In the space of a heartbeat, everything changed. Bright white walls switched with the darkness of a cavernous room. It took Daniel a minute to get his bearings, the change too fast for his mind to keep up with. Jack, however, was a lot quicker.

"God damn it!"

Jack's bellowed curse was not unexpected, especially since they found themselves transported to their original prison without a very important person—Sam.

They were standing on the carpeted platform, the light shining down directly on the raised area. Jack, of course, wasn't about ready to take being transported to another room lightly. After spinning around in an effort to get his bearings in the unlandmarked area, Jack headed off at full steam, apparently to retrace their steps once he managed to find the doorway again.

He didn't get far, however.

Daniel wasn't sure what happened at first, the sight of his friend flying backwards and landing in a heap was a little disconcerting.

"Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, rushing to the other man's side even as Jack was struggling to sit up, his right hand clutching his head.

"What the hell was that?"

Daniel glanced up, squinting his eyes to the edge of the light and the platform, trying to see something, anything that might have gotten in Jack's way.

There was nothing there.

"Are you okay?" he asked instead, helping Jack upright, watching as his friend grimaced.

"Does it look like I'm enjoying it?" Jack's eyes flashed a warning through the haze of his obvious pain.

"Not particularly, no."

Rubbing his head, Jack's gaze turned to his surroundings as he examined the same piece of air Daniel had only a few minutes ago. "There's nothing there."

"Apparently there is," Daniel said as he rose to his feet, walking over to the edge of the platform that Jack had attempted to step off of.

He paused for a moment and then extended a finger.

Nothing.

"Careful, Daniel," Jack warned climbing carefully to his feet.

"I'm always careful."

"Yeah, right. How about that time—"

"Jack," Daniel said, turning to flash the other man a look to be quiet. Jack rolled his eyes and the muscles in his jaw twitched. Daniel narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Headache. I'll live," Jack shrugged, inclining his head toward the archeologist. "Just be careful."

Daniel nodded after a long pause and turned back to his experimentation. Stretching out his arm, he moved forward, encountering no resistance—and his hand was out past the edge of the platform.

"Here, let me try again," Jack said, moving to Daniel's side. The archeologist stepped back, giving his friend more room, but Jack's experimentation didn't take long.

Jack's hand hit something hard.

"Damn," he said, pulling back the injured appendage. "That hurt."

"Hurt?"

"Like I got shocked. It's wearing off," he said, shaking his right hand. "At least it didn't toss me on my ass again."

"So," Daniel began, looking back and forth between Jack and the invisible force field. "It appears as if I'm allowed to go, but you're not."

"So it appears."

"I can go—"

"Ack! Not so fast Rock Boy," Jack tapped him on the shoulder. "What do you think you're going to do out there? You have no weapon and who knows where Carter is."

"I can find her or maybe find our stuff."

"While I do what? Sit on my backside? No, not going to happen."

"Why not? You'd rather have both of us sitting here waiting to see what else they've got planned for us?"

Annoyance wandered across Jack's face before it settled down into stubborn. "Yes."

"I thought you were trained to gather intelligence on a situation and then make an informed decision."

"Yes, Daniel," Jack said, patting the younger man on the shoulder. "I was. You weren't."

Daniel narrowed his eyes, squinting at Jack through his glasses. "So the years I spent gathering information from ancient civilizations and piecing together clues from hundreds of different sites and references is worth nothing?"

"That's different," Jack replied, turning away.

"How?"

Jack paused for a moment, his mouth hanging open. "This is a military operation," he finally spat out. "Working with rocks and old parchments is a lot different than hostile aliens."

Daniel nodded once. "I'll grant you your point there, but I've also faced Goa'uld System Lords. Snuck around by myself on a Goa'uld mothership without getting caught. I've learned a few things over the past couple of years. I can do this."

"Yeah, and you also managed to get yourself shot and nearly killed. Where'd you learn that from?"

"Watching you, of course."

Jack scowled at him, the silence stretching out between them.

"You know, Jack, by not making a decision you're making a decision."

A few more beats passed before Jack finally spoke again. "Fine. Go, but be careful."

"Of course."

"I mean it, Daniel. Be careful. We don't know what they want or what else they have planned. Just look and don't touch anything. And make sure you report back."

Daniel nodded at each point, relief settling over him. At least he'd be able to do something. Moving forward he approached the edge of the platform slowly, first extending his arms in front of him, but nothing inhibited his progress. One foot and half of his body followed next. Just as his second foot touched the ground, Jack yelled at him.

"Wait!"

Daniel turned, wondering what the problem was. He went to move closer, but soon found himself on his back several feet from Jack, a second light source following his movements.

"Daniel!" Jack called from his position on the platform, worry thick in his voice.

"I'm okay," he said, sitting up, shaking the fuzziness out of his head. Eyeing his friend, he offered a half-smile. "I guess I'm stuck out here."

"I told you it was a bad idea," Jack groused as Daniel climbed to his feet.

