Warmth... there was warmth in this place... and safety... and peace... and belonging...  It would be a safe place to return to but... but now he had to leave it... he had to drift inwards...  had to find... a place... a place where there was no peace... or safety...  where he could never belong... where there was no warmth to be found...  He wanted to resist.  To hover forever in the warm place... but he couldn't... too much was unknown... and yet... perhaps it should remain that way...?  Perhaps it was best not to know...

Daniel jerked suddenly and pulled a face.  Immediately alert, Teal'c half-opened an eye, "Daniel Jackson?"

Irritably, Daniel said, "It's no use.  I... I can't see anything else."

Stoically, Teal'c replied, "The purpose of any form of meditation is to free one's mind, Daniel Jackson.  It requires not only silence without but also silence within.  You cannot merely use it to search within your mind.  It is not Google."

Unable to resist a brief chuckle at the comment, Daniel quickly sobered and replied, "I know... I'm just...  I mean, I feel like I'm stopping myself."

Closing his eyes again, Teal'c replied, "Then perhaps you are correct, Daniel Jackson."

"You think I secretly don't want to remember?"

"It is possible."

Daniel scanned the ceiling of Teal'c's quarters.  Candlelight danced across it.  For R'yac and Bra'tac's sake, he was glad he'd remembered about seeing their capture but, now, he just couldn't rid himself of the feeling that it was all in their somewhere - his whole memory from when he ascended.  The missing pieces of the jigsaw.  And he knew that a part of him wanted to leave it all buried away and just focus on the here and now but, when you got right down to it, a person was their memories.  He, of all people knew that.  That guy, Arrom, that he'd been on Vis Uban, bore similarities to Daniel Jackson but they weren't the same person.  Was he any better now?  Over a year of his lif... dea... existence was a total blank.  Could he just keep pretending that he was the Daniel Jackson from before?  Pretend that nothing had changed? 

The others tried to.  Jack was all with the wisecracks, Sam was already back to playing ‘cut-up the sci-fi film' and Teal'c... well, actually, Teal'c just accepted him... changed or not.  Daniel had never thought there'd be a time when the only team-member he felt he could talk totally freely and comfortably to was Teal'c.  With the others there was... a false ‘brightness' to everything.  Sam babbled inanely with a grin on her face like she'd had one too many pixie sticks but the last truly in-depth conversation they'd had was the one back on Vis Uban.  He'd felt the passion behind her words when she talked about the man he used to be and had misinterpreted it as something romantic so had asked her, ‘was there ever anything between us'?'.  After being slightly taken aback at the question and correcting him, she'd replied, ‘we were really really good friends'.  And they had been... they'd been closer than family but... but now there was nothing but conversations about ludicrous sci-fi films.  There'd always been that playful, teasing, side to their relationship but... but that didn't used to be all there was to it.  They used to talk about anything and everything but he just couldn't get close to her anymore.

And Jack.  Well, the playful banter had come back before the memory and he wasn't altogether sure that the whole ‘Jim' thing hadn't been a subconscious Star Trek joke at Jack's expense but... again, there was distance.  Jack was a little better than Sam when he mentioned something about being ascended.  Sam's face fell so sharply you could feel it even if you were facing the other way.  And her voice would get strained.  If you were looking at her, you could see the hurt and betrayal creep involuntarily into her eyes so she'd have no choice but to look away and swiftly change the topic.  In comparison, Jack's expression would stay placid enough but... but that was just Jack's guard and he'd had a long time to perfect it.  Unfortunately, Daniel had a lot of experience of seeing past Jack's guard and he could see those same emotions in Jack.  Hurt.  Betrayal.

Only in Teal'c's eyes did he find warmth and acceptance when he talked about his time ascended.  Teal'c had said that he was ‘eternally grateful' to him for watching over him for three days.  Well, Daniel felt that eternal gratitude would be somewhat inadequate for Teal'c's unfailing belief in... hey... hang on a second...

Looking back down from the ceiling, Daniel saw that Teal'c's eyes were still closed, "Teal'c."

Opening his eyes, the cross-legged Jaffa said, "Daniel Jackson?"

"Will you help me remember?"

"If I can do so, Daniel Jackson, then I shall.  What do you propose?"

Jack O'Neill slouched back in the chair and tried to aim up his shot.  Deciding he had it about right, he launched the projectile.  It was right on target.

"Yes!  Three points to Minnesota."

Jack - possibly not as part of his quest to help save earth from being destroyed by Anubis - was absorbed in the oh-so-engaging pastime of scrunching up pages of Daniel and Carter's latest pre-mission reports and trying to get them through the little basket-ball hoop thing there was above his waste-paper basket at the other end of the room.  There were an array of paper balls scattered across the floor from various botched attempts but he was on a lucky streak now.  And Minnesota was beating Colorado hands down.

As he scrunched up what he was sure was a particularly fascinating page of Carter's techno babble, Jack said, "All right, Colorado's got some catching up to do so they'd better make every shot count..."

Slouching back, he pulled his arm back to launch it.  As his arm moved forward, the door suddenly opened but, before his brain could stop it, his hand had released the projectile.

Wincing, Jack said, "Hey, Carter."

Not having expected to be ambushed by a hostile paper ball, Sam looked slightly startled for a second before reaching down to where the offending ball now lay. 

Jack was speaking as she began to unfurl the ball, "Sorry, I didn't mean to hit ya there - you just kinda got between me and the..."

He trailed off as she began reading the crumpled page, "Ahh... Carter... I can..."

Sam looked up sharply, "This is a page from my report for our next mission."

Jack knew playing ignorant was only stalling for time but he hadn't any better ideas so he said, "Is it?"

But she'd seen all the other balls on the floor.  She reached down for another one which she unfurled and said, "And so is this one..."

"Oh?"

After she had unfurled yet another one, she said, "And this is from Daniel's one."

"You don't say?"

Carter just looked at him before saying, "Don't you think your time might be a little better spent actually reading the reports?"

"Carter, in your report, I understand about one word in every hundred - usually ‘and'."

"And Daniel's?"

"Daniel uses many words I understand.  Many many words.  Many many many words.  That's why I find it useful to..."

"Throw his reports in the trash?"

"And hence file them accurately."

Smiling with the acidic smile of doom, Sam brightly said, "Oh, so that goes for mine too, I take it."

"Ah..."

Realising he'd kind of talked his way into a corner, he stood up and came round the desk, "So, anyway, you came to see me?"

As he began picking up the pieces of paper, Sam said, "What...?  Oh yeah, I was wanting to talk to you about something."

Bending down, she picked up another ball. 

Tossing the balls he'd collected into the waste-paper basket, Jack said, "Shoot."

"Well, it was just about... Daniel..."

Scooping up more errant paper balls, Jack asked, "What about him?"

"Just... it's just... don't you think things have gotten ‘normal' a little too quick?"

"Things around here may be many things, Carter, but ‘normal' isn't generally one of them."

"I know that, sir... it's just..."

"Just what?"

Pausing to think of what to say, Sam unfurled the paper ball she was holding and, rolling her eyes, resignedly, said, "And this page is not only from my report but also has a doodle of me on it."

"That could be anyone."

"And there's a speech-bubble bigger than me saying, ‘With all due respect, sir, you don't understand that the quantum variance of the inverted polarised flux... and then there's just a whole string of nonsense words."

"Ah, okay, that might be you then... and I believe we were talking about Daniel?"

Sam folded up the doodle neatly and deposited it in her pocket.  Jack knew that that particular conversation was long from over but, for now, Sam believed the ‘Daniel' conversation took precedence.    Jack dropped the last paper balls into the basket then sat down.  After a few contemplative seconds, Sam took the other seat.

"Okay, so you think things got ‘normal' too fast?"

"Sir, Daniel barely even knew who he was when we starting planning our strike against Anubis.  He was only just really getting to grips with it when there's was all that stuff with the... uh.... other you."

Grimacing slightly at the mention of his young clone, Jack motioned for Sam to continue.

After a pause, she said, "And then everything was just back to ‘normal'... only not really."

"You don't think he's back to normal?"

"I... I don't think we're back to normal.  I know I'm not.  I mean, maybe since he came to see you a couple of times you were used to it but I was just getting to grips with Daniel being ascended when he was... descended again..."

Jack noted the bitterness in her voice as she said, ‘he came to see you'.  He should've realised Carter would've been hurt to find out that Daniel had visited both his other team-mates but hadn't come to see her.  This really was a conversation Daniel and Sam should have but since Daniel didn't have any memory of that time, Jack figured he'd have to explain on his behalf.

"Look, Carter... Daniel didn't just drop in to say ‘hi'.  I was... in a lot of trouble.  That's the only reason he came the first time and I'm sure the same goes for Teal'c.  And the second time was only because he needed to warn us about that ‘Eye of Ra' thing."

"You think I'm jealous he came to see you and didn't come to see me?"

"No.  I think you're hurt.  You think you missed him more than we did but he came to see us and never came to see you."

"I never thought that."

His eyes dropping to the desk, Jack said, "Carter, I let him go in the first place.  You must've asked yourself why I'd do that if I cared about him as much as you did."

"I didn't blame you, sir.  Daniel wanted to ascend.  I don't even think he left willingly."

Jack's eye flicked up, "What makes you say that?"

"We... were sitting in the control-room.  You know, when Daniel was looking through all the recent gate activity... and we kind of got talking about how frustrating it is for him to have no memory of being ascended and he said that the hardest thing... the hardest thing was not knowing if he chose to descend.  He still thinks he maybe could've done more if he'd still been ascended and I..."

"And you what?"

"I felt angry at him for even thinking that.  It was like... I'd wanted so much to have him back and then..."

His eyes back on the desk, Jack replied, "You got the feeling that he didn't really want to be back.  Like you missed him but the feeling wasn't mutual."

Sam looked almost surprised at the insight from the Colonel, "Yes, sir... how did you...?"

"I... I guess I've kinda been thinking the same.  Especially since this whole thing with Bra'tac and R'yac.  Before he was trying to remember who he was before he ascended and that was like wanting to be a part of all this again... but now... now he's trying to remember being ascended and I just... it just..."

Sam finished his sentence, "It feels like losing him again."

They held each others gazes for a moment before Jack nodded slightly.  Pulling her gaze down to the floor, Sam continued, "But I don't feel like I can talk to him about it... in case... in case I get answers I don't wanna hear, I guess.  So...?"

"So, what?"

"D'you think I'm handling this wrong?  I mean, should I open up to him about it or what?"

"That's your call, Major."

"What about you, sir?  Are you going to talk to him about it?"

"Think maybe I have to get my own head straight before I go messin' with Danny's one."

"So you're saying you think I should wait a while?"

"No, I think you should make that call yourself, Carter."

"I... I just don't want to make this whole thing worse.  Daniel's been kicking himself about what happened on Abydos ever since he found out about it and now the whole Jaffa camp thing's made him twice as bad.  I just don't want to load any more guilt onto him.  He doesn't deserve it."

"So you're angry with him?"

"No, of course I'm not..."

"Not even for leaving?"

"No... okay, maybe but..."

"But what?  You don't think you've got the right to be angry at him?"

"It's... the memory thing made this all so complicated.  On Abydos... Daniel and I didn't really get the chance to talk... maybe if we had things wouldn't feel so weird now.  I can't ask the questions I wanna ask because Daniel can't remember the answers." 

Looking down at the floor, she breathed, "And because I don't want to drive him away again."

Jack started at the comment, "Drive him away again?  Carter, you never drove him away."

"I didn't help keep him here though, did I?  I'd got so wrapped up in my own stuff that I hadn't even noticed how far he'd drifted away from me.  Maybe if he'd really believed he still belonged here... he wouldn't have gone..."

"Daniel left because he wanted to, Carter.  Not because of something you did."

He mentally added, ‘and if anyone's to blame for driving him away then it's damn well me'.

Warmth... from the candles, of course, but also from his friend... from him came the safety... and the peace... and the belonging... the place didn't matter... he was unafraid to leave it... and to drift inwards... had to find... that place... the place where there was no peace... or safety... where he could never belong... where there was no warmth to be found... 

"Daniel Jackson."

... except that that he had brought with him.  Teal'c's presence burned brighter than the multitude of candles that surrounded him.  Daniel used him like a torch to push forward into the darkness.  Teal'c's steadying voice would guide him.

"You are in a forest clearing, Daniel Jackson.  It is early morning.  The sky is clear and the grass still covered with dew.  You stand and watch as the leaves upon the trees flutter in the morning breeze."

The part of Daniel that was more sort of observing than actually meditating thought that the image was very un-Jaffa.  Teal'c must've been watching the Life channel again.  Scolding himself for losing concentration he tried to focus on that place. 

What was it Teal'c had said?  Forest... right, that wasn't too hard with all the trees he'd trekked past these past seven years.  Clear sky?  Sure, no problem.  Early morning?  Okay.  Grass with dew still on it?  Right.  Leaves fluttering in the breeze.  Yep, there they go.  Flutter, flutter, flutter... okay, maybe he should try a little harder...

Since the forest was the easy part he focused on that.  He watched as the trees obediently lined up before him.  But, as he turned to look around him, he realised that this wasn't a clearing but a grassland area with the forest up ahead.  Oh well, it was detailed enough so he wouldn't get too hung up on technicalities.  Now, the sky... was filling with clouds.  Right, his brain obviously thought it was being funny or something.  Well, it could just stop it because this was serious.  Concentrating, he painted over the clouds with a clear blue sky.  He'd imagined up conifers which didn't really have leaves but their branches were dancing around in something decidedly stronger than Teal'c's ‘morning breeze' and the blue sky he'd superimposed was looking somewhat like a big blue sheet stuck over the sky.  Fine, clouds it is then.  They matched better with the wind whipping at the trees anyhow.  And what else was it Teal'c had asked for?  Oh, right, dew.  The ground... was wet alright but it wasn't dew.  Instead, the clouds above had begun lashing down rain upon the ground.  Oh, his imagination was certainly in a ‘Jack' type of mood today, wasn't it?

"Can you see this clearing, Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel was about to lie and say, ‘Yes', but decided against it, "No... it's all wrong."

"Please elaborate, Daniel Jackson."

Standing on the soaking grass, Daniel looked around and tried to verbally catalogue the faults, "It's raining... and cloudy and the wind is too strong and the trees don't have proper leaves and, anyway, I'm not in a clearing."

"Can you describe where you are, Daniel Jackson?"

"Uh, the forest is up ahead.  I'm out in the open."

"Perhaps it is merely a large clearing?"

Not really sure why, Daniel decided to be adamant about it, "No, the forest only starts over there."

"Very well, Daniel Jackson."

"Maybe we should start over?"

"I believe we shall continue, for now, Daniel Jackson.  Move towards the forest."

Obligingly, Daniel did so whilst feeling bad that he'd screwed up Teal'c's nice picture, "Okay, I'm moving toward it."

"Describe to me what you see, Daniel Jackson."

"The trees are getting closer.  There's a gap after the first line of them."

"A path, Daniel Jackson?"

"No, it's a river."

"Very well, follow the river upstream."

Daniel began to walk along the riverbank.

"Can you see anything?"

"No... but something's broken."

"What is broken?"

"I don't know... um... and I'm not going upstream."

"For what reason?"

"I don't know.  I thought I was but... but I just looked down and... and the river's flowing the same way as I'm walking.  Should I turn around?"

"If you wish to continue in your current direction then do so."

Teal'c watched Daniel's expression become distinctly puzzled as he said, "There's something up ahead."

"Describe it."

"I... can't see it.  I just know that there's something up ahead.  And something's still broken.  And I don't even know what it is.  Oh, wait..."

After a pause, he continued, "Something's happening... there's a light... and... colours... swirling..."

Daniel took a sharp intake of breath and Teal'c watched as his eyes snapped open.  However, Daniel didn't appear to be looking at him.  Instead, he began breathing quickly and staring at the ground with an unnatural fixation.

Concerned, Teal'c said, "Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel didn't reply and just kept staring at the floor. 

Waving a hand before Daniel's face, he said, "Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel's eyes didn't even flicker.

Extremely worried now, Teal'c shouted, "Daniel Jackson, you must awaken now!"

Daniel still failed to stir and the breathing grew quicker still.

Grabbing Daniel by the shoulders, Teal'c shook his friend, "Daniel Jackson!  Daniel!"

Still unseeing, Daniel dipped his finger into the pool of liquid wax inside one of the candles and scored his arm with it.  As he went to do it again, Teal'c said, "Daniel Jackson, what are you doing?"

Daniel said something but it wasn't in English.  If Teal'c had to guess then he'd say it was Ancients.  Trying to decide if he should call for help, Teal'c watched Daniel use the scalding wax to draw along his arm. 

"Daniel Jackson, do not."

When Daniel kept on doing it, Teal'c grabbed his wrist.  Daniel wrenched it away irritably and there was another flurry of Ancients.  Teal'c decided that it was time to get some help.  He picked up the phone as Daniel kept scoring burning wax lines into his skin.

Once the medical team was on its way, he picked up the phone again, "...O'Neill?"

Daniel's eyes slowly opened and he tried to focus on his surroundings. 

"Daniel?"

That was Sam's voice.  Where was he?  Oh, wait, he'd know that ceiling anywhere.  This was the infirmary.  What was he doing here?

Blinking a couple of times, he said, "Sam?"

Sam appeared above him, "Daniel, are you okay?"

Nodding slowly, Daniel sat up, "What happened?"

"We were hoping you could tell us."

Looking down to his left arm, he saw that it'd been bandaged between his wrist and his shoulder.  The fingers of his right hand were also bandaged.

"What happened to my arm?"

Sam asked, "What's the last thing you remember, Daniel?"

Frowning slightly, Daniel said, "I was meditating.  Teal'c told me to picture a forest clearing... I... I couldn't imagine it right... I don't remember anything after that."

"Teal'c says you flipped out and started shouting about something... then you started scoring lines of burning wax onto your arm.  He says when he tried to stop you; you said something... something in Ancients."

Sam seemed almost hesitant about admitting the last part, Daniel noted as he replied, "I what?"

"Then he called for a medical team.  By the time they got there, you'd passed out..."

Shutting his eyes for a moment, Daniel opened them again and said, "I was trying to remember being ascended and I started talking in Ancients.  It can't just be a coincidence, can it?"

Unable to keep the hope out of her voice, Sam said, "Maybe Oma only ever meant for you to remember your life before you ascended.  There might be some reason that she can't allow you to remember actually being ascended."

"Think whatever happened to me was some sort of failsafe to make sure I couldn't access those memories?"

"It's possible."

"But why did I remember Bra'tac and R'yac then?"

"Maybe she let you remember that.  Or maybe it was too strong a memory.  This is all only a theory, Daniel."

Daniel nodded.  He couldn't help noticing Sam's hopefulness at this turn in events.  If she was happy that there was something preventing him from remembering being ascended then his attempts to do so had obviously been upsetting her.  He'd never really thought what it must be like from their perspective.  From his, there was this blank in his life that he wanted to fill; from theirs, there was this traumatic time that they just wanted to forget.  He'd never even thought about it until now but he was dredging up all those awful memories for them.  That was why they wouldn't talk about it.  They just wanted to close that chapter and move on.  Maybe it was time he did the same... but, first, there was the issue of what just happened. 

Just then, Janet appeared on the scene, "Daniel... how are you feeling?"

"Fine.  Normal."

Janet was holding a file in her hand.  As she extracted something from it, she said, "Your lab work's all come back normal but I thought I'd better let you take a look at this."

She handed the photograph to Daniel as she said, "We took a photo of your arm before we dressed it and... well, see for yourself."

Looking down at the photo of his arm, Daniel saw the red lines and curves across it.  For a moment it didn't look like anything... but then...

Looking up at Janet's coat pocket, he indicated the pen and asked, "Can I...?"

With instant understanding, Janet silently passed him the pen.  Sam, who'd only seen it upside down, didn't know what was happening for a moment until the thick black lines began to overlay the burns.  Even upside down, she recognised Stargate chevrons when she saw them.

She watched as Daniel moved from symbol to symbol.  As he completed the seventh one, Sam realised it wasn't the earth point of origin... until she looked at it again.  It was the earth point of origin marker... the old one.  The one on the Antarctic DHD.  The one the ancients would have used. 

Looking down at the symbols, Daniel said quickly, "Janet, can I leave?"

"I'd rather you didn't, Daniel.  We still don't know what..."

"Okay, can you call the General and Jack and ask them to come down here?  Teal'c too."

Janet nodded, "Sure."

As Janet left, Sam asked, "Daniel, what is it?  Where is it the address to?"

"I have no idea.  But... but I've seen it before."

It was five minutes later when Jack and the General appeared at the door.  Teal'c had arrived a few moments earlier. 

Hammond asked, "How are you feeling, Doctor?"

"Fine, sir... but..."

He turned the photo round, "I appear to really want to go here."

Coming over and taking the photo from his friend, Jack looked at it for a moment before saying, "Are you telling me you burnt a gate address into your arm?"

"Apparently."

Handing the photo back, Jack continued, "So why are you so sure you wanna go there?  Maybe you really don't wanna go there and you're warning yourself."

"Well, as warnings go, this one sucks.  I wouldn't even know the gate address if I hadn't put it on my arm."

Teal'c suggested, "Perhaps it is the location you described to me, Daniel Jackson."

"The forest?  You think that was real?"

"It is possible that it is another planet you visited whilst ascended."

Hammond said, "I take it that you want to go there, Dr Jackson."

Gesturing at his bandaged arm, he said, "All I know is that there must be some reason I was trying to tell myself about this place.  Look at last time with R'yac and Bra'tac."

Jack cut in, "Last time you didn't use your arm as a note-pad.  General, I don't think it's such a hot idea."

Hammond said, "Jack, I understand your desire to be cautious but I don't see any harm in seeing if the place exists."

Sam was hesitant but, eventually, volunteered, "We could dial the address and see if we can get a lock, sir."

Hammond nodded, "All right.  Let's see if there's anywhere to debate over going.  Do it, Major."

"Hello, what's this then?"

Carefully brushing the grass aside, Daniel's eyes lit up.

"Yes!"

Gently nudging his discovery to ensure that it could be moved without damaging it, Daniel pulled the stone fragment out into the open.  Climbing to his feet, he hurried across to where the other two fragments lay and placed it between them.  He smiled as he adjusted them all slightly so that they fitted together.

"Just like a jigsaw puzzle."

Raising his voice, he said, "Found anything?!"

Jack's voice appeared from behind a nearby bush, "I got nothing."

Then Jack emerged from the foliage and sighed, "What makes you think the other pieces are even here?"

Daniel corrected him, "Other piece... and I don't know but it is.  Anyway, the three so far have all been on the surface.  That leads me to think that it was broken here and broken relatively recently.  If they'd been laying around for any serious length of time they'd have more than a little vegetation covering them."

"And you really think this Frisbee's important?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"‘Maybe?'  Let me get this straight, Daniel.  You've had us searching for pieces of this thing for the last hour and you don't even know?!"

"Jack, don't ask me to explain it because, honestly, I don't know myself.  I just have a very strong feeling that this thing could be important."

Jack scowled slightly but fell silent and went back to searching through the undergrowth.  The engravings were in Ancients and, after the whole Jaffa death camp thing, Jack wasn't going to ignore Daniel when he got a ‘feeling' about something.  Neither, apparently, was the General since Daniel's reason for coming here once he'd seen the MALP feedback had been ‘it's important' which, after much probing, had been extended to ‘I don't know why it's important... just that it is' and, on the basis of that Hammond had approved the mission. 

Turning from his search, he looked to where Daniel was searching.  He wondered why Daniel had wanted to come here and how he even knew about this place.  Maybe Daniel had been here while he was ascended.  Or had some buried knowledge of this place and the Frisbee.  All Jack knew for sure was that Daniel had been acting funny since the moment they'd walked through the gate.

Jack walked down the steps from the gate and turned to Carter, "Major, which way are we headed?"

"We just need to follow the river, sir.  The settlement we picked up's upstream."

"A stroll along the riverbank.  Doesn't sound too bad.  Come on, let's go.  Teal'c.  Daniel."

The Jaffa strolled over to meet them but Daniel remained fixed to the spot.  It took Jack a moment to notice. 

When he did, he said, "Daniel, we're heading out."

Daniel didn't reply so Jack added, "Daniel, if you're gonna drag us on a mission the least you can do is not make us drag you."

Daniel didn't reply; nor did he move.  After giving him a few seconds, Jack walked over and said,

Daniel, are you hearing me?"

After a few seconds, Daniel replied, "Uh, yeah..."

"Then move."

After another long pause, Daniel pointed towards a point further down the river and said, "I think we should go there."

"Um, why?"

"I don't know exactly.  I just think we maybe should."

Sam and Teal'c walked over and Sam asked, "What's going on?"

Shrugging helplessly, Jack pointed in vaguely the same direction Daniel had and replied, "Apparently, Daniel just thinks we maybe should go there."

"Why?"

"Apparently, he doesn't know exactly."

Daniel didn't seem to have heard their conversation and he began wandering off in the direction he'd been pointing in.  Noticing, Jack hurried after him and grabbed his arm, "Hold it, Danny.  You're not ‘just maybe' going anywhere until I get an answer out of you.  Why do you want to go over there?"

Still staring over at the tree-lined river, Daniel replied, "There's a good reason."

"I'm listening."

"That's all I can tell you."

"Because it's a secret?"

"Because I have no idea what it is... all I know is that there is one."

Dropping back slightly, Jack kept one eye on Daniel as he murmured to Carter, "Carter, any sign of anything that direction?"

"Not as far as we could pick up, sir."

Teal'c had joined their little group as Jack turned slightly and murmured, "Do we really think it's a good idea to follow Daniel's ‘feelings' around?"

Teal'c said, "O'Neill, this place is as Daniel Jackson described to me when he was meditating.  Clearly, he has buried knowledge of this place."

Sam added, "We saw with Bra'tak and R'yac that Daniel still has at least a partial memory of when he was ascended."

Jack went to reply when he realised he'd not been keeping an eye on Daniel.  Turning, he saw his friend was wandering towards the river again.  Turning quickly to Carter and Teal'c, Jack sighed, "All right, let's play ‘follow the archaeologist'."

Having found no more pieces, Jack said, "Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"Was this thing the good reason?"

Reading round the pieces, Daniel replied, "A part of it."

"What's the other part?"

"I don't know."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Daniel looked up at him, "I'm sorry.  I know this must be frustrating for you cos it damn sure is for me..."

"Daniel Jackson!"

Upon hearing Teal'c, Daniel trailed off and looked over to the other side of the river where Sam and Teal'c were searching.  Apparently, they'd had some success.

Going to the river-bank, Daniel asked, "What is it?"

Sam came up to the other side, "I think we've found a piece in the mud.  It's pretty dirty but I think it's from the disc.  Teal'c's pulling it out now."

Teal'c emerged a couple of seconds later with a slab of mud in his hands.  Crossing the river using the sturdy wooden bridge, Teal'c handed the mud to Daniel.  The Jaffa didn't look very happy about the fact that his sleeves were covered with mud up to the elbows.  Daniel eyed their find critically.  Then, carefully kneeling down, he dipped it into the fast-flowing water.  Holding it with one hand, he used the other to clean the mud from the fragment.  Sure enough, the mud dissolved to reveal the same blue-black stone as the other fragments.

"This is from the disc all right.  It's the final piece... right from the centre of it."

Jack looked down at his watch, "Finally.  All right, Daniel, I think that's enough rock-hunting for one lifetime.  Can we get on with this mission, please?  The settlement's miles up the river from here and I'd preferably like to get there before tomorrow."

Placing down the centre of the disc, Daniel fingered a sizeable scar in the central piece.  He murmured, "Looks like something hit it and caused it to fracture... and the symbols... something about alignment..."

"Daniel, did you even hear one word I said?"

Adjusting his glasses, Daniel replied, "I heard all the words you said, Jack."

"And?"

Vaguely gesturing downstream, Daniel replied, "I just... there's something..."

"Do you have a reason for going that way that's explainable in words?"

"No... but..."

"No ‘buts', Daniel.  You've got your Frisbee to play with for now and this planet isn't going anywhere."

Sighing, Daniel replied, "Just give me a couple of minutes to pack these up, okay?"

"All right... but you're hauling your own rocks, Danny-boy."

"Fine."

Teal'c headed back across the bridge to go and get his pack.  Sam also disappeared from sight as she headed back into the forest to collect hers.  After wrapping up the pieces, Daniel opened his pack and pushed them inside.  It was like adding several bricks to his pack but he'd just have to put up with it.  Jack had pulled his pack onto his back and climbed slightly up the riverbank to Daniel's left to shout across to Teal'c and Carter who were still nowhere to be seen.

Putting one foot forward, he shouted, "Carter!  Teal'c!  You two stay that side.  We'll cross over."

Spinning on his heel, Jack said, "Daniel..."

Daniel, who'd turned his head to look at Jack, saw the horror on Jack's face as his friend realised that the ground beneath him was giving way; his back-foot was hovering in the air; he had a heavy pack on his back and there was nothing to grab a hold of. 

The splash was huge.  Daniel saw Jack's silhouette moving slowly under the water.  It wasn't rising. 

Pulling off his jacket and equipment vest, Daniel screamed, "Teal'c!  Sam!  Jack's in the river!"

Kicking off his shoes, he grabbed his knife from its sheath and dived in.  The current was strong but, luckily, Jack was moving slower because of the pack.  Quickly catching up with the shadow of his friend, he dived under the water. 

Reaching Jack, Daniel cut through the weakest point on the pack's straps and wrapped his arms around Jack.  Kicking himself upwards, he surfaced again.  Holding Jack's head above water with one hand, he used the other to try and make it to the river-bank.  Sam and Teal'c were nowhere to be seen. 

"Teal'c!  Sam!"

A low-lying branch hung across the river up ahead.  Knowing Sam and Teal'c needed time to catch up with the current, Daniel grabbed it. 

"Jack?" 

There was no reply.  Hoping the branch would hold, Daniel yelled, "Sam!  Teal'c!"

He strained to hear a reply.  Surely they hadn't been dragged that far down the river? 

He tried again, "Sam!  Teal'c!  SAM!  TEA-ULK!"

He could feel his grip beginning to weaken on the slippery branch.  Desperately, he began to search for some way he could hold on tighter without letting go of Jack.  Just then, Jack began to cough and splutter. 

"Jack?"

As his friend began to come to, Daniel tried shouting again, "Sam!  Teal'c!"

"Daniel?"

Unfortunately, it wasn't the frantic reply of Sam.  Instead, it was a mumbled question from a very disoriented Jack.  Still, Daniel was glad to hear it.

"Jack?"

"Where...?"

Then there was a pause in which Jack woke up fully, "What the hell?!"

He could feel his fingers slipping, so Daniel yelled, "Grab the branch, Jack!"

There was something you could say about Jack.  No matter how slow on the uptake he seemed to be normally; when it came to a life-threatening situation, he could act before most people would've even got to grips with the situation they were in.  His hand was clamped onto the branch before Daniel had even finished his sentence.  Still not sure enough of Jack's strength to let him go, Daniel allowed his grip to weaken a little so he could get a firmer handhold for himself. 

Having now had a couple of seconds to look around, Jack pulled his knife from its sheath and grabbed higher up on the branch.  Now within arms-reach of the bank, Jack glanced back to ensure that Daniel was still okay before turning back to his task.  The knife blade arced through the air as Jack drove it into the deep mud of the bank.  After testing that it was holding, he let go of the branch and, using the knife as an anchor, began to haul himself up onto the muddy bank. 

That was when Daniel felt something catch his foot.  Looking down, he thought he could make out something that looked about the size and shape of Jack's pack.  Oh, it had caught up with them... and now - he realised as he tried, unsuccessfully, to pull his foot out of the loop - he was caught up with it.

He yelled, "Jack!"

Jack, who had only just made it onto the bank, turned sharply and watched in horror as Daniel was dragged under.

"Daniel!"
Under the water, Daniel was bent double as he used his knife to hack his way to freedom.  Successfully freeing himself, Daniel rose back to the surface. 

Jack had been stumbling after Daniel's shadow with all the speed he could manage in his current state.  He wasn't going to be an idiot and jump back in - that would just mean Daniel having to rescue him again because he was in no state to go swimming right now.  Now, he saw Daniel appear on the surface. 

He yelled, "Daniel!"

Daniel looked over at him helplessly before trying to make his way to the bank.  Without so much as pausing for breath, Jack turned and grabbed one of the low-lying branches of an overhanging tree.  Using his weight, he pushed down on it until it snapped off.  Dashing back, he saw Daniel was already thirty metres further down the river. 

Racing after him, Jack remembered his radio and, hoping it wasn't damaged beyond repair, pressed down on it, "Teal'c!  Carter!  Where the hell are you?!"

There was no reply but static to begin with but then Sam's voice appeared, "Sir!  Are you okay?  We heard Daniel shout that you'd fallen in..."

"I'm out but Daniel's still in the river!"

Jack looked at the churning river ahead.  Daniel's head wasn't visible above the surface anymore.  Jack couldn't make out his shadow either.  No... please, no...

Daniel was flying.  Well, not flying so much as just ignoring the laws of gravity.  He looked down at the river far below him.  Following it, he knew that he was close.  To what, he had no idea but he was definitely close.  The rain lashed down upon everything but such things were inconsequential when you could also ignore the laws of being cold and wet.  Or, at least, he'd thought they were... but this rain seemed different.  The drops ran together until he was saturated with moisture.  This was stupid.  Rain shouldn't even touch him...

Suddenly, the weight of the water was unbearable.  He felt coldness all around him and he couldn't get enough air.  There was a rushing sensation across him.  And... hands... hands were clawing at him.  He had to get away from them!  Closing his eyes, he could feel the hands were dragging him.  Weakly, he reached up to knock them away and, suddenly, he began coughing. 

"Daniel?"

Spluttering, Daniel looked up blearily at the concerned face of Jack.

"Daniel, ya with me here?"

Sitting up slightly, Daniel nodded, "Yeah..."

"Are you okay?"

Nodding vaguely, Daniel asked, "Weren't we... wasn't I just...?"

The concern clear in his voice, Jack replied, "Just what?"

"Uh... never mind."

"You sure you're okay?"

Daniel nodded again. 

Pressing down on his radio, Jack said, "Carter?  Teal'c?"

"Sir!"

"I got Daniel out, Major.  He's okay.  Where are you two?"

"Sir, we've encountered a little problem."

"Carter?"

"Another river feeds into this one, sir.  It's cutting us off.  Which side of the river are you on, sir?"

"Same side you're on."

"Damn... sir, both rivers are too wide and deep to try and cross at this point.  We're going to follow this other one to try and find a narrower point upstream."

"All right.  Radio when you're this side."

"Yes, sir."

Still coughing water out of his lungs, Daniel said, "You know, Jack, when I said I wanted to go down-river; I didn't mean in the river."

"Thanks, Daniel."

"Anytime, Jack... well, maybe not in the next couple of minutes... think I'd just have to let you drown."

Smiling slightly, Jack replied, "Fair enough, I guess."

They smiled at each other for a second before Daniel pulled off his T-shirt and attempted to ring the water out of it.  Stripping off his equipment vest and jacket, Jack did the same with his T-shirt. 

Daniel was watching the water drip onto the grass when he looked up suddenly and slowly got to his feet.  Dripping T-shirt in hand, he turned round and began to walk slowly downstream. 

Jack, who'd been ringing his top out, hadn't noticed Daniel's departure, "So we'll just hang tight here until Carter and Teal'c get here then we're heading back to the base.  We'll come back to..."

He became aware of the lack of response from his friend.  Looking up, he saw the Daniel-shaped hole in the scene, "Daniel?"

Climbing to his feet, Jack grabbed up his jacket, "Daniel?"

After a pause, Daniel's voice floated out from the forest, "Over here, Jack!"

Quickly following his friend's voice, Jack headed into the woods.  When he was a few paces in, he saw Daniel. 

Daniel muttered, "I knew I was close."

"Daniel, what are you doing?"

Eyes not moving from whatever he was focused on, Daniel distractedly replied, "Think I just found my reason, Jack." 

Jack followed Daniel's gaze through the trees.  Up ahead, there was an old building.  It was looking pretty good for its age so it was obviously well-maintained. 

Figuring Daniel knew what they were looking at, Jack asked, "So what is it?"

"I have no idea."

"Let me get this straight... your reason for coming here was to look at some building you have no idea about?"

"Not making much sense to me either, Jack, but this was the reason.  Well, something here, anyway...  Looks to me like some sort of temple..."

Daniel began to walk towards it but Jack grabbed his arm, "Hold it right there, Daniel...  This looks like an important place and I don't think the natives are gonna take too kindly to us dripping muddy water all over their nice temple."

Daniel ignored his friend and moved up to where there was something engraved on the wall, "This is the same dialect of ancients as there was on the stone disk."

"So what's it say?"

Pausing for a second to give his brain a headstart, he said, "Just seems to keep repeating the same few words over and over..."

Passing his hand across the engravings, he said, "Commoneo... desiderium.... agnosco... et venia."

"Which means?"

"To remember, to regret, to know again and... be forgiven..."

"What's that mean?"

Taking a step back to get a better overall impression of the wall, Daniel replied, "Your guess is as good as mine...  Jack, we really need to go in here."

"If I asked for a reason then I wouldn't get one, would I?"

Daniel shrugged, "Could give you a dozen.  None would be the real one..."

Jack looked sidelong at his friend.  In part, he hated Daniel trying to remember his time ascended because there were too many bad memories attached to that time but his real reasons for being reluctant about Daniel discovering more about his time ascended stemmed from one piece of knowledge - just because you got kicked out of the ranks of the ascended didn't mean you were banned from ascending again.  He was worried... no, be honest with yourself, O'Neill... terrified that Daniel secretly still wanted to ascend and that, if he asked her forgiveness, Oma would relent and let him ascend again.  If he remembered everything... then he might remember how to ascend...  

...but, as he watched the frustration on his friend's face he began to understand what this must be like for Daniel.  For Daniel, his friend, who, for as long as he'd known him, had been the most good, moral and interfering creature in existence.  Ask him not to get involved and he'd blink at you owlishly through those lenses as if the trained linguist didn't understand what those words meant.  He always had to do something.  He always had to try and make a difference.  He was always the one who put himself in the firing line... 

And then he'd found out about R'yac and Bra'tac.  How he'd stood by and watched as they were attacked and captured.  He must've known that that couldn't be the only time he'd stood by and done nothing.  And now, more than anything, he wanted all that time ascended to have been for something.  For there to be some way for him to compensate.  That something good came out of it all.

After a thoughtful pause, Jack said, "Okay... look, we'll wait for Carter and Teal'c and dry out our clothes but, then, we can go admire the artwork, okay?"

Walking through the grand archway, Sam looked forward at her three friends.  She and Teal'c had ended up practically as wet as Daniel and the Colonel as they'd eventually had to wade through waist-deep water to get across the second river.  Now, though, everyone was dry and clean again and, apparently as the Colonel's side of some agreement with Daniel, they were all ‘going to take in a little culture on this trip' - which translated out of O'Neill-speak to mean investigating the temple Daniel had found.

The boys had all stopped short ahead.  As she passed into the main chamber, she saw why. 

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she looked around.  All she could think to say was, "Wow."

The Colonel, as ever, came up with something a little more inventive, "Sistine chapel eat your heart out."

Sam brought her eyes momentarily down from the ceiling.  The walls were covered with writings she didn't understand.  It was a beautiful place, though.  The ceiling of the temple was translucent and, within it, danced all the colours at the short-wave end of the visible electromagnetic spectrum (sometimes she was too much of a scientist for her own good).  She suspected that actually it went as far as UV because everything that was white seemed just that bit whiter in here.  And the whole room felt like it was underwater as the sunlight passed through the dancing colours and made elaborate patterns of blue and purple on the floor and walls which changed and shifted so much as to be almost hypnotic.  Probably due to the filtering effect of the ceiling, which appeared to cut out long-waves like infra-red, it was also cold in here even though the sun was beating down upon the glass roof.  Her breath was almost visible in the chill.  It was odd.  Why would someone design a building to be this cold on purpose?

The most startling thing of all though, was the fresco.  Well, she'd call it a fresco because English didn't have a word for whatever this was.  There whole ceiling was full of images that had an almost holographic quality to them.  Men and women so real that you felt uneasy with all their eyes upon you.   

After the ceiling, the next thing she noticed was the centrepiece of the room.  It was a statue of a woman carved out of something like white marble and set on a base of a material that reflected the sunlight filtered through the ceiling and transformed it into an ethereal glow around the woman.  Transfixed, Sam walked closer.  She had a soft face with delicate features and huge angelic eyes which, to Sam, looked like they were filled with sorrow.  Her hair was curled and fell in tumbling waves halfway down her back.  She wore a robe which revealed only her slender neck and delicate hands and fell to the floor where it seamlessly blended with the dancing light. 

She began to walk around the sculpture.  About a third of the way round, she almost fell backwards in surprise, "Whoa!"

The boys, who'd all wandered in different directions, all looked round at her exclamation.  Jack asked, "Carter, what is it?"

Over the initial shock now, Sam continued to walk round the sculpture.  The wonder clear in her voice, she said, "Sir, you have got to see this."

From their respective positions, the boys all came over to look at the statue. 

Jack said, "Nice statue.  Missing the ‘whoa' factor slightly, though."

Daniel said, "I think it's a personification of compassion.  Olana."

Slightly confused, Teal'c asked, "What has led you to that conclusion, Daniel Jackson?"

"The symbol on the necklace.  It's Olana which means ‘compassion'."

Jack said, "What necklace?  And he doesn't exactly look the compassionate type.  More vengeful."

Puzzled, Daniel replied, "He doesn't exactly look like a ‘he' either."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's a girl in case you hadn't noticed."

"As a matter of fact I hadn't noticed.  Must've been ‘her' beard that was distracting me."

Teal'c joined in the debate, "Whilst I concur with you, O'Neill, that the sculpture is of a male, he has no beard.  Nor does he look vengeful."

Daniel said, "Look, it's a girl... doesn't the... figure sort of give that away?"

Jack said, "What in the hell are you two on about...?"

Happening to glance round at Carter, Jack realised that she was trying not to grin. 

He quickly continued, "And what, pray tell, is amusing you so much?"

Gesturing as she talked, she said, "Walk around it."

After a slight pause, Daniel, Jack and Teal'c began to walk around the sculpture.  Suddenly, Daniel stopped short and, after a disbelieving double-take, walked back a couple of paces.  Jack and Teal'c looked similarly startled. 

"How the hell does it do that?"

Sam said, "I have absolutely no idea, sir."

For, as they had all now seen, when you walked around the sculpture, it appeared to change.  If you walked anti-clockwise then first you saw the woman Daniel had called Olana but then, suddenly, the light on the base became grey and where she had been standing there stood a man.  He was lithe with short hair and eyes that showed little emotion.  His palms were upturned and there was a symbol engraved on each.  If you continued to walk anti-clockwise then, suddenly, the base-light became an angry orange-red like a crackling fire.  It flickered across a second man.  This one had long hair that was as untamed as a lion's mane and a short beard that was similarly unruly.  He looked stronger and fiercer than the man on the right.  He was clutching a dagger in one hand with symbols engraved along its blade.  He wore the same robe as the others but it looked wrong on him.

Having gotten over the original shock, Daniel said, "The other two figures seem to be personifications of justice and vengeance; Olnat and Olrak." 

"Carter, any idea what we're looking at here?"

Having now had time to retrieve some of her instruments from her bag, Sam said, "I'm picking up a lot of strange energy reading in here.  I think it's a very advanced optical illusion, sir.  Couldn't even begin to guess how it works, though."

Jack tentatively moved his hand towards the sculpture.  It passed right through it. 

Teal'c said, "It would seem we are dealing with a very advanced people.  They would appear to worship these deities."

At the mention of ‘worship', Jack's thoughts raced down a familiar street, "Daniel, think we're dealing with Goa'ulds here?"

"Well, this is written in Ancients so I'd say they were more likely to have been Ancients than Goa'uld..."

