Daniel frowned as he bit his lip in concentration. "I’m sorry, I don’t understand."

Unwittingly arriving on the planet only an hour before sunset, other than meeting their genial host, SG-1 had yet to accomplish anything and it would be getting dark soon. The language barrier was proving quite a challenge, but not for lack of trying on either side. Jack was getting impatient which only further hampered the already frustrated linguist.

"Daniel?"

"Jack."

"Come on, you’ve been playin’ charades with Farmer Brown there for twenty minutes," Jack complained. "Get on with it already."

"I’m working on it," Daniel exclaimed in mild irritation. "I can’t find a single point of reference, nothing remotely familiar, not so much as a root. This language is a complete mystery to me."

"All right then. Keep doin’ your chicken thing…" Jack trailed off at the murderous glare from the cool blue eyes. "I’ll just be over here," he grumbled as he wandered to the other end of the chrome and glass outbuilding that looked something like a benchless bus stop, which was open on the two long sides. What appeared to be a moving sidewalk took up the entire floor, although at the moment it was inactive.

Daniel muttered an unintelligible but cheeky reply as he turned his attention back to the local man.

Bored but vigilant, Jack swept his gaze over the quaint little farmyard surrounding them. Despite the high-tech hut, everything else appeared very rustic indeed including the lone farm house and the nearby barn. In fact it seemed a little too picturesque for Jack’s taste, a little too perfect. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but pasture land, orchards, a single field of wheat, and a patchwork of small but immaculate vegetable gardens. A multitude of workers lovingly hand groomed the crops, not a tractor or bottle of pesticide in site. It was an organic wonderland.

"Carter?" Jack asked, turning his attention to the woman on her hands and knees investigating the innards of the sophisticated shed. When she had shown an interest in the odd structure, the old farmer had opened a large panel for her and invited her to explore. Intermittently she made squeaks and squawks of surprise and discovery while steadily cooing techno-babble from inside.

"Sir, this is incredible," Sam gushed, never raising her head.

"What is it?"

"I don’t know yet," she admitted somewhat sheepishly. "But I’d love to tear this baby down in my lab. The power source is like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s not even crystalline, it’s more of um… ah… honestly, I don’t have a clue what it is."

"Uh huh," Jack responded dutifully, his attention now focused on the final member of the team as Teal’c returned from a perimeter check. "T, have you ever seen anything like this?"

"I have not," Teal’c supplied succinctly, appearing slightly more dour than usual.

"Find anything interesting?"

"No," Teal’c uttered in disgust, lifting one boot to examine the dung encrusted sole which told that he might have wandered a little too close to the barnyard.

As the sun began to slowly sink into the horizon, the masses of field hands started streaming in from the surrounding area. They made their way in small groups along the unpaved paths that lead straight to the bus stop where Old MacDonald was using pantomime to try to lure Daniel inside. Daniel continued to politely refuse, all the while still attempting to communicate.

"Where do you think all these people live?" Jack queried, watching the crowd with one eye as they drew near and keeping the other on Daniel and the old man.

"I am uncertain," Teal’c answered. "I had thought perhaps they might leave via the stargate as I see no building capable of housing so many."

"Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. But they’re definitely headed this way."

Daniel put up a hand in appeasement to the insistent farmer as he backed away from the shed. "I’m pretty sure this device is some form of transportation," he explained as he reached Jack and Teal’c.

"Transport to where?"

"If I’m not misunderstanding Ooluk, which unfortunately is a distinct possibility, it takes them directly to a large city."

"Farmer Brown’s name is Ooluk? Ooluk Brown?"

"I wish you’d quit calling him that," Daniel scolded lightly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That can’t be right," Sam disagreed, reluctantly backing out of her hidey hole and climbing to her feet. "The initial MALP readings indicated that the air is almost perfectly pure. In fact it’s so clean there’s no way a large metropolitan area could be within a hundred miles of the gate. Not unless these people have solved all of their pollution problems."

"Maybe they have," Daniel insisted. "I mean look at the Nox. Or the Tollans."

"Perhaps this device is capable of transporting great distances."

"Or maybe it transports them to another planet all together like the stargate?" Jack put in. "They could work here and live somewhere else."

"You’re right," Sam quickly relented. "Anything’s possible I suppose."

"There must be a lot of these little farms," Daniel reasoned. "I mean they’ve got variety in spades, but not much quantity of any one thing. It’s more like a self reliant family farm. It could be a co-op I suppose."

The gentleman farmer approached them again with a friendly smile and caught Daniel by the elbow to steer him back towards the apparatus just as the first of the farm workers arrived. He spoke several words and touched his temple next to his eye, indicating that Daniel should see something. The rest of SG-1 followed unbidden.

Every bit as pleasant as Ooluk, the new arrivals bowed and nodded their heads in greeting, speaking animatedly in the strange language. Daniel returned the gesture and Sam smiled politely as she fished out a hand-held RF frequency locator and switched it on to try and take some readings. Jack and Teal’c merely stood back to watch.

The first man to arrive pulled an apple from his pocket and carefully washed it at a small sink built right into the short end of the shed opposite Sam’s panel. He quickly cored and sliced it, placing it into a tray on a large grey box near the sink and pushed a button. The tray slid inside without a sound.

"That’s… odd," Jack ventured.

"Could be some sort of offering for using the transport," Daniel guessed, scratching his head.

"A biodegradable subway token? What’s next? Kittens or chickens?"

"Ew," Sam groaned, making a face at her C.O. "Sir!"

Meanwhile, the man dusted off his clothes, whacking his hat against his leg then used the handy boot scrape to dislodge the mud from his shoes before stepping into the shed. The conveyer belt on the floor started automatically and in a flash of blue light, the man vanished before moving more than a few centimeters.

"Cool," Jack breathed in awe.

From the other side a woman stepped in almost before the flash faded and she, too, was gone in the blink of an eye. Alternating from one of the open sides to the other, the crowd quickly diminished in one blue spark after another. A few people stopped to make a deposit before taking their turn; three string beans, a slice of melon, a cup of fresh milk in an odd looking metal beaker.

When the last commuter was gone, the farmer manipulated a keyboard and stopped the belt. Once again, he gestured Daniel inside. "Looks like an invitation," Daniel observed eagerly.

"You sure it’s safe?" Jack asked, suspicious of the machinery if not the farmer.

"No," Daniel admitted. "But those people certainly weren’t afraid."

"Yeah, but it’s already evening," Jack hedged. "We don’t want to drop in unannounced at supper time."

"Well it’s evening here," Carter replied, "But it’s only ten o’clock in the morning at the SGC. There’s no telling what time it is on the other side of this thing."

Jack scowled at his subordinate. "I realize that. I’m just not in a big hurry to jump into that thing."

"Look at it this way," Daniel pointed out craftily. "They’ve definitely got technology, and they actually seem willing to share."

"Seem being the operative word," Jack countered. "I’d just feel a lot better if you could actually talk to the guy."

Daniel’s face fell a little, but he nodded his agreement. "Yeah. Me, too."

Ooluk spoke a few words and indicated the setting sun.

"Apparently there’s a time limit," Daniel surmised, standing next to Sam who bounced expectantly on her toes.

Jack took in the scientists’ hopeful faces and sighed. "All right," he gave in reluctantly. "To Oz."

"Yes!" Sam exclaimed, successfully resisting the urge to punch a fist into the air. "Sir."

Turning to Ooluk, Daniel nodded his consent. The much older man slapped Daniel on the shoulder gleefully and placed him squarely on one end of the obviously not-moving belt.

"You’re still here," Jack observed dryly.

"It must somehow be different for us," Daniel presumed, glancing around the inside of the chrome shell curiously.

"I don’t know," Sam argued as she switched off her current gizmo and pulled out a Geiger counter. "They certainly look human."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Major Carter," Teal’c retorted, using the mud scraper to dislodge the remaining manure from his boot.

"Oh, wait! Something’s happening," Daniel exclaimed excitedly. A yellow glow surrounded him and he heard a gradually growing hum that seemed to sink all the way to his bones. Suddenly he was hit by a sonic wave that felt like he’d been on the receiving end of a bucket of ice water. Startled, he recoiled and let out an involuntary gasp.

The blue flash missed him as he was tackled through the opening and thrown to the ground on the other side. "Jack!" he protested, trying to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him. "Get off me!"

"You okay?" Jack asked urgently as he patted the winded archeologist down for injuries.

"Yeah, except for the hundred and eighty pounds of Colonel I got knocked over with. What the hell was that for?"

"I thought you were in pain."

"No I wasn’t. It was… it was just a little intense; like getting hit in the face with cold water. It was actually kind of refreshing until I got tackled."

"Sorry," Jack mumbled apologetically, pulling Daniel to his feet.

Teal’c and Sam rounded the shed but the farmer came right through it, beating them to the other side. Anxiously, he grabbed Daniel and tried to push him back inside.

"Back off," Jack barked at him, brushing the old man’s hands away.

"It’s okay," Daniel soothed, placating his old friends and his new with a gesture before dusting himself off. "Whoa," he exclaimed half a second later as his knees gave out and he landed butt first on the ground.

"Daniel?" Sam called fearfully, quickly at his side and checking his pulse.

