samandjack.net

Story Notes: One Little Kiss - AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks to Kath Tate, beta reader extraordinare, who would oblige even without being plied with Ruffles and Frappuccinos.


It was just another fun day on Planet Drizzle.

Yeah, I know the planet has an official designation like PMS-something or other, but we'd been there twice and the weather was always exactly the same. You'd think it was going to clear up, but it didn't. You'd think it was going to start to rain in earnest, but it didn't. When you were under some shelter you'd kind of forget about it, so when you'd walk back out again and gradually start getting wet it would be a bit of a shock. It was kind of like being at the supermarket and reaching for something in the produce aisle when those damn misters go off. I'm convinced the bag boys spend their breaks monitoring the surveillance cameras and setting off the misters on us poor unsuspecting customers. But I don't really get to the supermarket that often so I haven't made an issue of it.

Right then I was just hanging out on Planet Drizzle.

We were there for the first time a few weeks before on a regular recon mission. That's when we'd found this machine that sent Daniel and Sam into raptures of ecstatic delight. I couldn't say what the machine was for because *they* didn't know yet. But Daniel had been pretty impressed with the writings he'd found on the side. They wanted to go back with all their scientific whatzits to study it, so off we went again.

Daniel and Sam were buzzing all over the machine like two kids in a candy store. Teal'c was off walking the perimeter of our makeshift camp. I was keeping an eye on things closer to home. The world was uninhabited but there appeared to be some bigger critters there and we weren't sure if they were nasty or nice.

We had a tarp rigged up over the machine to try and keep it and those examining it fairly dry. The machine sat beside a cliff face with a few natural overhangs and we'd made what would be our camp for the night beneath one of those.

I wiped water dripping from vines running along the overhang from off the back of my neck. It wasn't a perfect spot but it'd do. We were only going to be there for one night.

Leaning forward on the rock on which I was sitting, I put an elbow to my knee and my chin in my palm. I watched the camp. I watched my watch to see how much more time we had left on blissful Planet Drizzle. And mostly I watched Sam.

That was something I did a lot of. It was something I did a whole hell of a lot of. Next to hockey my favourite- No, scratch that. Watching Sam *was* my favourite past time.

She was completely absorbed in her work right then. Her face was set in concentration and I could almost see her mind working. I liked watching her when she was in such deep contemplation, because it made her less conscious of other things she'd be doing. She'd aimlessly run her fingers through her hair and then let the strands settle back around her face, or sometimes she'd run the opposite end of her pen across her lips while she debated something to write. I liked seeing her like that, in a way so unrestrained.

After taking some readings her brow would crease in thought and then she'd scribble furiously in her notebook. This went on for a while and then she put her materials down and turned around toward me.

I let her catch me watching her and received a sunny smile as a reward. I did that quite often now, let her catch me watching her. It used to be that I'd only watch her surreptitiously, being careful not to get caught. But things were different now. They'd changed after her confession following the Ke'le'don mission.

Sam made her way to the campsite and retrieved her canteen, then she headed over toward me and perched herself next to me on my rock.

"Got it all figured out yet?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I’m still trying to determine what it's made out of."

"What's the matter, Carter, are you slipping?" I said with an arched brow. "There was a time you would have had the thing up and running by now."

Grinning, she took a sip from her canteen before replying, "Care to give it a go, sir?"

She made no effort to hide the warm affection in her teasing tone and that was something else that had changed between us, for the better I thought. When we were alone together we no longer bothered to suppress the emotion that could sometimes be sensed in our conversations. Hearing it in Sam's voice always made me happy. It also made me want to take her behind the nearest sheltering object and do every unmentionable thing there possibly was to do with her. But then I always wanted to do that even before I found out how she felt about me, so I was pretty used to restraining those types of urges by now.

"I'll leave the scientist stuff in your capable hands, Major. I'm just going to sit here and work on my tan."

"Daniel's making better progress than me. He- AAAH!"

At her cry one of my hands went automatically to my side arm, the other to her shoulder. "Sam?"

She sat staring at her outstretched arm. Her canteen had been dropped and rivers of water ran from it to add pools to the already damp ground.

"It felt like something tried to grab my arm!" she exclaimed.

We both looked around the campsite but there was no sign of an intruder. Daniel, obviously having heard Sam's cry, was looking over at us from the machine.

Suddenly Sam's whole body jerked forward and we both saw with bafflement and shock a series of rips form on her jacket sleeve.