Looking at the robes, Daniel's gaze became thoughtful as he quietly continued, "... and, from the looks of it, they were ascended."

Remembering something Daniel had said whilst ascended, he snidely remarked, "Didn't think they went in for the whole ‘playing god' thing."

Still looking at the sculpture, Daniel distractedly replied, "What makes you say that?"

Deciding not to reveal the true source of his comment, Jack quickly replied, "Never heard of any of them."

Daniel was distracted enough to accept the answer and simply replied, "Well, I think we have now."

However, Sam and Teal'c had been alert enough to notice the snideness of the remark and the hurriedness of the bogus explanation and were now both looking at him strangely.  Jack countered their look with his own which clearly said ‘drop it'.  Obediently, both of them looked away.  Now their eyes were off of him, Jack berated himself for coming out with that comment.  Daniel remembered almost nothing from being ascended and still was constantly beating himself up about the little he did remember.  

Daniel, meanwhile, had turned his attention to the ceiling.  After a moment, he said, "Olana's up there... so are the other two.  And there again..." 

Stopping short, Daniel walked back over to the sculpture and, hesitantly, reached for Olrak's knife.  Instead of his hand passing through it, however, his fingers curled around the blade.  Twisting his wrist sharply, the blade shifted. 

Jack said, "Daniel, what're you doing?"

Moving round to Olnat, Daniel grasped at the hands and pressed them together, "Beats me."

Sam said, "How are you even doing that?  It's a hologram."

Shifting to Olana, Daniel reached towards the necklace and pressed his fingers against the pendant, "Not, it's just not exactly here.  And don't ask me what that means."

He stepped back and, suddenly, the sculpture vanished and, in its place there was a higher pedestal upon which there sat a tear-shaped crystal bigger than someone's head.   

Jack said, "Whoa."

Daniel said, "Whoa."

Carter said, "Whoa."

Jack had recovered from his initial surprise enough to say, "Hey people, my line.  Teal'c please come up with something more original.

Teal'c raised his eyebrow, "Most unusual."

"Thank-you, T.  Can always count on you."

Daniel, meanwhile, was reading the engravings on the pedestal, "It's the same line that's repeated over and over on the outer walls.  "Commoneo, desiderium, agnosco et venia.  Oh, wait, this bit's different... Fletus Absolnat... yeah, this is something called the ‘tear of Olnat'. 

Bending close down to look at the crystal, Sam said, "So you think this ‘tear' is something belonging to the Ancients?"

Moving his focus to the ‘tear' itself, Daniel didn't reply.  He was too busy watching as the colours danced within the centre of the tear.  Dancing colours that begged for him to lose himself within them.  To follow their dance deeper.  He couldn't look away if he wanted to... and he didn't even want to.  And the dance moved deeper still...

Sam, believing she had now given Daniel adequate time to consider her question, asked again, "Daniel, d'you think this belonged to the Ancients?"

But Sam's voice came from a million miles away because Daniel was still following the colours as they danced and weaved across his vision.  He knew she wanted him to reply but couldn't remember her question and, besides, he was too involved in the dance. 

Jack, who had been trying to make out what exactly was happening in the image above them, looked down when a slightly impatient, "Daniel?" from Carter failed to elicit a response from the archaeologist.  Similarly engaged, Teal'c, too, looked down to see what was going on.  Both began to move back towards Carter and Daniel's position. 

The impatience in her tone quickly converting to concern, Sam tried again, "Daniel?"

Sam was worried now.  Daniel could hear it in her voice.  He wanted to reassure her but he couldn't tear himself away from the dance.  The dance was in him now.  He could sense the dance continuing within him.  His skin tingled as the dance drew him further and further in.  Further and further within him.  And it was wonderful.  Sam was no longer a concern.  She was too far away anyway.  He allowed himself to fall further into the dance...

Suddenly, Daniel found himself blinking in the artificial light.  Huh?  Where was he? 

Turning, he saw Jack was sitting across from him in an odd brown outfit.  This was some sort of cell... no, some sort of pit.  What were they doing here? 

Jack seemed to already be speaking to him but he couldn't make out the words. 

He asked, "Jack, where are we?"

Jack's words rang clearly for a second, "... bust me out of here."

This all felt wrong.  Everything felt too... bright and blurry...  Jack's voice was too echoey.  He couldn't concentrate.  And Jack was angry now... he didn't know why... but it was his fault... all of it.  Why?  Why couldn't he concentrate?  Jack looked in pain. 

"You could make it the last time."

Daniel didn't know what that meant but he somehow knew that the meaning wasn't good.  He had to help Jack.  Stop the pain.  He had to find a way... 

"I'd do it for you and you know it."

And, even though he didn't know what ‘it' was, Daniel knew that Jack was right. 

"If Daniel Jackson was really here..."

That phrase stabbed even deeper than the others.  Why?  He didn't even know what it meant but... somewhere... somewhere he knew what all this meant.  Instinctively, he knew none of it was good.  And it was all his fault.  He had to find a way.  He had to help somehow.  Couldn't betray him like this...

Crouching quickly by Daniel's side, Sam looked into his eyes.  They were transfixed upon the ‘tear'. 

Tapping him gently, she said, "Daniel?"

She glanced round at the crystal.  It was a beautifully-cut crystal but she couldn't see anything about it that could have captured Daniel's attention so completely.  There were symbols engraved on it but Daniel didn't look like he was translating anything.  When he was translating, his eyes scanned wildly and his lips tended to move but, now, his lips were still and his blue eyes barely flickered from the centre of the crystal.  Worried now, Sam waved her hand between Daniel and the crystal.

Blinking rapidly, Daniel's clouded eyes looked into hers. 

"Daniel, y'okay?"

Looking slightly lost, Daniel nodded vaguely, "Yeah... I think so... uh... what just happened?"

"I don't know.  You just zoned out completely there."

Jack, who was next to them now, asked, "Daniel?"

Looking more focused now, Daniel pulled himself to his feet, "I'm okay, Jack."

"What happened?"

He didn't really feel like sharing the vision with the others.  Not yet, anyway. 

Shrugging slightly, Daniel replied, "I don't know."

Still watching Daniel carefully, Jack asked, "So, you think this thing was what you were looking for?"

Daniel hadn't even considered it until this moment but, as soon as the idea filtered into his mind, he knew the answer, "I'm sure of it."

"So what is it?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

"Carter?"

Focusing on the crystal, Sam said, "Some kind of Ancient device, maybe?"

"That does what?"

"Energy source, maybe?  Or maybe it was projecting the image.  To be honest, I have no idea, sir.  I'm just guessing about the device part."

"So, for all you know, we could be looking at a paperweight?"

Sam shrugged slightly as she looked around the ‘tear' so Jack replied, "Well, we're just finding all sorts of Ancients goodies on this trip.  First a Frisbee and now a paperweight."

Slightly too quickly, Daniel said, "It's not.  Not a paperweight, I mean."

"All right, so what is it?"

"I already told you that I don't know."

"Well, you seem to know what it's not."

Daniel paused for a second to think before replying, "I know this doesn't make sense to you, Jack, but it's not making that much sense to me either.  All I know is that this is what I was looking for..."

"But not what it is, what is does or why you were looking for it?"

Daniel shrugged in a helpless manner. 

"Okay, so we find it and then we...?"

Daniel couldn't think of anything to say so he tried shrugging again.

Jack sighed, "Carter, see if you can get us further than ‘not a paperweight'..."

"Yes, sir."

"...Teal'c, you and I'll go look around..."

Teal'c nodded in assent.

"...and Daniel?"

Daniel shook himself from his contemplation, "Yeah?"

Concerned, Jack asked, "You sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Okay, see what you can make of..."

Sweeping his hand around the wall, he said, "...all this."

Daniel nodded amiably and headed over to the wall.  He couldn't get those jumbled images out of his head.  Jack had been so... angry... so desperate... and the feelings had been so strong that they'd almost overwhelmed him.  Equal measures of guilt and desperation.  Had that been real?  Was it like with R'yac and Bra'tac?  Another memory from when he was ascended?  Trying to push the images firmly to the back of his mind, Daniel began translating the wall. 

It was getting dark when Daniel and Sam finally emerged from the temple.  Jack and Teal'c had already been back upstream to fetch Daniel's pack and check in with the base and now had the camp set up and a healthy fire going. 

Daniel said, "I've sealed the crystal back inside the statue for now."

Sam added, "Still no nearer to figuring out what the tear is exactly but it certainly bears closer examination.  If we could take it back to the base..."

Quickly, Daniel cut her off, "We can't take it."

Jack inquired, "That another ‘feeling'?"

Shaking his head, Daniel smiled slightly, "Just don't think the people here would take too kindly to us stealing their crystal, do you?"

"Fair point.  Okay, so other options?"

"We could come back with some more advanced instrumentation and set it up in the temple, sir.  The place itself warrants further study anyway."

Teal'c said, "Whichever course of action we are to take, would it not be wise to meet first with the people of this planet and seek their permission to study the temple?"

Jack added, "Downside of asking, of course, is they might say ‘no'."

When Teal'c began looking at him funny, Jack gestured placatingly, "I was joking.  We'll go ask them tomorrow."

As Teal'c dropped his gaze and began searching out the MREs, Jack looked round at the other two.  He saw that Daniel hadn't sat down beside the fire.  Instead, he was staring out into the growing darkness with such a fixation that Jack got to his feet and began to scan the same stretch of forest for possible hostiles.  Seeing none, he allowed his P90 to hang by his side again.  Looking round at Daniel, he said, "Did you see something?"

Daniel, startled out of his trance, replied, "What?  Y... no... I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Not really sure to tell the truth..."

Managing a wry half-smile, Daniel looked sidelong at his friend, "Seems to be my answer to everything lately, huh?"

"Yeah, I had kinda noticed that."

Looking up at the darkening sky, Daniel eyes began to drift across the emerging stars.

Eventually, Jack said, "So what did the walls say?"

"Um... nothing... well, nothing I can make out.  It's like... it's like it's all mixed up...."

"So no closer to figuring out what three ascended ancients were doing here then?"

"No..."

"You sure they were ascended?  I mean, people can wear white robes without being ascended, can't they?"

"Yeah, I know that... and maybe they weren't but... it just feels right that they were."

Jack sighed, "And you couldn't tell me why, could you?"

Daniel's head dropped down and shook slowly, "No..."

Daniel's frustration clear in his voice, Jack felt sorry for making his own so apparent.  Resting his hand on Daniel's shoulder, Jack said, "Hey, we're heading to that settlement in the morning.  Maybe they'll be able to tell you more about them."

Daniel nodded slowly.  Jack smiled companionably at him and motioned that they should head back over to the campfire. 

The settlement was something to behold.  It glittered like a jewel as the sun reflected off of all of the glass surfaces.  Almost every building seemed to consist of an eclectic mix of steel and glass... well, silver material and transparent material anyway. 

Walking towards the city, Jack said, "Still don't know why you felt the need to tattoo yourself with the address, Daniel, but it looks like there was a good reason to come here after all.  A real reason." 

Wryly, Daniel replied, "I don't actually remember this.  It isn't even annoyingly familiar."

"You remember someone breaking their Frisbee in the forest.  This, you forget."

Sam said, "They certainly look pretty advanced."

Daniel said, "Astrum Lacrimosus."

Sam, Teal'c and Jack stopped short and spun round to look at Daniel.

Jack said, "What?"

Confused, Daniel replied, "What?"

"What did that mean?"

"What did what mean?"

"What you just said."

"I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, you did."

"No, I didn't.

"Did."

"Didn't."

"You so did."

"I so didn't."

"Yeah, you did.  You said Astro-lacto..."

Teal'c helpfully supplied, "Astrum lacrimosus."

Jack added, "See?"

Daniel blinked slightly, "What?"

After a second, Sam asked, "What does it mean?"

Distractedly, Daniel replied, "Uh... rough translation would be ‘weeping star'."

Jack said, "All right, and the more pressing question of why you said it...?"

After a moment, Daniel replied, "It's the name of the city."

"Thought you said you didn't remember this place?"

"I still don't." 

"Then how do you know that's its name?"

"It just is."

"You know this whole remembering-but-not thing's getting a bit freaky, Daniel."

"Yeah, sort of freaking myself out with it as well, Jack.  Completely freaking myself out actually..."

Jack said, "What sort of a name is Weeping Star for a city anyway?"

As they neared the city, Sam saw a couple of figures heading out to meet them.  The lead one wore an official looking blue robe with detailed embroidery.  Some of the images looked to her like constellations.  He had a thick mane of grey hair and an equally full beard.  Certainly some kind of authority figure, whoever he was. 

When within speaking-distance, the welcome party halted and waited for them to approach.  SG-1 walked forward.  The man bowed his head slightly to them and said, "Greetings, I am Yanos.  Welcome to Astrum Lacrimosus."

Glancing to her side, Sam saw Daniel's expression appear shocked for a moment before he dropped into a confused comatose.  Guessing he probably wasn't up to his usual introductory speech, she stepped forward.

Slightly awkwardly, she said, "Greetings, I am Major Samantha Carter and these are Colonel Jack O'Neill, Dr Daniel Jackson and Teal'c.  It's an honour to meet you."

Yanos smiled slightly then said, "Where are you from?"

Daniel's voice appeared, "A distant world.  We came through the Cirque Sidereus."

Sam glanced back at Daniel who roused himself from his bemusement to murmur, "Heavenly Circle."

Yanos replied, "Ah, then we are the honoured ones.  It has been a least a millennium since other children of the Dei-stella visited our world."

Daniel murmured, "Star-gods."

"Please, you are most welcome visitors; we would wish to extend to hospitality to you."

SG-1 glanced at each other before Jack said, "Then we can make your wish come true."

Sam rolled her eyes as Yanos's expression grew confused so she explained, "That means we accept your offer of hospitality."

Yanos had shown them to a sort of central square in the city.  Their presence had been of some interest to the people but at least no-one was worshipping them for once.  The people seemed welcoming enough and they had already had offers of grand tours of the city, trips to the larger cities of their people and, much to Carter's delight, an offer to have a look at some of their technology up close.  Jack had almost forgotten about the temple in the forest until Daniel hesitantly broached the subject with Yanos.  Which was how they'd ended up here in the office of Kel'ka Mendos - foremost authority on ancient law within the city.  Yeah, and had he mentioned the fact that he was also the foremost authority on how to be a pain in the ass?  Jack sighed again and looked at his watch.

Mendos's office reminded Jack of Daniel's one.  Most of the places they'd seen here were so sleek and modern but Mendos's one was crowded with books and every surface was covered with sprawls of paper.  It was the sort of room that looked untidy but was actually just organised by an especially disorganised mind.  Mendos certainly had one of those.  He dashed about the room as if he could do with being three people instead of one as he tried to shift things about at the same time as writing something at the same time as talking to them. 

Daniel tried for the fifth time to say, "Anyway, Yanos said you were the authority on ancient law around here."

"Yes, yes, yes... that is correct... it is my life's work to fully-describe and understand that which forms the basis of our law."

Cutting off abruptly, he went back to his two other tasks as if that was everything settled.  SG-1 looked at each other uncertainly.

Daniel prompted him, "And he said that... you'd be able to tell us about the temple in the forest?"

"Yes, yes, yes... I am able to do that..."

"Um... could you?"

"Yes, yes, yes... indeed I could..."

Again cutting off, Mendos went back to his other work.  SG-1 shared another look.  This time, Daniel motioned to the others to move outside of the office. 

"Uh, we're just going to step outside for a moment..."

Mendos didn't even reply so they headed out.

Once outside, Daniel said, "I get the feeling this is going to take a while and Sam's got an appointment to keep."

Jack said, "Alright, I'll go with Carter and see Gadget Man.  Teal'c, stay here with Daniel.  We'll meet you back here 1600, okay?"

Daniel and Teal'c nodded so Jack and Sam headed back down the stairs. 

Teal'c gestured towards the door, "Shall we re-enter, Daniel Jackson?"

Sighing, Daniel replied, "Yes, yes, yes..."

Sitting on the steps outside the building which housed Mendos's office, SG-1 were bringing each other up to date.  Well, they were meant to be but it had somewhat degenerated into the Samantha Carter Flipping Over Technology Monologue. 

Currently, she was babbling at roughly six times the speed of light, "...and they've developed the ability to teleport people instantaneously from one point to another by means of a spinal implant that's about the size of a nickel and everything is powered by this central power source that... well, I mean, I don't know how it works but I mean it was incredible, wasn't it, sir?"

Jack, who'd been readjusting his cap whilst waiting for Carter to run out of breath, said, "Sorry, what?"

"I was just saying that the power source was incredible.  Didn't you think so, sir?"

"Oh, incredible.  Yeah.  Incredible.  Right.  Okay.  Sure.  And blue.  Incredibly blue."

Then he got back to his hat adjusting.  Glaring at him slightly for a moment, Sam's enthusiasm got the better of her again and she said, "And they've got these communication bands that can interface with the implants and send the messages directly to you visual and auditory systems so it's as if the person's actually right there with you.  Kolden even said that he might let me have one for study.  I mean, of course they're basically trinkets without the implants but if I can reverse engineer one then..."

As she continued, a now very bored Jack looked over at Daniel and Teal'c.  Daniel was attending to Sam's ramble with the smiling tolerance of a man who didn't understand her particular passion but understood that enthusiasm well enough to be willing to indulge her.  Teal'c was listening patiently enough that it was hard to know whether he was interested or not.  Sighing inwardly, he tuned back in to Carter FM. 

"... so he said he'd show us that later but this is just all so amazing..."

Jack decided that Carter FM had got to that inevitable point when it'd run out of information before enthusiasm so was going to keep going by saying the same thing over and over in slightly different ways and with ever more words like ‘incredible' and ‘astronomical'.  He also decided that, unless he did something, she wasn't going to stop anytime soon so he readied to pounce at the next breath.

"...so, anyway..."

Jack pounced, "So anyway, how did it go with Mendos?"

For a moment, Carter looked like the floor had been pulled out from under her feet but she quickly rallied and smothered on a look of quizzical interest as if that had been exactly what she'd been about to say.  Smirking slightly behind her back, Jack looked over at Daniel and Teal'c.

Daniel said, "Didn't really get much more out of him but we went back and saw Yanos and he's arranged for us to be allowed to study the temple.  He's also arranged a guide for us.  Her name's Durena and she's kinda the resident expert on the temple.  Teal'c and I were going to head back out there with her so we'll get there before dark and be able to study the place all of tomorrow.  Then we can come back and meet you here."

Jack glanced at the back of Sam's head.  Another day and a half of enthusiastic techno babble?  No way.   

"All right, but... Teal'c?"

"Yes, O'Neill?"

"We are swapping geniuses."

Carter and Daniel shared a look before both turning to look at him. 

Defensively, he said, "What?"

As they neared the temple, Durena and Daniel were deep in conversation ahead of Jack.  Odd words drifted back like ‘millennia' and ‘cultural' that told him he really wasn't missing anything not being a part of that conversation. 

He smiled inwardly as he remembered the look on Carter's face after he'd ‘swapped' her for Daniel.  He knew that the incident had been mentally folded up and placed in her pocket alongside that page of her report with the doodle of her on it.  He was so in for it later.  The grin broke onto his face.  Ah, Carter-baiting was a sport less enjoyable than Daniel-baiting only because some of the challenge was taken out of it by the fact it was too damn easy to bait her.

Not that Daniel-baiting was proving very successful at the moment.  Daniel was too wrapped up in this whole temple-thing to even notice the bait; much less to actually take it.  That left him to watch the river flowing beside them which, after their recent trip down it, wasn't really all that enjoyable.  He shivered slightly as he saw the bedraggled low-hanging branches of the tree he'd finally found Daniel's immobile form caught up in.  Though his friend seemed to have survived the incident unscathed, that chilling image would stay with Jack for a long time to come.

Dragging his gaze away from it, he saw that Daniel and Durena had disappeared from sight.  Hurrying deeper into the trees, he headed for the temple clearing.  Sure enough, there they stood. 

Daniel was saying, "So do many people visit the temple?"

Durena replied, "Some... but they are different to those who once came.  When faith in the Dei-Stella was strong amongst my people, some would make a pilgrimage to this temple.  Now, what visitors there are tend to come here to seek knowledge of this place for historical or scientific reasons."

After a slight pause, she added, "Of course, this is a temple of relatively small importance to our people as a whole.  Only Astrum Lacrimosus's historical ties to it maintain its importance within our city."

"You mean that stuff you were telling me earlier about how the gods charged the people of your city to always guard this temple?"

Durena nodded, "There were once guards posted within the temple at all times.  Nowadays, of course, our technology has negated the need for any guards within the temple... at least as far as our authorities are concerned."

Changing topic as he moved forward, Daniel said, "Durena, this phrase that's written on all the outer walls... do you have any idea what it actually means?"

"Such things have been debated often amongst our people.  The theory that is of most prominence is that it is a mantra for one who has wronged another."

"What do you mean?"

"It is thought to be the path from crime to mercy."

Passing her hand across the engraved phrase as she spoke, Durena continued, "Commoneo... the guilty one must remember that which they have done.  Desiderium... they must feel sorrow and regret and a desire to be forgiven.  Agnosco... then they must come to understand that that they have done.  Venia... this understanding will help them to ask for forgiveness and be absolved of their wrong."

Lowering her hand, she turned and smiled briefly at him, "Of course, this is only one interpretation among many.  Shall we enter?"

Tightly fixing the com-band into the vice, Sam peered through the magnifying glass at it then across at the screen where its schematics were currently displayed.  Reaching down, she pressed a couple of the buttons and then, carefully, opened the small panel upon it.  After staring inside it for a couple of minutes, she sighed and closed it up again.  It had to be something within there that caused it only to draw power when interacting with the implant.  Only she couldn't seem to figure out what it was.  Sighing again, she straightened up and looked down at her watch.  Teal'c should be back any time now.  Rubbing the back of her neck, she wondered if the others had reached the temple yet. 

She still couldn't believe the Colonel had ‘swapped' her.  Not that she minded having Teal'c along instead of the Colonel... for a start; he didn't sigh repeatedly and start playing with the Velcro on his watch every ten minutes.  But that fact remained that he had actually swapped her.  She knew her tendency to get extremely carried away in the presence of technology could get a little irritating but she'd have thought the prospect of a day and a half trapped in the temple with Daniel would have seemed an, at least, equally tedious prospect for him.  Had she really been that irritating?

Reaching down into her pocket, she pulled out the piece of paper and unfolded it.  Looking down at the doodle of herself, she winced.  When she'd first looked at it, she'd been slightly annoyed but mostly just amused by it.  Now, though... was this really what he thought of her?  That she talked nothing but rambling volumes of nonsensical technobabble that was so incomprehensible and seemingly irrelevant that it all ended up scrunched up and scattered on the floor of his mind like those paper balls all over his office?  Folding it up again, she shoved it back into her pocket and scolded herself for the thought.  No, he respected her.  He saw her as more than a stick figure with a giant speech-bubble... didn't he? 

Teal'c roused her from her musings, "Major Carter?"

Sam glanced up, "Teal'c, you're back.  Enjoy the tour?"

"Indeed, Major Carter.  Kolden showed me much of the city.  It is most impressive.  The central power source is indeed both incredible..."

A hint of a smile on his face, Teal'c continued, "... and incredibly blue."

Obviously he'd been expecting that to raise a chuckle from his friend because when she winced instead, he said, "Is something wrong, Major Carter?"

Sam shook her head, "No... anyway... where's Kolden?  I wanted to ask him some more questions about the data recorders."

"He told me that he would be engaged in other business tonight but that we are free to meet him at his laboratory in the morning, Major Carter."

"Okay, guess I can work on this until then."

"Have you made any progress?"

"So far I can't even find a way to turn it on without the implant.  Teal'c, this stuff is so far ahead of us it's making my head spin."

Had he really been complaining about Carter's technobabble?  Ah, how he longed for those simple days when the most complicated things in his life were incredibly blue energy sources and advanced technology... okay, those were darn complicated days but at least they weren't as bad as this.  Oh, okay, if he hadn't swapped geniuses then he'd be wishing he was here instead.  Truth was, that much as he liked them and trusted them and respected their intellect, he just couldn't find it in him to get excited about their respective area of expertise.  To be fair, neither could most people.  If Carter thought the pre-mission report massacre had been bad, she'd probably freak if she knew that pretty much a mental equivalent happened to most of what she said to him.  Not quite in one ear and out the other, but he was sure that she was unaware that, yesterday, he'd kept his attention focused on what she was saying purely because he was trying to spot a word that he didn't totally understand beginning with ‘A' then with ‘B' and so on.  He'd gotten up to ‘N' actually. 

Since they'd gotten here last night, Daniel had spent most of his time talking with Durena.  He'd gone to set the tents up outside which had killed a little time then he'd walked around the outside of the building a couple of times.  This morning, when he'd woken, he'd sighed at the thought of another full day within the temple.  With the river so close, he might have been tempted to do a little fishing but the recent river incident had even put a dampener on his natural love of fishing.  So he'd ended up inside again.  There was no mistaking that it was an amazing place but there was nothing to do.   

Nothing, that was, except watch the images above him.  They drifted aimlessly around on the ceiling.  He remembered Daniel talking earlier about the images perhaps being some type of story.  His eyes aimlessly tracked the random images as they slowly shifted and moved around one another.  How were you supposed to be able to make out a story on this ceiling?  Starting to feel his neck's objections to its current angle, Jack lay down on the ground and, propping his head up on his hands, watched the images dance. 

After a while, a shadow fell across him and a voice said, "Jack, what you doing?"

Jack shifted his gaze from the ceiling onto the face of his friend who was looking down at him with a lazy smile on his face. 

Sitting up, Jack said, "Thought I'd figure out the story for you."

"Wish you luck.  Durena's people have spent over three hundred years trying to decipher it.  These images shift and change over time.  They've come to the conclusion there's no coherent meaning to them."

"What about you?"

Glancing up, Daniel said, "I can't shake the feeling that there is some kind of message there... that there is some way to decipher it."

Looking back down, he sighed, "But I couldn't even tell you where it started."

Durena's voice floated over, "Daniel?"

"Coming..."

Smiling briefly at him, Daniel walked out of view.  Turning back to the ceiling, Jack mentally catalogued the different images.  There were great masses of people.  Some looked happy, some looked angry, some looked sad and yet others looked terrified... cowering in fear...  The three ‘gods' turned up all over the place... the girl most of all.  There were also stars and lightning.  Could see all this.  Couldn't see any message, though.  It was rather comforting to know that neither could the super-advanced people here who had been working on it for a hell of a lot longer than he had. 

That night, once Durena was asleep, Jack and Daniel sat alone by the campfire.

Daniel was saying, "... so their present day legal system is apparently still based on their ancient one which is pretty fascinating..."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Oh, yeah, that's fascinating all right."

"...  I mean, I don't understand anything about their ancient laws but Durena was saying that when we come back she could take me to a temple across the plains where the ancient laws are inscribed upon the walls."

"All very fascinating, Daniel, but are you any closer to figuring out why you wanted to find the tear?"

"No, not really..."

Pulling himself to his feet, Daniel walked away from the campfire and looked towards the forest.  He looked back over to see Jack eyes locked upon him.  Turning away, he gazed at the stars.  The truth was that he had spent the whole time he'd been back here studiously avoiding the tear... not even going near the statue illusion, if he could help it.  That first time he'd looked upon it, the vision had scared him too much.  And if the others thought it was weird that he was saying things that he wasn't aware of saying then they should think how he felt about it...

As Daniel continued to look up, Jack's voice appeared beside him, "Daniel, seriously, are you okay?"

Still not willing to share the vision or the true depth of his fear, Daniel replied, "It's just... freaking me out a bit.  You know, these half-remembered memories...  They just... they make me realize that there's so much that I've done that I don't remember."

"I guess you've just got to trust that you know yourself well enou...."

Spilling out with desperate passion, Daniel replied, "But that's just it, Jack!  I don't know myself anymore.  I mean, I know the man I was before but I don't know who I was when I was ascended... or who I am now."

Recoiling slightly from the outburst, Jack replied, "Daniel, what happened when you were ascended doesn't change who you are."

Daniel's eyes dropped from the stars and lightly brushed the ground as he replied, "I... just keep thinking about something I said to Sam before I got my memory back."

Jack gently said, "What?"

"I told her that maybe I didn't want to remember.  Then when she asked me why...  I said...  I said what if I don't like who I was...?  What if I don't want to be that person anymore...?  And... and... what if I don't have it in me to make up for something... something I've done wrong."

"Daniel, you were just scared."

"Was I?  Jack, when Teal'c and I were meditating... and I was trying to remember...  I told him that I felt like I was stopping myself.... like I secretly didn't want to remember.  What if I was right back on Vis Uban?  What if there is something that I did... something that I don't have it in me to make up for?"

Jack glanced back towards the campfire as he tried to think of what to say.  He thought about he and Carter's discussion back on earth.  She'd been right... things had got normal too fast.  Way too fast.  Daniel wasn't any more over this than they were. 

"You can't go tormenting yourself like that, Daniel."

"You keep asking me why I came here, Jack.  Maybe the answer is literally right in front of you."

Jack followed Daniel's gaze towards the wall and the mantra scrawled across it.  Walking slowly towards it, he turned back to Daniel.

Not taking his eyes off of the walls, Daniel morosely continued, "Maybe I came here to remember what that something was."

Sam and Teal'c were sitting on the stone steps outside of the building that housed Kolden's lab.  The sun was just coming up. 

Looking around, Sam said, "This place is just incredible."

"They are extremely technologically advanced."

"Tell me about it.  I mean, I could happily spend years just studying this thing."

Holding the metal band up she watched it glisten in the sun. 

"This thing is just amazing."

"Were you able to ascertain how it operates?"

Opening the band up, Sam showed Teal'c the inner ring, "See all those tiny bumps?  Each one of those has a receptor inside it that picks up a different signal sent from the implant.  Then it somehow compresses the signal and sends it to a receiving circle or wherever.  And when you receive a message, the signal is decompressed and transmitted through these and sent directly to the implant."

"Of what use shall it be to you without the implant?"

"For what they've been designed for, the com-band itself is pretty useless without the implant but the actual type of technology involved is definitely worth closer study."

She grinned, "Plus, look, I finally figured out how to hotwire them."

Lifting up the other one she'd been given; she pressed down on several of the buttons then, opening a small panel, removed something then clicked the panel closed.  Both bands began to glow. 

"Open communication channel.  No more advanced than a radio except for the fact the signal can travel through pretty much anything."

"Then this device could prove extremely useful to us."

Sam nodded but added, "Yeah, if we could find some way to power..."

Sam trailed off as, suddenly, there was a yell from round the corner.  They wouldn't have paid much attention to the noise but for the fact that they recognised the voice. 

Sam looked over at Teal'c, "That sounded like the Colonel."

Uncertainly, they got to their feet and headed round to the main square.  Sure enough, the Colonel was there but neither of them were prepared for the sight they encountered.  The Colonel was struggling against the grip of two guards whilst Daniel and Durena were trailing behind with Daniel looking like he was in full-blown high-speed diplomat mode. 

Running into the square, Sam got within earshot of the conversation

Daniel was saying, "...even tell me what he accused of."

One of the guards snapped back, "He destroyed the Fletus Absolnat."

The Colonel growled, "Like I told you before, it was like that when I got there."

"Be silent, Hoktar."

Daniel said, "Where are you taking him?"

"The Ish'ki is waiting for the Hoktar."

The Colonel yelled back to Daniel, "What the hell did he just say?"

Distractedly, Daniel replied, "The judge is waiting for the guilty one..."

Quickly switching back to the other conversation, Daniel said, "Did you actually see him break the tear?"

The Colonel snapped, "Loving the confidence in me, Daniel."

Daniel vaguely snapped back, "Shut up, Jack..."

Then shifting back to the other conversation, he continued, "... well, did you?"

The guard replied, "We did not."

"Then you've no proof he did it."

"He was the only person present.  There is no reason to believe he did not."

Jack spoke up again, "Yeah, there is... me telling you that I didn't do it is a reason."

"The words of a Hoktar are worthless."

As they'd been talking, a woman of about fifty had appeared outside the house of justice.  She had a long mane of white hair and was wearing an elaborate silk robe. 

She said, "This is the Hoktar?"

The guard replied, "It is."

"Hoktar, what is your name?"

Irritably wrestling himself free of the guards, the Colonel tried to rub a little life back into his arms but was curtailed by the restraints around his wrists. 

"It's Jack O'Neill."

"Hoktar O'Neill, you stand accused of destroying a sacred artefact..."

As she continued, Sam managed to reach Daniel's side, "Daniel..."

As he glanced round and saw her, she continued, "...what happened?"

Turning back to the proceedings, Daniel distractedly replied, "I have no idea.  We camped outside the temple last night.  A noise woke me up around dawn.  Jack was on watch but, when I looked out, he wasn't there.  Next thing I know, he's being dragged out of the temple by a couple of guards.  And now they're saying he's destroyed the tear."

Sam turned back into what the woman was saying, "...guards, you may proceed."

One guard nodded.  Stepping forward, he raised something that looked almost like a gun to the back of the Colonel's neck. 

Rushing forward, Daniel said, "What the hell are you...?"

There was a sharp buzz for a moment before the guard lowered the ‘gun' again.  Where it had been there remained a small metallic disc with a hole in the centre.  Sam recognised it as one of the implants given to guards and prisoners.  Due to the restraints, Jack couldn't feel round to his neck so he said, "Daniel, what the hell did they just do?"

One of the guards detached what looked like a ninja throwing-star, with light on the points, from his belt and, grabbing the Colonel by the shoulder, began to raise it towards his neck. 

Suddenly, from nowhere, Daniel screamed, "No!"

The guard haltered that the woman looked across at him curiously.

Looking almost confused with himself, Daniel quickly said, "I challenge the accusation.  I will be his Mos'ki.  It is the first decree of Olana.  You cannot refuse, Ish'ki." 

Looking almost taken aback, the Ish'ki replied, "I would not think to refuse the first decree of Olana but are you certain?  His guilt is clear."

Still looking confused about what he was talking about, he nevertheless said, "I'm certain."

The Ish'ki turned to the Colonel, "Are you willing to allow this one to be your Mos'ki?"

The Colonel turned to Daniel pleadingly for a translation.  Looking slightly shifty, Daniel replied, "Your attorney.  And believe me you need one, Jack."

"Okay.  Yeah, sure.  Daniel can be my Moss-key, I guess."

"Very well... guards?"

The guards grabbed Daniel.  One shot one of those metal discs into his neck and the other snapped a com-band onto his arm. 

The Colonel said, "Hey, what're you doing?"

Then, before anyone could say anything more, they both vanished.  Rushing forward, Sam and Teal'c both looked round desperately.

Sam said, "Where are they?  What did you do to them?!"

The room was small and dingy with metal walls, floor and ceiling.  It was only really just big enough for the two cots with just enough space to walk through the middle of them to the sealed door. 

Jack lay down on one of the cots and tried to get his head straight.  He'd been feeling disorientated enough before the sudden jump from the middle of the courtyard to this place.  What the hell happened?  And what had they done to his neck?  The restraints were still tightly locked so he couldn't feel back to see what they'd done.  Well, whatever they'd been doing wasn't good.... he'd heard the raw fear in Daniel's voice as he'd yelled ‘No!'.  And where the hell had Daniel learned about first decrees of whatever?  Maybe Durena and he'd been talking about it? 

This was all stupid.  He hadn't touched the damn thing.  It'd been like that when he got there and then, out of nowhere, the guards had appeared, dragged him out and bundled him into the transport so fast that Daniel and Durena had only just managed to hitch a ride before they headed back here.

He'd been lying there for about ten minutes when, suddenly, there was a flash and there stood Daniel. 

As he looked about, Jack said, "Daniel?"

Looking concerned, Daniel said, "Jack, y'okay?"

"Physically, yeah, I think so... but I don't think... Daniel, what the hell just happened?"

In an apologetic manner, Daniel explained, "Well, as far as they'll tell me, you're going to be executed in four days unless I can overturn their guilty verdict."

"What?  Wait, they find you guilty and then they decide whether you did it or not?"

Reaching down to release Jack from the restraints, Daniel replied, "Uh... no, not exactly.  Normally, they find you guilty and then execute you on the spot."

"Oh.  So I take it that was where you came in with that stuff about the decree of Olana."

"That was where."

As his restraints snapped open, Jack rubbed his wrists, "Daniel, what the hell is the first decree of Olana?"

Daniel shrugged, "How should I know?  I only knew what Mos'ki was because I translated it after I said it. 

"You mean that was all just another random hunch?"

"More like when I knew the name of the city.  To be honest, I don't know what the hell it was.  One second I'm watching the guard pick up that star thing and the next thing I know I'm shouting about decrees I've never heard of."

A thought occurred to Jack, "How long have you got?"

Daniel looked confused so Jack elaborated, "To talk to me before they pull you out of here.  Or is it open if you're my lawyer?"

"Actually, Jack, I'm your roommate."

"What?"

"It's how the system works."

"They put your lawyer in jail with you?  Can't see there being a long waiting list at law school here."

"Lawyer was a pretty loose translation, Jack.  A Mos'ki doesn't just defend your innocence... he has to be someone close to you as well."

"Why?"
Daniel looked hesitant for a second before replying, "Well, I doubt a stranger's going to do jail-time for you, are they?"

Looking around again, Daniel said , "So this is our room, huh?  Not very homey but better than I was expecting."

Absent-mindedly, Jack said, "Oh, yeah, this place is all mod cons.  We've got running water... well, for a coupla seconds if we tip the bucket over... and lavish toilet facilities... by which I mean, of course, the other bucket."

"We're only gonna be here until the trial in four days.  It'll do until then."

"And what if I'm found guilty?"

"Well, then, more than likely, you'll be executed so, either way, we'll only be here that long."

"I'll make sure not to get too settled, then."

Laying out on one of the cots, Jack said, "They've got a damn strange system here.  Why the hell do they lock up the lawyers as well?"

Daniel shrugged vaguely and stretched out on the other cot.

Jack continued, "So, just outta interest, how exactly do you plan on convincing them I didn't do it?"

Daniel sat up again and started playing with his metal band.  Dryly, he replied, "I have no idea."

"Thought as much."

"Hey, if I hadn't stepped forward to be your Mos'ki you'd have been tried and executed on the spot.  Haven't really had the chance to come up with a defence strategy, yet.  Well, attack strategy, actually..."

"What?"

"Well, if it's guilt that's assumed then the Yas'ki's job is to defend guilt and the Mos'ki's job to attack it.  A Yas'ki's like the prosecutor."

"Any vague ideas what this ‘attack' strategy is gonna entail?  Cos they caught me red-handed, you know."

"Yeah, I never got the chance to ask you: what they hell were you doing in there anyway?"

"When I was on watch, I heard a noise.  Thought I saw someone going into the temple.  I walked up to the door and looked in and saw the tear thing was smashed to pieces.  So I go in and the next thing I know I've got guards all over me and they're yelling about my ‘crimes'."

"You mean there was someone else there?  Just before you got there?  It has to have been them, surely?"

"No, they wouldn't have had time to break that thing and get out of there.  Besides, I'd have heard them do it."

Daniel looked lost for a moment before his eyes lit up and he said, "Then it has to be a set-up."

"How d'you figure?"

"Well, if they didn't go in there to break the tear then maybe they went in to make you follow them in.  You said the guards just came out of nowhere.  Someone timed it so you'd get in there just in time to be caught."

"Geez, didn't think I'd make enemies quite that quickly.  I mean, I know my jokes weren't sitting very well but..."

"Well, maybe it wasn't you they were after.  Maybe it was the tear.  If you're found guilty for destroying it then whoever really did is in the clear."

"Why go to all this trouble just to break the thing?"

"Theft gone wrong?"

Jack didn't answer because he'd noticed Daniel's com-band was flashing purple, "Hey, Daniel...?"

Daniel followed Jack's gesture and saw the flashing band, "Oh, I've got to go, Jack."

"Go?  Go where?"

"To speak to Sam and Teal'c."

"I'll come with."

"You can't speak to them."

"Why not?"

"Well, from what Sam figured out, this thing projects my voice and image to them and the feedback from them goes directly into my visual and auditory systems.  Basically, you'd see me talking to a wall.

"Daniel talking to a wall...?  No, I don't think I wanna miss that."

When Daniel looked hesitant, Jack added, "Look, Daniel, you've got to remember that we're in prison here.  Don't think wandering around on your own is a good idea."

As if realising he was in prison for the first time, Daniel symbolically removed his glasses and folded them up.  Placing them into his pocket, he replied, "Possibly not.  All right, come on."

Sam waited impatiently for Daniel to appear.  She glanced over to where Teal'c was standing.  He was also agitated.  These people had locked up their two friends with a threat to kill the Colonel in less than a week unless Daniel could prove his innocence.

Suddenly, the circle in the middle of the room lit up and Daniel was standing before them.  He blinked owlishly a couple of times before looking around the room.

Eventually, he said, "Uh, hi guys.  This feels really weird."

"Daniel, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine... Jack is too."

Gesturing behind him, Daniel explained, "He's here but he can't see or hear you and vice versa."

"They told us the Colonel will be executed if you can't prove him innocent."

"Daniel Jackson, what is your planned course of action?"

"Well, there's not a lot I can find out in here.  That's why I need you guys to be my nish'kels."

"I am not familiar with that term."

"You wouldn't be.  It's from an extremely obscure language that's a descendent of ancients... which I apparently know although I wasn't aware of that until today."

Sam asked, "What's it mean?"

"Direct translation would be something like ‘Collectors of truths'.  You're sort of like my deputies.  I think someone set Jack up and I need to know why.  I need you to go around and find out anything you can about the tear of Olnat and the religion it's part of.  If you talk to Durena or Mendos they should be able to help you as far as that goes."

"We shall do so, Daniel Jackson."

"And try and find my pack.  Hopefully, it's still lying next to the temple."

Sam asked, "Why?"

Borrowing Jack's name for it, Daniel replied, "I need the ‘Frisbee'."

Daniel's head turned sharply, "Because I think it could be important, that's why."

After a pause in which Jack obviously replied, Daniel sighed and continued, "No, not to me and the three other geeks that care... I think it's related to tear."

Another pause, "I don't know why, okay?  Look, Jack, I'm kinda trying to save your ass here so go over to the corner and mutter to yourself, why don't you?"

Turning back to them, Daniel shook his head and replied, "Sorry about that."

Sam asked, "Can we send it in to you?"

"No, but you can upload the image of it into my database.  They'll show you how to do it.  I've got access to it all through the com link."

Sam nodded, "All right.  Anything else?"

"Whatever else you find out that you think might be relevant."

Daniel turned for a second before nodding and turning back, "And you should go back and apprise the General of the situation."

Sam said, "Ah, there may be a problem there..."

"Sam?"

"They've got a jamming signal or something on the gate.  It's been deactivated until after the trial."

Turning again, Daniel said, "She said they can't... no... I can't... because it's locked on my arm, that's why....  I don't know... look you've got an implant too so maybe direct bodily contact will..."

Rolling his eyes at something they couldn't hear, Daniel replied, "I'm not suggesting we hold hands or anything.  Just grab my shoulder or something.  Honestly, you are such a baby sometimes."

After a slight pause, the Colonel flickered into the circle.  Blinking slightly, he said, "Whoa..."

Then appearing to get himself together, he waved at them, "See me now?"

Sam smiled slightly, "Yes, sir.  Good to see you're all right."

Appearing to refocus, Jack said, "What d'you mean you can't go tell Hammond?"

"They've deactivated the gate, sir.  We're stuck here until the trial's over."

"And just when I was thinking things couldn't get any worse."

Jack and Daniel turned at a noise the others couldn't hear.  Turning back, Daniel said, "We've gotta get off the phone now.  We'll talk to you guys tomorrow, okay?  See what you can find out."

"Okay, take care."

Jack said, "That goes double for you two, Major.  If Daniel's right, someone set me up so there's probably someone out there who doesn't want anyone to find that out.  Watch your backs."

"Will do, sir."

