step, gritting his teeth as his knees and sore thighs protested. At the end of the tunnel he paused, looking into the long, low rectangular room ahead. Daniel was sitting cross-legged in the dirt, his knees pressed against the wall, leaning forward and gently brushing centuries of dust off the mosaic. Behind him, an electric lantern cast a soft, golden glow over his work, glinting off the specks of mica in his hair.

His green fatigue pants were almost entirely brown, and his elbows were thick with dust. Dirt collected in the creases of his neck, and one long smudge crossed his face from chin to ear. As he moved, dust trickled from his sleeve, joining the small piles accumulating on his crossed legs. As Jack watched, Daniel’s nose twitched, and he turned his face into the crook of his elbow, smothering a sneeze. He sniffed, squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, and then went back to his careful brushing.

Jack allowed himself a few minutes to watch. He’d had a long walk to get here, after all. He’d earned it.

Then he crept up behind Daniel, the ubiquitous dust muffling his footsteps, his breathing slow and shallow, undetectable. He waited until Daniel put the brush down and began sorting through his kit, probably looking for a different brush, and then he spoke right behind Daniel’s head in a bright, cheerful voice. “Hi, Daniel!”

The result was quite satisfying. Daniel yelped, tried to jump to his feet, and fell over with a heavy thud when his legs, stiff and nearly numb from being stuck in the same position for hours, refused to cooperate. He lifted his head from the ground and glared at Jack, then rose up on all fours and spit out some dirt.

“Jack,” he said. “I hate you.”

Jack grinned. “No you don’t. I brought you lunch. And a jacket.”

Daniel brightened immediately. “Really?” He stood and brushed the front of his shirt with his hands, sending clouds of dust flying but doing nothing to actually clean the fabric. “I was just getting really hungry.”

“I figured,” Jack said. He handed over the MRE, as well as a canteen of fresh water.

Daniel opened that first, drinking down half of it in one long gulp. “Ahhh...” He smiled at Jack. “Thanks. It’s really dusty down here.”

“Is it?”

Daniel rolled his eyes and tore into the MRE, sitting against one wall and stretching his legs out with a groan. “This stuff is fascinating,” he said between bites of crackers and peanut butter. “The mosaics are so intricate, and so well designed. It must have taken hundreds of workers years to create them. From what I can tell, they aren’t painted at all.”

Jack nodded and wrapped the jacket around Daniel’s shoulders. Daniel leaned forward to accommodate him, still managing to speak and eat at the same time.

“I mean, painted mosaics are fairly common, but the resources and time necessary to find chips of rock that are naturally the color they wanted, especially given the size and variety of color here... it’s just staggering, Jack. Absolutely amazing. People put their whole lives into this. A lot of people. And considering nothing remains on the surface of their civilization, at least as far as we’ve been able to tell, they must have poured all their focus into this. All that energy, dedication, to create these tunnels—and the tunnels aren’t naturally occurring, either. I’ve been making a map as I go, and I’m beginning to see a pattern. They actually dug this place out, started from scratch, or close to it. Jack, it’s just...” He grinned up at Jack, shaking his head, and spread his hands wide.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

Daniel’s smile changed, turned into something fond and familiar. Jack was suddenly reminded of Alten, beaming at him, laughing indulgently and telling him to never change. He cleared his throat and Daniel looked down, opening a packet of pre-cooked turkey and rice.

“I know we won’t be able to stay here long enough to see it all,” Daniel said, staring over at the bit of picture he’d been meticulously uncovering. “Even if we spent the rest of our lives here, I don’t think we’d completely understand it. But I never could have found a place like this on Earth. This...” He looked at Jack, crouched across from him, meeting his gaze evenly. “This is why I stayed,” he said softly. “After Sha’re, and Shifu, when I thought, what’s the point? This is. This is what I love.”

Jack nodded, and then cracked a smile. “I was kinda hoping the company had something to do with it too.”

“Well, yeah, of course,” Daniel replied quickly. “I didn’t mean to imply... I mean, you and Sam and Teal’c, you guys are like family to me now. I wouldn’t want to leave. But this...” He spread his hands, taking a deep breath. “It’s always been about the discovery for me. Maybe we’ve drifted away from that lately, and I understand why, I understand the pressures, the dangers out there we have to prepare for, but sometimes...” He shrugged. “Sometimes I wish it could always be like this.”

Jack looked at him, at his dirty face and wide eyes and the simple pleasure radiating from him. He considered the cramped tunnels, his sore knees, and hours spent watching SG-11 get downright gleeful over rubbings of old walls. He thought of the rough field latrine, the gluey, tasteless rations, and sleeping on the ground.

“Yeah,” he said. “Me too.”

Daniel gave him a wide, uncomplicated smile that made Jack feel like maybe all the bad things he’d done in his life were balanced, a little, by making Daniel smile that way.

Then he shrugged back into the coat Jack had brought him, drawing it close around his chest and shivering. “Thanks for this, Jack,” he said. “I was getting cold down here.”

Jack nodded. “Yeah, it’s damn hot on the surface, but I figured you’d be cold underground.”

