Finding Memory Part 2
Well Here's Part 2
A few days passed, Daniel seemed to be improving dramatically. Although he would break down when reminded of the family he once had. Even though Daniel now knew that he was not, nor had he ever been Daniel Jackson, the name he held over twenty years, he still responded to it as if it was a shield against some untold memory. Jack put it to coping with having seen his family die.
Samuel stayed in the small cabin with the team. His easy going humor lightened the mood considerably. Jack was getting the nagging suspicion that there was something that Daniel and Samuel were keeping from him. With a mental shrug he put it to the past. Daniel would open up to him eventually.
The team was preparing to return to Colorado. Daniel had recovered enough to consent to returning. As the team dropped of Samuel at the small café that they had met the man, Daniel started to tear up.
“Boy, remember what I said.” He grinned and ruffled Daniel’s hair, “you can’t keep blaming yourself forever.”
“I know,” the two words and half grin expressed much more than could be said in any words. Samuel gave the team a sad smile.
“So, will I be seeing you folks again?”
Jack looked at Daniel’s figure, still bowed from the weight of his rediscovered memories.
“When we get a chance.”
Samuel smiled and vanished into the café. Jack grinned slightly and turned his attention to getting the group to the airport.
The flight went by quickly and when they departed from the plane, they were surprised to see General Hammond waiting at the gate for them. He smiled when he saw the team.
“Good evening folks, I trust your trip was calm.” He smirked remembering that this particular team seemed to attract more trouble than any other team.
“It was sir,” Jack spoke for the group.
“Very good,” he turned to Daniel making sure to get eye contact and smiled, “I hope everything works out for you son. You’ve got a date with Dr. Fraiser tomorrow morning.”
Daniel looked at the older general and nodded. His eyes were still clouded in sorrow, but there was a hint of recovery in them.
The next several weeks passed and soon Daniel was back to his old self again, with a few moodier moments. It was then that a sarcophagus appeared, sent to Dr. Jackson from an archeological team exploring Mayan pyramids.
*Author’s note: Time flies by sticking with the series until just after Prisoners.*
“Looks like we’re on” Jack grinned as his voice startled Daniel’s hunched over form. It was always nice to remind the anthropologist that his work wasn’t the only thing in the world.
“Jack” Daniel’s voice was exasperated.
“Come on, we’re gating in an hour, just wanted to give you enough warning. You know, put your rocks away.”
“They’re not rock, they’re artifacts.” Daniel’s voice lowered, “although I don’t know why I bother with you.” Jack grinned.
“Because you love me, now I’ve got orders to feed you.”
Daniel snorted “yeah right,” but followed Jack to the cafeteria. There they met Sam and Teal’c for a quick meal before send off. Daniel loudly complained about the MRE’s and was eating with gusto now so he wouldn’t have to eat as many of those tasteless things later.
The conversation quickly turned to the planet which they were about to explore, P2X-353 or something like that. Jack wasn’t too sure.
The trip through the stargate was as normal, cold and nauseating, but it was getting easier, so much easier Jack noted. He looked around, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement, but when he turned to look, nothing was there. He had the feeling that there had been a lookout. He glanced around the area, noting the DHD and all the lush trees. Boy was he getting tired of trees. At least these had some variety, the humidity of this place was perfect for rainforest like growth. The trees were dense with layer upon layer of canopy. Even where he stood he couldn’t see the sky the trees had grown so close to the stargate.
“Doesn’t look like the Goa’ould visit very often.” Jack threw the comment to the general vicinity not expecting a response.
Daniel and Sam immediately went to the DHD and made sure they could dial home again. Noting that they could they turned to the present situation. Figuring out where to go.
They chose a random direction and started off, marking their way periodically so they could find their way back. Sam continually took samples of the soil with the help of Daniel. They seemed to be discussing something or other. Jack ignored the two scientists on his team. Soon their path was blocked. A large wall seemed to have materialized out of no where in front of them. Carvings spanned the face of the structure that they could see.
“Amazing” Daniel said as he closed in on the writings, nudging his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Jack gave off an exasperated sigh, “Come on space monkey,” he enjoyed popping that nickname in every once in a while to annoy the younger man. “You can look at your rocks later,”
“But Jack this is the first evidence of Mayan culture we’ve come across, there could be something here.” Jack sighed. Daniel was his friend, but sometimes the man’s disregard for military structure really exasperated the long time military man.
“You can come back later, we’ve got two days,” Jack said as he grabbed Daniel’s pack and started to drag him along the wall of the structure.
It turned out that the structure was big, the base seemed to be larger than the pyramid landing sights that were so common among Goa’ould inhabited worlds. After walking nearly clear around the base, they found a clearing which according to Murphy’s law was ten feet from where they first had run into the structure. The stairs of the structure had been beaten down by the wind and the rain and now were only faint ripples on a incline to a platform at the top.
“This seems to be a larger replica of the Mayan pyramids.” Daniel started to spout all of that uninteresting archeological babble and Jack tuned the rest of it out.
The team set up camp at the small clearing at the base of the pyramid and Jack let Daniel loose to take his video and recordings of the temple. Jack then sat down to take in the relaxing atmosphere of a mission going just as planned, very boringly. Sam was with Daniel helping to record everything for further study back at SGC, while Teal’c stood between them and the camp. Jack was suddenly reminded of a nanny watching her charges. He smirked but didn’t say anything.
Soon enough one of the two had managed to open up a door somehow. The ancient stone ground against other stone making a loud noise. Jack stood and followed the group. The inside of the temple was just still, a thick layer of dust coated the ground and the walls. Daniel eagerly went to the walls and with a quick wipe of the hand revealed more carvings. He turned to Carter with a gleam in his eye that screamed get out now or have your brain dribble out your ears to Jack started talking animatedly, the video camera was soon up with flashlight and the two were off. Jack just looked around long enough to see that there wasn’t any danger and went to the doorway to keep watch.
All in all, that day ended up being one of the rare boring days Jack was aloud to experience in his time with the SGC. Unfortunately he did one of the worst things possible in that position. He wished for some sort of excitement.
***
His wish was granted when they started to pack up for the night. Daniel, as seemed to be his habit, dallied while leaving the temple. This wouldn’t have been bad if the ground hadn’t started to shake and toss in an incredibly large earthquake. Jack barely kept his feet and he watched as Daniel fell in the doorway, only to have a large stone drop on him a moment later.
The sound of Daniel’s cry of pain streaked across the small clearing, winning out on the tumbling of rocks for volume. Jack fell to the ground weather from pure shock or just the inability to balance with the earth tossing like it was. He clumsily crawled towards the temple door only to have Teal’c hold him back.
“What are you doing?!”
“Do no endanger yourself too, we must wait for the quake to cease.” The Jaffa’s normally stoic tone was laced with worry.
The quake lasted for five more minutes, it seemed more like an eternity, fortunately no more rocks fell on Daniel. Unfortunately, the screams died out and he wasn’t moving. Within seconds Sam, he, and Teal’c were at the archeologist’s side. Daniel had fallen on his stomach and the bolder had neatly fallen on his pelvis and probably crushed his legs too. His breathing was quick and ragged, his eyes glazed with pain.
“Carter,” Jack snapped, his emotions were running rampant and he barely kept his voice from quivering. “Go back to the stargate. Get Janet and a rescue crew ASAP.” Sam looked like she might argue, but thought better of it and sprinted off.
Jack’s eyes studied the rubble on top of Daniel.
“Teal’c,” his next order was cut off by Daniel’s weak voice calling his name.
“Jack,” it was soft and nearly hissed.
“I’m here space monkey.” Jack unconsciously used the nickname hoping that the miraculous life save would happen again. He bent down and clasped Daniel’s hand. He looked into the pain filled eyes that were searching. When their eyes locked Jack’s heart plummeted, he knew that look, it was the look of a man who was dying and realized it just at the end. He’d seen it enough in his covert op’s days and didn’t want to believe he was seeing it now. What he heard next confirmed what he already knew.
“Please Jack, leave me here,”
“Nobody gets left behind.” Jack’s face went grim. He expected the tone of fear in Daniel’s next words, but not the actual words themself.
“Please just leave me,” a then a quieter whisper, “I don’t want to kill you too.”
“Nobody gets left behind,” Jack reiterated more forcefully this time. “Come on T, we’ve got to get these stones off him. The two started with the lighter stones at the top of the rubble hoping that by the time help arrived they’d be able to get Daniel out of here. The work was hard and tiring, but when Daniel fell unconscious they just worked harder, pushing their muscles to the limits.
A petite brunette broke into their monotony with a shout of “Daniel” she set her bag down and started checking vitals. With her arrival came more help to dig Daniel out. Time managed to both fly and crawl by as the stones were lifted, soon there was enough room to lever the large stone off of Daniel and slide him from under. It seemed like no time passed between getting his form out of the entrance and into the infirmary. Where he was rushed to the OR.
Sam Jack and Teal’c debriefed and were quickly at the window watching Dr. Fraiser battle for Daniel’s life. Unfortunately the battle was a losing one and the remainder of SG-1 watched as Daniel drew his last breath. Janet broke out into tears and sank down to the OR floor. Sam seemed not too far away, but Jack wasn’t certain with his own emotions running rampant. He failed. He failed Daniel and Sha’uri. He fell back into a chair. Just like he failed Charlie. He felt the world falling away in his guilt, just like it had when Charlie had died. Daniel had pulled him out of his self loathing then, but he couldn’t now, nor would he ever be able to again.
He knew it couldn’t be a trick like the incident on Oannes was. They had his body, it was no trick. He looked at the window again, he didn’t want to have preform another eulogy for the man, once had been enough and he had hoped after that it would never have to happen again.
He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, General Hammond was there with a teary-eyed face, “I don’t want to either son,” Jack was startled, had he said that out loud? Time seemed to blur, Jack felt like he was being herded places, but he didn’t mind he was grieving.
He was pulled from his misery when the medical alarm went off. He rushed to the infirmary, only a step behind General Hammond.
The sight that greeted him was strange indeed. Dr. Fraiser and her medical staff were backed away from Daniel’s cooling body. It took Jack a moment to notice that the sheet that covered most of Daniel was moving, twisting as if it covered a bed of serpents and not a human’s corps.
A brave SF reached forward and tugged on the sheet that covered Daniel. The room collectively gasped as it revealed thick greyish blue tentacles wrapping around the body. Quickly covering every area, wrapping Daniel like some sort of organic mummy.