After blinking a couple of times, Daniel looked around in confusion. "What happened?" he asked.

"You blacked out for a minute there," Jack explained as he knelt down beside him. "How do you feel?"

"I feel a little… uh, strange. Light headed, I guess."

"You think you can make it to the gate?"

"Why? Are we leaving?"

"Uh, yeah," Jack retorted tetchily, not bothering to hide his concern.

"I think Janet should check you out," Sam agreed.

"No, no. I’m okay," Daniel insisted as he struggled to get to his knees. "It’s passing now. Help me up."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked, catching one arm while Teal’c grabbed the other and pulled him back to his feet.

"I’m fine," Daniel assured, taking a moment to steady himself.

The chrome of the hut seemed to dull as dusk fell and Ooluk worked furiously on the panel before giving up with an exaggerated sigh and a wave of his hand towards the last vestige of the setting sun.

"It’s solar powered," Sam deduced quickly. She pointed in the direction of the fading rays and back to the shed.

Ooluk nodded unhappily.

"He really wanted us to visit the city," Daniel observed.

"Yeah, he was a little too anxious for my comfort," Jack put in. "I guess he thinks we’re stuck here with him and Mrs. Brown for the night."

"We can camp out by the gate," Daniel suggested hopefully.

"No dice, Daniel," Jack shot him down. "I want you cleared by Fraiser before we do any camping. Look, if everything checks out with the doc we’ll have a little lunch, maybe take a nap and then come back later tonight when the sun comes up."

"Okay," Daniel agreed, squinting as he puzzled out Jack’s convoluted reasoning. "But I really am fine."

"It’s already too dark to take samples or anything. The days here must really be short," Sam mused as they gathered their things to head to the stargate. "I’ll do some calculations and we can be back at sunrise."

The old farmer wrung his hands in worry before pointing to the opposite horizon from where the sun had set. He frantically mimed a ball rising and pointed to the bus stop.

"We’ll be back," Daniel assured him, nodding his head in an exaggerated affirmative before copying the rising ball gesture and pointing to the same spot in the sky.

Ooluk nodded back and sighed, seemingly even more apprehensive as SG-1 moved away.

"I’m fine," Daniel re-stated using his last ounce of patience, glancing around the briefing room table and feeling a little put out by the constant question. He frowned as he distractedly played with the too long cuff of his fatigue jacket thinking he must have gotten someone else’s laundry by mistake.

"He checks out physically," Doctor Fraiser agreed. "As far as I can tell, he’s in perfect health."

"So you still think it was some type of transportation device?" General Hammond asked.

"Yep," Jack replied. "There one minute and gone the next. Well, all except for Daniel that is."

"Yes, well the process was interrupted for me, wasn’t it?" Daniel replied with a tight, insincere smile.

Jack rolled his eyes but didn’t answer.

"Maybe the first time a person goes through the device there’s some type of preliminary procedure," Sam theorized intently.

"That’s likely," Daniel agreed, getting caught up in her enthusiasm. "I mean, I’m sure the people who go through all the time have their DNA or cell structure or whatever already mapped and stored somehow. For them the process was instantaneous."

"Cell structure?" Jack questioned sardonically.

"Or whatever," Daniel reiterated. "Obviously physical changes have to be made to get the person from point A to point B. There has to be some way to reverse the changes at the other end. You know, put everything back in the proper place."

"Is this not what happens when we use the stargate?" Teal’c asked.

"Yes, but the stargate doesn’t refer back to ‘mapped’ information to reintegrate people or things, it creates a new record each time. And that pattern is only stored on the crystals until the next wormhole is established," Sam explained.

"That’s why we had to offset the iris when you were trapped inside the gate," Daniel reminded Teal’c. "If a wormhole had established, the crystals would have been overwritten and we would have lost you."

"This is a completely different technology, more like what the Aschen use," Sam reasoned, rapidly jotting a few notes on the paper in front of her. "There’s no telling what else these people might have. I think they’re way more advanced than what we can see on the surface. And much nicer than the Aschen."

"Wipe your chin, Major," Jack teased. "You’re salivating all over the table."

"Sorry sir," Sam played along, suppressing a grin as she exchanged an indulgent look with Daniel.

"We probably should go back," Jack conceded grudgingly.

"Very well, SG-1," Hammond replied, rising from his chair, "You have a go to return to the planet in…?" he paused and glanced at Major Carter who was once again writing furiously.

"Eight hours, sir."

"Eight hours it is."

"Yes, sir," Jack agreed, standing the same time as Doctor Fraiser in a show of respect as the general headed off to his office.

"Thank you, sir," Sam added pushing her notepad aside as she scrambled to her feet.

Teal’c and Daniel rose as well and lead the way towards the door. Daniel reached the door first but politely ushered Janet out before following.

"While we’re waiting I’m going to run a few simulations on the wavelengths I recorded from the device," Sam called out to her departing teammates. "Anybody wanna come watch?"

Already in the hall, Janet made a beeline for the elevator with a faint plea of ‘duty calling’ but Daniel stopped to listen. Teal’c halted as well turning in the doorway, unwittingly preventing Jack’s escape.

"Uh, we were just headed for the gym to get in some… uh, boxing," Jack declared. "Weren’t we?" he asked, nudging Teal’c surreptitiously with his elbow.

"We were not," Teal’c denied.

"Yes, we were," Jack insisted gruffly. "I just hadn’t told you yet."

"I see."

"I’ll go with you," Daniel volunteered trying to peer over Teal’c’s shoulder and finding it much harder to do than he thought it should be. "Your lab?"

"No, I’ll use the analyzer in the control room."

"Sucker," Jack muttered to Daniel under his breath when Teal’c finally allowed him to pass. Together they went to the elevator while Daniel backtracked to follow an animated Sam down the stairs to the control room.

An hour later, Daniel returned to the briefing room ostensibly to scout some coffee, but the carafe was dry. His disappointment was minimal because in reality he had only wanted to get up and move around a little anyway. He wasn’t bored he told himself for the fortieth time in as many minutes, but he was stiff from sitting there with nothing to do but watch numbers stream across the screen. It wasn’t like he couldn’t lose himself in his own research and sit stone still for hours on end, but that was different, that was actually interesting.

On the way back down the stairs he nearly tripped on the excess material of his own pants riding low on his hips and had to pause on the steps to tighten his belt. He had definitely grabbed the wrong uniform. From the size of it, he figured it had to be Teal’c’s. How he hadn’t noticed when he’d dressed he had no idea.

When he got back to the control room he saw that Sam had not moved from the big computer in the back and he doubted if she even knew he had been gone. He found the thought of sitting back down to join her disheartening. Finally, he admitted to himself that he was bored. Very, very bored. As he paused to think of a good excuse to leave that didn’t involve pummeling one of his friends with thick gloves, or more precisely having one of his friends pummel him, the blue light of an incoming wormhole captured his attention. He moved to stand behind the technician to watch SG-5 return, curious as always as to what treasures they might be bringing home.

"Sorry sir," Sergeant Davis replied as he stood up and nearly bumped into Daniel.

"No problem," Daniel assured, stepping aside but still managing to check out the fully loaded MALP as it descended the ramp, wondering how much of the load would end up in his office. He furtively hoped they had something that needed his immediate attention.

"Sir?" Davis exclaimed, openly gaping at him.

"Hmm?" Daniel inquired absently, finally looking up at the other man, noting that something was definitely off about the situation.

"D… Doctor Jackson," Davis stuttered as he ran a hand through the air forehead high between them several times. "Didn’t you use to be taller than me?"

"I… what?" Daniel asked in shock, realizing exactly what was wrong. Unless he was sitting and the other man was standing, he had never needed to look up at the sergeant before.

"Daniel?" Sam queried, abandoning her analyzer to join them. She too did a quick head to head comparison and found her teammate to be a good foot shorter than he should be. "Oh boy," she sighed.

Daniel’s eyes went wide. "I’m getting younger?" he gasped, clutching his ill fitting uniform with one hand.

"Holy Mother of… pearl," Jack exclaimed as he sprinted into the infirmary still wearing his gym clothes. He had come at a run with Teal’c hot on his heels as soon as he’d been paged, never expecting to find a three-fifth sized Daniel Jackson staring back at him from the edge of one of the beds.

Daniel’s bare feet dangled way above the floor and his body seemed dwarfed in the one-size-fits-all examination gown. Janet and Sam carried out a hushed but frantic conversation near the foot of the bed.

"What the hell happened?" Jack blurted out.

"Well, the good news is I’m not growing younger," Daniel started, crossing his arms over his chest. "Apparently I’m just getting… smaller."

Jack gawked in disbelief for a moment, his mouth moving but no words coming out. "Gives a whole new meaning to the term shrinkage," he finally managed.

Sam and Janet stopped talking immediately and turned to glower at him. Daniel pursed his lips and the frown lines in his forehead deepened exponentially.

"Indeed," Teal’c uttered solemnly in agreement. If he actually understood the reference was anyone’s guess.

"Since none of the rest of us seem to show any signs of shrinkage… ing… I meant shrink… ing," Sam stammered, shooting an apologetic grimace in Daniel’s direction as her cheeks flushed pink, "we have to assume it was the alien device that did this."