Daniel swallowed the last bite of the turkey and rice, chased it with a bit of cracker, and took a long drink of water. “Much better,” he said. “You managed to get here just in time for me to avoid that ‘forgot to eat’ headache.”

“I know.”

Daniel gave him an odd look. “I must be getting predictable these days. You always seem to know where I am and what I’m doing.”

Jack shrugged. “Nah, you’re not predictable. I’m just that good.”

“Right.” Daniel stretched, putting both hands in the small of his back and arching until it popped. When he leaned back, his tee rode up to reveal a sliver of belly, the skin pale compared to his tanned and dirty arms. Jack reached over and tugged the shirt down, straightening the hem.

Daniel paused, frowning at him. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Bringing me food, I get, and even bringing me a jacket—a little unusual, but nice. But fixing my clothes? Come on, Jack, what’s next, tying my shoes?”

Jack drew his hand back, shrugging. “Dunno,” he muttered. “I saw it, I fixed it, no big deal.”

“Uh-huh.” Daniel gave him a long, puzzled look, but then seemed inclined to dismiss it, turning back to his mosaic. He settled back into his earlier indentation in the dirt, folding his legs and selecting a brush. His free hand pushed his glasses back up on his nose and then rubbed the back of his neck, scratching off more dirt.

“So,” Jack said after a moment. “Guess I’ll be going.”

Daniel nodded and waved at him without looking up. “Thanks for lunch, Jack. Oh, and be careful on your way out. It’s easy to get lost in here.” Then he paused in his careful brushing, and twisted, looking over his shoulder at Jack. “For that matter, how did you find me?”

Jack gave him a blank stare, and then looked at the ground, where he was relieved to find the answer. “Footprints,” he said, pointing.

“Well, yes, once you got far enough in, but SG-11 and I have been all over this place. There are footprints everywhere. How did you know which ones to follow?”

“What, you think Teal’c is the only good tracker?” Jack folded his arms, looking affronted. “I have been doing this for a while, you know.”

Daniel wasn’t buying it. He fixed Jack with a suspicious stare, and then shook his head. “You had Janet put a radio locater in me somewhere, didn’t you?”

“What?” Jack began to laugh, propping one hand against the nearest wall and bending over, guffawing at the ground. “Are you serious? You really think I’d do that?” He paused, and his face turned speculative. “Although... it would come in handy...”

“Don’t you dare!”

Jack grinned. “Don’t wander off and we’ll see.”

“I’m going back to work now,” Daniel said, crisply enunciating each word. “And when we get back home, I’m asking Janet about that locator thing. If I find out you even so much as mentioned the idea to her...”

“Relax, Daniel. Go, play in the dirt. Don’t make me come down here again when it’s time for dinner.”

“Uh-huh.”

Jack backed up to the room entrance and leaned against the wall, watching. The lantern cast a pale yellow circle of light, the corners of the room still deeply shadowed. Daniel was in the center of that light, and Jack had the sudden absurd idea the light somehow came from Daniel, that it was the energy, the passion he had for everything surrounding him in that glow.

Jack shook his head sharply and headed down the tunnel, flicking his flashlight back on. He needed to get back to the surface. Apparently the air down here was bad.

Liar, his mind whispered. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

And how had he found Daniel, anyway? He’d come up with that excuse about the footprints, but Daniel was right—this place was thick with them. Besides, the dust was loose, almost like sand, and didn’t hold a mark well. All he saw were indentations, with no way to tell who had made them. He could see his own footprints leading in, and Daniel’s beside them, weaving back and forth, meandering, doubling back, stopping by one wall and then another.

So, he could tell their steps apart, simply because his were in a straight line. But that didn’t hold water, because all of SG-11 wandered the same way. Besides, he hadn’t even looked at the ground on his way to Daniel. Had made no effort to call him on the radio, or get directions from anyone who might know where he was. Jack had simply gone to him, unerringly, unthinkingly.

It was the same way he’d known Daniel was hungry and cold. There was no process of logic, no concept of ‘well, it’s been five hours since he skipped breakfast so he must be hungry,’ there was just... knowing.

Jack stopped in the large, domed room with the blue and green striped walls. Seven passages to choose from, and he’d chosen the one Daniel had taken. Easily. Or what about knowing Daniel was coming up behind him in the gym the other day? He’d heard someone coming, yes, his skills weren’t so rusty that he’d been completely unaware, but to know it was Daniel? He wasn’t that good.

That day in the supermarket. He hadn’t even thought about it. Just, hey, let’s go see Daniel, since he’s here too. And then he’d gone straight to Daniel’s aisle. It wasn’t hard to figure out when his Daniel-compass had gotten so good, either. Hell, the first time it happened was when he told Carter where to find Daniel. He’d even warned her to hurry, because he knew Daniel was leaving the commissary.

