Title: Beware the Words.

Author: Tiffany

Fandom: Stargate SG1

Summary: Jack gets the team into trouble when they 'gate to a cursed planet.

Category: Humor, Drama, Challenge response

Spoilers: Don't think there are.

Season/Sequel info: Written 3rd season, Set 3rd season just after Fair Game

Rating: PG-13 if that

Content Warnings: None

Notes: This a response to the Cursed Planet 'plots r us' idea on the H/C list.

What am I forgetting? Oh yeah.

Archive: WWOMB, yeah!

Disclaimers: The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of Showtime, MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment.

That said, the story itself is mine. Circle-c'd Oct 1999, and updated slightly Oct 2003.

Beware the Words
by Tiffany

Jack stumbled down the steps of the dais and nearly ran into the dial home device.

"Great place to put the DHD," he muttered to Carter. She skidded to a halt beside him, rubbing her arms and making ‘brring’ noises. "Someone could get hurt with it so close to the Stargate."

Teal'c walked out of the blue event horizon, nearly bumped into Carter who had to scramble to round the DHD to get out of the way. Last came Daniel, popping out of the Stargate at something faster than a walk and slower than a run. Unable to stop his forward momentum in time, he tumbled down the stairs, barrelled into Jack, bowling them both into the DHD.

The Stargate deactivated with an audible snap.

"Owe! Dammit, Daniel!"

"Sorry," Daniel muttered, retrieving his glasses before Jack’s flailing could break them.

Jack and Daniel disentangled themselves from each other and got to their feet. Grumbling under his breath, Jack rubbed a his head. The back was tender from the collision with the DHD, and his forehead sore from meeting Daniel’s. Daniel, he was perversely gratified to see, was rubbing his own temple while squinting at their surroundings.

Daniel’s hand moved from his head to his neck as he frowned at the Stargate. "Why is the DHD so close to the Stargate?" he asked faintly.

"I don’t know." Jack adjusted his baseball cap. "Maybe a race of skinny people with short steps? Platform’s barely large enough to stand on." The dais the Stargate stood on was just wide enough to hold it and one person. The steps, though steep, were too narrow for an adult foot.

"This place is weird," Jack proclaimed.

The trees surrounding the clearing they stood in were skeletal. The evergreens looked decided less green than was healthy. They were all shaped in humanesqe poses like that of a Joshua tree, though not nearly so gnarled, that added to the skeleton effect.

The clearing was mostly dirt, with a scattering of yellowed grass and old snow. The wispy clouds the MALP sent back images of had thickened into a churning gray ceiling. Despite the color, it was light enough to see. There were two vague glowing spots at the noon position, looking like eyes staring down at them. Which was this planet’s sun and which the moon was impossible to say. Neither spot was any brighter than the other.

Though the clouds were in motion and a small dust devil blew at their feet, the trees were completely still. The silence was almost palpable.

"This looks like the set of a horror movie," Jack commented. "All we need is the full moon and spooky noises and we’d be all set."

"Don’t forget the mist," Daniel chuckled.

"No, it wouldn’t be complete without the mist," Jack agreed. "Major?"

"UAV showed the buildings to be this way."

"Everybody ready? Right, lets go check out this place. Hope it’s not a ghost town like the pictures made it look."

He got a resounding agreement from Daniel as they started off to their destination.

"This place is a little spooky," Daniel muttered, looking over his shoulder at the howling wind.

"Tell me about it." They could hear the wind but could not feel it. The trees remained absolutely still.

"I keep expecting to see a haunted house appear out of no where."

"Yeah, or an old grave yard with ghosts hanging out."

"Better yet, with mummies jumping out of the sarcophagus, like in the old movies."

Jack had to laugh at that one. "You would know that one better than any of us."

"Well..."

Jack chuckled. "Just so long as its not me it puts it’s smelly mitts on."

"You two are incorrigible," Carter said with a smile.

"What?"

"Next thing you know you’re going to start telling old campfire stories."

"I like old camp fire stories. The scarier the better."

"You mean to scare the…" Carter stopped mid sentence. Her tone changed from bantering to very perplexed as she said, "This wasn’t here when the UAV flew over."

"What wasn’t?" Daniel asked, stopping next to her. She pointed down the hill. "Oh."

Jack and Teal'c joined them on the rise. Below them, the barren trees petered out into another clearing, this one fenced in with barbed wire. An old wood planked building stood lopsidedly at one end of the field. One huge, gnarly tree stood in the middle, its branches overhanging rows of masonry and dying vegetation.

"Carter, are you sure we’re going in the right direction?"

"Yes, sir. The buildings should be just over that hill." She indicated the rise behind the graveyard. "But this wasn’t here before. It was all forest. No clearings. No buildings. Definitely not…that!"

"Well, it’s there now."

"Yes, sir."

"Very spooky," Daniel muttered seriously.

"No kidding." Jack looked at his team, then the new signs of old civilization. It didn’t look dangerous. In fact, it looked abandoned. For a very long time. "Okay, campers. We’ll just go see what we have here. Everyone look sharp." With that, he led them down the hill.

They paused at the fenced in clearing. Most of the grave stones were crumbled or flattened. A few were missing altogether. The writing on some of them was worn down so far that all that was visible was a faint design of light gray on dark gray stone. Jack squinted at one of the clearer etchings. It might have been a name, he couldn’t tell. He wasn’t even certain if the writing was human.

Daniel leaned as far over the fence as he could without actually touching it. His brow furrowed as he mouthed something but remained silent. Teal'c warily eyed the building. It looked as if the wolf could blow it down with something considerably less than a huff and a puff. Carter was simply taking in the scene with a very confused expression on her face. Jack could almost hear her mind working, trying to come up with a theory to explain how the UAV could have missed something as obvious as this.

A low moaning noise came from the direction of the Stargate. Everyone spun around, Jack and Carter with their rifles up, Teal'c with his staff weapon at the ready. They saw little more than empty trees.

"Uh, what was that?" Daniel asked, trying to keep the nervousness from his voice. His hand did not stray from his holstered gun.

"Owl?" Carter suggested, looking equally pale.

"What is an owl?"

"Bird," Daniel explained, absently, eyes still on the forrest. "Nocturnal animal that…"

"Makes sounds like somebody asking ‘who, who?" Jack finished, cutting off the long explanation he felt certain was coming.

"The noise I heard did not sound like some one asking ‘who, who?’ It sounded more like…" The moaning interrupted Teal'c.

"That?" Daniel asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Yes, Daniel Jackson."

"It’s just an animal of some kind," Jack said in a tone that said do not argue.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed uncertainly, "just an animal."

"Of course, sir."

A moment of uncomfortable silence as they all looked at each other, the empty woods, and the grave yard.

"I suggest we leave this place."

"Good idea, Teal'c. Come on, campers." Still, Jack threw one last glance over his shoulder.

Part way down the next hill, Jack stopped to whistle at a split tree. Not a branch went uncharred, but the ground was untouched by the fire. The tree was split cleanly in half, the parts leaning away from each other. Brows up, Jack walked through the part. It was just wide enough for him to stand in.

"Must have been some lightning strike." Carter was suitably impressed.

Daniel and Teal'c took one look at the tree and mistrustfully eyed the clouds. Jack almost laughed, their heads going up was so neatly choreographed.

"Don’t worry," he said, giving Teal'c a slap on the shoulder. "If a storm starts, we’ll come back to this tree. Everyone knows lightning never strikes the same place twice."

Carter snorted but refrained from commenting. Teal'c merely raised a brow as he followed the rest of the team.

The buildings, it turned out, were relics. Closed and locked up relics, not run down enough to be considered ruins, but ancient none the less. As they walked among the buildings, Jack couldn’t help but feel like they were walking in a ghost town. The place felt like it’s residents just left for a meeting, intending to come back but never did. It was eerie.

"They looked newer in the pictures," Carter commented. There had been no signs of life, no heat readings, nothing to indicate the town was still in use. However, the structures had looked recently made and appeared to be well kept. All indications via remote said that if the inhabitants had left, it had been recently. It was enough to spark curiosity from those on Earth.

"Obviously, they were wrong."

"Yes, sir."

"I wonder why they are all closed up?" Daniel asked, running his hands over the walls of one of the buildings.

"I wonder what’s inside?" Jack stopped by what appeared to be a door. It was a good head taller than he, but very narrow. If he tried to enter, his shoulders would be in the way. He knocked and was not disappointed to not receive an answer.

"What did you find, Daniel?" He heard Carter ask from somewhere down the road.

"Uh, writing, I think."

Jack joined his team around an obelisk standing in the middle of the main road. It stood slightly taller than him, each side as narrow as the doors on the buildings. It was riddled with carvings that even Jack could tell was too varied and broken to be mere decoration. Unless these people had no sense of aesthetics, that is. It was the only new looking thing around.

"So, what’s it say?"

Daniel fingered the engravings as he slowly circled the obelisk. "I don’t know," he said with a frown, eyes wondering up and down the statue.