"Ya think?" Jack growled back at her as he attempted to measure Daniel’s head with his hand.

"We have to go back to the planet," Daniel insisted, swatting Jack’s hand away petulantly.

"We are going back," Jack assured as he tucked his offending hand into his pocket, still trying to gauge his friend’s relative size with his eyes. "In less than six hours."

"Daniel may not have six hours," Sam informed them, worriedly biting her lip.

"What? Why not?"

Sam sighed, reaching out to touch Daniel’s knee as if he were exhibit A. "Comparing his former height and weight with his current size, then factoring in the amount of time that’s passed since he was exposed to the technology, if Daniel keeps shrinking at the same rate, in six more hours we may not be able to interact with him in any significant way."

"Because…" Jack prodded, spinning his free hand in the air for more information.

"Because he’s going to be very small by then."

"How small can he get?"

"Small," Janet replied gravely.

"Very small," Sam reiterated. "At this point we don’t know if there are any limits to how small."

"In terms I can understand," Jack requested with a raised finger, "How fast is he shrinking?"

Glancing first at Janet and then at Daniel, Sam cleared her throat lightly. "We don’t know exactly because it started so slowly. It wasn’t even noticeable during Daniel’s post mission evaluation but now it seems to have leveled off."

"Carter."

"At the moment, he’s losing approximately eight inches in height an hour, sir."

"Okay, let’s do the math… six foot tall… divided by eight hours," Jack muttered pretending to mark the numbers in the air. "So seventy-two minus seventy-two equals… right. I guess we’ve got a problem."

"How doesn’t this effect Daniel Jackson’s health?" Teal’c inquired.

"Other than losing me in the bed sheets? Or maybe through the atoms in the bed sheets," Daniel queried fatalistically.

"Well, there are a lot of very tiny life forms; dust mites, single celled organisms, bacteria and viruses to name a few," Janet supplied. "I think physiologically, he’ll be intact no matter how small he gets. But what is considered a normal environment will turn into an extremely hazardous one as he changes."

"On the other hand," Sam replied almost enviously, "You’ll probably experience things science has only dreamed about."

A spark of interest crossed Daniel’s face. "Like what?"

"Who knows? Like I said, we don’t even really know how small subatomic particles actually get."

"Once you get past quarks it’s all academic anyway," Jack suggested with a shrug. "What?" he asked when everyone turned to stare at him.

"So what now?" Daniel asked, changing the subject.

"We’ve done some tests on the uniform you wore to the planet," Janet said quietly. "So far we haven’t turned up anything, but we’ll keep trying."

"Well don’t destroy it," Daniel requested urgently. "I’ll need something to wear as I… disappear."

"What makes you so sure the uniform is shrinking too?" Jack asked.

Daniel adjusted the perfectly sized spectacles on his face, "Because my glasses and boots were exposed and they are shrinking with me."

"Oh."

"When we’re done with it we’ll put the uniform through a wash cycle and get it back to you," Janet granted.

"Don’t forget the underwear," Jack put in. "What? Underwear are very important when you’re small," he added defensively when everyone gave him another look. "I didn’t mean it that way! Sheesh. Like I would know."

"Sir," Sam pleaded for his silence.

"I just meant… you know, little all over, like a kid."

"Yes sir."

"In the meantime, let’s do some more tests on you," Janet suggested to Daniel, pretending to ignore the flustered colonel.

"Swell," Daniel replied, also refusing to look in Jack’s direction.

"And I’ve still got some tests I can run," Sam added, reflexively stroking Daniel on the head as if he were a child. "I’ll be back when I’m done." Daniel’s frown intensified and he tightened his crossed arms but he didn’t comment or pull away. Realizing what she was doing, Sam quickly dropped her hand. "Sorry."

"It’s okay. Just go find a way to stop this," Daniel urged.

Still embarrassed Sam nodded and rapidly excused herself.

"I’m gonna hit the showers but I’ll be right back," Jack announced, following her.

"Take your time," Daniel muttered drolly.

"Teal’c? You wanna wash off the sweat? Don’t wanna stink ‘em out, ya know."

"I did not exercise sufficiently to perspire," Teal’c replied innocently. "I will remain here until you return and then I must kel-no-reem before we return to the planet."

"Not sufficiently?" Jack questioned with a hurt expression. "Just what are you saying?"

"He’s saying that you’re not much of a sparing partner," Daniel provided with the ghost of a grin for the first time since he’d found out about his little problem.

"Not sufficiently my ass," Jack groused as he headed off to the showers. "I’ll show you not sufficiently."

Daniel suppressed a cough that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle as Teal’c raised an eyebrow, his lip curling upward slightly.

"Oh my God," Sam exclaimed as she stepped around the curtain and found Daniel tucking an extra small tee-shirt into what could only be a pair of Janet Fraiser’s BDU pants. Frighteningly, they both seemed a bit big on him. "Daniel, are you okay?" she gasped, reeling at how much he had shrunk in the hour she’d been gone.

"Say ello to my leetle frien," Jack greeted from his perch on the bed.

Daniel closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "If he calls me a ‘cock-a-roach’ just one more time…" he growled dangerously.

"Colonel, stop harassing my patient," Janet scolded as she rounded the corner and stood nearly eye to eye with Daniel, with Daniel on the short end. "Where do you think you’re going?"

"To my office. You can’t possibly have any more tests," Daniel pleaded irritably. "Besides, you wouldn’t have provided me with clothes if you really wanted to keep me here."

"I don’t know," Janet replied worriedly. "I’d rather have you here out of harms way."

"Obviously she’s never been a patient here," Jack muttered sotto voce to a still speechless Carter.

"I just want to get a few things in order," Daniel assured as he spared an annoyed glance in Jack’s direction before turning his best ‘earnest’ expression on the defenseless doctor. "Please?"

"All right, but don’t be gone too long." As predicted, Janet caved immediately under the intense blue gaze. "And Colonel? You have no idea how dangerous this place can get. Yet."

Jack had the audacity to look surprised. "Huh?"

"Did you find anything that might help?" Daniel asked, glancing up at Sam as he bent to lace his boots.

"Not yet," Sam mumbled, still quite taken aback by Daniel’s appearance. "I just wanted to tell you that General Hammond wants everyone in the briefing room in a couple hours for an update."

"Okay," Daniel agreed as he straightened up and took off before Janet could change her mind.

"Stay out of trouble," Janet warned as he slipped out the door.

"I’ll keep an eye on him," Jack volunteered, sliding off the bed and catching up quickly with a few long strides.

"Oh my God," Sam repeated softly, rubbing a hand down her face.

"What!" Daniel finally demanded, no longer able to tolerate the slightly perplexed, oddly paternal, and almost certainly amused gaze directed at him.

"What what?"

"What are you staring at?"

"I’m not staring!" Jack objected indignantly from his observation post near the door.

"Yes, you are," Daniel insisted with such conviction he almost fell out of the chair he was standing on to reach the items on top of his desk.

"Easy there, little fella," Jack chided, rounding the desk to steady him.

"You’re enjoying this," Daniel accused with a pout. He pulled away from Jack’s outstretched hand, gathering the surplus fabric of the pants that had already been rolled up as far as possible and retreating to the back of the chair.

"No I’m not," Jack started, stopped dead by the disbelieving glare. "Okay, maybe I am. A little… crap, I mean…"

"Forget it."

"I swear it’s not what you think. I’m not taking advantage of your misfortune for my own amusement; I’m as scared as you are."

Daniel sighed and pulled off his glasses wearily. "What is it then?"

"Nah. It’ll just make you mad," Jack evaded as he reached out and gingerly extracted the too small spectacles that dangled from Daniel’s fingers, examining them in awe.

"Jack."

"Fine," Jack grumbled, looking everywhere but at his friend. "You’re just so darn… cute."

"What?" Daniel asked doing a double take, managing not to fall off the chair, but just barely. "I beg your pardon?"

"See, I knew it would piss you off."

"No, I’m not pissed… exactly. I just… I can’t believe you said that."

"You are! Cute I mean, not pissed," Jack insisted earnestly. "Look, I know you’ve outgrown your baby face, mostly…"

"I have never had a baby face!"

"Whatever. You don’t exactly look younger, but you are child… like. I mean you still look like you, you’re just a miniature version. Down-sized maybe."

"The point, Jack?"

"No point," Jack declared as he handed Daniel’s glasses back to him. "It’s just… here you are in the middle of all your stuff in that uniform that’s swallowing you alive, and aside from the fact that we don’t know how to reverse it or what’s going to happen to you if we can’t… all I can think is how adorable you look," he admitted, coughing uncomfortably and looking away. "So sue me if I get a little dewy-eyed. I’m just lookin’ out for you."

Dumbstruck, Daniel gaped at him for moment before snorting with fond exasperation and putting his glasses back on. "I can look after myself, Jack," he declared firmly before kneeling down in the chair and pulling out his keyboard, not willing to let Jack see how choked up he was by the sentiment.

"Ever heard the term ‘where angels fear to tread’, Daniel?" Jack challenged with a wry grin.

"Of course. It just doesn’t apply to me," Daniel proclaimed as he began to type in his password.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking my e-mail."

"Why?" Jack asked gently.

