Watching the lush grass flatten beneath her muddy boots then spring back up as if she'd never even touched it, Sam tramped through the sodden undergrowth.  The overcast sky was grey and unpleasant, the wind was bitingly cold and the rain pelted down from darkened clouds hovering ominously above. 

On point several paces in front walked the Colonel.  Halting momentarily, and making a show of knocking the raindrops off his cap, he half-turned to her and pointedly sighed.

"Care to remind me why I ‘gave up' my first day of leave for this?"

"Sir, this planet is an incredible discovery.  You saw the samples."

"Yes, I did, but why did we have to come here?  Couldn't one of the science teams have done this?"

"Sir..."

Starting moving again, he turned back to face the direction they were heading.

"All right, I already know why we had to come... Major Doctor Samantha Carter couldn't possibly give up the chance to see this for herself."

She noted the intentional inclusion of ‘Doctor' in her name.  She knew why.

"Sir, I know this planet isn't of strategic interest but..."

"I'm wet, I'm cold and I should be halfway to Minnesota by now, Major.  Believe me, this is not the time to give me a lecture on the benefits of finding some fancy mud."

"It's not the mud, sir... the mineral deposits in the soil..."

Turning again, he held up an admonishing finger.

"Ah!  Does that make me any less soaked right now?"

"No, but..."

"Then same difference."

Teal'c, bringing up the rear, had water dripping off of the emblem on his forehead.

"Major Carter, when shall we reach our destination?"

Though the question was innocent enough, she heard the underlying tone in the Jaffa's voice that suggested that he was on the Colonel's side in this little debate.

"Just beyond the next ridge.  The original samples suggest the deposits are richer there."

The looks she got from them both caused her to wince and turn to look to her left for some back-up from her staunchest supporter.  But one look at the civilian told her she was unlikely to get it.

Daniel was not having a good day.  The undergrowth here was thick and absolutely bursting full of flowers.  Even the downpour around them didn't appear to be making enough of a dent on the pollen count.  He was having trouble seeing straight through his puffy red eyes and only stopped sneezing long enough to breathe in rainwater.  For once, he almost agreed with Jack.  This planet was going to kill him.  It was possible to actually die from sneezing, wasn't it?  It certainly felt like it.

Seeing where he was going was proving near-impossible with the raindrops smeared across his steamed-up spectacles doing nothing to alleviate the blurriness of his vision.  He tried to make out the shapes of his friends around him but realised he couldn't distinguish between the green of fabric and that of the thick vegetation. 

Sneezing violently, he became aware of a wall of vegetation coming up to meet him.  No, strike that, a wall covered in vegetation coming up to meet him. Oh boy was this was gonna hurt... 

Given the noise of the downpour, it took the disgruntled Jack a few moments to notice that the sneezing behind him had stopped.  He turned to find that Daniel was nowhere to be seen.  The others hadn't appeared to notice yet with Carter walking with head dipped from the rain and Teal'c scanning the forest behind them.

He couldn't prevent the rhythm of his heart increasing in tempo.

"Daniel?"

There was no reply.  However, the reaction from the others was instantaneous with Carter's head snapping to the left and Teal'c spinning around.

"Daniel Jackson?"

"Daniel?"

Then, to his relief, he saw a hand shoot up out of a nearby patch of greenery followed, eventually, by the rest of the bedraggled civilian.  Visually inspecting him as he rushed over, Jack saw him rubbing at his forehead but no other obvious injuries.

Gingerly clambering out of the undergrowth, with nose obviously blocked, he said uncertainly, "I'b here, Jack."

Daniel sneezed several times in rapid succession.  From his expression, it hadn't done any favours to his aching head. 

Making it to his side, he demanded, "What happened?"

"I hit idto subthick."

Looking up to where his friend had fallen, he noticed, behind a curtain of undergrowth, there was a wall. 

Placing a steadying hand on his dazed friend, Jack called back, "Major, come take a look at this."

Carter came to his side and audibly gasped.

"Thought SG-3 said this planet was uninhabited."

"According to all our readings, it is, sir, but... that doesn't mean there wasn't a civilisation here at some point."

