Chapter One

The gate began to spin, chevrons locking into place as the announcement came over the intercom.

“Off world activation. Repeat off world activation.”

In the Control Room, General Hammond met the eyes of the technician, Sgt. Davis for a moment. There were several teams scheduled to return today, but one never knew if this was one of them or not. Or if they would be returning in one piece or needing medical assistance. Davis, well used to the procedures, had already paged a med team to standby… just in case. Now he held his eyes on the screen in front of him, waiting for the gate to lock and for an IDC code match. Hammond and he both held their breath until the moment the computer confirmed the code.

“Sir, its SG-1.” Davis said unnecessarily, but this was also procedure. Hammond nodded, gave the order for the iris to be opened, and then moved down to the gate room. Davis followed the general with his eyes, until he lost sight of him. The soft thunk of the FRED exiting the wormhole dragged his attention back to the room.

Hammond entered the Gate room, his nod giving permission for the SFs on duty to lower their weapons. They did so just as the FRED came through. He waited still slightly tense as the MALP followed. There was a brief moment, and then the figures of Major Carter and Teal’c emerged. They had no sooner cleared the gate than it shut down.

“Major?” Hammond looked at her confused. “Where is the rest of your team?”

She turned to him, her blue eyes wide. “Sir?”

“Major Carter, where are Colonel O’Neill and Dr. Jackson?”

She stared at him mystified then looked at Teal’c. “I’m sorry Sir, but I don’t know who you are talking about.”

“Colonel O’Neill, your CO and Dr. Jackson SG-1’s civilian archaeologist?” the tone of Hammond’s voice was just short of irritated. SG-1 at times reminded him of his children when they were small. He wouldn’t put it past O’Neill for him to have cooked up some practical joke.

“General Hammond I’m afraid that I don’t know who you are talking about. Colonel Ferretti is the CO of SG-1…” Carter’s voice trailed off at the look on Hammond’s face.

“Major, I do not know what kind of joke Colonel O’Neill is attempting to pull off, nor do I know why you are helping him, I do, however know how busy the SGC is and…”

“General Hammond, neither Major Carter nor myself has any knowledge of this Colonel O’Neill or Dr. Jackson, therefore there is no possible reason for us to participate in their attempts at humor.” Teal’c spoke for the first time. Something in his tone or his posture finally got Hammond’s attention.

“Neither of you has any knowledge… report to the infirmary asap. Sgt. Davis, I want you to have Major Ferretti and SG-2 geared up to return to P5X-771 as soon as possible. Major, I want an explanation and I want it now.” He ordered.

______________

Ok well, this is different.was his first thought. Instead of the canvas walls of the tent he shared with Jack, he saw—nothing. Absolutely nothing. Total darkness, not even the variance that a natural dark would have either. Right now, though, this was the last thing he wanted to experience. That’s when he realized that light wasn’t the only thing missing from this equation. There was also a complete lack of sound and sensation as well. He couldn’t hear anything or feel anything. There was no sense of body, not even the rush of blood in his ears. It like his mind was the only thing that existed. Don’t panic, Jackson. There is bound to be a reasonable explanation for this. Maybe this is a really vivid nightmare. Yeah, that’s it. It’s a nightmare and you are going to wake up RIGHT NOW!he commanded himself. Nothing changed. He still couldn’t see, hear or feel a blessed thing. His ‘self’ had other ideas though, how long his mental freak out lasted he had no way of knowing. But gradually he managed to pull himself together, so to speak.

The logical, rational part of his mind grabbed the screaming hysterical portion and shook it hard. Get a grip! Panic doesn’t do any good. Think about what Jack would say if he could see you now. The thought of Jack sobered him like a bucket of ice water as fear filled him. God, where are Jack, Sam and Teal’c? Are they here with me? Am I alone? He forced himself to relax as the panic threatened him again. He forced himself to go over the last day that he could remember clearly step-by-step, hoping it would shed some light on his predicament and keep panic at bay.

__________

“Come on Danny, it’s a big, honking rock fer crying out loud!” Jack’s five-year-old whine interrupted his perusal of the ‘big honking rock’.
“It may be a rock, Jack, but how many rocks have this type of script on them?” he answered distractedly, not even bothering to look up. He tenderly traced a fingertip over the miniscule script that appeared on the boulder. It was a rock in every sense of the words. A huge boulder the size of Jack’s F350 and there wasn’t a space on it that wasn’t covered in this tiny perfect script. The script wasn’t one that he recognized. To make matters worse the size alone of the characters was an impediment. He had measured the writing carefully using a pair of calipers that was in his pack. The script was uniform and no more than a few millimeters in height. Overall, it looked like typewritten work because of the total uniformity. He tuned back into Jack’s voice, which was droning on about rocks he knew with graffiti on them. Exasperated he shot him a look that should have quelled him in his tracks. Or it would have had Jack really been paying attention.
“Jack, just come here and take a look. Tell me this looks anything like graffiti to you.” He dared. Jack grumbled good-naturedly and slung his P90 over his shoulder. He was just trying to jerk Daniel’s chain. His young friend had been too quiet lately and had slowly been withdrawing from the team and their friendship. He stepped as close to Daniel as he could, reveling in the invitation to invade his personal space. Daniel smiled at him, glowing with the discovery, his eyes warm and happy for a change. Jack caught his breath, this was something that he had been missing lately. He would do anything to keep Daniel smiling like this, no matter what it took.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before.” And with that, he was off on an explanation that Jack, out of habit, zoned on. He just wanted to listen to the cadence of Daniel’s voice and enjoy the opportunity to be close to him. He let him talk for a few minutes then spoke the words guaranteed to get a rise out of Daniel at any time.
“So what’s it say?”
Daniel didn’t miss a beat. “Actually, it’s quite easy to read. It’s a warning to beware of pizza eating, beer drinking, hockey loving, USAF colonels and any gifts they bring.”
Jack cuffed him across the back of the head lightly. “Does it say anything about smart ass archaeologists? Seriously, any clue?”
Daniel huffed, and then shook his head. “Not a one. Nothing that I recognize. I want to get a complete video of the entire thing, then maybe copy as much of it as I can while we’re here. Beyond that… I think this one’s going to take a very long time to figure out.”
Jack nodded in understanding. There was no way they could take this back to the SGC and they were only on planet for 48 hours while some tests were being conducted. “I’ll let Hammond know what you have found and arrange for some halogens to be sent through. Then I’ll help you with the copying. That way we can get most of it before we head back in the morning. Maybe even put Teal’c to helping out once Carter has her stuff in place.” All he got was a noncommittal bob of the head as Daniel turned his attention back to the video camera in his hand.