"I just need to do something normal while I still can," Daniel explained with a shrug. "I guess that sounds silly."

"No," Jack disagreed. "It doesn’t. Listen, why don’t I go round up your uniform from Fraiser and get you out of those stop-gap pants before everybody gets a glimpse of some real shrinkage?"

"Thanks, Jack," Daniel responded softly without looking up.

"Sure," Jack replied in the same tone, willing himself not to pat the small, bowed head before leaving.

"Thank you, Sergeant," Daniel mumbled as Siler placed a thick stack of MSDS volumes, technical manuals, and a Denver phone book into one of the briefing room chairs.

"No problem, sir. Just leave them there when you’re done and I’ll pick them up later," Siler replied with the casualness of someone who had seen a lot of strange things in his time on the job. "Do you need any help?"

"I don’t think so," Daniel responded as he attempted to climb up into the seat, frowning as the chair rolled away from him. "Um, well, maybe you could just hold the chair in place," he suggested.

Siler caught the runaway chair with one hand and steadied the pile of books in it with the other as Daniel used the nearest wheeled foot as a step and tried to swing a knee up onto the edge of the seat. With a grim determination he grabbed the bottom manual and tried to level himself up but the paper mountain above him swayed threateningly even under Siler’s firm grasp.

"Doctor Jackson, please!" Siler cautioned. "Just let me help."

Breathing heavily as he stepped back, Daniel put his hands on his hips and set his jaw in mulish defiance as he considered a running start. "I can do this," he insisted stubbornly.

"Do you know what Colonel O’Neill would do to me if I let you get hurt?" Siler argued respectfully, apparently reading Daniel’s mind as he stepped in front of the chair to prevent any foolish heroics. "I don’t even want to think about what Major Carter or Teal’c’s might do."

With a frustrated growl and then a resigned sigh Daniel nodded his reluctant agreement, extremely unhappy at the prospect of needed help for something as simple as taking a chair for a briefing. "I suppose you’re right."

"Its okay, Doctor Jackson," Siler soothed quietly as he bent down to catch him under the arms and lift him effortlessly onto the improvised booster seat.

"Thank you," Daniel muttered with an embarrassed smile as Siler released him.

"I know that you would do the same for me," Siler acknowledged and pushed the chair up all the way against the table, not releasing it until he was certain it wasn’t going anywhere.

"I’m just glad Jack went for coffee," Daniel responded gratefully.

"Why? What’d I miss?" Jack queried as he entered the room, a steaming mug in each hand.

"Not a thing, sir," Siler replied, giving nothing away as he nodded to Daniel and started for the stairs.

"What’s going on?" Jack turned the interrogation on Daniel.

Daniel tested the balance of the setup by wiggling back and forth and then satisfied that it was stable shrugged innocently in answer to Jack’s question. Jack took in the books and realized with a start that Daniel was even smaller than when he’d left him twenty minutes earlier, even if the uniform he now wore fit perfectly. His eyes softened and he couldn’t stop the sad smile that tweaked at the corners of his mouth.

The small face darkened in response. "So help me God, Jack, if you call me cute again I’m coming out of this chair and taking you out at the knees," he threatened gravely.

"Is that any way to talk to the guy who brought you coffee?" Jack shot back, holding one of the mugs out enticingly in front of him.

"Sorry," Daniel muttered disingenuously, sitting up straighter and reaching expectantly for the cup.

"You sure you can handle this?" Jack asked, hefting the cup as he eyed Daniel warily.

"Give," Daniel insisted, testing the heat of the cup before wrapping both hands around it. He nodded for Jack to let go but found it much heavier than he’d estimated and almost dropped it.

Jack swiftly took back the weight, narrowly averting what could have been a painful spill. "You want me to pour some of it out?"

"Don’t you dare! I haven’t had any for hours. Janet didn’t let me have any earlier because of her torture tests. I’ll just drink it down some."

Jack held the handle and tilted the cup slightly as Daniel lowered his head and chugged a few large swallows. "Isn’t that hot?" Jack grimaced.

"Not really," Daniel assured, finishing off an amount relative to a normal portion. "I think I’ve got it now. I just wasn’t ready before."

"Whatever you say," Jack agreed, this time allowing Daniel to take it much more slowly, nervously standing by until he was convinced he could handle it. Daniel lowered the cup to rest between his thighs on the top book, got a better grip and then made a show of lifting it with both hands to take a sip.

"Remember, everything that goes in is gonna have to come out eventually," Jack warned.

"Yeah, yeah," Daniel retorted as he set the cup back down with a thud and turned to see who was jogging up the metal stairs. He was unsurprised to see a dark, bald head appear.

Teal’c joined them at the table with only the slightest pause when he caught sight of his tiny teammate. "I regret I was not able to join you sooner, Daniel Jackson," he apologized. "After my meditation I was called away to help with the translation of the writing on a device SG-5 discovered on P4X-709."

"Why didn’t they call me?" Daniel asked, obviously offended by the exclusion.

"You’ve been taken off the roster," Jack explained quietly. "Just until we get back from the planet," he quickly appeased. "I’m sure there’ll still be plenty left to translate after we get you all fixed up."

Sam and Janet entered the briefing room in time to witness the blossoming sulk. Sam put a hand to her mouth to stifle an impending ‘aw’ and Janet appeared to have something in her eye as she blinked profusely, pressing her lips together in a tight smile. Jack nodded knowingly and suppressed a grin of his own.

"If the word ‘cute’ comes out of anyone’s mouth…" Daniel trailed off ominously.

"People?" Hammond queried as he stepped into the room, coming to a full stop as he realized just what everyone was staring at. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Everyone take a seat and let’s get started," he ordered, finally finding his voice. "How are you getting along, Doctor Jackson?"

"I’m fine, General, thank you."

Hammond cleared his throat again and to his credit got down to business with only occasional doting glances at the diminutive archeologist. "It’s good to hear that, son. Major Carter? What have you got?"

"We haven’t been able to make heads or tails of any of the readings I took on the planet, sir. At this point, there’s nothing we can do until we can go back."

"Is it really necessary to wait the full eight hours?" Hammond asked apprehensively, his gaze sliding back to Daniel as he two-handedly savored his coffee.

"Ooluk, the local man who seemed to be in charge, requested that we come back at sunrise. I still strongly suspect the device is solar powered and I don’t think he’ll be able to do anything about Daniel’s condition until then," Sam reported. "Going back early to question him won’t really do us any good since even Daniel doesn’t understand him."

"The language is like nothing I’ve ever come across," Daniel declared over the top of his mug.

"At this point I think we should stick to our original time table, sir."

"What if we lose Daniel in the meantime?" Jack questioned unhappily.

"We’ll just have to find a way to keep up with him."

"I’m thinking string," Jack murmured to himself as he sized Daniel up again.

Daniel shot a concerned glance in Sam’s direction. "We’re working on another idea," Sam assured with a placating gesture. "We’ll talk about it later."

With one last worried look at Jack, Daniel nodded and got back to his coffee.

"You know, I was in that machine, too," Jack mentioned thoughtfully. "So how come I’m not pullin’ a disappearing act?"

"I’ve been thinking about that," Sam responded with a bob of her head. "I think it was your timing. There was a yellow light first and then a flash of blue. The later seemed to be the transport trigger, if you will, so the yellow light must have been the miniaturizing agent."

"You passed through the mechanism in the precise instant between these two events, O’Neill," Teal’c confirmed.

"Are you sure?"

Teal’c raised an eyebrow indignantly. "I am."

"Of course," Jack backpedaled apologetically. "No offense."

"I think you just got lucky, sir," Sam agreed.

"So why do you suppose they use the, uh, miniaturizing agent at all?" Daniel asked. "I mean, why do they need it on top of the transportation technology?"

"Well," Sam started, taking a deep breath. "I have a theory."

"Here we go," Jack prefaced the coming lecture, earning a glower from Carter and a warning look from the general as well.

"Judging by the incongruity of such an advanced machine being depending on daylight to function combined with the enormous efforts to keep the farm organic, I’d say these people are extremely conservative and environmentally aware. When you think about it, the amount of energy to transport a full sized human outside of an established wormhole is astronomical…"

"Other aliens do it," Jack interrupted.

"I didn’t say it couldn’t be done, I’m just saying it would be far more efficient to shrink the person or object, transport it, and then return it to its normal size on the other side."

"So all I have to do is continue the transport to the city to be restored," Daniel nodded excitedly.

"And then you’ll turn around and come right back," Jack declared, raising a finger to cut off the protest already forming on Daniel’s lips. "That’s an order. You’re not gonna leave us standing around wondering what happened to you while you’re off seeing the sights. And until we know for sure how things turn out, none of the rest of us are going through either," he added, turning his warning finger to include Sam and Teal’c.

"Jack!"

"Daniel."

"Doctor Fraiser?" Hammond butted in to head off the argument, or at least postpone it. "Is Doctor Jackson sound physically?"

"Yes sir, as far as I can tell, except for an impending caffeine overdose."

Daniel paused with the cup halfway to his lips. "It’s only one cup," he objected.

"One cup, yes," Janet agreed with a disapproving glint in her eye, "However, relative to your size, that’s about six servings. Six large servings," she amended.