“OUT” Janet shouted and the room was quickly emptied and locked down. Jack quickly ran over to the observation room just in time to see Daniel’s face disappear into the grey wrappings.
The next few hours had everyone that had been present in quarantine while the lab made sure that the thing surrounding Daniel’s body wasn’t giving off any airborne bacteria or chemicals. The man that had pulled the sheet was put under more rigorous testing to make sure the near contact didn’t effect him either. The base had gone through its fair share of medical disasters and wanted to avoid any more if possible.
Luckily it seemed that the grey mass was happy with Daniel’s body and didn’t try to move after cocooning it. Three hours later, it was sitting in Sam’s lab undergoing whatever test she could think of. Jack stayed with the captain, lending her some strength in trying to puzzle out what happened and what this organism was. The hours whittled away and soon it was apparent that whatever the thing on Daniel was, it wasn’t done yet. The thing secreted some sort of chemical in key points of the wrapping which then hardened and obstructed the x-rays that Sam was preforming.
“Sam, it’s three in the morning, we should get some rest.” Jack’s tired voice was laced with concern.
“No,” her voice was desperate, “I have to know.”
“Then how about we get some coffee and a bite to eat, you look like you need it.”
Sam looked as if she would decline for a moment, but then closed her eyes and lowered her head.
“Sure,” She looked back up and they both went to the commissary together.
“What do you think it is?” Jack was worried for her health, but also insanely curious as to what the thing defiling the body of his friend was.
“I’m not sure sir,” she paused looking thoughtful, “but before the x-rays were being stopped, Daniel’s bone structure was being changed,” she frowned slightly, “shrinking.”
“Shrinking?”
“I don’t have any explanation for it.” She seemed slightly bewildered. Silence reigned a moment more while she sipped her coffee and Jack glanced around the barren room. Sam finished off her coffee and stood. Her posture showed weariness while her eyes shown with determination.
They returned to the lab and were startled to see that the mass had managed to produce thick plating across most of the body. It looked almost like turtle shell and covered the body like a suit of armor. The head was the most drastic thing. A small steel looking ball was now at the center of the forehead with two smaller ones in grooves that started at the temples and slid back over the cranium. Where the eyes would be were two dark glassy looking spaces and the mouth looked like some organic SCUBA respirator. Small spines littered the body at the major limb joints, and it was moving gently as if breathing.
Jack and Sam stopped dead at the sight. They took a quick glance at each other and Jack gave Sam a look of “I’ll go first”. Sam nodded and followed a few feet behind.
As Jack approached, one of the smaller balls moved swiftly in its groove until it was pointed at him. The moment he got within arm’s reach of the body on the table it stood with lightening speed and struck him. He heard Sam shout just before feeling the hard steel of the wall hit his back, knocking the breath out of him. His head hit the wall and he knew by the fuzzy feeling he wouldn’t stay conscious much longer. The innate stubbornness passed along his family line was the only think that kept him awake long enough to see the thing strike Sam into the opposite wall and freeze. All went dark.
***
Jack carefully made his way to the briefing room. The pounding headache that blessed him when he woke up felt like lemmings with jack hammers had taken up residence and were not planning on moving out any time soon. As the door loomed ahead Jack massaged his temples for a moment before entering and saluting the general.
He noticed Teal’c sitting in a chair off to the side with some video equipment set up so that everyone in the room could see. The knot of tension in his stomach tightened when his glance passed by the spot Sam usually sat. She was still unconscious in the infirmary with no foreseeable recovery time.
“At ease Colonel,” Jack could hear the worry laced in Hammond’s tone. As soon as he had sat down the general continued. “O’Neill, I’ve asked you and Teal’c here to tell me what happened last night. We had an unauthorized use of the gate. By the look of the security video, it was that thing that has Daniel’s body.”
Jack racked his brain as he took his seat and realized that he couldn’t remember anything after leaving for the commissary with Sam.
“I don’t think I can be of much help sir. I can’t remember much after Sam and I left it on the examining table.”
General Hammond nodded and said “I thought as much, maybe seeing the video will jog your memory. With that he started the video.
“Sam, it’s three in the morning, we should get some rest.” Jack’s tired voice emanated from the speakers.
“No,” Sam’s voice was desperate, “I have to know.” Jack could see the image of her shake slightly.
“Then how about we get some coffee and a bite to eat, you look like you need it.”
The image of Sam looked as if she would decline for a moment, but then closed her eyes and lowered her head.
“Sure,” She looked back up and the pair walked out of the room. Moments later the stillness of the figure on the bed was broken. Solid turtle shell like plates formed, while a silver like ball bearing pushed itself through the tentacle mass and shone through the forehead. The area over the eyes opened and Jack thought he had gotten a brief glimpse of dead blue eyes before it seemed to fill with a liquid and become glassy. Moments later the silver ball at the forehead started to glow. Steam escaped from vents on either side of the cheeks. The only movement in the room now was the gentle motion as if the thing was breathing.
Hammond fast forwarded the video ten minutes. He resumed the normal speed just as the door opened to reveal Jack and Sam. They stared, dumbstruck for a moment before the image of Jack gave Sam a look that said “I’ll go first.”
Jack winced as he saw the thing swiftly stand and knock his image into the wall. No wonder it hurt so much when he woke up. He’d been lucky that he’d only had the concussion and the dislocated shoulder.
The image of Sam shouted “Jack” before rushing and getting herself the same treatment. She wasn’t as lucky and ended up hitting multiple pieces of equipment and getting cut along the way. Jack was so focused on his teammate that he nearly missed the way the thing had twitched and a soft mechanized voice grunt.
“Wha. . .” The thing looked around and it focused on Sam’s body in the corner. Blood was running from a head wound.
“Sam!” It started to move towards her and Jack felt a pang of dread in his stomach. The thing suddenly stopped two steps after it had started and stared at its hands.
“No,” it was barely above a whisper. “No.” The thing started backing up as if it could run away from itself. One step at a time the eyes focused on the hands. Suddenly as it had started the figure curled into a ball with a hint of desperation in the mechanized voice. “Not again.” Jack wasn’t sure, but he almost thought he heard anguish as well. It was trembling violently while rocking back and fourth hands over its head and face into its knees like a child trying to drown out the sound of yelling voices.
Minutes passed before it looked up. The voice soft again. “Not again,” it seemed to come to a decision before standing. With a look at Sam’s crumpled form it spoke with a voice filled with determination “Never again.”
It turned to leave the room and saw Jack’s body. “No, no not you too Jack.” Whatever resolve it seemed to have developed shattered and it twitched as if shot and fell back to the ground. Leaving a slight indent in the ground. The anguish filled childlike voice was back. “No no no.” chanting the one word as if it would change what the thing was seeing. “I told you,” the mechanized whisper managed to be raspy at the same time. “I told you to leave me there.” It was hugging its knees rocking slightly, eyes fixated on Jack’s unmoving image. Jack jumped at the phrase. Daniel had asked him to leave him there, on the planet that killed him. To leave and let the archeologist die. Jack hadn’t been able to do that. Surely this thing didn’t know. Couldn’t know. But it said it again, posture getting more angry. “I told you to leave me there. Now look what’s happened.” The sorrow was back. It sighed and in a resigned voice said “At least Teal’c wasn’t here.” It looked around for a bit before standing. “Out, I have to get out of here.” It then ran out the door. Hammond stopped the recording.
“Just after that, what ever that thing is managed to dial out and managed to escape through the Stargate.” The general looked between Jack and Teal’c. “I wanted you both here to help try to figure out what that was. It knew both of you so the idea that it somehow has Daniel’s memories is not unfounded.” He looked down at a folio. “It also seems that it knew where it could go that we couldn’t follow.” Jack looked up sharply.
“What do you mean sir?”
“It gated to P3X-7763.”
“The Tollan home-world.” Teal’c said weather for clarification or to remind Jack he wasn’t sure.
“We sent a MALP through this morning and it seems that it just used the planed to get to another.” Hammond’s face became very severe. “If this thing does have the memories of Dr. Jackson, than it is imperative that we get to it and neutralize whatever danger it poses. Especially before the Goa’ould get to it.”
Jack mulled over the problem for a moment before the answer came to him.
“Harlan.” He said. Even though it was quiet he got the attention of the others in the room.
“On PX3 989, Harlan made copies of SG1.”
“And?” Hammond seemed interested.
“Whatever happened with Daniel and now with that thing that has Daniel’s memories. It’s acting like Daniel.” He paused a moment, “And it said that this had happened before. So I’m betting the copy that Harlan made of Daniel would know something about it.”
“Good thinking Colonel. I want you and Teal’c ready to gate within two hours.”
***
A half of a day later, Jack and Teal’c stood on the launch ramp. Jack had misgivings about leaving before Sam had woken, but as Janet had said there was no telling when the Major would rise. Jack glanced at Teal’c’s impassive face before crossing the barrier. Just to come face to face with his near double.
It seemed that Harlan and the clone of Jack never felt that fixing the burn mark was necessary. Jack wished that they had, seeing the large silver hole in his face gave him the willies. He felt a small amount of relief when he heard Teal’c step through the gate.
There was a silent face off. Jack stared at himself and smirked a bit at how weird that sounded even in his own head. He had more pressing matters and broke the silence.
“We’ve come to talk to Daniel.”
“Why can’t you talk to him yourself?” His double sneered, his words cut into the fresh feelings of loss. Before he could reply he heard the Daniel’s voice, incredibly soft. He was standing off to the side. His figure was silhouetted.
“Because he died, didn’t he?” Jack was sure his face took on a pasty hue because his double’s countenance suddenly softened. The silence from the other man was welcome. The clone waited for him to compose himself before saying.
“Then I’ll leave you to discuss things with Daniel.” With that the man walked away.
Jack’s breath caught in his throat as he saw the clone move into the light. It looked so much like Daniel before. He couldn’t finish that thought. The pain was still too fresh.
“How did he die?” There was a hint of curiosity in the soft voice. Even though he looked like the man, the way he talked was totally different now. As far as Jack could tell, this clone was as unlike Daniel as Jack’s clone was like himself. Which was very odd considering they were supposed to have all the same memories up until the creation. Jack was saved from answering by Teal’c.
“DanielJackson was crushed by a collapsing temple.” Curiosity satiated the clone nodded and leaned against a rail.
“What do you want to know?”
Jack looked to Teal’c and nodded. The Jaffa then pulled out a laptop from his pack and handed it over. Jack placed it on the ground and booted it up. As he worked he explained.
