Blinded
by Mr. Eggers
EMAIL: mintchocolatebear@hotmail.com
STATUS: incomplete, Chapter 1
CATEGORY: Daniel/Janet, Sam/Jack
RATING: PG
SEASON: Future Season
SPOILERS: None
SUMMARY: While on a mission with SG-1, Janet loses her sight.
Chapter 1
The Stargate kawooshed open as the last chevron locked into place. The
event horizon sparkled azure blue against the gold background of the ancient
room. Seconds after it’s appearance, Colonel Jack O’Neill and the rest of
the SG-1 team stepped through the gate and into the large tomb-like chamber.
First Jack, then Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Teal’c, and
finally Dr. Janet Fraiser. Jack turned to view his people step down from
the gate ramp and saw the wormhole dissolve with it’s characteristic sound
of an air valve being closed off.
“This...”, observed Jack meandering through the 20 foot tall area, “...is a
big, big room.”
“And that looks to be the way out of here.”, said Major Carter, pointing to
a pair of massive doors at the opposite end of the room.
“Ladies,”, ordered O’Neill, “Find a way to open the doors. Gentlemen, let’s
see what we’ve got here.” They began looking around, taking in the intricate
symbols on the wall and the multitude of objects on the floor.
“Indeed it is a ‘big, round room’ Colonel O’Neill.”, answered Teal’c. “And
I am not familiar with the technology.” Jack turned to the resident
archaeologist.
“Danny?” No answer. Daniel was looking intensely at the writings on the
wall.
“Hey! Daniel!”
“What?”, he asked, turning back to Jack, “Oh, um, yeah. Well, from what I
can tell, this place looks to be from the Ming Dynasty. Note the
inscriptions and use of---” The colonel’s expression told Dr. Jackson that
it would be wiser to shorten the answer.
“It’s Chinese,” he amended, “Possibly used by Yu.”
“Me?” asked Jack.
“No, not you,” said Daniel, “Yu.” Jack’s face gave a look of puzzlement.
“As in the Goa’uld System Lord named Yu,” clarified Teal‘c.
“Right.” agreed Daniel. Jack shrugged.
“Oh, great.”, he said flatly, “Just who I want to run into...Yu.”
Meanwhile Major Carter and Dr. Fraiser were looking around at the statues,
trying to find anything which would give them a clue as to how to open the
massive door in front of them. Both were amazed at the number of gold,
silver, amber and jade items which took up just about every square inch of
space on the floor and raised surfaces.
“A girl could get rich owning just one of these things.”, said Dr. Fraiser.
Major Carter nodded.
“You said it. I’m tempted to take a few of these things back with me.
They’d look good pretty in my home.” Dr. Fraiser looked back at her.
“Sam,”, she chided, “You know better than to take strange things back
through the gate.”
“I know, Janet. But every time we arrive at a place like this, I get this
urge to, well...take something. Just to be a bad girl for once.” Janet
chucked, apparently having thought the same thing several times.
“Besides”, she said, “Who would find out?” They set back to work at
finding the “door knob” to the massive gold doors blocking their exit out of
the room. As Sam searched behind several life-sized figures next to the
door, Janet had discovered a small set of doors in the wall adjacent to the
Stargate. She opened them with trepidation and inside found a large,
shimmering, ruby crystal which hovered above a short marble pedestal.
“Hey, guys!”, she alerted, her eyes still fixed on the crystal, “Look at
this.” Everyone walked over to the doctor and peered into the small closet.
“Wow.”, said Daniel, “That’s amazing.”
“Isn’t it?” said Janet.
“Do ya think that it could be the doorknob?” asked Jack, “Or possibly the
doorbell?” Sam leaned forward and tapped it with her sidearm. No response.
It sat there glowing and shining still.
“Doesn’t seem dangerous.”, she said, “Wonder what it does?” She looked
just below the pedestal and saw an inscription. Daniel saw it too and began
mumbling in Latin.
“Would you care to translate Daniel Jackson?”, asked Teal’c. Daniel
furrowed his eyebrows and cleared his throat.
“It says, ‘Touch this crystal and gain wisdom and joy.’ Or at least
something to that effect.” Jack’s face brightened.