"Given his usual habit, I think he’s still safe," Jack retorted.

"Actually," Daniel responded pensively as he lowered the cup. "Jack was right about one thing."

"I was?"

"Yeah… um, General? Could I be excused for a few minutes?"

"Certainly," Hammond responded at once. "Is everything all right?"

"I think he needs to see a man about a horse, sir," Jack explained, immediately catching the slightly desperate look crossing Daniel’s face as he considered the logistics of a bathroom break in his current condition.

"Oh. Oh! I see. Take your time, Doctor Jackson," Hammond granted with a relieved laugh.

"I will accompany you, Daniel Jackson," Teal’c announced, more of a declaration than an offer as he reached out and took the cup from between Daniel’s legs and sat it on the table. Standing, he held out a hand.

"Okay," Daniel gave in easily, too far gone to worry about his dignity at the moment and much preferring Teal’c’s company to Jack’s for the task if only so he wouldn’t have to endure any more shrinkage jokes. He grasped Teal’c by the wrist and swung himself to the floor even as Teal’c gently lowered his arm.

"Have fun, you two!" Jack called out after their slow retreat, Teal’c towering over him like a giant as Daniel made short, determined strides towards the door. From the fiercely protective look on Teal’c’s face, heaven help anyone who inadvertently got too close.

A few minutes after they disappeared into the hall, General Hammond let out a huge gust of breath. "I know we talked about what was going to happen, but seeing it… it’s just unreal."

"Is it just me or is he shrinking faster?" Jack asked uneasily, thumbing over his shoulder towards the door.

"No, he’s still on the same downward curve," Janet replied, checking the projected figures Sam had provided her with. "I think it’s just more noticeable now that he’s so…"

"Small," Sam finished for her.

"Small," Janet confirmed.

"So no string?" Jack inquired as he peeked into Daniel’s abandoned cup, surprised to find it less than half full.

Sam and Janet exchanged guilty glances as the doctor opened the manila file in front of her and pulled out a folded piece of thick, glossy pink paper. With the flick of her wrist, she popped it open to reveal that it was in fact a small gift bag, complete with pink ribbon handles. "I had this in my desk. Cassie gave it to me on Valentines Day," she explained, passing it over to an already smirking Jack.

"Kind of low tech, but effective," Jack approved, sniffing the inside. "It was full of chocolate, I take it?"

"So?"

"You guys are cruel. The smell alone will drive Daniel crazy. I won’t even start on the color."

"I think this is best," Janet persisted. "The smaller he gets, the bigger the chance we will hurt him if we attempt to pick him up. We could unintentionally do serious damage to his internal organs if we accidentally squeezed him wrong."

"What do you suggest, doctor?" Hammond questioned.

"For now, I’d be more comfortable with him in the infirmary. Then we’ll wait as long as we can, but at some point I think Doctor Jackson should go into the bag and stay there until SG-1 can get him back to that planet."

Jack nodded as he folded the bag up and slid it back across the table. "We should keep it out of sight for now, because I guarantee he is not gonna like it."

"I’m sure you’re right about that, Colonel," Janet agreed, slipping the bag back into the file folder and out of sight.

"Where the hell are they? The men’s room is right down the hall, not on the moon for cryin’ out loud."

"As short as Daniel’s legs are, it might as well be on the moon for transit time alone," Sam commiserated, glancing at her watch.

"Colonel, why don’t you check on their progress?" Hammond suggested as he unintentionally mirrored the major’s gesture.

"Yes sir," Jack called back, already out of his chair and moving towards the door.

"O’Neill!" Teal’c warned urgently, bracing his arms straight out in front of him to stop Jack’s advance as he stepped through the door, avoiding a collision by mere inches.

"Hey! Watch it!" Daniel shouted from below, staring up with an alarmed expression on his face after jumping back to safety between Teal’c’s feet.

"Holy crap!" Jack exclaimed, stopping with his foot in midair directly above the spot Daniel had just vacated.

The table cleared as everyone rushed over to the door, the stampede causing Daniel to instinctively move farther beneath Teal’c.

"Daniel, are you alright?" Sam questioned in an urgent tone.

"Is he injured?" Janet asked at the same time.

"You’re scaring him," Jack pointed out less than calmly, kneeling down on one knee and waving the group away. "Back off a little."

"We didn’t nearly step on him," Sam shot back defensively. "Sir."

"Well I didn’t know he was gonna be so damn little! Look at him," Jack demanded. "Another inch and he’s gonna be a walking, talking Ken doll."

"Quiet!" Hammond growled to settle the chaos. "Doctor Jackson? Are you injured?"

"No sir," Daniel answered from the safety zone behind Teal’c’s leg, certain that at the moment it would take a front-end loader to remove the Jaffa from his protective stance. "I’m okay."

"All right then, let’s get this meeting over with," Hammond ordered gruffly as he stalked back to his seat, more shaken than he cared to admit by the incident. "And for heaven’s sake, people, watch where you’re putting your feet!"

"Sure you’re okay?" Jack asked softly, bending even closer.

"No blood, no foul," Daniel replied with an attempt at a smile. "Listen if you guys wanna head on over to the table…"

"Oh, right," Jack agreed, herding the ladies ahead of him. "I really am sorry for almost stepping on you."

"S’okay," Daniel assured, patting Teal’c on the leg to signal he was going to move out into the open once the others took their seats. Sweeping the room for possible danger, he started for the table with Teal’c taking cautious, measured steps directly behind him. When they got there Teal’c cupped his hands and lowered them to the floor.

"You sure?" Daniel asked hesitantly.

"I am confident that I can support your weight," Teal’c replied, an almost smile teasing his lip.

With a half-shrug, Daniel climbed into Teal’c’s hands and allowed himself to be lifted to the table top. Janet released a pent-up breath as Teal’c allowed him to step off, never attempting to grasp him at any point, proving once again his uncommon good sense.

"So things went well in the restroom?" Jack just had to ask.

"I don’t want to talk about it," Daniel groused. "Suffice it to say I won’t be indulging in any more beverages until I can reach the urinal standing on my own two feet."

"Doctor Jackson," Hammond addressed him, hopeful to take charge of the briefing once again. "I think it’s time for you to return to the infirmary and stay there until eighteen hundred when your team will take you back to P48-243."

"Is that really necessary?" Daniel asked as more of a reflex than any real opposition to the idea, already aware there was not much else he could do anyway.

"Daniel, I nearly took you out only a minute ago," Jack pointed out brusquely. "We all agree that the infirmary is the safest place for you right now."

"I insist," Janet put her foot down.

"Fine," Daniel relented to everyone’s surprise.

Hammond nodded and stood. "I’ll see you in the gateroom at departure. In the meantime SG-1, keeping Doctor Jackson safe is your only objective."

A chorus of ‘yes sir’ echoed around the table.

"Dismissed," the general muttered wearily on his way to his office in search of an aspirin, certain his premier team would be the death of him yet.

"Somebody wanna get me down?" Daniel inquired, moving to the edge of the table when no one made a move to help him.

"I hate to say this, Daniel, but I really think you should let someone carry you from now on," Janet recommended in a voice that made clear it was more than just a suggestion.

"I can still walk. Teal’c and I did fine until Jack tried to squash me."

Jack sighed laboriously. "Yes you can still walk, but at the rate you go it’ll take three days to get there. And thank you so much for the subtle reminder that I almost killed my best friend."

"I don’t want to be carried."

"I can make it a medical order," Janet threatened as expected. "I know you don’t like it, but I’m only concerned for your welfare. And we need to go now before you get any smaller and the risks increase even more."

"What about the, uh…" Jack muttered under his breath and motioned with his chin towards the file folder angrily being crushed in Fraiser’s crossed arms.

"He’s still too big," Janet refused quietly, not meeting Daniel’s narrowed gaze.

"What’s the ‘uh’?" Daniel asked suspiciously.

"Daniel, let me carry you," Sam volunteered, pouring on the pep in an effort to distract him. "Come on, it’ll be fun. We’ll laugh about it later. I’ll tell everyone I picked you up."

Splitting an evil eye between Jack and Janet to let them know that he hadn’t been fooled and that he would find out what they were hiding, Daniel reluctantly agreed to be carried. "Okay."

"Good," Sam enthused, moving in closer to let Daniel put his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist in the position that was second nature to babies everywhere.

It became immediately clear that Daniel was already too small to be carried that way when his arms didn’t quite reach her neck. When she shifted him lower, her breast threatened to suffocate him. In fact, no matter which way she shifted him, his body and her boob seemed to meld in a way that neither of them found physically or psychologically comfortable. She set him back on the table and rapidly backed away.

"Bad idea," she managed, crossing her arms over her chest protectively, her cheeks going scarlet.

"Uh… yeah, thanks anyway," Daniel bleated, hiding his own beet red face by ducking his head.

"I will carry you, Daniel Jackson," Teal’c stated serenely, picking up one of the hard-bound binders from the booster chair and placing it flat on the table.

Trying hard not to look at Sam, Daniel climbed onto the binder and sat cross-legged in the middle of it. Janet grimaced uncertainly until Teal’c picked it up with such a steady hand that even Daniel had to smile in relief.