I was on my feet, grabbing my rifle from where it had rested leaning up against the rock only to hold it uselessly in my arms as I tried to sight an unknown foe. Sam stood cradling her arm to her chest looking around in trepidation and Daniel ran toward us.

"Stay back!" I ordered, waving him away. He stopped, arms hanging loosely at his sides, as he looked on in concern.

The three of us held our respective positions, each so quiet that the dripping of water from the vines and the slight smatter of drizzle hitting our clothes and the ground seemed to grow as loud as a rainstorm.

The real storm broke as a scream from Sam rent through the air.

Once again her arm was flung out in front of her and this time she dropped to her knees. She seemed to be pulled forward and would likely have met the ground with her face had she not caught herself in time with her other hand. She threw herself backwards only to be yanked forwards once again.

I frantically fanned the area around her with my rifle while this bizarre tug-of-war ensued, my finger itchy on the trigger, my heart racing from fear and adrenaline and my mind needful of a target. Daniel called out both our names in helpless concern as he watched Sam's valiant struggle.

Dropping one hand from my grip on my rifle I fell to my knees beside Sam, thinking to take hold of her arm and offer my strength to her own. Just as I reached her she suddenly fell back to the ground like a cord stretched taut that had just been snapped. At the same time the GDO that had been strapped to her wrist tore free and went sailing into the air. Only it didn't sail, precisely. It more like hovered, maintaining an equal speed as it shot across our campsite to disappear into the foliage beyond.

We all stared after it in stupefaction for a moment and then I moved to help Sam up from where she still lay sprawled on the ground. I put an arm around her to ease her to a sitting position then left it there with my hand curled over her shoulder.

"You okay?" I asked softly, eyes darting warily between Sam and any further lurking danger.

"I think so," she replied, her breath still coming harshly from her recent exertions. Her hand shook slightly as she held out her arm to examine it.

There were ragged tears in her jacket from elbow to wrist and I could see blood welling up from exposed skin.

"Daniel, get the medkit," I hollered, just as something crashed through the bush to my right. My head and my rifle turned to meet Teal'c as he burst into the clearing, staff weapon raised and ready.

"I heard yelling," Teal'c advised. "What has happened?"

"I wish to hell I knew! Something attacked Carter." The words were barked out as my worry turned to anger. Anger that Sam had been hurt; fury that I hadn't been able to prevent it.

"Keep watch!" I snapped and Teal'c immediately assumed a defensive posture as he trained his eyes around the clearing.

Daniel had arrived with the medkit and Sam pushed back the frayed remains of her sleeve so that he could begin cleaning her wounds with an antiseptic swab. Angry red gashes trailed up her arm but fortunately the scratches did not look too deep. I left her to Daniel's care while I went to brief Teal'c, giving Sam's shoulder a squeeze before I rose.

Several minutes later Sam and Daniel joined us with one bandaged arm and weapons at the ready. The four of us stood in wary preparation to fight a foe we couldn't see.

"What do you think it was, Major?" Even if she hadn't been the one attacked I still would have for her valued hypothesis. "Some kind of transportation device?"

I was busy scanning the clearing but out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam shake her head. "No. There was something there. When it was clawing at my arm I could feel something solid with my hand."

"Okay, so we have a solid, clawing thing we can't see. Sweet."

"And a missing GDO," Daniel put in.

"Daniel, you and Teal'c head back to the Stargate. Get a message through to Hammond letting him know SG-1's codes have been compromised. Carter, we're going to see if we can find out where your GDO went. We'll meet back here in an hour.

I headed to the tree line in the direction the GDO had gone, Carter following right behind me. As I pushed back at sodden tree branches the light dimmed as the forest's canopy screened the brightness from above. There was no trail but something had marked a path through the trees and bushes. Lower to the ground branches were broken. Some spindly grasses had managed to thrust up through the morass of plant decay and mosses underfoot, and those grasses had been trampled down in places.

We moved as silently as possible through the thicket, ignoring the discomfort of showers of water falling upon us as we disturbed the trees and branches snapping vengefully at our limbs. Not far along the left side of the forest fell away to a ravine. We kept to what could only generously be described as the path; the steep decline of the ravine coupled with the soaking wet ground made descent a virtual impossibility.