Jack slid down one wall and sat in the dirt, thumping his head back three times, hard. “Shit,” he muttered. “Alten, what the hell did you do?”

~~~

Something was wrong. Jack checked his watch again, pressing the button on the side that made it light up. The sun had long since set, SG-11 had all come back from the tunnels over two hours ago, and Daniel was nowhere to be seen.

Ordinarily Jack wouldn’t be worried. Daniel did tend to linger when he was really fascinated by something, and there was no doubt the mosaics and design of those tunnels were a ten on the archeology scale. The whole place had already been declared solid by the engineering team, and there had been no indication of traps. Daniel was most likely lost in his work and didn’t realize the time.

And yeah, he wasn’t answering his radio, but the radios had been sketchy at best on this planet anyway. Once anyone got a few levels into the tunnel network, they failed altogether. So he was late, but really, there was no reason to worry.

Jack knew better. He couldn’t shake the uneasy, antsy feeling crawling over his skin. He paced, SG-11 gathered around the fire and watching him nervously, his hands rubbing his arms over and over. He couldn’t get warm. The temperature had sunk like a stone once the sun set, but it wasn’t cold enough to account for his shivers. Not cold enough to explain the goose flesh rippling up and down his back, sending prickles all over the skin of his chest and legs.

He bet it was cold enough in the tunnels, though. He bet Daniel was freezing.

Jack felt his pacing pick up until he was nearly running and he forced himself to slow down. He brought a hand to his face and rubbed his forehead, trying to focus. His palm was cold and damp, his fingers had a visible tremor. His chest felt tight, a rising sense of pressure coming up his throat, making his breathing fast and shallow. Jack knew what approaching panic felt like—he’d been there enough times in his life to recognize the signs.

There was no reason to panic. Worry, yeah, but panic was a gross overreaction. Jack stood still, his hands clenched at his sides and his eyes closed. He pushed the unease away, the circling, useless thoughts, made them distant. Examined them coldly, rationally.

This was not his panic. He became sure of that suddenly, not a logical conclusion, but a knowing. The sensations were baseless, without depth or solidity. Like a radio station over a tiny little handheld stereo with fading batteries. These things were coming to him from Daniel.

Which meant that Daniel was cold, Daniel was scared, Daniel was approaching panic.

“I’m going after Daniel,” he said shortly to SG-11. He headed for the tunnel entrance at a sprint, not waiting for their acknowledgement.

Jack stopped at the first intersection and concentrated, trying to pull up the easy knowing of Daniel’s location. It wouldn’t come—each choice felt equally good, and equally wrong. He was constantly aware of Daniel’s fear, and Daniel’s struggle to control it, to think rationally. He got no images, no actual thoughts, but the feeling was there, overlapping his own tension, like scratchy piped-in music at odds with front row seats at a live concert. Now that he’d identified the source, it was easy to tell Daniel’s feelings from his own.

Closing his eyes, Jack took a deep breath, holding it for the count of five before letting it out slowly. He was probably overreacting. Maybe his worry over whatever Alten had done to his head was confusing him, making him think something bad was going on with Daniel when really, Daniel was just working. And even if there was some trouble, Daniel was a resourceful guy. He was self-reliant, intelligent. Jack could count on him to make the right choices and do his best to get himself out of trouble.

So Jack would just go visit him, wherever he was working, and remind him he’d lost track of the time. Scold him thoroughly for worrying everyone, and then drag him from the tunnels. He could see it happening. He began rehearsing the speech in his head, beginning with the disappointed head shake, the tight, tired eyes, and the unfeigned relief at finding Daniel well.

His feet began to move. Jack opened his eyes and watched his feet carry him through the left fork, then the middle path at the next intersection. He went down three steps, then chose the first of four different tunnels.

Jack could picture the look on Daniel’s face, could see it clearly. Annoyance at being lectured, at first, impatience with Jack’s control. Then, when he realized how worried Jack had been, apology, concern. Well-meaning promises to not do it again. Earnest explanations of how it was just so fascinating, Jack. He was only going to look a little while longer, and you know, one thing led to another, and wow, was he really that late?

Four more steps down, two turns to the left, then the center path of three. Jack slid his steps deliberately, leaving long scuff marks in the dust, an easy path to follow out. His flashlight shone straight ahead, acting like a compass needle at each intersection, the light swinging to the correct opening every time.

Jack pushed the cold unease and growing fatigue away. It wasn’t his, anyway. He imagined turning down the volume on the tinny radio transmission, until it was just barely audible. Two rights, fourth of seven, then straight through without turning three times. He was deep in now, at least a quarter mile of walking behind him, the air still, damp, and colder with every step. He could see his breath puffing out in front of him, the cold biting at his exposed ears and making his knees ache.