With that, Daniel and Jack flickered and disappeared.

Jack and Daniel were walking back to their cell.  Daniel was telling Jack what little he'd been told before entering the prison.

"Food's served twice a day.  Once before the work session and once after."

"Work session?"

"They use Hoktars to mine ore.  Part of the punishment. "

Jack sighed in mock happiness, "Wow, this place just couldn't get any better, could it?"

Jack heard a set of high-pitched beeps.  Daniel suddenly turned and headed in a different direction. 

Following him, Jack asked, "Where are we going?"

"Main chamber.  That was the breakfast bell."

As they entered the main chamber, Jack saw the whole place was thronged with prisoners.  Like their cell, everything was dingy metal.  It was in stark contrast to the sleek brightness of the city above... below... beside...

Jack asked, "Daniel, just where exactly are we?"

"Prison."

"Thank-you for the unhelpful sarcasm."

Daniel smiled slightly, "We're about four miles under the surface."

"So four miles of what I'll guess is solid rock above us, huh?"

"Yep, that'd be a good guess."

"Ah, so that's the tunnel plan out then, I guess?"

"I'd say so."

Yanos said, "Absolutely not, Major Carter.  There will be no outside interference until such time as the trial is resolved."

Teal'c said, "Our superiors will have grown concerned when we did not contact them as was scheduled."

Yanos said, "Nevertheless, you shall only be permitted access to the Cirque Sidereus after the trial.  Now, if that is all, you should report to Ish'ki Vollum to have your duties as Nish'kels explained to you."

His tone suggested that that was all so Sam bowed her head slightly and motioned to Teal'c that they should head out. 

Outside, they walked across the square towards the court-house where they were to meet Ish'ki Vollum again.  A guard met them at the door and escorted them up to her chambers.  It was, like most rooms in this place, a mixture of sleek metal and that glass-like material.  However, this was a good deal grander than any other room they had been in. 

As they waited for Ish'ki Vollum to appear, Teal'c said, "It would appear the Ish'ki is accorded a great deal of respect."

Sam said, "Well, as she appears to be judge, jury and executioner, that doesn't surprise me that much."

Before they could say anything else, Vollum appeared.  She was still in that silk robe but her long white hair had been pinned up in a rather hurried fashion. 

She said, "You are Major Samantha Carter and Teal'c."

Sam nodded slightly as Vollum walked past them to the highly ornate metal desk.  Sitting down in the chair, she said, "Mos'ki Jackson requested of me that you should be allowed to be his Nish'kels.  I must ask if you accept the role of Nish'kels and all the responsibilities it entails."

Sam said, "Could we be a little clearer of exactly what it does entail?  We're not familiar with your legal system."

Vollum looked slightly taken aback, "I would have thought your system identical.  Mos'ki Jackson's understanding of the Lex Absolrak and the Oraculum Absolana challenges that of many Yas'ki I have met."

Teal'c said, "Mos'ki Jackson has much knowledge we do not possess."

Sam said, "And our system appears to be very different from yours."

Ish'ki Vollum bowed her head slightly, "Very well, I shall attempt to explain in basic terms."

After a pause she said, "I am the two hundred and twenty-fifth Ish'ki of Astrum Lacrimosus.  My role is to preside over all matters of law in our city."

"But how exactly does the law work?  I mean, guilt seems to be assumed."

"A Hoktar is assumed to be guilty unless it can be shown beyond doubt that the crime was not theirs."

"See, I don't get that.  We assume innocence until guilt is proven."

"At one time, we also assumed such.  As we shall again."

"What?"

"Olrak has been in ascendance these past two hundred years but Olana once superseded him and shall again."

At their blank looks, she said, "You also know little of the Dei-Stella?  I had assumed with your interest in their temple..."

Activating something on her desk, she said, "I shall show you what I refer to..."

A three-dimensional hologram appeared between them.  It appeared to be a sort of advanced star chart.  Pressing some more buttons, Vollum highlighted a trio of particularly bright stars. 

"These are the Dei-Stella: Olana, Olrak and Olnat.  At this time, Olrak dominates the others but this has not always been so."

Sam said, "So the stars shift relative to one another?"

"That is correct."

"And this affects your law somehow?"

"When Olrak is in ascendance, guilt must be assumed.  When Olana dominates, innocence is assumed."

"What about Olnat?"

"Olnat is balance.  He never dominates but keeps the others in check."

Sam said, "So you switch between those two legal systems because the stars shift?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so how does the law work at the moment?"

"Guilt is assumed.  A Hoktar cannot claim to be innocent.  Pleas may be made for leniency in some cases."'

"So where do Mos'ki come into it?"

"If a person truly believes a Hoktar is innocent, they may offer themselves as Mos'ki.  Though a Hoktar cannot claim to be innocent, a Mos'ki may claim that for them.  They are then given the chance to prove their claim at a trial.  A Yas'ki is appointed to defend the guilt of the Hoktar."

Quickly mentally equating the terms to a US trial, she figured that Ish'ki, Yas'ki, Mos'ki and Hoktar roughly equated to Judge, Prosecution, Defence and the accused.  The only differences were that the burden of proof lay with the Defence and that, for some reason, your attorney had to share a cell with you until the trial. 

Feeling she had a slightly better grip of the situation, she said, "What about us?"

"Nish'kels are the eyes of the Mos'ki.  As such, you are granted access to many sources of information within the city and you may demand answers from any person you wish.  At the trial of the Hoktar, your presence is required to officially present any evidence you have acquired.  Without sufficient evidence, there is no option but to uphold guilt.  Are you clear on this?"

"I think so."

"Then do you each accept your role as Nish'kel?"

Sam and Teal'c both nodded.

Vollum said, "Very well..."

Standing up, Vollum walked to one of the metal cupboards behind her.  Opening it, she extracted two slim metal boxes which she brought back to the desk.  Laying them down, she sat down again and handed one to each of them.

Sam opened the box.  Inside, there was a pendent necklace that looked like it was made of silver.  It was a star.  In the star's heart, there was a piece of crystal that reflected the light in the same odd way that the tear of Olnat had.

Sam asked, "What is this?"

"It is a Fletus Absolana."

"A tear of Olana?"

"It is called such, yes."

Teal'c said, "We are to wear these so that people will know that we are Nish'kels?"

But Sam had had time to examine them by now and said, "These are more than just symbols aren't they?  Kolden showed me something similar... they're advanced devices for data acquisition and retrieval.  These are what we put the evidence onto, aren't they?"

Vollum replied, "You are correct, Nish'kel Carter.  If you find difficulty in its operation, I am sure Kolden would be happy to explain its full range of functions to you in some detail."

After a moment, she said, "As I am Ish'ki, I cannot aid you once you are Nish'kels.  Nor may any Yas'ki.  However, I shall instruct Kel'ka Mendos to assist you in any matter of law that confuses you.  He was originally trained as a Yas'ki so he shall be able to tell you anything you wish to know.  I believe you have already met him."

Remembering their last meeting, Sam replied, "Um... yeah, briefly..."

"Then I shall leave you to his care."

Getting up out her chair, she said, "Now you should go.  My assistant shall see to the formalities."

Finding a quiet corner of the chamber, Daniel sat down and passed the other bowl of slop to Jack. 

Looking down at the bowl of bluish slime, Jack said, "Wow, Hadante and here must have the same caterer."

Agreeing with Jack, Daniel nodded unenthusiastically as he picked up his spoon and began to eat.

"Actually, this isn't bad."

Eating a spoonful, Jack made a face then glared at Daniel. 

Smiling slightly, Daniel replied, "Of course, I say that in the sense that ‘bad' just isn't a strong enough word for it."

Choking it down, Jack said, "Thanks for the heads-up."

Grinning, Daniel took another spoonful of his slop.  As they were eating, Jack looked around at the guards standing in the glowing circles.  They all appeared awfully nonchalant considering that they were surrounded by a hundred prisoners. 

Indicating them, he said, "Aren't they worried someone'll attack them?"

Daniel shook his head slightly, "They're not here."

At the sight of Jack's raised eyebrow, he elaborated, "Well, not really here.  Those circles are just transmitting their image here.  It's like what we were speaking to Sam and Teal'c through."

Now feeling more exposed in this throng of prisoners, Jack said, "So there're actually no guards here?"

"They can see everything that goes on.  Their job is to monitor activity in here and keep the prisoners in check."

"And I'm sure they do a great job of it whilst not actually being here.  Daniel, how about you finish up that and we get back to our cell, huh?"

There was another set of high-pitched beeps. 

Looking up, Daniel said, "The work session's about to begin."

Sure enough, all the prisoners were trailing out of the chamber down one of the wider offshoots.  Activating something on their belts, the guards walked out of their circles and became translucent. 

The guard in the nearest circle noticed them and said to Jack, "You are the newest Hoktar?"

Jack replied, "That'd be me."

"You must follow the other Hoktars to the mine."

Pulling himself to his feet, he went to help Daniel up, "All right.  Come on, Daniel."

"The Mos'ki will remain here, Hoktar."

Realising that he had to leave Daniel behind, Jack replied, "Ah."

Daniel said, "I'll head back to the cell, Jack.  You can come back and meet me there."

"All right.  Be careful."

"You don't have to worry about me, Jack.  This place is going to be empty ‘til you come back."

"Ah, have fun then."

Turning to follow the others, Jack added, "I know I will."

As he walked back to the cell through empty corridors, Daniel looked at guard circles.  They were all dull and empty since the guards had little need to patrol an empty prison.  It'd be a perfect time to escape if it wasn't for the fact that there was no way out of this place and no way in hell he'd ever leave Jack here.  As it was, it was at least quiet.  Reaching their cell, he walked in and lay down on his cot. 

He'd have to wait until tomorrow to be able to do anything useful as far as Jack's trial was concerned.  Until Sam and Teal'c turned up something, he had nothing to work with.  So, today, all he had was time to think. 

Time he needed to think about what was happening to him.  He could about handle the idea that he knew about this planet from when he was ascended but the fact that he was saying things he didn't understand before he'd said them... and sometimes without any conscious awareness at all... was more worrying. 

More worrying still was the vision.  He'd been trying to ignore it but it was too vivid to dismiss as something he'd merely imagined... 

"...too bad you're a delusion."

Daniel blinked and looked across at Jack.  He was wearing that odd brown outfit again.  A cursory glance confirmed this was the odd cell.  He and Jack were sitting opposite ends of it. 

He said, "Jack?"

"Daniel."

"Where am I?"

Jack shrugged, "Darned if I know.  It's your vision."

"Why can I talk to you this time?"

"You can't really... you're just sort of exploring the vision with your mind."

"So you don't know what this place is?"

"Not if you don't.  See I'm not me; I'm ‘you'."

"I'm talking to myself?"

Jack nodded and grinned, "Worrying, isn't it?"

"Am I asleep?"

Nodding again, Jack replied, "Yeah, you haven't been sleeping right since you remembered about Bra'tac and R'yac.  Not surprising you're dropping off in the middle of the day, really.  You should try swapping caffeine for actual sleep once in a while."

"Now I'm lecturing myself?"

"Nah, you just know that's what ‘I'd' say."

"This is confusing."

"You're telling me... you... whatever."

Mendos glanced up slightly at Sam and Teal'c's entrance. 

Teal'c said, "Kel'ka Mendos, we were told that you would assist us in any matter of law that confuses us."

"Yes, yes, yes..."

As Mendos got back to writing whatever it was he was writing, Sam glanced over at Teal'c.

After a slight hesitation, Sam said, "Okay... see, we're unclear about quite a few things... for instance, Ish'ki Vollum said that we have access to many sources of information but we're not sure what sources there are."

"Yes, yes, yes... many sources are available..."

Sam glanced round at Teal'c and murmured, "This is hopeless.  Maybe Kolden could..."

Teal'c simply replied, "Mendos will provide us with the information we require."

Stepping forward, Teal'c's shadow fell across Mendos and what he was writing. 

"Kel'ka Mendos?"

Mendos slowly looked up from what he was writing to see the Jaffa towering over him.

Teal'c continued, "We understand that your work is of doubtless importance and time is a resource most valuable to you."

"Yes, yes..."

He trailed off as Teal'c set his hands firmly down on the desk and lowered himself down until he was face-to-face with Mendos. 

He continued, "But you must understand that it is a resource even more valuable to us.  We have but four days until our friend shall be executed for a crime he did not commit."

His tone darkening slightly, he added, "I do not believe you would wish to be an obstacle in our path."

Teal'c's tone made it clear that ‘obstacles' got removed.  When he was sure that Mendos was feeling sufficiently intimidated, Teal'c raised himself up again and said, "Therefore, I am sure you shall give us your undivided attention."

Looking somewhat ruffled, Mendos set aside the document he was writing and said, "Of course, how may I assist you?"

Teal'c moved back to stand behind Sam.  Their eyes met briefly and Sam smiled gently before turning back to Mendos and saying, "What sources of information do we have access to?"

"You have access to any information available on the general database.  That may be accessed from any terminal by using your Fletus Absolana."

"Is that all?"

"No, you may also access three sources of information not generally available."

"What sources are these?"

"There is the database of laws.  It may easily be accessed through the terminals in the court-house or, if you wish, you may access it from this office.  There are also the Geminolex archives."

"Geminolex?  Wait, Kolden told me about those... they're like virtual reality recordings."

"There are two such archives you may access.  One contains Geminolex files of crime scenes and evidence later collected.  It is where you will find all the material collected by the guards relating to your trial.  The other archive contains recordings of all trials since records began.  That archive is fully-automated."

"How do we access the archives?"

"The second is freely accessible.  You need simply enter and request any files you need.  For the other, you must see Kel'ka Vorin.  He is the grand archivist of Astrum Lacrimosus.  He will determine which evidence you may access before you are permitted to enter the archive."

"You said we could access the law database from here?"

"Yes, if you wish..."

"Okay, Teal'c, stay here with Mendos and see what you can find about what the Colonel's been charged with.  I'm gonna see if I can track down Durena.  She's going to know better than anyone what happened.  Stay in radio contact."

Teal'c bowed his head is assent so Sam headed out.

Trying to refocus, Daniel asked, "So can ‘I' tell myself what this vision is?"

"You don't know yet.  Or, at least, you won't admit you know yet."

"So I do know?"

"Not necessarily, you just have a feeling that maybe you might."

Daniel said, "Jack, how am I able to do this?"

"Exploring the vision, you mean?"

Daniel nodded so Jack replied, "Hey, you screw about in enough people's dreams you've got to get pretty good at manipulating them."

"What d'you mean ‘screw about in people's dreams?  You mean I...?"

Jack shrugged, "To be honest, you just know you were messing with Teal'c's ones after that ambush and you figure that wasn't the only time."

Sceptically, Daniel said, "So I learned how to control dreams?"

"Hey, this is all just you thinking out loud.  Plus, come to think of it, you could just be dreaming that you're controlling this dream..."

Daniel rolled his eyes, "Can I wake up now?  You're giving me a headache."

"Hey, don't blame me; if your head wasn't so screwed up then maybe I could talk a little sense."

Changing topic, Daniel said, "Do I know why I came to this planet?"

Jack's voice became oddly echoey as he said, "Commoneo, desiderium, agnosco et venia."

Bringing his hand up to his forehead, Jack said, "Whoa, headrush..."

After a pause, he said, "... sorry, didn't mean to go Ancient on you there."

"Why did you?"

"I dunno.  That's just what came to me... you... when you asked that question.  Weird."

"Anything else come to you?"

"You think we shouldn't have come here."

"Seriously, ya think?"

"No, you're not talking about what's happened.  For some reason, you think you were never meant to come here."

"I do?"

Jack shrugged, "Maybe you mean you wish you never came here.  You're a bit vague about the whole thing."

Then Daniel heard Jack's voice above him saying, "Daniel?"

Jack said, "Ah, that's your wake-up cue."

Daniel felt something grab his shoulder.  Closing his eyes, he became aware that he was lying down. 

"Daniel?"

Opening his eyes again, Daniel looked up at Jack.  It was real Jack again.  He was covered in grime from head-to-toe.

As he sat down and began to use water from the bucket to try and clean himself off, he said, "Glad to see you've had a productive day."

Guiltily, Daniel said, "You okay?"

"Aside from the twelve hours of backbreaking labour, it's not so bad.  When's the dinner-bell?"

"Jack, I didn't mean to... I mean, I just dozed off and then..."

Jack put up a hand to halt him, "Hey, I was only kidding...  Look... you're only in here because of me.  I'm not gonna begrudge you getting a little shut-eye, all right?  You haven't been sleeping right lately anyhow."

He added, "Besides, we'll need you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when Carter and Teal'c actually come up with something, won't we?"

Daniel thought about asking Jack about the vision but before he could, Jack said, "So like I was saying, when's that dinner-bell?"

"Should be any time now.  Just whenever the last of the Hoktars are back from the mines."

"Great.  You know, blue slop just sounds so much more appealing after cracking rock for half a day."

Daniel went to say about the vision again but stopped himself this time.  Jack definitely had enough on his plate right now.  He didn't need to be burdened with that... just like he didn't need to know that Mos'ki didn't translate as ‘lawyer'...

Having finally tracked Durena to a small office down one of the side-streets off of the central square, Sam walked in.  The girl looked up at her arrival and, brushing a black bang of her sleek hair behind her ear, said, "Greetings, Nish'kel Carter."

"Hi... I was wondering if you could help me..."

"You are Nish'kel for Daniel.  Of course I shall aid you in any way that I am able."

"Thanks... sorry, d'you know how to make this thing record?"

Durena smiled, nodded and walking forward, took the Nish'kel pendent from Sam's outstretched hand and twisted the crystal around.  It began to glow.

As she handed it back, Sam hooked it back onto its chain and said, "Thanks... okay... I think I need you to say your name and position first..."

Durena smiled again, "I have been involved in a trial once before, Nish'kel Carter.  I know what must be said..."

"Oh, okay sure, go ahead..."

"I am Durena, Kel'ka of the temple of the Dei-Stella."

"All right, could you tell me what exactly happened at the temple?"

"I aided Mos'ki Jackson in his study of the temple whilst Hoktar O'Neill attempted to decipher the ceiling.  He told Mos'ki Jackson several times of his theory that the story written there began ‘on a stormy night'... though from Mos'ki Jackson's reaction, I do not believe his claim was in earnest.  When I retired to my tent to sleep, your friends sat by the fire and talked.  Though I could still hear them, I was sometimes unsure of what they spoke of...  Mos'ki Jackson talked of an expedition I had proposed we would undertake upon your return and then Hoktar O'Neill spoke of a tear... I assume it was the Fletus Absolnat he spoke of.  I could not hear what was spoken after that and fell asleep soon after."

"What about in the morning?"

"A noise awoke me at dawn and I emerged from my tent just as Dan... Mos'ki Jackson emerged from his.  I fear I know nothing that he does not."

"Durena, you're the expert on the temple...  Could the tear have been broken accidentally?"

Shaking her head in a definite manner, Durena replied, "No, its destruction would require intentional effort."

"Okay, so why would someone want to destroy it?"

"I am unsure.  I cannot see any gain in its destruction.  Its theft would have at least been understandable but this..."

Sam cut her off, "Why would its theft have been understandable?"

"Many people have long wished to make a closer study of the Fletus Absolnat but whilst the vow to keep the temple safe is no longer one cared about by most, it was written into our law long ago and our law is absolute.  It could not be taken from the temple on punishment of death to any who would try.  O'Neill's crime is viewed as equivalent."

Twisting the crystal to stop it glowing, Sam said, "Durena, Daniel wanted me to show you something we found..."

With that, she reached down into her pack and pulled out one of the fragments of the ‘Frisbee' still wrapped from when Daniel had first packed it up.  As she unwrapped it, Durena gasped and hands stretching out, she asked, "May I...?"

Handing the fragment to Durena, Sam watched as the petite figure turned it over. 

Disbelievingly, she said, "Where did you come upon this?"

"Um... in the forest, why?"

"The tear is not the first relic to be stolen from the temple since the automated system replaced the guards.  I said that I had been involved in a trial once before... it was when this was taken."

"What is it?"

"It was once a part of the stone of alignment.  It hung on the temple wall behind the tear.  Its purpose was never truly determined but we believed the alignment spoken of was the alignment of the Dei-Stella in the heavens."

"So who stole it?"

"It was believed to be one of the temple guards though he always denied that part of his crime.  It seemed odd to me."

"Why?"

"He was found guilty of the murder of another guard and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life.  Confessing to the stone of alignment's theft would not have brought him any additional punishment... it was of less interest to my people than the Fletus Absolnat.  And now I find that a piece of it lies in the forest and am even more confused.  Why does someone appear to wish to destroy all relics of my temple?"

Since the instant he'd been landed in here, he'd been waiting for the inevitable trouble-maker... and now he'd found him.  His name was Mar and he was a giant slab of greasy muscle that hadn't had a bath in a lot longer than was good for him - or anyone around him.  His hair was a tangled mane of matted black curls and his thick beard had a life unto itself.  Jack noted that the little skin you could see on his face was blotchy and scarred.  His brown eyes were laced with red and bulged slightly.  Overall, you got the impression that there was a reason why Mar was in here. 

Unfortunately for Jack, the reason he was able to give Mar such a thorough and detailed appraisal was because he was currently being held about five inches away from Mar's face.  The guy could really use some mouthwash... ugh... and had he mentioned the bath already? 

Leering at him, the giant rumbled, "I know who you are."

Biting his tongue before he said something smart, Jack moved slightly so as to test the grip Mar's friends had on him.  It was a disturbingly solid grip that told him that if the scenario was going to end in violence then chances were it was going to be him at the receiving end. 

Jack wasn't quite sure what all this was about.  It wasn't like he'd even spoken to the guy or anything.  He'd just been working away and trying to stay out of everyone's way when the shadows had fallen over him and he'd found himself in the painful grip of Mar's two companions.  Well, whatever this was, the guards sure didn't look like they were planning to break it up.  In fact, a couple of the younger ones were standing next to the wall and smirking about his predicament. 

Mar continued, "You are Hoktar O'Neill.  You are the one with the Mos'ki."

Jack figured there'd be no point denying it but decided that a reply like ‘So what if I am?' wouldn't go down well with the trio of men around him so he settled for, "Yeah..."

Before Mar could answer, one of the older see-through guards came up and said, "Back to work.  All of you.  Now."

Mar motioned reluctantly to his friends who released their grip.  Shooting him dangerous glances, they skulked off with the guard following behind them.  Once they were out of sight, Jack tried to massage some life back into his arms.  Though he was relieved that the guard had stepped in, Jack couldn't help but think that the only reason he had stepped in was that they were taking time out of their work to have their intimidating little chat.  Besides, those other two had done squat and, even now, were smirking at him.

His blood boiling up, he stormed towards them and said, "Isn't your job to stop stuff like that happening?"

Still smirking, one of the guards replied, "We have no concern for what one Hoktar does to another.  It is part of your punishment."

"But I've not even had my trial yet!  How can you punish me for something you don't even know I've done?"

"If you are here then you are guilty and are punished.  Until your Mos'ki can prove that you have done no wrong, you will be punished."

"See, that's just stupid."

Jack knew his comment had been slightly unwise but he'd thought that a guard that was only there in ‘spirit' really wasn't in a position to do anything but glower at him so he'd figured he was safe enough.  Wrongly, as he found out when the see-through guard suddenly turned opaque and his fist turned painfully solid as it made contact with his face.  Clutching at his eye, Jack looked up to see the guard was see-through again.  He and his friend smirked at each other then wandered off to check on other workers.  Jack turned back to his work and viciously began smashing the rock in two whilst making Mar and the guard's face alternate as the skull he imagined he was caving in.  He scowled darkly as he swung - he'd have a better view on all the advanced technology around here if most of it wasn't being used against him.    

Jack wiped the sweat from his brow as he limped back towards the cells.  He was sure hard labour was only supposed to happen after you'd been sentenced but try telling that to this lot - his burgeoning black eye was testament to the fact that these guards didn't take kindly to people pointing out the very obvious flaws in their justice system. 

As he reached their cell, Jack was glad that at least Daniel didn't have to share that part of his punishment.  Bad enough they shoved him in here.  Opening the door, Jack saw Daniel lying on his cot with his eye-lids closed but flickering just as if he were dreaming.  The com-band glowed purple which Jack knew meant that Daniel was looking over the legal material Teal'c had popped by to give him this morning.  He considered waking him but figured that, given the stack of evidence against him, Daniel needed every second he could to try and form some type of counter-argument.  Sighing, he gingerly touched his stinging eye and wondered if he'd be able to open it fully if it got any more swollen.  Scooping himself a cup of water from their bucket, he drank about half of it before sitting down on the cot.  Dipping his hand into the cup, he used the water to try and clean some of the grime off of his face.  The water felt good against his hot sweaty skin but, unfortunately, was more sort of spreading the grime across his face than actually removing it.  By this point, the only thing that was going to remove the grime was a high pressure hose.

Just then, the equivalent of the dinner-bell - a string of high-pitched beeps - sounded.  It didn't rouse Daniel.   Jack wondered what to do.  He was starving but felt wary of going out to get food.  Mar and his friends might just decide to track him down again and finish their earlier ‘discussion'.  At least here, in their cell, they were safe from the other prisoners since the door would only unlock in the presence of his or Daniel's implant but that safety ended the moment they stepped out the door.  He wished Daniel didn't have to leave the cell until the trial but the only way he could talk to Carter and Teal'c was from that speaking-room.  Well, there was no way in hell Daniel was going there alone now.  The way Mar had said ‘Mos'ki' made Jack shiver as he looked across at his friend. 

Standing up again, he paced across the cell and debated whether or not going to get food was a good idea or not.  After all, Mar would have plenty of opportunity to ‘talk' to him when they were working so it wasn't like he'd be able to hide from him forever.  Figuring that it'd be best to just go and get something and pray like hell he wasn't there, Jack headed for the door.  So long as Daniel was...

"Jack?"

Cursing under his breath, Jack paused and said, "Hey Daniel.  Just gonna go grab us somethin' to eat.  Back in a sec."

Racing out of the cell, Jack prayed Daniel wouldn't follow him.  Turning the corner, he hurried into the main chamber off of which all the corridors sprouted.  The room was packed as people thronged around the food 

Then the yelp he'd been dreading, "Jack!"

Cursing more profanely under his breath, Jack slowed and turned to see Daniel pulling his jacket on as he bounded along to catch up.  Slightly out-of-breath, he said, "Jack, I wanted to..."

He broke off as he saw the black eye.  The eyes clouded quickly with concern and dropped down to check for other injuries whilst Daniel said, "What happened?"

"Mouthed off to one of the guards.  Didn't take too kindly to it.  Thought you said they weren't really here?"

"They're not."
Gesturing at his eye, Jack replied, "His fist was certainly here."

Daniel tried to explain, "What you normally see is a projection of the guards.  But they can instantly transport in and out of here."

"Now you tell me."

"Didn't realise you were gonna intentionally provoke them."

"And exactly which Jack O'Neill have you known for the past seven years?"

"All right, point taken, but it really isn't gonna help our situation if you're gonna go around picking fights."

About to say that the fights were probably going to pick him, Jack remembered that he hadn't confessed to Daniel about Mar so he quickly bit his tongue and, floundering slightly, said the first sarcastic thing that came into his head, "Cos our situation could get so much worse."

Daniel sighed, "Unfortunately, you're not wrong about that."

Hesitating slightly as he realised Daniel was serious, Jack said, "What?"

"I've been studying their current legal system in more depth to try and find some way out of this and one thing I've found is that violent behaviour is taken to be indicative of a criminal."

"So if I get into a fight then...?"

"Ou... Your chances of getting out of here alive are slim to zero."

"So I keep on good behaviour with the guards then?  Well, guess I can try and be a little less antagonising so long as it's only for a few days."

"Glad to hear it... but it's not just the guards.  If you start a fight with... if you even get involved in a serious fight in here then they are gonna find you guilty and nothing Sam or Teal'c find is gonna be able to change that.  Please, Jack... you have to stay out of trouble."

He couldn't help the comment this time, "And what if trouble comes looking?"

Daniel must've heard something in the tone because he immediately replied, "Jack... what aren't you telling me?  Who's going to come looking for you?"

"It was hypothetical, Daniel."

Daniel looked like he was ready to play this game until Jack fessed up, "All right then, in hypothetical terms, what kind of trouble might come looking for you?"

Jack was aware Daniel knew he was hiding something but he hoped he could put him off the scent, "I just meant that this is a prison.  Kinda place that trouble tends to come looking for people who don't want it."

"And in particular?"

"No particular about it."

"Don't feel like playing this game all day, Jack, so spit it out.  What's happened?"

Aware now that Daniel wasn't going to let it go, Jack said, "All right, there is a ‘particular'..."

"Who?"

"These three guys... one of them's called Mar.  They don't seem to like me much."

"Why?  Don't tell me you were mouthing off to them too?"

Jack looked offended, "Never said a word.  Actually, it's your fault."

"My fault?  How?"

"I was the ‘one with the Mos'ki'.  It didn't sound like they like them all that much."

"I'm not really surprised.  People rarely agree to be Mos'ki so those Hoktars who have them tend to be singled out."

"And you didn't think this worthy of mentioning?"

After a pause, Jack asked, "Any other prison rules I should know about?"

"A bunch of them... but let's eat first, huh?"

"Oh yeah, wouldn't want the slime to congeal now, would we?"

"Then I've got to go talk to Sam and Teal'c."

Grabbing a couple of bowls of gloop, Jack motioned to Daniel that they should head over to the other side of the room.  However, as Daniel turned round, he walked straight into the walking wall that was Mar.  Jack felt the blood drain from his body.  Why hadn't he sent Daniel straight back to the cell the second he'd realised he was following him? 

Mar had to tilt his head down to look at Daniel, "Mos'ki Jackson."

Jack saw the realisation and flash of fear in Daniel's eyes as he locked eyes with him.  They'd been friends long enough to be able to read each other's eyes pretty effectively and, right now, he knew Daniel's were saying, ‘and this would be Mar'.  The fear in his own eyes was all the conformation Daniel needed as he turned back to face the titan.

Even through his fear, Jack had to admit he was impressed, if slightly saddened, to see Daniel such a changed man from the man he'd been the last time they were imprisoned like this.  The fear was quickly masked and Daniel's whole posture changed to become more predatory.  His gaze was carefully checked so that he never kept eye-contact with Mar long enough to be considered a challenge but his gaze was unflinching when he did look at him.

Levelly, he replied, "Yes?"

Mar menacingly growled, "You are in my way."

With just enough defiance to show he wasn't scared, Daniel moved out of Mar's path.  Jack couldn't fault Daniel once on his performance so far but, if he'd read Mar right, then this was going to end badly no matter what Daniel did.

Turning to where Daniel now stood, Mar growled, "You are still in my way."

Jack knew for sure now that this wasn't going to end well.  He glanced round at the other prisoners.  They were crowding around to watch.  So were the guards.  What the hell were those guys getting paid for?  Daniel wasn't even accused of doing anything!  Well, he wasn't just going to stand here while Mar beat Daniel to death.  Carefully, he began to edge around so as to be in a better position if things went the way they looked to be headed.

Daniel also seemed to have realised that Mar was out for blood because he swiftly changed tactics, "Your problem isn't with me, Mar."

"I did not have a Mos'ki.  Why should he..."

Swinging his arm round to where Jack had originally been standing, Mar continued, "...have one?"

Jack closed his eyes.  He could hear Daniel's reply in his ears already despite the fact he hadn't opened his mouth yet.  He was going to say something like ‘because he's innocent' and then they'd be lucky to make it out this room alive.

He was proved wrong.  Instead, Daniel said nothing at all for five seconds before saying, "No-one would defend you?"

"No-one... and no-one will defend him either!"

Daniel had done the best he could to divert Mar from his intentions but Mar was far too pumped up on testosterone to be easily diverted from his plans to beat someone to a pulp.  The best Jack could hope to do was to change the someone.

Finally speaking, he said, "Hey, Mar.  You got a problem with me then you come to me about it."

Daniel's eyes flashed round in alarm.

Mar grabbed Daniel by the cloth of his T-shirt, "And what if I have a problem with the little Mos'ki?"

"Then you still have a problem with me."

"You cannot stop me, O'Neill."

"Oh yeah, you just watch me."

Suddenly, Jack was aware of the light being blocked out as Mar's friends came up on either side of him.  If brains and brawn always had to inversely related then these guys had an IQ on par with a glass of water.  You could say this for Mar; he certainly made the right sort of friends for a place like this.

Suddenly, Daniel quietly said, "Just get out of here, Jack."

"Daniel, I'm not just gonna..."

Keeping his eyes firmly locked on Mar, Daniel snapped, "Didn't you listen to a word I just said, Jack?"

Mar laughed, "The Mos'ki has courage.  Yes, I will let you go, O'Neill.  If you go now."

"Like hell I'm gonna..."

Daniel turned with eyes aflame, "Jack, go.  Now!"

Daniel turned with eyes aflame, "Jack, go.  Now!"

Jack wrestled with himself.  He couldn't bring himself to abandon Daniel like this.

"Daniel..."

Daniel's eyes were pleading as he said, "Think long-term, Jack.  Now go, please."

Feeling as lost as he had when he'd watched Daniel being dragged back under the water, Jack turned and fled.

He halted around the corner and screamed inwardly at his ineffectuality.  He was supposed to look after his team.  He was supposed to protect them!  And now he was going to stand here and do nothing as Mar beat up his friend?  He heard the sound of the thump from here but no groan from Daniel.  God, how could this planet think that this was a good way to run your court system?  Your attorney in the prison with you?  Automatic guilt if no-one would defend you?  Another thump and this time Daniel audibly groaned.  Dying inside, Jack forced himself to slide down to the ground.  Clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, he pressed them hard into his head as if trying to physically suppress the rising desire to race back around that corner.  It wasn't going to do Daniel any good if he got beaten up as well, he knew that... but to sit here as... as those men laughed... as Daniel groaned...  You just didn't do that!  Damn it!  He just didn't do that!  As the men began laughing again, Jack felt hot, salty liquid drip onto his lip.  Feeling his face, he realised that there were tears rolling down his cheeks.  Tears of anger, frustration and helplessness.  Viciously wiping his eyes, Jack heard Daniel's voice echo down the corridor.

"Mar...don't..."

The pain rang out clearly in his unsteady voice.  Jack felt like running away back to their cell but he wouldn't give himself that luxury.  Daniel was suffering because of him.  He should, at least, suffer too.  Damn he was a worthless piece of scum.  Sitting here whilst his friend suffered.  This was giving him serious Iraq flashbacks.  To tortured screams and pleading eyes that he couldn't shut out but was powerless to help.  In that prison, he'd coped by learning to care about nothing.  To find a place deep inside himself and stay there.  A place where the pain, the hunger, the exhaustion and the screams couldn't touch him.  Where the laughter couldn't reach.  He tried to find that place now.   He had to.  Physical pain would be nothing compared to the agony that tore through his body as he listened to his friend's anguished cries and had to tell himself to stay put.  Eventually, he heard Mar's harsh voice.

"Had enough, Mos'ki?"

Jack prayed silently that Daniel would have the sense to be submissive and admit that he'd had enough.  Now was not the time for bravado but Jack knew that Daniel'd picked up his penchant for unwise bravado.  This really really wasn't the time for it... 

"Yeah, thanks, that was fun... very therapeutic."

Groaning inwardly, Jack wished Daniel hadn't also acquired his tendency towards (as Daniel, himself, had once put it) ‘inappropriate sarcasm'.  He was a very bad influence on the guy.  As the vicious-sounding blow fell, Daniel yelped in obvious pain.  Scrunching himself up tightly, Jack prayed that Daniel's sarcasm had only earned him that one, extra, blow and that Daniel would have the sense to shut up. 

After about twenty seconds, he became aware that there was no more noise.  Carefully getting to his feet, Jack crept to the corner and looked around it.  Mar and his friends were heading back towards their cells.  Daniel was lying on the ground.  Racing over, Jack dropped down at Daniel's side.  His eyelids weren't closed but they were drooped sluggishly over his eyes. 

Grabbing Daniel by the chin, Jack said, "Daniel?"

Irritably pushing the hand away, Daniel opened his eyes fully and looked at his friend.  His eyes were slightly unfocused to begin with but the quickly focused and swiftly searched Jack's face.  Even having wiped the tears away, Jack knew that Daniel would see the wetness of his face and redness of his eyes.

"Jack... I'm okay."

As if to prove his point, Daniel pulled himself painfully to a sitting position.  He was a mess of bruising.  

Scanning him over, Jack replied, "I don't call this okay, Daniel."

Wincing, Daniel nevertheless managed a nonchalant shrug, "I've survived worse.  Mar's got nothing on a torture-stick or a ribbon device.  Just give me a hand up, would ya?  We need to go speak to Sam and Teal'c."

As Jack helped Daniel to his feet, he felt Daniel's balance threatening to go. 

As he steadied him, Daniel said, "Thank-you, Jack."

"For what?  For letting Mar beat the crap out of you?  Don't think that's something you should be grateful for somehow."

"But... but I am, Jack...  You couldn't... you couldn't have helped me... the others would've stopped you..."

Something about the way Daniel said ‘the others' made Jack stop and say, "What others?"

After a slight hesitation, Daniel replied, "Mar's friends.  They would have stopped you."

Wincing again as they began to walk towards the speaking-room, Daniel continued, "I know that cost you, Jack.  And hurt you more than Mar could've ever hurt me."

Watching the bruises begin to develop, Jack replied, "I somehow doubt that."

"Jack, I know your instinct is to rush in to protect me... but you've got to... understand that the rules are different in here... like I said before, violence equals criminal.  If you get into a fight, they are going to find you guilty."

"I'd rather be found guilty than find you dead, Daniel."

"He can't kill me, Jack.  Murdering a Mos'ki... it carries a life sentence of Nok'tal."

"Which is what?"

"Interment in the pit of the damned."

"Pit of the damned?"

"Direct translation and probably a slightly overdramatic one at that.  Basically, they put you into a cell cut of the ground.  There's no light down there and only enough food and water to keep you alive to endure it.  The threat of an eternity alone in the dark keeps the prisoners more or less in line."

"Less in Mar's case, huh?"
Acknowledging Jack's point with a painful nod, Daniel said, "Unfortunately, there's no rule that says you can't make a Mos'ki wish he was dead."

The concern was back in Jack's eyes again so Daniel quickly added, "Jack, I'm all right."

"Yeah, but there's no rule saying Mar can't do it again, is there?"

Daniel shook his head slightly, "We've just got to try and stay out of his way until the trial."

"And what if he comes looking for you?"
As they reached the speaking-room, Daniel simply replied, "We just hope he doesn't.  Now come on."

Again in the metal room.  Again waiting for Daniel to appear.  The room was entirely bare apart from the circle of symbols which would begin to glow just before Daniel would appear.  Didn't make for a fun waiting-area.  And they had been waiting for a long time.  Too long.  Daniel was meant to appear quarter of an hour ago.  Where was he?

Suddenly, Daniel and Jack appeared.  Jack had his arm wrapped around Daniel's back and Daniel's arm across his shoulders.  Daniel was a mess.  He was bruised all over.

"Holy Hannah...  Daniel..."

"I'm okay, Sam.  Just got into a little fight, that's all."

Jack didn't fail to miss the surreptitious appraisals he was given by Carter and Teal'c.  Looking for a sign that he'd stepped in to defend Daniel.  And the guilt came back with a vengeance.  He should've done something.  Should've protected Daniel.  Should've dived in.

Daniel continued, "This guy called Mar didn't have a Mos'ki so he doesn't like anyone else having one.  He was just making his displeasure clear to me, that was all."

Wincing slightly, he continued, "It's an effective way of doing that.  Really rammed the point home, if you know what I mean."

Again their eyes drifted involuntarily towards Jack who was currently feeling about three inches high. 

Sam was the first to broach the subject as she said, "How did he get you alone and away from the guards?"

Jack said, "He didn't have to.  Guards don't care what happens.  He did it right out in the open with a bunch of them standing around watching."

The words tasting bitter in his mouth, Jack added, "And he wasn't alone.  I was there too."

The appraisals were repeated in more detail with the black eye being weighed up as a possible battle scar.  Faith in him was maintaining a belief that he would never just let someone hurt Daniel.  And it was already obvious he hadn't been able to stop Mar so the logical conclusion was Mar beat them both to a pulp.  But there was nothing for them to see because he'd been hiding round a corner when Mar took lumps outta Danny. 

Daniel had noticed the appraisals this time and quickly explained, "Nothing Jack could've done.  Mar's got friends.  Besides, if he's caught in a fight then our case goes to hell.  Jack did the right thing staying out of it."

Sam was giving him the once-over again and Jack could see the calculations going on in her head.  Just how many times would Mar have had to hit Daniel to give him bruises like that?  How many times had Daniel's pleas gone unanswered?  How long had he stood by and done nothing? 

Then her voice, laden with emotion, returned, "He could've killed you."

"No, he couldn't.  You can't kill a Mos'ki without serious consequences and I don't think we've pissed him off quite that much just yet.  Jack will die if he ends up in a fight.  There was nothing he could've done.  Now, we were late getting here so we'll be cut off in a minute... You found anything new?"

Sam replied, "Not much, I'm afraid.  Teal'c went back to the temple and found the stone disc.  I showed it to Durena.  It turns out you were right about it being related to the tear.  Apparently, it used to hang on the wall of the temple but it was stolen about a year ago.  She's got no idea why anyone would have wanted to destroy it, though.  She gave me some of her research material on it to upload to you... not that I know what good it'll do..."

Jack said, "Hey, can you find out about this ‘Mar' guy?  I want to know why he's in here."

Teal'c asked, "For what reason?"

"I'd just like to have some idea who we're dealing with here."

"Then we shall do so, O'Neill."

"Thanks, T."

Jack and Daniel turned at a noise the others couldn't hear.

Daniel said, "Already?"

Jack quickly said, "I'll go out and see if I can stall him for a minute."

With that, Jack pulled away from Daniel and vanished.  After a couple of moments, Daniel turned back to Sam and Teal'c and said, "Look, guys... Jack was ready to race in and ‘save' me.  I stopped him because he couldn't have done me any good.  He can't interfere without getting himself killed and I'm having a hard enough time getting him to accept that without you two looking at him like he's done something wrong."

Sam said, "I'm sorry, it's just that under normal circumstances..."

Daniel snapped, "Well, this wasn't!  He wanted to help!  He didn't care if he'd get in trouble!  He just couldn't!"

The passionate outburst from Daniel looked like it'd even surprised him.  Regaining his composure, he distractedly said, "Look, just find that stuff for me, all right?"

Sam asked, "Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine, okay?"

Glancing round, Daniel nodded.  Turning back to them, he said, "Time's up.  I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Take care of yourself, Daniel."

"Indeed, take great care, Daniel Jackson."

Looking apologetic for his earlier outburst, Daniel replied, "I will.  Thanks, guys."

As they reached their room, Jack slammed the door shut and lowered Daniel gently onto his cot, "I hope you're right about Mar because next time..."

"Next time what, Jack?"

"I dunno but something.  I will not stand by and let him do that again."

"How many times, Jack?  I can fight my own battles.  I didn't fight this one because there's no way I can win.  Not in here.  And I know you feel like you could have done something but you couldn't have.  They would have stopped you and all you'd have done was condemn u... yourself to death."

Jack sighed, "Get some sleep, Daniel."

Lying down on his own cot, Jack stretched out unhappily and closed his eyes.  After a couple of minutes, he opened them again and looked across at Daniel.  He was bruised all over.  He knew that nothing he could have done would have helped.  He knew that... but to do nothing when he had had the power to do something...  He just hoped Daniel was right about Mar.  Sighing more heavily, he turned over and let his eyes close themselves. 

The archive was an intimidating building.  Upon approaching it, Sam had felt rather wary.  It was entirely made of metal with no glass in sight and had a huge, vault-like door.  Reaching the front of it, she said, "Think we should knock?"

Teal'c replied, "This facility is entirely automated."

Disconnecting her Nish'kel symbol from its chain, she pressed it against the pad. 