A glimpse of something that seemed out of place in the unspoiled natural foliage of the ravine below caught my eye and I was just about to signal Carter to a halt when a shriek from behind tore through the air. It wasn't Sam. It wasn't human. Beyond that I was never to actually find out for sure what it was.

When I whipped around Carter was turning too. Then without warning she lost her balance as her heel skidded on the slick ground. I reached out for her but I was not quick enough. I could only watch in helpless horror as she slid away from me down the slippery slope of the ravine.

I called her name in futility as I watched her slide and then tumble through the mud and rotting leaves. Her body rolled over and over, occasionally being jarred by the growth of a bush or small tree clinging stubbornly to the hillside.

She'd fallen halfway to the ravine floor when she disappeared. Just like that. One second I was watching with my heart in my throat as she tumbled helplessly away from me; the next second she was just...gone.

"Carter!" I screamed again in disbelief. Then, "Sam!" The slight fluttering of the growth she'd disturbed in her wake was my only answer.

I grabbed my radio. "Carter, are you reading this? Sam, come in!"

There was nothing for a moment and then the radio crackled to life.

"Jack? What's wrong?"

It was Daniel. He'd picked up the transmission and from his tone, he'd also picked up on the tremulous concern in my voice.

"I've lost Carter. She's disappeared." I did a good job of biting back a note of hysteria there.

"Disappeared?" Daniel's puzzlement was evident even over the radio.

"She took a tumble down a ravine. One moment I was watching her fall and then I couldn't see her anymore."

"We've heard from the general so we're heading back to you. We'll be there soon," promised Daniel.

"I'm going to look for her." I signed off.

I couldn't take the same way down Carter had unless I also wanted to experience a similar brutal descent. I started moving further along the path we'd been following. Up ahead I could see where a rock fall had tumbled down the embankment and I made my way toward it figuring it could offer me some surer footing.

It took me a quarter hour to reach the rock fall, then twice that to make it down to the ravine floor and double back to where Sam's fall should have ended. All the time I was concentrating on finding her. I wouldn't let my mind consider the alternative.

I was poking around at the base of the hillside when I heard her voice call, "Colonel!"

"Sam?" I cried, turning a full circle. Her voice sounded so close, yet she wasn't nearby.

"I'm right *here*, sir. Can't you see me?"

Her voice was right there in front of me, but she wasn't.

"No," I answered. I couldn’t see her.

"Sir, hold out your hand," she asked, her voice quavering with a slight tremor of fear.

I did as she asked but then almost pulled it back again as I felt something grab hold of it. My hand was raised up in front of me and I watched it with a sort of detached fascination. Then my palm settled against something smooth and warm and more warmth slid over the back of it to sandwich it in a soft cocoon.

"Sam?"

"Right here," she said and with her words I felt the movement of her jaw beneath my hand.

"Thank God," I breathed, feeling the fear I'd been depressing flare brightly and then dissipate with my relief. I let my rifle hang back on its shoulder strap and brought my other hand up until I felt her hair under my fingertips. That hand then slid down past her shoulder blades to the small of her back where a slight prodding brought her into my embrace.

I felt her arms wind around my neck, her body lean into mine. When her silky hair came to rest against my cheek and under my chin I closed my eyes as I held her. Frankly, being able to feel someone in your arms but not see them there was pretty darned weird.

"You can't see me," said Sam into my shoulder. She spoke in a matter of fact tone but I could sense her distress beneath the words.

"You're here," I said gruffly. "We'll worry about the rest later."

I'm not sure how long we would have stood like that - I know I wasn't in any hurry to move - if Daniel hadn't called to me over the radio.

"Jack? What are you doing?"

Opening my eyes I looked up to where I suspected Daniel might be, and sure enough he stood with Teal'c on the embankment at the top of the ravine. They were too far away for me to see their expressions, but Daniel's voice had conveyed bewilderment. I suppose that was to be expected 'cause if he couldn't see Sam either then to him it must have looked like I was hugging the air. And I suppose it was a good thing he couldn’t see me holding Sam, although at that point in time I hadn't really cared if he could.

With more than a little reluctance I let go of her and grabbed my radio.

"I found Carter."

"Where is she?" It was a logical question.

"Right here." I waved to my side.

"Right *here*." Sam's voice came with wry amusement from behind me and to my left.

"I don't see her," Daniel said.

"Yeah, we're having a bit of a problem with that. Look Daniel, it's going to take us a while just to get back to where you are right now. Head back to camp and we'll rendezvous there."