Daniel could remember spending the day cataloging the surface of the boulder. He remembered Jack returning with lunch, then starting the copying of the script. The quiet companionship was welcome, and for once, Jack didn’t seem to be prone to his bouts of boredom. The only time that the Mother Hen was in evidence was when Jack decided that Daniel needed to take a break and get out of the sun. For once, he had agreed with Jack. The boulder was in full sun and it was very hot. They had used it for some shade, sitting shoulder to shoulder against it, drinking the cool water that had been in a small ice chest they had brought along. Jack had chuckled slightly when Daniel had complained of writer’s cramp, but he had taken the offending hand and gently massaged the cramp out of the fingers and the palm.

The rest of the ‘afternoon’ continued in a similar manner. The daily rotation of the planet meant that the days were actually equal to 48 hours on Earth; so while their bodies were insisting that it was late afternoon, it was still early. It was going to make it very interesting when they finally felt the need for sleep. He remembered the good-natured grumbling that came when at last they had caved in to their bodies demands for rest; it was going on midnight SGC standard time even though the sun was still high. He had taken first watch as usual with Jack relieving him. And that was all he remembered until he had ‘woken’ in the dark.

Fear threatened him again and this time he didn’t have any way of pushing it away. Too many unknowns along with the odd trauma of total sensory deprivation made it impossible to stop the screams that well from his psyche. His last thought was in your own mind, no one could hear you scream.

_________

Jack leaned back against the wall of his cell. He had no idea how long he had been here, or hell, for that matter, where here was. He had woken to find himself in the small 6 x 6 room. He had been dressed, barely. His shoes were gone as was his belt, dog tags, and anything he could possibly use as a weapon or means of escape. Whoever had grabbed him had known their business that’s for sure. Even his watch was gone. He waited patiently, something he knew that his teammates would find hard to believe, him, Jack O’Neill patient. But he had played this game many times before under less than ideal conditions. At least this time, he was warm, dry and in relative good health. He just had no idea where he was. He couldn’t even remember being snatched. His last memory was of crawling into the tent he shared with Daniel and wishing for the umpteenth time he was the pillow that Daniel had been cuddling. Incipient worry over the fate of the rest of his team had kept him busy.

That was the worst, not knowing. Was he the only one being held? Where were they? Were they ok? Given his current treatment, he wasn’t being tortured and necessities were being given him, he could only assume that the rest were being treated in the same manner. Something that he knew wasn’t necessarily logical or true, but a lie he could live with. So he sat and waited, passing the time with his mental repertoire of Daniel-fantasies and plans to escape if he ever got the chance.

He had thought to make a break for it when the door to his cell opened, but so far, his meals had appeared through a tiny slot at the bottom of a wall. No tray for battering, no utensils for weapons. Just a type of bread bowl and a hearty stew like substance. His liquid requirement was met by an edible type of fruit that killed his thirst quite well. He could be patient, someone would have to come for him sometime, and when they did, well, he didn’t need weapons to kill. He had his hands, more than enough to do the job.

___________

General Hammond looked in absolute amazement at the group clustered around the briefing room table. Feretti and SG-2 were sitting on one side, Sam Carter, Teal’c and Dr. Fraiser on the other. Dr. Fraiser had just finished giving her report having found no medical reason for the amnesia that Carter and Teal’c were experiencing. All of her tests had come up negative; no signs of blunt force trauma, no alien drugs, no brain tumors, nothing. Nothing to explain why two of his best team were missing and their remaining teammates hadn’t even known they were gone. Hell, he thought they don’t even know who they were much less what has happened to them.

“Major Feretti?” he turned to the CO of his second team. Surely something had been found on the planet. Something that could give them a direction to look in.

Feretti shook his head. “Sorry, General, but our sweeps came up with nothing. No signs of any weapons fire, no indication that anything happened on the planet at all.” Feretti looked at Hammond his next words laden with force. “In fact sir, there were no signs that Colonel O’Neill and Dr. Jackson had ever been on the planet. The only tracks we found were those consistent with Major Carter and Teal’c’s movements. There were no signs that anyone had approached that rock that Dr. Jackson had wanted to study.” He sighed. “General, it’s like they were never there. I took the liberty of going through SG-1’s supplies that they returned. It is consistent with what I would expect a two person team would require and return with after a peaceful mission.”

“Let me see if I understand you all. There is no medical reason why Major Carter or Teal’c have no memory of the men they have served with for the past two years. Correct, Doctor?” she nodded. “And there is no sign that they were even on the planet?” Hammond slammed his hands on the table. “People this is unacceptable. We have two of our best people missing and no one has any idea what the hell has happened to them?” He glared at his officers for a few moments. “I expect some answers people. Contact the Tok’Ra and see if they know anything. Also the Asgard, it is possible that they may have ‘borrowed’ the Colonel and Dr. Jackson once again.” He stood. “Dismissed.”

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