Then she obviously noticed something because, hooking her hands around them, she began to pull the thorny vines aside.  As she did so, he realised that the natural curtain had been obscuring an opening.  Teal'c came forward to assist her in pulling the vines aside and soon the entrance-way was free of tangled tendrils.

Moving cautiously, they crept forward into the darkness with flashlight beams shining before them.  The rather bedraggled Daniel was doing his best to sneeze stealthily.  As they reached the end of the corridor, his friend pulled off his glasses and rubbed at his obviously stinging eyes.

Jack turned to see a large panel of writing on the wall.

"Daniel, take look at this."

Blinking furiously, his friend sighed.

"I cad't look at adything, Jack.  I cad barely see."

As he reached into his vest and pulled out his anti-histamines, Carter said, "Hey, look at this thing, sir."

Padding over, he found himself confronted by a large and dusty pedestal covered in symbols and small rectangles of coloured glass.

Rather redundantly, Teal'c intoned, "This is not of Goa'uld design."

Carter frowned slightly.

"This tech doesn't look like anything we've seen.  As far as I can tell, this isn't Asgarde or Ancient either.  Daniel?"

After blowing his nose, the civilian said, "Yeah?"

"D'you recognize these symbols?"

Wiping his eyes and putting his glasses back on, Daniel came across to the pedestal.

"Possibly..."

Prowling around protectively, Jack surveyed the scene before him.  Daniel, looking rather the worst for wear, was kneeling by the pedestal.  He was trying to translate the engravings he'd just discovered whilst, sporadically, rubbing at the noticeable bruise on his forehead.  Given his rather unfocused gaze when he'd first surveyed the pedestal, Jack'd insisted there was a time-out whilst they established Daniel wasn't showing any obvious signs of concussion but he seemed okay, at least for now.

Meanwhile, round the other side of the pedestal, Teal'c was assisting the Major with her diagnostic of the controls.  From the look of her, analysis of the pedestal device was a juicy enough prospect to have driven all thoughts of fancy mud from her mind.  Sparing another quick glance to Daniel, he padded round towards her.

"Major, report."

She half-glanced up.

"I can't find any readings to indicate that this thing's active, sir."

"What is it, anyway?"

For a moment, she looked like she was gonna come up with several possible theories but then, caving, she deflated.

"I don't know yet, sir."

That rather knocked him for six.  He wasn't quite sure why he'd expected that she should know after all of ten minutes looking at the broken alien device but he couldn't help his eyes widening slightly at the admission.  Seeing his expression, all she could do was shrug apologetically and get back to her analysis.

Deciding to tap his other fountain of knowledge, he raised his voice slightly.

"Hey, any ideas what we're looking at?"

At least this genius would have a theory; Daniel always had a theory.  The civilian was obscured from view by the pedestal but, after a pause, his voice drifted over.

"Not sure but I think it may have been part of some contest... there are definitely several references to a competition or dual of some sort..."

That was all the theory he got before, appearing from behind the pedestal, Daniel got to his feet and, camera before him, padded across to read the inscriptions on the wall.

"Major Carter, is that wise?"

The comment from their stoic comrade brought his attention back to Carter.  Possibly out of determination to restore his faith in her super-genius credentials, she was now messing about in the centre of the device where there lay a ring of odd purple crystals.

He echoed Teal'c's sentiment.

"Sure poking about in there's a good idea?"

"Sir, these crystals..."

As she spoke, her fingers brushed off of one of the crystals and it began to glow a beautiful purple.  She instantly retracted the offending hand but, in a type of domino effect, both of the crystals beside the glowing one also began to glow.  Rapidly, the rest of them began to light up.

Wearily, he said, "Major?"

"Sorry, sir."

By the time the bruised linguist had come back across from the wall to see what was going on, the final crystal had just begun to glow.  Then, suddenly, all the lights on the control panels came on and the whole thing began to hum gently.  Getting a serious feeling of foreboding, Jack glanced round to see Teal'c's expression mirrored his.

His head snapped back round as the crystals sent a beam of purple light up to the ceiling and the humming became a screeching. 

"Out of here!  Now!"