Why did he find that bit of news irritating? "You’re the linguist, Daniel," Jack said with a roll of his eyes. "You’re supposed to be able to read things like…that."

Daniel shot him an annoyed look. "Not when they’re…" His voice trailed off as he returned his gaze to the writing. He finished his sentence in a perplexed whisper. "…alien?"

"What?" Jack moved closer to hear Daniel’s mumblings.

Daniel shook his head as if to clear it. He gave the obelisk a wary look and backed up a step. "I think I can read it," he said uncertainly.

"Why didn’t you say so in the first place?"

"It didn’t look familiar at first."

Jack broke the short silence that followed with, "And?"

"Oh." Daniel started out of his musings. "Well, it’s a warning, of sorts. The same thing written on all the sides, to make sure everyone can see, no matter where they are approaching from."

A distant rumble took their attention. As did the darkening clouds.

"Thunder," Carter said softly. "But I didn’t see the lightning."

"Okay." Jack rubbed the prickles on the back of his neck. "We’ll keep an eye on it. First sign of the storm heading this way and we’ll leave."

He turned back to Daniel. "What’s it a warning of?"

"A curse, I think."

"Curse?" Well, it would fit with the ambiance of this place.

"Yes. Directed at the people who lived here, I think."

"You think?"

"Well, I can’t make it all out, not without some time to study it. But, this passage, here," he waved to a stilted line about a quarter of the way down. "It says ‘Beware the words of the first birth through the passage of stars and take heed, for all that is uttered shall be.’"

Another rumble shook the air around them. Louder this time, and still no sign of lightning.

Jack took his eyes off the clouds to ask Daniel, "What’s that suppose to mean?"

"How should I know? The rest of the inscription probably says if I…"

A third round of thunder drowned out his words, causing everyone to jump. It sounded like it came from just over head.

"Okay," Jack was beginning to get the creeps, "lets get out of here. We can come back later when we’re not in danger of being attacked by the weather," he added, cutting off any chance of Daniel protesting. He was surprised to see Daniel nodding in agreement. So the planet wasn’t getting to just him.

They started back for the Stargate, trying to ignore the darkening sky and the lightningless thunder. They paused at the split tree.

"Wasn’t this further up the hill?" Jack asked. The only answer he received were uneasy looks. They continued on without further comment, uncertain what to make of the change.

They stopped again at the graveyard.

"Is it just me or does it seem to be taking us longer to get back?"

"Feels like it’s longer, Daniel," Carter answered. "But it’s the same distance."

"I know. But… Uh, Jack?"

Jack turned to see what had the scientist’s attention. A charred tree stood lopsided several yards from them.

"We would have heard that."

Carter moved to investigate. "It’s cold," she said with a frown. "It wasn’t recent." Unspoken was the fact that it looked exactly like the one on the other side of the hill. Jack was sure they would have noticed the landmark earlier.

It was Teal'c who voiced the uneasy idea in all their heads. "The forest has changed its configuration. The trees have moved."

"Whoa." Jack put a hand up as if trying to stop the notion from entering his head. "What are you saying? They pulled up roots and found a better spot to stand?"

Teal'c lifted both brows at him.

"No." They were imagining things. That had to be it. This place was getting to all of them. "Trees don’t just move of their own acc… Never mind," he whispered, shaking his head, wide eyed at the cemetery. The massive tree that had been in the center of the graveyard was now sitting at the far left hand corner, its branches hanging over the barb wired fence.

"Carter?" he asked, hoping for a logical explanation. She chewed her lower lip and shook her head, at a loss for ideas.

A long pause. Then Jack proclaimed , "’543 is way too weird!"

"I’ll say," he heard Daniel mutter under his breath.

Jack nervously gripped his rifle. "Let’s get out of here, folks."

"Yes sir," Carter agreed with feeling.

The thundering died down as they neared the clearing. They once again heard the moaning of wind, but saw no evidence of it. Then they finally reached the clearing.

"What the hell?" Jack shouted at the planet. The Stargate was not there. The others milled in stunned disbelief.

Jack stalked to the DHD, which was where it was supposed to be. "Someone must have moved it."

"But there’s no one here, sir."

"So it sprouted legs and walked away?"

"No, sir."

"So someone must have taken it. Or something."

Carter nodded. But there was no sign that anyone other than SG1 had been around for a very long time. And they could find nothing that might indicate what the ‘or something’ might have been. For all they could determine, the ground opened up and swallowed the Stargate.

"Maybe it has something to do with this curse the obelisk talked about," Daniel suggested from his seat next to the DHD.

"You think a curse made the Stargate disappear?" Jack put his aching head in his hands.

Daniel shrugged. "I don’t know. But what if the curse is really a defense mechanism? What if these people, who ever they were, found a way to make the Stargate inaccessible?"

"Kind of like the iris?" Carter asked. "Only they let people in, see if they like them, then let them go if they do?"

"Something like that."

"And they would keep people they don’t like?"

"Well, Jack, would you go to a planet where your people have gone before and never came back?"

"Not too likely," Jack admitted with a grumble.

"Well, what ever happened, maybe the obelisk can help. If I had a little time I’m sure I can decipher what it says."

Jack eyed the sky. The clouds were darker, but he suspected it was because the two blobs of light were descending on opposite horizons. And it was starting to get chilly.

"It beats standing around here," Jack admitted, getting back to his feet. He glanced warily at the woods they had recently emerged from. It might be the dusk playing tricks with his eyes, but the forest looked denser, somehow, more claustrophobic. "This time we mark our path. Just in case."

The trip back was slower going. SG1 stopped every so often to mark their path cutting small ‘x’s on the bark of the trees. The bark gave easily under their knives. They only needed to swipe the blade on the tree once to make a sufficiently deep enough mark. It felt too much like cutting through flesh for comfort.

The temperature decreased rapidly in their trek toward the buildings. And it had started to sprinkle about the time they reached the grave yard. The wind continued to make eerie noises without touching the team or the trees around them. Jack called for a halt as soon as the grave yard was out of sight. He didn’t want to add to the general unease by camping next door to dead people.

Before long they had tents up, a cold meal and luke warm drinks provided by a fire that fought valiantly but vainly against the steady drizzle. Jack, who was too spooked to sleep but would not admit it, took first watch.

"Good night, kids," he said as Daniel stifled a yawn and stood to brush off his pants. Carter had already disappeared into her tent until her turn at watch. "Don’t let the bogeyman get you," he added with a chuckle.

Teal'c paused and frowned. "What is a ‘bogeyman’?

"A childhood bad guy," Daniel explained trying to kill another yawn. "He was the cause of all the things that went bump in the night. Liked to hide in closets and under the bed, or in lurk in the shadows when your parents came in to show you there was nothing there."

"Sounds like you have experience with him, Daniel."

"Over active imagination. My parents never could totally convince me that there was nothing there." Daniel shrugged and stopped trying to hide the yawns. "Now I wait till I’m too tired to worry about it." With that, Daniel crawled into his tent.

Jack frowned at the closing flap and wondered why Daniel looked uncomfortable with the conversation. Teal'c interrupted his thoughts before they could go far.

"What does this bogeyman look like?"

Jack was surprised. Teal'c sounded like he wanted information on a real enemy. "Okay. Picture something as pigheaded as Kinsey, turns up at all the wrong moments like that slimeball Maybourne, and is as weasily as Samuels, wrapped up in a body as ugly as the Unas. Well, no," he muttered, correcting himself. "Scratch that. Compared to them, Unas is down right pretty. Any way, you get the idea. Not something you want sneaking around your bedroom at night."

"Indeed." Teal'c had one brow raised and the other furrowed. He seemed to be giving the idea considerable thought. Jack tried to hide his grin at the expression.

"Good night, Teal'c."

"O'Neill," Teal'c acknowledge with a nod. He entered his own tent, leaving Jack alone in the Halloweenish night.

*

Teal'c looked around their little camp site. The rain had mercifully stopped before his turn at watch and the fire had been revived. The wind had stopped sounding like someone in pain and now merely sounded like the sighs of a very bored person. That strange animal like noise they had heard earlier was silent. Twice he heard the words "who? who?" float through the air in what sounded suspiciously like O'Neill’s voice. Teal'c was certain he was playing a prank on them but had not yet been able to catch the colonel in the act.

It looked like it was going to be relatively quiet night. Teal'c thought that was a good thing. This place was unnerving enough without further help.

Then he heard the crack of a branch snapping. Still crouching, Teal'c whirled toward the noise. It echoed unnaturally loud in the stillness. A moment later a second crack occurred, closer this time. Teal'c slowly stood and moved to the outer edges of the firelight to investigate. He powered up the staff weapon and held it at the ready.

The ugliest creature Teal'c had ever seen sidled out of the shadows. It stood as tall as an Unas but broader to accommodate the vaguely familiar three heads. One was a meld of human and pig features, its beady eyes narrowing as it sighted Teal'c. The head near the other shoulder was an amalgamation of human and a furred creature Teal'c did not immediately recognize. The head in the middle looked like a blob of green gelatin shaped into the rough features of eyes, nose and mouth. The blob and the furred one were bickering with each other over who would get possession of Teal'c.

