Rat Race

 

 

by Travelling One

 

 

Email: travelling_one@yahoo.ca

website: http://www.travellingone.com/

Season: 3

Summary: Rats... more than two. (That about sums it up.)

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of MGM Global Holdings Inc, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. I have written this story for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended. Any original characters, situations, and storylines are the property of the author.

 

February/06

 

---

 

Rustling in the darkness, there but a whisper. Maybe a dream, maybe a teammate shifting in his sleep. Maybe no sound at all, in reality, but even the dreaming mind on alert on a far-off planet makes for heightened psychic perception, whereby the falling of a twig equates to the vibration of a bomb. There was no difference, really, when one's life might be at stake.

 

Prying his eyes open, tingling with the gradual sensation that something was not quite right, Daniel's senses woke from the grogginess of interrupted sleep. Even in the darkness of the tent, the shadow seemed out of place. The slight weight on his chest was unmistakable now, as were the two little eyes, glowing from what must have been the faint starlight shining through flimsy walls. Daniel's quick intake of breath shook his form but the shadow and weight did not shift.

 

With the slowest of movements in spite of his pounding heart, Daniel reached out to find his Beretta, although shooting at his own chest didn't seem the best idea. His arm encountered a solid form in another sleeping bag, and he pinched it gently. "Jack!" he whispered as loudly as he thought he could risk. "Jack!"

 

"Uh?" Jack was startled awake, rising onto his elbows and peering at his teammate. "Oh crap, what the hell's that?" He scrambled for his own gun and his flashlight, quick actions leaving Daniel holding his breath in unwitting compensation.

 

In the sudden beam of light, the red eyes of the rat-like creature looked malicious, and reflex caused Daniel to jolt up abruptly, his arms lifting to protectively hide his face. That was the instant the animal flipped off his chest and scampered away. It was also the moment a sharp pain jabbed into his toe.

 

"Ow!" Reflexively, his knees pulled upwards, the sudden reaction startling a second creature at the foot of his sleeping bag. Within milliseconds small furry bodies were running in all directions, scurrying, jumping off the packs, with Daniel and Jack adding to the frenzy by bolting simultaneously from their respective sleeping bags. Now flinging the animals away from their supplies, they instinctively began shooing them out of the low holes that had already been chewed through the tent walls.

 

Moments later, Carter was at their tent flap. "Colonel? Daniel? What's going on?" Her voice was tense, sharp.

 

"Rats, Carter!" But by now she had seen them scurrying frantically out of the tent, and jumped out of their paths, an unintentional game of hopscotch. "Oh!" From all sides, the small animals seemed to be escaping: five, ten, twenty.

 

Teal'c had roused from his own unusual semi-dreams of meditation and now contributed to stamping the rodents away from the temporary abode of his formerly sleeping teammates.

 

The two men emerged from the battered tent, flustered and shaking out their clothing. Luckily their packs had been closed, and nothing had eaten its way inside.

 

"Okay, we're outta here," Jack decided. First night on this planet and these were the only life forms they had so far seen. Way too many life forms.

 

"Sir? It's the middle of the night." The unvoiced sentiment, Are we going to let rats scare us off?

 

"And now we'll be up for the rest of it, Carter. For all we know they could be carrying some kind of plague." He eyed Daniel cautiously. "It bit you?"

 

"Um…I think one might have, through my sleeping bag."

 

"Check it out."

 

"Not that they need to bite to spread the plague," Daniel continued. "That would be spread by their fleas."

 

"So much better," Jack snarled. "Rabies. Check yourself out, Daniel."

 

So Daniel looked down, still barefoot after the melee. His flashlight was aimed at three small teeth marks showing red on his big toe. "Uh…"

 

"Crap."

 

"It bit me through the fabric," he stated, hoping for a reduced condition.

 

"They chewed through reinforced tent walls, Daniel."

 

"The teeth didn't go deep."

 

"They've broken skin, Daniel," Carter refuted gently, her eyes empathetic and soft.

 

"O'Neill."

 

Teal'c was staring into the prickly shrubs; movement showed them lightly wavering. "The rodents have not gone far."

 

"Crap. Let's get out of here. Leave the tents; this one's no use to us any more anyway. We'll have Hammond send another one through the gate."

 

"Sir?"

 

"We're not going home 'til a doc checks us out, Carter. Not going to bring some new plague back to Earth."

 

"Sir, most plagues can't be spread from person to person."