“We managed to get Daniel out of the cave in.” He choked a bit on his words. “And back to base. Unfortunately he died in the OR” Another moment to compose himself. “Shortly after he died, this.” He stopped for a lack of word, “thing enshrouded Daniel’s.” He couldn’t finish the thought. Fortunately he’d finished setting up the laptop and was ready to play back the footage from the lab. “Whatever it is now, it left through the stargate, and apparently with Daniel’s memories. We are hoping you could give us a hint to where he went.”
With that he started the video and stepped aside to let the clone watch. As the other watched the video, Teal’c and Jack watched the clone. He was not sure what he was looking for, but when the figure on the screen finally finished forming itself, the clone looked a little sick. When it got to the point where Jack was thrown into the wall, the man shook his head near imperceptibly and whispered a soft “no” before darting out of the room.
“Daniel!” He called after the figure had disappeared into the twisted and small corridors. Jack gave a mental sigh and motioned Teal’c to follow. Unfortunately the robot Daniel was fast and soon lost them in the winding corridors. It wasn’t long before Jack and Teal’c were so lost that they were sure finding their way back to the stargate would take more than an hour.
“He’s probably up top.” Sam’s voice made Jack jump.
“What?”
“Daniel, I heard him run past.” Sam’s blue eyes twinkled merrily. “It’s where we go when we need a moment alone.”
“Take us there Carter,” Jack momentarily forgot that this wasn’t the woman whom was under his command, but a duplicate.
“Sure thing sir,”
Sam turned and led the group. They walked in silence for a short while before Jack spoke up.
“Carter,”
“Yes sir?”
“I was wondering, both you and my counterpart act so much like we do, but Daniel seems so. . .” He trailed off looking for the right word.
“Different?” Sam supplied.
“Yeah, that.”
“That’s because I’m not a monster,” Daniel’s soft venom filled voice startled Jack. He hadn’t noticed the other appear near them.
“What?” Jack was minorly amused to note that Sam had said it at the same time. Teal’c had raised an eyebrow.
“How could you say that?” Sam asked with a confused voice. Daniel nodded toward Jack.
“You’ve seen what he is,” he paused, “You even have pictures. How can you say he’s not a monster.” There was a trace of self loathing in his voice.
“Because he stopped himself.” Jack felt confident that whatever had Daniel’s real body he somehow was able to wrestle control. Although by the reaction this was not the correct thing to say.
“Stopped himself?” A snide laugh, “Then why did he murder his own children? Why did he wake up bathed in the blood of his daughter?” the man started to choke on his words. “He’s a monster. He hasn’t been human since nineteen-forty-eight.”
That got Jack’s attention.
“Jackson’s only thirty three?” Jack knew his voice was confused. He looked around and saw Teal’c’s visage show disbelief while Sam was staring at the mechanical Daniel with the type of fear one has when they think their best friend had just gone off the deep end.
“Daniel Jackson would be thirty three. If he’s still alive. He would have been the same age as.” Daniel paused for a moment as if what he was about to say was difficult to think of. “Sean Alexander Murphy junior.”
He paused to perch on one of the many pipes that ran across the complex. “Look, you came here for the truth and you want to find him.” He lowered his head. “In forty eight Sean was hiking around the mountains.”
Daniel took a deep breath, “he fell into a cave and was. . .” he shrugged while looking for the right word. “Attacked. By some sort of organism that ensnared his body.”
Daniel looked up and Jack could see the pain in his eyes. “You’ve seen what it looks like. Now I know too. He passed out and when he woke up it was gone and everything seemed normal.”
Jack was going to interrupt. He couldn’t really believe this, but one look at the eyes of the other man and he was silenced.
“Thirty years passed and he’d forgotten about it. Then that weekend.” Emotion clouded Daniel’s voice.
“They were climbing.” Daniel’s eyes took a far off look. “He fell.” The man was nearly whispering and Jack had to strain to hear him. “Darkness. . . Then he woke, bathed in blood starting at the shredded remains of his little girl.”
Daniel’s eyes focused on Jack, his voice much louder but just as emotionally torn, “He had killed her. Sweet innocent little Sarah. The shock was so great. I don’t know what happened to little Alex. I’m not sure how long he stood there before he noticed that he was not human. The horrible green plating all over him was covered in blood. He screamed.”
Daniel’s eyes lost focus again, his attention turning to memories. “Tried to rip the plates off. It eventually worked, but he wasn’t him anymore. The arms, too small, the clothes fell off. He’d shrunk. He ran. Ran.”
Back to whispering. Jack wished the man would just keep it to one level. “Ended up running off a cliff. Blacked out, but woke up again, with that damn green crap all over him again. I don’t know how many times he managed to kill himself. But every time he woke up again. Until one time he woke up in a hospital bed.”
Daniel focused again. “They told him his name was Daniel. The told him that his parents had died in the museum. And when the memories started to return, he didn’t believe them. Blocked them as figments of the imagination.” A derisive snort. “How could a fifteen year old have the memories of a forty?”
Jack was speechless. He couldn’t believe what Daniel had just said, but the way the man spoke and armed with the knowledge that the stargate brought he couldn’t totally discount it either.
Sam spoke up, “Oh come on, you don’t really expect us to believe that.”
Daniel’s eyes pierced into hers and she stopped looking a little less confident.
“Believe what you want. I can only tell you what the memories of Sean Murphy are.”
“But this doesn’t tell us where he is now.”
Daniel closed his eyes and looked down.
“Do you remember, that planet, the cave.” He looked at Jack, “The sweet seductive voices that no one else could hear. The ones that made promises by a long extinct race?”
Ok, now Jack was confused.
“P3X-780" Jack nearly didn’t hear the whisper.
“What was that?”
“P3X-780, try there.” Daniel said one more time before disappearing into the pipes.
***
Jack was brooding, he couldn’t help it. Daniel’s clone had just outright stated that Daniel had been infected with an alien organism long before the stargate was re-opened. He knew this report would have the government scouring the area surrounding Yaak Montana. He glanced over at Sam, she still looked a bit woozy, but that was to be expected with the concussion. Yes it was a gamble bringing her along in her condition, but he was sure that whatever the thing was, it would still react like Daniel and she wasn’t in danger.
His attention shifted as the event horizon equilibrated itself and led the small team through.
The first thing he noticed on the other side was dim light. He reread his reports and remembered that the gate on this planet had been totally enclosed in a mountain. Now, however, there was a strait line access to the exit. It looked as if someone had brought a drill the size of the stargate and bored a hole in the mountain.
The walk out of the mountain was much shorter than the first time. The sight that met the trio when the saw the forest made them pause. Whatever had cleared out the mountain, did the same thing to the forest directly in its path. For as far as they could see, there were no trees or debris in the path, the ground was depressed and a small amount of water collected in the depression.
“What could have done this?” Jack was a little disturbed and nearly decided to turn around right then.
“I don’t know sir, but whatever it was had the power to vaporize the mountain and trees for at least a mile.” Sam answered.
“Teal’c? You know anything?”
“I have not seen anything like this.” Only his long time association with the Jaffa let Jack hear the worry in his voice.
“Well, at least this time we won’t have to mark the cave.” Jack tried to put levity in his voice, the new landscape was making him worry. He looked at the ground hopefully there would still be some tracks from where the creature walked, but if the water in the forest was any indication, it’d rained since Daniel came through here.
Jack could still hear the clone’s voice whispering about a cave, it confused Jack then, but maybe that rambling could help. If he could only remember where they found Daniel after he wandered off during the night.
“This way sir,” Sam’s voice broke in. He raised an eyebrow at her choice.
“If it really does have Daniel’s memories, we went this way before.” She shrugged as if that explained everything.
“DanielJackson stated that he did not remember anything from this planet.” Teal’c stated.
“But the clone knew, I think Daniel lied to us.” Sam countered, proving that even though she was recovering from a concussion, she still was sharp and had read the reports.
Jack took that as sound enough logic and they started on their way. They made sure to keep an eye on the ledges of the mountain face. It was more than six hours before Jack noticed a fleshy colored patch on one of the ledges. He held up his hand and the team stopped. He motioned toward the patch and they headed for the pock marked cliff face that would lead them to the ledge.
“I’ll go first.” Jack said and started up the cliff without waiting for any reply.
As he got to the top, he took a good look at the figure that was seated leaning against the wall. The boy looked thirteen and was stark naked. His body was bright red, most likely a sunburn, but he looked exactly like Daniel would have at that age. His head was tilted back and he was covered in a fine sheen. An eye cracked open and looked at Jack.
“Hey Jack, come back to torture me some more?” The voice was rough as if the boy hadn’t spoken for a couple days, or had shouted himself horse. He opened his eyes further and looked around with only his eyes.
“What? You didn’t bring Alex this time? Got tired of shoving my failure in my face?” He laughed hollowly and Jack for the first time in a long time was scared, down to the core. If this really was Daniel, and had all the man’s memories, it was a safe bet to guess that he’d flipped. Jack stood motionless just staring down at the boy. He heard Teal’c climbing the cliff but the way Daniel seemed so weak and helpless kept his attention.
“What now? You’re really quiet. What happened to all the anger?” He snorted quietly, but didn’t move. “After all I did kill you.”
“No you didn’t.” Jack finally found his voice. He started to crouch down and touch the boy.
“Don’t touch me,” Daniel’s voice was panicked but he only weekly pushed at Jack, his head fell forward and he didn’t seem to have the energy to lift it.
Jack lifted Daniel’s head and noticed that his skin was cool and really clammy, there was fear and confusion in his eyes.
“You didn’t kill me, and Sam only got a concussion.”
“No,” he said weakly trying to shake his head.
“Look, Here’s Teal’c, and you know you didn’t do anything to him. He can vouch for me.”
Teal’c looked to Daniel
“DanielJackson, you did not kill O’Neal or MajorCarter. They are in fact alive.” Jack felt a little bit of relief at the knowledge that Teal’c had heard and knew what to say.
Daniel was still looking at Jack, his eyes unfocused and he was chanting “no” softly.
Jack nearly fell off the ledge when the cliff face opened up and two thin ropes wrapped around Daniel and tugged him inside. Teal’c was off like a light and disappeared behind the cliff face that reappeared before Jack could get through.
Jack slammed his fists on the sharp rock in frustration.