For once, he didn't need to repeat himself.  They all dashed for the exit but, before they could reach it, a ripple of energy burst from the device and caught them all.  They were completely motionless for what seemed like several seconds but then the power died and they all fell bonelessly to the ground. 

Jack awoke with great difficulty.  Pulling himself clumsily to sitting position, he looked around at his friends.  They were all lying motionless on the floor.

Willing his recalcitrant limbs to move, he dragged himself over to Carter's side.  Her eyes were wide open but he felt his stomach turn to lead as he realised they weren't moving.  Gingerly, afraid to prove himself right, he pressed two fingers against her neck.  Sighing in relief as he felt a steady thrumming beneath them, he shook her.

"Carter?"

When she didn't stir, he tried to rouse Teal'c.  The Jaffa had a pulse and his eyes were open but he wouldn't move either.  Moving across to Daniel, he found him in the same state as the other two.  Damn, he needed to get them all back to the Infirmary but how was he supposed to get them back there when he could barely move?  The answer, of course, he thought bitterly, was to leave them all behind and make his way back to the gate.  Reluctant to leave them unprotected, he tried to wake them up again.  He started with the one most likely to just shake whatever this was off.

"Teal'c?  Buddy?"

Snapping his fingers in front of Teal'c's eyes, his heart sank as he saw there wasn't even a startle reflex.  Trying several methods of waking him up, He finally resorted to backhanding him across the face.  The only effect, however, was to make him feel bad when his friend's head lolled lifelessly to the side. 

"Sorry," he muttered as he sat back up and looked round to where the other two lay.  It didn't make any sense... why had he woken up and they hadn't?

Shifting back over to Carter's side, he felt the worry-fuelled anger begin to bubble up.  Addressing the seemingly absent Major, he said, "Damnit, Carter, we're supposed to be on leave.   What the hell am I supposed to tell Cass?  Come on, you've gotta snap out of this now."

Not able to bring himself to slap her across the face, he settled for shaking her which, as he'd rather expected, got zero reaction.  Growing more hopeless, he made his way back to Daniel's side.

Rubbing at the bruised forehead, he sighed, "So much for my grand scheme, huh?"

He sighed more heavily.  Daniel had been gonna spend his first few days leave catching up on some translation work but, after that, he'd promised he'd drive up to the cabin to give him a hand fixing it up.  Jack knew his friend had only agreed to come out of concern for him - he'd deliberately over-dramatised the twinge in his shoulder and worried Daniel he'd do himself further injury trying to do the repairs himself - but he didn't care.  The civilian had been through a hell of a lot lately and he wanted to make sure he didn't spend his leave on the base.  Besides, he'd really been looking forward to a chance to relish the fact their friendship was well and truly back on track after too long sporadically veering onto the rocky ground of animosity, indifference... and loss.

Shivering at the word, Jack shook himself back into action.  Despite the lack of any indication he was making even the slightest progress, he continued with his attempts to wake the others up for at least ten more minutes.  Eventually, though, he began to worry that stalling on the inevitable like this might be wasting time his friends didn't have.  Deciding that the best thing he could do for them was to get them back to base as soon as possible, he climbed clumsily to his feet.

He didn't know if they could hear him or not but he felt compelled to say, "I'm comin' back for y'all, okay?"

Taking one last look at his team, he turned and made his way out into the pelting rain.

On the way here, the combination of thick mud and heavy rain had been annoying.  Now, it was proving downright lethal.  His limbs were clumsy as it was and the goop beneath his feet wasn't helping.  He kept feeling like his legs should be longer or shorter and kept stumbling as a result.  The hard rain was almost blinding him as he slowly dragged himself towards the gate.

After what seemed like an eternity, the stone ring stood before him.  Smashing his shivering hand against the chevrons, he pressed down on his radio.

Probably a little overloud, he shouted, "This is O'Neill!  SGC, do you copy?!"

After a few moments of static, Hammond's voice came through and the MALP's camera began to turn in order to see where he was.

"This is Hammond.  What is it, Colonel?"

Steadying himself against the DHD, he replied, "Carter, Daniel and Teal'c are all...  I'm not sure... in a trance or something and I can't get them back myself."