An automated voice said, "Voice match and retinal scan required for entry to the archive."

Placing her eye against the scanner, she waited whilst the beam passed across it.  Pulling back, she said, "Nish'kel Carter."

The huge vaulted door unlocked itself and swung open, "Identity confirmed.  Welcome, Nish'kel Carter.  Please enter alone."

Sam glanced round at Teal'c who said, "I shall wait for you here."

Nodding, Sam unclipped her pack and handed it to Teal'c as she passed through the door.  It slammed behind her and the locks shifted back into place. 

It was pitch black inside the archive.  Remembering herself, she said, "Command: illuminate."

As the place grew bright, she looked around.  This place wasn't any friendlier inside.  Rows upon rows of metal shelves stretched up to the ceiling, across the width of the room and along the length of the archive.  Upon the shelves, there were slender rectangles of metal.  Sam recognised them as data recorders.  Experimentally, she attempted to pick one off of the shelf. 

It didn't move and the voice returned, "Access to Geminolex archive restricted to authorised files only, Nish'kel Carter."

Looking at the vast warehouse around her, she said, "Inquiry: how can I find the authorised files?"

"Archive can be searched on several dimensions."

"Request: name standard dimensions."

"Standard dimensions used in search requests are temporal, spatial dimensions and the name of Hoktar."

"All right... request: find Geminolex relating to Hoktar Mar."

"No exact matches found.  Three thousand two hundred and forty-nine partial matches found."

"Okay, so Mar's short for something else, I take it... all right...  Inquiry: how can I refine my search?"

"Additional information required.  Either biographical or relating to the trial."

Reaching down into her pocket she looked out the card Mendos had dug up for her on Hoktar Mar, "Inquiry: I have a data card containing the Hoktar's identification number.  Can I use this information to refine my search?"

"Yes."

"Inquiry: how?"

"Interface data card with terminal."

Looking in front of her, she saw a deactivated terminal spring to life.  Stepping forward, she entered the card into the slot. 

"Okay, let's see if this works... request: using additional information, refine search for Geminolex relating to Hoktar Mar."

"Three Geminolex found relating to Hoktar Marius.  Do you wish to refine your search further?"

"No...  Request: tell me where I can find them."

A hovering sphere appeared out of the terminal.  It was about the size of a tennis ball and it was covered in small lights. 

"Follow the guiding sphere."

Following the little ball through the archive, Sam wondered why there were so many of these Geminolex recording things when, from what she'd gathered, most criminals didn't get as far as a trial.  She still didn't understand why Mar... or Marius, as it appeared to be... had had a trial when, by his own admission, he hadn't had a Mos'ki.  Well, maybe these files could shed a little light on the puzzle.

When the sphere halted, she went to ask where exactly the files were when a beam shot out from the sphere and widened to illuminate three Geminolex files. 

Picking the first one off of the shelf, Sam said, "Inquiry: how are Geminolex files activated?"

"Section terminal will allow activation of authorised files."

"Request: activate section terminal."

Sure enough, the terminal beside her sprang to life.  Placing the Geminolex in what she assumed was the correct slot, she said, "Command: activate Geminolex."

Sam wasn't sure how this would work.  From the terminal, a wide beam emerged that hit her between the eyes.  Feeling woozy for a moment, Sam was aware of the archive melting around her.  She was left standing in a glass room where five people stood, frozen.  It appeared to be some type of court-room.  Okay, so this must be the recording... and that man in the dock must be Marius.  He looked a great deal calmer and more civilised than she'd have imagined but, of course, this was back before he got sent to prison.

The man in the ‘judge's' chair wore a robe similar to that worn by Ish'ki Vollum so Sam guessed this was one of the previous Ish'kis.  The two at the door were clearly guards.  That other man must be... the Yas'ki, wasn't it?  Sam wondered how you made it play. 

She said, "Request: explain commands for viewing Geminolex."

"Commands available within Geminolex are restricted to View, Halt, Exit and Reference."

"Inquiry: what is reference command?"

"Reference command allows you to search within a recording for specific terms or evidence."

"All right.  View."

The people around her came to life.

The Ish'ki said," Hoktar Marius, you have been granted this trial in view of your status as temple guard.

"Yes, Ish'ki Jaron."

The Yas'ki said, "You have no Mos'ki."

Marius replied darkly, "I do not, Yas'ki Habdor."

"Then your guilt is not to be debated at this trial."

"I know of the law, Yas'ki."

Ish'ki Jaron asked, "Then for what reason did you request this trial?"

"To stay my execution for its duration.  Until a Mos'ki comes to defend me."

Habdor said, "Then you merely delay what is inevitable.  No Mos'ki will appear."

"One will."

From his tone, Sam got the feeling there was a certain ‘one'.

Habdor turned to Jaron, "Ish'ki, he has no desire to plead for leniency.  This trial is a mockery."

Jaron replied, "I agree.  Nevertheless, the law is clear.  He will be allowed four days before his execution for a Mos'ki to appear."

With that, Jaron motioned to the guards and Marius disappeared. 

Habdor said, "You should not have granted him this trial."

"There was no choice.  It was his right if he requested it.  He is merely delaying that which must surely occur."

With that, the recording cut out and Sam found herself again amongst frozen figures. 

Figuring it must be finished, she said, "Exit."

Blinking, she saw that she was back in the archive... okay, so Marius had bought himself some time because he'd been a temple guard but she knew, for a fact, that, contrary to his dogged belief, no Mos'ki ever appeared.  So why wasn't he executed?  Slotting the Geminolex back into its place, she went to pick up the next one.  It wouldn't move.

"Access to Geminolex archive restricted to authorised files only, Nish'kel Carter."

Confused, Sam went and picked up the third one without difficulty.  Slotting it into the terminal, she settled down to watch.

Blinking, she found herself in the court-room again.  Jaron, Habdor and Marius were all there again, frozen. 

"View."

"Hoktar Marius, for the murder of Kyden and the theft of the stone of alignment, the penalty is execution."

Sam yelped, "Halt!"

As the figures froze, Sam looked around, "He's the one Durena was talking about?"

After a pause, she said, "View."

"Yes, Ish'ki."

"But as your commander has spoken for you, it has been decided to allow you to return to the prison and there live out the remainder of your life.  You should be grateful of his benevolence and of ours."

After a pause, Marius hung his head and said, "Yes, Ish'ki."

"Very well, then the trial is concluded."

With that, Marius disappeared and the others froze.

Sam quickly said, "Exit."

Shaking her head free of the vision, she wondered what the hell this was all about.  What exactly happened between the first and the third recording?

Experimentally, she tried to pick up the second one again but, again, the machine parroted, "Access to Geminolex archive restricted to authorised files only, Nish'kel Cater."

"Inquiry: why is this file unauthorised?"

"File has been locked due to sensitivity of material discussed within it."

"Inquiry: is there any way to unlock it?"

"This file was locked by a Yas'ki.  Your current clearance does not allow access to you."

"Inquiry: who could gain access?"

"The Yas'ki who locked it or the current Ish'ki."

Sam was puzzled.  What was it in that file that Yas'ki Habdor had locked?  Maybe if she went to Kolden, he could help her get the file unlocked.  Whether unlocking the file would do any good to the Colonel's case was dubious but this was the only half lead they had at the moment.

Reaching down to her pendent, Sam said, "Inquiry: can the information in a Geminolex file be stored in a Fletus Absolana?"

"Yes.  Insert file to be copied into slot and place Fletus Absolana into the indentation at the centre of the terminal."

Doing as she was instructed, Sam quickly copied the two files.  What good they'd be she had no idea but maybe they'd mean more to Daniel than they did to her.

Following the guiding sphere back towards the door, it occurred to her that if Kolden couldn't help get the file unlocked then she could always try to convince Mendos to speak to Ish'ki Vollum on her behalf...

Suddenly, all the lights cut out. 

Irritably, she said, "Command: illuminate."

"Voice profile invalid.  Command ignored."

Flicking on the flashlight on her equipment vest, Sam said, "Command: illuminate."

"Voice profile invalid.  Command ignored."

"Inquiry: why is my voice profile invalid?"

"Voice profile invalid.  Inquiry ignored."

Flicking on the light on her gun as well, she brandished it ahead of herself as she moved onwards.  If the guiding sphere was even still operational it had long since moved out of sight.  Trying to mentally retrace her steps, she thought she had a vague idea which way it was back to the door.  She'd find it eventually.  This place was big but it wasn't a labyrinth. Right now, she was a little more concerned about the fact that for some unknown reason, this place had suddenly stopped responding to her.  Even if this was just a glitch of some sort, it was never a good idea to be inside an entirely automated facility that could glitch like that. 

After a couple of minutes, she tried again, "Command: illuminate."

"Voice profile invalid.  Command ignored."

Why wasn't it working?  Why did the system seem to have suddenly erased her? 

Then the booming voice said, "Maintenance cycle in progress."

Yeah, whatever that meant.  Sam hurried straight on.  Sooner or later she'd reach the end of the archive.  Sooner would be nice.

"Initialising Calgos flooding."

 Sam froze at the word.  She and Kolden had talked about Calgos.  It was a very effective decontaminant and cleaning agent.  She'd been quite intrigued with it at the time.  Right now, though, she didn't think a personal demonstration of its properties would be such a good idea... especially seeing as her breathing mask was lying in her pack outside. 

Now sprinting towards the exit, she became aware of an acrid taste in her mouth and a scent like citrus fruit.  The air around her was growing misty.  She reached the doorway and, tearing off her pendent, pressed it against the scanner.  Nothing happened.   

As the mist caught in her throat, she coughed.  The air was getting harder to breathe and the mist was starting to send her dizzy.  Desperately, she pressed the pendent against the scanner again.  And, again, nothing happened.  

Slamming on the door, she coughed, "Teal'c!  Teal'c, open the door!  Help me!"

There was almost nothing left to breathe in the ‘air' that now filled her lungs.  Sliding down the wall, she tried to think past the dizziness.  Teal'c was never going to hear her through that door.  The room was drenched in the mist now.  Well, she'd be a clean corpse, anyhow...

Reaching for her radio, she said, "Teal'c... Teal'c... help me... Teal'c..."

There was only the buzz of static in response.  It was hopeless, the signal couldn't get through the damn door.

Pulling herself back to her feet, she tried to see if there was some sort of intercom to the outside.  Nothing that looked like one but how the hell was she supposed to know what an alien intercom would look like?

She wasn't going to last for much longer in this ever-thickening mist.  Already, she was fighting to find enough oxygen. Her eyes were stinging and her skin tingled.  Then, suddenly, she remembered the com-band shoved in one of the pockets of her vest.  Extracting it, she prayed that the modified one wasn't too deeply buried in her pack that Teal'c wouldn't even hear it. 

She slid back down to the ground in a bid to use less air.  Hotwiring the band wasn't as easy as before as she tried to see what she was doing through blurring vision, orange mist and by the beam of a flashlight.  Her hands shaky, she clumsily pressed everything into place and clicked the panel down.  It began to glow purple.

She said weakly, "Teal'c... Teal'c... help me..."

There was a long pause.  Sam was about to try again when, suddenly, Teal'c's voice appeared, "Major Carter?!"

Almost smiling, Sam dizzily said, "Teal'c... ya have to... open the door... can't... can't breathe..."

There was no reply from Teal'c for a moment before he replied, "The door will not open, Major Carter!"

Knowing it wasn't going to be long until she lost the fight, Sam replied, "Tell it to cancel... the maintenance cycle..."

With that, Sam's head slipped to the side. 

Unheard by her, the voice said, "Maintenance cycle interrupted.  Extracting Calgos.  Air purification in progress."

"Oma!"

Jack's eyes shot open at the name.  Turning sharply, he pushed himself up on his elbows and looked over to where Daniel was sleeping.  His friend was tossing and turning wildly. 

He cried again, "Oma!"

Oma?  Was Daniel calling out to her?  Please, god, don't let him be dying.  What if there'd been internal bleeding?  Damn it!  Jumping off his cot, Jack dived across to Daniel's side and, kneeling beside him, shook him, "Daniel?"

Suddenly, he became aware that tendrils of light were crawling across Daniel.  It had to be Oma.  She'd heard him and come running.  Oh, god, no.  Daniel really must be dying.  If Daniel died trying to protect him...   

Daniel screamed, "Please, Oma!  I can't leave him here!"

Damnit!  Now she was trying to get him to ascend again! 

Suddenly unafraid, Jack raised him voice, "Hey!  I watched you take out death gliders and char-grill Jaffa with your little lightning show, lady.  Now, I don't know what ‘rules' you had Danny workin' by but I know that you sure as hell don't stick to them.  Don't let him die here.  Not if you can help him.  Don't take him away from us again.  He's meant to be with us."

Daniel cried, "I won't leave him here, Oma!  You don't understand!"

The essence intensified and Daniel was gasping in pain before, suddenly, it became so blindingly bright that Jack had to shield his eyes.  He was aware of everything growing dark again so he cautiously lowered his hand from his face.  His friend, thank god, still lay on the cot but he didn't look any better.  So because he was refusing to ascend, she was just going to leave him to die, was she?  Well, ‘Mother Nature' might turn her back on Daniel but there was no way in hell he was going to.  Daniel was going to get the medical attention he needed.  He was not just gonna sit by and watch him die. 

Jack looked at Daniel again and gently said, "Don't worry, Danny.  I'm gonna get you out of here..."

 With that, he hurried out of the room. 

As he left, the gloomy room grew brighter again.  Daniel began to mutter, "I'll blast that place apart...  I swear I will... can't betray... betray him like this..."

The seconds seemed to drag on like hours to Teal'c as he waited anxiously for the door to let him in.  Major Carter no longer replied to his urgent calls to her.  He only hoped it was not too late to save her. 

After what felt like eternity, the vault door began to move again.  Slowly, the door unlocked itself before swinging open to reveal Major Carter's motionless form.  Fear rising in him, he rushed forward and quickly pulled her out before the vault door closed once more. 

Anxiously, he said, "Major Carter?!"

To his relief, Sam began to cough.  Her eyes fluttered open and she uncertainly looked up at him through blood-shot eyes.  She went to speak but ended up coughing instead.

Comfortingly, he said, "It shall be all right, Major Carter."

Gently picking her up, he turned and headed towards Kolden's building.  He did not know what had just occurred but he knew his friend was still in danger.  Her eyelids had fallen across her eyes again and her exposed skin was beginning to develop patches of red.  Her breathing still seemed weak and laboured.  He did not know what she had been exposed to nor how to counteract its effects.  Kolden would know. 

Upon reaching the lab, Teal'c thumped on the door, "Kolden!"

After a couple of minutes, the door slid open to reveal Kolden.  He took one look at Major Carter and said, "Bring her inside.  Quickly."

As Teal'c followed him into the lab, Kolden said, "What happened?"

"She entered the archive.  I waited for her return.  I do not know what happened."

"Those are Calgos burns."

"What is Calgos?"

"An airborne cleaning agent we use to keep the automated buildings clean."

"Major Carter spoke of a maintenance cycle."

As Kolden motioned for Teal'c to lay Carter down on the metal gurney, he said, "I do not understand.  The archive maintenance cycle should not have initialised when someone was present.  Even if she had requested it, the system would have refused. 

"What are the effects of this Calgos?"

"It causes burning and subsequent inflammation.  It is also toxic." 

"Can you treat her?"

Kolden nodded, "In a laboratory such as this, such chemical accidents are commonplace."

He pressed a button and a light beam scanned across Major Carter.  When it had disappeared, Teal'c saw the pattern of burns had gone.

Teal'c said, "Has this cured her?"

Kolden shook his head, "It has merely dealt with external burns."

He walked over to one of the metal storage closets and threw it open.  As he walked in Teal'c sat down beside Major Carter.  Reaching for her pale hand, he engulfed it within his as he tried to reassure her of his presence. 

Kolden reappeared with an odd device.  It looked somewhat like a metal snake without a head.  Instead, there was a mask which Kolden carefully placed onto Major Carter's face.  As he pressed a couple of buttons, the snake became animate and wrapped its ‘tail' around the back of Major Carter's head and once around her neck.  Then it ceased to move.  

Teal'c asked, "What is this device?"

"The inflammation within her will be widespread.  This shall ease her breathing..."

He pressed a couple of buttons and all the lights on the snake turned green.

"What are you doing?"

"I have informed its internal systems that she was exposed to Calgos.  It will release chemical agents that shall counteract its effects upon her.  You must not worry.  It will take several treatments to fully restore her but she will be fine."

Then Kolden shifted over to his console, "What concerns me is how this occurred.  There is simply no way that the archive would..."

He stopped short and said, "The system records that Major Carter entered the archive but that she had left four minutes before a standard maintenance cycle was initiated."

"That was not the case."

Kolden pressed several more buttons and a map of the archive appeared on-screen.  After a moment, he said, "I believe you."

He pointed at the screen, "This is the point at which she stood one moment before she is recorded to have exited.  It is far into the archive.  She cannot have exited the archive as the system claims."

"Could this be an anomaly of the system?"

"Perhaps... but I don't see how."

"Could it have been done deliberately?"

Kolden glanced round at him, "You think someone tried to kill your friend?  Why?  Because she is trying to free Hoktar O'Neill?"

"Or perhaps because, by doing so, she will incriminate someone else.  Perhaps someone feared what she would find within the archive."

Then Teal'c noticed Sam begin to move.  Reaching his other hand down to steady her, he said, "Major Carter?"

Her eyes blinked slowly open and she looked around dazedly. 

Kolden said, "Do not try to speak, Major Carter.  The mask prevents it.  Your condition will slowly improve."

Nodding slowly, Sam felt at the snake around her neck.  Then she tried to sit up.  Teal'c assisted her.  Looking around, she began to mime writing upon her hand.  Reaching into his pack, Teal'c extracted a notepad and pen. 

Sam wrote, ‘What happened back there?'

Teal'c said, "We hoped you would be able to tell us, Major Carter."

Sam shook her head.

Kolden said, "The system believed you to have left the archive."

Sam gestured in a way that clearly asked ‘why?'.

"We do not know why.  It should not have happened.  It may be it was an anomaly of the system."

Teal'c said, "Or it may have been a deliberate attempt upon your life.  Was there something you found within the archive that someone may have wished to keep you from revealing?"

Sam thought about it for a moment then shook her head wearily.

Kolden said, "I will look into this matter further and inform the Ish'ki of what has occurred.  You may go now."

Teal'c said, "Should not Major Carter rest?"

Shaking his head, Kolden replied, "The mask shall compensate for any inefficiency in her own system and she will heal faster if she is active."

Jack stood in the dock of the hastily-assembled court.  A rather tired Yas'ki called Rellan said, "So you now admit to both crimes."

Jack knew what this meant for him but he had to get Daniel out of here.  If Daniel died then he was a dead man anyway and there was no way he was dragging Daniel down with him if he could help it.

Nodding, he replied, "Yeah, I broke in and destroyed the tear of whatever."

Rellan asked, "Your reason for this?"

"General boredom.  Seemed like a good idea at the time and so on...  Can we just cut to the sentencing please?"

Rellan turned to the woman in the higher chair - whose name was Inch High Gollum or something - who said, "Very well, Hoktar.  You shall be..."

"Wait!"

Jack's head snapped round to see Daniel clinging to the doorframe.  He looked awful but he was vertical and conscious which, in itself, was an improvement on previously. 

Rellan said, "Your Hoktar has confessed, Mos'ki Jackson."

Inch High Gollum said, "You understand what this means."

Daniel started to walk across the room, "He didn't do it..."

Jack replied, "Yes, I did."

Having reached the outside of the dock, Daniel looked up and pleadingly, shouted, "Shut the hell up, Jack!"

Turning to the others, he said, "He only confessed out of concern for me.  He thinks this will protect me.  He doesn't understand.  I didn't explain how this works."

Rellan said, "He has confessed.  You are too late."

However, Inch High Gollum said, "Hoktar, do you genuinely confess your guilt?"

Jack went to say ‘yes' but something in the way Daniel was looking at him made him stop.  He sighed and said, "No, I didn't do it."

"Very well.  Your trial shall take place as was previously scheduled."

Daniel bowed his head slightly, "Thank-you, Ish'ki Vollum."

"I would advise you to keep your Hoktar more informed, Mos'ki Jackson.  A second confession shall not be retracted.  Is this clear to you?"

"Very.  Thank-you, Ish'ki."

Very confused, Jack felt that moment of disorientation before finding himself back in his cell.  Daniel had sat back down on the side of his cot and looked exhausted. 

Quietly, Daniel asked, "What the hell did you think you were doing, Jack?  I wake up to find you gone and when I go looking for you I find out you've suddenly decided to confess!  If I'd gotten there a minute later then the sentence would have been finalised and then it's irreversible.  What the hell got into you?"

"You're dying.  I'm not just going to..."

Daniel cut him off with a bemused expression, "Dying?"

"You can't hide it from me, Daniel.  You're injured worse than you're letting on."

"I have a headache, painful ribs and bruises on my bruises, Jack, but I'm not dying."

"I heard you, Daniel."

Looking genuinely confused again, Daniel replied, "Heard me?"

"Talking to Oma.  She was here, wasn't she?"

Daniel's eyes widened, "Jack... Oma wasn't here.  I was having a... bad dream, that was all.  I guess I cried out in my sleep or something."

"Daniel, you were glowing."

"I was what?!"

"Like a firefly.  Well, actually, more like you used to when you were ascended.  Oma was here, wasn't she?"

Daniel was looking down at his hands, "If she was here, I didn't know anything about it.  She wasn't even in my... dream."

"You called her name."

"Yeah, but I was just shouting at her like you'd shout at the sky or something.  Jack, I'm not dying."

Jack looked to the ground, "I thought you were about to ascend again... but then you said something about not leaving me here and she went away."

"I wasn't talking about here.  I was talking about the ‘here' in my dream.  If it was her then she wasn't trying to help me ascend again.  Maybe these dreams..."

"Dreams?  Plural, now?  Exactly how many of these glowy dreams have you had?"

"I had the same sort of... vision when I looked at the tear.  Maybe, they're flashbacks or something.  Maybe you're right and it was her.  Maybe she's trying to help me remember why this planet was important to me."

"Daniel, we already knew that.  It was because of the tear of Low-Fat."

"But why?  What exactly was it?  Why was I looking for it?"

"You're saying Oma's hanging around trying to help you remember about the tear of All-Nut?"

"I'm saying it's a possibility..."

Daniel appeared to refocus, "All right, so you thought I was dying and...?"

"And I wasn't just going to stand by and watch."   

"So, what?  You decided to take a more active role in killing me?"

It was Jack's turn to look confused, "What?"

"I don't just want to prove you innocent, Jack.  I have to."

"Daniel, what're you...?"

"The laws of this world...  Your crime is worse than murder.  You're almost certain to face execution if you're found guilty."

"Yeah, I know that already."

"Yeah, well, there's one other crime that's worse than murder...  Defending a guilty man."

"What?!"

"Seems like they got fed up of people defending people they knew to be guilty.  That's why so few people have Mos'ki.  Most would rather face some jail-time than risk someone's life."

"Yeah, I'd be one of them.  Daniel, why the hell didn't you tell me all this when I agreed to let you defend me?"

"Without a Mos'ki, you'd have been tried and sentenced on the spot.  I couldn't just let that happen."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I thought you'd refuse to let me be your Mos'ki."

"Damn right I would've!"

"Well, I couldn't get out of it now even if I wanted to so let's just concentrate on your case and you can yell at me later.  Now, I'm gonna go back to sleep.  Promise me you'll be there when I wake up this time?"

Jack shrugged acceptingly and sat down on the side of his cot so Daniel lay back down and closed his eyes. 

After a pause, Jack said, "Daniel, what about Oma?"

Not opening his eyes, Daniel said, "If I can find out why I wanted to find the tear maybe I'll find out why someone else wanted to destroy it.  And the ‘why' might give us the ‘who'."

Jack lay down as well and closed his eyes before a thought occurred, "Daniel, what if the glowing... what if it's not her?"

But, as he opened his eyes again, he saw that Daniel was already asleep.  Deciding Daniel probably didn't have any better idea of the answer to that question than he did, Jack decided to just let him sleep.  Sighing again, Jack closed his eyes. 

A couple of seconds later, Daniel's eyes shot open again and he looked across at his friend.  Had Oma been here?  Or was something else going on?  He shuddered when he thought how close Jack had been to signing both their death warrants.  He should have known that Jack wouldn't be content to stand by and do nothing.  Jack'd thought he was dying?  That Oma had come to collect him.  But that wasn't what it had been.  He'd been in that place again.  The strange cell with just him and Jack in it.  And Jack had been begging for help.  Yelling at him.  Pleading with him.  Angry and desperate in equal measures.  But he couldn't help him.  He couldn't understand why... only that he wouldn't.  And then he'd been yelling at Oma as you would at the universe in general.  Because it was unfair.  Because he couldn't leave him there. 

Had it been real?  Had that really happened?  He couldn't know for sure because the only thing he remembered from when he was ascended was R'yac and Bra'tac's being captured whilst he stood by and watched.  His only other source of information was the little the others could tell him from the few times he'd appeared to them.  Jack had told him that he'd appeared to them all on Abydos and to him in an elevator in the SGC but he'd never mentioned anything about a cell of any description.  Was that because it hadn't happened or was it just something that Jack didn't want to talk about?

He wouldn't be surprised because, as a rule, his time ascended was a taboo topic amongst them.  Only Teal'c seemed able to discuss it with him without hurt and betrayal creeping into his eyes.  Sam and Jack both tried to seem like they were okay about it but he knew they weren't really.  Desperately, he wanted it all out in the open.  He was fed up of them just being ‘okay' about it - because they blatantly weren't. 

He hadn't failed to see the fear in Jack's eyes when he'd said, ‘I thought you were about to ascend again'.  God, how much had he hurt his friends with that choice?  To start with... to start with it'd been the only choice - he was dying and there was nothing anyone could do to save him.  So he'd opened his mind to the possibility of ascension.  He had to admit that it'd been an attractive offer.  To be that powerful.  To be a part of something special.  But then Jacob had arrived and tried to save him with the healing device.  He could feel it working.  Oma had been willing to let him continue on his path.  So he'd had a choice.  He chose to ascend...

Lost in contemplation, Daniel didn't even notice as his eyes closed themselves.

It was early the next morning when Sam entered the speaking room.  After five minutes of waiting alone, the Colonel and Daniel appeared in the flickering light.  Daniel was standing all right on his own today but the Colonel's hand was firmly clamped onto his wrist. 

Jack said, "Carter, where's Teal'c?"

"Oh, he's just waiting outside.  How are you doing, sir?"

"Oh, just great, Carter."

"Daniel?"

Daniel seemed like he wanted to avoid small talk today as he immediately asked, "Find anything at the archive?"

Taken aback at the abrupt questioning, Sam nearly told them what happened, "Uh..."

Stopping herself in time, she quickly said, "Maybe...  Were you able to make anything out from that stuff Teal'c brought yesterday morning?"

"Haven't been able to look through it all yet.  Pretty heavy reading for the most part and I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

Consciously forcing herself not to glance over at the Colonel this time, Sam replied, "The pain keep you awake?"

Shaking his head slowly, Daniel replied, "Not really."

"Then what?"

Daniel looked towards the ground for a moment as if trying to assemble his thoughts before continuing.  However, Jack stepped in first and said, "We kind of had a hectic night."

Daniel wryly said, "We had a midnight court appearance for one thing."

Coughing slightly, Sam said, "The trial's already begun?  But it's meant to be..."

Daniel didn't let Sam finish, "Not the trial.  Just Jack deciding to give a little impromptu confession in the middle of the night, that's all."

"He what?!"

Jack looked like he wanted to say something but Daniel jumped in first, "It's a long story."

"You've confessed, sir?"

Jack shook his head, "No... see, Danny left out a couple of things when he got me agree to him being Mos'ki."

"Like what?"

"Like, if I go down then I'm taking him with me."

"What?"

"Defending a guilty man's punishable by death."

"Daniel, why the hell didn't you tell me that?"

"Would it have changed anything if you'd known?  You already knew the stakes were high."

Sam recognised the look on Daniel's face.  He hadn't wanted them to know what he was risking.  He'd never have allowed her or Teal'c to knowingly sacrifice themselves the way he had. 

Daniel said, "I needed to be the one to do it, Sam."

The other two took in the tone.  Each of them felt there was something else behind the statement but each remained silent. 

Changing the topic, Daniel said, "Have you got anything new?"

Refocusing, Sam said, "Maybe.  Actually, we found out some interesting stuff about Mar at the archive last night."

Jack said, "Mar?  What did you find?"

"That he's in there for murder, sir."

Jack glanced at Daniel concernedly before sarcastically replying, "Well, isn't that special?"

"Sir, I also found that Marius was a guard in the temple of the star-gods.  That's also where the murder took place.  He's the one Durena was talking about.  The one they think stole the ‘Frisbee'."

Jack and Daniel both, disbelievingly, said, "What?!"

Sam said, "Also, I think I know why he doesn't like Mos'ki."

"Why?"

"I managed to get access to parts of his trial and Mar... See, because he was a guard, he was allowed demand a trial even without a Mos'ki but all he could do was try and get his sentence reduced unless a Mos'ki presented themselves... and he seemed really really sure someone was going to appear to defend him.  But whoever he'd been expecting to defend him never showed and he was sentenced."

Daniel said, "But if he was found guilty of murder and theft... the sentence should have been the same as for Jack.  He should have been executed if no-one would defend him."

"He would have been but his commander spoke up for him and got the sentence reduced."

"What did he say?  Maybe I can cite Mar's case and get Jack's sentence reduced."

"I don't know.  There were three recordings of Mar's trial but the Yas'ki had locked the middle one for some reason."

"Locked it?"

"Yeah."

"And there's no way to get it open?"

"Not without tracking down Yas'ki Habdor or convincing Ish'ki Vollum to unlock it for us.  If you think it's important, I can try and get it unlocked."

Jack said, "Hold it.  There's obviously a reason they locked it.  It might not be such a good idea to find out why."

"I'll be careful, sir, but you and Daniel are both running out of time here."

"Okay, Sam."

Jack said, "And you and Teal'c stick together, all right?"

"We will, sir."

Daniel added, "Seriously, be careful."

"You too."

With that, Sam disconnected and walked out of the speaking-room.  She felt guilty for lying to her CO.  She should have told him about what happened at the archive.  Explained that the reason Teal'c hadn't been with her was because he was standing guard.  Told him that they were in serious danger out here.  But she hadn't.  She knew exactly why Daniel never told them his life was on the line... because then they might have tried to stop him and he couldn't allow that.  Just like she couldn't allow the Colonel or Daniel to die just because it put her life at risk.  Daniel was right, she knew how high the stakes were.  Someone really didn't want the Colonel found innocent and seemed willing to go to some lengths to ensure that didn't happen. 

Walking outside, she saw Teal'c, "Hey."

"How are our friends, Major Carter?"

"I'm not sure.  Something's going on they won't tell me about.  For some reason, the Colonel decided to confess last night."

"O'Neill has confessed?"

"Daniel managed to stop him in the end.  See, Daniel didn't exactly tell us everything, Teal'c.  Turns out that if he can't prove the Colonel innocent then they'll execute him as well.  If the Colonel had confessed, they'd both have died."

"Why did Daniel Jackson not tell us this?"

Sam sighed, "Same reason that I wasn't exactly honest with them either."

"You did not inform them of what occurred?"

"What good would it have done, Teal'c?  All it'd do is get them worried.  It wouldn't change what we've got to do, would it?"

"It would not, Major Carter."

Sam began to cough. 

"You should put the mask back on now, Major Carter."

Sam nodded and, pulling the snake out of her pack, allowed Teal'c to set it back on. 

Sitting in the cell, Daniel felt bad for allowing Jack to go off to the main chamber without him to get breakfast for them both.  Then again, Jack was right.  He had to spend twelve hours in the mine so there was no way he'd be able to avoid Mar or his friends.  And Daniel didn't think Jack was capable of standing by and doing nothing for a second time so, reluctantly, he'd told him to go on his own. 

Jack arrived back in the cell with a couple of bowls of food.  As he was handed a bowl, Daniel saw that breakfast was some type of orange porridge today.  At least it wasn't blue.  Blue food just seemed wrong somehow.

"Thanks."

Sitting down, Jack hesitantly picked up a spoonful.  Tilting the spoon, he watched the runny mixture drip inelegantly back into the bowl.  The thicker residue slopped down and was sucked under with an unappealing gloopy sound. 

Nose wrinkling in disgust, he said, "Feel free to dig in."

Experimentally, Daniel scooped some up and, raising it to his mouth, carefully tasted it.  His face screwed up slightly before he lowered the spoon back into the bowl.

Jack said, "Tastes as good as it looks, huh?"

"Worse, actually..."

Continuing to eat it nevertheless, Daniel tried to ignore the taste.  Jack made a similar face when he tried his but he, too, continued to eat it.  Truth was that they had to eat and they weren't in a position to turn food down just because it happened to taste like unwashed socks. 

Just as they finished, the work bell went. 

Putting down his bowl, Jack said, "Hi ho, I guess."

"See you later, Jack."

The unsaid ‘and watch out for Mar and his friends' was clear in Daniel's concerned expression.  Jack smiled reassuringly before getting up and walking from the room.  The door locked behind him.

Sam was waiting for Kolden.  Teal'c and Mendos were currently fighting to get the Ish'ki to unlock that second file for them.  It was proving difficult as Mar's connection to their case was dubious at best.  That the contents of that second file could do any good was also dubious.  This whole case was going nowhere.  And the trial would take place at dawn of the fourth day which was now less than forty-eight hours away.  And they were still no closer to figuring out why someone would want to destroy the tear.  Sam played aimlessly with her pendent as she waited for Kolden to appear.  Disconnecting it from its chain, she held it up before herself.  For all the good any of the evidence on the stupid thing was going to be.  They'd found nothing.  Absolutely... hey, hold on a second...

As Kolden appeared, he said, "Are you feeling better, Nish'kel Carter?"

Nodding emphatically, Sam motioned for Kolden to detach the mask. 

As he did so, he noted the manic look in her eyes, "Are you sure you are all right?"

As the mask detached, Sam urgently said, "The Fletus Absolana... what's it made of?"

"A synthetic material called Commoneo."

"So your people actually make these?"

"The making of the Fletus Absolana is a complex process.  Only a handful have been made."

"What about Commoneo itself?"

"The material itself is simply made.  It is used in many of our technologies."

"But Commoneo is based on the material of the Fletus Absolnat, right?"

"That is correct.  Of course, we were never able to perfect its composition.  The true material's composition was too complex."

"What properties does it have, in its basic form?"

"To be useful in terms of memory or power storage, it must be interfaced with other technologies.  Of course, its beauty also lends it to use in ornamentation and it forms an extremely good cutting blade."

Connecting her pendent back on, Sam said, "Kolden, could you call over to Mendos's office, please?"

As Sam flickered into life on Mendos's desk com, Teal'c and Mendos looked up. 

Sam said, "The tear was never broken!"

"Major Carter?"

"All this time, we've been trying to figure out why anyone would want to destroy the tear.  I don't think anyone did.  I think they stole it."

Teal'c said, "But did not O'Neill himself say that the remains lay on the ground surrounding the pedestal?"

"No, see, that's what everyone assumed but no-one ever checked that it really was the tear."

Mendos said, "You have lost me, Major Carter."

"I'm talking about Commoneo, Mendos.  You know, the stuff that your people synthesized based on the tear?  I mean, Commoneo's properties are inferior but they look identical, don't they?"

"Yes..."

"I think someone wanted to steal the real tear and had one made from commoneo to switch it with."

Kolden flickered into life as he stepped into the circle to say, "Such a plan would be unsuccessful, Major Carter, they may look identical but commoneo would not support the powering of the temple."

"Powering of the temple?"

"Did I not explain?  Apologies.  The tear was used to power the temple."

"Bear with me here, Kolden.  Say, for argument's sake that someone did switch the tear for a replica one... what exactly would happen?  Would everything just shut down?"

"I have not well explained... the tear is not the source of the energy... we believed the power to come directly from the sun."

"Okay, wait and let me catch up here... are you talking about that ceiling?  It acts as some sort of solar panel?"

"Yes."

"So the tear...?"

"Stored and amplified the energy."

"Some sort of advanced capacitor, then?"

"Yes."

"And commoneo couldn't do that?"

"No.  Connected to the pedestal, it would have the same ability to store and amplify energy but not a fraction of the capacity."

"So what would happen if a replica tear was put in place of the real one?"

"It could not occur.  The power flow would cause it to be destroyed before it had even been set on the pedestal.  There would be no time and anyone attempting such a thing would likely die in the process."

"Damn... wait, you said solar energy, right?"

"That is correct."

"So what if you did it at night?"

"Then... well... nothing would occur... but the instant that the rays of the sun hit upon the ceiling..."

Sam said, "A noise at dawn... That has to be it..."

Turning to Mendos, flickering Sam said, "Mendos, if we could prove that what they found lying in the temple wasn't the tear.  Would it be enough to free the Colonel?"

"He was accused of destroying the tear.  If what was destroyed is not the tear, it would cast doubt upon his guilt."

"But not enough doubt?"
"Without presentation of the intact tear, I do not believe so.  But the Ish'ki may grant leniency in consideration of such evidence.  It may at least save Hoktar O'Neill from execution."

"What about Daniel?"

"If the trial is resolved with the Hoktar's guilt still upheld, he shall be executed irrespective of the punishment suffered by the Hoktar.  His crime is the same in each case - defending one who is guilty."

"So if we don't prove the Colonel's innocent then Daniel dies?"

"Yes."

"Is there any way we can use this information to get some sort of extension before the trial?"

"Perhaps.  If you are correct in your theory and present evidence that what Hoktar O'Neill destroyed was not the tear then Mos'ki Jackson may be able to convince the Ish'ki that more time is needed before a decision can be reached... but Hoktar O'Neill would forfeit all leniencies that the evidence might have brought him."

Knowing that the probability of the Colonel being prepared to save his own ass by leaving Daniel to hang was exactly zero, Sam said, "Mendos, could you put together the necessary information on requesting an extension and get that file unlocked for us."

"It will take some time to get authorisation from the Ish'ki."

"That's okay, we'll come pick it up on our return."

"Return?"

"Yeah... Teal'c, come meet me in the square.  We're going back to the temple."

Turning to the other flickering figure, Sam said, "And Kolden, I've got a favour to ask..."

Daniel had spent the last six hours poring over everything they'd sent him.  The recording of Mar's trial was intriguing but there didn't seem to be much he could use.  Irritably shutting the evidence off, he sat up in the cell.  How was he supposed to prove Jack innocent?  The only evidence that would be any good would be proof positive that someone else had broken it.  And there was nothing to indicate that.

He was pulled from his contemplation as he looked down at his com-band.  It was glowing purple.  That was odd; he hadn't though she and Teal'c would be calling again ‘til tomorrow.  Maybe they'd found something?  Something he could actually use.

Getting up, he unlocked the cell door and walked down the corridor towards the speaking-room.  At least at this time of day he didn't have to worry about other prisoners since they were all away at the mine.  Reaching the speaking-room, he used his com-band to unlock the door and walked in. 

Activating the band, he waited expectantly for Sam or Teal'c to appear.  Neither did.  Waiting, he was confused.  Didn't the com-band only summon him once they were actually in the room waiting for him?  Oh well, he could wait.  Glancing down to make sure his band was working; he saw it looked as if it was functioning normally. 

He said, "Sam?  Teal'c?"

After ten minutes, there'd still been no sign of him.  Maybe the band was malfunctioning or something or maybe his one was accidentally activated.  Sighing, he turned and, unlocking the door, walked back out into the corridor and headed back to the cell.  That had been weird...

Daniel felt the presence behind him a second too late.  Before he could do anything, he felt his arm being twisted up his back and a thick arm clamp tightly around his neck.  By smell alone, he knew who his attacker was. 

Suppressing the fear that wanted to shiver up his spine, he said, "Mar."

Unable to fake nonchalance, he was nevertheless able to make a joke out of it as he said, "...seriously, don't you have anything better to do?"

Mar growled, "You will not free your Hoktar, Mos'ki."

Feeling the pain bite as Mar pushed his arm nearer to breaking point, Daniel quickly replied, "What difference does it make to you, Mar?  Just because Jack's found guilty, it doesn't make any difference to you."

Mar went to say something but then reconsidered and pushed Daniel's arm even nearer to the point where it would break.  Daniel found himself waiting to hear the crack.  And Mar's arm began to tighten around his neck like a vice. 

Looking around at the empty scene, Daniel was struck by a thought.  There were no-one anywhere around here.  And, to be honest, who was really going to care if he died?  Mar might be risking Nok'tal but he hadn't considered up to this point that it was a risk he'd be more than willing to take.  Looking over to the guard circles, he saw they were dull and empty.  If Mar killed him now then who was going to get him for it?

Daniel tried to yell in the hopes an audience might curtail Mar's intentions somewhat but he found that Mar's grip was too tight.  Besides, he thought belatedly, there was no-one around.  They were all still in the mines.  No-one was going to help him.  If he was going to get out of this then it was up to him.  As he choked, Daniel tilted his head forward and then rammed it back into Mar's causing the giant to loose his grip on his neck.  Unfortunately, his grip tightened on his arm and Mar twisted hard.  As bone cracked, Daniel felt like all the blood drained from his body as the dizzying pain struck him.  No longer restricted from doing so, he screamed. 

Dropping Daniel's arm, Mar grinned as he saw it hang uselessly by Daniel's side.  Feeling at his throat with his good arm, Daniel backed off from Mar saying, "I... didn't do anything to you."

He knew it was probably only a matter of time before the pain alone would cause him to collapse but for now he was clinging to consciousness.  If Mar grabbed him again... well, that would probably be it.  He could see from the look in Mar's eyes that this time he didn't just want to hurt him... he wanted him dead.  He had to get away from him! 

Still backing away, Daniel audibly groaned.  Pain radiating from his arm shot through every nerve within him.  Mar could've finished him off by now but, instead, was merely keeping pace with his backwards pacing.  Mar was obviously the sort who liked to savour the moment.  Who gave their prey a fighting chance because that was the only way it was fun.  Strangely, he was looking upon that as a good thing.  That gave him a chance.  Not much of one, admittedly, but still a chance, nevertheless. 

There was still no audience.  Backing further, Daniel wondered how quickly it would be over if he ran.  He had to get away, for Jack's sake...

As Mar reached towards him, Daniel remembered what Sam and Teal'c had told him.  Maybe it wouldn't save him but maybe it could buy him some time, "You were a guard in the temple..."

Mar stopped short at the statement and Daniel didn't hesitate.  Spinning around, he ran full pelt down the corridor.  If he could make it back to the speaking-room, he could lock the door and he'd be safe until the guards returned.

The roar from behind him told him that Mar was only paces behind him.  If he tripped or stumbled then it would all be over.  That would be the end of it.  Even if he didn't, Mar would probably catch up with him before he even reached the main chamber.  His mind was racing even faster than he was.  He was trying to think of some way to use what little he knew about Mar to buy himself more time. 

Then all thought was ripped from his mind as Mar lunged forward and caught him by the arm.  As they both tumbled to the ground, Daniel screamed in agony.  Crashing heavily into the floor, Daniel rolled quickly before Mar could pin him down.  Struggling to an unsteady crouch, he glanced around for something... anything that he could use as a weapon.  But there was nothing. 

Then a glint caught his eye.  The com-band.  Mar didn't have one but... but he did have an implant so...

Slamming down several buttons at once, Daniel waited for Mar to lunge at him.  Allowing him close, Daniel waited for him to grasp him then pressed the final button. 

Suddenly, both of them found themselves in the court-room. 

Breathing heavily, Daniel wheezed, "Reference: Mos'ki.  View."

Still with his hand roughly grasping Daniel's arm, Mar's grip weakened slightly as he looked around.  In a fragmented way everything jumped forward. 

Habdor said, "You have no Mos'ki."