Not quite believing his eyes, Teal'c took a step back. The being took a menacing step forward. It was poorly balanced on two legs that were too short for it. It had six arms, one furry and clawed, one green and dripping, and one pinkish and misshapen, on each side. And the arms were ambulatory. Sometimes the clawed on was on top, to be replaced with the pink one. Once the gooey one on the left was on the bottom while its counterpart on the right was in the middle.

It advanced another wobbly step. The pig head ordered to the others to quit their arguing, they could share Teal'c and split the others. Suddenly all three heads were focused on him.

It never occurred to Teal'c to wonder how the thing knew his name. It took a third step towards him and instinct took over. He aimed and fired.

A hole burned through the thing’s chest just below the pig head. The furred head regarded it with a frown but refrained from commenting. The creature advanced, unfazed by the damage that and the second blast caused.

Before Teal'c quite knew what was happening, a clawed hand scraped by his arm as it reached for the staff weapon. A green arm struggled to get a grip on his t-shirt while the misshapen pig hands tried to get a strangle hold on him. Teal'c twisted and turned and tried to fight off the multi-armed attack. The being was stronger and much more agile than it looked.

Teal'c avoided a punch by the pig hand, head butted the gelatin head, and tried desperately to keep control of the staff weapon. The furred head squealed and the pig head snorted when Teal'c kneed an apparently tender spot. Teal'c used the moment of vulnerability to flip the being over. However, one claw and one dripping green hand kept their grasp of the staff weapon and pulled Teal'c down as well. It then gained the upper hand by flipping over and pinning Teal'c beneath its bulk.

The wrestle for the staff weapon put the blossom end directly beneath the blob head. Teal'c gouged himself forcing the claws out of the way so he could pull the trigger. The being bounced back a bit at the shock and green goo rained down on them. Horror struck, Teal'c watched as green liquid bubbled up from the neck and started to set itself back into the vaguely human features of a face.

"Teal'c!"

Pig head looked behind itself. Teal'c used the temporary advantage of the distracted pig and healing gelatin to push the being over and gain his knees. It backed away, the furred head squealing as he brought the weapon down on it and fired.

"Teal'c! God dammit, what are you doing?"

That was not exactly what he expected to hear from O'Neill. Teal'c spared a moment to look over his shoulder. O'Neill was sprawled on the ground, using the fire as cover, his rifle up and pointed at the creature. His eyes, however, were glued to Teal'c, and they looked both angry and confused.

"Teal'c! Can you hear me? What’s going on?"

Could he not see the creature? Teal'c turned back to the now silent enemy. It was gone!

Teal'c blinked. He turned, staff weapon up, but found no sign of the creature. Breathing heavily, he powered down the staff weapon and used it to pull himself to his feet.

"Teal'c?" The colonel was now on his feet, approaching cautiously.

"O'Neill." Exhausted and sore, he leaned heavily on the staff weapon.

"Okay?" O'Neill asked gruffly. His rifle was still raised, his eyes scanning the woods once again. "What happened? What were you shooting at?"

Teal'c frowned. "I believe I have met your bogeyman." His knees gave way and the world went black.

*

Jack didn’t know what to make of the situation.

He had been awakened during the night by an inarticulate cry from outside, followed closely by the unmistakable sound of staff weapon fire. Then he found Teal'c struggling for his life with thin air. Moments later he was on his back firing at the sky, then on his knees firing wildly toward one of the tents. Jack was relieved to find Daniel and Carter sprawled as he was, taking cover and trying to determine what the threat was. It appeared to be Teal'c himself.

Jack had called to the Jaffa several times, inching his way closer. Finally the fight, or whatever it was, stopped. Teal'c had given Jack a dazed look, as if waking up from a vivid nightmare, then turned off the staff weapon. If there had been an enemy, it was gone now. Jack took his time approaching his friend, just in case. Teal'c merely waited, leaning on his staff weapon as if it were the only thing keeping him on his feet.

Apparently not even that was enough. He frowned at Jack, said something about meeting the bogeyman, and collapsed.

An hour later, the suns, or whatever the brighter patches of clouds were, had begun to rise and Teal'c slowly regained consciousness. Bemused, Jack sat and listened to one famished Jaffa describe in detail the creature he had fought earlier. Now his team sat in uneasy silence trying to digest this latest bit of weirdness.

Jack was inclined to disbelieve it at first. He was quite willing to chalk it up to Teal'c walking in his sleep, fighting off some being dredged up in his dreams. He would have happily left it there if it weren’t for the evidence written all over Teal'c’s body.

Teal'c had scratches and bruises all over his body, most of them gone now, thanks to Jr. The gash on his hand was still healing, as were the not quite finger marks on his neck. Then there was that slimy stuff Jack got an armful of when caught Teal'c. It had been all over the front of his shirt and on his hands and face. The green colored mess had quickly evaporated.

There was physical evidence, yes. But then there was the little problem that no one else saw this grotesque sounding attacker. Jack was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the whole mess.

He wondered how the rest of his team was taking it. Teal'c was working on his fifth MRE. Apparently fighting off three headed, six armed creatures left one exhausted and very, very hungry. His eyes were on the fire, brooding, as he absently rubbed at the cut on his hand.

Daniel was hunched over, also staring into the fire, his face a steady of concentration and confusion. His brow furrowed now and again as a new thought raced through his mind. Jack doubted he was even aware of the food he held in his hands, the remains of the breakfast he had only taken a couple of bites of. Jack was tempted to take it from him and hand it over to Teal'c, who looked ready for another helping.

Carter was biting her lip and frowning, her gaze in the direction of her tent. Jack didn’t have to guess what she was looking at. Amazingly, none of the trees had been harmed during Teal'c’s firing. But there was now a nasty hole in the ground and a singed piece of useless fabric that used to be Carter’s tent. She had been extremely lucky she had come to investigate the struggle. From the looks of it, she was just now realizing that fact.

Jack sighed. Still no explanations, no theories, no suggestions, and no wild guesses. That worried him more than the incident with Teal'c, particularly where Daniel was concerned. Daniel, at least, would usually take a stab before saying that he didn’t know.

Jack had enough waiting around and urged the others onward. They broke camp in silence and returned to the locked up village, marking their way without a word.

*

Daniel rubbed his eyes and rolled his neck. He was getting stiff from sitting here all day. It was too cold, too quiet, and he still couldn’t get the message figured out. Daniel stood and stretched. He needed a break, regardless of what kind of mood Jack was in.

He stifled a yawn. No one had slept well to begin with, and Teal'c’s escapade with the ‘bogeyman’ was the clincher. Now no one was in a good mood and it went beyond the fact of the missing Stargate. It was this ridiculous planet.

Several times that morning they heard the painful moaning. Daniel had thought it was the wind. But there wasn’t a breeze to break the oppressive air, and the trees remained motionless. Then there had been that strobing effect a few hours back. The dark clouds had moved past one of the patches of brighter clouds, making him feel as if he were at a mid morning party. Now, both the moons or suns or whatever those were providing the light were positioned like widely set cat eyes. Daniel’s back itched from feeling like he was being watched.

Daniel warily eyed the sky. The clouds were thick and dark and slow moving now, bending and contorting into familiar shapes as he watched. Dark, fluffy mounds made up a mountain to one side, transmuting into a pyramid as he watched. He used to see pyramids in the clouds when he was young. They were his parents favorite shapes to point out. The clouds moved, inexorably transforming themselves. Daniel found himself unaccountably fascinated by the changes.

The top of the pyramid split off and fell over. The remainder of the pyramid performed mitosis and became two egg shaped mounds. Three oval shaped portions of each mound lightened. The blobs shifted a bit and Daniel was startled to find himself looking into two smiling faces. One was waving. Daniel blinked. They were fair images of familiar faces. His parents, just before they died. The white portion of cloud that made up the man’s face widened, as if in laughter. The hand, which seemed to belong to his ‘father’ stopped moving.

The faces shifted as the clouds moved to his left. Daniel pivoted to follow their motion. They were now over one of the light sources, causing the white clouds that made up their eyes to glow. The image of his mother smoothed into the curves of his lost wife, Sha’re. That of his father sharpened into the unforgettable form of Apophis. The hand darkened and grew.

Daniel felt his jaw drop. The face of Sha’re became smaller, adding it’s mass to the Apophis figure. The eyes darkened again as the cloud mass moved away from the light. The portion that made up the mouth was in a perfect circle. Beside it, Apophis’s face grew larger, the glowing white eyes seemed to focus directly on Daniel.

Daniel stared, unable to get himself to move. The mouth widened, and Daniel had the feeling the cloud was laughing at him. It’s hand was getting larger, and seemed to have grown an arm. The eyes narrowed evilly, glowed brighter, and grew to take up most of the face. Daniel stared, transfixed, as the hand grew larger, moved closer. The smile, no longer dominating the face, twisted up to one side. And the hand grabbed him!