*woah POV change*
As the cliff face closed, Teal’c was thrown into darkness. Moments later a phosphorescent glow began to illuminate the cave. The atmosphere was warm and muggy, almost totally opposite from what it had been outside. The walls were pliable and smooth. Whatever this cave was, it wasn’t natural.
He followed the noises from deeper in the cave and stopped dead when he saw the burnt body of the Daniel like alien.
“Stop there” the voice was still gravely. “Stop or it might decide one master isn’t enough.” A haunted laugh followed.
Teal’c raised an eyebrow and the laugh ended. Apparently this thing knew his body language just as Daniel did.
“Story time,” it said dryly, a tentacle moved from holding a leg still to pulling the head back so Teal’c could stare into the blue eyes. “Some number of millennia ago a race of beings who called themselves the Advents” he spat out the last word. “Left their war torn world in hopes of finding something they could use to defeat their opponent.” He smirked slightly, “Who was themselves, they were the worst in-fighters ever and made humans look like cuddly rabbits.”
“They came across the earth somewhere around two millennia ago and found our ancestors.” He snorted, “or rather mutated the local wildlife into our ancestors. They were looking for an army some life form that had a body that was easily repaired and mutated with their tools. Something that wasn’t strong in intellect and yet had the capacity to learn to use the tools of war that were available.” He paused and waited for Teal’c to nod before continuing. “While they were doing their work, the war escalated. The rival factions on earth started fighting when they found each other and left the broken husks of the defeated ships behind as the went off to fight at home.”
He made a weak gesture in the general direction of the opening. “They wiped themselves out and left their organic ships and cities behind.”
“How does this involve Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c interrupted.
“It has everything to do with him, you see.” He stopped for a while his eyes drilling into Teal’c’s
“Daniel Jackson was a mistake, the result of two things that were never supposed to come in contact with each other. The Advents had armor, It was biological and only partially self aware, somewhat of a cross between a tree and a dog. Fiercely loyal yet not sentient enough to rebel or take orders from anyone but the host.” He laughed hollowly again, “too bad that they couldn’t take homo DNA out of the armor. That mistake cost them quite a few people and they never did figure out how to kill the creature.” His voice dropped to a whisper, “too bad,”
Teal’c nodded, he was starting to understand the picture that this creature, now he was sure it wasn’t Daniel Jackson, was panting. He also understood the indirect implication that he wouldn’t be able to eliminate this threat and had to reason with it to either come back or close down the Stargate so no one could use its power.
There was a moment of silence before it spoke again it was almost wistful.
“I was human once. They called me Alex, I wasn’t yet worthy to be called Sean.” The eyes glazed in the way that happens when someone’s focusing solely on memories. “I was climbing a mountain, fell into a hole, and now. . . now I’m an abomination that will never die.” The last part was spit out. He focused on Teal’c again and Teal’c couldn’t help but notice that his body had returned to near perfect health.
“What will you do with your time?” The thing seemed to have calmed down somewhat and Teal’c figured it was time to start negotiations. It started laughing.
“I should have guessed, but then I was distracted.” The tentacles rested the body on the ground and vanished into the walls. “You were sent to eliminate me weren’t you.”
“Or find out if you will pose a threat.” Teal’c clarified. It laughed again.
“I could be, but I’m happy to wallow in self pity and be thankful that Shau’ri was taken away before we found out what I really am.” His voice went somber and not quite lucid eyes focused on Teal’c. “I should thank you for taking her from that sorrow before it could happen.” Teal’c started having doubts about his earlier decision that it was not in fact Daniel Jackson.
More time passed with neither saying anything. Teal’c was becoming uncomfortable with the realization that he was in fact this man’s prisoner.
A grin spread itself on the younger Daniel’s visage. The boy started laughing hysterically.
“I know.” he laughed as he rested against the wall and suddenly calmed.
“I know how to stop it.” Teal’c barely heard the whisper.
“Know, know” he started chanting and giggling a little more before looking once again looking at Teal’c. “All the sorrow in the world comes from knowledge.” Another giggle “oh it’s fine when you only think you know everything, but when you learn,” a pause, “what truly is, you’d prefer never to have known.”
Daniel’s behavior was worrying Teal’c. The other had obviously lost his grasp and was the only way Teal’c had of getting out of this cavern.
“Is it not better to know than live like a slave?” He asked trying to bring the conversation around to him getting out of here.
“As long as your needs are met, what care have you for how that happens?”
“You would still be a slave.”
Daniel let out a small laugh to the response and said, “But you become a slave to fulfilling your needs where before they were met for you.” His voice sobered. “But I tire of this conversation.”
Daniel pushed past Teal’c and headed toward the cave entrance. Teal’c quietly followed, he figured he could overpower the youthful body but wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea. This person obviously had access to technology he didn’t know or understand and was fairly certain that it would react to any attack on Daniel’s body.
When the reached the block entrance Daniel tilted his head and it opened. The ledge was clear, Jack must have climbed down to talk with Sam. Teal’c quickly stepped out of the doorway only to pause when he heard Daniel speak softly.
“I’ve always wanted to do this.” The boy gave a slight laugh and ran for the edge. It all happened too fast for Teal’c to really respond. As Daniel crossed the barrier it slammed shut. Before Teal’c could make a grab and prevent a painful looking fall, Daniel had passed and leaped off of the edge.
Teal’c could only watch as the silhouette of the creature from before faded into view behind Daniel and enveloped him. Where a young Daniel had leaped off of the cliff, the armored creature landed with a loud thud. Teal’c quickly looked for Sam and Jack, who had been sitting closer to the foot of the mountain. They were immediately ready for a fight, M-90's aimed at the figure. It ignored them.
The figure started to walk away when it started fading, soon the figure stopped and Daniel continued walking leaving it behind to fade into nothing. Teal’c quickly climbed down and heard Jack calling after Daniel.
When he finished descending, Teal’c saw that Daniel had taken off at a run. Both O’Neill and Sam were not in fit enough condition to run after, but they were making their way as quickly as they could. Teal’c scrambled after Daniel.
It seemed like only moments had passed when he lost sight of the fleeing figure but he continued to run in the same direction hoping that he’d find a clue.
His clue came quickly when he saw the opening into the caver where the stargate lay. Teal’c could see the light from the gate as he neared the opening. He picked up the pace but only managed to get there in time to see it shut off.
Ok, Just the final ending, or epilogue, but I worn you, I’ve made two versions figuring that people would be mad at one of them, There’s the not-so-happy ending, and the hopeful ending. I’ve put the Not-so-happy one first. If you want to skip it go ahead, it’s really short anyway.
Ending One, Finality.
This is the short and not so happy ending, also my original intension, but some people might be mad, so I’ve made a second one. Read that one if you want a Not-So-Unhappy ending.
The off-world-activation alarm blared in the base. General Hammond looked to the people in the command room. There wasn’t anyone scheduled for return. The only team it could be was SG1 they didn’t have a definitive time for their mission. He watched worriedly as the iris closed and no signal came. His worry disappeared as he heard one resounding thud against the iris. The Goa’uld still hadn’t given up on throwing random Jaffa at the iris.
His unease immediately returned when the gate activated within thirty seconds. He looked over to the control man and the man just shrugged.
“It’s SG1" the call came from across the room.
“Open the iris.” Hammond had a bad feeling suddenly and it was worsened when Teal’c was the only one to appear through the worm hole. He was looking around frantically. Well Frantically for Teal’c. Upon seeing no one of consequence in the embarkation room, the Jaffa’s shoulders visibly fell.
“Where are Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter?” Hammond immediately asked, two of his best officers missing.
“Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter are currently on the planet. Their previous injuries inhibited their ability to follow.. . “ here he paused as if he couldn’t figure out what to say, “DanielJackson as he ran from them.”
The implication of the statement hit the General like a brick. The activation, the thud, and Teal’c felt that the creature really was Daniel. His heart fell as he realized he would have to prepare for another funeral. This time they would have the micro layer thick elements that made up Daniel, but that wasn’t a help.
MUAHAHAHA that’s the end. I know, you’ll kill me for killing of Daniel. But there is another one. Ending I mean.
Ending Two, Hope.
The peaceful surroundings were disrupted by the activation of the gate. Daniel flew out of it at a run. He tripped off the small platform and landed in some bushes. The noises of the wildlife seemed to still for a moment before continuing just as strong.
A few moments passed while Daniel came to the realization that he was in fact still alive. The stress and pain welled up and he started screaming. He wasn’t supposed to be here, they were supposed to have closed off their stargate. They told him. They told him.
Daniel jumped as he felt a hand on his head. He came face to face with Nafrayu, the young Nox boy he’d met the last time he was here. He scrambled back, trying to get away. The boy he just reminded him so much of Alex.
Nafrayu’s eyes held confusion as Daniel retreated. Daniel started chanting “no” over and over again. When he was around ten feet he turned and ran. He ran for a long time, his muscles ached and his lungs burned, but he continued till his muscles collapsed. Daniel curled up into a ball and started crying in a whimper.
Daniel was pulled out of his misery again when he felt another touch. This time he was too tired to do more than scramble back weakly. This time he saw Anteaus.
“You LIED.” He couldn’t help but yelling. His voice was hoarse. “You lied to us, you said you’d burry the gate. You lied.” His voice lowered and he curled up into a ball. “You lied,” he whispered over and over again. The touch of the other man wasn’t enough to make him look up again. He knew, he knew that here, they wouldn’t let him die.
It took time for Daniel to calm down. When he did he realized the other man was talking. No matter how much he wanted to ignore Anteaus, he felt compelled to listen.
“Why do you want to die Daniel Jackson?”
Daniel looked up at Anteaus.
“Do you remember the Advents? Or were they before your time?”
Anteaus paled.
“You did not come into contact with their technology?”
Daniel just laughed in response. A hysterical laugh that held no mirth and didn’t say any more.
“We can help you.” Anteaus’s face was sincere.
“What can you do when even they couldn’t figure out how to fix it?”
“We can help you learn to live, through the pain that they left behind in the universe.”
Daniel laughed again.
“Like humans? They left us behind. Made us and left us like broken little toys after a child loses interest.” Daniel looked at the ground, avoiding Anteaus’s face. “We’re nothing but broken toys.” With that Daniel collapsed, his energy spent and the fact that he hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink in a long time taking a toll on his body.
Anteaus looked at the body.
“May you wake with less pain.” He said as he gently picked up Daniel and started to take him away.
Thanks for reading. I hope I haven’t totally destroyed anyone’s sensibilities.
Oh, and I’m horrible at editing, so if anyone feels inclined feel free to do so.