"Where are they, Jack?"

Pointing behind him, he replied, "Some sort of building about seven kliks that way.  There was a... device... it did something to them... to me too... only I snapped out of it and they didn't.  Request a team to help me bring them back."

"I'll send a team through immediately, Jack, but I strongly recommend you return to the SGC now."

Going to protest, he felt a wave of dizziness hit him.  His eyes rolling back in his skull, he slumped heavily down on top of the DHD.

The last thing he was aware of was Hammond's worried voice slowly fading.

"Jack?  Jack, can you hear..."

Blearily, he awoke to the concerned face of Fraiser looking down at him.

"Doc?"

"Colonel, how are you feeling?"

"Weird.  Head feels a little fuzzy."

"I'll be taking you for some scans in a few minutes when you've woken up fully.  We need to determine what effect the device has had on you.  It may yield some clues as to what it's done to the others."

Memory jerked him upright.

"Danielcarterteal'c?!"

When she didn't immediately answer, he swung his head around and found his friends were lying on the three beds next to him in the same state they'd been in back on the planet.

Knowing that silence from the Doc could only mean trouble, he demanded, "What is it?  What's wrong with them?"

"Their neural activity is... non-existent aside from the autonomic functions."

"How?!  Do you mean that they're...?"

"Brain-dead?  I have never dealt with anything like this before, sir.  They are breathing on their own but..."

She trailed off as she saw his head droop. 

"I was nearer to it than any of them.  Why didn't it... do whatever it did to me too?"

She went to answer when something obviously told her that that hadn't really been a question directed at her.  Backing off, she walked through to her office to give him a moment or two to get his head around the news.

Disregarding his fuzzy head, he swung his legs off of the bed and, unsteadily, stumbled across to the next one.  Daniel lay there.  His eyes were open but his expression was blank; the bruise on his forehead now sitting in stark contrast to the paleness of his skin.  Tenderly, Jack brushed his hand down his friend's face.

You're still in there, right?  Or somewhere, at least.  Somewhere I can bring you back from. 

Lurching across to the second bed, he saw the Major lying there.  Apart from a slight paleness, she looked just like she always did: beautiful but strong.

I haven't lost you.  I haven't lost you like this.  Damnit, Sam... 

"I swear... the next time you just have to see something for yourself..."

His voice caught in his throat and, gently brushing his hand backwards through her hair, he unsteadily made his way across to Teal'c's bed. 

Teal'c?  No...  I can't...  I can't deal with this... you're just missing, right?  I can get you all back if you're missing.  I can search the galaxy for you if you're missing...  What the hell do I do if you're...?

Then, anger rising, he yelled, "Doc?!"

Instantaneously back at his side, he heard her say, "Colonel, you shouldn't be out of..."

"Why not me?!  Why them but not me?!"

"I don't know, sir..."

"Well you damn well should!"

You can't tell me that they're gone and not know why or how!  You can't tell me I've lost them when they're damn well still breathing!

"Sir... I'm sorry but I've never seen anything like this before."

Steadying himself on the edge of Teal'c's bed, he waved a dismissive hand at her.

"No, it's me who's sorry.  This isn't your fault..."

As Janet assisted him back over to his bed, he looked blankly across at his team.

No parent should outlive their child.  No leader should outlive their team.  I can't do this again.  I can't cope with this again.

Vocalising his thoughts, he breathed, "Please, tell me this is the part where I wake up... or they do."

Unbeknownst to Jack, this was the part when they woke up. 

Uncertainly opening her eyes, Sam waited impatiently for her brain to come online and provide her with details of where the hell she was and how the hell she'd gotten here.  Before she could, however, she heard something.

"Sam!"

Bounding into her field of vision, her friend dropped down to his knees beside her.

Blinking at him, she mumbled, "Daniel?"  Then, memory returning, she jerked awake suddenly.

"What happened?"

Glancing further around the pedestal room, Daniel distractedly replied, "Your guess is as good as mine."  Then he raised his voice.

"Jack?  Teal'c?"