 

"It's that most that bothers me, Carter. Can you name one that can?"

 

Sam sighed, her eyes on the ground. "Pneumonic plague, Sir."

 

"Ah. And we're on a never-before-walked-on planet, with never-before-seen rats and never-before-studied diseases and parasites that might even now be in our clothes and hair and equipment."

 

"There are quarantine facilities at the SGC, O'Neill," Teal'c reminded Jack unnecessarily. The colonel knew them all too well.

 

"No. No new plague, Teal'c. Prevention's in place here, not containment."

 

"So we just camp out by the gate until our blood samples come back?" Daniel asked deflatedly.

 

"That's the plan. We'll put up one tent and keep two of us on watch; northeast, southwest. Go. Grab the gear and sleeping bags and let's get the hell out of here."

 

_____

 

Easier said than done. The Hell Out of Here was still on this planet, not all that far from the gate in the first place, and their journey back was hampered by hordes of small furry bodies scampering behind them, around them, twenty, thirty, forty, and their hike turned into a long mad dash.

 

Daniel could hear the little feet, could see movement in all the thorn bushes and shrubs from his peripheral vision, could hear tiny stones being displaced, leaves rustling, and he raced faster. The next sound he heard caused him to reflexively jump and swing around 180: the sound of Jack suddenly firing behind him, emptying a clip.

 

Swarms of the rodents were nipping nearly at their heels. More and more were flowing in from behind, dozens of them, gray, white, brown.

 

"Geez!" Stamping them away, firing their weapons, shouting, and swinging the rifles and staff weapon resulted only in deterring the creatures momentarily. They were as determined as the humans, and as persistent. With barely a second thought, Carter lodged a grenade into the mass. The oncoming horde halted, stared, then detoured around the central bloody destruction and resumed their pursuit.

 

It was only when the team reached the stargate, out of breath and reloading ammo, that the rats suddenly stopped. As one, they halted, like toy robots on a single remote control. Keeping a distance of thirty feet, just beyond the DHD, the multitude of glinting eyes stared from the perimeter of their self-imposed semi-circle, completely still, almost lifeless. Only the sharp beady eyes indicated a hint of slyness, awareness, watching and ready to pounce.

 

"Little Goa'uld," Jack muttered, as his team warily settled down on the stargate platform, the only area towards which the rats seemed not to want to venture, and set about contacting the SGC.

 

They kept their eyes on the rodents as Carter hit the glyphs of the DHD.

 

The billowing vortex sent the creatures suddenly scattering; a good thing for the four teammates who had to abandon their post momentarily as well, in order not to be sucked up and vaporized.

 

It also put an end to Jack's worry that the rats might up and jump through the event horizon. That was all they needed, an infestation at the mountain.

 

_____

 

"But you're showing no signs of illness?" So far. They all knew it had only been a short while; they had been exposed to possible droppings, possible fleas, and whatever else an alien species might have to offer. Hammond wasn't completely convinced of the need to keep his team from returning home, but these were alien animals, and as long as the animals knew their boundaries, he agreed with the colonel's precautions. Quarantine procedures were fine and dandy for known Earth risks, but experience - the disease of the Touched, for one - had taught them otherwise, nearly decimating their ranks and growing quickly out of hand, and they had learned their lesson. That contagion, too, should have remained offworld in the first place, and hindsight was often the best teacher. When Jack had contracted his aging disease just a short time later, the no-returning rule had already been discussed, to ironically be initiated by the colonel himself.

 

Now, not even two years later, the emotional scars were still fresh and vivid.

 

Much to their chagrin Doctor Fraiser had proceeded to inform them of the additional assortment of known diseases that could be transferred to humans from rats, with incubation periods from one day to several weeks.

 

SG1 would opt for forty-eight hours.

 

"No Sir, we're likely all fine. But just to be sure, we'll wait for the blood tests. The rats were everywhere in the tent for who knows how long; we don't know what Daniel and I might have inhaled or otherwise been exposed to. And Daniel was bitten on his toe." Jack squinted in the direction of his archaeologist, as the other man stood with his arms intertwined.

 

And so Doctor Fraiser sent through syringes and vials for blood and other samples, and SG1 now could do nothing but await the results. Not that anyone would know exactly what to look for, but anything out of the ordinary would be deemed significant. Most likely it was still too early anyway. They had all had rabies vaccines, and for that reason it was decided not to begin postexposure prophylaxis with Daniel. The doctor had suggested that after the first twenty-four hours, they send fresh samples.