A few days passed, Daniel seemed to be improving dramatically. Although he would break down when reminded of the family he once had. Even though Daniel now knew that he was not, nor had he ever been Daniel Jackson, the name he held over twenty years, he still responded to it as if it was a shield against some untold memory. Jack put it to coping with having seen his family die.
Samuel stayed in the small cabin with the team. His easy going humor lightened the mood considerably. Jack was getting the nagging suspicion that there was something that Daniel and Samuel were keeping from him. With a mental shrug he put it to the past. Daniel would open up to him eventually.
The team was preparing to return to Colorado. Daniel had recovered enough to consent to returning. As the team dropped of Samuel at the small café that they had met the man, Daniel started to tear up.
“Boy, remember what I said.” He grinned and ruffled Daniel’s hair, “you can’t keep blaming yourself forever.”
“I know,” the two words and half grin expressed much more than could be said in any words. Samuel gave the team a sad smile.
“So, will I be seeing you folks again?”
Jack looked at Daniel’s figure, still bowed from the weight of his rediscovered memories.
“When we get a chance.”
Samuel smiled and vanished into the café. Jack grinned slightly and turned his attention to getting the group to the airport.
The flight went by quickly and when they departed from the plane, they were surprised to see General Hammond waiting at the gate for them. He smiled when he saw the team.
“Good evening folks, I trust your trip was calm.” He smirked remembering that this particular team seemed to attract more trouble than any other team.
“It was sir,” Jack spoke for the group.
“Very good,” he turned to Daniel making sure to get eye contact and smiled, “I hope everything works out for you son. You’ve got a date with Dr. Fraiser tomorrow morning.”
Daniel looked at the older general and nodded. His eyes were still clouded in sorrow, but there was a hint of recovery in them.
The next several weeks passed and soon Daniel was back to his old self again, with a few moodier moments. It was then that a sarcophagus appeared, sent to Dr. Jackson from an archeological team exploring Mayan pyramids.
*Author’s note: Time flies by sticking with the series until just after Prisoners.*
“Looks like we’re on” Jack grinned as his voice startled Daniel’s hunched over form. It was always nice to remind the anthropologist that his work wasn’t the only thing in the world.
“Jack” Daniel’s voice was exasperated.
“Come on, we’re gating in an hour, just wanted to give you enough warning. You know, put your rocks away.”
“They’re not rock, they’re artifacts.” Daniel’s voice lowered, “although I don’t know why I bother with you.” Jack grinned.
“Because you love me, now I’ve got orders to feed you.”
Daniel snorted “yeah right,” but followed Jack to the cafeteria. There they met Sam and Teal’c for a quick meal before send off. Daniel loudly complained about the MRE’s and was eating with gusto now so he wouldn’t have to eat as many of those tasteless things later.
The conversation quickly turned to the planet which they were about to explore, P2X-353 or something like that. Jack wasn’t too sure.
The trip through the stargate was as normal, cold and nauseating, but it was getting easier, so much easier Jack noted. He looked around, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement, but when he turned to look, nothing was there. He had the feeling that there had been a lookout. He glanced around the area, noting the DHD and all the lush trees. Boy was he getting tired of trees. At least these had some variety, the humidity of this place was perfect for rainforest like growth. The trees were dense with layer upon layer of canopy. Even where he stood he couldn’t see the sky the trees had grown so close to the stargate.
“Doesn’t look like the Goa’ould visit very often.” Jack threw the comment to the general vicinity not expecting a response.
Daniel and Sam immediately went to the DHD and made sure they could dial home again. Noting that they could they turned to the present situation. Figuring out where to go.
They chose a random direction and started off, marking their way periodically so they could find their way back. Sam continually took samples of the soil with the help of Daniel. They seemed to be discussing something or other. Jack ignored the two scientists on his team. Soon their path was blocked. A large wall seemed to have materialized out of no where in front of them. Carvings spanned the face of the structure that they could see.
“Amazing” Daniel said as he closed in on the writings, nudging his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Jack gave off an exasperated sigh, “Come on space monkey,” he enjoyed popping that nickname in every once in a while to annoy the younger man. “You can look at your rocks later,”
“But Jack this is the first evidence of Mayan culture we’ve come across, there could be something here.” Jack sighed. Daniel was his friend, but sometimes the man’s disregard for military structure really exasperated the long time military man.
“You can come back later, we’ve got two days,” Jack said as he grabbed Daniel’s pack and started to drag him along the wall of the structure.
It turned out that the structure was big, the base seemed to be larger than the pyramid landing sights that were so common among Goa’ould inhabited worlds. After walking nearly clear around the base, they found a clearing which according to Murphy’s law was ten feet from where they first had run into the structure. The stairs of the structure had been beaten down by the wind and the rain and now were only faint ripples on a incline to a platform at the top.
“This seems to be a larger replica of the Mayan pyramids.” Daniel started to spout all of that uninteresting archeological babble and Jack tuned the rest of it out.
The team set up camp at the small clearing at the base of the pyramid and Jack let Daniel loose to take his video and recordings of the temple. Jack then sat down to take in the relaxing atmosphere of a mission going just as planned, very boringly. Sam was with Daniel helping to record everything for further study back at SGC, while Teal’c stood between them and the camp. Jack was suddenly reminded of a nanny watching her charges. He smirked but didn’t say anything.
Soon enough one of the two had managed to open up a door somehow. The ancient stone ground against other stone making a loud noise. Jack stood and followed the group. The inside of the temple was just still, a thick layer of dust coated the ground and the walls. Daniel eagerly went to the walls and with a quick wipe of the hand revealed more carvings. He turned to Carter with a gleam in his eye that screamed get out now or have your brain dribble out your ears to Jack started talking animatedly, the video camera was soon up with flashlight and the two were off. Jack just looked around long enough to see that there wasn’t any danger and went to the doorway to keep watch.
All in all, that day ended up being one of the rare boring days Jack was aloud to experience in his time with the SGC. Unfortunately he did one of the worst things possible in that position. He wished for some sort of excitement.
***
His wish was granted when they started to pack up for the night. Daniel, as seemed to be his habit, dallied while leaving the temple. This wouldn’t have been bad if the ground hadn’t started to shake and toss in an incredibly large earthquake. Jack barely kept his feet and he watched as Daniel fell in the doorway, only to have a large stone drop on him a moment later.
The sound of Daniel’s cry of pain streaked across the small clearing, winning out on the tumbling of rocks for volume. Jack fell to the ground weather from pure shock or just the inability to balance with the earth tossing like it was. He clumsily crawled towards the temple door only to have Teal’c hold him back.
“What are you doing?!”
“Do no endanger yourself too, we must wait for the quake to cease.” The Jaffa’s normally stoic tone was laced with worry.
The quake lasted for five more minutes, it seemed more like an eternity, fortunately no more rocks fell on Daniel. Unfortunately, the screams died out and he wasn’t moving. Within seconds Sam, he, and Teal’c were at the archeologist’s side. Daniel had fallen on his stomach and the bolder had neatly fallen on his pelvis and probably crushed his legs too. His breathing was quick and ragged, his eyes glazed with pain.
“Carter,” Jack snapped, his emotions were running rampant and he barely kept his voice from quivering. “Go back to the stargate. Get Janet and a rescue crew ASAP.” Sam looked like she might argue, but thought better of it and sprinted off.
Jack’s eyes studied the rubble on top of Daniel.
“Teal’c,” his next order was cut off by Daniel’s weak voice calling his name.
“Jack,” it was soft and nearly hissed.
“I’m here space monkey.” Jack unconsciously used the nickname hoping that the miraculous life save would happen again. He bent down and clasped Daniel’s hand. He looked into the pain filled eyes that were searching. When their eyes locked Jack’s heart plummeted, he knew that look, it was the look of a man who was dying and realized it just at the end. He’d seen it enough in his covert op’s days and didn’t want to believe he was seeing it now. What he heard next confirmed what he already knew.
“Please Jack, leave me here,”
“Nobody gets left behind.” Jack’s face went grim. He expected the tone of fear in Daniel’s next words, but not the actual words themself.
“Please just leave me,” a then a quieter whisper, “I don’t want to kill you too.”
“Nobody gets left behind,” Jack reiterated more forcefully this time. “Come on T, we’ve got to get these stones off him. The two started with the lighter stones at the top of the rubble hoping that by the time help arrived they’d be able to get Daniel out of here. The work was hard and tiring, but when Daniel fell unconscious they just worked harder, pushing their muscles to the limits.
A petite brunette broke into their monotony with a shout of “Daniel” she set her bag down and started checking vitals. With her arrival came more help to dig Daniel out. Time managed to both fly and crawl by as the stones were lifted, soon there was enough room to lever the large stone off of Daniel and slide him from under. It seemed like no time passed between getting his form out of the entrance and into the infirmary. Where he was rushed to the OR.
Sam Jack and Teal’c debriefed and were quickly at the window watching Dr. Fraiser battle for Daniel’s life. Unfortunately the battle was a losing one and the remainder of SG-1 watched as Daniel drew his last breath. Janet broke out into tears and sank down to the OR floor. Sam seemed not too far away, but Jack wasn’t certain with his own emotions running rampant. He failed. He failed Daniel and Sha’uri. He fell back into a chair. Just like he failed Charlie. He felt the world falling away in his guilt, just like it had when Charlie had died. Daniel had pulled him out of his self loathing then, but he couldn’t now, nor would he ever be able to again.
He knew it couldn’t be a trick like the incident on Oannes was. They had his body, it was no trick. He looked at the window again, he didn’t want to have preform another eulogy for the man, once had been enough and he had hoped after that it would never have to happen again.
He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, General Hammond was there with a teary-eyed face, “I don’t want to either son,” Jack was startled, had he said that out loud? Time seemed to blur, Jack felt like he was being herded places, but he didn’t mind he was grieving.
He was pulled from his misery when the medical alarm went off. He rushed to the infirmary, only a step behind General Hammond.
The sight that greeted him was strange indeed. Dr. Fraiser and her medical staff were backed away from Daniel’s cooling body. It took Jack a moment to notice that the sheet that covered most of Daniel was moving, twisting as if it covered a bed of serpents and not a human’s corps.
A brave SF reached forward and tugged on the sheet that covered Daniel. The room collectively gasped as it revealed thick greyish blue tentacles wrapping around the body. Quickly covering every area, wrapping Daniel like some sort of organic mummy.
