God, I haven’t felt this tired for a long time. Not since, Iraq, I guess. It’s taking all my strength just to mumble my goodbyes to my team and make my way to my truck.

Damn, but it’s cold. Cold but infinitely beautiful. A crisp dead of night that makes me feel so good to be alive. The snow crunches softly under my boots as I stare up at a million stars, all looking so close that I feel I could just reach out and touch them.

For a moment a dark thought surfaces.

Right now, on the far side of our galaxy somewhere, the Eurondans are still fighting.

Damn them, serves them right, dammit.

Genocide got old in my grandfathers time. Well, sort of, if you ignore Argentina, or was it Chile? Rwanda, Bosnia…Hell.

I know that what I did was the right thing to do, but it still hurts.

Sometimes the power of command can be overwhelming, but not always.

Apartheid is wrong. Seeing the color of a skin instead of a person is way wrong, and starting a war over it is a definite no-no.

Geez, and there I thought that they just didn’t like Teal’c because he didn’t drink alcohol.

Damn, I’m getting slow.

As expected, the Ford starts first try. Someday I’ll figure how the mystery of the engine works, instead of leaving it to Pepe, but not today.

I snort. Whom I kidding? I save the universe and Pepe fixes my car.

We all have our place in the scheme of life and all that.

Nodding seriously to the gate guard, I turn onto Mountain road and head home.

aaa

aaa

" Holee crap."

For one panicked second I am sure that I am not gonna be able to stop in time, before the tires thankfully start to bite the road underneath the ice, turning my truck 180, leaving me facing the way I had just come.

Somehow, God alone knew how, I was on North Circle Drive. Just how I had got from Mountain Road to Circle Drive was a mystery, making me feel cold, way colder than the night outside.

What in the hell had happened? One minute I am navigating a downward stretch of road, always treacherous, especially in winter, the next I’m screeching to a halt almost on the other side of town, a hell of a long way from where I want to be.

And in between all that lot I had flashes of…what?

I haven’t a clue.

I stare out of the windscreen, marveling on how lucky I am to have a patch of busy road all to myself. It was so rare as to be almost unbelievable, even if it was 03H00.

Slowly shaking my head at my good fortune, I restart the engine and U-Turn, facing the direction I wanted to go. I had no idea what had happened, but I didn’t want a repeat show.

Slowing down to a crawl, I hit the hazards, looking around vaguely for an off ramp.

aaa

aaa

I awoke slowly, in stages.

Stage one was knowing that I was wet, and cold, and wondering vaguely why.

Stage two was registering a myriad of flashing blue and red lights, and hearing the crackle of voices that instantly told me there were police around.

Stage three was the pain, making me moan.

Stage four was the gentle hands that seemed to be supporting me, and the quiet voices that surrounded me.

Stage five was total awareness.

"…Wha?"

Somehow, I had no idea how; my truck was on its side, the windscreen smashed. No, it had rolled. If it hadn’t, then these nice paramedics would be getting me out, instead of jabbing me with sharp needles through a hole in my window.

" Buddy, can you hear me?" The official looking head of a young patrol officer replaces the paramedic’s head.

"Colonel," I mumble, deciding to get the facts straight right off the bat. " Cheyenne Mountain."

The man’s eyes gleam, even as the paramedic tries to tug him away.

" Give me a number Colonel," he asks.

I comply. General Hammond’s private number. It was the only number I remember offhand.

" We’ll have you free in a jiffy Colonel," he yells encouragingly, as the paramedic takes over again.

" No hurry," I murmur.

Really, there wasn’t any hurry. Not anymore. I was far above the clouds and the sun was warm.

aaa

aaa

" Some sort of seizure maybe?" voice one asks

" It must have been. There was no alcohol in his blood, nor traces of any chemicals." voice two says.

" He knew that there was something wrong," voice one stated, " or he wouldn’t have been running with hazards on."

" Not that it helped any," voice two agreed. " For some reason he just went straight on, instead of turning. Once gravity had him…" voice two didn’t continue.

" Well," voice one says, closing something with a snap. " We’ll never know now. His own doctor is arriving in an hour or two to take him back to wherever he is stationed. They’ll find the underlying cause of what happened to him, I’m sure."

aaa

aaa

" Colonel?"

I thought about opening my eyes, but she’d only be waiting patiently for me to do just that so she could shine that tiny pocket light laser thingy into them, so I stay resolutely still. Why should I give her the satisfaction?

" Is he awake Janet?" Daniel asks, sounding concerned.

" I’m not sure," she says dubiously. " It’s a bit difficult to see, under all that bruising, but I believe so, or at least waking up."