"Look at me, I’m Buddha," Daniel teased as Teal’c held him chest high, ready to carry him aloft like a tiny god.

"No, Teal’c’s already got the Buddha routine down pat," Jack corrected. "You’re just the stuff in his navel."

"The jewel?"

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of lint. Carter, take point. Fraiser, you’re with me. Slow and easy big guy, let’s get this show on the road."

By the time the odd procession reached the infirmary, Daniel really was a walking, talking, and according to Janet (for which the colonel promised to never let her forget), anatomically correct Ken doll. Suddenly remembering something of extreme importance she had to take care of, the esteemed Doctor Fraiser bounded off to her office and slammed the door.

As time slipped away Teal’c left to square away their gear for the mission and Carter excused herself to fetch Daniel a tray when it was discovered that he hadn’t eaten anything solid since breakfast, leaving Jack to watch Daniel’s disappearing six. In this case the six being the number of inches left to go until there was nothing left to watch. Leaning against a pillow with his feet stretched out in front of him, the watchee stared off into space with an awed and slightly disturbed expression on his face.

"Penny for ‘em," Jack said softly, having already been scolded by Fraiser for speaking too loudly for Daniel’s tender eardrums. With lots of room to spare he leaned forward and rested his chin on his crossed arms on the bed.

"Sam has boobies," Daniel muttered unexpectedly.

"What?"

"Boobies," Daniel repeated a little more clearly. "I mean, I already knew that intellectually, I just didn’t know it."

"Yeah, well, you copped a full-body feel and lived to tell about it. Today you are a man, my son."

"I’m just… I’m just getting a whole new perspective on everything. Look at you for instance."

"What about me?" Jack asked cautiously, realizing Daniel was in a very strange mood and not quite sure how to take him.

"Well I understand that you haven’t actually changed any, but from here you’re just one big, giant head. I’m talkin’ fe fi fo fum, Jack."

"Very funny, shrimp. Keep it up and I’ll stuff you in a specimen cup. A used one."

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I need to move around. Lift me over to the table."

"I can’t," Jack explained sympathetically. "Fraiser put a moratorium on touching you before she stormed off to hide."

"She’ll never know," Daniel wheedled. "We won’t see her again ‘til the blush dies down sometime next week."

"Unless I hurt you, then she’ll have to come out. Then she’ll hurt me. She was very explicit about an unsanctioned medical procedure that involved rusty scissors and soft pieces of my anatomy."

"Wuss."

"Why you little… I oughta crush ye bones to butter me bread," Jack quoted the fairytale.

"You won’t do that," Daniel smiled, batting his eyes. "I’m too cute, remember?"

"And getting less cute by the minute."

"You’re too afraid of Janet to hurt me. Wuss."

"You know, Daniel, the first thing I’m going to do when you grow up is kick your ass."

"Come on, Jack, the cover is lumpy and hard to move around on. I need to pace. Put me on the table."

Jack sighed, trying to think of the best way to appease his friend and keep his own dangly parts intact at the same time. "Hang on a minute. I’ve got an idea." Digging through the chart on the bedside table he located the gift bag and pulled it out with a flourish.

"Ah. The ‘uh’, I presume," Daniel sniffed with obvious disdain as Jack popped it open and showed it to him.

"I know it doesn’t look like much…"

"It’s pink."

"Yes it is, Daniel. Very good. I’m so glad you haven’t lost your keen observational skills. Now do you want to go over to the table or not? I can always find some string…"

"Okay! Fine. I’ll get in the bag. But I won’t like it."

"Oh but you will," Jack assured with a smirk, laying the bag on its side at Daniel’s feet. "It has a special feature just for you."

Not bothering to try to stand on the cumbersome blanket, Daniel scooted in feet first, quickly becoming entangled in the frilly ribbon.

"Dammit, Daniel, don’t strangle yourself, I’d never hear the end of it," Jack complained reaching out with care to hold the handle out of the way. "Be careful, that stuff might cut you," he mother-henned.

"Is that… is that… chocolate?" Daniel asked, sniffing as his head vanished below the top of the bag.

"Hang on," Jack warned. "I’m gonna move you now."

"I’m ready," Daniel’s voice announced from deep within the bag as he settled in and braced his feet against the opposite side.

After moving the table as close as possible Jack took a deep breath and rolled the bag upright. Lifting it by the ribbon he moved it over and sat it down carefully, slowly turning it back on its side. "Okay?"

"Okay," Daniel answered as he crawled out of the bag and onto the firm tabletop before standing up. "That smell is gonna drive me nuts! Now I am hungry."

"There are crackers on the counter," Jack offered.

"No thanks, Sam should be back any minute. I can wait."

"No, if you’re hungry I’ll find you something. I know where Nurse Anderson keeps her stash of Snickers."

Daniel’s eyes lit up hopefully. "Snickers?"

"You are so spoiled," Jack grinned, rounding the bed to begin his search.

"No I’m not."

"Yes you are. Now don’t move, I’ll be right over here."

"Where am I gonna go?"

"Just… stay," Jack ordered sternly, pointing his finger as he awkwardly tried to keep an eye on Daniel and dig through the nurse’s desk at the same time.

"Sit, stay, rollover," Daniel grumbled, grabbing one handle of the bag and dragging it over to the edge of the table.

"Get away from the edge," Jack warned testily.

"Jack? How tall am I now?" Daniel asked, ignoring the admonition and heaving the deliciously aromatic bag off of the table with a good strong push. "Three? Four inches?"

"About three and a half, and don’t destroy that because that’s how you’re getting back to Farmer Brown’s planet."

"Oh. Really?" Daniel scoffed, raising an eyebrow as he watched the bag bounce under the bed. "What if I fall through the bottom?"

"What?" Jack asked, his head shooting up in concern.

"Well, I’m still shrinking over an inch every ten minutes and we have no reason to think the rate will change once I disappear from sight. And let’s face it, paper is not the densest material known to man."

"Carter did the calculations," Jack pointed out, trying to sound convinced. "She’s not gonna overlook something important like that."

Half listening, Daniel paced the side of the table examining the bed and the floor, surprised at how dirty the ostensibly hygienic infirmary seemed from this unique angle. "Yeah, you’re right. How’s it coming with that chocolate?"

"Get away from the edge. I haven’t found it yet, but the filing cabinet is locked so there’s either chocolate or booze inside."

"Of course. Can you pick it?"

"Does the Pope shit in the woods?"

"I wouldn’t think so. No."

"Just move away from the edge," Jack pleaded. "I thought you were afraid of heights."

"Yeah, well, everything is high these days," Daniel sighed, spotting his chart and heading towards it and much to Jack’s relief, away from the edge. Curious and bored he decided to see what Janet had written about his latest adventure and bent to try and flip the folder open.

The air above him darkened, descending on him like night and Sam’s voice boomed out from up above. "Sir? Where’s Daniel?"

No time to think, Daniel flung himself towards the bed.

Still a tad embarrassed about her up close and personal experience with Daniel earlier, Sam felt a modicum of empathy for Janet’s little slip of the tongue. Otherwise, she couldn’t be happier, certain the doctor’s gaffe would take precedence over hers with the colonel in the leer department. And of course with Daniel being the perfect gentleman and just as mortified by the incident as she had been, she just knew that he would never mention it again. Ever. To anyone.

"Anatomically correct," she giggled to herself, arriving in the infirmary to find Janet’s door still tightly closed. Looking around she spotted the colonel doing something at the nurse’s station but noticed that the bed was empty. "Sir? Where’s Daniel?" she asked as she carefully settled the fully loaded tray on the bedside table.

"Carter! NO!" Jack shouted, lunging to his feet and bounding around the bed with an expression of utter horrification on his face.

"What!?" Sam exclaimed, catching on with a sickening lurch in her stomach as she involuntarily took a step back, clamping her hands to her mouth.

Jack grabbed the tray and lifted it. "Get him!" he ordered in a harsh whisper.

"He’s… he’s not there," Sam cried frantically, her eyes wide as saucers.

"He has to be, that’s where he was," Jack barked back at her glancing for himself. "You don’t think he shrunk all the way, do you? I mean he was still three inches tall… unless he’s…" Slowly, apprehensively Jack raised the tray to check the underside, relieved beyond words not to find mini-Daniel plastered to the bottom.

"JACK!" a tiny voice finally broke through his panic.

"Daniel!" Jack shouted, once again forgetting the ‘indoor voice’ rule and shoving the tray back into Carter’s hands, who stood glued to the spot holding it out in front of her as if it were toxic.

Jack quickly found a small green object dangling above the floor, arms tangled in the loose weave of the blanket. "Thank God," he exclaimed, dropping to his knees to grab the gift bag from under the bed. "Hang on, Danny, I’ve got you," he soothed in as calm a voice as he could manage.

Finding the once hated bag practically crawling up his legs, Daniel relaxed his grip of death on the thick fibers of the bedcover and dropped into relative safety, feeling the warmth of Jack’s large hands right through the paper. He closed his eyes as it rose nauseatingly fast before being deposited on something soft. Back on the bed, he surmised with a sigh. Falling onto his back to catch his breath, he willed the ache in his overused muscles to fade.

"Daniel?" Sam called unsteadily.