“OUT” Janet shouted and the room was quickly emptied and locked down. Jack quickly ran over to the observation room just in time to see Daniel’s face disappear into the grey wrappings.
The next few hours had everyone that had been present in quarantine while the lab made sure that the thing surrounding Daniel’s body wasn’t giving off any airborne bacteria or chemicals. The man that had pulled the sheet was put under more rigorous testing to make sure the near contact didn’t effect him either. The base had gone through its fair share of medical disasters and wanted to avoid any more if possible.
Luckily it seemed that the grey mass was happy with Daniel’s body and didn’t try to move after cocooning it. Three hours later, it was sitting in Sam’s lab undergoing whatever test she could think of. Jack stayed with the captain, lending her some strength in trying to puzzle out what happened and what this organism was. The hours whittled away and soon it was apparent that whatever the thing on Daniel was, it wasn’t done yet. The thing secreted some sort of chemical in key points of the wrapping which then hardened and obstructed the x-rays that Sam was preforming.
“Sam, it’s three in the morning, we should get some rest.” Jack’s tired voice was laced with concern.
“No,” her voice was desperate, “I have to know.”
“Then how about we get some coffee and a bite to eat, you look like you need it.”
Sam looked as if she would decline for a moment, but then closed her eyes and lowered her head.
“Sure,” She looked back up and they both went to the commissary together.
“What do you think it is?” Jack was worried for her health, but also insanely curious as to what the thing defiling the body of his friend was.
“I’m not sure sir,” she paused looking thoughtful, “but before the x-rays were being stopped, Daniel’s bone structure was being changed,” she frowned slightly, “shrinking.”
“Shrinking?”
“I don’t have any explanation for it.” She seemed slightly bewildered. Silence reigned a moment more while she sipped her coffee and Jack glanced around the barren room. Sam finished off her coffee and stood. Her posture showed weariness while her eyes shown with determination.
They returned to the lab and were startled to see that the mass had managed to produce thick plating across most of the body. It looked almost like turtle shell and covered the body like a suit of armor. The head was the most drastic thing. A small steel looking ball was now at the center of the forehead with two smaller ones in grooves that started at the temples and slid back over the cranium. Where the eyes would be were two dark glassy looking spaces and the mouth looked like some organic SCUBA respirator. Small spines littered the body at the major limb joints, and it was moving gently as if breathing.
Jack and Sam stopped dead at the sight. They took a quick glance at each other and Jack gave Sam a look of “I’ll go first”. Sam nodded and followed a few feet behind.
As Jack approached, one of the smaller balls moved swiftly in its groove until it was pointed at him. The moment he got within arm’s reach of the body on the table it stood with lightening speed and struck him. He heard Sam shout just before feeling the hard steel of the wall hit his back, knocking the breath out of him. His head hit the wall and he knew by the fuzzy feeling he wouldn’t stay conscious much longer. The innate stubbornness passed along his family line was the only think that kept him awake long enough to see the thing strike Sam into the opposite wall and freeze. All went dark.
***
Jack carefully made his way to the briefing room. The pounding headache that blessed him when he woke up felt like lemmings with jack hammers had taken up residence and were not planning on moving out any time soon. As the door loomed ahead Jack massaged his temples for a moment before entering and saluting the general.
He noticed Teal’c sitting in a chair off to the side with some video equipment set up so that everyone in the room could see. The knot of tension in his stomach tightened when his glance passed by the spot Sam usually sat. She was still unconscious in the infirmary with no foreseeable recovery time.
“At ease Colonel,” Jack could hear the worry laced in Hammond’s tone. As soon as he had sat down the general continued. “O’Neill, I’ve asked you and Teal’c here to tell me what happened last night. We had an unauthorized use of the gate. By the look of the security video, it was that thing that has Daniel’s body.”
Jack racked his brain as he took his seat and realized that he couldn’t remember anything after leaving for the commissary with Sam.
“I don’t think I can be of much help sir. I can’t remember much after Sam and I left it on the examining table.”
General Hammond nodded and said “I thought as much, maybe seeing the video will jog your memory. With that he started the video.
“Sam, it’s three in the morning, we should get some rest.” Jack’s tired voice emanated from the speakers.
“No,” Sam’s voice was desperate, “I have to know.” Jack could see the image of her shake slightly.
“Then how about we get some coffee and a bite to eat, you look like you need it.”
The image of Sam looked as if she would decline for a moment, but then closed her eyes and lowered her head.
“Sure,” She looked back up and the pair walked out of the room. Moments later the stillness of the figure on the bed was broken. Solid turtle shell like plates formed, while a silver like ball bearing pushed itself through the tentacle mass and shone through the forehead. The area over the eyes opened and Jack thought he had gotten a brief glimpse of dead blue eyes before it seemed to fill with a liquid and become glassy. Moments later the silver ball at the forehead started to glow. Steam escaped from vents on either side of the cheeks. The only movement in the room now was the gentle motion as if the thing was breathing.
Hammond fast forwarded the video ten minutes. He resumed the normal speed just as the door opened to reveal Jack and Sam. They stared, dumbstruck for a moment before the image of Jack gave Sam a look that said “I’ll go first.”
Jack winced as he saw the thing swiftly stand and knock his image into the wall. No wonder it hurt so much when he woke up. He’d been lucky that he’d only had the concussion and the dislocated shoulder.
The image of Sam shouted “Jack” before rushing and getting herself the same treatment. She wasn’t as lucky and ended up hitting multiple pieces of equipment and getting cut along the way. Jack was so focused on his teammate that he nearly missed the way the thing had twitched and a soft mechanized voice grunt.
“Wha. . .” The thing looked around and it focused on Sam’s body in the corner. Blood was running from a head wound.
“Sam!” It started to move towards her and Jack felt a pang of dread in his stomach. The thing suddenly stopped two steps after it had started and stared at its hands.
“No,” it was barely above a whisper. “No.” The thing started backing up as if it could run away from itself. One step at a time the eyes focused on the hands. Suddenly as it had started the figure curled into a ball with a hint of desperation in the mechanized voice. “Not again.” Jack wasn’t sure, but he almost thought he heard anguish as well. It was trembling violently while rocking back and fourth hands over its head and face into its knees like a child trying to drown out the sound of yelling voices.
Minutes passed before it looked up. The voice soft again. “Not again,” it seemed to come to a decision before standing. With a look at Sam’s crumpled form it spoke with a voice filled with determination “Never again.”
It turned to leave the room and saw Jack’s body. “No, no not you too Jack.” Whatever resolve it seemed to have developed shattered and it twitched as if shot and fell back to the ground. Leaving a slight indent in the ground. The anguish filled childlike voice was back. “No no no.” chanting the one word as if it would change what the thing was seeing. “I told you,” the mechanized whisper managed to be raspy at the same time. “I told you to leave me there.” It was hugging its knees rocking slightly, eyes fixated on Jack’s unmoving image. Jack jumped at the phrase. Daniel had asked him to leave him there, on the planet that killed him. To leave and let the archeologist die. Jack hadn’t been able to do that. Surely this thing didn’t know. Couldn’t know. But it said it again, posture getting more angry. “I told you to leave me there. Now look what’s happened.” The sorrow was back. It sighed and in a resigned voice said “At least Teal’c wasn’t here.” It looked around for a bit before standing. “Out, I have to get out of here.” It then ran out the door. Hammond stopped the recording.
“Just after that, what ever that thing is managed to dial out and managed to escape through the Stargate.” The general looked between Jack and Teal’c. “I wanted you both here to help try to figure out what that was. It knew both of you so the idea that it somehow has Daniel’s memories is not unfounded.” He looked down at a folio. “It also seems that it knew where it could go that we couldn’t follow.” Jack looked up sharply.
“What do you mean sir?”
“It gated to P3X-7763.”
“The Tollan home-world.” Teal’c said weather for clarification or to remind Jack he wasn’t sure.
“We sent a MALP through this morning and it seems that it just used the planed to get to another.” Hammond’s face became very severe. “If this thing does have the memories of Dr. Jackson, than it is imperative that we get to it and neutralize whatever danger it poses. Especially before the Goa’ould get to it.”
Jack mulled over the problem for a moment before the answer came to him.
“Harlan.” He said. Even though it was quiet he got the attention of the others in the room.
“On PX3 989, Harlan made copies of SG1.”
“And?” Hammond seemed interested.
“Whatever happened with Daniel and now with that thing that has Daniel’s memories. It’s acting like Daniel.” He paused a moment, “And it said that this had happened before. So I’m betting the copy that Harlan made of Daniel would know something about it.”
“Good thinking Colonel. I want you and Teal’c ready to gate within two hours.”
***
A half of a day later, Jack and Teal’c stood on the launch ramp. Jack had misgivings about leaving before Sam had woken, but as Janet had said there was no telling when the Major would rise. Jack glanced at Teal’c’s impassive face before crossing the barrier. Just to come face to face with his near double.
It seemed that Harlan and the clone of Jack never felt that fixing the burn mark was necessary. Jack wished that they had, seeing the large silver hole in his face gave him the willies. He felt a small amount of relief when he heard Teal’c step through the gate.
There was a silent face off. Jack stared at himself and smirked a bit at how weird that sounded even in his own head. He had more pressing matters and broke the silence.
“We’ve come to talk to Daniel.”
“Why can’t you talk to him yourself?” His double sneered, his words cut into the fresh feelings of loss. Before he could reply he heard the Daniel’s voice, incredibly soft. He was standing off to the side. His figure was silhouetted.
“Because he died, didn’t he?” Jack was sure his face took on a pasty hue because his double’s countenance suddenly softened. The silence from the other man was welcome. The clone waited for him to compose himself before saying.
“Then I’ll leave you to discuss things with Daniel.” With that the man walked away.
Jack’s breath caught in his throat as he saw the clone move into the light. It looked so much like Daniel before. He couldn’t finish that thought. The pain was still too fresh.
“How did he die?” There was a hint of curiosity in the soft voice. Even though he looked like the man, the way he talked was totally different now. As far as Jack could tell, this clone was as unlike Daniel as Jack’s clone was like himself. Which was very odd considering they were supposed to have all the same memories up until the creation. Jack was saved from answering by Teal’c.
“DanielJackson was crushed by a collapsing temple.” Curiosity satiated the clone nodded and leaned against a rail.
“What do you want to know?”
Jack looked to Teal’c and nodded. The Jaffa then pulled out a laptop from his pack and handed it over. Jack placed it on the ground and booted it up. As he worked he explained.