He was getting close now, he could feel it. With proximity came a stronger sense of Daniel’s fear, and he began to lose the easy knowing of where he was. Jack turned the volume down again, as far as it would go, and the knowing came back. He pictured a bright blue thread in his mind, winding along the tunnel paths, connecting him to Daniel. He built the thread up, imagining it growing thick, strong, now a nylon rope. Slim but tough. He reeled it in, pulling himself forward, because it only went one way. He couldn’t pull Daniel to him, couldn’t make Daniel feel anything.

Jack frowned and thought about that. Was this thing only one way? Did Daniel have the awareness of his presence as well?

When focused on, the knowing slipped away, the rope elusive, dancing out of his grasp. Jack consciously relaxed, caught the rope with the corner of his eye. One-way, sure, of course. He knew it without thinking about it, without puzzling over it. To look at it directly would make him lose it again.

He saw the glow of Daniel’s electric lantern first, weak and dimming in and out, unlike his own bright white light. Jack picked up the pace, letting his forced calm dissipate, and the rush of relief he got from Daniel as the other man saw him knocked him against one wall. When he wasn’t choosing to shut Daniel out, the transmission was staggeringly strong.

“Jack!” Daniel stumbled forward, his arms wrapped around his chest, his teeth chattering. “Tell me you know how to get out of here.”

Jack nodded, rallying once the rush of feeling from Daniel eased. The encroaching panic had disappeared entirely. Jack allowed himself a small smile. Nice to know his mere presence was that reassuring. “Cold?” he asked.

“Just a little.”

He pulled Daniel close, rubbing his arms and his back, sharing his own warmth. Daniel moaned in relief and huddled against him, heaving a huge sigh. Jack knew he let it go on a little more than really necessary—Daniel was warm enough to make the ten minute walk out of here easily. Jack indulged himself for just a little while, though. He’d managed to harness an ability he knew nothing about to find Daniel, after all. He figured he was owed a little payback.

Jack pulled back eventually, turning and finding his trail with the flashlight. Daniel switched off his own light, which was mostly dead anyway, and moved with Jack, keeping their shoulders pressed close in the tight tunnel, remaining by his side. “I was lost,” he explained. “I thought I had myself a solid map, but I must have gotten turned around somewhere. There were some mosaics that were exactly the same as others in a different wing of the complex, and I thought I was there, but I just kept getting deeper in, and by the time I realized I was going the wrong way, my map was useless, and my light was dying. I was trying to go with the old rule of keeping your right hand on the wall and always turning right, but for all I knew, I was going around in circles. It was getting so cold and turning right kept making me go down steps, which I knew was wrong, but I kept thinking that it would pay off eventually. There are miles of tunnels down here, though, and without the light, I couldn’t even use the mosaics as a guide.”

Jack let him talk out his anxiety, focusing on following his back trail. “You’re lucky I came looking for you,” he said.

Daniel nodded and gave a full body shiver, his teeth clattering together audibly. Jack could feel the relief and fatigue pouring off him in waves, and Daniel’s strong desire for a hot cup of coffee and his sleeping bag. “I could have wandered in the dark all night,” Daniel murmured, as if he was just realizing it.

“Nah,” Jack replied easily. “I would have found you long before then.”

Daniel pressed more tightly against him as they went through a narrow doorway, and when the space opened around them he took his time moving away. “Thanks, Jack,” he said. He flashed a weary smile, visible as a glimpse of white teeth in a dirty face.

“No problem.” Jack put a hand on his upper arm, squeezing for a moment. “Bet you’d love a hot shower, huh?”

Daniel groaned. “Oh, don’t make we want it when you know I can’t have it. At this point, I’d settle for not being in a cold little room underground. Oh, and coffee. Really hot coffee.”

“We’re almost out now. SG-11 has a campfire going, and I bet your sleeping bag is nice and warm from sitting so close to it.”

Daniel closed his eyes and let Jack’s shoulder support some of his weight for a few steps, trusting Jack to steer him away from any obstacles. “That sounds good.”

Jack could feel how good it sounded to him, how badly Daniel wanted it. Daniel had been pushing himself full throttle since they’d arrived on the planet, dawn local time. He was entirely wrung out, drained by hard work, excitement, and fear.

“Don’t fall asleep on me yet,” he said, nudging Daniel with an elbow. “If you think I’m carrying you out, you can forget it. You fall asleep and you’re spending the night here.”

Daniel laughed softly and raised one hand to his forehead in the worst salute Jack had ever seen. “Yes, sir, Colonel sir,” he mumbled.

“Getting a little punchy, are we?”

Daniel was snickering, his steps beginning to tangle together. He was going to fall flat on his face if he didn’t focus a little. “Are we there yet?” he asked.

“Almost. Daniel? Don’t make me pour water on your head again.”

“You better not,” Daniel snapped, straightening a little. “I’d freeze to death.”

“Ah, don’t exaggerate.” Jack gripped Daniel’s arm again, under the pretense of steering him. Daniel could have frozen to death, oh yes. Could have, and likely would have, if not for Jack’s new skill. He would have looked for Daniel, of course. He would have rallied SG-11 together, and they would have combed the tunnels, but the place was huge, it swallowed sound, and the twists and turns would confuse anyone. Before the night was out, Daniel would have succumbed to exhaustion and hypothermia.