It lurched forward again and the recorded Marius said, "Until a Mos'ki comes to defend me."

Another glitch and Habdor said, "No Mos'ki will appear."

It was only going to distract him for a moment but a moment was all Daniel needed.  Breaking free of Mar's loose grip he slammed the com-band off and took off down the corridor.  Shaking himself free of his trance, Mar raced after him.

Sending the signal to unlock the speaking-room, Daniel saw he was nearing it.  The corridor spun wildly as his rasping breath failed to provide enough oxygen.  He had to get through the door and get it shut before Mar reached him.  It was going to be close. 

Reaching the open door, Daniel swung round it and slammed all his body-weight into the back of it.  As it swung closed, Mar reached the other side.  Desperately, he pressed the com-band again.  The door-bolts slid into place.

Exhausted, Daniel slid down the door.

Mar said, "You cannot hide in there forever, Mos'ki."

Daniel didn't reply.  His broken arm was now making itself known in a very loud voice and his throat throbbed with pain. 

"Come out, Mos'ki."

Daniel didn't reply.  As the adrenaline began to ebb away, he started feeling even dizzier. 

There was no more sound from Mar.  He didn't hear him walking away, though.  Maybe he was lying in wait for him.  Well, he wasn't going to take his chances.  He was staying put until the guards returned.  Besides, he doubted he'd get more than a few paces before he'd pass out. 

The room was still spinning.  Feeling at his throat with his good hand, he wondered how much damage Mar had done.  He knew from the basic field medic training he'd been given that strangulation injuries could become worse over time.  Even gentle pressure on his larynx was causing great pain which was most definitely not a good sign.

Breathing in sharply, he felt the dizziness overcome him and he found himself falling backwards.  Backwards into swirling colours.  Swirling colours surrounding him.  Within him. 

And a distant voice, weak but beautiful said, "Commoneo... desiderium... agnosco et venia."

Disorientated, Daniel tried to determine where he was.  He appeared to be nowhere.  Just hovering in this limbo of colour.  Then even the limbo was sucked away as the blackness took him.

Walking through the grand archway, Sam remembered the way her breath had caught in her throat the first time she came here.  Now it was more a case of her heart being in her mouth as she waited to see if her theory held out or not.  The guards glowered at her as she passed them and entered the inner chamber but she knew they had to let her in because of the pendant that hung around her neck so she simply ignored them. 

Reaching the chamber, her eyes were drawn to the ceiling but, this time; it was because of the absence she instantly felt.  The temple was now lit by normal daylight and was actually hotter than outside.  As she looked up, she saw the ceiling was now full-transparent with no hint of any colour dancing within it.   Where before there had been those startling images there was now nothing and, as she looked around, she realised the writing had vanished from the walls.  That was incredible; the ceiling and walls must have been in some way controlled by the tear.  They obviously couldn't function independently of it. 

Pulling her eyes down again, she saw Teal'c had almost reached the pedestal.  Obviously without the tear, the illusion of the statues couldn't be maintained either.  Around the pedestal, the shards lay, undisturbed.  Reaching his side, Sam bent down and looked at the shards. 

Teal'c asked, "How can we tell if these shards are of Commoneo?"

"Kolden will be able to tell us when we get back to the city.  Open the bag up."

As Teal'c opened the bag Kolden had given them, Sam reached down for a crystal shard.  Jerking her hand back quickly, she sucked on the end of her finger.

"Major Carter?"

Looking down at the small cut on her finger, Sam said, "See why this stuff makes good blades."

Pulling her hand into her sleeve, she carefully picked up a shard and placed it into the bag.  After picking up several, she got back to her feet and motioned to Teal'c that they should head back out.  Again the guards glowered.

Exhausted, Jack trekked back from the mine.  The dinner-bell sounded as he reached the main chamber so, after stopping off to grab a couple of bowls of the oh-so-delicious sock porridge, Jack headed back to their cell.  Receiving the signal from his implant, the door slid open before him and he stepped inside. 

He said, "Hey, Daniel, bet you can't guess what..."

Then he trailed off as he realised his friend wasn't lying on his cot.  Huh?  Where was he then? 

"Daniel?" 

Bowls still in hand, he backed towards the door.  Elbowing the pad to open the door, he backed into the corridor and looked down both corridors.  There was no sign of his friend. 

Fear growing within him, Jack hurried towards the speaking-room.  Maybe Sam and Teal'c had called.  Well, he hoped so because any other reason he could think of for Daniel not being in their cell wasn't good. 

As he reached the speaking-room, he saw the door was locked indicating that it was occupied.  Listening at the door, he couldn't hear anyone speaking.  Resting one bowl on top of the other, he used his other hand to knock on the metal door, "Hey, Daniel, you in there?"

There was no reply. 

"Daniel, it's Jack, are you in there?"

There was no reply.  But why was the door locked if no-one was inside?

"Is anyone in there?  Hello?"

There was still no reply.  Then, he heard a groan. 

"Daniel?!"

Almost too quiet for him to hear, there was a hoarse, "J'ck..."

Daniel sounded awful.  Desperately, Jack shouted, "Daniel, the door's locked!  You're going to have to let me in!"

There was a pause then a high-pitched hum for a second before the door unbolted.  Pushing the door open further, he peered around it.  The blood froze in his veins as he saw the crumpled figure.  The bowls clattered messily to the floor. 

"Daniel!"

But his friend was now out cold.  Kneeling down, he went to pull his friend over onto his back when he saw the shape his already bandaged arm was in.  It didn't take a genius to tell that it'd been broken.  Carefully shifting him so as not to aggravate the injury, he checked the rest of his friend.  No head injuries he could see but a nasty pattern of bruising and small dark spots around his neck indicated he'd been strangled.  Running his fingers across it, he prayed that he'd find it was only surface damage.  Quickly brushing his eyes across Daniel's lips and fingertips he was relieved to see no tinge of blue as yet.  However, he well knew that strangulation injuries could get worse over time and swelling could cause the airway to become blocked.  Apart from that, he had some mild bruising to his other arm and some fresh bruising on his legs and chest suggesting a violent crash into the ground.  Bending down closer to his friend, he heard a wheeze in his breathing that he didn't like the sound of.

Deciding to do something about the arm whilst Daniel was out cold, he searched around for something to bind it with.  He'd need a splint... but... 

His gaze settled on the catastrophe of porridge at the door.  Shifting back over, he picked up the chunky wooden spoons.  Tearing off his grime-covered jacket, he pulled off his T-shirt and proceeded to tear strips off of the bottom of it.  Overlapping the spoons, he bound them with the strips of material to produce a long, if somewhat oddly-shaped splint.  Carefully ensuring it was secure, he laid it beside Daniel's arm.  T-shirt material would work all right to make a sling but it wasn't going to be sturdy enough to hold the splint in place.  Reaching round to the back of his belt, he extracted the sharp shard of ore he'd hidden there today when the guards had been busy breaking up a fight.  He used it to cut ragged strips from his jacket.  Once he thought he had enough, he secured the split above the break.  Now came the part he really hoped Daniel didn't wake up through... 

Beginning the task of setting the bone back into place, he watched Daniel's face.  Good, he was still out.  But, as he began to secure the splint on, he knew that the more he tightened, the more it would hurt like hell.  And the more likely Daniel would...

With an unnatural scream, Daniel snapped into consciousness.  As he went to fight him, Jack grasped his shoulder and said, "Easy, Danny, easy..."

"Jack?"

"Yeah, it's me.  Lie still."

Settling down slightly, Daniel groaned. 

Knowing the splint needed secured more, Jack grimaced, "Listen, Daniel, you've got a broken arm..."

Coughing slightly, Daniel said, "Ya think?"

"...and I need to immobilize it with a splint, okay?"

Daniel nodded.

"This is gonna hurt.  A lot."

Daniel nodded again and braced himself for the pain.  Grabbing the loose strip of cloth, he pulled hard.  Daniel's teeth gritted as the pain hit. 

Trying to distract Daniel from the pain, Jack said, "Daniel, who did this to you?"

Through gritted teeth, Daniel said, "Who d'you think?"

Confused, Jack said, "Mar?"

Nodding, Daniel's face contorted as the pain grew more intense then he said, "Yeah... he... jumped me..."

"Are you sure it was him?"

Breathing in harshly, Daniel snapped, "Guy snaps... your arm in two... he tends to stick in your mind."

"Daniel, it's a half hour walk to the mine and Mar was in front of me all the way.  And he couldn't have been out of my sight for more than five minutes all day."

Daniel screamed hoarsely then, coughing, said, "You sure?"

Nodding, Jack replied, "With all the mining tools about, I like to keep those three where I can see them."

Breathing shallowly as the pain bit deeper into him, Daniel screamed.

"Just a little more, Daniel.  You're doing great.  Nearly finished.  Just a little... there."

As Jack tied the final strip in place, Daniel's breathing began to get back to as near as normal as it could considering he'd been strangled. 

Exhausted, Daniel said, "Jack... Jack... it was him."

"And I believe you.  I just don't see how he could have gotten back here unless..."

Daniel's mind was obviously heading down the same route as Jack's because, simultaneously, they both said, "He teleported."

Jack said, "But how could he?  Has he got control over the implant somehow?  I mean, he used to be a guard in the temple, right?  So maybe he had a better idea how to override the control lockout." 

Daniel tried to pull himself up.  As Jack helped him he said, "Then why wouldn't he just escape?"

As Jack set to work on Daniel's sling, he said, "Ah, didn't think of that..."

"Unless... unless he's got no more control over the implant than we do..."

"Come again?"

"What if someone else sent him back to attack me?"

"Wait, you mean Mar's just the muscle for someone else?"

"Possibly."

"Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Jack, if I'm right... and we can find who it is he's working for... then surely we'll know who set you up."

"Daniel, if you're right then Mar's got friends in high places and we're in a whole lot of trouble here."

After a moment, Jack said, "Think you're going to be okay to move?  We need to get back to the cell."

Daniel nodded, "Yeah, I'll be okay..."

Sam glanced up at the setting sun as they walked upstream.  There would only be one more sunset before the trial.  That was why, despite the quickly growing darkness, she and Teal'c kept going.  They had to get back to the city to tell Daniel what they'd figured out. 

Teal'c, who was carrying the bag of crystal shards, said, "With these, do you believe we shall be able to clear O'Neill's name, Major Carter?"

"I don't know, Teal'c.  I mean, even if these do turn out to be shards of commoneo; it'll still be up to Daniel to convince them that that's enough to throw doubt on the Colonel's guilt.  All we can do is give him something to work with."

"If anyone is capable of convincing these people of O'Neill's innocence, it is Daniel Jackson."

"Yeah, but even Daniel is going to have a tough time with these people.  Teal'c, to free the Colonel, he has to prove for certain that he couldn't possibly have been responsible."

"Do these not do so, Major Carter?"

"You heard Mendos, Teal'c... without finding the real tear still intact, at the most these are going to buy us a little more time."

The encroaching darkness was causing them to slow.  Flicking on her flashlight, Sam continued onwards with Teal'c close behind her.  They could stop and set up camp if it really became impossible to progress further but, until then, they were going to keep going.  Every second was going to count. 

As she went to say something, a large hand clamped across her mouth.  Eyes swivelling, she realised that it was Teal'c's.  As he gently released her, she swung her head round in silent question. 

She followed his rapid hand signals with a growing sense of trepidation.  He'd heard something.  A faint noise in all directions.  And now there were people approaching.  Turning off her flashlight, Sam motioned to Teal'c and the two of them slammed themselves behind the nearest couple of trees.  Peering around the trunk, Sam saw a figure approaching.  There was one that she could see but the footsteps - now audible to her as well - suggested at least another one... possibly two.  Her gun already in her hands, she glanced over to see Teal'c readying his staff.  The Colonel had often accused the staff weapon of being a clumsy weapon but if you saw it in the hands of Teal'c then you wouldn't believe it. 

Keeping an eye on the one figure she could see, Sam tried to ascertain where the others were.  Teal'c seemed to have spotted a second one as his gaze was fixated on a point off to the left.  Unhooking her zat, Sam let her gun hang by its strap again.  It was dark, they were on a strange but not inherently hostile world and the last thing they needed right now was to accidentally shoot innocent people who just happened to be walking through the forest. 

Motioning to Teal'c to stay where he was, Sam switched on her flashlight and swung round to where the figure she could see was.  He was a hulk of a man with a long greasy mess of hair and an expression bordering on madness.  Well, whoever he was, he certainly couldn't be described as an innocent bystander.

Sam demanded, "Stay right where you are."

Not looking particularly intimidated by the fact she was waving a weapon at him, the hulk nevertheless halted and stood looking at her.

She said, "Tell your friends to show themselves."

The man rumbled, "Do what she asks."

Two men appeared from out of the bushes.  If she thought the first guy was a hulk then these guys could only be described as absolute titans.  They looked like they had more muscle per square foot than most people had in their whole body.  They also looked like the type of people to whom monosyllabic conversation was a struggle. 

Deciding that the guy in the middle had to be the somewhat dubious brains of the outfit, she asked, "Who are you?  What are you doing here?"

"We were looking for you."

"Why?"

The man's words sounded slightly scripted as replied, "You are the nish'kels.  The eyes of Mos'ki Jackson."

"How do you know about that?  Who are you?"

"The eyes have seen too much."

Tightening her grip on her zat, Sam said, "Answer the questions."

"Mos'ki Jackson will not be silenced so he must be blinded."

Though still sounding scripted, the man's voice took on a more malicious tone as he continued, "His eyes must be ripped out."

Suddenly, the men vanished.  Sam blinked slowly and said, "Where the hell did they...?"

A huge hand clamped across her face but, this time, it wasn't Teal'c.  The second reason she knew that was because she heard her friend shouting her name from some distance away.  The first reason, however, was that the huge hand was closed right across the lower half of her face.  She couldn't breathe.  The zat was wrested from her in one swift movement and the other arm roughly grabbed the gun hanging from its strap and rammed it violently into her stomach.  As she sharply inhaled from the pain, the absence of air became more keenly felt.  Doubled over, she tried, desperately to grab her knife.  Her fingers closed upon the knife hilt and, bringing her arm back up to waist height, she jerked the knife backwards and rammed it deep into her attacker.  Dots forming before her eyes, she heard the giant bellow in pain.  Still holding her tightly by the face, he flung his arm out so violently that the next thing Sam knew about was the tree trunk rushing to meet her.  Disorientated and gasping, she stumbled to her feet and tried to get a bearing on the man.  He had disappeared.  Getting the grip back on her gun, Sam tried to stay upright as the burgeoning pain in her abdomen threatened to fell her. 

Badly winded from her meeting with the trunk, Sam gasped, "Teal'c?"

There was no noise from her friend.  Teal'c would never have stood by and let that man attack her.  The other two must have caught him equally unawares and even Teal'c would have had trouble taking on those two giants.  Where was he?  And where were their attackers now?

"Te...  Teal'c?"

She heard footsteps again.  Where was Teal'c?  He should have been right next to her.  But he was nowhere to be seen.  The forest was dense and it was getting darker by the second and so it was near impossible to see anything outside of the flashlights beam.  Flicking on the one on the end of her gun, she waved it around in an attempt to see if Teal'c was lying injured.  The footsteps were nearing her again.  Swinging round, she made to fire when she realised it was Teal'c.  The Jaffa looked ready to drop.  She probably looked the same.  They had to get out of here.  The men might reappear at any minute.

He managed a pained, "Major Carter..."

"Teal'c, we have got to get out of here."

Rushing forward to support Teal'c as he stumbled, she realised she needed supported almost as much as he did.  She swayed dangerously under his weight but then, summoning up her reserves, she steadied herself and began to move forward. 

Teal'c said, "I do not... understand what occurred.  They were able to overpower me yet they left."

Sam replied, "Maybe cos... I jammed... my knife into their leader."

 "They possessed the ability to teleport."

Trying to fight the pain by engaging her brain in other matters, Sam said, "My guess'd be... that they've got those implants... like the ones they gave Daniel and the Colonel.  Only... only they've got direct neural control over them... somehow."

"Mendos stated that the only people who are given implants are prisoners and guards."

"They didn't look like guards to me."

"Then perhaps they have escaped?"

Sam, distracted by a new chain of thought, said, "Maybe..."

Noticing the tone, Teal'c, questioningly, replied, "Major Carter?"

"They said they were looking for us.  And their leader... the stuff he said about ripping out... Daniel's eyes... it sounded like something he was being told to say."

"You believe they have been deliberately freed in order to attack us?"

"Maybe we're onto something a lot bigger than we thought.  We have to get the..."

She glanced round at Teal'c, "Where's your pendent?"

Then the implication got to her and, reaching down, she found that her pendent was, also, absent. 

Another thought occurring she yelped, "The shards!"

Teal'c unhooked the bag from his side and said, "They are still in my possession, Major Carter."

Relieved for a moment, Sam's expression grew confused, "See, I don't get that.  Why steal all our evidence but the one thing that might actually get us somewhere?"

"Perhaps they were unaware of their significance."

"Maybe... or maybe we were wrong about not having found anything."

"What do you mean, Major Carter?"

"I mean that maybe we have stumbled onto something important and just not seen the significance."

Helping Daniel lie down on the cot, Jack said, "Think you can try and get some sleep?"

"Hurts too much..."

"Okay, but try not to talk too much, Daniel..."

Daniel smiled slightly as he replied, "For... my benefit or yours?"

Grinning, Jack replied, "Purely mine, of course."

Laying down on the other cot, Jack said, "What did Sam and Teal'c have to say, anyway?"

"Jack?"

"You were talking to them, weren't you?  I mean, I assume that's why you were out of the cell."

"No... well, I thought they were calling but... when I got there, no-one answered."

Translating it into more paranoid terms, Jack repeated, "You mean someone lured you out of the cell with a bogus message."

Realising Jack had a point, Daniel said, "Would... give some weight to the outside agent theory."

Then, suddenly freezing, Daniel said, "Sam."

"Daniel?"

"Jack, if there's someone... willing to have me killed to... make sure you're found... guilty then..."

Seeing Daniel's point, Jack said, "Then they might go after the others."

Rasping slightly, Daniel said, "And we can't warn them..."

Feeling the same fear as Daniel, Jack nevertheless replied, "They know to watch their backs, Daniel.  They'll be okay.  What about you?"

Daniel's eyelids were drooping shut as he said, "I'll survive..."

As Daniel drifted off to sleep, Jack wished he could believe that.  Tired and aching himself he, nevertheless, ruled out sleep as an option tonight.  He needed to keep an eye on his friend. 

Lowering the lights, Jack sat back on his cot and watched Daniel sleeping.  He tried not to think about the impending trial deadline.

He hoped the others would be okay.  It wasn't that he wasn't confident in their ability to look after themselves; it was just hard to be trapped here and unable to warn them.

What he didn't get was why Mar didn't just kill him.  If he died then surely they'd just assume he stole the tear.  But what happened to Daniel in that case?  Did he still get to try and prove his innocence posthumously?  If so then was it something that would come out at the trial that the mystery outside agent was trying to keep buried?

Mar as conveniently Mos'ki-hating muscle seemed pretty plausible but surely it was more than just a coincidence that he happened to be in for a crime that had also occurred at the temple? 

Then he was distracted from his chain of thought as the glow sprung up around Daniel who said, "Oma, please..."

Jumping off his cot, Jack looked at Daniel.  Maybe he'd been wrong about the light coming from an ascended being.  It actually seemed to be coming from Daniel himself.  Whatever was happening to him... seemed to be causing him to glow.  He was speaking to Oma in the dream again.  Was this ‘glowy vision' another flashback to when he'd been ascended like the ones he'd had about R'yac and Bra'tac in that slave labour camp?  Or maybe it was nothing but a jumble of dream images that happened to include Oma.

Daniel continued, "I have to help him!  I can't just leave him here."

After a pause, he continued, "But... but I have to...  I have to... he... he won't...  I really tried... but he wouldn't..."

Jack shushed him.  Pressing his hand down onto his uninjured arm, he tried to show him that he was here as he said, "Easy, Danny.  It's okay."

There were tears rolling down Daniel face now, "No... please...  General... you have to listen... you have to save... have to save him... if you don't... you don't understand... you don't understand... what he asked me to do... I can't... I won't... don't make me... you have to save him... please!"

"It'll be okay, Danny."

Jack decided it must be a jumble of images after all since he'd jumped from Oma Desala to Hammond in the space of a second.  What was happening to his friend?  Dollars to doughnuts it was something to do with the tear of Olnat.  That thing had caused nothing but trouble for them.  And Daniel still had no clue what it was, why he'd been looking for it or why anyone else would want to break the damn thing and pin it on him.  With less than two days left until the trial; that definitely wasn't a good thing.

"I have to save him... there's has to be another way... I won't do it... I can't..."

Jack could see now how he'd misinterpreted what Daniel had said to be relevant to their situation.  He wasn't talking to Oma now... but maybe he was talking to her in the past.

Carefully, he said, "Daniel, listen, it's Jack..."

Daniel replied, "Jack?"

"Yeah... tell me what's happening...."

"I'm sorry... I'd help if I could..."

He didn't have a clue what Daniel was talking about but replied comfortingly, "I know you would, Daniel... it's okay..."

Then the glow became overwhelming. 

It'd been an uneventful half hour that had mainly consisted of putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to fall down.  Sam knew that they should stop and rest.  At least long enough to give Teal'c a shot of Tretonin and for her to wash down a couple of Tylenol and put her snake mask back on for a while.  But she couldn't get the idea out of her head that the men might return to finish the job.  She could only hope their sole concern had been stealing their pendants.  If they came back... well, they hadn't been a match for those men last time and, this time, they were in no fit state to take them on.  She kept one hand on her gun nevertheless.  Teal'c was definitely not in good shape... no, this was hopeless, they were going to have to stop so she could fix him up or their rate of progress would soon be zero miles per hour after he collapsed. 

She said, "All right, we're stopping here."

Teal'c said, "We should continue, Major Carter."

"No offence, Teal'c, but you're not exactly the lightest load.  We'll make better time if we get you fixed up first."

"Very well, Major Carter."

Helping Teal'c to sit down, she unclipped her pack and said, "How you feeling?"

Teal'c didn't reply so, unclipping his pack, Sam began searching through it for his Tretonin.  If Teal'c couldn't even come up with a token ‘I will be fine' then he obviously was far from it.

She froze as she heard a noise.  She locked eyes with Teal'c.  He'd obviously heard it too.  Extracting her hand from the pack, she readied her gun and swung it around.  There was no sign of movement in any direction.  Not that she'd allow that to comfort her this time.  If they'd found them again then they wouldn't need to approach them. 

As she spun around again, she became aware of the blast of Teal'c's staff and a hand flying towards her face.  Before she could do anything, it caught her and drove her head into the trunk of the tree behind her.  Everything cut to black.

"Commoneo..."

Looking around, Daniel tried to figure out exactly where this was.  It didn't seem to be anywhere.  Still, he was feeling slightly more in control of himself than during that last, brief, vision of this place.

Aloud, he said, "Where am I?"

His voice echoed out as if it would continue eternally.

An ethereal voice replied, "Commoneo, desiderium, agnosco et venia..."

He tried again, this time in Ancients, "Where am I?"

The voice came back this time, "This is the memory..."

"I'm in memory?"

"This is the ever."

"‘The ever'?  What does that mean?"

"The ever means nothing.  It is nothing and in that it is everything."

Deciding that asking what that meant would probably only lead to an even more cryptic answer, Daniel changed tact, "Who are you?"

But the voice had changed, "Daniel... Daniel... Daniel... Daniel, wake up..."

That was Jack... Jack trying to wake him up.  No, he had to stay here.  Had to figure out what this was...

But it was too late.  He could feel the slats, that the thin mattress barely softened, pressing against his back.  And the colours had faded away.  His eyes opening themselves, he looked up into Jack's concerned face. 

"Jack?"

"Hey, you okay?"

Nodding slightly, Daniel said, "How long have I been asleep for?"

"Just a little under five hours.  Sorry, I'd have let you sleep longer but you were gonna undo all my good work on your arm the way you were thrashing about.  What is it you dream about, Daniel?  You called out the General's name too this time then said something to me about helping if you could."

For once not having to lie, Daniel replied, "I don't remember that part... just swirling colours all around me and a distant voice repeating the words on the temple wall."

"Well, you were doing your firefly impersonation again.  Daniel, what is going on with you?"

Ungracefully pulling himself up to a sitting position, Daniel coughed, "Wish I knew."

"It was that tear, wasn't it?  It did something to you.  Wish we'd never laid eyes on that damn thing."

There was such a dark look in Jack's eyes that Daniel felt compelled to carefully say, "You didn't destroy the tear, did you, Jack?"

Rolling his eyes, Jack said, "Ah, great, now even my attorney thinks I did it."

"No, I don't... I was just... checking."

"No, Daniel, much as they'd like to believe it I didn't break the damn thing, okay?"

Daniel nodded rather sheepishly.

After a pause, Jack said, "What I don't understand is if that thing was so damned important to them... why were we able to just wander in there the first time?"

Hoarsely, Daniel said, "Because the temple isn't important.  Only the tear was.  And it was sealed inside the statue illusion."

"You got through that easy enough."

"Because I knew how to open it."

"Yes, how did you know that?"

"I don't know.  I just... instinctively knew... but, anyway that's not the point.  The point is that most people wouldn't."

"All right.  Does this go for my case or against it?"

Daniel paused for a second before slumping back, "Well, actually... seeing as how you watched me open it before... which would put you in the minority of people who do know how to open it... against it."

"Ah, ya see, they already found me guilty, Danny, so I really don't think the prosecution's case is gonna need a lot of help from you..."

"Look, my point is that I know you didn't do it so that means someone else did.  Someone else who knew how to get past the statue."

"I still don't see why someone went to all that trouble to break the damn thing.  I mean, you heard Carter... it had to be broken on purpose."

"Neither do I, Jack.  I mean, I guess it's always possible that the whole thing was just to put you in prison but that makes even less sense.  I mean, even if you had pissed someone off that much, there would have been much simpler things to frame you for.  No, it has to be something to do with the tear."

Jack said, "All right, so what changed when it was destroyed?"

When Daniel just blankly stared at him, Jack said more slowly, "What would someone have to gain?"

"I don't know.  As far as these people are concerned, the tear was a sacred relic and a technological marvel but its destruction won't destabilise their society or their religion and they have all the scientific data they could ever need on it from a technological point of view.  Destroying it didn't accomplish anything."

Jack said, "You said as far as they're concerned?  You mean you think it was more than that?"

"I think the triumvirate charged these people to forever guard that temple for a reason.  And I don't think they meant the people to find out that the tear was there..."

After a pause, he said, "Jack, I think it was important to them as well.  And for very different reasons."

"Like what?"

"I don't know... these ‘feelings' are more than a little vague on the details."

"Okay... but these people wouldn't have known about these other reasons anyway, right?"

"Well, all I know is they shouldn't have.  But they shouldn't have even been able to find the tear in the first place so, I mean, it's possible."

"All right, let's assume you don't get any less vague on the specifics.  Bottom line is that we don't know why in the hell anyone would want to destroy that thing, right?"

Daniel replied, "Unfortunately, yeah..."

Glancing down at his watch, Daniel said, "Only six hours left until the start of the trial... Sam and Teal'c are sure cutting this fine."

"Maybe they're on to something."

"Maybe something's happened to them."

"Hey, I think we were supposed to be staying positive here."

Daniel shook his head free of morbid thoughts, "Yeah, sorry..."

Jack said, "Anyway, you could make a case with what you've got, couldn't you?"

"Jack, what I've got doesn't prove anything... and even if it did... Sam and Teal'c have to be at the trial to officially present the evidence or it's inadmissible."

"Then surely they'll delay the trial until they show."

"It doesn't work like that, Jack.  If they don't turn up then we'll probably both be executed on the spot."

Realising he'd gone morbid again, he said, "But that doesn't matter because they are going to show."

As he moved slightly too quickly, the pain he was enduring showed clearly on his face.

Jack said, "How's the arm?"

"Still broken."

Jack came over and looked at the fingers protruding from the sling.  He was glad to see they were still a healthy pink.  He was scared to look at the rest of the arm for fear of doing more harm than good by disturbing it.  The sooner they were out of here and on their way back to the infirmary the better.  And that was going to be the outcome of the trial because thinking about the other one would definitely be construed as negative thinking. 

Rubbing his fingers gently across Daniel's throat, he said, "And this?"

Daniel replied, "My throat hurts... but it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, at least."

Hoping that was honesty rather than a determination to think positive, Jack nodded and sat back on his cot. 

Jack woke with a start.  He hadn't actually been aware of falling asleep.  Daniel's eyes were upon him. 

Jack said, "How long have I..."

Daniel's expression gave him his answer so he, himself, replied, "Six hours, right?"

Daniel nodded morosely.

"And they still haven't...?"

Daniel shook his head and, flatly replied, "No sign of them."

"So when will they...?"

"We'll be transported to the court-room in a couple of minutes and then..."

"Carter and Teal'c could turn up at the trial, right?"

Daniel vaguely shrugged then said, "I'm sorry, Jack... we should never have come here.  None of this would be happening if it wasn't for me."

"Daniel, what's happening isn't your fault.  Someone used me to cover their tracks and the law here really isn't on our side."

 Suddenly, Daniel's com-band flashed white.  Flinching, Daniel shut his eyes for a moment.  Opening them, he said, "Time's up."

Pulling himself to his unsteady feet, he motioned for Jack to join him.  Slowly rising, Jack waited for the...

...moment of disorientation before the glass court-room appeared around him again.  Looking somewhat more awake this time, Ish'ki Vollum and Yas'ki Rellan were in their respective positions.  Jack found that he was, once again, in the ‘dock'.  Daniel was on the pedestal adjacent to Rellan's one. 

Vollum said, "Before the trial commences, does either Mos'ki or Yas'ki have any matters to discuss?"

Daniel said, "Yes, Ish'ki."

"Then speak, Mos'ki Jackson."

"Ish'ki, does anyone know where my Nish'kels are?  They've been out of contact for over two days now."

Tapping buttons on her console, Vollum said, "The last recorded position of your Nish'kels was at the temple of the Dei-stella... but that was a day and a half ago.  You have had no contact with them since?"

"None."

Rellan scornfully interjected, "Ish'ki, this is done in the hope you will postpone the trial.  I really must..."

Vollum silenced Rellan with a look before saying, "Mos'ki Jackson is well aware that there can be no postponement."

Turning back to Daniel, she said, "I will have the guards begin a search for the Nish'kels at once."

Bowing his head, Daniel replied, "Thank-you, Ish'ki."

"This information changes our proceedings somewhat.  Without your Nish'kels, there can be no evidence presented and our laws are very clear in this matter.  Failure to prove innocence - for any reason - means that guilt must be upheld."

"Yes, Ish'ki... therefore I do not plead for the Hoktar's innocence but for your leniency.  The laws are clear but you cannot be blind to what is happening here..."

Indicating his own injuries, he said, "Someone did not want this trial to happen.  They tried to have me killed and, when they failed, I think they have gone after my Nish'kels.  Someone is taking advantage of the Lex Absolrak to hide their own crime."

Rellan injected, "Hoktars are often injured by one another.  It is no indication of conspiracy."

Daniel replied, "It is when the Hoktars were all supposed to be in the mines at the time."

Rellan turned, "Ish'ki, I must protest that we must listen to this man's words without his possession of the slightest evidence."

 Vollum turned to Daniel, "Your plea is heard, Mos'ki..."

"Thank-you, Ish'ki."

Looking like things were taking a more official turn, Vollum continued, "Hoktar O'Neill?"

Jack glanced over at her to show he was listening before looking round at Daniel.  At the moment, the fear in Daniel's eyes was for his fate but, soon enough, it was going to be for his own.

"For the crimes you have committed, I am authorised to deliver the harshest sentence of our world.  However, in consideration of your Mos'ki's plea, I have decided that you shall be returned to the prison and there live out the remainder of your life."

Rellan said, "Ish'ki, I must protest.  He deserves to die for his crime."

Ish'ki Vollum ignored the Yas'ki's complaint and motioned to one of the guards.  Jack felt something press his arm and, looking round, saw that a guard had placed one of the com-band things on him.

Rellan's voice was quickly raised again, "Ish'ki, I really must protest.  Only a Mos'ki may..."

"Yas'ki Rellan, are you questioning the word of an Ish'ki?"

Rellan's whole body posture altered immediately as he deferentially bowed his head and replied, "Of course not, Ish'ki."
"I am glad to hear it, Yas'ki.  He is merely receiving a com-band until such time as his Nish'kels are found.  He should be allowed to know that they are well."

Daniel finally managed to find his voice again, as he weakly said, "Thank-you, Ish'ki." 

Daniel refused to look up into Jack's concerned gaze as Vollum continued, "Mos'ki Jackson, you were aware of our laws when you agreed to become Mos'ki for Hoktar O'Neill.  You understand what must happen now."

Jack said, "No!  Lock me up for all I care but let Daniel go!  All he's guilty of is trying to protect me!"

Flatly, Daniel asked, "Ish'ki, may I request something, before we proceed?"

"You may, Mos'ki."

"Send Hoktar O'Neill to the prison before we go on."

Jack knew what was coming next and yelled, "No way!  Daniel, I am staying, all right?"

Vollum said, "Very well, Mos'ki."

Jack yelled, "Daniel!  No!"

But his cry never reached Daniel's ears and, instead, rebounded against the metal walls as he reappeared in their... his cell.

In a voice, quieter but infinitely more lost, he repeated, "Daniel... no."

Standing against the wall, he looked round at the two cots and felt so disorientated he wondered, for a moment, if he was being transported somewhere.  Then he realised it was his head that was spinning.  Sliding down the wall, Jack felt the utter devastation of total helplessness.  He was on the banks of the river, again, with hope for Daniel's survival fading with every second he didn't resurface.  Only now the fear was for all his team.  He'd lost his footing and fallen into this ‘river'.  They'd dived in after him... and now all of them were ‘drowning'. 

His face felt wet again as the tears began to flow so thickly that he couldn't see anything but a blur of colour.  He was trapped here - unable to help them.  He could only hope the SGC would come looking for them and save Carter and Teal'c - if they were still able to be saved.  However, even if the two of them were okay and had found whatever Daniel needed to prove him innocent... it was too late.  Too late for Daniel.   

He wanted to stop the tears.  Tears were an indulgent luxury and he didn't deserve them.  He had to find a way out of here.  Out of this.  He had to find the others.  He had to...

"Jack?"

Jack couldn't see past the tears so he viciously wiped them away as he looked around.  He couldn't see Daniel anywhere.  Was he imagining it?

"Jack, can you hear me?"

Jack looked around, "Daniel?"

"Yeah, Jack, it's me."

Pulling himself to his feet, Jack asked, "Where are you?"

"Well, unless I've gone blind then I take it I'm in a Nok'tal pit.  Are you okay?"

"You... but they were going to kill you."

"Don't ask me why but Ish'ki Vollum sentenced me to Nok'tal instead."

"Daniel, why can I hear you?"

"I'm talking to you through the com-band, Jack.  We're close enough for the band's signal to be picked up... well, the audio signal anyway.  Are you okay?"

He knew Daniel could hear that he was far from okay so Jack just replied, "The guy who just got sentenced to life in the pit of the damned's asking if I'm okay?"

Daniel's tone was light as he replied, "‘Pit of the damned' really is a bit of an overstatement.  It's dark.  That's about it."

"Daniel, for god sake, don't pretend you're okay with this."

"I'm safe, Jack.  Teal'c and Sam'll work something out."

"Daniel, they knew when the trial was and they knew what would happen if they were no-shows.  Whatever reason they didn't show up... well, I don't think we can rely on them to get us out of this."

"The SGC'll come up with something."

"Daniel, forgive me for this, but you're usually doom and gloom guy when we get into a situation like this."

"Yeah, but you're gloomy enough for the both of us, right now.  Figured I'd be pep talk guy for a change." 

"I'm not gonna believe you're okay with this, Daniel.  So there's no point pretending.  I'm not gonna feel any better."

"Worry about yourself, Jack.  I'm safe down here... but Mar's still up there with you and there's nothing in the way of him and his friends trying to kill you.  Stay the hell away from them."

"Yeah but surely I'm just another Hoktar now the trial's over.  I don't think I've got all that much to worry about."

"I don't know.  Mar seems like the type who finds a target and sticks to it."

Knowing Daniel was probably right, Jack replied, "I can defend myself now, right?  No more Ghandi?"

"They think you're a criminal anyway, Jack, but watch you don't get yourself landed down here."

"Could I do that?"

"Only if you tried to attack the guards or something."

"And I'd be down there with you?"

Realising where Jack's thoughts were headed, Daniel said, "Jack... don't get any ideas."

"You were the one telling me it's not that bad down there.  That I'm not safe up here?"

"Yeah, but what if I'm wrong?  What if they don't come through for us?  I'm not gonna be responsible for you being stuck down here forever."

"Oh, but you're perfectly happy for me being responsible for you being stuck down there forever?"

Daniel voice was so quiet that Jack was convinced he hadn't been meant to hear it, "Yeah, but there's a difference between us, Jack.  I deserve this."

"And how exactly do you figure that?!"

The startled tone to Daniel's voice convinced Jack that he hadn't been meant to hear the last comment, "Jack, I..."

"You think you deserve to be trapped in the dark forever?  Why exactly would that be?"

Dully, Daniel said, "Jack, we both know that ‘forever' is pushing it in my case."

Jack knew Daniel was right.  Without medical attention, Daniel was unlikely to last long.

"You're still not answering my question, Daniel."

"I need to sleep, Jack."

"No, you need to tell me what's going on.  No-one, excluding Mar, deserves to spend their lives alone in darkness.  And if you think I'm just gonna..."

"Jack, watch your back.  I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Suddenly, the slight hum of the com-band cut off, "No, Daniel?  Daniel?!  Damn!"

Violently thumping the wall, Jack examined the com-band attached to his arm.  No-one had showed him how to work it so he didn't know how to contact Daniel.  Damn it.  What was Daniel talking about?  How could he think he deserved that? 

Sam wearily looked up and saw the sun was high in the sky.  Her ropes were biting nastily into her so she tried not to move too much to prevent her skin from being torn off.  Sleeping upright really wasn't all that restful.

When she'd finally awoken after her unpleasant meeting with the tree, she'd found herself bound tightly to it.  Teal'c was similarly bound to a neighbouring tree.  She didn't understand why their attackers hadn't just killed them.  Why leave them tied up out here?

She glanced over at Teal'c who was morosely scanning the ground.  He was visibly weakening as time dragged on. 

"Teal'c?"

Teal'c glanced round at her.  His eyes were full of barely-concealed guilt and sadness as he said, "We are too late.  The trial was to take place early this morning."

Sam tried to stay positive, "Maybe Daniel came up with something.  Or maybe they postponed it when we didn't show."
Teal'c's eyes dropped back to the ground, "From what I understand of the laws of this place, our absence would not have delayed the trial.  Nor would Daniel Jackson have been able to construct a defence without evidence.  And sentences are carried out immediately upon their pronouncement.  We are too late."

Sam closed her eyes.  She wanted to believe her own words but, really, she couldn't help but think that Teal'c was right.  He must've been awake this whole time.  Watching the sun climb higher and higher in the sky and knowing that the more it rose; the less hope there was for their friends.  

Knowing that, with the Colonel presumed dead, she was in command, she snapped, "I don't want to hear it, Teal'c.  And that's an order."

Teal'c fell silent.  Sam knew that it wasn't because she'd ordered him to but because, by giving him the order, she'd shown him she wasn't ready to face up to that possibility just yet.

Teal'c was watching the forest around them for their captors.  The men had yet to reappear.  Their lack of vigilance, however, had been more than compensated for by the strength of their rope and skill with their knots.  The entire night, he had fought to free himself but had nothing for his trouble but bleeding gashes on his arms, legs and chest.  He was also greatly fatigued from his injuries, lack of sleep as well as long overdue for a shot of tretonin.  For not the first time since he had lost his symbiote, he keenly felt its absence.  But he would not dwell on that.  If his people were ever to be free from their slavery then they would have to overcome foolish notions that their true strength lay in their symbiote.  He had come to understand that its loss had not weakened him but it was a lesson newly-learned and not always easy to believe.  However, its loss was unimportant at this moment.  There were losses far greater.  Major Carter still held onto her hope that their friends were somehow all right.  Teal'c wished to believe that but knew that it was very likely untrue.

If he had known what a Mos'ki must risk, he would have taken the role in Daniel Jackson's stead.  But Daniel Jackson had not told them of the risks because he would not willingly risk any life but his own.

He remembered that, only weeks before now, he and Daniel Jackson had been meditating in his quarters with a closeness between them that there had seldom been even before his ascension.  And Daniel Jackson had told him that he had never felt himself to belong anywhere but that he had come to realise that he belonged with them.  It seemed unfair that he had come to such a realisation only to be taken from them in this way.  And O'Neill, his friend... had he survived all they had endured to die merely because of the relative position of three stars in the sky?  It was not a death worthy of a warrior as great as O'Neill.

Walking back from the mines with his head hung down, Jack tried not to lose what little hope he had left.  Daniel's disturbingly pragmatic view on the whole ‘pit of the damned' thing was almost more worrying than anything else.  What on earth could have made his friend think that he deserved to be in that pit? 

Lost in contemplation, Jack didn't notice Mar's friend, Haden, nearing him until the titan said, "O'Neill..."

Glancing round, he saw Haden leering at him.  Turning away, he saw that Mar's other friend, Gorgas, was on his other side.  That could only mean...

Casually, as he turned, he said, "Hey, Mar..."

As Mar came into view, he said, "... how you doing today?"

"You were not supposed to survive the trial.  I think it is time you were removed, O'Neill."

As they entered the central hall, Jack looked around.  Despite the crowd, there'd be no point calling for help.  Hoktar-killing was merely a spectator sport for the guards.  No-one was going to come to his aid. 

Backing away, Jack said, "Much as I'd like to be out of this place; I get the feeling that wasn't exactly what you had in mind."

Then Jack looked at the throng of people around him.  Every prison had a set of unwritten rules and, whilst they varied, there was a pretty constant one: signs of weakness were not a good thing.  Maybe he could use that fact to even the odds a little.  But first, this had to become a show...

Louder, he said, "All right, Mar.  You want to kill me?"

As people began to back off to a position that offered relative safety but a good view, he continued, "Well?"

Mar replied, "We shall kill you."

"What it takes three of you now?  Am I that scary, Mar?  Or is it just that you're a coward?"

He saw from Mar's expression that he'd got him, "I am not a coward.  But you are right.  It does not take three of us to kill one like you..."

For a moment, it looked like Mar himself was going to step forward as his sole challenger but, wincing slightly, he seemed to think better of it and, backing off, he folded his arms. 

He said, "He is yours, Haden."

Right, Jack thought as he readied himself, we've established this is a two-man fight.  So now it's even odds if we ignore the fact that Haden should really count as two people all by himself. 

That was all the thinking time he got as Haden lunged for him.  He ducked and rolled out of the way.  That earned him a ragged cheer from the crowd.  As Haden tried to regain his balance, Jack sprang to his feet.  Turning, Haden lunged again and, again, Jack dodged.  This time, though, he merely ducked the fist and, sharply, brought his elbow up into face.  As the giant bellowed and buried his face in his hands, Jack quickly retracted his elbow then sent it slamming into Haden's stomach.  As he doubled over, Jack grabbed him by the cloth of his top and sent him careering heavily into the metal wall.  Rebounding, Haden turned and, this time, he didn't miss.  Grabbing Jack, he drove him to the ground with such a crack that Jack wondered if something was broken.  He didn't have much time to consider the possibility, however, as this was most definitely not a position he wanted to stay in because Haden had the undeniable weight advantage.  Rolling quickly before Haden could pin him down, he stumbled unsteadily to his feet.  With blood trickling down his face from his bleeding nose, an enraged Haden's fist met with his cheek so hard that Jack was amazed it didn't go right through it and out the other side.  Dazed, he crashed into the wall and slumped against it as the salty tang of blood filled his mouth.  Pulling himself up, he narrowly avoided another sledgehammer fist.  The crowd was definitely on Haden's side now. 