 

And so it was while they were resigned to impatiently waiting, bored and feeling useless, their clipped conversations holding no significant interest or pleasure, that the SG1 Jaffa grasped his abdomen and fell to his knees with a moan.

 

"Teal'c!" As his teammates rushed forward, they knew with sick dread that only something horrible could down the symbiote in this man's belly.

 

______

 

"Sshh. It's alright, just lie still." His hand on Teal'c's blanketed abdomen, Daniel's soothing voice seemed to have a calming effect on the symbiote. Upon feeling the touch and hearing the words Teal'c had closed his eyes and settled down, his facial muscles and shoulders relaxing. "You can rest here, we'll take care of you. Help will come soon, Teal'c," he assured his teammate.

 

Jack just looked on helplessly, gratitude sifting inside for the calming presence of his archaeologist. His trust in the words and gentle voice left a pacifying influence on his own troubled mood.

 

Carter seemed to be ignoring them all, sorting out the items that had been sent by Fraiser and Hammond. Worry graced her features as she moved systematically, absorbed in thought.

 

"Why only Teal'c so far?" Jack paced around the circle of flashlights, their sorry replacement for a campfire, those little creatures with the beady eyes surrounding their small space but venturing no closer to the gate. "He wasn't even in our tent."

 

Daniel shifted to make room as Carter came to sit by Teal'c's side, the large man now lying half unconscious on the gate platform, as comfortable as possible with blankets and pillows. "Maybe his tent was visited by the rats before they came to us."

 

"So they tasted him and decided symbiote wasn't to their liking?" Jack scoffed.

 

"Sir, there were no holes in Teal'c's tent." Carter was still chastising herself for noticing none of the rodent strategies while she'd been on watch. How could they have avoided her detection so easily?

 

"No visible ones. How closely did you look?"

 

Not so close, and Sam tightened her lips.

 

They'd been about to set up the new tent, but the rats had drawn closer before resuming their sentinel-like positions. There was barely enough space for the wormhole to engage.

 

"Teal'c needs help."

 

"Yes, he does. And Fraiser will send some, as soon as she knows what this is."

 

"Maybe they can set up a suitable quarantine on base." Daniel was reluctantly eager to return, logic warring with fear for his ill teammate.

 

"Hopefully. But for now, we're not taking any chances. Looks like the next forty-eight hours will be out in the open here, unless we want to pitch the tent directly in front of the gate. Get comfortable, kids."

 

_____

 

After hours of testing, the first set of samples had shown nothing suspicious - for any members of the team. It was because Teal'c's blood also showed up as normal - for him - that their spirits had fallen. While something was undeniably wrong, they had no clues as to what it might be. So far, none of the others were showing signs of fever, headache, muscle or chest pains, chills, or difficulty breathing. But symptoms could take days to develop, and while SG1 could all be carriers, more time was needed to investigate.

 

In all those hours, the rats had barely twitched.

 

Neither had SG1. Teal'c lay in pain on the dais, but they suspected it was only his symbiote that had contracted an illness. Which was irrelevant, as that would prove deadly for him. That, even Janet Fraiser would not be able to fix.

 

"I wouldn't have thought rats could have so much patience." Another curiosity of offworld aliens.

 

"Maybe they haven't eaten in a while." Like cats, lying in wait, preparing to pounce… Jack shrugged off his teammate's glare, condemning his own unintentional pessimism.

 

Daniel's lip puffed out in a pout. "Then why don't they just jump us?"

 

"'Cause they have manners? Crap, Daniel. How the hell do I know?"

 

The day dawned, the morning dragged on, and Jack paced. Daniel tried to read, but his attention kept wavering, being drawn to his stricken teammate, and he found himself reading and re-reading single paragraphs over and then again. Finally he gave up, his head streaming with written lines of text and his eyes watering.

 

Shifting uncomfortable positions, he stretched tight muscles and looked over to where Jack was lying on his belly, having a staring contest with one of the rats from two meters away. "Who's winning?"

 

Jack bristled. "They are. Teal'c's down and not one of them has dropped."

 

Daniel took the few steps towards his CO, startled as the rats seemed to turn their attention on him, their first almost-movements in hours, and he caught his breath, pausing before slowly sitting down next to Jack. Carter was still perched beside Teal'c, doing nothing but staring.

 

"They should know something by now." Clarification of the statement was unnecessary.

 

"They don't."