Daniel walked by his side silently, his shoulder pressing against Jack with more and more weight as his final reserves of strength were drained. Jack chattered at him as they walked, prodding him for responses every now and then, and soon his trail led them to an opening with visible brightness, the moonlight stunning after the pitch-black tunnels.

“Oh, thank you,” Daniel whispered as they walked into the open. Jack simply squeezed his arm again, uncertain who Daniel was thanking. As for him, he was thanking Alten. He summarily forgave the little alien for being annoying, obscure, and frustrating. Alten was now one of the good guys in his book.

“Hey, Daniel!” Major Cohen, a doctor of anthropology and the leader of SG-11, stood as they approached the fire. “I see the Colonel dragged you out, huh?”

Daniel sank onto his sleeping bag and held shaking hands toward the fire. Jack pulled him back slightly before he actually put his numb fingers in the flames.

“Daniel?” Cohen frowned, leaning down and trying to catch his eye. “Are you okay?”

The warmth and light seemed to revive Daniel a bit, and he sat back, giving Cohen and his team a tight smile. “Got a little turned around in there,” he admitted. “My light died on me.”

Simons, the team surveyor and engineer, whistled low between his teeth, shaking his head. “Man, it’s a good thing the Colonel found you. I bet it was cold in there.”

Daniel chuckled. “Slightly, yeah. Do we have any coffee?”

The others put together a cup of steaming coffee for Daniel, and Jack drew the edges of Daniel’s fire warmed sleeping bag up and wrapped it around his shoulders. He could feel the rush of warmth that ran through Daniel, and the release of tension as his muscles relaxed. Jack closed his eyes for a long moment, mirroring Daniel’s expression of delighted relief.

“Oh, warm,” Daniel murmured. “God, that feels good. Thank you, Jack.”

“Just what you wanted?”

Daniel nodded, and then accepted his coffee with a grateful smile. “Now it is.” He swallowed the coffee in three long gulps, heaving a heavy sigh as the heat spread from his chest and belly. He gave a jaw-cracking yawn and turned, stretching his legs out. Jack managed to get the rolled up shirt that Daniel was using as a pillow under his head before Daniel hit the ground.

“A little tired now,” Daniel mumbled. “Wake me for my watch.”

Jack snorted. Yeah, that was gonna happen.

He sat beside Daniel for a while, as SG-11 talked quietly amongst themselves. Then Jack set the watch schedule, leaving Daniel out, which was met with no objection. He’d seen quite a few worried looks sent Daniel’s direction, and he’d caught Cohen adjusting Daniel’s sleeping bag more snugly around him more than once.

Jack took first watch, and once he felt confident that everyone was asleep, he allowed himself a few minutes of indulgence, his fingers sliding through Daniel’s hair, his hand resting on the strong back, feeling the steady breathing. Maybe Alten had given him a little more than awareness. He’d never touched Daniel quite so much, not even when he was sick or hurt. The urge for casual contact was low level, and seemed to slip away if he tried to examine it too closely. Much like the ability itself.

But the ability was growing, wasn’t it? More than just knowing where Daniel was, now it was knowing what Daniel was feeling. What he wanted, what he needed. Knowing it in such a personal, intimate way that Jack actually felt it himself.

Jack knew, rationally, that he should report this. He’d obviously been influenced by Alten and his people. Compromised, possibly. He was manifesting a genuine psychic ability. It should be documented, and tested.

Of course, trying to pin this particular knack down seemed to be difficult. Maybe trying to test it and quantify it would make him lose the ability altogether. Besides, what would happen if he told people? Daniel would feel self-conscious, for one. Always wondering if Jack was reading his emotions, if he was giving away too much. Daniel guarded his personal space zealously. He would not be pleased.

Then, of course, there was the possibility Jack wouldn’t be able to prove his claims. That the talent would fail him if he tried to force it. Then what? Sessions with the base shrink, endless medical exams, wary, uncertain looks from his team. From Daniel. And of course, he wouldn’t be going off-world. If he’d realized this ability and reported it before the mission, he wouldn’t be here now, and Daniel would be stuck in a tunnel somewhere, slowly freezing to death.

Jack shook his head. Keeping quiet was by far the better option. Besides, this was an incredibly useful tool. Constant awareness of Daniel’s location and general well being, without the knowledge of specific thoughts that would mean invading his privacy. Knowing enough to keep him safe, but not too much to overwhelm Jack with bits of language and knowledge and memories that he didn’t need.

His hand was in Daniel’s hair again. Jack watched it incuriously, smiling as his fingers developed a mind of their own and traced feather light over Daniel’s cheekbone. Apparently a preference for that particular spot had also been impressed upon him. Daniel, deeply asleep, didn’t even twitch an eyelid.

When Jack considered why he actually wanted to touch Daniel, his hand drew back. There was no why. Reason didn’t apply here. Thinking too much would only complicate matters. Jack grinned and relaxed, focusing on the still campsite, the quiet perimeter. His hand wrapped loosely around Daniel’s arm, the ball of his thumb rubbing the shoulder bone over and over.

Luckily, thinking too much had never been a problem for Jack.