Daniel agreed and I replaced the radio. "Ready to go, Carter?" I stood staring straight ahead, not knowing if she was still in the place from which I'd last heard her speak.

"Yes sir." She was a bit closer now.

"You okay?" I asked belatedly. I should have asked her before, but I'd just been so overcome with relief to have found her.

"I have my share of bumps and bruises and I must have hit my head because I think I blacked out for a few minutes, but I'm fine."

Unconsciousness would explain why she hadn't answered my calls. "Then let's head out."

I started walking. The damp ground muted the sound of footsteps. "Carter? You with me?"

"Right here, sir," she said from beside me.

It was disconcerting to not be able to see her, even in the periphery. "Give me your hand," I ordered, holding out my own. I felt her palm slide against mine and our fingers curled together.

I would have done the same thing with, say, Daniel, had it been him who had disappeared. Okay, so with Daniel I probably would have had him take my arm rather than my hand. And with Daniel I wouldn't have felt like I was taking a romantic walk in the rain.

"Let's hear some theories on what's happened to you, Major," I commanded, trying to instill some military professionalism to the situation.

"I don't know," she said slowly. "I can see myself. It just seems to be everyone else who can't."

"Do you think someone's doing this? We've seen a few other vanishing acts. The Nox. Hathor."

"But to what end? I don't see anything, anybody else here who-"

At the same time as her words abruptly ceased I felt a tug on my hand that meant she had stopped walking.

"Look sir, do you see it?" She spoke softly but sharply.

"What? Where?" I snapped, defenses rising to the fore.

"Two o'clock, on that ledge," Sam whispered.

My eyes followed to where her words had indicated. There was a slick looking surface of rock protruding from the hillside with a small opening that was possibly a cave. But as far as I could see, there was nothing there to get excited about.

"I see...a ledge," I told Carter.

"There's an animal there," she informed me. "It's some sort of big cat. Like a cougar or something similar."

I heard the sound of a pocket being unzipped and after a moment's pause Carter spoke again. "Okay. It's got a pile of something up there. Sir, I can see it. It's got my GDO! Oh no!"

Suddenly Carter's hand was torn from mine. I jumped at the unexpected sound of gunfire but recovered instantly to swing my own rifle into my arms. Rounds of ammunition were kicking up the ground in front of us. Too closely in front of us. "Carter!" I hollered, feeling an unwelcome but familiar surge of helplessness wash over me.

The gunfire ceased. "It's okay, sir," Sam advised. "It's gone. The shooting scared it off."

"How the *hell* am I supposed to fight off something I can't see?" I cried, my voice rising in frustration.

"I don't think it will be back. It was an animal and it was pretty spooked."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't have friends," I snapped.

"We'll worry about the rest later." Sam's soothing tone echoed my earlier words to her. "Can I have your hand, sir?"

I blew out my breath in a rush then shouldered my weapon and held out my hand. Sam's fingers once more nestled between my own and we started out again.

Her touch, exactly that which was forbidden under ordinary circumstances, served to calm and center me. Strange that something so beneficial should be deemed wrong.

But it was a strange world and most definitely a stranger universe.

******

We made it back to camp without further incident. After playing a round of Where's Sam? I can't see her? with Daniel and Teal'c we filled them in on what had happened with the big invisible cat who stole the GDO.

I mentioned the universe was strange, didn't I?

It was debated and I decided that we'd stay on the planet overnight. Hammond had given us leave to do so when he'd given Daniel a new set of codes. He was no more a fan than I of leaving behind our tech on other planets, even uninhabited ones. If we could get the GDO back then I was planning to do so. But it was too late into the evening to start going on any big game hunts right then. Not that I wanted to harm the creature who'd taken the device, of course. Another reason for staying on the planet was that it was here that whatever made Sam invisible had happened, so it was more likely that here's where we'd find a way to reverse the effects.

Dinnertime was amusing. It seemed whatever Sam had on her when she'd fallen down that hillside - weapon, hat, clothes - had also been rendered invisible, but whatever else she came into contact with did not disappear. So we sat eating dinner watching a ration pack and fork hover in the air while Sam's disembodied voice espoused theories about her current state of being.

Daniel got so caught up in an explanation that he didn't notice a fork hover overtop of his dinner and then disappear within to filch portions of his meal. Sam's halfheartedly smothered giggles finally clued him in to her thievery.

I was glad she could find some levity in her situation. But while I grinned along with her laughter I still worried over how we'd get her back to herself.