 

The two men sat in silence, knowing that their first twelve hours were almost up. New blood samples would be required in only twelve more.

 

"Want to play cards?"

 

Jack nodded, breaking his gaze from the rodents for the first time since Daniel had looked up from his book. "Sure."

 

_____

 

They played for hours, with Sam finally leaving her self-appointed post and joining in.

 

"Daniel?" Jack was observing him with suspicion, and only then did Daniel realize he'd been repeatedly rubbing his eyes.

 

"It's nothing." His headache had been looming for most of the afternoon, attributed to boredom and discomfort. Little spots of blackness stole across his vision, likely because he'd been looking at playing cards for the past five hours.

 

"You may as well catch up on some sleep; we'll be on short shifts tonight." Jack's inspection lingered, his features knotted into a frown.

 

Daniel nodded, but picked up his book and went back over to sit by Teal'c.

 

_____

 

"Double shifts. Carter, you and I will take first watch. Then you and Daniel, and then I'll take the last with Daniel." They could catch up on sleep tomorrow, after the darkness of night had passed. Jack shook out two sleeping bags, unzipped them, and laid them on the hard ground below the gate steps, an arm motioning to Daniel to make himself comfortable.

 

The archaeologist reluctantly settled his body onto a bag and tried to ease his reservations and calm his nerves, aware that hundreds of pairs of little eyes were still watching their every move, more unsettling in the renewed darkness, the flashlights causing every eye to gleam silver. As tired as he was, his previous night disturbed and so lacking in rest, he doubted he would be able to fall asleep…

 

Daniel woke to the eerie realization that someone was whispering his name, and he was lying on a sleeping bag in the middle of the cool night air. A second bag now covered him, and the ground beneath him was hard.

 

Battling disorientation, he forced open his heavy eyelids. Reaching for the glasses in his pocket, he could see the glinting sets of little eyes, highlighted by flashlights instead of firelight, completely surrounding them. Tiny stars, fallen to the almost-ground.

 

Jack had just settled down to sleep on the platform, a pack under his head, his neck shifting in discomfort. Teal'c remained motionless, having woken only to drink some soup late in the afternoon. New blood samples had been sent through to the SGC.

 

"How is he?" Daniel inquired of Sam as he rose to join her, bringing both of the sleeping bags over to cover Jack.

 

"In some pain. He has a slight fever, but isn't any worse, at least."

 

Daniel nodded, gazing down at the Jaffa. If the man's symbiote had contracted this, he was as good as dead.

 

The two and a half hour shift dragged on, and Daniel couldn't help yawning. His own sleep had been barely over two hours, and his previous night's rest had been short-lived. So had Carter's. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

 

"Fine. Exhausted," she amended, offering an apologetic smile. "You?"

 

He nodded. "Heavy. My head feels like a bowling ball on a hinged stump."

 

Sam frowned, and touched his forehead. "You're not hot," she commented with relief.

 

"No. Just feeling a bit strange, off. Headache." His reassuring smile was artificial. "Probably due to lack of sleep." Kind of like elastic bands stretched across his forehead, weaving to the motion of his blinks. Moving, all in the same direction. Painted like tight black stripes across his vision, circling 'round and 'round and 'round his head, left… back to right, back to left…. He shook away the sensation. He was not getting sick.

 

_____

 

"Why are they doing that?" The inanimate staring animals were unsettling to the two edgy, bored teammates. "What do you think they want?"

 

"Food?" Carter suggested. "Maybe they're vampire rats, out looking for blood."

 

"We can give them a vial," Daniel suggested, but Carter just frowned.

 

"It's time for me to wake the colonel," Carter spoke softly, knowing her teammate was just as weary as she was, and feeling guilty for looking forward to her approaching two hours of sleep. "You okay? I can take your shift."

 

"No," Daniel shook his head. "I'm fine." For the past two hours he had been trying to ignore the growing sensation of wanting to lie down and fall asleep. The black lines parading across his internal vision had become more and more persistent and pronounced, darker and tighter and calling out for attention, his headache reaching Extra-strength Tylenol proportions. That, Sam had seen. "Jack'll keep me awake," he grinned.

 

As he heard the CO gruffly awakening from a deep and not long enough sleep, Daniel fought to keep the tense dark lines from pulling at his head. It was getting harder and harder to ignore them, and harder and harder to stay awake.

 

_____

 

Jack knew about the tightness, the lines, the headache. He'd guardedly watched Daniel throughout the day, and then Carter had told him. Hinted, in a whisper.