“Cool!”, he joked, “An alien television. Wonder if it gets the Wildlife
Channel?” Daniel’s mind was still at work when he thought of something.
“I’m guessing that it needs to be touched with someone’s hand to
activate.”, he said, “Kind of like a touch screen on our computers back
home.”
“Well”, said Sam, “Since Janet discovered it...it’s only fair to assume she
gets to turn it on.” Jack waved his hand in the air.
“Uh, kids. We don’t know what this thing can do. For all we know, this
thing will shoot laser blasts out and kill us all.” Everyone suddenly grew
more apprehensive. All except for Daniel.
“No, Jack, I think you’re wrong,” he objected. Jack gave him a look of
surprise.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, the pictures and sculptures and inscriptions I see seem to show
that this room was made for quote-unquote ‘partying’?” He made quotation
marks in the air with his fingers. “There’s nothing here to suggest that
anything here is dangerous.” Teal’c countered him.
“We have been to many places where the dangerous was not always obvious. I
suggest caution Daniel Jackson.” Jack pointed a gun-shaped hand sign at
Teal‘c.
“Thank you, Teal’c.” Sam shook her head.
“No, I agree with Daniel.”, she said, “If there was anything dangerous,
wouldn’t we have activated it already? With all our poking and prodding
you’d think we would have set off a bomb or...something.”
“Okay”, resigned Jack, “What should we do? Touch it and find out?”
“I think we should.”, said Daniel. “And since Dr. Fraiser found the,
uh...crystal, she should do the honors.” Everyone expressed their assent.
“So? Janet?” said Jack cautiously, “Go ahead. But if something goes
wrong...you, Carter, and Space-monkey here each owe me a six-pack of beer.”
The little doctor smiled and nodded, screwed up her courage, and daintily
touched the floating ruby. The moment she did, it began to glow and resonate
a small hum. Unfortunately it grew higher and higher until it was a high
pitched ring. In concert with the sound, the luminosity brightened and
flashed like the flash on a photography camera. The light blast also had a
physical effect, as Janet’s small body was hurled up and back, away from the
rest of the team. She impacted violently with the opposite wall and crashed
to the ground, smashing several artifacts lying there.
“Oh God, JANET!”, roared Daniel as he and Sam ran over to her crumpled
form. Teal’c immediately fired his zat gun on the crystal and it dulled to
an inactivated state. He and Jack hastily joined the others on the other
side of the room. They found Janet curled up in a pool of blood, screaming
in agony.
“Teal’c!”, yelled Jack above Janet’s cries, “Dial us outta here!” The
large Jaffa complied and ran over to the DHD to activate the gate. Daniel
took Janet into his arms and removed her from the debris. He could feel her
blood soaking through his clothing. Though it was a warm sensation, it left
him feeling cold. Her screaming had subsided into soft moans of
semi-conscious pain and her body shook in small seizures.
“Hang on Janet, honey.” he whispered tenderly as he held her close to him,
“We’re gonna get you home.” The Stargate activated and Sam sent the GDO
code to open the iris. Jack gave the signal and Daniel ran into the event
horizon, followed by the rest of the team.
-----------
Brigadier General George S. Hammond relaxed at his desk, reading the
current issue of the daily newspaper, sipping on a hot mug of coffee. It was
hazelnut-vanilla, one of Daniel’s favorite blends. He read about the events
happening around the world, quietly chuckling to himself at the quaintness
of their news . ‘Like any of them have any idea what REAL news is.’, he
mused as he took another sip.
In six years of being head of the Stargate program he’d been, if not in the
center of game, then the referee of it. Deciding which actions or risks were
necessary and which weren’t. Which missions were too dangerous and which
were acceptable. Under his command, the people of the SG teams had been
captured, missing, tortured, killed, comatose, possessed, impersonated,
demented, twisted and warped. Yet almost every time the crisis seemed to
either pass or be corrected. For a sixty-five year old General close to
retirement, that was pretty damned good.
He was about to turn the page to the comics when the alert sounded that an
SG team was returning. ‘Strange’, he thought as he rose from his chair and
walked out to the Gate room, ‘SG-5 was two days away from returning and SG-1
had just left.’ There was only one possibility. Trouble.