" You are correct Doctor Fraiser," Teal’c’s deep voice agreed. " He is indeed awake."

" Dammit Teal’c," I mumble. " You make it hard for a guy, ya know?" Talking was hard, as if I have wads of cotton wool in my mouth, and sure as nuts, Doc Fraiser shines that thing into my eyes.

" Hello Colonel," she says softly, her voice light. " Welcome back."

" I didn’t know that I was gone," I mutter grumpily, trying hard to bat that thing out of my face.

Thankfully, she finishes before my brain can finalize its commands to my arms, neither of which seem to be obeying too well.

" Oh, you were gone all right," Fraiser says, frowning.

" You were definitely gone, Colonel. What I want to know is why."

I looked at her blankly. " Huh?"

She looks serious. " Your brain chemistry is all out of whack, and I can’t explain it." She looks hopeful, smiling at Carter as she entered to stand at the foot of my bed.

" Sam, anything?"

Carter shakes her head; her eyes warm as she gazes down at me. " Sorry, nothing. Maybe the Colonel can shed some light on his mysterious condition?"

The Colonel hasn’t a clue.

" I haven’t a clue."

" What’s the last thing you remember?" Daniel asks gently, perching on the edge of his chair.

" Circle road," I say thoughtfully. " I must have blacked out, because I suddenly found myself there, with no recollection of entering ‘Springs at all. It scared the crap out of me, so much so that I started to crawl home with my hazards on."

" Why didn’t you phone someone?" Carter asked, looking faintly annoyed.

I shrugged, thought better of it, and settled for an apologetic look. " I didn’t want to bother anyone," I say softly. " Besides, I thought that I could handle it."

" That was not the case," Teal’c said, stating the obvious.

" No, really?" I gasp, contriving to look horrified. As expected, Teal’c fails to rise to my sarcasm.

"So that was the last thing you remember?" Daniel asks gently, ignoring my antics.

I hesitate, trying to pierce through the grayness in my mind. A grayness that still threatens to claim me, hovering at the edges of my consciousness.

There was something, dammit. There was something…

‘ Flying." I burst out. " I remember flying."

" Well, you did send your truck off of Dean Creek," Doc Fraiser says thoughtfully. "For a moment there it must have seemed like…"

"I believe O’Neill does not mean here amongst the Tau’ri," Teal’c says slowly, nodding in understanding. " I believe O’Neill means back on Euronda."

" So?" Daniel said blankly.

Teal’c expression was dark. " I believe you have forgotten what toll the flying machine extracts from the human mind," he intoned.

"But the Eurondans assured us that Jack was safe," Daniel splutters.

" I do not believe that was the case," Teal’c says.

"Never trust a racist," I moan.

" Or more than likely the Eurondans differed physically from us in some way," Fraiser says, brightening. " Maybe General Hammond can authorize another trip through the…"

" Ain’t gonna happen," I say quietly. " This one you are gonna have to figure out by yourself."

Minutes passed whilst we lock eyes, before she nods reluctantly. " Yes sir," she says softly.

aaa

aaa

"Colonel O’Neill!"

" Wha…what?"

I stare round the infirmary blearily, wondering what all the fuss was about. The place is milling with people, all staring at me with various stages of alarm.

My team has been pushed back to the far corner of the infirmary, and I am surrounded with all types of medical equipment, most attached to my head.

" What?" I say again, weakly this time as Fraiser enters a discussion with another man, someone I have never seen before.

" What happened?" I ask again.

Doc Fraiser looks up from the printouts they were perusing, allowing the other man to race out of the infirmary.

She crosses to me and hesitates, as if she wants to brush my hair out of my eyes, but can’t because of all the whatsits in the way. I wish she would. My hair is irritating me.

" You have had another seizure, Colonel," she says slowly. " But this time we are pretty confident we know how to stop it from ever happening again. Her smile is soft as she injects something into my IV. " Sleep now, and hopefully when you next awake, we will have a cure."

aaa

aaa

"So, if we had bought a machine back with us, and hooked someone up to it, they would have been a vegetable within hours."

I blink slowly, trying hard to look intelligent as Carter expounds on her theory of…whatever.

" You yourself were very lucky," she continues, eyes shining. " You were addicted, and this caused you to have those black outs and for you to eventually lose control of your truck. Luckily you weren’t that addicted, just slightly. Just enough for Janet and friends to take a long hard look at you and find a cure."

" Oh, thanks Carter," I mumble, hoping like hell the insurance assessor doesn’t decide to ask Carter of all people why I totaled a perfectly good truck. Her answer of ‘ gee, well he was under the influence at the time’ wouldn’t help my cause at all.

* EINDE

Beta Tested by CiGiK