As they listened for a reply, she tried to work the knot out of her neck.  Then she froze as she heard a distant rumbling.  For a moment, she thought the building was collapsing but then realised it was the sound of thunder.  The deluge on their way here had obviously been the forerunner to a storm. 

"Daniel Jackson?  Major Carter?"

They both looked round to where their Jaffa friend stood.  He was utterly drenched again which suggested he'd been outside.

Daniel got back to his feet.

"Teal'c.  What's going on?  Where's Jack?"

"When I could not wake you, I went outside to search for O'Neill.  I am unaware of his present location."

"Surely you can follow his tracks in the mud of this place?"

"There are no tracks leaving this place, Daniel Jackson.  If there ever were, the rain has long since washed them away."

Rubbing the back of her neck, she began to suggest, "He might've headed back to the gate to get help when he wasn't able to wake us up.  I mean we've been out..."  Glancing down at her watch, she slowed but continued, "...for five minutes."

Teal'c shook his head slowly.

"I have been conscious for at least that long, Major Carter."

Locking worried eyes with her, Daniel said, "So Jack hasn't gone anywhere... Jack's actually gone."

She felt lost for a moment before recollection caused her to yelp, "The pedestal!"

Scrambling to her feet, she hurried back over to the device.  The ring of purple crystals now lay shattered across the control panel. 

She breathed, "This must be why it cut off all of a sudden.  They've broken."

Daniel's thoughts had obviously leapt several miles forward.

"Jack was closer to it than any of us..."

She didn't need him to continue because her mind was fast travelling down the same path.  The Colonel had been the closest to the device.  Maybe whatever it had been trying to do to them it had succeeded in doing to him before it cut off...  And he was nowhere to be found.  The implications... well, they weren't good.

Damnit, why was I poking about inside it?

Trying to reassert some control over herself, she slipped into command mode.  The Colonel was missing presumed... well, missing, anyhow so that meant she was in charge.

Her tone altered to one of clipped decisiveness.

"We should head back to the gate.  The energy pulse might have done something to our watches so it's possible that the Colonel did head back... in which case we'll find him back at the base.  If not then at least we can get a hold of some proper equipment to study this device... find out what it did and maybe some way to undo it."

The others nodded but Daniel said, "You two should go, I'll stay and try to finish translating the wall.  If you find Jack then you can come back and get me... and, if you don't, you'll be coming back anyway."

Locking eyes with him, she shook her head, "Daniel, you need checked out.  We have no idea what affect the energy's had on us.  Not to mention your possible concussion.  I can't risk it.  That's an order."

Reluctantly, her friend nodded.  As they suited up for the storm, she asked, "Teal'c, just how bad is it out there?"

"There is sporadic thunder some distance from our current location."

As they neared the door, she looked out.  The rain was now so thick that the drops were blending together into a vast waterfall of water and the darkest clouds were moving menacingly closer. 

"Come on, we better get back before that hits us.  You two okay?"

The others nodded so they headed out.  She prayed they'd find the Colonel alive and well back at the base.

Alive, but not so well, Jack lay in the MRI scanner and stared blankly at the curved ceiling of the short tunnel as the machine began to move.  He couldn't get his mind off of the others.  What had happened to them?  And why the hell hadn't it happened to him too?

In his head, he replayed the last few moments before he'd fallen unconscious in the pedestal room.  He'd swept his gaze round to make sure the others were on the move before he'd begun running.  Consequently, he'd fallen slightly behind.  Then... then he'd felt his entire body caught up in a net of energy.  Unable to move or even to breathe, he'd felt the pain in his head begin.  As the pain grew to agony, he stood, helpless, unable even to scream out loud.  Then it'd cut off and he'd watched his friends crumple to the ground only an instant before joining them. 

And it was the funniest thing... because, as he'd collapsed, he could have sworn he'd heard them scream.

Sheltering under a rock overhang, Daniel Jackson shouted, "This is insane!  We're soaking wet!  If the lightning hits then we're toast!"

Major Carter responded, "We have to make it back to the gate before the storm catches us!"

"There's not enough time!  We have to go back!"

Obviously unsure about her own decision, their female companion nevertheless snapped, "Daniel, we are keeping going!  That's an order."