 

And he secretly despised the wisdom of keeping his team here, keeping Teal'c from comfort if not medical aid, keeping Daniel from personal care and uninterrupted sleep. He knew he'd hate himself that much more if his teammates had contracted something too severe to bring back, when the initial decision to remain here had been uttered from his own lips. But in the back of his mind he was also aware that they were only steps from the gate, and if Daniel began to exhibit signs of anything serious, he would force himself to rethink that decision and possibly chance sending his teammates home.

 

What he hated to consider was the possibility that some deadly virus was mutating within them and Hammond would not allow them to return. Never, if he lived to be a thousand, would Jack be able to forget the heart pain of his team saying a long distance goodbye to him on Argos as he grew old alone and waited to die. Never would he forget the initial shock of that message informing him that he was a threat to his home planet and no longer welcome on Earth. Even now the hurt stung as he remembered. He dreaded having to do that to Daniel.

 

He was already doing it to Teal'c.

 

"Daniel, if you're getting sick, tell me."

 

Daniel heard the underlying worry in Jack's voice, knowing the situation was out of his hands for the next few hours anyway. No sense in dwelling on anything that might not happen and making his CO's job more difficult. He shrugged, futilely wishing away the bands of darkness crossing his vision and causing episodic periods of dizziness. "I don't know."

 

"You don't know?"

 

"It's nothing to worry about."

 

Looking away, Jack was well aware that Daniel was going to admit no more. Regardless of his teammate's answer, they both knew this was their temporary quarantine room, and basically it was as good as any on base. Just moments from home, they could ask for anything they required, with the DHD functioning as the nurses' call button. There was no difference, really, whether they were here or back at the mountain…other than to be in warm sleeping quarters and away from a field full of rats. But either way, here or at home, they'd be together in isolation. He knew it; Daniel knew it. He also knew that Daniel would let him know if and when things got really bad.

 

Like animals sniffing out their wounded prey, the rats seemed to sense that Daniel was losing the battle to keep the extent of his unwellness from showing.

 

They moved an inch closer.

 

"Whoa, did you see that?" Jack's weapon was raised, embarrassingly against one or two hundred twelve-inch rats, and he scoped out his partner. "What's wrong?"

 

But Daniel was frowning tightly against the pumping ache in his head, in his eyes. For a moment the pain had eased, but now was back, surging full force. And the lines were moving furiously across his vision… larger, spreading out, and for a millisecond Daniel almost thought they'd broken up and taken on the minutest of shapes.

 

"Daniel?" the voice was as filled with concern as the scrutiny, echoing from beside him.

 

"It's nothing."

 

"A nothing that will show up in your blood tests?" Jack's eyes narrowed. The flashlight beam was enough to see his teammate clearly, but not bright enough to block the view of a couple hundred pairs of glinting eyes looking their way.

 

"I don't know."

 

"Daniel?"

 

As he was searching for a noncommittal way to respond, the rats took a hesitant step nearer, then another, threatening to invade SG1's safe territory, and both men rose to their feet, hearts pounding, weapons held tight.

 

Then suddenly Daniel felt his pain ease, as the rats continued their approach. The lines circulating across his vision broke up and became words, 'Don't call for help.'

 

"What?" he said out loud, and the rats stopped in their tracks.

 

"I asked you if you're getting sick!" Jack didn't take his eyes off the rodents this time.

 

"No, not you!"

 

"What?"

 

"What?" Daniel repeated. And the rats took a step forward. The lines became words, 'Don't call for help yet.'

 

"Oh my god."

 

"Daniel?" Now Jack turned to his friend, his concern peaking. "What's the matter with you?"

 

But Daniel wasn't sure what to say. "I think they're trying to communicate."

 

"What?" For a moment Jack's gaze shifted from his partner to the animals, then back again. "The rats?"

 

"Every time they come closer, the bands of lines I'm seeing turn into words. Like a newspaper, coming into focus when I put my glasses on." That was it, newspaper lines. Headlines. It was the best analogy he could come up with. "And the ache eases off."

 

Jack was still standing, stiff and tense as a snake ready to spit venom, his weapon pointed at the creatures. "How does this help us?"

 

Daniel reluctantly issued his next statement, knowing how it would sound, knowing how Jack would react. "I think I have to let them."

 

"Let them? What, talk to you? Who's stopping them?"