"I’m okay," Daniel murmured softly, still feeling minute spasms in his shoulders and hands from hanging on for dear life.

"Daniel?" Jack this time, louder and sounding extremely worriedly if not pissed off.

"I’m okay," Daniel repeated with a little more volume, rolling onto his knees to get up when suddenly the bag began to tip over. Practically rolling out on his head he fell out between the small wrinkles of the overly fluffy blanket.

"Jack!" he scolded as he struggled to an upright position, hampered by his feet slipping through the increasingly large holes of the weave.

"Sorry," Jack uttered sheepishly, still holding the bag.

"Are you hurt," Sam asked, setting the tray down with a thump when she realized that she was still holding it.

"I was a little… surprised," Daniel finally offered. "But I’m okay."

"No thanks to you," Jack commented in an aside to Sam that made her face contort in anger.

"Why did you put him on the table?" she accused, sounding close to tears. "What were you thinking?"

"Hey, don’t blame me. I didn’t nearly squash him with a burger and a side of fries!" Jack spat back angrily.

"Guys," Daniel tried to break in, still struggling in the sea of fluff.

"It was irresponsible to put him there and then wander off!"

"I didn’t wander off, and that’s where he wanted to be!"

"Guys!"

"Well in his position right now what he wants and what’s good for him might very well be two different things, sir," Sam chastised, softening her tone as she cooled down. "I could have killed him."

"I know. I’m sorry we scared you like that, but you get to tell him he can’t go to the table."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Guys?"

"Daniel, I’m so sorry," Sam replied, turning to search for him in the folds of the cover. "Are you okay?"

"Yes I’m OKAY!" Daniel shouted in exasperation. "Now put me back on the table."

"It isn’t safe," Sam explained patiently and firmly while wringing her hands and squirming under the unhappy blue gaze, not diminished in the least by its smaller size.

"And this is?" Daniel sputtered, falling once again into the white abyss and spitting out a mouthful of fuzz as he struggled back to the surface. "I want something solid under my feet… and I want to eat my dinner! Besides, if I shrink in this mess you’ll never find me."

"Oh. Right," Sam gave in, reaching for the bag.

"Not bad, Major," Jack replied with a smirk as he tapped his watch face. "You lasted almost a whole twelve seconds."

Sam bit back her reply as she smoothed out the blanket and positioned the bag. "Come on, Daniel. Let’s get you fed."

"Thank you," Daniel retorted, once again crawling into the bag o’chocolate, the smell overtaking the delicious aroma of the hamburger he had smelled but not yet gotten a look at. His stomach reminded him that he hadn’t had lunch as it grumbled incessantly on the extremely slow and careful trip over to the table.

"Overcompensating a bit, aren’t you?" he heard Jack say as the bag touched down with the lightest of touches and began to tip at a maddeningly deliberate rate. "He’ll be gone by the time you’re through moving him."

"Sir," Sam protested wearily, obviously still feeling guilty about her near miss. "Daniel? Are you still hungry?" she asked softly.

"Starved," Daniel assured as he crawled out of the bag before it was fully flat and came face to face with the raised edge of a bluish-green commissary tray. Sam sucked in a breath as he hoisted himself over it to get to the enormous plate with the towering burger.

"Carter, you’re eyes are bigger than his stomach," Jack teased, snagging a fry and measuring Daniel with it before popping it into his mouth. "Seriously. You’re eyes are way bigger than his stomach. Hey, Daniel, this thing is big enough to feed a whole army of guys your size."

Leaning both hands on the edge of the plate Daniel stared up at the mouthwatering monstrosity. "Or a city," he muttered thoughtfully to himself.

"I knew you hadn’t eaten dinner, sir," Sam explained. "I thought you could share."

"Oh, good idea. Thanks," Jack grinned as he renewed his attack on the fries, stopping to offer one to Daniel.

Staring at the huge chunk of potato, Daniel gagged a little as he stepped back. He could see the congealing fat holding the rough grains of salt in place and the smell almost did him in. "You can have the fries," he offered.

"Here," Sam offered, taking a fork and breaking up one edge of the burger into little pieces, careful to get a variety of the toppings in the mix. "Build your own burger," she grinned.

"Cool," Jack congratulated as he watched Daniel take some crumbs of bread, a sliver of pickle and tomato, and a morsel of meat dabbed in the ketchup to make his own mini-burger.

Finding the texture a bit coarse, Daniel sat on the rim of the plate and ate with abandon anyway, his mind going a mile a minute as he mulled over his thoughts about big food and little people.

"I have a theory," Daniel said, his voice straining under the growing effort to be heard as his lungs and vocal chords got smaller. Long since out of steam for pacing he sat on the empty table in front of the shiny, pink bag.

"What did he say?" Jack asked as he glanced across the table at Sam and Teal’c, the three of them now keeping a close, slightly paranoid watch over their miniature teammate. Janet had already made several appearances, each time hinting a bit stronger that Daniel should go into the bag and stay there, each time giving in when Daniel pleaded for five more minutes of freedom.

"I said I have a theory!" Daniel repeated as loud as he could, forcing a cough to clear his aching throat.

"Daniel," Sam replied softly, "We can’t understand you anymore. Maybe you should wait until you’re bigger to try to talk."

"Just smile and nod," Jack advised, smiling and nodding.

"He can still hear us, sir."

"Right. Never mind."

"It’s time," Fraiser announced firmly as she approached in full doctor mode. "I’m sorry, Doctor Jackson. I really must insist. Good luck… and be careful," she added with a catch in her voice.

Suppressing a heartfelt sigh, Daniel picked up his teeny equipment that Teal’c had retrieved from the locker room along with the rest of SG-1’s gear and began to put it on. Now he was thankful he had been wearing it when he went through the machine because if worse came to worst, he had a couple days rations, not to mention a loaded gun should he run into any wild dust mites out there in the great, unexplored expanse of inner space. He was infinitely surprised and touched when he realized the big guy had also thought to fill his canteen before it got too small to handle.

With one last look and a wave to his friends Daniel hoisted himself up onto the bag and began the long hike inside.

"He’s gonna be fine," Jack assured, sounding hopefully and sad at the same time.

"Yes, sir," Sam answered tenderly. "Don’t worry, Daniel, we’ve got you. Always."

"Travel well, my friend," Teal’c added solemnly.

Wishing he’d listened to Janet earlier when he realized he couldn’t even see the bottom of the bag, Daniel did the only thing he could and put one foot in front of the other. Finding the terrain progressively coarse as he traveled, he attributed the increasing roughness of the paper lining to his shrinking size. At long last he neared the bottom and wedged himself into the corner to ride out the eventually up-righting of the bag.

Despite his preparations, as the minutes slipped by the bottom got further away and he had to move again. Some time later he gritted his teeth when as expected, his reality slowly began to tilt. He lost his grip and tumbled gracelessly to land with a thump on the lumpy, white texture that made up the surrounding landscape. With only a second to recover, his whole world began to sway sickeningly. The movement combined with the heaviness of the burger on his stomach and the overpowering smell of chocolate, Daniel lost his lunch. Crawling away a bit, a few micrometers or several feet, it was all relative anyway, he made himself as comfortable as possible and settled in for the ride.

"You sure he’s in there?" Jack asked again, peeking into the seemingly empty bag as they waited for the stargate to engage.

Carter sighed and adjusted her grip on the ribbon handle. "Yes sir, I’m sure."

"Did you not see Daniel Jackson enter the carrier with your own eyes, O’Neill?"

"I know he went in," Jack declared peevishly. "I’m just wondering if he fell out the other end yet. Paper’s not the densest material know to man, ya know."

"No sir, its not," Sam managed to say without rolling her eyes or sounding insubordinate. After another minute of thought, she clandestinely slipped a hand under the bottom of the bag.

"SG-1, you have a go," Hammond announced from up above. "Please be sure and bring Doctor Jackson back in one large piece."

"From your mouth to God’s ears, sir," Jack called back before leading his team up the ramp and off to find Farmer Brown.

Although it was still pitch black when they exited the stargate, by the time they spotted the farm the sky was beginning to glow a pale blue in the distance. As they approached, the chrome building reflected back to them the first rays of the morning sun. A serious looking Ooluk greeted them nervously, going straight to Carter who held the bag.

"He does not seem concerned that Daniel Jackson is not with us," Teal’c observed.

"Oh, he knows what happened," Jack retorted, acknowledging the farmer with a grim nod.

The old man looked at Sam expectantly and gestured to the object in her hands and then made circles around his eyes with his fingers.

"Yes, Daniel’s in here," she bobbed her head in the exaggerated way that Daniel had used the day before.

"Easy," Jack warned protectively as Ooluk took the ribbon handles from her.

Instead of moving toward the long side of the bus stop the native went straight to the short end with the big gray box attached and sat the bag next to the small sink.

"Aren’t you gonna… you know…" Jack asked, gesturing back toward the sidewalk. "Hey!" he shouted when Ooluk opened the tray and pulled it out. "I don’t want Daniel to end up as a subway token."

Holding up a placating hand, the farmer rapidly explained what he was about to do in his own language with vague gestures added for good measure. SG-1 didn’t understand a word he said, but his tone was gentle and he handled the bag with such care that Jack backed down, albeit unhappily.