Daniel was threatening to wrap her up in the tape he'd been using to section off parts of the machine they'd been studying when he stopped speaking in mid-sentence. He suddenly got that "eureka!" expression of his and I swear I could see the light bulb going on in his head.

Wordlessly, he jumped up from his seat by our campfire and dove into his tent, to reappear a moment later with a sheaf of papers in his hands. He shuffled through them, then ran a finger down a select one.

"Here it is. Here it is!" he cried triumphantly. We all waited expectantly for a further explanation. I mean, it wasn't like we'd have to prompt him.

"When I was translating some of the writing on the machine there were words that could have been translated to have several different meanings. I was thinking they meant one thing but if I read them differently this, here," he stabbed his finger at his paper, "says 'to hide from view'. And there's more here about remaining unseen and, and restoring visibility!" Daniel looked up with a smile of jubilation. We stared back at him. At least Teal'c and I did. I don't know what Sam's expression was.

"Don't you get it?" Daniel exclaimed. "It's the machine doing this to Sam. It's got to be."

Sam spoke up. "Like some sort of cloaking device."

"Right." Daniel nodded enthusiastically.

"It must generate a field."

"That you fell through."

"And so did that cat. Its den was in the same area."

"We have to see if there's some sort of transmitter visible."

"Locate a power source."

"Okay!" I interrupted the rapid-fire scientist-speak. "Daniel. How do we turn it off?"

"I don't know. Yet," he qualified.

I nodded. "It's too late, too dark and too wet to start studying the machine again tonight. Let's get some sleep. Daniel, you take first watch so you can be up and at it first thing in the morning. Wake me for second and Teal'c will take third."

"What about me, sir?" asked Sam.

"You get the night off."

"But why? I can still see." There was an undercurrent of petulance to her protest.

"But we can't see you," I stated firmly, "which makes it a bit difficult for us to come to your assistance if anything happens."

"Sir..."

"*Carter*."

Her soft sigh seemed to be carried on the wind. "Goodnight."

******

I'd finished my watch and was crouched down throwing some wood on the fire. We'd kept it going through the night, figuring it might help to keep the cats at bay. So far, so good; we'd had no nocturnal visitors.

A quiet voice stopped me just as I was about to rise and head to my tent to get the rest of my night's sleep.

"Hi Colonel." Sam spoke from just beside me.

"Carter," I acknowledged. "Shouldn't you be asleep?" My tone wasn't harsh.

"I've been trying, but..."

"What's wrong?"

She was silent for so long I was about to ask if she was still there. But then her hushed voice sounded again.

"I've been thinking about what you said, about no one being able to come to my assistance if anything happened. It's bothering me a bit. I mean, you were right. Something could happen to me and none of you would know. It just made me feel really...alone. So I came and sat out here so I wouldn't be."

She was scared. She was frightened by the situation at hand and undoubtedly by the impact it could have on her future if it could not be resolved. Despite her obvious femininity, Sam Carter was tough, resilient, a fighter and a damn good soldier. From early on I'd been happy to have her on my team and when need be, watching my back. But just like the best of us, she was human and she was able to feel afraid.

Regs or not, I'd do what I could to ease that fear.

I stood up and held out my hand. "Come with me."

Her palm connected with mine and I felt a slight pull on my arm that meant she was rising. When the tugging stopped I led her over to my tent and pulled back the flap. "In you go."

"Sir?" She still held my hand, which meant she hadn't moved inside.

"It's okay, Sam."

Her hand slipped from mine and I heard the slight crinkling of the tent floor on which my unzipped sleeping bag lay. I crawled into the small shelter behind Sam, pausing to dig a thin emergency blanket out of my pack that rested just inside the doorway.

I shook out the light, silvery material and it floated slowly down to fall in a silhouette over Sam's form. Even in the wan light from the fire I could tell from how the blanket outlined her body that Sam was lying on her side facing me. I lay down, on my side, facing her.

Draping my arm gently over her waist I whispered, "Now I can tell you're here. And nothing can happen to you."

Sam's body shifted upwards and my arm fell away. I resisted the urge to pull her back to me. If she wasn't comfortable with this I wouldn't try to persuade her.

Then I felt something feather light brush across my cheek. Her fingertips? Her lips? I didn't know. Her weight settled against me and her arm snaked around me as I felt the silken softness of her hair tuck under my chin.