Spitting the pooled blood out of his mouth, Jack lunged straight for Haden.  The crowd parted as the two men stumbled out of their ‘arena' with each fighting to get the upper hand.  But, whilst Haden was strong, Jack was very experienced in getting the upper hand.  Drawing back far enough to land a couple of punches of his own, Jack watched Haden stumble unsteadily back into the ‘arena'. 

Suddenly, with an unearthly roar of rage, Haden charged at Jack.  Without enough time to get out of the way, Jack was ploughed into but, leg lashing out, he cut Haden's legs out from under him and, with Haden arcing backwards, they fell. 

There was a sickening crack as Haden's head made contact with the floor.  Jack pulled himself from the giant's limp grip and stumbled to his feet.  The men who had been cheering and yelling fell silent as Haden failed to arise. 

Mar said, "Haden?!"

The guards, who had been watching with interest quickly approached.

The one that appeared to be in charge, shouted, "Back to your cells."

The prisoners filtered slowly away.  Mar and Gorgas looked like they were going to argue but, when one of the guards moved towards them, they turned and headed after the others.  Jack was still watching Haden lying there with his neck at an impossible angle.  The see-through guard reached down to Haden's neck and, suddenly, he was fully visible. 

Helplessly, Jack said, "I..."

The guard said, "Silence, Hoktar."

As Jack fell silent, the guard unclipped something from his belt.  It was that small silver device that looked like a ninja throwing star with flashing lights on it.  Turning Haden over, he attached the star to the neck implant and twisted it sharply.  He disconnected it and put it back in his belt.  Suddenly, Haden vanished. 

As the guard turned to him, Jack hurriedly said, "It was self-defence... you all saw..."

See-through again, the guard snorted, "We have little care what one Hoktar does to another."

"You... really don't care if we kill each other?"

"It is of no consequence to us."

"What did you... do to him?  What does the star thing do?"

"Cancels reintegration.  Now go to your cell."

"That's how they execute people, isn't it?"

"It is and I will give you a personal demonstration if you do not return to your cell as I ordered."

Hurrying away, Jack looked back to where Haden had lay.  It had been self-defence.  Kill or be killed.  And it was probably not the last time he was going to have to make that choice in here.  And the guards really didn't care.  He thought about that star on the guard's belt.  It was how they would have been executed.  Swift, and probably painless, but the thought of death by disintegration sent a swift chill down his spine. 

As he kept walking, Pragmatic Jack took over.  Haden's death did have certain advantages (...god, Daniel would hate him if he ever knew some of the things he thought...) because now Mar had one less crony and wouldn't be so quick to come after him knowing that he was both willing and able to kill if need be.  Also, in a place like this, any show of strength was going to earn you a certain amount of respect - something he'd been in very short supply of since he'd run off and let Mar use Daniel like a punching bag. 

Thoughts of Daniel made him glance down to his comband.  He froze.  The sleek metal band had cracked and it was now hanging off of his arm.  The controls upon it were dark.

Pulling it off to look at it, Jack said, "No, no, no... No!"

Desperately pressing at the buttons, he said, "Daniel?!  Daniel, do you read?  Daniel, respond!"

Giving his friend a chance to respond, he felt his heart sink.  His one link to Daniel... severed.    

Waking slowly, Daniel wondered where he was for a moment.  Then his brain came alive and he sighed deeply.  Wincing, he pressed down on his ribs.  Two were probably broken and several more were bruised.  He ached all over.  Well, at least Mar wasn't going to be able to add any more of his ribs to the collection. 

Looking around... well, moving his head around in the darkness... he began to move across the earthy ground.  Feeling the floor with his good hand, he got his bearings from the markings he'd made and made his way to the wall.  Feeling up it, he found the groove he'd made.  Using his fingers to feel carefully along, he drew a second groove - one for each day he'd been down here.  Well, for each time they fed him... he figured that was only once a day.  Without that, he'd have no clue how long he'd been down here because an hour could stretch like a month in this place.  But he had to stay strong... even now as hope for his friends' lives and his freedom ebbed ever away... he had to keep it together.  Concentrate on keeping track of the time... figuring out what had happened... trying to understand what was happening to him... what had been happening to him ever since he'd seen that accursed tear.  Why couldn't he have just left well enough alone?  Just left the past where it should be... why couldn't he have just left the past where it belonged? 

Sighing, he reached down to his com-band and said, "Jack?"

Only the gentle hum of the com-band could be heard. 

He tried again, "Jack?"

Figuring he'd give his friend a minute, he pulled himself to an unsteady crouch.  The ceiling in here was too low for him to stand fully upright.  Walking, hunched, across the room, he managed to locate the opposite wall.  Feeling for the marks he'd made, he trailed down to where the bucket was set.  Fingers closing around the ladle, he set it to his lips and drank deeply.  The water was warm and filthy but the only alternative was dehydration.  As he down against the wall, he sighed again.  What a mess this all was.  He was facing an eternity of darkness; Jack, a life in prison and Sam and Teal'c... anything could have happened to them.  He was sure there was no earthly reason that would have kept them from being at that trial.  No, something had to have happened to them. 

This was all his damn stupid fault.  He'd brought them here.  Thinking of the scarring on his now broken arm, he wondered if maybe Jack had been right all along.  Maybe it had been a warning.  A warning he'd read wrong because he was so damn desperate to know what had happened when he'd been ascended.  So wanted to be able to believe that ‘Arrom's' reluctance to remember came from a natural fear; not a buried memory of something terrible he'd done whilst he was ascended.  Something that he'd never be able to make up for.  Something so terrible that he'd rather remember nothing than remember that. 

Then he became aware of the fact there'd still been no reply from his friend, "Jack?"

Still nothing.  maybe Jack was asleep.  He'd lost all track of time down here in the dark....

"Commoneo..."

Looking around at the darkness, Daniel said, "Who said that?"

The female voice echoed around the cell, "...desiderium..."

Daniel wondered if this was another vision or whether the eternal darkness was beginning to take its toll on his mind as the voice droned on, "...agnosco... et venia..."

As it repeated the phrase, Daniel found himself slipping into the limbo of swirling colour once again.  It seemed clearer this time.  More vivid.  Of course, the external distractions in this pit were negligible. 

Finding his voice, he said, "What are you?"

"Commoneo, desiderium, agnosco et venia."

Switching to ancients, Daniel said, "What are you?"

The voice replied, "I am the memory.  I am the regret.  I am the forbidden knowledge.  I am the path not chosen."

Deciding maybe asking a slightly different question would get a slightly less cryptic response, Daniel asked, "Who are you?"

"The name of Olana would not be incorrect.  Yet I am not Olana."

Hoping he wasn't in for yet another dose of cryptic, Daniel said, "Then what are you?"

"I am her memory.  I am her regret.  I am the knowledge forbidden to her.  I am the path she did not choose."

"What is your purpose?"

"I have none.  None but to wait."

"What are you waiting for?"

"For the fallen one.  For Olana."

Hoping that at some point he'd find a question he understood the answer to, Daniel asked, "Where is she?"

"I do not know.  There is no sight; there is only memory."

"How long have you waited?"

"I do not know.  There is no time; there is only memory."

"What do you remember?"

"That which is Olana yet that which she cannot be."

Very carefully wording the question in the hopes of finally getting something approximating a straight answer, Daniel slowly asked, "Why can Olana not be that which you remember?"

"She is fallen.  I am her starlight.  Only in the sky may she shine.  That is the word of the brothers of Olana."

Daniel went to ask another question when he suddenly thought about what she'd just said.  Olana was ‘fallen', stripped of her ‘starlight' and without her memory of ‘forbidden knowledge'... Olana... Olana had descended, hadn't she?  That was what all that other stuff had been about.  Her brothers must have stripped her of her powers and her memories just like he suspected Oma or the others had done to him.  That had to be it.  But that still didn't really explain...

Suddenly, Daniel felt the world spin around him and he found himself standing in the temple before the statue of Olana.  As he looked at it, something began to happen.  It wasn't sudden... you weren't aware of anything changing until it had already changed... but, somehow, standing before him was not a marble statue but a moving person.  Though her statue had shown she was beautiful, Olana was unbelievably beautiful in the flesh.  As she raised her head, she smiled shyly at him, "Daniel..."

"Do we know each other?"

Olana shook her head, "I am a memory from long before you were born."

"Then how do you know my name?"

"We are within your mind."

"So you know my name because I know my name?"

Another shy smile and gentle nod, "That is correct."

She continued, "I am sorry I was so cryptic before.  For millennia I have been without awareness.  I am only memory."

"So you're...?"

"I am the memories and knowledge Olana possessed when she was ascended.  Memories and knowledge that her brothers would not allow her to keep when she chose to descend."

"Chose to descend?  Why?"

Gesturing upwards, Olana pulled Daniel's gaze to the ceiling.  The images were all there in his mind the same as in the real temple.  And suddenly, they shifted dramatically then ceased to move altogether.  And there lay the story he'd been searching for.  Beginning, of course, with the stars...

Olana's voice began, "We were a part of the great mass of the ascended.  Three stars in a starry sky."

Shifting his gaze right, he heard her say, "But I left the others.  I could not stand idle and watch as the Goa'uld enslaved the galaxy.  I convinced my brothers to come with me."

Moving his eyes forward to Jack's ‘stormy night', he heard her continue, "We freed these people from the Goa'uld and I instructed them in absolute mercy."

As he shifted his gaze right, she continued, "But I did not truly understand your species.  I did not understand that if you are always shown compassion you never learn the error of your ways.  And the people here grew violent and corrupt."

Moving his eyes again, he heard her continue, "Olrak realized that you needed punishment... but he went too far with it.  His judgments were final and his punishments harsh.  He was as quick to condemn as I was to forgive.  The people grew afraid.  To them we were as the Goa'uld had been.  That had never been my intention."

Flicking his eyes to the next image, he waited for her voice, "Olnat had always been the wisest one of us.  He told us that the people must lead themselves.  That we must give them laws then leave them to find their own path."

Daniel's eyes were drawn down from the ceiling as Olana softly sighed, "But I could not bear to leave.  For I had fallen in love with a human male and I wished to descend so that I could be with him.  My brothers tried to turn me from my course but I would not be turned."

Daniel said, "But why did they do this?  Store your memories like this?"

"Both my brothers believed I would come to regret my decision... but they were leaving and did not intend to return.  They wished for it to be possible for me to ascend again.  If I grew discontent and began to long for that which I did not remember then the tear would call to me and I would be drawn to it.  And it would allow me to access my memories and ascend once more."

She said, "But I know from your mind that it has been millennia since I was created...  Olana has long since died.  She was not called here."

"Maybe she didn't regret it after all."

"I never believed that I would.  I am glad I was correct."

Then, slowly, Daniel said, "You called me here, didn't you?"

"You came here once... with another you call Oma."

"I did?  How do you know that?"

"The memory is within you."

"You mean you can access memories that I can't?"

"This vessel in which I reside... the material is designed to facilitate the retrieval of my memories.  Those swirling colours which you saw were designed to activate the dormant memories once Olana had retrieved them.  Within you, a buried memory was retrieved.  It must have been one of some strength as the time you looked upon the tear was so brief."

"But why did you call me here in the first place?"

"I was not awareness then... I was only memory.  I felt only your need, your hunger to remember.  I could not recognize that you were not Olana... only that you were fallen, as she was and that you had once been here, as she had."

After a pause, she said, "So I reached out to you and awakened the memory of this place.  Made you wish to come here."

Daniel said, "Wait... how am I talking to you now?  I mean the ‘vessel' in which you ‘reside' was destroyed."

"I know this from your memory and I do not understand.  I would have believed that my existence would cease with the destruction of the vessel.  Perhaps I am merely an echo within your mind of that which once resided within the vessel."

"If you know everything I know then you know what has happened to me and my friend.  Do you know anything that could help us?"

Shaking her head slowly, she replied, "There is no awareness.  There is no vision.  There is no time.  There is only memory.  I am sorry."

Then, she bowed her head and, subtly, became a creation of marble once more.  The temple, however, did not disappear. 

"Olana?"

Then, he thought of the vision... the one he'd been trying to hide from all this time.  If he ever wanted to understand what had happened when he'd been ascended... then he had to be willing to take the consequences that went with it.  Carefully, he bypassed the statue illusion to reveal the tear.  Okay, so this wasn't the real tear but maybe looking into it would help him see what he'd refused to. 

Looking into it, he felt the colours take him inwards.  He felt them swirl and turn around him.  Then the flashes began.  At first, they were slow, juddering, but they gained momentum until they were a torrent. 

As his eyes snapped open to the darkness of the cell, Daniel looked around wildly.  How could Jack not have told him?  No wonder he'd seemed distant... and reluctant to talk about what had happened whilst he was ascended... How could he have kept this from him? 

Pressing down on his com, he said, "Jack...?"     

Hanging lifelessly from the tree, Sam was sleeping.  As the sun crept slowly over the horizon, it sent its blinding light straight into the eyes of the sleeping Major.  Blearily squinting, Sam irritably turned her head away from the unbearable brightness.  As she did so, she became aware that there was something in the long grass before her that was glinting in the light.  Nudging it experimentally with her boot, she saw that it was a shard of the ‘tear'.  Long, narrow and, most vitally, sharp.  Gingerly, she nudged it onto the toe of her boot but, as she tried to raise it, it slid off.  No, this was hopeless, she'd never be able to get it to her hands like this. 

Pressing her heel against the tree, she pushed hard.  After what seemed like an eternity, she managed to push her boot off.  Then, rubbing her sock up and down on the trunk, she slowly managed to pull it off as well.  Okay, so far so good but now came the tricky part...

Wincing in apprehension of the pain, she caught the shard of crystal between her toes.  She intook breath sharply as the jagged crystal rasped across her skin but didn't even pause before curling her leg around the back of the trunk.  Trying to grasp at the shard with her hand outstretched as far as it could go in the current condition, she winced again as she sliced the tops of her fingers.  Straining her foot more, however, she managed to get it into a position where her fingers could curl enough to clumsily grasp it.  Grabbing it tightly, she knew her hand was already cut to ribbons.  Trying to ignore the warm sensation of blood welling up, she set to work on the ropes. 

As the crystal did its work, Sam could feel the blood dripping from her clenched hand.  Hopefully something sharp enough to do what it had done to her hand was going to make short work of the ropes.  This proved to be true when the rope snapped and Sam, exhausted, collapsed forward.  Landing dazed on the grass, she coughed dryly. 

Her first thought was for her friend.  Coughing again, Sam began to crawl towards the motionless form of Teal'c.  Pulling herself up on his ropes with her uninjured hand, she rasped, "Teal'c..."

The Jaffa didn't stir.  Pressing her fingers against his neck, she felt a weak thrumming.  He was alive but wouldn't be for much longer without Tretonin.  Slicing through the ropes, she stumbled as the weight of an inert Teal'c proved to be too much for her in her dehydrated state.  Manhandling him clumsily to the ground, she winced apologetically as he thumped into it.  Scrambling over to where their packs had been left, she raked through Teal'c's frantically with her good hand.  She paused as her searching fingers closed upon one of the vials.  Quickly extracting it, she rushed over to Teal'c and pressed it into his arm.  As the liquid vanished, she pulled the vial back out and cast it aside.  Scrambling back over to the pack in an ungraceful hybrid between crawling and jumping, she grabbed out the medkit.  Opening it with one hand, she gingerly opened her bloodied hand.  Using the thick cloth of the pack as protection, she pulled the crystal out of her hand.  Her hand was a total mess.  Once she'd awkwardly bandaged it using her good hand and her teeth, she grabbed out the water canteen.  Setting it to her lips, she drank a couple of mouthfuls before pulling herself back over to Teal'c's side.

Raising up his head and shoulders onto her lap, she cradled his head in her bandaged hand and carefully poured a small amount of water into his mouth.

Laying Teal'c back down, she took another drink from the canteen before, unsteadily, getting to her feet.  There was no telling if the men would reappear but it would be a very good idea if they weren't here if that happened.  Unfortunately, they were going to be unable to get back to earth unless they got the gate reactivated.  Without their weapons, they were completely vulnerable - especially in their current state.

Movement behind her made her turn.  Teal'c looked to be awakening. 

Kneeling down beside him, she said, "Teal'c..."

Teal'c's eyes opened slightly and, dazedly, he focused upon her, "Major Carter...?"

Smiling, Sam replied, "Hey, Teal'c... ya had me worried for a minute there."

He went to say something but began to cough.  Quickly, Sam grabbed back up the canteen, and pushing Teal'c's head up said, "Here, drink some of this...."

After Teal'c had swallowed the water, he said, "Thank-you, Major Carter."

"Think you can sit up?"

As he nodded, she helped him up so that his back was resting against the trunk of the tree.  Handing him the water canteen, she headed over to get the med kit.  By the time she got back over, Teal'c was conscious enough to have seen the trail of blood. 

"You are injured, Major Carter."

Exhibiting her bandaged hand, she said, "Just cut my hand cutting myself loose."

Opening the med kit, she set about treating Teal'c's wounds.  The deep cuts where the ropes had bitten into him were an angry red.  As she began washing out the wounds with saline, she said, "The Tretonin should deal with any infection."

Once everything was dressed, Sam set to work on her foot.  Unlike her hand, the shard hadn't done too much damage to her foot and a simple dressing was sufficient before she retrieved her sock and boot.  As she placed them back on, Teal'c said, "I should attend to your hand, Major Carter."

"I bandaged it already, Teal'c.  It's fine."

"There is already blood on the outer bandaging, Major Carter."

Looking down, Sam saw he was right.  Her hurried bandage was already turning red.  Teal'c gestured that she should give him her hand.  Obliging, she winced as he unravelled the makeshift bandaging.  Teal'c's habitually placid expression grew concerned as he saw the bloodied mess that was once her hand. 

Carefully washing the hand with saline, Teal'c began to redress the hand with meticulous care and a gentleness that was Teal'c's very essence and yet few knew he possessed - besides her, the Colonel and Daniel... 

Thoughts of her friends brought the current situation back to the forefront of her mind.  Teal'c glanced up from his work and saw Sam trying to regain her composure.

Shifting his gaze back to her hand, he said, "You think of O'Neill and Daniel Jackson."  It was a statement; not a question. 

Nodding bitterly, Sam said, "What if you're right?  What if they really are dead?  Teal'c, what would we do?"

Though his inner turmoil was equal to hers, Teal'c summoned his strength and calmly replied, "I do not know, Major Carter."

"We can't have lost them like this... we just can't!"

Knowing that the chances of finding their friends alive and well upon their return to the city were almost non-existent, Teal'c knew that a time of grief must almost surely be ahead.  But that time was not now.  They were still marooned, unarmed and injured.  If he had truly lost his two friends he would not dishonour their memory by allowing grief for them lead to his or Major Carter's deaths.  His friends would never have wished that. 

"Major Carter, what do you suggest as our next course of action?"

"I don't know!  I don't know what to do!  I'm not like the Colonel!  I can't just come up with a way out of any situation!"

Thinking of the doodle, she added, "He was right, I'm just a useless egghead!"

Harshly, Teal'c replied, "O'Neill would be ashamed to hear you speak thus!  You have been his lieutenant for seven years and you say you have learned nothing from him?"

Sam looked taken aback by the outburst from Teal'c.

The tears now threatening to fall, Sam said, "He trusted me to find a way to save him and Daniel and I couldn't and now they're..."

Gentler now, Teal'c said softly, "There will be time for sorrow, Major Carter... but that time is not now.  We are in grave danger until we can find a way to return to earth."

Nodding, Sam looked down.  When she looked back up, it was like a wall had fallen just behind her eyes.

Levelly, she said, "Okay, well we're cut off from the gate until we can get back up the river to the city.  So I guess we had better head back there.  Think you're going to be able to walk?"

"The Tretonin does its work, Major Carter.  I grow strong once more.  What of your condition?"

"I'll be fine but I don't fancy either of our chances if those men appear right now so I think we had better move out."

"Very well, Major Carter."

Despondently playing with the broken com-band, Jack wondered how many times Daniel had tried to contact him by now.  Had he realised yet that they couldn't talk to each other anymore?  It wasn't fair.  Fate had already seen to it that they were set to rot in jail... had it really been necessary to sever their only link to one another as well? 

He wasn't looking forward to having to deal with Mar and Gorgas.  He couldn't imagine them being particularly happy that he'd killed Haden.  To be honest, he couldn't see them all surviving to the end of the day.  It was going to be him or them.  And two to one was never good odds. 

Dropping the band down on to what had been Daniel's cot, he sat back on his own and tried not to lose those last shreds of hope.  But what hope was there left to cling to?  There'd been no news of Carter and Teal'c... and Daniel... well, it wasn't hard to see that Daniel wasn't going to survive all that much longer without medical attention.  And what little time he had left, he was going to spend alone in the dark with only his nightmares for company.  And here he was.  Trapped in a prison for a crime he hadn't committed.  Forced to fight for his life and burdened with the knowledge that, if he survived the attempts on his life, he'd survive only to hate himself for letting his team die trying to save him.

The tears welled behind his eyes as he looked at the com-band sitting forlornly on the cot.  Picking it up again, he felt the depression give way to righteous anger at the unfairness of all this.  With a snarl, he launched the band across the room.  It rebounded noisily off of the wall.  Then, crumpling to the ground, he felt the racking sobs begin.  His own fate... well, he couldn't really give a damn but... but the others... they couldn't all die because some stupid crystal no-one even really cared about got broken!  They couldn't all die and leave him alone in this place...

"...just going to keep talking into this thing until you reply, Jack.  Please, you have to be there.  You have to be okay, Jack.  So I'm not going to shut up until you reply..."

Looking up with wild eyes, Jack looked across at where the com-band lay.  It was glowing... but how? 

Then, ceasing to care why, he launched himself across the room at the band.  Scared to pick it up in case it stopped glowing, he crouched down next to it and said, "Daniel?!"

"Jack!  Thank god, I thought something had happened to you... are you okay?"

Still breathing funny, Jack replied, "My band's broken.  I didn't think it was working anymore..."

"Jack, you don't sound too good.  What's wrong?"

Trying to push that utter despondency out of his mind, he replied, "I'm... all right.  I just... never mind.  How are you doing?"

"Pretty much the same... but, Jack... I know what the tear was now..."

Jack couldn't quite believe there was a tinge of excitement to his friend's tone.  There was still hope so long as Daniel could be eternally imprisoned in the dark and still get excited about some shiny rock.  Feeling his own hope returning, he replied, "What?"

"It was a container for storing memory.  Like the crystals the Goa'uld use... I mean, those were obviously stolen from the Ancients, weren't they?"

Beginning to feel more like himself again, Jack replied, "I guess...  So what was stored in it, then?"

"The memories of Olana..."

"Olana... you mean the ascended ancient Olana?"

"Yeah."

"Are you telling me we had all the Ancients' knowledge practically in our hands?  Finally see why you wanted to come here."

Carefully, Daniel said, "Um... actually... no.  See... that whole ‘tattooing-myself-with-scalding-wax-whilst-in-a-trance-speaking-in-Ancients-thing'..."

Taking in Daniel's tone, Jack knew Daniel was leading up to something that he knew he wouldn't want to hear.

Slowly, he replied, "Y...eah...?"

"Well, it... um... wasn't actually me that was meant to get the message."

Incredulously, Jack said, "What?  Are you telling me that you were just a wrong number?"

"Sort of... see, it was the tear itself that called me here.  But it thought I was Olana."

"Cos you two look so alike."

"Obviously not in physical appearance but I fitted the search criteria it was using."

"Which was what?"

"Someone who had been ascended... and had descended again.  Someone who had been here before.  Someone searching for their memory."

"You were here before?"

"Yeah, Oma brought me here... to teach me something."

"What?"

"I don't remember."

"Not much of a lesson then, was it?"

Dragging them back onto topic, Daniel said, "When I looked into the tear... it thought I was Olana and tried to download all the memories into my head."

As the one-time recipient of an Ancient ‘download' Jack concernedly said, "But it failed, right?"

"Sam broke my eye-contact with it the first time and then I was too freaked to look into it again... but it wouldn't have worked anyway."

"Why?"

"Because of what we found lying in pieces in the forest."

"The Frisbee, you mean?"

"Yes, only it's not a Frisbee... you remember that Sam said... that it used to hang on the wall of the temple behind the tear.  It somehow compressed the knowledge so that it could be downloaded.  Without it, it would take years to complete the download."

"That old stone disc did that?"

"That entire temple was built with one purpose, Jack.  Olana chose to descend but her brothers were convinced she'd one day want to ascend again.  They wanted for it to be possible for her to remember and ascend again if she ever regretted her choice.  That was why they created the temple.  That ‘story' on the ceiling and the writings on the wall were all about her.  When she began to remember, she'd have been able to use the stone disc to make it all make sense."

Feeling rather lost in the sea of new information, Jack had nevertheless picked up on one vital thing as he asked, "Daniel, what were you freaked about if it didn't work?"

"I... felt weird and... it did work... just in another way."

"What d'you mean?"

"The tear itself was designed to stir the dormant memories once they were downloaded into Olana..."

Jack got where he was going, "Are you saying it unburied your memories?"

"Yeah... I mean, no... I mean, some of them... mostly just about this place... but there was one other thing..."

Jack knew this one too, "The ‘vision' you keep having.  The one where you shout at Oma."

"Yeah..."

After a pause, he said, "To begin with... I wasn't sure it was real... then I wasn't sure what it was... but now I'm sure..."

After another pause, Daniel said, "Why didn't you tell me what I did to you?"

Right, now he'd lost Daniel entirely, "What?  What are you talking about?  You never did anything to..."

Shortly Daniel said, "Baal's fortress."

Jack trailed off.

After a pause, Daniel said, "That's what I saw when I looked into the tear.  That's what's been playing in my mind ever since.  I think it's part of the reason Arrom didn't want to remember."

Jack was very glad Daniel couldn't see the reaction of his face at the mention of his time in Baal's playpen.  Scars from that experience ran deep within him even if the Sarcophagus had erased most of the physical scars.  Of course, he'd had to tell the others what had happened but only in the most basic terms.  No-one knew the full extent of the torment he'd been through... no-one but Daniel.

Jack hoarsely replied, "How... how much do you remember?"

"Enough.  Enough to know I deserve to rot in the dark for what I let happen to you.  Enough to wonder why you ever wanted me back."

Sharply, Jack retorted, "Daniel, you do not deserve to rot in the dark.  You didn't do anything to me.  Baal did."

This had obviously been tearing his friend up inside since first he'd seen it.  Jack could see now... those moments that Daniel had seemed almost to be talking about something else... that was what he'd been talking about.

Slowly, Jack said, "Tell me what you remember.  Everything."

Daniel said, "The start's... all mixed up...  First there's ice."

"Ice?"

"I think it's Antarctica..."

Realising what Daniel was talking about, Jack said, "You mean you were there with us?"

"I think so... and then you all get sick... but the others get healed... and you don't."

Quickly, he added, "And I know I read all this in the reports... but... this was real..."

Then he continued, "And then... then I'm on earth and you're lying on the bed in the OR and... I know they can't save you... but then Sam's there speaking about blending you with Kanaan... and you agree...  Then you're with the Tok'ra... and then you escape and I follow you through the gate.  And Kanaan... tries to rescue the Lo'taur... and then he gets caught... and he leaves you... and the Jaffa take you back to the fortress."

Daniel said, "And I remember watching Baal..."

Jack said shortly, "Kill me.  Over and over."

He really hadn't meant it to sound like an accusation but he couldn't help it.  He knew Daniel couldn't have helped him but the feelings associated with those memories were too strongly laced with utter devastation and helplessness.  Of desperately trying to convince Daniel to help him.  Of thinking that he could never do the same if places were reversed...

Then, suddenly, Jack looked at the cell around him.  Daniel was only in here because of him... and the rules... of this place... said there was nothing he could do to help Daniel.  Nothing he could do to help his friend.  All he'd do was doom them both.  Jack remembered the funny way Daniel had said ‘the others would have stopped you'.  The reason the statement had pulled him up short was because the ‘others' was what Daniel had called the mass body of ascended beings that didn't like ascended beings interfering in corporeal business.  Why had he sat around that corner and listened to Mar taking lumps out of his friend when every fibre of his being was screaming at him to do something?  Because it wouldn't have done any good.  Because the others would have stopped him.

And he thought about the river.  That desperation he'd felt as he ran along the bank after Daniel had gone under.  When despite the desperate desire to dive back in, he'd had to resist.  Because the only way he could be of any help was to stay on the sidelines.  If he dived in, he'd have been of no use at all. 

 Feeling those residual shreds of bitterness towards his friend dissolve away, Jack surfaced from his contemplation and realised Daniel hadn't replied. 

Carefully, Jack said, "Daniel?"

Daniel didn't reply.  That last comment had obviously sent him into an even blacker mood.   

"Daniel, what Baal did to me... it wasn't your fault."

Daniel said, "But I could have stopped it in an instant... and I did nothing...  That makes me every bit as guilty as Baal."

"No, it doesn't."

"How can you say that, Jack?"

"There were rules you couldn't break, Daniel."

"You were my friend.  That should've been reason enough to break any rule.  It would have been for you..."

"Daniel, I didn't understand then.  You wouldn't have been able to help me if you'd tried."

"Why didn't I just stay the hell away from you then?  Why come at all if all I could do was tell you that I couldn't help?"

"Daniel, you didn't help me the way I wanted you to.  You couldn't.  But I couldn't have got out of there without you."

"Why?  It was the others that came up with the plan to save you.  I mean, you've got more to be grateful to Lord Yu for than you do to me.  I was less help than a damn Goa'uld!"
"You were there for me, Daniel.  You gave me something to focus on.  Gave me hope."

"False hope.  Dangled it in front of you and snatched it away again."

"Didn't matter.  You kept me together."

After a pause, Jack asked, "Where did you go when you went away?"

"What?"

"You went away.  You don't remember that?"

Daniel shook his head.

"All I could think was that I drove you away.  See, I asked you to do something for me."

"End it."

Jack took in Daniel's tone and heard the horror etched into every syllable as Daniel continued, "You wanted me to make it the last time.  You couldn't take it anymore.  You wanted me to let you die."

Trying to get to the point, Jack said, "But you wouldn't.  And then you were gone.  And I didn't care anymore.  I didn't care if you wouldn't blow the base to hell.  I just wanted you to be there again."

The passion behind the last statement was tangible.  The all-too-recent communication blackout was still fresh in Jack's mind. 

"But why couldn't I help you?  I mean, distract the guards or something!  If I could talk to you without the others stopping me then surely I could've done that!"

Jack replied, "I honestly don't know.  But if it'd been that simple then you'd have done it."

"How can you believe that?  I stood by and let Baal kill you over and over again.  How can you forgive me for that?  Why would you even want to?"

"You tried to help me, Daniel.  I just didn't want the kind of help you were offering."

"What d'you mean?"

"You wanted to be my Oma."

"I... tried to get you to ascend?"

"Yeah, and I wouldn't.  Wouldn't ‘open my mind'.  Wouldn't ‘release my burden'.  Wouldn't let you help me the only way you knew how."

After a pause, which Daniel didn't seem able to fill, Jack continued, "You did what you could, Daniel.  And it all turned out okay in the end, didn't it?"

"Thanks to the others.  Not me."

"Daniel, why am I sitting here now?"

Not giving Daniel long enough to reply, Jack explained, "I'm here because you dived in after me and nearly killed yourself - literally and now in a more metaphorical sense.  I'm here because you are a stubborn son of a bitch who always lays his life on the line in the hope he can make a difference.  And that's what kills you when you remember being ascended."

"What d'you mean?"
"Daniel, you told me that I couldn't help you in here.  If I'd have confessed, we'd have been screwed and if I'd tried to protect you from Mar then we'd have been screwed.  I couldn't help and it tore me up inside, Daniel.  And I think it's the same sort of feeling that you have from being ascended.  But what you've gotta understand, Daniel, is that there is nothing you could've done.  We saw that on Abydos."

Daniel went silent at the mention of Abydos.  Daniel had shared a special connection with the Abydonians and their deaths - even if they were ‘ascended' now - haunted him because he somehow decided that his inability to protect them was a failure on his part.  To Jack and the rest of SG-1, it was glaringly obvious that it was the fault of those damned ‘others' who had either stepped in to stop him or forced Oma to do so.  And the next time they'd seen Daniel, he ‘descended' again and had no memory of who he was.    

"Daniel, you told me - outright - that time that the others would stop you if you tried to help.  I didn't listen.  Not really.  I just thought you didn't want to get into trouble."

Daniel was monotone as he morosely continued, "You thought I'd rather let you die over and over than risk losing my place amongst them?"

Jack went to say ‘no' but decided that the only way to get Daniel past this was to be honest about it, "It crossed my mind, okay?  But you hadn't meant that you'd get in trouble.  You meant that you couldn't help.  They weren't just gonna punish you; they were gonna step in and stop you."

Daniel didn't reply for a while.  Then, eventually, he said, "I just wish I could have..."

"So do I, Daniel... but the fact is you couldn't and I accept that.  I'm past this, Daniel.  I don't plan on spending the rest of my life in this cell and I sure as hell don't intend to spend the rest of my life reliving that one.  What happened there happened.  I've dealt with it.  Now you have to deal with it.  You have to accept that you can't keep blaming yourself for things you couldn't control..."

After a pause, he said, "It's like they wrote all over the temple.  You remember.  You feel bad about it.  You understand why.  And then you get forgiven.  And if you need to hear it, I do forgive you, Daniel.  But I don't think it's me you need forgiveness from.  I think you need to forgive yourself."

After another long pause, Daniel replied, rather wryly, "Actually, they kinda read that wrong." 

"Oh."

"But thanks." 

After a moment he continued, "I guess I just have to accept that I may never know everything that happened when I was ascended... and that maybe it's better that way."

Jack glanced up as the breakfast bell went. 

Daniel had obviously heard it through the band.  He said, "Dinner bell?"

Aware that his friend had lost all track of time, he replied, "Breakfast bell."

"Oh... okay, I'll speak to you later then..."

Scared to let Daniel cut off communications in case it could never be re-opened, Jack nearly choked on the words as he replied, "Okay, Daniel..."

Then, nearly catching him offguard, Daniel said, "Mar lying low?"

The truth nearly escaping from his lips he fumbled clumsily for a lie, "Yeah... seems to have lost interest."

Sounding relieved, Daniel said, "That's something, at least.  All right, bye, Jack."

Softly, Jack replied, "Goodbye."

As he watched the com-band turn dull, he prayed that it wouldn't be the last time it glowed.  Pulling himself to his feet, he clenched his fists.  When Daniel called again, he was going to be here to answer and if Mar and Gorgas thought they were going to get in the way of that... well, let them try because they wouldn't live long enough to regret it. 

They'd made pretty good time back to the city all things considered.  Okay, so a journey should have taken five hours at most had taken all day but she was still very weak and they'd taken the exceedingly long way around as Teal'c tried to ensure that their former captors wouldn't be able to track them. 

She was pretty sure they had no effective means of keeping track of them.  More likely, they'd been searching along the direct trail between the temple and the city.  That's why they'd circumnavigated so far that they were approaching the city from the other direction. 

Darkness had fallen when they reached the city's outskirts and the streets were deserted.  Sam knew there was no curfew in this city but most people stayed indoors after dark anyway. 

As they walked through the empty streets, Teal'c said, "To where are we going, Major Carter?"

Having consciously blocked herself off from thoughts of her friends since her outburst earlier, the question threatened to pierce her calm exterior.  Truth was, with the trial most likely over, their best idea would be to go and see Yanos to get access to the gate but... she couldn't bring herself to face the implications of the trial having taken place.

Hesitantly, she replied, "Kolden's..."

When they reached the building that housed Kolden's lab, Teal'c knocked on the door.  After a few moments, the door slid open and there stood a very-confused Kolden.

"Major Carter?  Teal'c?  Inside, quickly."

When they were inside, he said, "Have any seen you?  Do any know you are returned to here?"

Glancing at Sam, Teal'c replied, "None know.  We were not seen."

"Good.  We must see to it that it remains that way."

Confusion overriding even her fear, Sam asked, "Kolden, what's going on?  What happened to the others when we didn't show?  Are they...?"

"They yet live, Major Carter..."

Closing her eyes as the relief hit her, she heard him continue, "... but they are still imprisoned."

Teal'c said, "Then the trial has been postponed?"

"No, it took place as was scheduled but Mos'ki Jackson pled for leniency and Vollum granted him as much mercy as was within her power.  It was not much but they are, at least, alive.  O'Neill was returned to the prison... the Mos'ki was sent to a Nok'tal pit."

Not liking the sound of that one bit, Sam asked, "What's that?"

"A small cell without light wherein only he resides."

Quickly equating Nok'tal to solitary confinement in the dark, Sam said, "Why did he get sent there?"

"It is the most lenient sentence that can be given to a Mos'ki who does not prove his Hoktar innocent and, at least, his is not the only voice within its walls."

"What d'you mean?"

"Your absence allowed Vollum to grant O'Neill a com-band until such time as you were found.  The Mos'ki was also allowed to retain his until that time.  You see now why no-one must know you are returned?  They shall be stripped of the com-bands and the Mos'ki shall be truly alone."

"Okay, so how do we get them out of there?"

"There is no way.  The sentence is irreversible.  We must only seek to get you through the Cirque Sidereus without alerting the authorities to your reappearance."

"I'm sorry, Kolden, but no.  Leaving them here is not an option.  Now, tell me, about that favour...?"

 After a pause, in which he saw the resolve in her eyes, Kolden said, "As you had requested, Major Carter, I met with my friend Vorin.  He agreed to give me access to the Geminolex recording containing the scene of the murder of Kyden.  But, I must say that, other than the fact the crime took place within the same walls, I saw nothing of importance within it."

"Show me anyway."

Once Kolden had set up the viewer, Sam and Teal'c stepped into the circle and, suddenly, found themselves in the temple.  There crouched Marius, frozen over the corpse of another guard and with a blood-drenched commoneo dagger in his hand.  Around him there stood several guards.  Walking experimentally through the figures, Sam looked around. 

She said, "See anything, Teal'c?"

Teal'c looked around and said, "I see nothing of importance to us."

"All right.  Well, let's watch this through.  View."

The man that appeared to be in charge of the guards said, "Kyden!  Marius... what have you done?"

Marius turned, utterly lost, "Commander... it... it was not me... I did not..."

"Was this jealousy, Marius?  I favoured you both equally.  Him no more than you."

"I did not... I would not have..."

"You have left me with no choice, Marius."

Turning to the others guards, he said, "Take him to the square.  I will summon the Ish'ki."

As the figure froze again, Sam said, "All right... that didn't really tell us anything new..."

But Teal'c, who had been walking round the room as they talked, said, "Perhaps it has, Major Carter."

"Teal'c?"

Teal'c called her attention to something lying on the floor beside the pedestal... it looked like a sliver of commoneo...

Teal'c said, "Major Carter, your theory is that a replica made of commoneo was set upon the pedestal during the hours of darkness and dawn's first light caused it to fragment, is it not?"

"Yeah..."

Her intrigued gaze followed Teal'c as he walked over to where Marius crouched and looked down upon the corpse.

"Major Carter.  Observe."

Walking over, Sam looked down at the wound in Kyden's chest.

As she looked up, Teal'c locked eyes with her and said, "Perhaps the first time, they were not aware of what would occur..."

 Starting to see where Teal'c was going with this.  She said, "Kolden?"

Kolden's voice eventually appeared from what seemed like miles away, "Major Carter?"

"Is there any way to get some sort of autopsy data on Kyden?"

"His body lies within the scene... if you will grant me a moment..."

As his voice disappeared, Sam glanced round at Marius's wild expression and stumbled back.

Teal'c said, "Major Carter?"

"It was him!  Teal'c, he was the one that attacked us in the forest!"

As the two of them locked shocked gazes, Kolden's voice appeared, "I have used the external recording of Kyden's corpse to extrapolate the internal damage."

"Okay, I want to know if the dagger Marius is holding could have caused the damage."

"Very well..."

As they waited, Teal'c asked, "Are you certain it was him, Major Carter?"

"No doubt about it."

After a pause, Kolden's voice returned, "This is... odd.  The system can see no way that such a dagger could have caused the damage.  Whatever killed him... it was larger than the dagger and struck him with a force it is not possible to thrust a dagger with."

Teal'c said, "Kolden, where was the stone of alignment situated?"

"I can impose it upon the scene if you wish."

"Please do so."

As it flickered into the picture, Sam watched Teal'c's eyes take a similar path to hers.  Calculating the trajectory between the pedestal and the disc...

Glancing across at Teal'c, she said, "Daniel said it looked like it'd fragmented when something hit it."

Teal'c added, "To shatter stone would have required considerable force."

Sam nodded and said, "Exit."

As they blinked into the lab, she looked over at Kolden who said, "I do not understand.  What killed him if not the dagger?"

"Kolden, what did you tell me would happen if someone tried to place a replica on the pedestal while the sun was up?"

"It would explode... and they would... oh."

Realisation dawning, he said, "You believe Kyden attempted such and was killed in doing so?"

"Would that track with the data?"

Kolden pressed some buttons then said, "Yes, I believe it would shatter with sufficient force to both kill him in the manner seen and damage the disc... but there were no shards of commoneo on the ground and the true tear still sat upon the pedestal.  Nor would it explain why Marius was there holding a dagger covered in the blood of Kyden."

Teal'c said, "You are incorrect.  A small shard still lay upon the ground."

Sam said, "Would many people know a commoneo replica would shatter like that?"

Kolden shook his head, "Even I merely hypothesised the outcome upon your suggestion of replacing the tear with a replica.  I doubt it would occur to most people."

Summing up their theory, Sam said, "They were trying to steal it without anyone noticing it was gone but it all went wrong... and they tried to cover it up..."

Sam continued, "Marius was the one who attacked us in the forest.  He has to be working for whoever set the Colonel up... I wonder if he knows that they set him up too?"

"Perhaps he took the blame voluntarily?"

"No, I saw those parts of his trial and we both saw the look on his face when the guards showed up... I don't think he was in on it.  Someone was using him back then like they're using him now.  We have to figure out who that was..."

After a pause, she said, "Kolden, we need to talk to the Colonel."

"We cannot reach him except by official means...  You would be given only one chance to communicate with him before he is stripped of his com-band."

"There's no other way of reaching him?"

"The prison is simply too deep to reach by any other means."

Sam's eyes fell to the ground, "Wait... you said Daniel was in a... what was it?... Nok'tal pit, right?"

"That is correct."

"Where are the pits?"

"At various depths within the bedrock.  Some close to the surface; some deeper even than the prison."

"If Daniel was in one of the shallower ones... might it be possible to get a signal through?"

"Perhaps.  But even then it would need to be a direct audio transmission between one com-band and another."

Pulling one of her modified ones out of her pack, Sam said, "Can you set this to the frequency of Daniel's com?"

"It is easily done."

He clicked a couple of buttons.  The band began to glow. 

Sharing a ‘here goes nothing' look with Teal'c, Sam took the band from Kolden and said, "Daniel.  Daniel, this is Sam.  Do you copy?"

There was no reply.

"Come on, Daniel!  This is Sam.  Daniel, please, respond!"

Then a voice, barely louder than a whisper, appeared, "Sam?"

Her eyes lighting up, Sam replied, "Daniel!"

"Are you okay?  Is Teal'c..."

"We're both fine."

"Thank god... when you... didn't show...  We thought that something must have happened to you."

"It did but we're okay now.  We're with Kolden up on the surface.  No-one else knows we're here.  Are you okay?"

Wryly, he replied, "Been better."

"And the Colonel?"

"Okay, from what he'll tell me but you know Jack..."

"Daniel, listen, we're working on a way out of this mess... but we're gonna need some help..."

Jack raised his head wearily from the mattress.  There was a black, face-shaped mark left where it had been.  It seemed like too much effort to try and clean the dirt off anymore.  He'd just get dirty again tomorrow.  Glancing down at his watch, he realised he must have fallen asleep whilst he'd been waiting for Daniel's voice to appear.  It was now the dead of night.