~~~

Daniel bounced back quickly from his little scare, and after a solid night’s sleep, he was ready to go back exploring. Jack noticed he made sure to take two spare sets of lantern batteries with him. Confident in his ability to find Daniel again, should it become necessary, Jack had no qualms about letting him go. Daniel probably wouldn’t get lost, anyway. He’d be doubly careful now that it’d happened once.

So Daniel went traipsing off with SG-11, and Jack dialed the SGC and delivered the morning status report. He didn’t mention Daniel’s misadventure. That would only embarrass Daniel, and since it had turned out fine, there was no reason to go spreading it around.

Then Jack settled back in the shade of a large rock outcrop, in sight of the gate and the tunnel network entrance. He crossed his ankles, laced his fingers behind his head, closed his eyes, and set about mastering his new skill.

Jack was well aware any useful skill set needed to be polished, practiced, and so familiar that calling on it in an emergency became second nature. He believed strongly in the value of training, of drilling a concept into the mind until no thought was required. Until the process of raising a weapon, aiming, and firing was a reflex, until hand-to-hand combat required no planning, no cognitive effort. He needed to be able to find his awareness of Daniel no matter what was going on around him, just like he could scan, reload, and organize a cogent defensive line in the middle of a firefight.

So Jack called the knowing to him, reaching out for Daniel again and again. He relaxed in the growing warmth of the day, allowed his mind to find the natural grooves it fell into, and gently reordered those grooves until they led to Daniel. It was surprisingly easy, and he didn’t know if that was Alten’s influence or his own tendency to think of Daniel whenever he had nothing more pressing on his mind.

It was like reaching out and touching a wall without looking. Just feeling, confident it would be there, ready to support him. If he tried to look at what he reached for, it always flitted away, but as long as he simply expected it to be there, it was.

Daniel was happy again—he could perceive that much. Excited, his mind whirling with the speed of a trip through the wormhole. Curiosity, awe, a touch of pride at the way SG-11 deferred to him. Jack reached a little further, and found Daniel was leading the team to the place Jack had found him the previous night. He used Jack’s own long, shuffling footprints in the dust to guide them. Apparently just before his rescue, Daniel had discovered a room that showed what looked like a battle with the Goa’uld.

Jack shook his head, chuckling. Only Daniel would still be examining the mosaics when he was damn close to panic. Or maybe trying to make sense of the wall art was what Daniel had used to keep in control.

Jack couldn’t see Daniel—there were no images, no sounds. He knew what Daniel was doing, what he was feeling, and could feel it himself, the rush Daniel rode when he was in his element. He didn’t know the words Daniel said, but he knew Daniel was speaking. Daniel was excited again, looking at something, but Jack couldn’t see his face, couldn’t see him trying to focus. Couldn’t see what he was looking at. There was just the knowing that he was studying something.

So there were limits. Jack nodded, and then promptly began to push them. Maybe, if he relaxed further, allowed himself to slip into Daniel’s head a little more, he could get actual pictures. Could see through his eyes.

After an hour of trying, Jack was beginning to get a headache, and the tension was making him lose the easy sense of connection. He sighed, got up, and walked around the camp a few times, stretching his legs. Apparently his new abilities only went so far.

Alten’s people had been able to move things with their minds, to know what was going to happen—precognition, Daniel had called it. Jack wondered if he had any of that. He balked at the idea of actually trying to move pebbles on the ground, though. He could just imagine the reaction if SG-11 came up behind him and found him focusing on some little rock. Besides, even the aliens had to join in a group to move the Jaffa. Maybe it wasn’t something that could be done alone.

He wished he could go back and ask Alten exactly what he could do now. Of course, petitioning Hammond to reconsider a return to the planet would mean explaining why he wanted to go back. And he’d already decided telling anyone about this was a bad idea.

Besides, it was kind of cool, keeping it to himself. He was like a superhero with a secret identity.

Jack considered that for a moment, and then snorted, laughing at himself. He was a little old to be playing pretend.

He allowed himself to slip back into Daniel, walking with no real direction, riding the rush of Daniel’s feelings. Jack was bored, hot, and wishing for a shower, but Daniel was deep in scientific curiosity and the thrill of discovery. Jack could turn up his little imaginary radio all the way, and Daniel’s strong excitement and happiness was enough to drown out his own mild irritation at having nothing to do.

Jack looked up when he suddenly felt cooler and the bright sunshine winked out, and realized he had entered the tunnels. His aimless walking was not so aimless after all; he was heading for Daniel. He allowed his feet to carry him on for a few minutes, but then he withdrew from the connection a bit, pausing. If he showed up wherever Daniel was, again, it’d be a dead giveaway. The night before, Daniel hadn’t asked Jack how he found him, mostly because he’d been so tired and so relieved to be found. But Daniel was already suspicious. If Jack continued to pop up wherever he was, Daniel would start getting inquisitive. Jack knew perfectly well that secrets did not weather Daniel’s curiosity.

Sighing, Jack retraced his steps to the entrance. He began idly brushing a wall clean, revealing a picture of green fields lined with crops, speckled with flowers here and there. The chips of stone representing the sky were a particularly rich blue, and those that made up the sun appeared to be actual gold. Jack wondered how much a place like this would be worth to a tomb robber. Or how Daniel would react if someone suggested taking the gold back to offset some of the SGC’s expenses.

Jack chuffed and carefully dusted away some more caked dirt. Daniel would be beyond pissed. He could even picture the look on Daniel’s face, the little hoppy-around fit of temper, the waving hands. It had been a while since he was on the receiving end of one of those. Maybe it would be different now, with his new perception? If Daniel was angry, would he feel it as well? If they were fighting, then Daniel’s anger might feed his own.

Dropping his hand from the wall, Jack felt his smile fade. This thing could bite both ways. Last night, he’d been close to panic, because of how Daniel felt. He’d been able to separate their feelings, but only with effort. And he’d also been cold, because Daniel was cold. What if Daniel was injured? Hurt so badly he couldn’t walk? Would Jack be debilitated by feeling an echo of that pain?