"Thank you," she whispered. I closed my eyes and curled my own arm around her shoulders as we relaxed into one another.

Soon after Sam's breathing was deep and even in sleep but I remained awake longer, much longer than I should have, holding her and wishing that this was what every night could be.

******

I woke alone in the early morning light. I could tell Sam was gone as there was no longer the warmth from her body nestled against mine and my arm lay flat on the hard ground.

In the moment between sleep and true wakefulness I panicked, but then I realized she must have slipped away on her own. Nothing could have gotten past me to get to her.

Blinking the final vestiges of sleep from my eyes I crawled out of the tent to see Sam sitting by the still glowing embers of the night's fire.

I *saw* her sitting by the fire.

Still on my hands and knees halfway out of my tent I felt my face pull the biggest ear-to-ear grin imaginable.

"Carter," I said happily. "You look like hell."

She beamed back at me. "Thanks sir."

I moved over to sit beside her. She did look like she'd had a rough time of it. Her hair was brushed back from her face in lank strands and was matted with dirt in other places. A scratch graced one cheek and a purple bruise marked the other. Her uniform was filthy. She'd never appeared more beautiful to me.

"I'm glad you're back," I told her quietly, holding her gaze, hoping my eyes and tone of voice conveyed the emotion I couldn't otherwise express.

Her lips parted and she nodded. She understood. "Last night helped. A lot."

Our stares stayed locked together until I turned my head away. "So," I spoke in a normal tone, "what happened?"

"I'm not sure," she mused. "I guess the effects of whatever if was wore off. After I got up this morning Teal'c noticed me so I knew I could be seen again."

"Sweet. Well Carter, as much as I'd like to leave this charming planet behind right now, I suppose you and Daniel are going to want to have something from that machine to study when we get home?"

"Yes sir. I'd like to understand what happened to me and think of what such a technology could-"

"Just go and get your readings or recordings or whatever else you need," I interrupted. "But do it as quickly as you can. I want to get out of here before someone else disappears."

About an hour later we were packed up and ready to complete one last task before we returned home. I wanted that GDO back.

We all took the now familiar and circuitous route back to the cat's den. Once there we couldn't see an animal lurking but as we knew, that didn't mean it wasn't there.

The ledge on which Carter had sighted the GDO through her field glasses wasn't all that high up. I left my team at the base of the hillside and made my way up, digging my boots into the slick and spongy ground for purchase and grabbing onto the odd bush to help pull myself along. I preceded my ascent with a spray of ammunition, first below the ledge and then just along its edge. I didn't want to hit the cat but I didn't want it to hurt me either, so I hoped if it was there that the gunfire would scare it away.

I made it onto the ledge without incident and immediately spotted the GDO. My eyes narrowed as I noticed a nearby pile of stuff that was also part of the cat's collection. I was just about to take a closer look at it when Carter called to me.

"Colonel!" she yelled and I turned and looked down to see her pointing to the top of the embankment. My eyes swiveled in that direction to find a very large animal staring down at me.

It wasn't *that* close, but who knew how quickly the thing could move or how far it could jump. Sam's description of it being sort of like a cougar had been apt, except it was more of a darker brown than the tanned beige of the animal of Earth.

"I know I'm on your turf," I called up to it. "I'm just here to get back what's ours." With that I grabbed the GDO and half bounded, half skidded down the hillside to rejoin Carter, Daniel and Teal'c.

The cat didn't follow us but I still felt like eyes were upon me all the way to the Stargate.

I took my team home, hoping to never set foot on Planet Drizzle again.

******

No such luck.

Two weeks later a very excited Daniel led a very lengthy briefing to report his findings about the machine. I was half listening to him and half watching Sam. Talking about Planet Drizzle was reminding me just how perfect it had felt sleeping with her body pressed close to mine.

Daniel was pointing to a slide depicting a section of the machine. "This is in essence, and for lack of a better term, a maintenance checklist. The lab has dated the latest inscriptions as being recent. Very recent."

"So someone's been showing up once in a while to tinker with the thing. That doesn't mean we'll be able to find where they come from to go and say hello," I piped up, mostly to prove I'd been paying attention.

"No Jack," Daniel said, "I don't think it's a case of someone returning to the planet. From the look of things, this work on the machine has been on going. I think whoever is working on it is already there. I think the planet is inhabited."

******

END



End Notes: Coming soon: One Little Kiss - Face to Face

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