 

"We are." Daniel nodded in the direction of the aimed gun. He took a step towards the swarm of rats.

 

"Whoa there, Daniel!" Stepping forward in front of his teammate, Jack blocked the way. "What the hell do you intend to do?"

 

"I don't know yet. But I have to get closer. It stops the pain and helps me hear. I mean, read. I can read the words," he shrugged. If he couldn't understand it, how could he explain it?

 

"Why don't I see any words?"

 

"Because they're in Goa'uld. And somehow, these animals know I can speak the language."

 

_____

 

And oddly enough, as Daniel moved in closer still, very very slowly, the rats aimed their attention completely at him, ignoring Jack.

 

"I'm the one they wanted all this time. They were chasing me." The quiet statement uttered in awe and surprise triggered only revulsion in Daniel's partner.

 

"How would they have known?"

 

"Maybe they didn't. Maybe they think we all speak Goa'uld, because we're with Teal'c. But I'm the only one they managed to bite."

 

"So they were aiming for any one of us, and got you? And have been waiting for you to communicate with them all day? In Goa'uld?"

 

Daniel shrugged. "Don't know. Probably."

 

"And you don't see anything odd in this?"

 

"Of course I do." Sliding his glasses carefully into his front pocket, Daniel moved another step closer to the attentive creatures. Jack could swear they looked almost… eager.

 

"Daniel!" Jack's sharp reprimand held the hint of warning, apprehension churning in his gut, stirred by a grave doubt towards Daniel's plan, whatever it might be. But Jack knew he couldn't stop the man, not once Daniel got an idea into his head. "Don't do this."

 

"I have to."

 

"Like hell you do. You don't know what's going on." There was consternation in Jack's voice, but more than that, fear. Fear that Daniel was going to make an absurdly insane mistake.

 

"No, I don't." He took another hesitant step forward.

 

"Daniel, stop. Please. Think about this. Diseases. People die from them."

 

But nearly oblivious now, Daniel continued to inch towards the throng of rodents, into it, as they backed up to give him a few feet of space, and then - to the inaudible sound of two hearts pumping madly - lowered himself among them. Closing his eyes he drew a deep breath, then another, and slowly lay down.

 

Right at that moment was when Jack suspected he had lost his own mind, allowing Daniel to do this. Such a pathetic attempt he'd made to stop him. This was… this was… so utterly and completely against his better judgement.

 

_____

 

As Daniel lay there with eyes closed, six meters beyond the safety of the gate pedestal, he, too, thought he had finally lost his mind.

 

That thought turned to ice and he froze, muscles in every limb as tense as brittle straw, as the rats -- slowly at first, then more and more confidently -- approached and climbed onto his prone, taut body. He could feel the jerking and twitching of their ascent.

 

Get off me.

 

Onto his stomach they climbed, onto his shoulders and arms, onto his forehead. His gut clenched, tightening, and he shuddered. The feel of furry feet, with their small claws, gave vision to those sharp pointed teeth, even with his eyes pinched shut. He tried not to part his lips despite his rapidly increasing breaths.

 

I've changed my mind. Get off me. Now he longed mostly to get up, to stand, to move back into the safe territory of the gate and Jack With The Gun.

 

But something, some inner motivational need, held him paralyzed in place.

 

And as more and more of the rats joined in, adding their weight to the collective, jumping onto the visibly quivering arms and legs and chest and abdomen of the petrified man, the dark lines cleared and the pain in his brow eased completely.

 

Jack stood frozen, his weapon aimed and ready, but for what he had no idea. He wasn't about to shoot towards his teammate's prone form. And as the rats swarmed his partner, covered the body from head to toe, leaving only Daniel's nose and mouth clear, Jack's sense of foreboding and terror warned him repeatedly that he was a fool. Daniel was often right, but no one was infallible. This could very well be a trick. These creatures were being controlled by something that spoke Goa'uld, and Daniel had bought into it.

 

So had he.

 

"Oh my god! Colonel?" Carter was up, her incredulous, appalled voice at his shoulder.

 

"Daniel said to let it happen." Jack's response was soft, but his voice trembled. He lowered his weapon, casting a quick glance at Carter. Her eyes were wide and reflected the horror he was feeling inside.

 

"What? Why?" The sight was gut-clenching, sickening to her stomach. Dozens of furry bodies blanketed her friend, an apparition of a human-shaped rock covered in mold. A matching number of the rodents outlined his form, watching in anticipation around him, while many many more idled on the sidelines. Watching… patiently waiting, for what? Even more eerily now, each one was still, completely motionless.