Daniel gasped. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing happened. The dark, giant hand of cloud grasped him around the chest, pinning his arms to his sides, and squeezed. Daniel stood paralyzed, unable to take break his gaze with the glowing eyes above him, unable to utter a sound or to call for help. It became harder to breath as the hand tightened its grip. His chest refused to move in the proper directions. He thought he heard a cracking noise from his arms. One of the fingers adjusted itself to sit on his shoulder, pressing painfully at his neck.

Daniel couldn’t draw a breath as the fingers tightened further. The eyes grew brighter. Daniel thought he heard a chuckle, then Apophis calling his name.

"Daniel!"

Daniel couldn’t even blink. The bright eyes took up his entire field of vision.

"Daniel!" The voice got louder as the giant finger pressed harder.

"Dammit, Daniel!" A little hysterical voice wondered why Apophis was cursing him when he had Daniel in his grip.

"Snap out of it! Breathe!"

Suddenly Daniel’s lungs worked again. He gasped, stumbled back a step, and blinked. Glowing eyes disappeared, replaced by Jack’s worried brown ones. He gulped air and tried to understand the change.

"Jack?" he asked, or tried to. It came out as little more than a croak.

Jack must have understood anyway. "Take it easy, Daniel. Slow down, you’re going to hyperventilate."

Daniel couldn’t bring himself to do more than nod. That was a bad idea. Now the world was spinning. "Jack?" Finally, his voice worked.

"Yeah."

Daniel closed his eyes against the memory. He didn’t think he could stay up much longer.

"Daniel?"

"Okay," he said softly. He wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince more, Jack or himself. Shakily, he straightened.

"What the hell happened, Daniel?"

Daniel knew it sounded crazy the moment it left his lips. "The clouds attacked me?"

*

Jack, combining commanding officer skills and mother hen instincts, decided it was time to check up on his people. It was way too quiet here, even the wind had stopped. As unnerving as the planet was, and with all the strange goings on, he wanted to be sure they were all in sight and well.

There was Daniel, standing in the middle of ‘Main Street’, stretching and taking note of the sky. Jack followed his gaze. The clouds were almost black. If it didn’t rain soon, the clouds would fall on them. Yet another thing to worry about.

Carter was at the edge of the forest, dead wood in her hands. It didn’t look as if she found much. That was just another bit to add to the list of oddities; just where did all the leaves and twigs go? Through their hikes both ways, the ground was mostly dry dirt. Very few sticks or leaves to trip over.

Teal'c was currently pitching the tents. Someone was going to have to share tonight so Carter could have one. Jack hoped they would not leak. Not with the rain the clouds have been promising since their arrival. That was all they needed, to be soaked because of faulty gear with no other shelter and little enough wood.

If that happened, Jack thought, planning ahead, maybe he would get Teal'c to shoot one of the trees down with the staff weapon. They’d have plenty of heat then. Or maybe just blast their way into one of the ancient, locked buildings. Probably be better. Though Daniel would likely have a fit over the destruction of his artifacts.

His gaze went back to Daniel. He was still staring at the sky. Jack frowned and looked up again. He could see nothing that would keep his friend’s interest. Only featureless clouds.

"Daniel!" Jack called, curious. "What’re you looking at?"

No answer. Jack frowned and walked toward him. "Earth to Daniel. What’s up?"

When he got close enough to see Daniel’s expression, his heart skipped a beat. Something was very wrong. Daniel stood gazing at the sky, his face a study in horror. His mouth was open and moving, though weather it was to talk, scream, or breathe, Jack couldn’t tell. Daniel’s arms were pressed close to his sides, his hands squeezed into fists so tight the knuckles had turned whiter than his face.

"Daniel!" Jack said urgently, shaking the younger man. Still no response.

Carter and Teal'c rushed to his side at Jack’s worried calling. "What’s happening?"

"I don’t know."

Daniel’s chest, which had been making short jerky movements a second ago, had stopped moving altogether. The same face that had been ghastly white only moments ago started turning blue now. Daniel had stopped breathing.

Jack grasped his shoulders and shook the man. No response. He could feel Daniel’s heart racing under his fingers. "Daniel!"

Daniel’s face went still, his eyes started glazing over. Jack could feel his muscles relaxing under his grip. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Dammit, Daniel! Snap out of it. Breathe," he ordered, shaking Daniel again. Daniel gasped, blinked, and stumbled backwards a step.

Daniel’s face turned red as he gulped air. His eyes were watering as they darted from one person to the other, confused. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a croak.

"Take it easy, Daniel. Slow down, you’re going to hyperventilate."

Daniel nodded, regaining control of his breathing. "Jack?" he asked shakily.

"Yeah." Who else, he thought but didn’t voice it.

Daniel nodded again. He squeezed his eyes shut and slumped forward a bit.

"Daniel?"

"Okay," he muttered, straightening a bit. He was visibly shaking.

"What the hell happened, Daniel?"

Daniel gave a disbelieving, strangled laugh. "The clouds attacked me?" .

Before Jack could respond to the odd comment, Daniel’s knees gave way and he passed out. Jack caught and lowered him to the ground before he fell over.

The clouds chose that moment to let go of their burden. Jack soundly cursed the planet and its weather’s lousy timing. "Help me get him to the tents," he said, pulling Daniel up. Teal'c knelt and took him from Jack.

Everyone was thoroughly soaked by the time they got Daniel the short distance from Main Street to where they were camped by the woods. Teal'c gently laid him on the floor of Jack’s tent, away from the sleeping bags. Carter delivered the first aid kit, then rushed to get their gear out of the rain.

Jack started stripping the unconscious and shivering Daniel, intending to roll him into a sleeping bag. He didn’t want the young man to catch cold while his clothes dried. He and Teal'c could tend to themselves shortly.

"What the hell?" Jack mumbled. He had peeled Daniel’s coat and shirt off and was now looking at livid skin, the prelude to massive bruising. Daniel’s entire chest was a mottled red and already turning deep purple in places. There was a matching band around his right arm, just below the elbow, that ended a few inches on his back. Where did they come from, Jack wondered as he gently touched the bruise on Daniel’s arm. Three fingers barely covered the width. His left arm had four such bands, each ending on his back. And one on his neck where the shoulder and neck met. With just a little imagination, one could see a hand print in the massive bruise.

Jack tried to check for rib damage. His probes elicited a cry of pain from Daniel, but he couldn’t tell if that was from the bruises or from a cracked rib. His breathing, though slightly strained, sounded okay.

With Teal'c’s help, he bundled Daniel into a sleeping bag, putting the extra on top for further insulation.

"Colonel?"

"It’s okay, Major."

She stepped in and dripped by the open flaps. "How is he?"

"Unconscious and bruised, but all right as far as I can tell." Jack stripped off his sodden coat.

"Bruised, sir?"

"Like he’d been beaten." Off with the equally soaked shirt. Jack cut her off before she could ask the obvious question. "I have no idea how, Major."

She gave Daniel a worried glance. Then flushed as she realized Jack was stripping. She held up the bag she was holding. "Change of clothes," she muttered before ducking out.

"Thanks. You change to, Major. I don’t want anyone getting sick here."

Outside the tent he heard her mumble, "No, sir." It sounded like she said something else, but her words were lost in the pounding of the rain.

*

Jack’s coffee was almost as cold as the wind had become. He decided that, as creepy as it was, he preferred to hear the wind and not feel it. He sighed. At least the rain was letting up a little. It was only pattering on the awning Carter had fashioned with her burnt tent over the entrances of the remaining ones. Not much earlier it had been pounding, threatening to send the entire get up crashing into the tiny fire.

And Daniel was awake now. That was a bit of good news. Even if Jack couldn’t decide whether to believe his story about seeing Apophis in the clouds or not. At least bogeymen he had heard of before. But hands coming out of the clouds? Jack sighed again. Some ideas just took a little getting used to.

Jack glanced distastefully out of their make-shift shelter. He had to hand it to Carter, she knew how to improvise. He had been certain the tent would be useless after Teal'c blasted the hole in it. How he wished they didn’t need to find a use for it in the first place. He hated camping in the rain. He hated this uncooperative weather even more. It was getting to be dusk and the rain was just now getting light enough to be out in. Only nw they had little light to work by.

"You’re not going to be able to get anymore done, Daniel," Jack said, breaking the uneasy silence that had befallen them. He gestured to the darkening sky. "Why don’t you get some rest."

Daniel, moving slowly because of his sore arms and chest, was trying to satisfy an appetite that rivaled Teal'c’s when he had awaken. He was also yawning loudly and frequently.

"Soon as I’m finished." He held up the half eaten MRE and flashed an apologetic smile. "I don’t know why, but I’m still hungry."

"Teal'c was famished after his run in with the, uh, bogeyman," Carter noted. "And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been feeling pretty drained since we got here."

"Yeah." Daniel’s response was almost drowned out by his yawn.

"I, too, have felt lethargic," Teal'c admitted with a nod.

Jack sighed. "Me, too. So?"