"Daniel’s already small," Sam theorized as she watched the farmer typing on a keyboard on the horizontal panel above the box.

"Ya think?"

"This might just be a shortcut… somehow."

"Oh. Okay," Jack agreed, still not completely satisfied. "What’s he doing now?" he asked as he watched Ooluk try to tear the extremely tough glossy paper.

"It’s too big," Sam reasoned. "Or rather it’s too tall to fit into the tray."

Jack unsheathed his knife and offered it to the farmer. The old man accepted it and quickly, carefully cut away the sides of the bag down to a fraction of an inch from the bottom. He set aside the excess material and returned Jack’s knife with a small bow.

"You’re welcome," Jack replied, returning the gesture. "Just please help my friend."

With exaggerated caution, Ooluk lowered the now flat piece of paper into the tray and slid the whole thing back into the machine. He sighed as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders and finally smiled.

"He worried about this all night," Sam guessed, taking in the old man’s haggard appearance.

"Yeah, well there ought to be a warning on this thing," Jack groused.

"Perhaps there is," Teal’c offered, referring to the scrolling symbols along one side.

"May be hazardous to archeologists and aging colonels," Jack pretended to read. "Yup. Can’t believe we missed that. What do we do now?"

"Now we wait," Teal’c decreed as if it were obvious.

As the white lumps around him grew larger and the very fibers of the pulp became sharper and better defined, the incessant movement of his environment seemed to diminish. Another change he hadn’t anticipated was the progressively darkening ambiance as, from his perspective anyway, the bag got deeper making everything seem ominous and surreal. Even so, he was entirely aware of passing through the wormhole, experiencing it in a whole new way and yet not able to adequately identify the difference except to say that it felt unusual.

Time stretched on forever and even though he still wore his watch, he couldn’t bring himself to look at it. Huddling inside an ever increasing gap between fibers he resisted the urge to dig out his flashlight, reassuring himself that eventually, one way or another, the nightmare would end.

Suddenly the bag was split as an enormous, flat blade pierced the pulp walls high above him. He covered his ears to defend against the brutal cacophony as the paper was trimmed away. The knife made quick work of the immeasurable gray-hued heights and left him momentarily blinded by the light abruptly pouring in. The cutting only lasted a few seconds and then the movement began again. Now able to see a blur of color and movement high above the towering hedge of white fibers, Daniel closed his eyes to fend off the impending nausea.

When the motion ended and the brightness dimmed slightly, Daniel opened his eyes and looked around. Now there was a gray metal roof overhead complete with fluorescent type lighting and the sound of distant machinery. Past the lingering odor of chocolate he thought he could almost smell something else, something fresh like raw vegetables. Turning towards the far wall he swore he could hear the whirl of an engine and soon he smelled burning paper. Concerned, he looked around anxiously for an escape route, but found none. With a weary sigh, he settled in to wait out his fate.

After thirty or so minutes passed, Daniel came to realize two things. First, the odd moonscape around him hadn’t noticeable grown in some time and second, the far wall that he’d been watching seemed to be moving and the outline of a large door was beginning to materialize as light appeared around its edges. Rising to his feet, he started in that direction, certain it meant freedom.

Jack paced a hole in the grass, shooting daggers at Farmer Brown every time someone new popped out of thin air inside the chrome shell and that someone was not Daniel. The glares were frequent given the amount of people spewing forth. Each person stepped away from the building and moved off towards the fields as if it was an everyday occurrence, which Jack conceded sulkily, to them, it was.

Throwing his arms out questioningly, he gave Ooluk what he thought to be the universal sign for ‘where the hell is he’ and tapped his watch impatiently as if the old man had a clue as to what he meant. Much to his credit, the farmer merely rolled his eyes and turned back to the machine to monitor the workers arriving for the day.

"Sir," Sam pleaded, getting dizzy just from watching him.

"If I find out he’s off site-seeing while we’re out here worrying ourselves sick," Jack grumbled even as he took in the rest of his team’s much calmer appearances. "I’ll kill him."

"He wouldn’t leave us hanging, sir," Carter tried again. "Why don’t you try to relax?"

"What if it didn’t work and this guy just doesn’t want to tell us?"

"Everything is going to be okay, sir," Sam swore, pouring every ounce of her faith into the promise. "It is."

Sweaty from his hasty trek and the uneven ground, Daniel stopped to catch his breath and take a drink of water. As he rested part of the wall simply fell away revealing a small group of people gathered around the new opening. More precisely, it was a group of small people, or rather people of his current size. The mechanical sound ground to a halt and another, more familiar rumble took its place, drowning out the rest of the background noise. An all terrain vehicle entered the bag through the breach and sped towards him, the big wheels flattening the paper fibers with no problem as it plowed through them.

Daniel put his water away and waved eagerly as the alien ATV approached, excited beyond his wildest dreams to see someone who didn’t tower over him.

"Yacalla skin alga!" the driver greeted, grinning widely as he came to a stop.

"Skin alga to you, too," Daniel repeated, more than pleased to climb onto the seat behind his rescuer, his legs weary from the rough terrain.

As soon as he was settled, they whipped around and followed the same path out, moving much quicker along the smoother, already beat-down path. Daniel resisted the urge to let out a whoop and held on tight.

Several minutes later they slowed down to exit the remains of the bag. When they rolled out of the impromptu hatch and down the ramp made from the cutaway portion of the door itself, a group of hardhat wearing workmen greeted them, patting Daniel on the back and shaking his hand as they pointed to the cutting torch they had used to free him. He thanked them profusely and waved as the driver hit the gas and they once again sped away.

Looking over his shoulder as they rode away, Daniel caught sight of another group of very excited men checking out the large section of paper. It didn’t take too much insight to see a group of engineers salivating over the abundance of a new and exciting material, their imaginations running wild. The arm of a crane moved slowly overhead, poised to move the remains of the bag off of the tray and onto the massive work floor. Daniel smiled and turned back around, happy to be able to leave it to them.

They raced along the open floor passing big machines and even larger pieces of fruits and vegetables; an enormous green pea, a massive sliver of apple, gigantic piles of seed, all swarmed by people his size, slicing, dicing and processing. Apparently nothing was left to waste.

Their speedy journey ended at a couple of very familiar looking chrome structures with people stepping out of one and into the line in front of the other or wandering off to work in the busy factory around them. When the vehicle stopped Daniel got off and shook hands with the driver, thanking him again before moving over to get in line. Keeping Jack’s warning in mind, he detoured only slightly to lean over the barrier behind one of the units and gaze at the well protected dome on a pedestal directly under a colossal skylight.

Small enough to fit in his hands, Daniel could just make out the outlines of tall buildings in the center of the lush green biosphere. Best of all, apparently this microcosmic ecosystem with possibly millions of inhabitants was free of pollution and had plenty of food and space for everyone. With a satisfied smile, his theory had been right, although he hadn’t had the opportunity to share it with anyone, he joined the queue.

The line of farm workers seemed never ending as they stepped out of the shed, alternating from one side to the other. Jack sighed and resigned himself once again to the long wait when Carter suddenly shouted "Daniel!"

Looking up he saw an olive drab form step out on the other side of the bus stop. He rushed around the corner only to be grabbed into a bear hug and bounced up and down by an extremely happy, full-sized version of his friend.

"Aurgh!" Jack complained with a laugh. "Put me down!"

"Hi Jack!" Daniel greeted, setting him down and hugging Sam as she rushed into his arms. "I’m back!"

"Daniel! Are you okay?" Sam greeted, getting all choked up.

"Aw, the usual. A few bruises, a few scratches. I’m great," Daniel enthused, releasing Sam to clasp Teal’c’s arm. "Hey, Teal’c. You guys are not gonna believe this. I started thinking about it when Sam brought us dinner…"

"Whoa! Daniel, save it for the debriefing," Jack broke in, unable to keep the grin off his face.

"Jack, we have to go back! There’s a whole miniature metropolis I didn’t even get to visit yet!"

"You mean they don’t go back to normal size to enter the city?" Sam asked in awe.

"No," Daniel gushed. "They get even smaller!"

"Wow," Sam exclaimed turning to Jack. "Colonel…"

"No," Jack shot them down. "First we get Daniel checked out. If everything is all right, we’ll come back and then we’ll all go to the city. No arguments."

"Okay," Daniel acquiesced without a fight, just happy to be himself again.

"Okay?"

"Sure, I mean, they’re not going anywhere, right?" Daniel asked, calming down considerably, but unable to shake the excitement completely.

"That’s right," Jack agreed.

Ooluk approached warily until Daniel spared him an ear to ear grin. The farmer’s apprehension melted and he smiled broadly as he offered his hand.

"We’ll be back," Daniel assured him, shaking his hand firmly and then waving again as they moved apart.

"So what did you think?" Sam queried hungrily as they started for the stargate.

"I think they are wonderful people with a lot to offer. But things are going to go pretty slow until we break the language barrier," Daniel offered thoughtfully. "But I also think it would be well worth the effort to establish a fulltime team for the job."

"Yeah?" Jack asked, making a mental note to back the proposition all the way.

"And I think that sooner or later, there’s going to be an awful lot of pink houses crop up around the city," Daniel added with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

The End