 

"They're communicating." Jack hoped beyond hope that his friend was right.

 

"How?"

 

But Jack just shook his head, his eyes never leaving Daniel. No sudden movements, no loud voices. He had no idea. Nor could he completely believe that Daniel was right.

 

All he knew was that so far, nothing else had tried to bite him.

 

And all Jack and Sam could do was stand there and watch, nerves on edge and skin crawling, and impatiently wait.

 

_____

 

The lines were clear and his eyes were tightly closed. It was no harder than reading a newspaper, if he could ignore the knowledge that he was covered in twelve-inch furry animals with teeth, ones who had decimated millions on Earth by spreading disease, and had already, somehow, made Teal'c very ill. He could feel them on his face, heavy on his chin and forehead, paws on his eyes.

 

Yes, if he could forget that for a few moments and concentrate, he could read those incoming messages, passing across his closed eyelids as though he was viewing a computer screen.

 

We are the life.

 

He could do this.

 

We are the life of this planet.

We are the Jaffa. We are Goa'uld.

 

Daniel's heart skipped a beat, and he nearly jerked. He must have shuddered, for he could feel a few of the animals slipping off him, scurrying back up again, gaining hold with their tiny claws. Then all was still but his heart and breathing, and he swallowed, calming his mind and persuading himself to give them a chance. Not that he felt, any longer, that he had a choice.

 

Long ago, the Jaffa came. Their larvae could not withstand the traces of acidic vapor in this atmosphere, toxic to their species. They were dying, and the Jaffa did not know why. The warriors had been sent for the naquada that was said to be plentiful in the hills, and returning through the Chappa'ai without having completed their mission would have been a great anger to their god; it would have been suicide. When it was clear that they had decided to remain and carry out their royal obligation, the symbiotes chose to discard their human hosts rather than die.

 

And so, they left the bodies they inhabited, their incubators, hoping that the indigenous life forms would shelter them, be immune to whatever was overcoming them, and would not succumb to their own weakness.

 

We were those life forms. The symbiotes slipped into us.

 

Daniel wanted to rise and run, but terror - and just a lingering hint of doubt - weighted him to his spot, silencing his mind. These were just rats, he assured himself, and he needed to concentrate.

 

Rats with Goa'uld inside them…

 

…and Goa'uld were known to leave host bodies at will and enter another in close proximity. Jack?! I think I've made a mistake -

 

Stop! The symbiotes could not live forever, and not long in our small bodies, nor were there larger species here for them to occupy. They had made a rash error which could not be rectified. They mated, we survived. We propagated. But we were borne of Goa'uld and Goa'uld mates, and had all the knowledge of the Goa'ulds, forever and forever, within us. This is the legacy left to us by our ancestors, and which we, in turn, leave to our children. We know all of what has gone on in the Goa'uld worlds throughout all of time, and we do not wish to live with this shame and guilt and burden.

 

'Oh my god. You're all harsesis!' Daniel's eyes nearly flew open with the realization, but he regained control and settled. He had to keep reading.

 

'We are a collective. We all agree. You have the weapons; we beg you to eradicate us.'

 

This time Daniel's eyes did fly open, causing paws to shift, bearing witness to multiple pairs of glinting pupils staring from all over his body into his face. And for a moment, he had the insane thought that maybe it wasn't the starlight reflecting in their eyes, but the glowing eyes of dozens of Goa'uld. Little Goa'uld. Maybe Jack was more on track than he'd known.

 

"No." Daniel wrote the word on the screen of his mind, in Goa'uld.

 

And a rat moved further up his face, forcing his eyelids closed. Now he was shivering.

 

Jack took another step forward, then forced himself to stop. No unexpected movements, no surprises. He couldn't afford to have the rodents panic. There was nothing he could do. "Daniel?" he hissed. How would he know if his friend was sensing danger? But he didn't expect a response, nor did he get one.

 

"How long are we supposed to wait?" The whisper at Jack's side was like a breeze in this perfectly still night, almost there, yet not. And all Jack could do was give a barely perceptible shrug. Slow motion; don't frighten these things. As long as they couldn't hear his heart… for now, at least for this single moment in time, Daniel seemed safe.

 

The lines returned, newspaper-thin and crystal clear. 'You have weapons. Use them. We do not want to continue like this.'

 

'But I - '

 

'Promise. Destroy us.'