"Maybe what ever is causing these weird things to happen is using us for the power," Carter said. "Maybe Daniel and Teal'c were so hungry because the attacks were directed at them, zapping them of more energy."

"It’s this curse," Daniel put in, not sounding the least bit uncertain about it.

"Or something." Despite the strangeness of the place, Jack couldn’t bring himself to believe in a curse.

"The people who wrote that warning were certain it was a curse."

"Speaking about the writing, Daniel, have you figured out what happened to the Stargate?"

"Not yet," Daniel answered with a grimaced as he shifted position. He had not been comfortable since he woke up. "I don’t recognize all the words, so I have to go by context for much of it. Like the references to ‘the passage of stars’. I thought it was measure of time at first. They were talking about traveling it and visiting the people of other ‘epochs’."

"Time travel?" Carter asked. Her tone was not nearly as disbelieving as it once might have been. After all, they had gone to the past once themselves.

"Not really." Daniel swallowed the last bite of his food. "But sort of." His seeming about face brought frowns all around. "In the same sort of way of going to the Land of Light or Abydos might be considered time travel. Both are cultures from an earlier period that no longer exist on Earth; early Minoan and ancient Egyptian. I think by epoch they meant visiting people who’s cultures had originated from a time period earlier to their own and did not change too much."

"So this ‘passage of stars’ is the Stargate," Carter surmised with a nod. "That makes sense. Why didn’t we think of it before?"

Daniel gave her a half smile and a one shouldered shrug. "Sometimes we forget to take some things literally."

"Okay," Jack started, remembering the passage Daniel had quoted them earlier. "So the Stargate gave birth to someone?"

"That is probably metaphorical," Daniel said.

"Had to ask." Jack shrugged and grinned wryly. "So these people, who ever they were, knew how to work the ‘Gate?"

"Seems that way."

"Great. What good does that do us?"

Daniel seemed to consider it a moment with a frown. "Not much," he admitted. "But it’s possible if they knew how to work the Stargate and traveled it often, they might have had a way of hiding it, or something."

"Or something," Jack echoed, not liking the uncertaintly of it all.

Daniel tried to hide another yawn. "I just need more time to finish deciphering what the rest of the writing to says."

"Right." Jack stood as tall as he could with the tent-turned-tarp over his head. "I’ll give you till about noon tomorrow. Then we’re going to have to go searching for food and water. Unless your curse turns into a blessing and starts to provide for us, we’ll have to start rationing."

Daniel looked at the empty package in his hands and blushed. "Oh."

"Yeah," Jack murmured. Why couldn’t he have waited till the morning at least to make that comment? Knowing Daniel, he’d shoulder the blame for their food supply, or lack there of. Jack couldn’t think of anything to say to change the situation, so he decided a hasty retreat was the best option.

"Well, I’m turning in."

"Good night," Carter offered sincerely.

"Sleep tight." Jack could hear the smile and a hint of a challenge in Daniel’s voice as he continued the phrase.

"Don’t let the bed bugs bite," Jack threw back, grinning. "Yeah, I know how this one goes."

"Daniel Jackson," he heard Teal'c ask as he zipped up the tent, "what are bed bugs?"

*

Sam opened her eyes to the darkness of the tent. She held her breath a moment, trying to place what woke her from her not so restful sleep. There it was. The moaning again. The one that sounded like someone was in pain.

She sat up and listened, hoping it was just the wind in the trees. The cry came again, closer this time. She had never heard wind make that kind of noise. Just as she registered that thought, it sounded a third time. It must be just outside her tent.

Daniel! she thought, jumping to her feet. She was using Teal'c’s tent while he stood watch, and Daniel’s was right next to it. Was he having a nightmare, she wondered. Or maybe there was more to his injuries than mere bruises. Rushing at the thought, she stumbled over the sleeping bag and landed hard on her knees.

Cursing under her breath, she turned to disentangle her feet from the sleeping bag. The moaning stopped, to be replaced by an owl. Or a human making sounds like an owl.

Sam closed her eyes and groaned. The Colonel was doing it again. He wouldn’t own up to it last night, but the ‘who, who’s were in his voice. Probably his way of trying to lighten up the mood. Just now, Sam was not impressed.

The ‘owl’ sounded again, louder, just outside the tent where the moaning had come from. Sam gave a tired snort and put her head in her hands. The moaning was probably the colonel’s idea, too. If he couldn’t tell campfire stories, he was going to bug them with spooky noises. Didn’t the man ever grow up? Considering the strangeness of this place the noises were bad jokes, even for him.

Sam sighed. Well, if he was trying to get her to come out to investigate his noises he was going to be disappointed. She wasn’t in the mood for pranks.

She finally managed to extract her ankles from the sleeping bag and straighten it out by touch. She had just gotten herself settled and her eyes closed against the dark when she heard a new noise. Scratching noises, like a dog pawing at a door. It was followed closely by rustling like leaves.

Sam lay still, listening with her eyes closed. At first she thought the colonel was making the newest noises since she had not responded to the old ones. Then she realized they weren’t anywhere near her tent. They were faint, though persistent, and coming from the direction of the forest behind the tents. She had no idea what could be making the noises. There were no dogs here to paw at doors, nor were there leaves to be rustled.

With a weary sigh, Sam decided to ignore the newest spookiness. If it turned out to be a threat, Teal'c would call. If he wasn’t shooting at bogeymen. Though the experience had been real to him, Sam still couldn’t help but smile at the idea. With the rather pleasant thought of Teal'c banishing bogeymen, she drifted off to sleep.

Only to snap awake at a fourth noise. A scritching from just outside the tent. "Colonel," she muttered, turning over, "I swear I’m going to shoot you."

Her hand fell on something that moved. She jerked away from the unexpected sensation. Unable to see what she had touched only inches from her eyes, Sam hesitantly reached out again. Something fuzzy and tiny squished under her fingers. And another something ran over her hand.

Sam sat up in a hurry. The scritching noise was getting louder, an insect like buzzing that sounded as if it were in the tent with her. Another feather like tickle on her other hand. She shook it off, looked blindly around for the source of the noise and the sensations.

She could just make out the edges of the tent’s entrance. It looked like it was moving. She felt more feather like touches on the back of her neck, near her shoulders. It was as if her hair were tickling her. Only her hair wasn’t long enough to touch that portion of her neck.

Sam brushed the spot. Now the movement was on her fingers. She wiped at it with her other hand only to be rewarded with a sharp stinging sensation.

She gave a soft cry and jumped to her feet. Bugs! Some part of her scolded her for not thinking of it earlier.

More were crawling on her feet. She stooped down to brush them off. Every time she disturbed one she got bitten, or stung, or what ever it was they were doing to cause the pain. And it felt like more were swarming over her every second.

Sam gave an inarticulate cry and rushed for the tent flaps. Every movement brought a new sting. She had to get out of here. She fumbled for the zipper and got a handful of more of the things. Oh, God, they were everywhere! And the scritching only got louder the more of them she disturbed.

What seemed like an eternity later, she got the tent open. Sam hurried out, wiggling her body and shaking her limbs, trying desperately to get the creepy crawlies off of her body. Now in the light of the fire, she could see her tiny attackers. She froze for a moment, staring wide eyed at the things crawling on her shaking hands.

They were bugs, alright. Tiny brown and white, four legged creatures with a flat rectangular body. They looked for all the universe like miniature beds. Bed bugs! Her mind balked at the sight even as the thing crawling on her finger bite her.

"Major Carter?"

"God!" She shook her hand. It didn’t go away. Neither did the others covering her. And more were approaching in a neat ant-like line from the tent.

A bite near her eye threw her into a panic. She started brushing her body, fiercely shaking her head, dancing away from the approaching line as she jiggled, trying desperately to get them off.

"Major Carter, are you well?"

"Teal'c!" She swatted at a bug getting too close to her mouth. "Teal'c, get them off of me! Please get them off of me!"

"I do not see anything."

"What’s going on?"

More and more of them were biting her. Now she was trying to wipe them off and scratch at the same time. "Oh, God. Colonel, please." Why were they just standing there?

The marching line found her feet and started up to join the army already attacking her. She yelped and jumped to the side, her feet just a fraction of an inch from the fire.

"Carter!"

They were all over her face now. She fell to her knees, not noticing the heat from being too near the fire. She rubbed furiously at her face and hair.

"They’re hurting me," she sobbed, then choked as one of the bugs took that opportunity to enter her mouth.

"What are?" She felt firm hands on her shoulders. "What are all over you?"

She slapped at a particularly nasty sting on the back of her neck. Then wiped at her tightly shut eyes. "Bugs," she moaned, close to tears from the pain of their bites and the awful noises they were making.

"Bug? What bugs?" Then the grip ton her shoulders tightened. "Major. Sam! Listen to me, there are no bugs!"

"But…"

"No bugs," he commanded. "Nothing there."

Suddenly, all the crawling sensations ceased. The only noise she could hear was the crackle of the fire and her own harsh breathing. The scritching had stopped.

Sam squinted an eye open, then widened both. She looked at her trembling hands, at her knees next to the fire, and the empty dirt leading toward the tent. There was nothing there.