Damn. Jack folded his arms, leaning his head back against the wall. There was too much he didn’t know. He needed to be able to shut the connection out when he had to. He could call it fairly easily now, touch the knowing without effort. But maybe it had grown too easy—and it had happened too fast. They’d only been back from Alten’s planet less than a week, after all. His abilities had grown stronger constantly since then. What if they kept going? Just how close was he going to get to Daniel?

Jack got up and began to pace, lifting his feet to avoid kicking up too much dust. He knew how to make the link slip away—all he had to do was think about it too hard. But in a combat situation, if Daniel were injured and Jack had to do five different things at once, would he be able to focus on pushing his awareness of Daniel to the back of his mind? What if, in combination with his own anxiety and stress in battle, Daniel’s feelings overwhelmed him? What if he really was compromised as a leader?

“Shit,” Jack muttered. Maybe this wasn’t such a cool gift after all.

“Colonel O’Neill?”

Jack spun, his hands dipping toward his weapon reflexively before he realized it was just Major Cohen. “Major,” he said, as if he hadn’t just been caught completely unaware.

Cohen grinned, his eyes wandering to the patch of wall that Jack had cleaned. “I guess this place is pretty boring for you, sir.”

“Oh, I’m finding things to occupy me,” Jack answered. “Besides, Daniel is SO gonna owe me. I plan on collecting on this one for weeks.”

“Does Daniel know that?”

Jack folded his arms and cocked his head to one side. “He will.”

Cohen’s lips twitched, and Jack could swear the Major was struggling to avoid saying something insubordinate. “Yes, sir, I’m sure. I was just heading up to request some more supplies.”

“More supplies?” Jack narrowed his eyes. “We have plenty of food for two more days. I know you’re not requesting an extension, Major.”

“No, sir, not at all. We’re asking for some lighting equipment. We found a huge room in there, and the lanterns aren’t allowing us to get a complete picture.”

“Ah.” Jack rocked back on his heels and nodded. “Well, carry on, then.”

Cohen nodded and walked past him, squinting as he stepped into the sunlight. Jack watched him go, and then flicked his flashlight on, moving deeper into the tunnels. Daniel was excited again, distracted. He wouldn’t question Jack showing up out of the blue. Jack could chalk it up to boredom if Daniel did ask, and brag about his superior tracking skills a little more.

Two more days on Tunnel World. Jack frowned as he let the link carry him through the passages to Daniel. Two days to practice control of the connection, and determine whether he was still competent in the field. Much as he liked having his little secret, he wouldn’t risk his people to keep it. If necessary, he’d split from the team, so he and Daniel would never be in combat together.