 

'Maybe we can find another way - '

 

'There is no other way. Promise.'

 

Daniel could feel their frustration, their energy. Their determination, and he knew he had the power to end their emotionally painful existence, after all these generations. 'We can send a bomb through. But we can't return to my world yet. Our friend Teal'c - '

 

'He is not sick. His symbiote is dying from the atmosphere, undetected by your instruments. Remove him from this place, take him home. He will recover.'

 

'Why did you choose me for this?' How can you understand me?'

 

'You spoke our language. A joke uttered to the Jaffa, when the Chappa'ai first brought you here. We watched; we listened. Do you not remember?'

 

'No -'

 

'Our blood mingled with yours the night before this one. You have our proteins within you.'

 

'Is this dangerous to me or my people?'

 

'It is only for the purpose of communication. You are fine.'

 

'How many of you are there?'

 

'All that you see. We have no need of what you call numbers. Those are but a memory from the symbiotes who took our ancestors.'

 

'But you all want this?'

 

'We are a collective. We all agree. We will gather here by the Chappa'ai until you do as you have promised."

 

Daniel felt the movement of foot-long bodies, and he opened his eyes. They were retreating, moving off him. He could now see Jack and Sam as they looked on with apprehension, faces drained and frightened, exhibiting more alarm than he'd realized. The river of fur parted, allowing Daniel to rise, but stopped only a few feet away in a collective grouping, waiting patiently, searching him with their eyes. For a moment Daniel could not speak, his thoughts and emotions in jumbled turmoil.

 

"Daniel?" Jack let out a loud breath, an instant relief unfreezing the dread that had clamped itself to his soul. "You okay?" Stepping forward cautiously, into the crowd, he reached out to offer a hand. Daniel just nodded, accepting the support.

 

He was shaking.

 

"You did it?" Jack rubbed his friend's back, pulling him closer as Daniel cleared his throat and nodded, his eyes wide and round in an expression of dismay.

 

"What did they want, Daniel?" Sam gingerly looked her friend over, willingly calming her heart.

 

"To be destroyed."

 

_____

 

Teal'c was safely recovering in the infirmary when the small bomb was sent through. From the control room the rest of SG1 looked on, knowing exactly what - who - was waiting patiently beyond the gate. Glumly, Daniel stood with his eyes cast downward, hands in his pockets.

 

"Hey. You okay?"

 

Jack's quiet voice interrupted his moodiness, and Daniel nodded. "They didn't want to live with those memories. I can understand that."

 

"But?"

 

"But it was forced on them, a whole species. They were sentient creatures."

 

"They were rats."

 

"An alien collective. Harsesis."

 

"Harsesis rodents, Daniel."

 

"So does that make them worthless?"

 

"They spread plague. On some worlds, anyway."

 

"No, their fleas do. Their parasites."

 

"Parasites." Appropriate.

 

Daniel nodded. Parasites. Goa'uld. "We may consider them a life form lower than us, but they were still affected by the Goa'uld. And I communicated with them." He sneezed, a leftover trace of the allergies they'd bestowed upon him. Way too much fur.

 

Jack patted his archaeologist on the shoulder. "Yes. Unfortunately, sometimes you do your job way too well." He shook his head, a rueful smile gracing his features in the flash of a moment and then it was gone. "But they got what they wanted. You put them out of their misery."

 

"Slavery."

 

"What?"

 

"They were enslaved by their memories. I tried to think of some other way."

 

"Like sending them to Mackenzie?"

 

"Like… what?" Daniel looked quizzically at Jack, then grinned at the vision. "That's funny."

 

Jack grinned along with him. "Maybe, but think about it. It'd keep him occupied until retirement."

 

"Should've thought of that before we sent the bomb."

 

"I did. Too many referrals to write up." Jack squeezed the shoulder warming up under his palm. "You know, I have no idea what possessed me to let you do that."

 

"You knew I was right."

 

"No. I didn't."

 

"Okay… but you also didn't know if I was wrong."

 

"You're right, I didn't." Jack shook his head. "Neither did you." He sighed. "Want coffee?"

 

"Maybe."

 

"Come." With thumb and forefinger Jack picked at a strand of short white hair clinging to Daniel's jacket, letting it drift tranquilly to the floor. "They shed." Then with a flourish he turned towards the spiral staircase.

 

Daniel followed Jack across the room and up the stairs, leaving Hammond and Carter to discuss the new intel regarding naquada in those hills.

 

 

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