Confused blue eyes met worried brown ones. "But, the bugs…?"

Hands still on her shoulders, the colonel leaned back a little. "We didn’t see any bugs."

"I don’t understand. They were all over me. Biting…" Before she could say more, she slumped forward, passed out.

*

Jack went back into his tent to retrieve his bag as he listened to Daniel and Carter chat around the dwindling fire.

"Feeling okay?" Daniel asked as Carter tried not rub her eyes with her calamine lotioned hands.

"Itchy," she said with a yawn. Her face and arms, and Jack suspected more, were covered with tiny red welts. It looked as if she had come down with the chicken pox over night. "And a little embarrassed," she admitted sheepishly.

"Embarrassed?" Daniel asked. "Why?"

"Bed bugs." She finished the last of her breakfast. Daniel handed her his portion. "Thanks. When I was a kid and my mother said that to me, I used to think there were actually bugs that looked like beds. I was terrified of finding them in the bed."

"Oh."

Jack came out of his tent holding his bag. "Well, kids, we don’t have to worry about rationing."

"Sir?"

"Why not, Jack?"

Jack turned the bag over and dumped it contents. Jack watched two sets of blue eyes widen as they followed the progress of a back pack full of MRE’s hit the ground.

"Where’d they come from?" Daniel slowly reached over and took a few from the pile even as he spoke. He passed two over to Carter, who took them but looked at them blankly.

"This." Jack set the bag down. "In a few minutes it’ll fill up again."

"How?" Daniel asked around a mouth full of food.

"I have no idea," Jack snapped. "I found it full of food when I woke up this morning. I dumped it out. Ten minutes later it was full again."

"Wow." Carter finally managed to speak.

"Wow? That’s all you have to say? Wow?"

Carter shook her head. "I don’t know what else to say. It’s impossible, but…"

"Here it is," Jack finished for her.

"There is more," Teal'c said, coming out of his tent.

Carter swallowed her bite. "More?"

Teal'c handed her his canteen. "It was not full last night."

"So at least we won’t starve or die of thirst."

"Yes, but why? Or better yet, how?"

Daniel just shook his head at Jack. He slowly got to his feet. Jack winced for him. Daniel hadn’t complained but Jack had seen the bruises earlier. They must really be hurting now.

"I’ll get back to the obelisk." Daniel started bend over to get some of the MRE’s, stopped with a grunt.

Jack gestured for him to stay were he was at and picked up a few for him. "Don’t eat too many, you’ll give yourself a stomach ache."

Daniel took the food packages with quiet thanks, adding, "I’m hungry."

"Me too," Carter said with her mouth full.

"Besides, Teal'c’s had more than me, already."

"Yeah, but Teal'c’s got Junior to help."

Daniel gave him a half smile. "True."

Jack sat at the dwindling fire and poured himself a cup of luke warm coffee.

"I’m gaining pounds just thinking about being this hungry," Carter complained.

Teal'c gave her an appraising look, one eye brow raised.

Jack smiled over his cup. "Check the pile. Maybe some come in diet."

"Ugh." Carter made a face at the thought. "Diet MRE’s. As if regular weren’t bad enough."

Jack’s chuckle was cut off by Daniel quietly calling his name. Jack looked up to see his legs standing just outside their shelter.

"Jack!" Daniel called again, louder. "Sam! Teal'c! Guys?"

Jack exchanged puzzled looks with Carter and Teal'c. "What’s wrong, Daniel?"

Daniel gave a nervous laugh. "Uh, I think you’d better come out here. Now."

Puzzled glances turned to concern at the tinge of fear in Daniel’s voice. They ducked under the awning to join Daniel in the bright, cloudy light of day.

"Holy Hannah," Carter breathed.

Jack felt his jaw drop. They were surrounded by trees. Literally. Where they had been camped by the edge of forest, part of the forest had moved to encircle them. They were in the center of a perfect ring of trees with small ‘x’s cut into them. Jack did a mental count. Every tree they had marked on their way back to the village and obelisk were now standing around them.

"Maybe we’re hallucinating?" Daniel asked hopefully.

"Do you see the x’d trees standing around us?" He received quiet affirmatives to his question.

"Then how can we all be hallucinating exactly the same thing?"

No one answered. Jack took a deep breath. He was way beyond spooked now. This whole thing was quickly edging into insane.

"Let’s go. We’re going back."

"Back where, Jack? The Stargate’s not there, remember?"

"Well I’m not staying here with roaming trees!" Jack turned toward the tents.

"What if they follow us?"

Jack stopped. As crazy as is sounds, the tree had been changing positions while they were here the first time. That was why they marked the trees in the first place.

"He’s got a point, sir," Carter put in. "This," she waved at the circle of trees, "what ever ‘this’ is, isn’t restricted here."

Another minute of silence as the team looked at each other and the unfathomable trees.

"The curse," Daniel whispered. His face had ‘eureka’ written all over it.

"Excuse me?"

"It’s using our words, Jack! Everything we’ve been talking about. Food, bogeymen and bed bugs," he gestured to Carter. "All of it. We’re all tired and hungry because it’s making what we say real."

"How?" Jack asked, fed up with this entire planet. "And why?"

Daniel sighed, then grimaced at the action. "I have no idea." He stood straighter as another thought came to him.

"If it makes real simple phrases and ideas, then who knows what it’ll pick up on next. We’re going to have to be very careful of what we say," he said warningly. "At least until we can get back home."

"We need to find the Stargate first," Jack reminded him.

"Okay. I’ll go see if I can figure out the rest of the inscription." He gave Jack a long look, waiting for his approval of the idea.

Jack sighed heavily. "Go look at your rocks," he mumbled. "We’ll move the camp down to the streets. I don’t want to be anywhere near trees tonight."

*

Mid morning and they were now waiting on Daniel. The tents were moved. Teal'c scouted around for more wood. There was little more they could do but wait for Daniel to finish translating.

Jack glanced back at their previous camp site. The circle of tree was still there, only now the ‘x’s were all facing outwards. Jack gulped and turned his gaze sky ward.

The two bright spots were once again positioned so that they looked like giant glowing eyes. The effect was almost as disconcerting as the moving trees. And real live bed bugs. And bogeymen. At least there was no sign that these clouds were going to attack. Except maybe in the form of rain and lightning.

Flashing caught his eyes. Jack blinked and tried to locate the source. There. Definitely lightning. If this were any normal planet, thunder would be hot on it’s tail. This planet, however, was anything but normal. And the flashes were absolutely silent, despite being directly over head.

"For crying out loud," he murmured.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow."

"Major?"

"I’m okay," she said between clenched teeth. She was shaking her left hand. "Foil cut." Then, "What were you looking at?"

"Storm. And we’re out in the middle of it acting like lightning rods."

They looked at each other, then around their camp, the same thought crossing their minds. They were out in the middle of nowhere, they didn’t even have the trees to draw the lightning away if it struck ground. In fact, the tallest thing near them was the obelisk Daniel was studying.

"But it’s stone," Carter protested.

"With the way this mission’s been going, do you think that really matters? The lightning here might like stone. You get Daniel, I’m going to go find Teal'c."

"Yes, sir."

Jack was halfway to the circle of trees when he heard the crack. It was not the sharp sound the immediately preceded the rumble of thunder. It was more like thin ice breaking. Lots of thin ice.

He rounded a building to Main Street and about had a heart attack. "Carter! Daniel!" They were both laying face down on the ground next to what was left of the obelisk. Three quarters of the stone structure was laying in smoking pieces around them, the base a charred snub by their feet.

"Daniel? Major?" Jack ran to his unmoving comrades.

Daniel started to stir when Jack arrived. He had his eyes scrunched closed and seemed to be trying not to cough.

Jack knelt beside Carter. She had a pulse, but was unconscious. He moved to her feet to remove one of the chunks of stone that was pinning her down.

Daniel moaned and turned himself over with a soft cry.

"Daniel?"

Daniel kept his eyes squeezed shut. Somehow, his glasses had survived intact and remained perched on his nose. "Told you to watch what you said," he wheezed accusingly.

"You don’t actually…" Carter’s soft moan interrupted him. "Major?"

"Colonel?" she mumbled, attempting to turn herself over. "Ow! My leg,:" she said through gritted teeth.

"Easy, Major."

She blinked up at him. "Did you get the number of the bus that hit me?"

Jack chuckled. "Only if Daniel can read it, they’re not in English." He helped her to sit up.

She started rubbing the leg the stone had fallen on, taking stock of her surroundings. "Daniel? You all right?"

Daniel was still on his back trying to catch his breath. "Peachy," he mumbled.

Jack moved to his side. "What hurts?"

"Everything." He finally opened his eyes. "But I’ll live," he assured Jack. "Just give me hand up?"

"I don’t ever want to come that close to lightning again," the Major declared. She stood balancing on one leg, the ankle of the other swelling rapidly.