As he'd walked back from the mine, Jack had kept a wary eye out for Mar and Gorgas.  They had to be more than slightly annoyed that he'd killed their friend.  Still, he thought, he was ready for them if they felt like starting something.  He felt, now, for where he'd driven the sharp shard of ore between the cloth and lining of his sleeve.  No, next time it wouldn't be a show.  Next time they came near him... they were dead.  It would be as simple as that.  No-one was getting in the way of him being there when Daniel called.  Maybe they'd sensed that because he'd made it back to the cell without incident.  And there he'd lain, watching the com-band, until his eyes must have closed of their own accord. 

But just before he could start worrying, the band began to glow, "Jack...?"

Noting the bounce in Daniel's voice, he propped himself up on his elbows and said, "Daniel, hey, what took so long?"

Obviously something had got his friend excited because he replied, "Sorry, Jack... had a call on the other line."

"Daniel?"

"They're okay, Jack!"

"Who?"

"Sam and Teal'c.  They're okay!"

The excitement infecting him as well, he said, "What?!"

"They managed to get a signal through to me."

His immense relief manifesting itself in the form of a worried parent reaction, he replied, "Where the hell have they been?"

"Tied up.  Literally."

"Are they all right?"

"As far as they'll tell me.  Jack, we might just have a way out of this."

"We do?  That's what I like to hear!"

"You might not like the next bit so much... see... they have a... little problem that they need you to help them with."

"How little a problem, exactly?"

"Exactly?  Exactly Mar-sized."

"How did I know you were going to say that?"

"Jack, we need his help."

Pausing for a second, Jack said, "Okay, that, I wasn't expecting.  Mar?"

"Mar."

"Mar, as in psychotic titan?"

"Yep."

"Mar, as in guy that snapped your arm in two?"

"That one."

"Ah, ok, just checking.  You're definitely nuts."

"Jack, if we ever want to get out of here then we are going to have to get him to help us."

"Daniel, what makes you think he would ever help us?"

"Because we know something he doesn't."

"We do?"

"Yeah, we know that he was set up too."

"Okay... you feel like bringing me up to speed here?"

"Jack, Mar is in here for stabbing his friend, Kyden, but he was innocent."

"All right, how the hell can you know that?"

"Well, for starters, because Kyden wasn't stabbed."

"What?"

"Someone just shoved the knife into the wound to make it look like he was stabbed.  It was a cover-up and a clumsy one at that but whoever it was knew that the Lex Absolrak meant that if Mar was found at the scene then people weren't going to ask many questions."

"So the real murderer used Mar to cover his tracks?"

"No, there was never a murder in the first place.  Kyden's death was his own fault."  

"What?"

"Jack, the tear you ‘destroyed' wasn't the tear at all.  Sam says it was a fake that looked pretty much identical but wasn't able to do what the tear could.  That noise you heard at dawn... it was the moment first light hit the ceiling destroying the fake tear almost instantly.  Shattering it into a thousand pieces."

"Little lost here, Daniel.  What does light have to do with it?"

"It's complicated but, basically, it caused the fake to overload.  Kyden tried to switch the real tear for a fake in broad daylight.  The result was... well, a little more dramatic.  The thing exploded with enough force to break the ‘Frisbee' that was hanging on the wall ten feet away.  It was a shard of the ‘tear' that killed Kyden - not Mar.  Someone set him up."

"Okay, slightly grasping what you're on about but how does that help us?"

"Mar wasn't just able to come after me... he went after the others as well."
"What?  He was out of the prison?"

"Yeah which means he has to be working for whoever set us up.  That is almost certainly the person who set him up.  If you can make him understand that the one he's working for is also the reason he's in here... well, I think he might be prepared to help us."

"Yeah, if I can even get him to listen to me... and I don't see that happening after yesterday."

"Why?  What happened yesterday?"

Suddenly, Jack remembered that he'd left out certain details earlier, "Uh... They cornered me on the way back from the mine.  His friend, Haden, wound up dead."

Vibrating with anger, Daniel replied, "That's your definition of Mar losing interest, is it?"

"Sorry, just didn't want you to worry."

Calming down, Daniel said, "Well, that sort of changes things..."

"Daniel, you just need a name, right?"

Slowly, Daniel said, "Yeah..."

"And it'll help get us out of here?"

"It might, yeah..."

"Then I'll get you a name..."

Feeling at where the shard was concealed, he continued, "...one way or another."

Still feeling rather weak, Sam sat wrapped in a blanket.  Teal'c passed her a cup of hot coffee.  Gratefully accepting it, she sipped at it slowly.  Glancing up at the reflective metal of one of the cupboard doors, she saw the ugly bruising on her face where Mar had held her tightly enough to suffocate her.  She was comforted slightly by the knowledge that he had a rather more lasting scar to remind him of her.  She glanced over at Kolden who was currently reconfiguring the viewing circle.  It was going to be a while until they heard back from Daniel about the name but Daniel's last update hadn't been comforting.  They'd already thought it was unlikely that they'd be able to get Mar to tell them who he was working for but now it seem almost impossible. 

Pulling the blanket tighter, Sam wondered how the hell they were going to get out of this mess even if they did get the name.  There was no such thing as an appeals process here; sentencing was final.  So, even if they could prove the Colonel was innocent... what would they have achieved? 

As desolation set in, Sam reached into her pocket and unfolded the doodle again.  It didn't even seem a little funny anymore.  It pretty much summed her up: full of clever jargon but still completely useless.  Why couldn't she find some way to release her friends?

She became aware of a shadow falling across the page.  Looking up with clouded eyes, she saw Teal'c scan first her eyes then the page in her hands. 

He asked, "What is this?"

As he sat down next to her, she passed it to him and said, "Oh, it's just a drawing."

"This figure is a representation of you, Major Carter?"

Nodding, Sam tried to make light of it, "Yeah, the Colonel drew it."

Reading through the words, Teal'c said, "I am unfamiliar with many of these terms."

"Oh, those are just nonsense words the Colonel made up.  Then again, even the real words are just nonsense words to him.  That's sort of the point of the thing, really."

"For what reason did O'Neill present you with such a picture?  Do not such inaccurate representations often incur hostility in the person they represent?"

"Caricatures, Teal'c... and yeah, they do.  I wasn't meant to see it."

After a pause, she half-joked, "So, think it's like me?"

Teal'c was trying to construct a sufficiently diplomatic reply when he locked eyes with Major Carter and remembered her outburst in the forest about being a ‘useless egghead'.  The only person he had heard use the term ‘egghead' before was O'Neill.  Did she truly believe this drawing to indicate that he considered her to be an ‘egghead'?  After all they had been through, could she truly believe that O'Neill could doubt her ability?

So, instead, he replied, "Do you believe it represents you accurately, Major Carter?"

In her head, Sam replied, ‘Of course it does.  It's Daniel that comes up with the flying leaps of logic; it's the Colonel that sees the simple solutions that I'm too busy being clever to notice.  I'm just there to fill in their ideas with ridiculously long words.'

Verbally, she only replied, "No, but more than I'd like to admit."

In her head, she added bitterly, ‘Come on, Teal'c, how can't I doubt myself?  If I was Daniel or the Colonel then I'd have them out of there by now!'

Perceptively, Teal'c said, "We will find a way to free them, Major Carter, but the fact we have not yet done so is not a fault of your making.  Our friends would have fared no better if our situations were reversed."
Sam's eyes fell to her coffee and, taking a sip, she chose not to reply.

After a long pause, Teal'c said, "I believe O'Neill would be most upset to discover that his drawing so undermined your confidence, Major Carter, and that it could so easily outweigh every display of trust and respect he has afforded to you these past seven years."

"It's not just the drawing, Teal'c... I mean, he scrunches up my pre-mission reports... and swapped me for Daniel..."

She trailed off as she realised just how pathetic she sounded. 

"Those things which interest you do not interest O'Neill... nor have they ever... but his belief in you is as unchangeable."

Sam smiled slightly at the ground then took the drawing back from Teal'c.  Looking down at it again, she remembered the mixture of amusement and annoyance she'd felt when she first picked it up.  The only reason she'd kept the damn thing was to wind the Colonel up with it later.  When had all this been inflated out of all proportion?  Because it'd been on her mind when everything had kicked off, that was why... and she'd felt so helpless that it just seemed so true.  Well, this was the end of this.  No more self-doubt.  If she was going to be of any help to her friends then she was going to have to pull herself together.  Starting, of course, with tearing this thing apart. 
Teal'c smiled slightly as Carter tore the sketch in two.

Jack sat in the main chamber and waited.  Not many of the prisoners were even up yet.  It was still a while before the breakfast bell would go but Jack wanted to see Mar coming.  He played with the broken com-band.  He was going to need it but he'd been reluctant to pick it up in case he couldn't get it to connect to Daniel again.  As more prisoners began to emerge from their cells, Jack caught the glances thrown towards him.  Since the fight with Haden, he'd caught a lot of looks like that.  It was a look that clearly put him in the ‘guys you don't want on the wrong side of' pile.  The aura wouldn't last long but, for now, no-one would dare touch him.  Well, Mar and Gorgas excluded, of course... 

As he thought that, he saw them both walking into the room.  To be honest, Mar wasn't looking particularly cut up about Haden's death.  Calmly getting to his feet, Jack checked they had enough of an audience before walking straight towards Mar.  Locking eyes with him, he ensured that there was no hint of fear or remorse in his gaze.  Both were weaknesses he couldn't afford right now. 

Levelly, and loud enough to be audible across a decent stretch of the chamber, Jack said, "Mar."

Mar's lip curled cruelly, "O'Neill."

"I need to talk to you.  Alone."

Jack's kept his eyes locked with Mar and made sure he could read the message there.  You can say no, Mar, but you're not so sure about beating me now.  Besides, you know I saw that wince yesterday.  I don't think you're up to fighting.  And you really can't afford to lose another ‘friend' to me.  You're going to talk to me.  Jack didn't allow himself for a moment to doubt that that would be the outcome.  That doubt could be fatal. 

Gorgas moved up towards him but Mar waved him back, "No, I will speak with him."

Calmly, Jack motioned for Mar to follow him.  They walked round the corner and down the corridor until they reached the speaking room.  Using his broken com-band, Jack opened the door.  The two of them walked inside.  The door locked behind them.

Jack said, "There, now there'll be no interruptions."

Mentally, he added, ‘and no chance of you teleporting out of here'.

Mar said, "What do you believe there is to speak of, O'Neill?"

"Well, actually, I was kinda wondering who exactly you're working for."

"I work for no-one."

"See, I don't buy that... ‘no-one' would have had a little trouble luring Daniel out of the cell for you.  And ‘no-one' would have found it tricky transporting you back here from the mines.  No, you do work for someone.  And the funny thing is that you don't even realise that they're using you to save their own ass."

As Mar shifted his weight, he, again, winced slightly.  Jack knew why now.  Daniel had told him Carter had stabbed Mar when he attempted to capture them the first time.  He had to keep that information to himself, however, as telling Mar his friends were free could put them in danger again.

Mar said nothing so Jack continued, "Just like they did the last time, Mar... just like when they set you up."

When Mar didn't reply, Jack added, "What, didn't they tell you that?  That they left you here to rot?  Who was it, Mar?  Who is it that you work for?"

Mar remained silent. 

"You think this person is helping you, is that it?  That why you're protecting them?  Because they're not.  They don't care what happens to you.  They never did."

Mar snarled, "Enough!  Unlock the door."

"Not until I get a name out of you."

"You will get nothing from me.  Unlock the door."

"Not going to happen.  Give me the name I want and you can go.  Otherwise, you're staying here."

"Release me now!"

Snarling, Mar lunged at him.  Right, Jack thought calmly, that was fine, ‘one way' wasn't working.  Time for ‘another'... 

As Mar lunged, Jack caught him by the cloth and drove them both to the ground.  There was no way Jack could pin Mar down but he didn't need to.  As Mar went to rise he found the shard of ore pressed hard against his neck. 

Jack said, "You tried to kill my friend.  You tried to kill me.  And we've already established the guards don't give a damn if we both walk out of this room alive or not.  Basically, the point I'm making is that I don't have all that many reasons not to kill you right now.  Give me a name and I might be persuaded to let you walk out of here."

"You know that to let me go now would mean your death."

"See, that's a really stupid thing to say to a guy with a knife at your neck.  Especially one who might even be able to get you out of here if you let him.  And I don't just mean on little field trips like the one you took when you made me follow you into the temple just like ‘no-one' had told you to."

Jack saw the moment of surprise in Mar's eyes so guessed that that confirmed their suspicion it'd been him that he'd followed into the temple that morning. 

He continued, "See, much as I'm not inclined to believe you could be innocent of anything, I know for a fact that you didn't kill Kyden.  So how about you go against your nature and actually act smart for a minute...?"

"What do you know of Kyden?"

"I know he wasn't murdered by you... by anyone, actually.  And I know someone set you up...  In fact, I know pretty much everything but the name of the ‘someone'.  And here's a little hint for you... the someone I'm talking about is the no-one you're working for."

"You are wrong.  He would not."

"A ‘he'?  Well that's a little progress, I guess.  I know ‘no-one' exists and it's a guy.  Now how about a name?"

"If I told you, you would kill me."

"If you don't tell me I will kill you.  Tell me... and maybe we can negotiate."

Mar remained tight-lipped. 

Jack said, "Still don't believe me?  All right... Kyden died because he was trying to steal the crystal they say I stole.  He tried to replace it with a fake and it blew up.  Then ‘someone' covered it all up.  No-one else could've known that a replica would shatter like that.  No-one else would have been able to set me up like that."

Mar blinked slightly at the revelations so Jack continued, "Thing is that your ‘no-one' doesn't care anymore about me than he does about you... or than he did about Kyden.  It's the tear he wants.  It's the tear he's wanted all along.  And he's obviously been willing to do pretty much anything to get his greasy paws on it."

Jack pulled the shard back slightly.  It still hovered within an inch of Mar's neck. 

Jack added, "And now he's got it and all that stands in the way of him getting away with this is us, Mar.  And you're only safe so long as you're useful.  Once you've outlived that... you're just a liability.  One he doesn't need."

"You are wrong.  He saved me."

"No, Mar, much as you fit the description, there's only one ‘ass' he's interested in saving and that's his own one.  And I don't call leaving you to rot in here ‘saving' you."

Jack continued, "Look, I really don't care if you believe me or not.  All I want is a name, Mar.  A name and you can walk out of here.  Otherwise... well, I'll have one less reason to keep looking over my shoulder, won't I?  Win-win situation for me.  So what's it gonna be?"

Sitting in his cell, Daniel watched the darkness with anticipation.  Hopefully, if Kolden and Sam could pull their idea off, he wouldn't be in darkness much longer...

Sam said, "All right, Daniel... here goes nothing..."

There was a sharp buzz and, suddenly, Daniel found himself sitting in the middle of Kolden's lab.  All right, so it was only the image being relayed back to him from the viewing circle but, whilst he was still in the pit, at least the view was a little better. 

His appearance caused a mixture of elation and concern on Sam's face.  She drank in the sight of him but was stunned to see the injuries he'd neglected to mention. 

She said, "Daniel, can you see us?"

Nodding, Daniel looked around, "Yeah, it seems to be working."

"What happened to your arm?"

Daniel simply replied, "Mar happened."

She saw the bruising on his throat as well and doubted that was the full extent of his injuries.  However, she wasn't going to be able to do anything for him whilst he was trapped underground so the most helpful thing to do right now was to keep working on a way out of the situation.

Refocusing, she said, "All right, we should be able to keep this connection open for as long as we need.  Have you heard from the Colonel?"

Daniel shook his head slowly, "Not yet.  You figured what you're going to do if he gets a name?"

Mirroring Daniel's answer, Sam said, "Not yet...  I don't know, maybe if we can get a name it'll lead us to the real tear.  If we find that then we can prove the Colonel never broke it and that means you're both innocent.  We're still not really sure what that'd mean in terms of getting you both out of there, though, and we can't access the legal database without alerting the authorities to the fact we're back in the city."

"What about Mendos?  He was helping you before wasn't he?"

"Well, yeah, but we don't know if he'd alert the authorities."

"Okay, well I've still got all that information you downloaded about the legal code.  I'll see if I can find anything... but you'll have to sever this link if I'm going to do that..."

"All right... we'll re-establish the link in four hours."

"Better make it eight... this is some seriously heavy reading we're talking about and I'm not exactly at my sharpest right now.  If Jack gets in contact, I'll call, though."

"Okay, in eight.  Meanwhile we'll see what we can figure out this end."

Waving slightly with his good hand, Daniel replied, "See ya."

With that, he found the darkness engulf him again.  He'd already scoured the data, several times, looking for some legal loophole they could use but, as far as he'd seen, once sentence was passed, it was irrevocable.  The lex absolrak was absolute.  There was no room for the possibility that the outcome of the trial was wrong.  But, slowly, something occurred to Daniel.  If Sam was right and the tear was still intact somewhere then not only had Jack not been the perpetrator but the actual crime he'd been accused of had never even existed.  Maybe this was going to be another dead end but... maybe there was a way out of this whole mess... 

Breathing heavily, Jack pressed his back against the door of his cell and slid down it in exhaustion. Knotting his hands behind his head, he could still see the glint of the shard as it hovered above Mar's neck.  Urging him to eliminate the threat.  Just to press down a little harder...

He murmured, "Should've killed him."

Because, even though he'd never actually promised that Mar got to walk out of that room alive... and strong as that urge had been... he couldn't bring himself to kill the guy in cold blood like that.  Something that was doubtlessly going to come back to haunt him extremely soon.  Mar's voice still echoed in his ears, ‘to let me go now would mean your death.'

As his breathing returned to normal, he tried flexing the com-band in the hope of establishing a connection with Daniel.  Pressing what he hoped were the buttons Daniel had told him to press, he waited to see if the link could be re-established. 

As a glow sprang up, he said, "Daniel?  Daniel d'you copy?"

After an overlong pause, Daniel replied, "Yeah... you were gone a long time... was getting worried."

"Sorry, these sort of negotiations are a little delicate, ya know?"

"How'd it go?"

"Oh you know how things go in the diplomacy game... little give; little take; little knife at the throat..."

"Jack?"

"Never mind... I got you a name.  Whether it's the right one, I don't know."

"What is it?"

"I think it was Alec Moss..."

Alec Moss...?  Wait, you mean ‘Aslexmos'?"

"I do?  Why?  Who is that?"

"It's not a person, Jack, it's a designation... you know, like Mos'ki and Hok'tar..."

"What?!  You mean he was screwing with me?  I knew I was gonna regret not killing the son of a..."

"That wasn't what I meant, Jack... it is a designation... but it's more like Ish'ki in that there's only one of them."

"So what's it the designation for?"

"Well, the guards' designation is Lexmos... direct translation ‘protectors of law'.  ‘Aslexmos' translates to ‘protector of all law'."

Thinking he saw where Daniel was going here, Jack suggested, "As in their boss?"

"As in."

"So you're saying it's the commander of the guards that's after me?  I mean, assuming Mar was actually being straight with me..."

"Well, setting aside the reliability of your source for a minute... it makes a lot of sense.  The Aslexmos would have had access to the temple, knowledge of how to bypass the statue illusion, not to mention the fact that both Kyden and Mar were guards so would have been under their command.  Whether or not Mar was lying, it's the best lead we've had so far.  I better call Sam."

"And I better go catch up with the others before any of those Lexmosses come looking for me.  We'll talk later and you can tell me the fantastic plan you've come up with to get us out of this place.  O'Neill out."

Cutting of the com channel, Jack glanced back up at the door with trepidation.  Rising and turning toward it, he prayed that showing mercy to Mar wasn't going to be the last mistake he ever made. 

"Aslexmos?"

His image flickering slightly, Daniel replied, "Yeah, the commander of the city guard.  We don't have a name but we don't really need one.  All you have to do is find out who that is."

Sam thoughtfully countered with, "Or was.  Doesn't have to be the current commander, does it?"

"Guess not... but it'd have to be one of the recent ones for him to know Kyden and Mar."

Sam froze for an instant before saying, "Wait, I think I might know who he's talking about."

"Sam?"

"The guy who spoke up for him at the trial was his commander, remember?"

"Who we never saw because that file was locked."

"And, if he's the guy we're looking for, that might explain why the thing was locked."

"I don't understand, I thought you said that the Yas'ki had locked the file?"

"Maybe he was in on it."

"Yeah, but I don't see how this helps us.  We still don't even know what he looks like."

"Actually, I think we do... see, Mar's commander is in the recording of the crime scene as well.  We can find out who that is.  Kolden?"

Looking up, Kolden nodded but said, "As the Mos'ki is currently using the viewing circle, I shall be forced to use the holographic screen."

Setting it up and then booting up the viewer, Kolden said, "I will have to orient the image manually.  Please inform me when you see the individual you wish to identify."

Sam watch the image rotate slowly from Mar's disbelieving form to the guards surrounding him.  She waited for the image to appear of the man he had called commander. 

As he finally appeared, she opened her mouth to speak but was overtaken by Daniel who said, "Him?"

Sam turned to him and said, "Yeah... how did you know...?"

"It was him?"

"Daniel?"

Daniel was still staring at the man on the screen as he distractedly said, "I think you were wrong about Habdor working with him.  I think he locked the file himself."

"Daniel, I don't understand."

"That's because you don't know who that is."

As Jack mined ore, he did so with his entire attention focused elsewhere.  Since he'd had to catch on to the tail of prisoners heading to the mines, he'd been unable to get a handle on where Mar and Gorgas were.  Consequently, he was constantly sure they were going to appear behind him and he wasn't going to notice until he felt the sledgehammer cave in his skull. 

Thing was, he really wasn't sure where he stood with Mar now.  Had Mar given him what appeared to be the right name purely to save his own skin or had it finally got through his thick skull that Aslexmos-whatever had set him up?  And even if he did understand it, was that any barrier to the skull-caving?  His boss aside, it wasn't like there was any love lost between the two of them. 

He wished he knew... even if he knew for sure that Mar was still out to get him, it'd be better than this chronic uncertainty.  His neck was going to ache later from all the jerking around it had been doing as his paranoid gaze swept the tunnel over and over.  He just couldn't shake the image from his mind of Mar standing behind him with the sledgehammer raised and a malicious grin on his face.  He wasn't sure if Mar was driven crazy by being an innocent man thrown into this situation or whether there'd always been an element of psychopath to his personality but, either way, the guy was a full hamper short of a picnic.  And the thing with crazy people was that you could never be sure what they'd do next.  And it might just involve caving your skull in with a sledgehammer.  Jack's gaze swept around again... no, no crazed sledgehammer-wielding Mar as of yet.

Well, he thought, it wasn't as if he'd put himself in any worse of a situation than he'd been in before.  Mar had been out to get him long before their meeting in the speaking-room.  And he'd gotten Carter and Teal'c a name that might just get Daniel and him out of here.  That alone was worth any extra risk he'd taken upon himself. 

As the siren sounded that signalled the end of his work-shift, Jack dropped the sledgehammer wearily to the ground and tried to massage some life back into his aching arms.  Well, this place was doing wonders for his muscle-tone; that was for sure. 

He trekked back to the cell but there was no sign of Mar anywhere in the crowd.  Figuring Mar must be up at the front, Jack kept an eye out for him.  There was no sign of him the whole way back to the main chamber.  Deciding to make a break for the cell, Jack halted as he sighted Gorgas.  Where Mar went, Gorgas followed so he must be here somewhere.  He swept his head around but still no sign of Mar.  Where was he?  He had to be here somewhere... 

Giving up on locating him, Jack turned and hurried back to the cell.  Once safely locked inside, he collapsed heavily onto the bed.  Lying there, he tried to will away the throbbing pain in his limbs and the utter exhaustion.  Both stubbornly refused to shift.  The dinner-bell sounded but he was far far too tired to be hungry... besides, he doubted he could get up now if he tried. 

He'd have to call Daniel, he thought wearily... to see if they'd made any progress...

But that was as far as the thinking got, as his exhaustion overtook him and he fell asleep. 

The closet hadn't been their brightest idea, Sam thought as she narrowly avoided elbowing Teal'c in her haste to look out through the narrow slots in the door.  But she'd wanted to see what happened and, anyway, there wasn't any time to move now... because Kolden had just gone to answer the door.  Glancing apologetically at Teal'c, she tried to better align her eye with the slot so as to get more of the room in view.  It seemed a little drastic to be hiding in the closet but if they were going to find the tear then they were going to need help.  Help that they weren't sure they could trust yet. 

Durena and Mendos followed Kolden into his lab.  The girl smiled and said, "Gol'da Kolden, why is it you have called us here?"

"Before Nish'kel Carter disappeared, she proposed to me that what lay shattered in your temple was not the Fletus Absolnat but a copy fashioned of Commoneo.  She believed it still remains intact somewhere."

"She believed it was stolen?"

"She did.  If she was correct then her friends are imprisoned for the crime of another and I believe it is our duty to do all in our power to see they are freed."

Mendos said, "Without the Nish'kels there can be no evidence presented."

"We must believe they will be found.  But when they are, there will be little time before Yanos orders that they must leave through the Cirque Sidereus.  That is why we must find the Fletus Absolnat.  That is why I have requested your presence, Kel'ka Durena.  Do you know of any way that the tear may be located?"

"Of course... it has been security tagged for several years to enable it to be tracked if anyone were to steal it."

Looking through the slot, Sam thought that explained why they'd gone to all the bother of making the replicas.  No-one was going to look for something that they didn't know was missing.

Kolden brightened, "Then we need only enter the code and the orbital scanners will be able to pinpoint its location."

Activating one of his systems, Kolden gestured to Durena, "If you would, Kel'ka..."

Nodding, Durena entered a sequence of digits then stepped back to let Kolden sit down. 

He said, "It will take a few moments to reposition the satellites..."

Sam glanced round at Teal'c.  Finding that tear was, without a doubt, their best chance of freeing their friends.  She was scared even to breathe as she waited to see whether they'd found it. 

"Commencing scan..."

After a few unbearably tense moments, he said, "There... that is it... it is still in Lacri."

Recognising the shortened name of the city, Sam only just managed to contain her excitement.  Her eyes brightening, however, she eagerly awaited news of its position. 

Durena, who was watching Kolden zoom in, said, "It is in the central region..."

Kolden zoomed in more and said, "It appears to be somewhere in the vicinity of..."

Zooming in yet again, he corrected himself, "...in the central transport bay."

Mendos said, "In that case, it is likely due for transport to the capital.  When is the next transport due for departure?"

"It is due to depart within minutes.  If the Fletus moves outwith the range of Lacri's power source then the tag will no longer operate.  We shall have to get there before..."

There was a loud clattering as the door to the closet flew open and Sam and Teal'c tumbled ungracefully to the floor.  Dusting themselves off embarrassedly, they got to their feet again.

Mendos said, "Nish'kel Carter?"

"Ah, hi there."

"You have been hiding in a closet all this time?"

"No, only just then."

Kolden said, "I apologise for the deception, Kel'ka, but we did not wish to place you in this position.  We know you are now duty-bound to report their reappearance to Vollum.  But you cannot."

"I have no choice but to, Kolden... you know this."

Sam said, "At least give us a chance to find the Fletus first."

Kolden said, "Mendos, their very lives may depend upon your silence."

"Please, just give us a little more time..."

Mendos said, "I cannot do that, Major Carter."

As he headed for the door, Sam found herself thinking of knocking him out and bundling him into the closet but, before the thought got any further, Teal'c said, "Kel'ka Mendos..."

Mendos turned to look at Teal'c.

Teal'c said, "You adhere to the Lex Absolrak most faithfully... but there is another who does not.  One who believes they safely hide behind it.  I ask you for the sake of all you believe in not to allow this to continue.  I will not ask you to ignore your duty... but you of all people know the value of time..." 

Mendos turned away and, upon reaching the door, bowed his head slightly.  When he raised it again, still facing the door, he said, "I believe I shall walk to the house of justice by the southern route.  I will arrive at the doors in one hour from this moment.  That is all the time I can give you."

With that, he walked out. 

Turning back to the monitor, Kolden said, "If the Fletus is aboard the next transport then we have barely ten minutes until its departure.  Quickly, there are some maintenance suits in the next room.  Find ones that fit you."

Decked out in the all-encompassing maintenance gear, Teal'c and Sam ran into the transport bay close on Kolden and Durena's heels.  Holding a portable scanner, Kolden waved it around in an attempt to pinpoint the security beacon's signal.  Sam halted slightly as she looked around at the bay.  It was a huge cylindrical structure with metal walls rather than glass.  There was a huge circle cut out of each floor above them so that you could see all the tiers above right up to the roof.  The domed roof above was retracting in a near identical manner to earth's iris and, as it did so, it flooded the dull room with sunlight.  Sam found she had to put her hand in front of her visor to block the overwhelming brightness as the light engulfed the room.  As she lowered her hand, she saw that there were sleek silver transports dotted about everywhere.  Some were being loaded with cargo or boarded by passengers whilst others were being cleaned or repaired and yet others lay idle.  The one they were heading towards was in the very centre of the room.  It was prepping for departure even as they approached it.  As they reached the side of it, Kolden slid open the door of the cargo hold and stepped inside...

Kolden said, "It is not in here!  This is not the transport it is aboard."

As he emerged, Sam caught the funny looks the guards were giving them and indicated to Kolden they should move out of their radar before questions began to be asked.

Convening behind one of the transports, Sam said, "How did we end up at the wrong transport?"

"Within a shielded transport, the security tag is not able to emit a constant enough signal to pinpoint with this portable scanner.  It is aboard a transport but I cannot tell you upon which."

Teal'c said, "We have only fifty minutes until the authorities are alerted to our presence within this city.  There appear to be a hundred transports here.  We do not have time to search them all."

Kolden said, "The ones on the higher floors are empty or not due to depart for many days still.  I would believe that our best chance would be with those scheduled to leave soon.  As soon as the door is open, I will be able to pinpoint its exact location."

Sam said, "All right, let's get searching then..."

Sam thought she was going mad... because she was starting to hear time as footsteps.  She could imagine Mendos's measured stride as he slowly made his way to the house of justice.  And as time ticked on, he grew ever nearer.  If they didn't find the Fletus before the guards were sent to search for them then they'd be kicked through the gate by Yanos and any hope they'd had of freeing their friends would be gone.  And it was less than ten minutes now until Mendos would reach those doors.  They were running out of footsteps.

The big obstacle to their search, however, was that the guards were already looking at them funny after their sprint to that first transport.  Running around and tearing all the doors open was going to get them caught before Mendos had even reached the house of justice.  So they'd had to settle for a sedate pace and a lengthy discussion between Kolden and the guards before they even started looking.  Even having all split up to expedite their search, they'd only managed to check about 10% of the transports in this place and they'd used up over 80% of their time.  You didn't need to be a statistician to know that the odds of finding the tear now were not good...

Then, suddenly, Kolden who was only a few transports away, swung around and shouted, "There!  It is in that transport."

Pointing to one on the other side of the floor they were on, he continued, "I am now receiving a continuous signal... the hold must have been opened for some reason."
Sprinting around, guards forgotten, Carter made it to the transport in thirty seconds.  Coming to halt just out of sight of the open door, Sam walked forward more slowly and looked in to see a hunched figure inside the transport.  He looked like he was looking for something in one of the crates.  Apparently finding what he was looking for, the man grunted and pulled it up.  As the glinting sunlight reflected back from his prize, Sam gasped.  It was the Fletus.

Either hearing her or sensing that someone was looking at him, the figure turned sharply and brought his face into the light.  There was no mistaking the identity of the figure.

Before she could stop herself, she said, "Mar..."

He looked confused for a moment before his face contorted into a delighted grin, "Nish'kel..."

Figuring that they were out of time, options and could actually do with the attention of the guards right now, Sam pulled off her visor and levelly met his leering gaze.  Hoping to keep his attention long enough for the guards to get within visual range, Sam said, "How's the wound?"

The grin darkly morphed into a snarl and getting to his feet, he moved towards her.  Really hoping her friend was about to appear... and that his friend wasn't... Sam resisted the impulse to run.  Besides the fact that he held their only hope of freeing their friends in his hands, what would be the point, really?  It wasn't like Mar would have to chase her to catch her.

Lifting the Fletus slightly, Mar smiled again, "You want this, Nish'kel.  You all do.  So does he."

Sam said, "You can't still believe he's on your side..."

Lifting the Fletus higher still, Mar replied, "He betrayed me... now he will feel betrayal..."

Sam's eyes widened, "You're going to destroy it..."

The grin grew malicious.  Forgetting everything but getting her hands on that crystal, Sam launched herself at him.  One hand gripping the tear and the other on Mar's arm, she felt the world spin around her. 

Suddenly, she realised the walls around her had been replaced by sky.  Before she could get her bearings, Mar wrenched the tear away from her then, twisting her arm up her back, forced her forward.  With a growing sense of horror, she realised she was on the roof of the transport bay.  From here, she could see down through all the floors to the ground below... and it was a very long way down. 

Trying to resist, she found it was impossible even to slow him down on this sleek metal surface.

Spinning her around to face him at the last moment, he said, "He will never have it.  None of you will." 

With that, he shoved her backwards.  As her feet found themselves dangling in air, Sam's hands reached instinctively for the roof's edge.  Grasping it, she looked up at Mar.  Raising the Fletus up, he brought it down hard on her bandaged hand.  Gasping in pain, Sam locked eyes with the grinning Mar.  As he raised the Fletus again, time seemed to slow.  Watching the ponderous arc of the Fletus, any remaining shreds of pity she'd had for Marius vanished.  Maybe he'd been wrongly imprisoned... but if he would rather have revenge than show mercy then he gave up all rights to the latter for himself. 

Even feeling as if her own voice was in slow motion, she screamed, "TEEEE-ILK!"

Then all she was aware of was a blinding brightness... and of slowly losing her grip....

...and then something grasped her wrist and pulled her back up onto the roof.  Still blinded, she felt out to try and find her rescuer but there was no-one within reach. 
Blinking, she began to be able to make out shadows again.  She could see shadows of the buildings around her but no people.  Had she imagined that hand and had really pulled herself back up?  Or had Mar had a last-second personality transplant?  Not likely. 

She wasn't sure how long she sat there but the next thing she was aware of was a grinding noise and of feet thumping against the metal.  Still unable to make out much more than vague shapes, Sam turned to see the shady figure fast approaching her. 

Racing towards his friend, Teal'c saw that she was visibly shivering.  The lack of recognition or relief in her gaze as she turned to look at him brought him to the realisation she couldn't make him out. 

His voice laced with concern, he said, "Major Carter..."

Tremblingly, she said, "Teal'c...?"

As he reached her side, he gently held her by the chin and tried to catch her gaze.  She appeared to be looking at him but seemed unable to lock eyes with him. 

As she appeared to determine it was really him, she collapsed against him in relief.  Pulling his arms around her, he could feel the trembling in her limbs.  Then he saw the blood dripping from her bandaged hand. 

"Who is it that attacked you, Major Carter?"

Head bent down, she said, "Mar..."

Then, eyes widening, her head shot up and she yelped, "The tear!  Teal'c, he destroyed it!"

More quietly, she repeated, "He destroyed it..."

As she hung her head in sorrow, Teal'c could feel the guards appear behind him.  When Kolden had found Major Carter was missing he had alerted the guards.  It was largely irrelevant as Mendos was doubtlessly within feet of the house of justice by now.  But without the tear...

He gently said, "Major Carter, we are to be taken to the house of justice so that the trial can officially be concluded.  If you wish, you may wait with Kolden."

She looked up at him and he saw a single tear roll down her cheek as she slowly shook her head and let him help her to her feet.  He knew she did not want to have to face her friends if all they could tell them was that they had failed but if this was to be her last chance to see them she did not want to miss it.

As the guards took hold of them, Teal'c felt the world shift and, suddenly, they were standing on the floor of the court.  As the guards went to stand at the door, he and Major Carter looked around at the empty room.  Then he turned his attention to her.  Whilst she had steadied herself considerably, her bandaged hand was still being cradled protectively by her other one.  However, when he went to examine it, she batted his hand away irritably.  The state of her hand was obviously the least of her concerns at this moment. 

His gaze was drawn to the door as Ish'ki Vollum entered. 

She said, "At the conclusion of these proceedings, you will both be escorted to the Cirque Sidereus by order of Ish'ran Yanos."

She continued, "You did not present yourselves at this trial in due time.  Therefore, guilt was upheld.  This opportunity is given to you only to assure both Hoktar and Mos'ki that you are unharmed.  Do you understand this?"

Teal'c replied, "Indeed."

"Very well.  You shall now be given the chance to speak with the Hoktar and Mos'ki before the Yas'ki and I return to conclude the trial."

With that, she walked out again and, suddenly, a furiously blinking Daniel Jackson appeared beside them and, instantly, was joined by a sleepy-looking Colonel O'Neill.

Jack blinked uncertainly as he sleepily looked around him.  One moment he'd woken up to hear a buzzing noise and the next he'd stood up and suddenly, found himself standing in the court with an obviously weakened Daniel to his right and Teal'c and Carter before him with Carter looking about ready to drop where she stood.  Man, they were a sight for sore eyes, though, all of them.  He didn't care what they were about to say.  He didn't care if he never got out of here.  Right now, just drinking in the sight of them was enough for him. 

Daniel seemed to recover from their transition quicker despite the obvious fact the dark to light transit was playing havoc with his eyesight. 

He said, "Sam!  Teal'c!"

As Daniel turned to lock gazes with him, he said, "Jack..."

Despite the com-band connection, they hadn't actually seen each other since the trial and both of them were well aware this might be the last time they ever saw each other... and, in Daniel's case... ever saw anything.  The gaze between them held until Sam said, "Colonel..."

He broke from Daniel's gaze and looked down into the desolated eyes of Major Carter.

"Sir, we're sorry... we were searching for the tear... but Mar got there first... and I tried to get it back but..."

Jack had frozen at the word ‘Mar'.  Taking in her injuries again, Jack felt his stomach knot.  Despite the lack of obvious injuries except a fading bruise on her face and a blood-covered hand, Teal'c's close proximity and the slight tremble to her voice and movement told him that she was lucky to be alive right now... because of him.

She added quietly, "...but he destroyed it."

"It's me that should be sorry, Carter... I let the son of a bitch live when I should've killed him."

Obviously deciding the blame game was a waste of time they didn't have, Teal'c swiftly changed topics, "Without the tear, is there anything that can be done, Daniel Jackson?"

Knowing that that'd probably been their last real hope of getting out of here, Daniel was obviously trying to sound more hopeful than he felt as he replied, "I still get a chance to discuss any issues with the Ish'ki.  At least we can tell Vollum what we know."

Jack said, "What do we know?"

Teal'c said, "We know the identity of Aslexmos."

Sam said, "But we've only got Mar's word he's involved and... I don't think we could get him to testify."

The shakiness in her voice made Jack curse inwardly again.  There was no doubt in his mind that Mar had tried to kill her.  Why hadn't he put him down when he'd had the damn chance?

Daniel went to say something but Vollum's reappearance at the door indicated that talk-time was over.  As she was followed in by Yas'ki Rellan, Jack saw a curious expression descend on the other three.  They all shared an odd look then broke gazes as Daniel walked over to the pedestal.  As he turned, Jack locked questioning gazes with Daniel but his friend only darted his eyes in the direction of the dock.  Assuming that meant he was supposed to take his place now, Jack climbed up into the dock whilst wondering what they all knew that he didn't. 

As Vollum took her place and Rellan took his, Vollum said, "The absent Nish'kels have now been accounted for.  Does either Yas'ki or Mos'ki have any comments before the trial is concluded?"

Just as Daniel went to speak, Yas'ki Rellan said, "Yes, I wish the record to show that this trial was a mockery of the Lex Absolrak."

Vollum turned to Daniel who was gaping at Rellan, "Does the Mos'ki have anything to add?"

Recovering, Daniel replied, "Actually, I think the Yas'ki made my point pretty well..."

It was Rellan's time to look disbelieving as Daniel continued, "...but I think I had better clarify some things."

Daniel had obviously been thinking of what to say whilst in his pit because, after a pause, he said, "I came to this world looking for the Fletus Absolnat.  Not to steal it but to understand it.  What I didn't know is that for more than a year someone else had been trying to find some way to steal it without anyone realising.  My request to go to the temple with Kel'ka Durena..."

Rellan turned, "Ish'ki, I must protest.  This is precisely what I was talking about..."

Vollum dismissed his complaint with a wave of her hand as she said, "Your protest is noted.  Continue, Mos'ki Jackson."

Bowing his head slightly in appreciation, Daniel continued, "My request gave them an opportunity they had not been expecting.  You see, the last time... their attempt went badly wrong."

Vollum said, "Clarify, Mos'ki."

"As the records will show, a little under a year ago, one of the Lexmos was murdered in the temple."

The Yas'ki, who was obviously running out of patience with Daniel's monologue snapped, "Ish'ki, this is intolerable.  He now speaks of other trials."

Even Vollum was now losing patience with Rellan's complaining as she snapped back, "He clarifies at my request. Yas'ki.  I would suggest you tolerate his response."

Jack wondered why Daniel was stringing it out like this.  Teal'c had said they knew the name, hadn't he?  He still couldn't work out what that shared look had been about but maybe it had something to do with the reason Daniel was stringing this out because Daniel's behaviour didn't seem to be confusing them half as much as it was confusing him.  Luckily, Vollum seemed willing to indulge him despite the Yas'ki's protests.

Turning to him, she said, "What is the murder's relevance?"

"The murderer was claimed to be a Lexmos named Marius who eventually confessed.  However, we have uncovered evidence that shows his confession must be false."

"What evidence?"

As Daniel explained their theory to Vollum, Carter and Teal'c handed something to her which he assumed was the ‘evidence' Daniel was talking about.  Vollum appeared to be watching something on the screen set into her desk as Daniel continued with their theory of how Mar had been set up by someone and that same someone had also set him up.  What Jack just didn't get was why weren't the others naming names? 

Rellan, who obviously had a pressing lunch engagement or something was growing more and more impatient with every moment Daniel's explanation continued. 

Eventually, breaking into Daniel's monologue once more, he said, "Ish'ki, you have already allowed them more mercy than they deserved.  Now he takes advantage of your indulgence.  If you wish to listen, you may... but I refuse to."

Rellan went to leave when Vollum looked up from her screen and snapped, "Remain where you are, Yas'ki.  I have not yet ended this trial."

"Ish'ki..."

Obviously having had enough, Vollum stood up and slammed her hands down on the console as she said, "I must adhere to the Lex Absolrak; I cannot deny the Oraculum Absolana... but this is my court, Rellan, and my word is law.  You shall remain where you are and you shall refrain from your endless complaints, is that clear?"

Flustered, Rellan replied, "Of course.  Apologies, Ish'ki, I meant no disrespect to you."

Vollum said, "Mos'ki, from what you have shown me, I believe you are correct in your assertions... but why do you tell me of this now?  You know of our laws better than most.  You know that even if you can prove the Hoktar's innocence beyond all doubt your sentences are now beyond reversal."

"Because, as Yas'ki Rellan so succinctly put it, this trial has been a mockery of the Lex Absolrak... and we may not be able to change what's going to happen to us..."

Turning to look at the Yas'ki, he said, "...but there's no way we're just going to let you get away with this, Rellan."

Blinking slightly, Jack saw Vollum's gaze shift questioningly to Rellan who looked bemused by the comment   What was going on?  Then his brain caught up with his ears and, realisation dawning, he snarled, "You lousy son of a...!"

Rellan countered, "Empty accusations will not help you now."

Daniel levelly replied, "Not all that empty, Aslexmos."

"I am not the Aslexmos."

"Not now, maybe... but a year ago you were.  Back when you convinced Lexmos Kyden to switch the Fletus for a replica.  Back when you set Lexmos Marius up and then convinced him that the only way to avoid execution was to confess."