“We managed to get Daniel out of the cave in.” He choked a bit on his words. “And back to base. Unfortunately he died in the OR” Another moment to compose himself. “Shortly after he died, this.” He stopped for a lack of word, “thing enshrouded Daniel’s.” He couldn’t finish the thought. Fortunately he’d finished setting up the laptop and was ready to play back the footage from the lab. “Whatever it is now, it left through the stargate, and apparently with Daniel’s memories. We are hoping you could give us a hint to where he went.”
With that he started the video and stepped aside to let the clone watch. As the other watched the video, Teal’c and Jack watched the clone. He was not sure what he was looking for, but when the figure on the screen finally finished forming itself, the clone looked a little sick. When it got to the point where Jack was thrown into the wall, the man shook his head near imperceptibly and whispered a soft “no” before darting out of the room.
“Daniel!” He called after the figure had disappeared into the twisted and small corridors. Jack gave a mental sigh and motioned Teal’c to follow. Unfortunately the robot Daniel was fast and soon lost them in the winding corridors. It wasn’t long before Jack and Teal’c were so lost that they were sure finding their way back to the stargate would take more than an hour.
“He’s probably up top.” Sam’s voice made Jack jump.
“What?”
“Daniel, I heard him run past.” Sam’s blue eyes twinkled merrily. “It’s where we go when we need a moment alone.”
“Take us there Carter,” Jack momentarily forgot that this wasn’t the woman whom was under his command, but a duplicate.
“Sure thing sir,”
Sam turned and led the group. They walked in silence for a short while before Jack spoke up.
“Carter,”
“Yes sir?”
“I was wondering, both you and my counterpart act so much like we do, but Daniel seems so. . .” He trailed off looking for the right word.
“Different?” Sam supplied.
“Yeah, that.”
“That’s because I’m not a monster,” Daniel’s soft venom filled voice startled Jack. He hadn’t noticed the other appear near them.
“What?” Jack was minorly amused to note that Sam had said it at the same time. Teal’c had raised an eyebrow.
“How could you say that?” Sam asked with a confused voice. Daniel nodded toward Jack.
“You’ve seen what he is,” he paused, “You even have pictures. How can you say he’s not a monster.” There was a trace of self loathing in his voice.
“Because he stopped himself.” Jack felt confident that whatever had Daniel’s real body he somehow was able to wrestle control. Although by the reaction this was not the correct thing to say.
“Stopped himself?” A snide laugh, “Then why did he murder his own children? Why did he wake up bathed in the blood of his daughter?” the man started to choke on his words. “He’s a monster. He hasn’t been human since nineteen-forty-eight.”
That got Jack’s attention.
“Jackson’s only thirty three?” Jack knew his voice was confused. He looked around and saw Teal’c’s visage show disbelief while Sam was staring at the mechanical Daniel with the type of fear one has when they think their best friend had just gone off the deep end.
“Daniel Jackson would be thirty three. If he’s still alive. He would have been the same age as.” Daniel paused for a moment as if what he was about to say was difficult to think of. “Sean Alexander Murphy junior.”
He paused to perch on one of the many pipes that ran across the complex. “Look, you came here for the truth and you want to find him.” He lowered his head. “In forty eight Sean was hiking around the mountains.”
Daniel took a deep breath, “he fell into a cave and was. . .” he shrugged while looking for the right word. “Attacked. By some sort of organism that ensnared his body.”
Daniel looked up and Jack could see the pain in his eyes. “You’ve seen what it looks like. Now I know too. He passed out and when he woke up it was gone and everything seemed normal.”
Jack was going to interrupt. He couldn’t really believe this, but one look at the eyes of the other man and he was silenced.
“Thirty years passed and he’d forgotten about it. Then that weekend.” Emotion clouded Daniel’s voice.
“They were climbing.” Daniel’s eyes took a far off look. “He fell.” The man was nearly whispering and Jack had to strain to hear him. “Darkness. . . Then he woke, bathed in blood starting at the shredded remains of his little girl.”
Daniel’s eyes focused on Jack, his voice much louder but just as emotionally torn, “He had killed her. Sweet innocent little Sarah. The shock was so great. I don’t know what happened to little Alex. I’m not sure how long he stood there before he noticed that he was not human. The horrible green plating all over him was covered in blood. He screamed.”
Daniel’s eyes lost focus again, his attention turning to memories. “Tried to rip the plates off. It eventually worked, but he wasn’t him anymore. The arms, too small, the clothes fell off. He’d shrunk. He ran. Ran.”
Back to whispering. Jack wished the man would just keep it to one level. “Ended up running off a cliff. Blacked out, but woke up again, with that damn green crap all over him again. I don’t know how many times he managed to kill himself. But every time he woke up again. Until one time he woke up in a hospital bed.”
Daniel focused again. “They told him his name was Daniel. The told him that his parents had died in the museum. And when the memories started to return, he didn’t believe them. Blocked them as figments of the imagination.” A derisive snort. “How could a fifteen year old have the memories of a forty?”
Jack was speechless. He couldn’t believe what Daniel had just said, but the way the man spoke and armed with the knowledge that the stargate brought he couldn’t totally discount it either.
Sam spoke up, “Oh come on, you don’t really expect us to believe that.”
Daniel’s eyes pierced into hers and she stopped looking a little less confident.
“Believe what you want. I can only tell you what the memories of Sean Murphy are.”
“But this doesn’t tell us where he is now.”
Daniel closed his eyes and looked down.
“Do you remember, that planet, the cave.” He looked at Jack, “The sweet seductive voices that no one else could hear. The ones that made promises by a long extinct race?”
Ok, now Jack was confused.
“P3X-780" Jack nearly didn’t hear the whisper.
“What was that?”
“P3X-780, try there.” Daniel said one more time before disappearing into the pipes.
***
Jack was brooding, he couldn’t help it. Daniel’s clone had just outright stated that Daniel had been infected with an alien organism long before the stargate was re-opened. He knew this report would have the government scouring the area surrounding Yaak Montana. He glanced over at Sam, she still looked a bit woozy, but that was to be expected with the concussion. Yes it was a gamble bringing her along in her condition, but he was sure that whatever the thing was, it would still react like Daniel and she wasn’t in danger.
His attention shifted as the event horizon equilibrated itself and led the small team through.
The first thing he noticed on the other side was dim light. He reread his reports and remembered that the gate on this planet had been totally enclosed in a mountain. Now, however, there was a strait line access to the exit. It looked as if someone had brought a drill the size of the stargate and bored a hole in the mountain.
The walk out of the mountain was much shorter than the first time. The sight that met the trio when the saw the forest made them pause. Whatever had cleared out the mountain, did the same thing to the forest directly in its path. For as far as they could see, there were no trees or debris in the path, the ground was depressed and a small amount of water collected in the depression.
“What could have done this?” Jack was a little disturbed and nearly decided to turn around right then.
“I don’t know sir, but whatever it was had the power to vaporize the mountain and trees for at least a mile.” Sam answered.
“Teal’c? You know anything?”
“I have not seen anything like this.” Only his long time association with the Jaffa let Jack hear the worry in his voice.
“Well, at least this time we won’t have to mark the cave.” Jack tried to put levity in his voice, the new landscape was making him worry. He looked at the ground hopefully there would still be some tracks from where the creature walked, but if the water in the forest was any indication, it’d rained since Daniel came through here.
Jack could still hear the clone’s voice whispering about a cave, it confused Jack then, but maybe that rambling could help. If he could only remember where they found Daniel after he wandered off during the night.
“This way sir,” Sam’s voice broke in. He raised an eyebrow at her choice.
“If it really does have Daniel’s memories, we went this way before.” She shrugged as if that explained everything.
“DanielJackson stated that he did not remember anything from this planet.” Teal’c stated.
“But the clone knew, I think Daniel lied to us.” Sam countered, proving that even though she was recovering from a concussion, she still was sharp and had read the reports.
Jack took that as sound enough logic and they started on their way. They made sure to keep an eye on the ledges of the mountain face. It was more than six hours before Jack noticed a fleshy colored patch on one of the ledges. He held up his hand and the team stopped. He motioned toward the patch and they headed for the pock marked cliff face that would lead them to the ledge.
“I’ll go first.” Jack said and started up the cliff without waiting for any reply.
As he got to the top, he took a good look at the figure that was seated leaning against the wall. The boy looked thirteen and was stark naked. His body was bright red, most likely a sunburn, but he looked exactly like Daniel would have at that age. His head was tilted back and he was covered in a fine sheen. An eye cracked open and looked at Jack.
“Hey Jack, come back to torture me some more?” The voice was rough as if the boy hadn’t spoken for a couple days, or had shouted himself horse. He opened his eyes further and looked around with only his eyes.
“What? You didn’t bring Alex this time? Got tired of shoving my failure in my face?” He laughed hollowly and Jack for the first time in a long time was scared, down to the core. If this really was Daniel, and had all the man’s memories, it was a safe bet to guess that he’d flipped. Jack stood motionless just staring down at the boy. He heard Teal’c climbing the cliff but the way Daniel seemed so weak and helpless kept his attention.
“What now? You’re really quiet. What happened to all the anger?” He snorted quietly, but didn’t move. “After all I did kill you.”
“No you didn’t.” Jack finally found his voice. He started to crouch down and touch the boy.
“Don’t touch me,” Daniel’s voice was panicked but he only weekly pushed at Jack, his head fell forward and he didn’t seem to have the energy to lift it.
Jack lifted Daniel’s head and noticed that his skin was cool and really clammy, there was fear and confusion in his eyes.
“You didn’t kill me, and Sam only got a concussion.”
“No,” he said weakly trying to shake his head.
“Look, Here’s Teal’c, and you know you didn’t do anything to him. He can vouch for me.”
Teal’c looked to Daniel
“DanielJackson, you did not kill O’Neal or MajorCarter. They are in fact alive.” Jack felt a little bit of relief at the knowledge that Teal’c had heard and knew what to say.
Daniel was still looking at Jack, his eyes unfocused and he was chanting “no” softly.
Jack nearly fell off the ledge when the cliff face opened up and two thin ropes wrapped around Daniel and tugged him inside. Teal’c was off like a light and disappeared behind the cliff face that reappeared before Jack could get through.
Jack slammed his fists on the sharp rock in frustration.
*woah POV change*
As the cliff face closed, Teal’c was thrown into darkness. Moments later a phosphorescent glow began to illuminate the cave. The atmosphere was warm and muggy, almost totally opposite from what it had been outside. The walls were pliable and smooth. Whatever this cave was, it wasn’t natural.