Daniel, rubbing his chest full of aggravated bruises, frowned at the ruined obelisk. He kicked at one of the smaller chunks of stone at his feet. "So much for finding answers there."

Jack eyed the flashing clouds above them and the destroyed artifact at their feet. "We’re going back."

"But…"

"No buts, Daniel." Jack put an arm around Carter to help her limp back to camp. "It’s not safe here and there’s nothing more we can learn from that," he nodded at the remains of the obelisk. "And if this planet really makes our words real then maybe the Stargate will actually be there this time."

*

Getting back to the clearing the Stargate had been in took even longer than before. Half the team was injured, no one was happy, and the planet was making more strange noises than before. The clouds continued to flash silently above them. The pained moaning echoed from the trees, along with the human voiced owl noises. At least no one was accusing Jack of making them this time. They passed the charred tree twice on their way up the first rise toward the cemetery.

Carter could barely stand on an ankle she insisted was merely sprained and not broken. She was using Teal'c’s staff weapon as a crutch, leaning on either Teal'c or Jack when she need the extra support. Aside from clenched jaws and heavy breathing, she was mercifully silent.

Daniel, on the other hand, was anything but quiet.

"Jack!" He called, stumbling after them with his arm around his stomach

"I don’t want to hear it, Daniel," Jack said over his shoulder, not even looking back.

"Can’t you slow down a little?"

"Daniel, Carter is going faster than you are and she’s on one leg."

"I know," Daniel groaned. "But my stomach really hurts."

"I told you not to eat so much."

"I was hungry! Still am." Daniel sounded surprised. Panting, he asked, "Can’t we just rest for a minute?"

"Daniel," Jack muttered, rolling his eyes. This planet was grating on his nerves as it was, Daniel was on what was left of them. "Quit your belly aching, will ya?" Immediately regretting his snappish mood, added in a consiliatory tone, "We’ll rest in a little bit, ok?"

"Ok." Daniel paused. "Jack?" His voice sounded a little fainter.

"What, now?" At the lack of answer, Jack paused and turned around.

Daniel was standing a little ways down the hill, frowning down at himself. "My stomach ache is gone."

"Good, now will you come on already?" Jack turned back and started toward Teal'c and Carter who had paused to wait for them.

"Jack!"

"What?" Jack asked, exasperated now. He stopped again. Daniel was still standing there, looking puzzled.

"You just said…."

Daniel’s words were drowned out by a thunderous boom that shook the ground and rattled the trees.

"What the…?" Jack looked around for the source of the noise. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. It was as if the lightning had saved up all the thunder to let it loose at once.

The flashing in the churning clouds increased, adding new waves to the reverberations drowning them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jack shouted.

"You are," Daniel said, breathing heavily. Somehow, his words were steadier than Jack’s. "It’s not what we say, it’s what you say."

"Daniel.."

"No, Jack!" Daniel interrupted. "Listen to me. It was in the warning. I read it wrong the first time. It wasn’t the first birth, it was the first borne. B- o- r- n- e," he spelled out. "As in to travel or be moved by. ‘Beware the words of the first borne through the passage of stars.. the Stargate.. and take heed, for all that is uttered shall be.’ Jack, it’s you. You were the first one through the Stargate. You were the one talking about grave yards and bogeymen and needing more food. It was you who told me I was going to get a stomach ache, and I did. You said to stop my ‘belly aching’ and the stomach ache went away. This curse somehow…"

"Whoa," Jack said, putting a hand up to stop the flow of words and defend himself. "I didn’t ask for the Stargate to disappear, or the trees to move, or for this weird weather!"

Daniel shook his head. "No. I think that was the curse itself. It’s trying to keep us here, to keep us confused."

"Oh, wonderful."

A pause, then, "Do you know how to cure or reverse or what ever it is a person does to get rid of a curse." God, this sounded so crazy.

"Uhm…" Daniel said, reluctantly.

"Daniel?"

"Well," Daniel took a deep breath, "I think you are the only one who can make it go away so we can get back home."

"Me?"

Daniel nodded. "It said that the ‘first shall use those who follow to feed the curse, or free the cursed.’"

"And what’s that mean?"

"Those that follow," Carter repeated. "Us? And feed, using us, our energy. We figured that one out before."

"And maybe by ‘freeing the cursed’ Jack’ll make the whole thing go away."

"How?" Jack demanded.

Daniel sighed heavily. "I don’t know. Sam came to pull me away from the writing just as I was getting there. Now the obelisk is gone."

Jack threw up his hands. "Great! Just great! So now what do we do? Wait for this ‘curse’ or what ever to get tired of us?"

Daniel merely shrugged.

*

When no better idea was suggested, they decided to continue on to the Stargate. It had become extremely quiet again. The clouds were dark and still. A thick mist had risen, hiding their knees as well as the ground.

"So, Daniel?" Jack asked as they slogged past the graveyard, studiously trying to ignore it. "What happened to the people who came here before, did it say?"

"You really want to know?"

"I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t."

Daniel pointed to the grave yard. The tree had moved to the run down building, and Jack could barely see the tops of the head stones over the mist. "I don’t think they ever left the planet," he said softly. "The curse is still here."

"Colonel?"

"What?"

"The trees, sir," she said quietly, pointing to one on their right a few paces behind them. It was marked with an ‘x’. "I think they’re following us."

"I don’t want to hear that, Captain."

"Yes, sir." She opened her mouth to say more, closed it with a frown.

"O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"What Teal'c?" Jack asked tiredly.

"Major Carter is no longer a captain," Teal'c reminded him.

"I know that, Teal'c. Look, I’m sorry Carter."

"That’s alright, sir." She looked from Jack to Teal'c and back again. "But, just when did I become a Major?"

Three faces turned to her in concern.

"Uh, Jack?" Daniel asked, giving Carter a sympathetic look. "What did you just do?"

"What do you mean, what did I just do?" Jack looked from Daniel to Carter’s confused features. "For crying out loud," he muttered.

Tears inexplicably welled up in her eyes. "I’m sorry sir," she sobbed, her face turning red. "I don’t know what’s come over me."

Jack put a hand on her shoulder, said very seriously, "Carter, you’re a Major now, and you can stop crying."

The tears evaporated as quickly as they came. "Whoa, that was weird," she muttered. She frowned again. "Sorry about the tears, sir," she said with some embarrassment.

The colonel shook his head and started off. "Forget about it, Major."

"Forget about what, sir?"

Jack stopped and looked at his team. This was not good. He turned and stalked off.

"Jack?"

"I’m going on ahead," he shouted back. It was not such a good idea to be around them. Who knew what he would say next?

*

"Jack?" Daniel was in the lead, coming up behind him moments before the others.

Jack didn’t move from the root he sat on. He did not trust his voice to speak.

"Jack, I.." Daniel pulled up short beside him, staring slack jawed at the plastic and metal cans littering the short path to the clearing. He slowly picked one up, turned it around in his hands, inspecting the unexpected object. Finally, he looked up at Jack with a grin.

"Holy buckets, Jack?"

Jack remained silent, ignoring amusement in Daniel’s voice.

"Where’d these come from?" Ah, finally Carter and Teal'c came to join in on the fun.

"Jack," Daniel answered her question with a smirk.

Carter looked at the perforated pails with an expression that said she just didn’t get it. Teal'c had both brows raised so high Jack was sure they were going to migrate to the back of his head.

"Well, it could be worse," Daniel said, kicking one of the buckets.

"How?" Carter still looked as if she couldn’t quite believe her eyes.

"Jack could have other favorite phrases. We could be walking knee high in manure." Carter’s nose wrinkled. Teal'c’s eyebrows went even further. "Or we could be climbing over a lot of holey cows."

"Ugh. Daniel!"

He shrugged. "Well…"

Carter blinked and shook her head as if to clear it. "That’s not the point."

It was Daniel’s turn not to understand.

"I want to know what prompted," she swept her hand out, indicating the buckets, "this?" Aha, the Major was thinking again.

Jack sighed as three pairs of eyes turned toward him. Keeping his mouth shut lest he aggravate matters more, merely pointed in the direction of the clearing. His team gave each other confused looks, then went to investigate.

"Holy Hannah!"

What would the curse make of those words, Jack wondered bitterly. He stood and joined his team in the clearing.

The Stargate and DHD were where he left them. Jack kicked a bucket aside to stand next to his dumbfounded team and watch the spectacle.

The Stargate was literally running across the field on legs the same color as the giant ring. The DHD was close behind it’s skirt of steps, chasing it like a dog on two pair of brown, stylized legs.

Carter blinked. "Somebody please wake me up," she murmured.

"Yeah," Jack said heavily. "I’ve never seen anything so bizarre even while drunk."

They watched in stunned silence as the Stargate ran around in a figure eight trying to keep away from the determined DHD. Jack half expected to hear a child’s laughter and a dog’s barking.

"Um." Daniel almost found his voice. He swallowed and tried again. "D-do you think we should, ah, go after the DHD. Or something?"

"They aren’t running," Carter almost choked over the word. "Running that fast. We could probably time it to jump into the DHD."