"Jack, we had no idea this would happen. There was no way to know," Daniel said, turning in a circuit, trying to remember where Jack had found the passage. It was difficult when there were no landmarks.

"I should have thought of it sooner. Then we wouldn't be in this mess."

Daniel turned back to his friend, offering a shrug and another smile. "Is that why you called me?

Jack nodded once, his mouth a thin line. "Not that it did much good."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. Be back before you know it."

"You had better."

Daniel moved out into the darkness. It took him a while—and several progress reports—but he stumbled on the passage. "I found it," Daniel called, leaning in to make sure it was the same one. It was.

"Be careful. And, don't touch anything!"

Daniel smiled and stepped into the hallway.

He moved quickly, his feet retracing the steps they'd made hours before. It was eerily silent and Daniel's footfalls sounded loud to his ears. Easing around corners, he kept his eyes and ears opened, but there was nothing new to see. Nothing had changed.

Until he rounded the last corner.

Sam screamed when they broke one of her ribs.

She couldn't help it. It hurt.

Every breath became a fight, the pain radiating from many points: her wrists, her ribs, her throat, her head.

They hadn't asked her a single question, simply strung her up from the ceiling, all of her weight supported by her wrists, her feet a long ways from the floor.

She was going to die. How much more of this could she take? Right now, not much.

What they'd done with the Colonel and Daniel, they wouldn't say. She'd asked time and time again, but silence was her only answer.

Their pale gaze was unnerving, inhuman.

She groaned when the next blow hit, the air turning hard as it slammed into her mid-section, her breath forced from her lungs.

Another blow to her lower back followed, the pain radiating up and down her spine.

She coughed weakly, still trying to catch her breath, the beads of sweat running down the sides of her face.

"What do you want from me?" she finally asked, her voice weak, her words determined.

Kyran acknowledged her at last with a thin blue smile. "Nothing. You're doing just fine."

He turned back to one of his monitors while Nouri padded around the room, adjusting buttons and levers.

And blows rained down on her body.

How long it took for her to regain her senses this time around, she'd never know. Sam slowly raised her head, her muscles shaking with the effort. She scanned the room. Her alien tormentors were there, still working diligently away. But something was different.

Shaking her head slightly, the room spinning precariously around her, she tried to convince herself that she was seeing things. But, when she opened her eyes once again it was still there: a dark shape in the back of the room.

Kyran's words finally convinced her she was not imaging it.

"Doctor Jackson, please come in. We've been expecting you."

The archeologist's eyes widened, his already pale face losing several additional shades. He obeyed the alien's command, moving around the object he'd hidden behind, walking forward. His eyes, however, were not focused on the Yalamanchi.

They were linked with Sam's.

And then the world went away.

Jack paced in the confines of his prison. An hour had come and gone and the second was soon to run out. Daniel had been gone too long.

He shouldn't have let him go.

But even as he moved, skulking along the edge of the force field, grinding his teeth in frustration of his situation, of their entire situation, he knew that Daniel had been right. They needed the intel and if he was the only one to do it…

Jack sighed, rubbing a hand roughly across his face, wishing for the thousandth time that their positions had been reversed, that Daniel was safe in here instead of out there wandering the hallways alone.

He'd finally lost count of the number of times he kicked himself mentally for not thinking about the possible issues with the force field before Daniel stepped through. He should have known better.

His head was still ringing a little from his little flying lesson but he was too wired to sit. He'd tried it once—lasted about two minutes before he was up on his feet once again, prowling his carpeted prison.

A flash of light to his left stopped him in his tracks as he immediately turned to look, his eyes finding the sprawled and unmoving body of his second-in-command on the other side of the platform.

"Carter? Damn it, Carter, answer me!" he exclaimed, his feet finally moving, taking him to her side.

At least, that's what he thought.

The double whammy of hitting two force shields—one forward and one back—did not help his head any. And where that second shield came from was anyone's guess because it hadn't been there a minute ago. Another present from their captors apparently.

It took him a few minutes to push past the pain and the fog in his head, but he managed, untangling his limbs and crawling toward the center of the platform. He was careful this time, approaching slowly and with caution. Another hit like that and it would be lights out—at least for a while and that was not an option.

Carter, though, wasn't moving.

"Captain?" he called, stopped several feet from her, his hand finding resistance. It looked like she was still breathing, but she wasn't answering.

"Carter? Come on, Carter, don't do this." The tingling of the force field increased as he instinctively moved closer, trying to reach his teammate's side, forcing him to back off. Sitting back on his heels, he rubbed a hand across his face and around to the back of his neck trying to wipe away the headache he'd acquired.

Another flash of light distracted him, however.

He turned instantly, thinking that Daniel had reappeared but that was not the case.

The woman had returned.

She stood for a few moments, her gaze fixed solidly on Carter before she moved forward.

"Hey! What are you going to do?"

Jack climbed to his feet, getting as close to the force field as he could without actually coming in contact with it. He could feel the edge of it, the energy making his skin tingle.