Rellan said, "Ish'ki, he grows desperate..."

Vollum said, "Be silent!"

Turning to Daniel, she said, "You accuse Yas'ki Rellan of the crime that Hoktar O'Neill is imprisoned for?"

"No, that was Hoktar Marius... but he did it out of loyalty to the Aslexmos he had believed saved him."

"What grounds do you have to believe that?"

Jack said, "How about the fact he told me so himself?"

Rellan laughed at the comment, "And for that we have the word of not one but two Hoktars... do you not understand your words are worthless?"

Vollum glared over at Rellan before saying, "Mos'ki, the Yas'ki is correct.  The word of a Hoktar is of no value to this court.  Do you have no evidence but this?"

Daniel simply turned to Vollum and said, "Well, you could always ask him why he locked the second file of Marius's trial after he realised Hoktar O'Neill was going to be allowed a trial.  You could ask him why he asked to exchange places with Yas'ki Faron so that he could be Yas'ki on this trial.  You could ask him how Marius made it out of the prison unaided to attack my friends."

Turning to Rellan, he continued, "Or you could always just ask him what he's going to do when his buyers in the city find out that their prize got broken."

For the first time, Rellan's composure slipped slightly and fear entered his gaze.  Deciding that they'd better exploit it before he recovered, Jack added, "Yeah, I don't have to tell you how dumb Mar is but when he finally figured out you screwed him..."

Teal'c got in on the fun, "...He destroyed the Fletus knowing that he would never get justice... only vengeance."

Rellan said, "But..."

Sam jumped in, "...He didn't know where it was?  Maybe he wasn't quite as stupid as you always thought because he found it."

Vollum's voice grew dark, "Yas'ki?"

Rellan turned to her and tried to looked composed but the recent news obviously had sent him reeling. 

She said, "You will be confined to the house of justice until such evidence as there is has been reviewed."

Jack watched Rellan pale by several shades all at once.  Daniel had said that Kyden's ‘murder' had been a clumsy set-up, hadn't he?  What was the betting that, once they knew that, all the evidence would point directly towards one guy?  One increasingly pale guy.

Then, a sudden calm coming upon him, he said, "Very well, Ish'ki... their accusations will prove groundless but you may proceed as you wish."

Vollum gestured to the guards at the door.  One came over to Rellan's pedestal.  As he calmly stepped down from the pedestal, Jack caught the look that flashed quickly across his eyes and, suddenly, found himself shouting, "Hey, watch....!"

But his urgent cry came too late for the guard whom Rellan felled as he grabbed the ‘ninja star' from his belt and leapt towards the other pedestal.  The one Daniel stood on.

Teal'c and Sam were already moving as he tried to leap out of the dock, and found he was unable to, but neither of them was going to reach the pedestal in time.  And the weak and injured Daniel could do nothing as Rellan grabbed him and pressed the star into his neck. 

Freezing to the spot, Jack cried, "Don't!"

Damn, Daniel's idea had obviously been to cause Rellan to break and incriminate himself in the process but now it had seriously backfired.  Obviously Rellan knew that, once suspected, he didn't stand a chance in hell. 

Sam and Teal'c, either knowing what the star did or just responding to the terror in his cry, halted and looked with wide eyes at the tableaux before them.

Obviously taking his actions as full confession, Vollum asked, "Why, Yas'ki?  You were the protector of all law..."

Nastily, Rellan snarled at Vollum, "And I did that!  The Ish'ki of Lacri have been softening the Lex Absolrak for a century.  If I had been able to give the Fletus Absolnat to those who desired it I would have been made Ish'ki and I would have brought back the true Lex Absolrak.  The pure Lex Absolrak."

Daniel, aware death for him was a mere wrist turn away, carefully said, "But protection of the Fletus was written into the very core of Lex Absolrak.... how could you possibly justify stealing it?"

"It would have been returned in time... once the Lex had been purged.  Once Lacri was worthy of such an honour."

Daniel replied, "I doubt your buyers would have been very keen to give it back."

"It was part of our agreement."

Agreeing with Daniel's view that Rellan was misguided if he believed his buyers shared his vision, Jack kept any ‘idiot' comments to himself.  Rellan still had the star to Daniel's neck and shattering his illusions now wouldn't be a good idea.

Turning to Vollum, he shouted, "And now your mercy has led to its destruction!  If you had executed them then they would not have caused Marius to destroy it!"

Jack gaped slightly at the comment.  Okay, it was official, Rellan was nuts. 

Then Rellan said, "Well, what you did not do; I shall..."

With that, he turned the star. 

Jack screamed, "No...!"

Time seemed to slow as he spoke so that his cry was in slow motion.  He watched as degree by degree, the star rotated.  Then, suddenly, there was a bright white flash that momentarily blinded them all. 

Jack yelled, "Daniel!"

As the room quickly came back into focus, Jack's eyes searched desperately for Daniel.  To his eternal relief, he saw Daniel pulling himself to his feet unsteadily and groping blindly at the star lodged in his neck.  Teal'c and Carter quickly reached his side and helped him remove it from the implant but where was...?

Then he got his answer.  Rellan was hovering in mid-air seemingly caught in a beam of blue energy.  Turning to see the source, he saw another figure had appeared. 

It was Mar but... but he was glowing just as Daniel had been glowing in his sleep... and he was holding the tear in his hand which seemed to be projecting the beam that was keeping Rellan airborne. 

Rellan, disbelievingly, said, "Mar..."

An odd echo to his voice, Mar snarled, "You were sworn to protect all law, Aslexmos... you were sworn to protect Ana for all eternity... and you would trade her for your own glory, in my name?"

Obviously confused, Rellan replied, "Marius, what do you speak of?  What has happened to you?"

"This fool would have destroyed Ana.  I could not allow that..."

His expression darkening, he added, "And then I learned of you and your plans.  You told those who aided you that you did all for the Lex... even as you betrayed them.  But I can see into your mind, Aslexmos... and I see only a desire for power."

Still bemused but growing more terrified with every passing second, Rellan cried, "Marius, I did not betray you... these ones lied to you."

"Even this one is no longer fooled by your words... but he could not help you even if he was.  For he is nothing but a vessel for my words."

Daniel's voice appeared, "The words of Olrak."

Mar glanced round at the same time Jack did.  He saw Daniel had walked down from the pedestal and towards the glowing Mar.  Both the guards and Vollum all flinched at the word ‘Olrak'.  He guessed when your people had grown rather pragmatic in their faith, one of their gods personally dropping in wouldn't necessarily be perceived as an altogether good thing... especially when you considered him to be the personification of vengeance.  Rellan, who'd already been pale, now turned white as all the remaining blood drained from his body. 

He said, "Olrak?"

Turning back to Rellan, Mar smiled slightly, but in a malicious way, and gave a mocking bow, "Are you not pleased to see me Aslexmos?  Do you not desire the true Lex Absolrak to be restored?  Is that not what you were saying?"

Jack wondered why, if this was really the ascended guy that they'd considered to be their god, he was having to speak through Mar.  Ascended beings could appear pretty much anywhere pretty much instantly couldn't they?  Well, maybe not... maybe that wasn't how it worked.  Or maybe this was just for effect... but, upon thinking about it, their god turning up as himself would have probably worked better.  Saying that, Mar with his wild hair and wilder eyes made a pretty good stand-in for the god of vengeance.

As the beam cut off, Rellan dropped heavily to the ground.  Quickly scrambling into a half crouch, he bowed deferentially to Mar and said, "I am yours to command, my master."

"Yes, long have you claimed to be.  You spoke of me to your followers.  You called yourselves the Brothers of Vengeance, did you not?  Yet you had no faith in me until now.  The Ish'ki may have allowed Ana's influence to grow but, unlike you, they did not ignore those things that lay at the very centre of the laws.  I have no wish for servants... even less for one such as you, Aslexmos.  For your crimes, you will die... and your death shall seem to you to last a millennia.  You will learn the true meaning of vengeance."

Trembling, Rellan grovelled, "Please... show mercy."

‘Olrak' scoffed, "So you would have mercy for no-one but yourself?  Your kind are the reason for the Lex Absolrak.  The reason Ana's ways could never work alone.  She was too pure... too untainted to understand the darkness in your heart.  Even now, knowing all that I know, if she stood here instead of me, she would forgive you..."

As the glimmer of hope appeared in Rellan's eyes, ‘Olrak' raised his right hand as he cruelly continued, "...but she does not stand here: I do.  And, as you were so quick to tell those that followed you, I am without mercy."

Then, suddenly, a bolt of energy burst forth from the tear and fired into Daniel who crumpled.  Sam and Teal'c, who had remained on the pedestal, shook themselves from their trance and raced toward the crumpled figure of their friend.  But, as they reached his side, a glow sprang up around him and he pulled himself easily to his feet.  Ignoring them, he looked around for a moment then walked even nearer to Mar. 

Calmly, but also with that odd echo to his voice, he said, "Olrak?"

Glancing sideways at Daniel, Mar said, "Do not ask me to show mercy, brother..."

"They are watching you.  Do not."

"You would rather I had done nothing...?"

Gesturing towards himself, he continued, "...That I allowed this one to destroy Ana...?"

Then, gesturing towards Carter, he added, "...and kill that one?"

Daniel simply replied, "Here, they will not stop you, Rak.  It will be your choice... but they are watching us."

Mar replied, "Then let them watch... this place is ours, brother.  And I am their law.  You said that they would learn in time to think for themselves but it has been millennia and, instead, they follow the words of fools such as that one."

"We all agreed that we were no more fit to be gods to these people than the Goa'uld before us.  That was why we left.  We were accepted back by the others on condition we did not interfere again.  If you choose this path, Rak, there is not turning back.  These will be your people once again and you may live amongst them as Ana did or you may rule over them for eternity but never again will the others allow you to return."

Rellan's eyes darted nervously from one glowing figure to the other.

"This one would have destroyed Ana, Nat."

Daniel raised his echoey voice for the first time since he'd started glowing, "Ana is dead, Rak... she has been dead for more than a thousand of their years.  Why can you not let her rest?"

"You agreed with me that she made a mistake when she chose to become like them."

"I did, yes, but it was her path and she walked it without regret.  If your path leads you to this place then I will stand in your way no longer but can you believe that you will forever walk this path without regret?"

Jack was finding himself rather overwhelmed with events.  It was rather disconcerting watching Daniel's ‘possession' by Olnat, which he was optimistically assuming was both temporary and completely non-harmful to his friend.  Rellan's eyes darted anxiously between the two glowing figures.  Personally, he thought he could settle the brothers' little ethical dilemma if they'd just let him out of this damn dock to get his hands around that slimy Yas'ki's deceitful little neck.  Between saving Carter and Daniel's lives, Olrak had already scored a lot of points with him and he'd happily repay the favours by saving him getting his ethereal hands dirty.

Mar looked, for a moment, as if he was about to strike Rellan down but, then, sagging, he said, "Ana wanted us to save these people.  To do something meaningful with the power we possess.  We are abandoning her memory if we let this place fall to ones no better than the Goa'uld we saved them from."

Another energy bolt burst from the tear and knocked Carter off her feet.  Frustratedly hitting against the unseen energy barrier again as he tried to get down from the dock to help her, Jack saw a weak glow spring up around her. 

As she got to her feet, she said, "Raka..."

Both Daniel and Mar turned to look at her.  She smiled kindly at them. 

With sad longing in his eyes, Mar said, "Ana?"

There was an echo to her voice too, but hers was weaker and harder to hear, "I am not Ana, Raka...  but I am of her memory.  Ana saw something in these people that she believed was worth saving.  If you want to honour her memory then share her belief in them.  Believe that they can save themselves from ones such as him without abandoning compassion.  Allow her law and your own to exist as one... allow there to be justice, as we had intended.  They will make mistakes... but they must if they are to learn..."

After a pause, she reached up and stroked tenderly down Mar's cheek, "Ana never regretted the decision she made, Raka.  You know this... for the Fletus would have called her back just as you had intended.  It is time to let her go, Raka...  Time to stop this endless vigil.  And time that what is left of her is finally allowed to sleep.  I can wait for eternity but Ana will never return... Regret the path she chose if you must but understand that she did not...  Let me sleep, Raka, and return to where you belong."

Mar closed his eyes and hung his head down, "Very well..."

She smiled at him again and said, "My brother... I give to you what remains of me.  I wish for you to see the beauty of this imperfect world."

Turning to Rellan, she said, "And to understand why any who truly wish to be forgiven can be..."

With that, the glowing essence faded from Carter and a cloud of white energy moved towards Olrak.  Swirling around him, it slowly faded but the glow around Mar grew even more intense. 

Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them and smiled at Rellan, "Olnat is right.  I should not strike you down.  There would be no justice in such an act."

As Rellan sagged in relief, Olrak added, "But you destroyed the lives of many others..."  

As he spoke he unsheathed a commoneo dagger with a dark stain upon it that might once have been blood.

Mar continued, "This one that you call Marius stole this knife from the vault it had been stored within.  He intended to tell you of the destruction of the Fletus and then use this to kill you.  To him, it was a symbol of your betrayal."

Jack figured it must be the knife he'd supposedly stabbed Kyden with.  As he watched, Mar handed the knife to Daniel and said, "I forgive you, Rellan... but the ones you have betrayed may not forgive so easily.  Not if they have learned your teachings well.  I leave you to their care..."

With that, he turned to Daniel who nodded approvingly.  With that, the glow around Mar seemed to be pulled back into the tear and the titan sagged to the ground. 

‘Olnat' looked around at them all.  After a pause, he said, "Ish'ki?"

Looking somewhere between fear and respect, Vollum replied, "My Lord Olnat?"

"The time of the Lex Absolrak is over."

"But the stars..."

"The Lex Absolana is also ended.  You must go to the temple of the Lex in the capital.  There you will now find the Lex Absolnat.  But understand that it is a guide only.  Your people and the others of this world must allow the Lex to adapt.  The Lex should serve justice; not the other way around."

Turning round to where Jack stood in the dock, he continued, "The innocent should not suffer for the sake of the Lex."

Turning to the terrified Rellan, he added, "And the guilty should not be able to hide behind it."

With that, the glow also faded from Daniel and he, too, sank to the ground.  As they all watched, the tear began to rise then, suddenly, dropped, lifeless to the ground. 

The wild-eyed Rellan had seemed almost paralysed to the spot since he'd crouched on the ground.  That was why no-one was prepared when he pounced at the slowly-rising Daniel and easily wrested the bloodied knife from his shaky grasp.  Before anyone could do anything, he plunged the knife directly for Daniel's heart...

Blinking uncertainly as he adjusted to the sudden change of scene, Daniel looked at the river flowing beside him.  The wind whipped at the trees around him and the rain thundered down from above.  But he noted these things as a casual observer - neither element was actually affecting him.  Where was he now?  Everything seemed slightly surreal as he looked around.  Then he saw a woman walk along the other side of the river who also seemed untouched by the tempest around them.  As she pulled her hood down, he realised who it was.

He said, "Oh."

Frowning slightly, as if he had just berated her, Oma defensively said, "Daniel, you left me with no choice..."

Gesturing confusedly, he asked, "Did I just... did he just... am I dead?"

She replied oddly, "You are still angry with me."

"No, seriously, I'm just really confused right now."

"I brought you here for a reason, Daniel.  I wanted you to know of one called Olana."

"Yeah, that was fun, really, but right now could we stick to the whole ‘am I dead' part?"

"She was once a friend of mine.  She would have liked you."

"Yeah, really, we would've got on like a house on fire but am I ascended again or what?"

"We are going to her temple."

"Are we both on the same script here?  Because, if we are, I think I've lost my place."

"I will explain there."

As she turned to walk away it hit Daniel... Oma wasn't here at all.  This was the memory he'd stumbled upon when he was meditating.  This was when Oma had brought him here...

Then a voice made him turn, "She was always a friend to us."

As he turned a man in a white robe came into view.  He recognised him from his statue as the guy who'd just hijacked his body. 

"Olnat."

"Daniel, I wanted to thank you."

"Me?  Why?"

"If you had not reached your mind out to hear the call of the Fletus, then it would never have reawakened its connection to us and allowed my brother to finally make peace with the fate of our sister.  And now, perhaps, finally, this planet can truly learn to care for itself."

Gesturing across the river to where Oma had stood, he said, "You knew Oma?"

"Long ago, yes... before she was exiled."

"You were exiled too, weren't you?"

"Oma and Ana had both fought to change the rules the others set for us.  They knew there was need for control but they thought that there were times that we could help.  Times when we could change things for the better."

"You didn't?"

"We may seem omnipotent but I can assure you we are not omniscient."

Daniel suddenly remembered saying something roughly equivalent to Jack once whilst he'd been ascended.

Olnat continued, "We cannot always see the consequence of our actions anymore than a corporeal being but the difference is that our mistakes can be on a scale far grander."

"But if you believe that then why did you come here and save them from the Goa'uld?"

"I came here for the same reason Olrak did.  Our sister."

"Olana..."

"For one so young and gentle, Ana could be persuasive.  She convinced us that if we could change things for the better on this one planet then it might be enough to allow the others to see that there should be exceptions to their rules."

"But why would the others let you do that?"

"We were not without influence when amongst them.  Enough sided with our attempt that the others could not have stopped us.  Besides, those who opposed Ana's ideology wished us to try so that Ana could be proved wrong and their position could be strengthened."

"And was she?"

Olnat smiled slightly, "Once the Goa'uld were dead, there was chaos.  We saw only one way to bring order back before the entire planet descended into anarchy."

Daniel volunteered, "Playing god... well, gods."

"They needed structure and, having been saved from what they believed were evil gods, it seemed to be the easiest way."

"But it didn't work."

"My brother treated them like cattle and my sister acted like an overindulgent mother.  Neither way would work.  People need to lead themselves.  That was why we left."

"But Olana stayed behind.  She descended."

Olnat looked sad, "I miss her even now but even had she not found a mate amongst your kind, she would never have been happy amongst the others for they would allow us to return only on condition that we admitted our attempt had failed and agreed not to interfere in the affairs of corporeal beings again.  Ana could never have accepted that."

"But you did do good here.  These people may have followed the laws you left them a little too... well, religiously... but they are free from the countless generations of slavery and oppression.  Didn't that show the others that sometimes you can do something?"

"All it convinced them of was that we were no more fit to assume the roles of gods than the Goa'uld were."

"Is that why Oma brought me here?  To tell me about what you three did?  Show me I couldn't interfere?"

"Only you know that, Daniel, but I would suspect that she brought you here to tell you of Ana and how she would never accept that there could be no exceptions to a rule.  She was most like you, in that respect."

Absorbing the implications of the comment, Daniel said, "You mean, you think she brought me here to tell me I might be happier if I descended?"

"As I have said, I do not know all.  But I believe the memory of your time here still exists within you.  You know the answer to your own question.  All you need do is ask yourself... and truly be prepared for the answer."

Unsure if he was truly prepared for the answer to this one, Daniel asked, "So am I dead now?  I mean, did I die?"

"Where you reside now is within your mind, Daniel.  This is not real.  When you return, everything will be as it was."

"Does that mean I'm still just about to die?  So what's this?  Are you giving me the chance to ascend?  Or save myself?  And, otherwise, this really has been a scintillating conversation but since I'll not even be around long enough to tell it to anyone, what exactly was this point of it?"

Olnat merely began to walk away.

Daniel said, "Come on, you could freeze him for a second or something, couldn't you?"

"That would be interfering."

"Olrak did that."

"The Fletus allowed us certain... influence... but it is gone now.  The others would stop me were I even to attempt to aid you."

"Well, then, thanks for the chat but I'm sure you've got places to be and I've got a pressing death to get to so, please, don't let me hold you up."

"What Ana and Olrak never really understood is that, sometimes situations resolve themselves without interference and, sometimes, all people really need is inspiration."

Even as Daniel said, "What d'you mean?" he felt he already knew the answer. 

"The rules exist for a reason..."

Daniel used a phrase he recalled using on Jack one time when his friend had been whining about him never following orders, "...but sometimes, they're more like guidelines."

But Olnat was already gone.  Daniel wondered why he seemed to understand about the inspiration comment but that thought was quickly overtaken by the more pressing thought that he was about to be stabbed - something he, personally, couldn't see inspiration having much effect on...

Before he was even conscious of being back in the court-room, he was aware of the blade flashing through the air.  Daniel didn't even have time to move as it flew towards him.

He heard, rather than felt, the blade sink into him.  It took him a moment to realise that no pain was spreading through him.  Still disoriented, he looked down for the knife hilt but found he couldn't make it out.  Looking up into his murderer's face, he was confused to see the look of horror there.  Then he realised that the crimson stain spreading across Rellan's grey robe was coming from the wound in his chest.  But how?

He got his answer as he looked down to see another hand clamped round the hand the knife was in.  Following the arm to its owner, he looked into the vengeful face of Mar.

What, from Daniel's perspective, had been minutes, had been a couple of seconds in the real world.  But, for Jack, they'd been a couple of the worst seconds in his life...

He'd been relieved to see Daniel getting back to his feet and was hoping Vollum would see Olnat's comment that ‘the innocent should not suffer' as an indication that she should really consider letting him out of prison when, unexpectedly Rellan had leapt up and at his friend.  Even if he hadn't been trapped in the dock, there wouldn't have been time to reach him.  There wasn't even time to cry out in warning.

Then Mar, who's been ignored by everyone since ‘Olrak' had collapsed, had risen up and caught the hand with the knife mid-arc before sweeping it round so that the knife ended up in Rellan's chest instead of Daniel's.  After a few bemused seconds, the Yas'ki fell like a stone. 

Even after Rellan had fallen, Daniel looked a little bewildered that he hadn't been stabbed and seemed to take a few moments to fully get to grips with the situation.  Luckily, the Lexmosses were a little quicker on their feet and grabbed Mar before he could get ideas about using that knife on anyone else.

Vollum's voice appeared, "Your implant is locked, Hoktar, so do not bother trying to escape.  Lexmos, take him to my chamber and guard him there until we can get a Gol'ga to determine how it was sabotaged.  And remove the body of that one."

As the ‘Lexmosses' left with Rellan's prone form and the manacled Marius, Jack caught Mar's gaze for a moment.  Strangely, he looked a little calmer than before.  Maybe it was being proved innocent of the crime he'd been imprisoned for?  The guy was probably still going to spend the rest of his life in the prison for everything he'd done but, personally, he had to say that keeping Mar behind bars was probably a wise idea. 

Vollum, who was possibly not used to the gods just dropping in, looked a little shell-shocked as she said, "Hok'tar O'Neill, you are found innocent by the Oraculum Absolnat.  You and your Mos'ki are free to leave as soon as a Gol'ga becomes available to remove the implants."

Obviously rather overcome by her recent possession by the remnants of Olana, Sam woozily replied, "Uh... Gol'ga Kolden can do that."

"Very well, I shall have him summoned here and have your confiscated items returned to you.  After that, you shall all be returned to the Cirque Sidereus immediately."

Jack, relieved beyond words, replied, "Lady, believe me, that's right where we were headed anyhow."

Jack rubbed at his neck irritably: half because the implant's removal had left it feeling oddly fuzzy and half because of how damn uncomfortable that cot had been.  He looked up at the gate behind him and wondered if he'd ever been happier to see it.  Probably not, though he'd been equally happy on at least a couple of other occasions.  He remembered how distant the thought of home had been even a few hours ago and now it lay only footsteps away.  He just wanted his team safe and home as quickly as possible.  But there were a couple of goodbyes to be had first.

Kolden had come with them to the gate.  He knew the guy had helped Carter and Teal'c out somehow but it wasn't until Carter threw her arms around him that Jack decided that either it was time to try not to look jealous or that he ought to be grateful to the guy for something he hadn't heard about yet... possibly something to do with the odd cough Carter appeared to have developed on this planet.  Teal'c's less demonstrative but equally warm goodbye convinced him that the latter was more likely.    

As his green-eyed monster slunk back into the shadows, he turned his attention in the other direction.  Vollum, whose transport to the capital had detoured to bring them here, was talking to Daniel rather animatedly.  Annoyingly, both conversations feel outwith his earshot but he figured that if he didn't remain perched next to the DHD then these goodbyes could stretch out for hours. 

Teal'c was first to glance over and see the pointed watch-watching.  Saying something to Kolden, he pressed down on his shoulder then broke of to join Jack by the DHD.  Daniel, noticing Teal'c moving by, turned next.  He said something else to Vollum and both bowed their heads slightly before breaking apart.  Vollum headed back to the transport whilst Daniel came up to join them.

Jack said, "What was all that about?"

Daniel replied, "She was just gently hinting that it might not be such a good idea for us to come back here for a while."

"Why?  Pardon from the god of justice not good enough?"

"Actually, a little too good.  Jack, the gods themselves intervened in your trial...  Frankly, their justice system wouldn't dare touch you again even if you were running round the central square shooting people... not that I'm suggesting you should try it... and the authorities are freaked.  Don't think any of them relish the idea of any of us making a return visit.  Besides, this planet's going to be in a state of upheaval for years."

"She give an expiry date for the unwelcome mat?"

"Ish'ran Yanos has apparently declared that we may return when Olnat is in ascendance."

Teal'c said, "Daniel Jackson, Ish'ki Vollum earlier explained, to myself and Major Carter, that the star they believe to be Olnat is never in ascendance."

"Yeah, it's their equivalent of ‘when hell freezes over'.  It's a pretty safe bet Yanos will lock the gate back off soon as we're out of here."

Jack replied, "Well, someone else can tell Carter because I don't want to be there when she finds out she can't come back to play with all the shiny things again."

Turning, he said, "Oh, speaking of Carter... ahem!"

The obvious call for attention broke into Kolden and Carter's intense dialogue. 

As she looked up, she said, "Sorry, sir..."

She turned to Kolden who smiled gently at her and nodded.  As she went to join the rest of them, though, he grabbed her arm.  As she turned back, Jack saw Kolden press something into her good hand then fold her fingers down over it.  With that, he turned and headed for the path that would take him back to the main transport route and allow him to catch one back to the city.

As Carter came up to the DHD, Jack said, "Well, now that we're all here... Daniel, dial it up."

With his good arm, Daniel pressed down chevrons.  As the gate began to spin, Sam uncurled her hand to reveal one of the spinal implants. 

Knowing there was a fifty-fifty chance that that thing had recently been in his neck, Jack shivered inwardly and, rather disapprovingly, inquired, "Little memento, Carter?"

Quickly closing her hand up again, Sam said, "Sir, Kolden wasn't authorized to give me this.  It's an incredibly advanced piece of technology.  If we can reverse engineer this...  I mean, obviously, even understanding its basic construction is going to take a while but it'll probably be a while before the General will let us come back here to gather the necessary data on the power source anyway."

As the gate burst into life and Jack entered their code into his GDO, he heard Teal'c say, "Major Carter, Ish'ran Yanos..."

Cutting him off, Jack snapped, "T, did I or did I not just say..."

But, just then, his radio came to life, "SG-1, this is General Hammond.  Do you copy?"

"We copy, sir.  Glad to hear your voice, by the way."

"Feeling's mutual, Colonel.  When you didn't make contact as scheduled we tried to dial the planet you gated to.  We couldn't get a successful lock.  Where in god's name have you been?"

"Uh, prison, actually, sir..."

"Prison?  Jack..."

The prospect of their imminent return home buoying him up, Jack playfully replied, "Sir, I know what you're going to say, what with this being the second time and all... but, really, I don't like the taste of prison food."

Surveying the white tile of the shower-room floor, as the water flowed across it, Jack saw that, slowly but surely, the tiles were turning black.  The dirt upon him seemed to come in layers.  Even Daniel, he thought, would have had a hard time excavating his skin from under it.  As he viciously scrubbed his neck, he could feel the slightly tender spot where the implant had been.  Must be, he thought, the only point on him where the dirt hadn't formed into a second, third and fourth skin.  Trying to scrub away his fourth skin, he wondered if he was going to need another bar of soap as this one was now so coated in stone dust and grime that it wasn't really doing anything but covering him with a new layer of greyish sludge.  Perhaps he should consider switching to turps or something...

Eventually, a red-raw, but clean, Colonel O'Neill stepped into the locker room.  Looking back, he felt rather guilty for the mess he'd left for the cleaners.  They were going to have their work cut out for them shifting that stuff from the tiles.

Towelling himself dry, he pulled on a fresh set of fatigues, savouring the sensation of the warm, dry cloth against his clean skin.  After quickly combing through his hair, he looked in the mirror and was glad to see the face that usually looked back at him had replaced the creature from the black lagoon that had leered out at him when he'd glanced into it on his way to the showers.  They were probably going to have to incinerate his previous set of fatigues, he considered, as he dumped them into a polythene bag and headed down to the infirmary. 

He arrived to find that Daniel had already been taken to have his arm rebroken and properly set.  Damn, he'd meant to be down in time to go along with him but the removal of grime had taken much longer than he'd anticipated.  Heading to the OR, he walked into the observation booth to see Teal'c already sitting there.  Well, at least Daniel had had someone there.  Teal'c smiled up at him, "It is good to finally see you again, O'Neill."

Was that a joke?  Teal'c's formidable sense of humour that had existed beneath the surface for years had recently taken to surfacing, unexpectedly, and always tended to catch him a little off-guard. 

"Hey, it wasn't that bad...  How's it going?"

Turning back to the observation window, Teal'c replied, "Dr Warner is currently resetting the bone.  He commented that your initial attempt was most satisfactory considering the limited resources available to you.  It was a most inventive splint, O'Neill."

"Did Fraiser get back the other results yet?"

"She could find no obvious residual effects from the implant nor any damage as a result of its removal.  They were obviously designed to be removed without causing harm."

"Carter wasn't in the infirmary when I went down.  She checked out okay?"

"Her injuries are not severe enough to require she remain in the infirmary but it has been requested that she stay within the confines of the base.  The Calgos appears to have left her respiratory system somewhat weakened and we cannot return to Astrum Lacrimosus so that Kolden may continue to treat her.  It will take Dr Fraiser some time to counteract its residual effects given what little we could tell her of it."

"Yeah, speaking of what ‘little' you tell, why was the first time I heard about the attack of the killer archive when you two were explaining it to Fraiser?"

"Major Carter did not feel your knowledge of what had transpired within the archive would aid our efforts in any way."

"Yeah, you're all getting a little selective on the ‘deciding what to tell me' front.  Here's a little guideline for you... if it involves any of you sticking your necks on the line then, trust me, that's need-to-know.  So where is she anyway?"

"I believe she is studying the implant given to her by Gol'ga Kolden."

"Anyone tell her the ‘hell freezing over' part yet?"

"Daniel Jackson indicated that that was the case to her before he went into surgery."

"Think she's safe to go near yet?"

"She took the news relatively well, O'Neill."

"Relatively for a normal person or for Carter?  Cause, you know how she can get when someone takes her toys away."

He'd expected that to raise a glimmer of a smile in Teal'c's eyes but, instead, they darkened slightly and, extracting something from his pocket, he said, "Perhaps sometimes you should take care in your mockery of Major Carter, O'Neill.  It is possible that she takes such crude assessments of her more seriously than you are aware."

With that, he pressed two torn and folded pieces of paper into his hands and turned back to the window.  Opening the torn pieces curiously, it took him a moment to recognise the drawing. 

Then, he said, "Oh."

Slightly clumsily attaching the laptop to the microscope, Sam coughed slightly as she watched the innards of the implant appear upon the screen.  Understanding the mysteries of this thing was going to take forever without any further input from Kolden and no access to Lacri's power source for the foreseeable future.  She'd been somewhere up near cloud nine as she'd impatiently waited for Fraiser to release her and had been babbling to Daniel about what she'd be able to do when she got back to the planet when, awkwardly, he'd said, "Uh, Sam, I should probably tell you... we can't go back".  Now she was rather desolated but scolded herself thoroughly for it.  They were all just lucky to be safe and free again and the disappointment of losing her access to their technology should be nothing compared to her relief at having all her friends here in one piece... even if, in Daniel's case, it was a rather dented piece.

She was drawn from her contemplation by a voice that said, "Having fun?"

The disappointment was still rather evident in her voice as she turned to where the Colonel stood and said, "Not really, sir.  On the planet, these implants are part of an elaborate network of receivers, transmitters and sensors.  I mean, once we finally determine a way to turn it on without Lacri's power source, we may be able to learn from it but without going back..."

Gesturing his hands in surrender, he said, "Hey, this time it's well and truly out of my hands.  You could always try asking ole Lucifer to turn the thermostat down a couple of notches, though.  Might work.  Might want your soul in return though."

Not quite understanding what he meant, Sam decided just to ignore the comment.  Instead, she asked, "How's Daniel?"

"In recovery.  Teal'c's with him... T said he'd call if he woke up but Danny should be out for a while yet."

Nodding, Sam looked up at him and felt compelled to say, "It's really good to have you both back, sir.  We... we thought we'd lost you for a while there."

The Colonel appeared to choke on the words slightly as he replied, "Yeah, know the feeling."

She smiled, slightly tearfully at him before pulling her gaze back to the screen. 

Then the Colonel said, "You did good, Major.  And I read them." 

Looking up in confusion, she said, "Sir?"

"Your reports.  I read them."

Funny, a couple of days ago she would desperately have wanted to believe that.  She'd have truly believed that if he really did read the reports that he really did respect her.  But Teal'c had brought her back to her senses.  What did it matter if he read them or not?  When had it ever mattered?  He respected her despite the long words.   

So, smiling slightly, she simply replied, "Is this about your paper ball tournament?  With all due respect, sir, you don't." 

"Oh, okay, I don't but that's because I know you'll tell me what I need to know.  The rest of it... well, I'm sure it's fascinating but I don't understand a word."

Nodding acceptingly, she said, "I understand that, sir...  It's not a problem."

He nodded at her slightly and made to leave.  Focusing her attention back on the screen, she didn't even realise the Colonel hadn't left until he said, "I just thank god you do."

Looking up, surprised, she didn't have time to reply before he said, "Because I trust you enough that I don't need to understand a word of it.  Not even ‘and'."

Her smile turning genuine as she realised that the respect he had for her was not in spite of the unnecessarily long words but, in part, because of it, Sam said, "Thanks, sir..."

"Oh, and Carter..."

He laid something down on the table whilst saying, "Just outta interest, did you ever take a good look at this side?"

Peering over to see what it was, Sam recognised the sheet of paper from the tear across its centre, and the slight bloodstain on the corner, as the page of her report with the drawing on the other side.  But, as she looked, she saw several words were underlined, "Sir, you read it...?"

But, as she looked up questioningly, she saw he was gone.  Great, now she felt stupid... why hadn't it even occurred to her that he'd read the reports before he started playing wastepaper-basketball with them.  About to throw it in the trash, though, she happened to glance at a couple of the underlined words. 

Scanning down the page quickly, she muttered, "Carbonic...  Delineated... Exogenous... Ferrous... Gr... I don't believe this..."

Shaking her head in disbelief, she wondered how, even for that brief second there, she could have believed Colonel O'Neill would not only sit and read her report but actually highlight key points.  After all these years, she should've known better.  Grinning to herself, she scrunched up the scraps into a paper ball and, taking aim, sent the ball flying at the wastepaper basket.  It made its target.

She murmured, "Yes!  One to San Diego..."

Feeling rather hazy, Daniel looked around.  As he came to the groggy realisation that he was in that cell in Baal's fortress again, he snapped awake.  Looking down at where Jack sat, back against the wall, Daniel was overwhelmed to see how... un-‘Jack'like he looked.  It was like the eternal fire in his soul had been extinguished.  Like there was no fight left in him.  No humour; no rage.

Flatly, he said, "Daniel?"

His mouth moving without his authorisation, he found himself saying, "I'm here, Jack."

"You were gone."

"I know.  I'm sorry.  There's was something I had to do..."

Taking control of his vocal chords, Daniel broke from the script as he said, "Something I had to do?  It wasn't enough that I didn't help you; I couldn't even be bothered to keep you company?"

Jack was still on-script as he replied, "It'll never be over."

"No, you see it will be... because Sam and the others did everything in their power to help you.  Unlike me."

"Daniel, you have to end this."

"You told me that was why I ran away and left you alone..."

Then, suddenly, Jack broke script too, "You didn't run, Daniel."

"Jack?"

"No, still you..."

"Jack... Why am I back in this?  I mean, the Fletus doesn't work anymore."

"The tear-thing woke this memory up, Daniel... and made it more real but it wasn't creating it.  And you're still stuck in it... despite a beautiful speech from me, might I add."

"No, I know me and Jack... I know we'll be okay...  It's something else.  There's some other reason I'm stuck on this again."

"You want to know where you went, that's why."

After a pause, Daniel nodded, "Yeah... I can accept I couldn't help... but why would I leave you here alone?  What could have been more important?"

"You're so ready to hate yourself, aren't you?  You think you don't know yourself anymore."

"I don't... how can I when I don't remember...?"

"How about just believing in yourself?  How about just believing that you did what you could?  How about wondering if you were as much of a pain in the ass up there as you are down here?  If you do that... then you don't need to ask where you went.  You'll know."

After a stunned few seconds, Daniel thought about how he'd seemed to understand Olnat's comment about ‘inspiration' and how Jack had described to him that, in the dream he couldn't remember, he had cried out to the General in his sleep.  

Then, somehow, Daniel could feel Lord Yu's ships settling into orbit before firing multiple energy blasts down towards the fortress.  Flicking his eyes upward, he waited for them to strike.  Sure enough, the lights flickered and there was an almighty crash that shook the entire complex. 

And, almost as if the blasts had been directed into his brain, suddenly, Daniel understood.

"I went to earth... I went to see if they'd found a way out.  But they didn't even know where you were so..."

Jack supplied knowingly, "So you gave Carter a little nudge in the right direction."

"They'd read the reports... they just hadn't seen the connection and... yeah, it was against the rules but you'd just asked me to kill you to make it all stop... I knew you were never going to be willing to ascend... and you wouldn't even have been able to after much more time in the sarcophagus... "

Jack added, "But then the General said they didn't have the resources to launch an attack and you were back to square one, weren't you?"

Daniel went to agree when the memory developed further.  Slowly, he said, "Not entirely... it was like you said... there's always a way out..."

"Yeah, Teal'c had a little inspiration too, didn't he?  Great idea but a little ‘out there', you know what I mean?  I mean, who would think of setting another Goa'uld on Baal?"

Knowing that the answer was him, Daniel didn't reply.

"You didn't tell me though, did you?  You said the others thought of something."

"They did.  That was the only way I could get around the rules.  It had to be them... not me."

As he began to feel himself awaken, Jack said, "Well, you could tell me now..."

Then the scene melted around him and he found himself blinking in a harsh light.  As his blurry vision began to clear, Jack's face appeared above him.  For one horrible second, he thought he was still in the prison but, then, he realised that Jack's face was way too clean and relaxed slightly.

Jack smiled down at him, "Hey, how you feeling?"

Trying to make it sound light and jokey, Daniel said, "Glad to be out of the dark."

He'd obviously been unable to keep his terror - at the prospect that the trial and their release had all been a dream and he was going to wake up alone in the dark again - out of his voice because Jack grabbed his good arm and said, "Hey, it's okay, we're here now.  Back home.  Was that what you were dreaming about?  You were muttering to yourself again."

"No, I was... dreaming about Baal's fortress again."

He'd wanted to be able to see Jack's face when he said those words.  To see how much damage his ‘inspiration' explanation was going to have to undo.  But, instead of the look he'd been expecting, the warmth remained in Jack's gaze as he replied, "Thought we'd cleared the air about that."

Daniel smiled warmly at his friend.  Any explanation that had rested on his lips quickly died there as he realised that any explanation would only be to make himself feel better.  Sam, Teal'c and Jonas had saved Jack... and who really was sure that they wouldn't have figured out where Jack was and come up with the plan without his ‘inspiration'.  Jack had forgiven him anyway... and that was already far, far more than he could've possibly expected from him. 

So, simply, he replied, "We did.  It was just a dream."

Jack held his gaze suspiciously for a moment but then, seeing the sincerity, broke gazes and, lightly, said, "Well at least you don't seem to be glow-in-the-dark anymore...  Pity, really.  Would've saved on flashlight batteries."

Daniel chuckled at the comment. 

The mood now lightened between them, Daniel said, "So guess I'm outta commission for a while..."

"You and Carter both.  T got wailed on pretty badly by Carter's account but the Tretonin's pretty much got him back to normal already."

"What about you?"

"Me?  Hey, with all that damn mining, think I'm actually in better shape than when I left."

Daniel smiled in wry disbelief so Jack amended, "Okay, there's a few bruises but nothing to ground me over for more than a couple of days."

There was silence between them for a moment before, Jack's tone turning serious, he said, "So, you okay... about everything?  I mean, with the tear gone..."

"I told you, Jack, maybe it's for the best that what's lost stays lost.  Olana had the right idea... you make the choice and don't regret it."

"I thought you didn't remember if you chose to be back like this or not?"

"I still don't... but whether this was my choice or my punishment for choosing to break the rules... at some point I made a choice... and whatever it was, I don't regret it.  However I might've gotten here... this is where I belong."

They held each other's gaze a moment longer before Jack smiled and said, "Glad to hear it.  Now, do I get to be first to sign you cast or what?"

Daniel grinned widely at the comment and gestured towards his arm.  It felt so great to be able to enjoy Jack's levity without seeing it as some sort of hollow cover over the gaping hole in their friendship.

Scoring a marker pen from Dr Fraiser's coat pocket, Jack whooped in triumph and came back over.  Beginning to scritch the marker against the pristine white cast, Jack said, "See?  You want to use yourself as a message-board then there're easier ways to do it than the scalding wax method."

Wryly, Daniel replied, "Thanks for the tip, I'll bear it in mind next time."

It occurred to Daniel that Jack was taking far too long to be merely signing the cast.  Trying to see what Jack was writing, Daniel found it impossible due to the fact Jack was shielding the strip of cast with his other arm. 

Finally completely his scritching, Jack pulled his arm away for the big reveal.  The words were upside down and Daniel was still groggy so it took longer than usual for them to invert and reassemble into meaningful chunks in his head.  But when they did, he looked up and said, "Hey, that wasn't what I..."

Looking at the empty room, he flatly said, "...meant."

Looking down again, he wondered what had possessed him to allow Jack O'Neill within a ten-foot radius of him brandishing a marker pen.  Still, it was kind of appropriate, he figured.  Especially considering that, beneath the cast, lay the remnant of the gate address he'd burnt into his arm.  His time ascended had left its mark upon him, there was no way to deny that, but, then, so had SG-1.  Okay, so Jack was taking that sentiment a little literally but...

"Hey, Daniel."

Quickly grabbing the blanket over his arm, Daniel looked up to see Sam standing by the door.  Hopefully, she hadn't seen the cast.  She didn't appear to have as she came over and sat by the side of his bed.  So he just said, "Hey, how you feeling?"

Sam just smiled, "I'll be fine.  You?"

Daniel just nodded then, after a pause, said, "Sam... there's been something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

"Sure, what?"

"I said something to you the other week... about the hardest thing about not remembering being that I didn't know if I chose to be back..."

Sam's head dipped slightly at the comment and her smile grew brittle, "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, it's not... It's that I know there're things you want me to be able to explain but I can't... I can't explain to you why I made the choices I made.  I can't tell you there was a good reason or that I made the right decisions.  All I can tell you is that whyever I left and whyever I'm back... it doesn't matter.  Because this is exactly where I want to be."

Sam's brittle smile shattered into a thousand pieces so Daniel continued, "But, if you've questions, try me."

The broken smile meting into a genuine one, she replied, "You just answered the only one that mattered..."

Reaching out with his good arm, he pulled her in toward him.  When they finally split apart again, Daniel smiled at her.  It was so good to finally have his friends fully back. 

As Sam looked down, his brow furrowed, "Actually, I do have one other question..."

Not sure he'd know the answer but willing to give it his best shot, Daniel gestured for her to continue.

The glimmer of amusement entering her gaze as the mischievous grin began to creep upwards, Sam impishly inquired, "Why's it say Property of Jack O'Neill on your arm?"

THE END