"I don’t know, Major," Jack said doubtfully. "It might decide to bite." At his words, the DHD suddenly grew teeth and growled.

"Jack!"

Jack groaned. "I take it back," he shouted to the sky.

"So how are we going to get home, sir?"

"I don’t know, Carter. You have any suggestions?"

"You have to cure this curse, Jack." Daniel was just now looking away from the DHD chasing the Stargate.

"How?"

"I don’t know," Daniel admitted.

Jack threw up his hands. "Oh, for cryin…"

"Jack!"

"Sir!"

"O'Neill!"

Their words overlapped each other in their haste to quell his muttering. He looked at three expectant and nervous faces. Jack closed his eyes. Scrubbing his face with both hands, he muttered, "I wish this curse never existed in the first place."

A wave of dizziness hit Jack. He fell to his knees. When his vision cleared, he blinked up to meet another changed landscape.

The first thing he noticed was the Stargate, legless and stationary as it had been when they first arrived. The dial home device, still a little too close for comfort, was firmly sitting on the ground, no feet, no teeth, and no animal noises.

Around the Stargate were the trees, only they were now fleshed out in leaves and flowers. The scattering of deciduous tree looked healthy with full, springy, green needles and lots of cones. The forest was full of bushes and undergrowth in a riot of colors, adding to the sudden cheeriness. It was as if spring had sprung in a matter of seconds.

The sensation of moisture on his knees brought Jack’s attention down. He was kneeling in what looked and smelled like fresh mown grass. The plush, weedless green went to the edges of the clearing, coming up flush against the DHD and Stargate, and extended down the path leading to the old buildings.

"O'Neill."

To his right, Teal'c was getting to his knees. The Jaffa looked both confused and drained.

"Teal'c, you alright?"

"I am well, O'Neill." He looked a little unsteady as he got to his feet, but Jack said nothing.

"Carter? Daniel?"

To his left, the scientists of his team were rousing with soft groans. It looked as if everyone passed out except him.

Carter rolled to her side and opened her eyes. "Grass," she muttered.

Jack grinned. "Ya think?"

"But where’d it come from?" She pushed herself up to a sitting position.

Daniel, now sitting but swaying, put a hand down to steady himself. "Whoa." He blinked, squinted at their surroundings. "What happened?"

Jack stood and looked around again. "The curse is gone?" he suggested hopefully.

"Oh. Okay." Jack helped him to his feet, kept one hand on his elbow to keep him steady. What ever happened, Daniel seemed to be feeling it’s effects more than the rest of them.

"Wait a minute," Daniel said, frowning. "How?" He looked warily at Jack. "What’d you say, Jack?"

"All I said was that I wished the curse never existed in the first place."

"It was that easy?" Daniel asked with a strangled laugh.

"Explains this." Jack swept his free hand out, indicating the clearing, the Stargate, the full, healthy trees, everything that had changed.

"Well, if it never existed, then why do we still remember it?"

"Good question."

"And I’m still bruised and Sam still has bug bites."

"Maybe we’re still effected because we were the last ones," Carter suggested.

"Okay." But Daniel wasn’t going to leave it alone. "So, what happened to the people who came before us? Are they dead? Are they still here? Did we change the whole history of…"

"I get the point, Daniel," Jack cut him off. "Okay. So it can’t be that easy or someone would have thought of it before."

"Would they sir?"

"What?" Amazing how easy these two could loose him in a conversation.

"Thought of it?" Carter shrugged. "It took you this long to say it. What if people who came before didn’t even know there was a curse? They wouldn’t be able to wish it out of existence if they didn’t know it exited in the first place."

Jack looked from oneset of blue eyes to another. "You two are giving me a head ache. Is it or is it not gone?"

"I guess we could try dialing home and see."

They heard a squeal from the sky. All heads went up to track a large bird flying over the clearing. The sky was sunset blue, even though this planet’s sun was still several hours from the horizon. The star was a nice bright, warming yellow. They could have been looking at the sun from Earth. On the opposite horizon, however, was something they would never see back home. A planet, appearing as large and as bright as the sun. All they could see was the clouds, rust colored streaks on maroon, and a swirl on its equatorial regions that grew as they watched.

"We must be on a moon," Carter said softly, awestruck.

Jack was no less mesmerized. He felt like he was looking at Jupiter up close and personal. This had to be one of the more spectacular displays they’ve seen yet.

"Jack," Daniel said softly, tugging at the hand at his elbow. "Jack, we’re not alone."

"What?"

Jack turned from his admiration of the heavens to regard the three people Daniel was pointing at. They stood just inside the clearing on the other side of the Stargate, watching SG1 watching them. They had the proper number of arms, legs, and eyes, but human similarities ended there. Their skin was faintly sky blue tinged with silver. Their eyes were too small for their heads and blinked too often. The shortest of them was a good head taller than Teal'c. And the biggest of them was narrow, it’s shoulders would easily fit between Jack’s. They seemed to be mostly torso, their legs and arms disproportionately short.

The tallest of them approached the team. It’s steps were almost comical as short as they were. It stopped just before Jack and blinked.

Jack looked up at it and waved. He took step back so he would not hurt his neck.

"Daniel? Want to say something to it?"

"Oh. Uh, hello."

The alien blinked.

Daniel tried again. "We’re explorers. We come from the Stargate." He motioned toward it.

The alien tilted its head and said something. Or rather, sung something. It’s voice sounded like music.

There was an expectant pause after it stopped singing/speaking.

"Daniel?"

"I have no idea."

"But you could read their writing."

"Only after you told me to. You never told me I could understand the language out loud."

Jack and Daniel exchanged looks. Jack raised his eye brows at the thought they shared. Daniel smiled.

"Go ahead. At least we’ll know if the curse is gone."

"Okay." Jack took a breath. He felt silly. "Daniel, you can understand what they say. That good enough?"

Daniel shrugged. "Won’t know until they say something again."

"Ah. Yes. Getting them to talk."

They looked at the alien. The alien blinked back. For a long moment nothing happened.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Nothing’s happening. What did you say to get it singing like that?"

"I said we’re explorers and we came from the Stargate."

They turned back to the alien. The alien blinked.

"Okay. What else?"

"Nothing else. I just said..Oh! I pointed at it." Daniel proceeded to do just that.

The way the alien sung at them one would think that pointing at the Stargate was a capital offense. It went on twice as long as it did the last time. Then it stopped, tilted its head, and blinked twice.

Jack turned to Daniel. "Anything?"

"No. Pretty, but I didn’t understand a word of it. If there were words."

"Can we take that to mean this curse thing is broken?"

"God, I hope so," Daniel said fervently. His sentiments were echoed by Carter and Teal'c.

"Good. So what do we do about…It?"

"I still know some of the writing. If the writing belongs to it." Daniel started to bend down, stopped part way through the motion and straightened up with a groan. "Dirt’s not there anymore," he muttered. He glanced around. "Jack, turn around."

"Why?"

"Notebook. You have my backpack."

"Oh."

Daniel retrieved his notebook, flipped through a few pages, then scribbled a note. The alien looked at it and trilled.

"Was that a yes or a no?"

Daniel looked down at his writing. "I have no idea."

"What did you say to it, Daniel?" Carter asked.

"I asked if they were the ones who set the curse."

"Daniel," Jack started, "if the curse never existed, how would they know if they were the ones who put it on the planet?"

Daniel didn’t say anything but shot him a dirty look.

"Okay. Why don’t you write a little note saying ‘nice to meet you, do you mind we if go home now’?"

Daniel sighed, flipped the page, wrote in the alien script and showed it their host. The alien blinked.

"Here we go again," Jack muttered under his breath.

The alien blinked again. Then responded in the same trill as it did before, pointing at the Stargate.

The team glanced at each other. Teal'c raised an eye brow. Carter shrugged. Daniel looked like he was trying really hard to understand what had just been said to them.

"I’m going to take that to mean ‘you know where the door is’," Jack said, edging around the narrow alien. It did nothing more than blink at him as he led the way back to the DHD.

"Come on, Daniel."

Daniel gave the alien one last longing look then trailed after his team. "Are we going to send someone back to try to talk to them?"

No arguments, Jack noted with some wonder. Daniel must be really exhausted. "If the General decides it’s safe enough.

"But I’m not looking forward to writing this report," Jack continued. Carter, leaning on Teal'c’s staff weapon for support, dialed home. "He’s never going to believe curses and moving trees and planets changing in the blink of an eye."

"Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and no one’ll be home," Daniel said wistfully, stepping up the short stairs. "All I want to do is go home and sleep for a week." With that he disappeared into the shimmering blue event horizon.

"We still have the MALP readings from before," Carter said. Teal'c helped her up the dais. "Not to mention the bruises and bites."

Jack chuckled. "Right. Evidence that we all went crazy out here."

"That something went crazy," Carter agreed with a wry smile. She and Teal'c stepped through the Stargate.

Jack took the steps two at time. He turned back to the alien. The two that came with the tall one were gone. The tall one trilled once and blinked. Jack gave it a wave, then gratefully went home.