Reaching the Gate room, he found the titanium-trinium iris, which covered
the Stargate, open. Daniel was the first to emerge, Janet’s body still held
safely in his arms. A look of total despair and fear on his face only added
to the dark red stains on their clothing. Sam, Teal’c and Jack followed a
second later and the iris closed behind. As Daniel made his way down the
ramp, he was greeted by a team of nurses and doctors who literally had to
pry Janet from his clutches. He finally relented and helped lower her onto
the gurney, whereupon the medics immediately rushed her to the Infirmary.
Daniel didn’t stay to explain to the General his mistake. He was right there
with the doctors as they left the Gate room.
The other three slowly made their way down the ramp towards their superior.
Hammond’s face was the same as it always was when he saw something like
that. Horrified and confused.
“What the HELL happened, Colonel?!”, he barked. Jack let out a sigh of
mental irritation and looked the General straight in the eye.
“I tried to warn them. I...tried...”, his voice trailed off as he walked
past Hammond and out of the room, followed by Sam and Teal’c. For the time
being, there was nothing more to say.
-------
Six hours later, Janet lay in a bed in the infirmary, asleep. An IV drip
with antibiotics was in full swing. Her internal injuries weren’t as bad as
everyone thought and she was expected to make an excellent recovery. Daniel
sat next to her, thinking how he convinced Jack to let them touch the
crystal. ‘Jack was right.’ he thought, stroking her hand with his, ‘And
now...’ His thoughts were cut off with the entrance of the rest of the team.
Gen. Hammond had been told of what happened and the rest of the group was on
stand-down until further notice.
“Hi.”, said Sam as she, Teal’c, and Jack gathered around Janet’s sleeping
form. “How is she?”
“Fine.”, answered Daniel, exhausted. “The doctor says she’ll be fine.”
Several seconds of silence passed around.
“Uh, Daniel”, said Jack, “You and Carter don’t owe me any beer...in case
you’re wondering.”
“Don’t worry about it, Jack.”, mumbled Daniel, “I could use a case of it
right now.” Sam saw his misery and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Look, Daniel.”, she said, “I was partly to blame for what happened. It’s
not all your faul--.” Her apology was interrupted by a groan from the bed.
Everyone leaned over to see that Janet was finally awake.
“Hello?”, she moaned, disoriented. He squeezed her hand.
“It‘s me, Daniel.”, he said, “I’m here next to you. So are Teal’c and Jack
and Sam.” Janet sat up uneasily, blindly reaching for the bed rails.
“So, doctor.“, said Jack smiling, trying for light conversation, “How do ya
feel after being thrown like a rag doll?”
“I’m in a lot of pain right now. Like I was hit by a pick-up tru--” She
stopped in the middle of the word and rubbed her eyes.
“Why are the lights turned off?”, she asked suspiciously. Quizzical looks
went around.
“They are not Doctor Fraiser.”, replied Teal’c. “Perhaps your vision was
impaired by the crystal.” Daniel held three fingers in front of the little
woman.
“How many?”, he asked. She blinked.
“How many what?” He lowered his hand slowly.
“Janet?”, he asked, “What DO you see?” She squinted, looked around.
“Nothing,” she said, her voice starting to tremble. “I can’t see
ANYTHING.” She rubbed her eyes and blinked again.
“Daniel?”, she called again, grasping the air. He grabbed her hand and
held it in his.
“It’s okay, Janet. I’m right here.”, he comforted.
“Why can’t I see, Daniel?”, she said, “Why can’t I see?” Her frightened
cries were on the verge of crumbling into sobs of sadness. Daniel put his
arm around her and held her to him as tears ran down her cheeks.
Chapter 2
Back
~ DJA main page ~ Updates ~ Alpha by Author ~ Alpha by Title ~ Alpha by Series ~ GTKY ~ Song Lyrics ~ Challenges ~
~ Quotes ~ Shippy Reviews ~ DJ Galleries ~ Daniel/MS bio ~ Janet/Teryl bio ~ Beta Readers ~ Links/Webrings ~
~ FUQs ~ Search the DJA! ~ Welcome Packet ~
~ Sam and Jack Archive ~ SG-13 Homepage ~