He followed the noises from deeper in the cave and stopped dead when he saw the burnt body of the Daniel like alien.
“Stop there” the voice was still gravely. “Stop or it might decide one master isn’t enough.” A haunted laugh followed.
Teal’c raised an eyebrow and the laugh ended. Apparently this thing knew his body language just as Daniel did.
“Story time,” it said dryly, a tentacle moved from holding a leg still to pulling the head back so Teal’c could stare into the blue eyes. “Some number of millennia ago a race of beings who called themselves the Advents” he spat out the last word. “Left their war torn world in hopes of finding something they could use to defeat their opponent.” He smirked slightly, “Who was themselves, they were the worst in-fighters ever and made humans look like cuddly rabbits.”
“They came across the earth somewhere around two millennia ago and found our ancestors.” He snorted, “or rather mutated the local wildlife into our ancestors. They were looking for an army some life form that had a body that was easily repaired and mutated with their tools. Something that wasn’t strong in intellect and yet had the capacity to learn to use the tools of war that were available.” He paused and waited for Teal’c to nod before continuing. “While they were doing their work, the war escalated. The rival factions on earth started fighting when they found each other and left the broken husks of the defeated ships behind as the went off to fight at home.”
He made a weak gesture in the general direction of the opening. “They wiped themselves out and left their organic ships and cities behind.”
“How does this involve Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c interrupted.
“It has everything to do with him, you see.” He stopped for a while his eyes drilling into Teal’c’s
“Daniel Jackson was a mistake, the result of two things that were never supposed to come in contact with each other. The Advents had armor, It was biological and only partially self aware, somewhat of a cross between a tree and a dog. Fiercely loyal yet not sentient enough to rebel or take orders from anyone but the host.” He laughed hollowly again, “too bad that they couldn’t take homo DNA out of the armor. That mistake cost them quite a few people and they never did figure out how to kill the creature.” His voice dropped to a whisper, “too bad,”
Teal’c nodded, he was starting to understand the picture that this creature, now he was sure it wasn’t Daniel Jackson, was panting. He also understood the indirect implication that he wouldn’t be able to eliminate this threat and had to reason with it to either come back or close down the Stargate so no one could use its power.
There was a moment of silence before it spoke again it was almost wistful.
“I was human once. They called me Alex, I wasn’t yet worthy to be called Sean.” The eyes glazed in the way that happens when someone’s focusing solely on memories. “I was climbing a mountain, fell into a hole, and now. . . now I’m an abomination that will never die.” The last part was spit out. He focused on Teal’c again and Teal’c couldn’t help but notice that his body had returned to near perfect health.
“What will you do with your time?” The thing seemed to have calmed down somewhat and Teal’c figured it was time to start negotiations. It started laughing.
“I should have guessed, but then I was distracted.” The tentacles rested the body on the ground and vanished into the walls. “You were sent to eliminate me weren’t you.”
“Or find out if you will pose a threat.” Teal’c clarified. It laughed again.
“I could be, but I’m happy to wallow in self pity and be thankful that Shau’ri was taken away before we found out what I really am.” His voice went somber and not quite lucid eyes focused on Teal’c. “I should thank you for taking her from that sorrow before it could happen.” Teal’c started having doubts about his earlier decision that it was not in fact Daniel Jackson.
More time passed with neither saying anything. Teal’c was becoming uncomfortable with the realization that he was in fact this man’s prisoner.
A grin spread itself on the younger Daniel’s visage. The boy started laughing hysterically.
“I know.” he laughed as he rested against the wall and suddenly calmed.
“I know how to stop it.” Teal’c barely heard the whisper.
“Know, know” he started chanting and giggling a little more before looking once again looking at Teal’c. “All the sorrow in the world comes from knowledge.” Another giggle “oh it’s fine when you only think you know everything, but when you learn,” a pause, “what truly is, you’d prefer never to have known.”
Daniel’s behavior was worrying Teal’c. The other had obviously lost his grasp and was the only way Teal’c had of getting out of this cavern.
“Is it not better to know than live like a slave?” He asked trying to bring the conversation around to him getting out of here.
“As long as your needs are met, what care have you for how that happens?”
“You would still be a slave.”
Daniel let out a small laugh to the response and said, “But you become a slave to fulfilling your needs where before they were met for you.” His voice sobered. “But I tire of this conversation.”
Daniel pushed past Teal’c and headed toward the cave entrance. Teal’c quietly followed, he figured he could overpower the youthful body but wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea. This person obviously had access to technology he didn’t know or understand and was fairly certain that it would react to any attack on Daniel’s body.
When the reached the block entrance Daniel tilted his head and it opened. The ledge was clear, Jack must have climbed down to talk with Sam. Teal’c quickly stepped out of the doorway only to pause when he heard Daniel speak softly.
“I’ve always wanted to do this.” The boy gave a slight laugh and ran for the edge. It all happened too fast for Teal’c to really respond. As Daniel crossed the barrier it slammed shut. Before Teal’c could make a grab and prevent a painful looking fall, Daniel had passed and leaped off of the edge.
Teal’c could only watch as the silhouette of the creature from before faded into view behind Daniel and enveloped him. Where a young Daniel had leaped off of the cliff, the armored creature landed with a loud thud. Teal’c quickly looked for Sam and Jack, who had been sitting closer to the foot of the mountain. They were immediately ready for a fight, M-90's aimed at the figure. It ignored them.
The figure started to walk away when it started fading, soon the figure stopped and Daniel continued walking leaving it behind to fade into nothing. Teal’c quickly climbed down and heard Jack calling after Daniel.
When he finished descending, Teal’c saw that Daniel had taken off at a run. Both O’Neill and Sam were not in fit enough condition to run after, but they were making their way as quickly as they could. Teal’c scrambled after Daniel.
It seemed like only moments had passed when he lost sight of the fleeing figure but he continued to run in the same direction hoping that he’d find a clue.
His clue came quickly when he saw the opening into the caver where the stargate lay. Teal’c could see the light from the gate as he neared the opening. He picked up the pace but only managed to get there in time to see it shut off.
Ok, Just the final ending, or epilogue, but I worn you, I’ve made two versions figuring that people would be mad at one of them, There’s the not-so-happy ending, and the hopeful ending. I’ve put the Not-so-happy one first. If you want to skip it go ahead, it’s really short anyway.
Ending One, Finality.
This is the short and not so happy ending, also my original intension, but some people might be mad, so I’ve made a second one. Read that one if you want a Not-So-Unhappy ending.
The off-world-activation alarm blared in the base. General Hammond looked to the people in the command room. There wasn’t anyone scheduled for return. The only team it could be was SG1 they didn’t have a definitive time for their mission. He watched worriedly as the iris closed and no signal came. His worry disappeared as he heard one resounding thud against the iris. The Goa’uld still hadn’t given up on throwing random Jaffa at the iris.
His unease immediately returned when the gate activated within thirty seconds. He looked over to the control man and the man just shrugged.
“It’s SG1" the call came from across the room.
“Open the iris.” Hammond had a bad feeling suddenly and it was worsened when Teal’c was the only one to appear through the worm hole. He was looking around frantically. Well Frantically for Teal’c. Upon seeing no one of consequence in the embarkation room, the Jaffa’s shoulders visibly fell.
“Where are Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter?” Hammond immediately asked, two of his best officers missing.
“Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter are currently on the planet. Their previous injuries inhibited their ability to follow.. . “ here he paused as if he couldn’t figure out what to say, “DanielJackson as he ran from them.”
The implication of the statement hit the General like a brick. The activation, the thud, and Teal’c felt that the creature really was Daniel. His heart fell as he realized he would have to prepare for another funeral. This time they would have the micro layer thick elements that made up Daniel, but that wasn’t a help.
MUAHAHAHA that’s the end. I know, you’ll kill me for killing of Daniel. But there is another one. Ending I mean.
Ending Two, Hope.
The peaceful surroundings were disrupted by the activation of the gate. Daniel flew out of it at a run. He tripped off the small platform and landed in some bushes. The noises of the wildlife seemed to still for a moment before continuing just as strong.
A few moments passed while Daniel came to the realization that he was in fact still alive. The stress and pain welled up and he started screaming. He wasn’t supposed to be here, they were supposed to have closed off their stargate. They told him. They told him.
Daniel jumped as he felt a hand on his head. He came face to face with Nafrayu, the young Nox boy he’d met the last time he was here. He scrambled back, trying to get away. The boy he just reminded him so much of Alex.
Nafrayu’s eyes held confusion as Daniel retreated. Daniel started chanting “no” over and over again. When he was around ten feet he turned and ran. He ran for a long time, his muscles ached and his lungs burned, but he continued till his muscles collapsed. Daniel curled up into a ball and started crying in a whimper.
Daniel was pulled out of his misery again when he felt another touch. This time he was too tired to do more than scramble back weakly. This time he saw Anteaus.
“You LIED.” He couldn’t help but yelling. His voice was hoarse. “You lied to us, you said you’d burry the gate. You lied.” His voice lowered and he curled up into a ball. “You lied,” he whispered over and over again. The touch of the other man wasn’t enough to make him look up again. He knew, he knew that here, they wouldn’t let him die.
It took time for Daniel to calm down. When he did he realized the other man was talking. No matter how much he wanted to ignore Anteaus, he felt compelled to listen.
“Why do you want to die Daniel Jackson?”
Daniel looked up at Anteaus.
“Do you remember the Advents? Or were they before your time?”
Anteaus paled.
“You did not come into contact with their technology?”
Daniel just laughed in response. A hysterical laugh that held no mirth and didn’t say any more.
“We can help you.” Anteaus’s face was sincere.
“What can you do when even they couldn’t figure out how to fix it?”
“We can help you learn to live, through the pain that they left behind in the universe.”
Daniel laughed again.
“Like humans? They left us behind. Made us and left us like broken little toys after a child loses interest.” Daniel looked at the ground, avoiding Anteaus’s face. “We’re nothing but broken toys.” With that Daniel collapsed, his energy spent and the fact that he hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink in a long time taking a toll on his body.
Anteaus looked at the body.
“May you wake with less pain.” He said as he gently picked up Daniel and started to take him away.
Thanks for reading. I hope I haven’t totally destroyed anyone’s sensibilities.
Oh, and I’m horrible at editing, so if anyone feels inclined feel free to do so.