The alien refused to answer, not even acknowledging his question. She moved closer, stepping up on the platform before she finally stopped at Carter's side, dropping to her knees, her pale eyes fixed intently on her target.

He stood watching as she extended her hands, resting them on Carter—one on her head, the other on her stomach.

She closed her eyes and the impossible happened.

The wounds on Carter's wrists transferred to the alien and then vanished.

The Captain's body visibly relaxed under her touch and Jack could nearly see the transformation taking place before his eyes.

Minutes later, she removed her hands from Carter. The alien's gaze met his across the platform while Carter began to move, her eyes fluttering as consciousness slowly returned.

And as quickly as she arrived, the alien was gone in a brilliant flash of light.

"Carter?" He called startled into action at the alien's abrupt departure. He needed to know Carter was all right, to make sure she had been healed like he had been.

The Captain moved again, groaning slightly, and he tried again.

"Captain Carter?" He paused again, waiting for her response, but it wasn't as forthcoming as he would have liked. "Damn it, Carter, answer me."

It took several more minutes before her eyes fluttered open, confusion settling on her features.

"Carter?"

"Sir?" He voice was quiet, but she answered, which he took for a good sign.

"Are you okay? What did they do to you?"

She rolled slowly to a sitting position, rubbing a hand across her face as if to brush away the cobwebs as she turned toward him. "Colonel…where—?"

"You're back where we started," Jack said, relief evident in his voice. "Are you sure you're okay? You didn't look so hot when you popped in."

Carter nodded slowly, confusion still on her face. "How'd I get here? The last thing I remember—" Her eyes widened and she sat up straighter, her eyes tracking around the room. "Daniel. I saw Daniel."

Jack's heart sank in his chest. Could things get worse? "Daniel went looking for you, to gather intel."

"Sir? Daniel doesn't—"

"I know," he said cutting her off, knowing exactly what path her mind was heading down. "He insisted and there was one other…issue."

"Issue?"

Jack sighed, glancing at the carpeted floor and deciding that it looked far more comfortable than standing on his feet. After arranging himself as best he could on the floor—his knees drawn up toward his chest with his arms wrapped around them—he finally continued, aware that Carter's eyes had been on him the entire time he stalled. "I'm stuck."

"Stuck?"

"Stuck as in trapped, caught, cornered, detained, netted, ensnared, hooked, bagged, nabbed. Our hosts apparently don't want me wandering off for some reason or another and decided to put up some kind of a force field. Gives a nasty shock so I'd avoid it if I were you."

Carter, of course, immediately moved closer to him, approaching the shield he knew stood between them.

"Carter—" he warned, but the word caught in his throat as she reached the shield. She yelped and held her hand for a moment before she shook it just as Daniel had earlier.

"I see what you mean," she said, her eyes looking for any evidence of the shield she could feel.

"It let Daniel out, but when he tried to get back in it tossed him on his ass." Jack shrugged, letting out a deep breath. "We didn't exactly have a whole lot of options here, Carter, and I wasn't in any position to stop him."

"But, Colonel, do you know what they're going to do to him?"

Jack glanced up, looking straight out into the darkness beyond the lighted platform. "If the wounds I saw on you are any indication of what they're going to do to him…" He sighed again, feeling the muscles along the base of his jaw tighten.

"I didn't mean that the way to sounded," she immediately protested and Jack could imagine the look that had probably settled on her face.

"I know you didn't, Carter, and trust me, I was coming up with worse case scenarios long before you dropped in," he said waving a hand in the direction of the ceiling. "It's just…"

"Frustrating."

Jack turned toward his second-in-command. "Extremely."

"You know," she began, her blue eyes narrowed at him, knowing. "You don't have to feel guilty about it. He would have gone with or without your permission."

"It's my job to feel guilty about it, Carter. He's a civilian for crying out loud."

"But he also knows what he's getting into…generally."

Jack rolled his eyes as he huffed and turned away. He wasn't surprised when she spoke a few moments later. What she said, however, took him by surprise.

"They didn't ask me anything."

He could feel his eyebrow rise in response, his thoughts moving forward at a hundred miles an hour, the possible scenarios getting worse by the second. There were a few things he'd learned over the years about situations like these. He'd found that usually when your captors don't ask you questions it's for one of two reasons—either they already know the answers or they aren't interested in them. And in either case, neither of those scenarios was particularly pleasant.

"You know, Carter," he began, turning to watch his second-in-command prowl around her side of the platform, taking each step slow. "You're not exactly helping with the whole trying to make me feel less guilty part of this conversation."

"Sorry, Sir," she replied, glancing over her shoulder as she paused mid-step. Her body continued moving—until it hit another force field, sending her onto her butt.

"Carter, you okay?" he asked while she shook off the shock, her eyebrows drawing together as she looked for the offending invisible shield.

"Fine, sir, but it looks like I'm not going anywhere either."

"Frustrating, isn't it?"

"Very."

Jack sighed and tried to ease some of the tightness in his back, the frustration of his current predicament more than just a passing fad. His words, while not loud, were heartfelt.

"Well, this sucks."