Jack hoped like hell that it wouldn’t be necessary.

~~~

Oh, yeah. Showers were definitely up there on Jack’s list of favorite on-world amenities. Tunnel World had also been dust world. He could feel the grit in his hair, under his fingernails, and between his toes. In the next cubicle, Daniel gave a low groan of appreciation, and Jack chuckled.

“Nice, huh?” he called.

“I think I carried about ten pounds of P27-990 back through the gate with me,” Daniel replied. “I have dust in my ears.”

Jack nodded and touched the link, calling it to him with practiced ease. He felt warmth, relief, and just barely, the sensation of Daniel washing his hair. Fatigue, satisfaction, a pleased glow at a job well done. Pleasant anticipation of sleeping in his own bed.

Then he shut the link out, picturing a concrete wall between himself and the little radio he used to visualize the strength of his perception. The wall slammed into place, and Jack was alone in his own head again, with only the vague awareness Daniel was close by and to his left. He nodded, pleased with how well he’d managed to control this thing.

Most of the time, it was easy to maintain low level awareness, a constant knowing of Daniel’s general location and well-being. If he wanted more, he could call it, and if he wanted nothing, he could shut it out. It had become familiar very fast, and now it was like breathing, or walking, requiring little thought. The true test of whether he could operate under stress would be a real mission, with real enemies shooting at them, but Jack felt confident he’d pass that test.

He was also relieved to find the knowing seemed to have reached a plateau. He still never got images or memories, no words, and only strong physical sensations came through. It was all safely vague. Emotions were the strongest, and even those only came in clearly when he was in close proximity to Daniel, or when Daniel felt them keenly.

He’d managed to get through the rest of the mission on Tunnel World without making it obvious he always knew where Daniel was. It had helped that Daniel was immersed in his work, and only peripherally aware of Jack handing him food and water from time to time. The incident on the first night, when Daniel had gotten lost, had not been mentioned again. Daniel seemed happy to forget it, and Jack was willing to go along. He might have wanted to tease Daniel about it, but having to feel Daniel’s irritation and embarrassment kind of put a damper on the whole teasing thing.

Jack left his shower first and got dressed, grinning at the small sounds of delight coming from Daniel’s cubicle. “Keep it down, Daniel,” he said, chuckling. “People will wonder what you’re doing.”

He felt Daniel’s flash of realization, and then warmth on his cheeks as Daniel flushed. “I’m not—it’s just so nice to be clean. The water is still coming away brown.”

“I’ll bet. Just enjoy it quietly, okay? SG-3 is due in here any time, and they’d never let you live it down if they heard you.”

“Thank you, Mother,” Daniel replied dryly, but Jack could feel the appreciation under the sarcasm. Daniel liked to be looked out for, even if he resented the implication he couldn’t handle SG-3 on his own.

Jack grinned and walked out, feeling more than a little smug. Daniel could be aggravating and impossible to understand at times, but he had the inside track now. He decided he’d have to arrange a poker game with Daniel in the near future.

“Oh, Colonel, you’re back.”

Jack turned and waited for Carter to catch up, walking beside her down the corridor. “Yep. You missed a good time, Carter. Nobody parties like SG-11.”

“I’m sure, sir.”

“So, how were things while I was gone?”

She paused, her face lighting up and her mouth opening. Jack stopped walking and turned to her, resigning himself to a barrage of technobabble when he saw the gleam in her eyes. “I think I’ve finally got the particle cannon refined enough for practical use,” she began. Jack nodded and let her run on. Particle cannon? Why did that make him think of Star Trek again? Jack considered asking what, exactly, a particle cannon was, but decided that would be unwise. Carter might actually tell him.

He felt Daniel come walking up behind him and turned, nodding to him. Daniel was pink from his long, hot shower, his hair still damp and uncombed, a few spikes sticking up in the back and his cowlick wreaking havoc in the front. Jack almost didn’t recognize him without dirt all over his face and a big, awestruck grin.

“Hey Sam,” Daniel said when she paused for breath.

“Oh, Daniel! I didn’t see you coming. How was the mission?”

Daniel beamed. “Amazing. I can’t begin to tell you.”

“Oh, yes he can,” Jack said. “And he will, and then he won’t stop. I have heard so much about mosaics in the last three days that I could tell you about them in my sleep. Please, for the love of god, don’t get him talking about them again.”

Carter grinned brightly at him, and Daniel gave a rueful smile, but Jack was startled by the stab of hurt and resentment he felt. Daniel showed none of it on his face. “Yeah, Jack’s probably right,” he said, grinning depreciatingly. “Besides, I still have the mission debrief to torture you with. I’m planning a PowerPoint presentation.”

Carter groaned theatrically, and then patted Jack’s arm. It was a casual touch that probably wouldn’t fly in a normal chain of command, but Jack was proud his team was closely knit enough to accept such things. Carter certainly didn’t mean anything by it. He thought. He knew it didn’t mean anything to him. But apparently, it pissed Daniel off. Irritation, followed by tired resignation. And none of it ever showed in his voice or manner, his expression perfectly at ease.

“We’ll never survive, sir,” she said, and then gave him a conspirator’s smile. “Maybe we can sabotage the projector.”

Daniel laughed, and it sounded real, but Jack knew it wasn’t. They teased him like this all the time, though. Why would it bother him that much? Jack could feel the resentment, and a sense of... what? Betrayal? And it was directed at him. Jack felt for the link, turned up the volume, and for the first time, got an actual image. He and Daniel in a dusty little room underground, sitting in the glow of a lantern, Daniel eating a cold MRE and talking, wide eyes bright in a dirty face.

The image was fast, so fast that Jack wasn’t sure if he was seeing Daniel thinking of something, or his own memory. He frowned, trying to get it back, but he could only feel the normal link now. Daniel was still chattering amiably with Carter, listening to her talk about her particle cannon, and he seemed fine. Jack could feel his happiness over his time on Tunnel World had drained away, though, replaced by a sense of bone deep tiredness and the growing urge to get away from the SGC, to get home. To get away from Carter, and from Jack himself. Daniel was tired of the pretense, of smiling blandly and pretending.

Jack trailed along after them, falling back a step or two as they chatted. Carter was leading Daniel to her lab, eager to tell him all about what she’d been doing. He could feel Daniel’s impatience with it, and his dutiful interest, allowing Carter to direct the discussion, giving up on sharing his own experiences off world. Was it always like this? Was that why Daniel had been so open in that underground room? Maybe Daniel always felt like he had to put up this front at the SGC, his shell of ‘nothing bothers me.’ Maybe it was only when he was doing what he really loved that he could be fully himself.

It clicked for Jack, why Daniel was so disappointed in him. Why he felt let down. He’d allowed Jack to see how much the work meant to him and Jack had taken him seriously, had really listened. Only to turn around and make fun of it as soon as they got home.

Jack sat down on a stool in Carter’s lab, essentially forgotten as Carter waxed poetic and demonstrated her new toy. Daniel made all the right sounds, his voice as bright and curious as ever, his mind able to grasp the basic principle, if not the higher physics. Jack watched him, and was truly stunned by Daniel’s skill, because he never would have known. Never would have seen through the front.

Jack put his arms around his middle, because Daniel wanted to do it and didn’t. Daniel wanted to retreat, to relax, to not have to make an effort to please those around him. But his determination to be a good friend, a good teammate, and a good soldier made his own desires secondary.

Daniel was interested, calm and happy by all appearances, and it was an exceedingly clever mask. Jack shook his head, and wondered how long Daniel had felt so hollow.

~~~

Jack sat bolt upright in bed, his hand fumbling for the lamp, gasping for breath. He blinked for a momen