The linguist locked eyes with her.  From his vantage point, Teal'c could see the pain and concern for O'Neill he saw in her eyes was mirrored in those of their friend but there was another look which clearly said ‘the last thing Jack would want is for me to let you kill yourself trying to save him'.  Major Carter's eyes responded eloquently that she did not care if O'Neill would disapprove; she would not abandon him.

Seeing the resolution, Daniel Jackson slowly nodded.

"Okay."

Now the debate had been resolved, their temporary leader turned to face the direction they were going.  Teal'c also turned back to look ahead of them.  This planet had a sensation about it which seemed wrong to him.  He could only place it as akin to that his symbiote, now absent, had evoked when disturbed. 

Having shifted forward to his position, Major Carter had doubtless noted the look on his face as she asked, "Teal'c, what is it?"

Shaking himself from unproductive thoughts, he replied, "It is nothing, Major Carter!  But if we are to continue then it must be now!"

He witnessed her glancing back at Daniel Jackson.  She knew, as well as he, their friend's reluctance had nothing to do with cowardice and everything to do with concern for their wellbeing but, she obviously reasoned, O'Neill might not have a lot of time for them to waste.

"All right, let's go!"

Blankly, Jack sat on the infirmary bed.  He couldn't have lost them like this... he couldn't have lost them like this, damnit!  And it wasn't even like they were dead.  They were still there; lying in the triplet of beds beside him. 

The Doc'd put his head - and theirs - through every brain-scanning device that she had at her disposal and was currently lost in the midst of a jungle of reference books as she tried desperately to find something similar; something that would give her a place to start.  But why should anything on earth have ever been similar to this thing?

Pulling himself off of the bed, he awkwardly stumbled over to Daniel's bedside.  Whatever that energy had done to them, it'd certainly done a hell of a number on his body.  Fraiser said there was nothing wrong physically with him that would explain the fact his limbs felt all wrong sizes and required intense conscious thought to operate near to normality.  She said the brain images would show more but then she'd refused to tell him what she'd seen on his scans until consulting her reference books and some experts in the field to give her some context to what she'd seen.  Maybe whatever had happened to the others was slowly happening to him; maybe his systems would shut down one by one until there were eight blank eyes in the infirmary.  It was almost a comforting thought - at least he wouldn't be left behind. 

Looking down at Daniel, he saw a man that resembled his friend but was somehow not.  His face was so... animated normally.  You'd miss it when the gestures got into full swing in impassioned rant mode but the boy could have an entire conversation with you without a word needing to be said on his part.  Without that animation, he looked almost like a synthetic replica of himself.  He remembered something Daniel had said to him when he'd been ascended: ‘I always seem to be saying goodbye to you'.  It was true.  His and Daniel's relationship was one punctuated by memorable farewells.  But this wasn't going to be one of those times.  He refused to say goodbye; refused to believe that Daniel's life ended like this. 

He recalled, more recently, when his shoulder had been injured by an Unas and, therefore, left him unable to take over the mission on the mining planet like Daniel would've ideally liked.  His friend'd quipped that he'd only just ‘broken him in' and didn't want to have to start with a new Colonel. 

With determination, he breathed, "Better wake up, Danny, cos no way in hell'm I breakin' in another geek.  Hair's grey enough as it is."

Pulling himself clumsily to his feet, he guided himself carefully to the side of Carter's bed.  Collapsing into the seat, he wondered if he should ask Janet for a wheelchair.  He'd certainly need one if this got much worse.  And it was getting worse, there was no doubting that.

His eyes fell upon the blank face of the Major.  Like Daniel, she looked wrong.  But, with her, it was that light in her eyes that he really missed; that wide-eyed wonder and the rush of excitement that would catch her so suddenly that she'd be halfway through her babbled explanation before she'd realise that you neither knew nor cared what she was talking about.  Even as she was, she was beautiful.  But beautiful like a marble statue: cold and emotionless.  Not the kind of ruffled hair, crinkled brow, arched eyebrows beautiful she was as she looked up at you over the microscope when you'd just said something so blatantly stupid that she actually had to stand back to assess whether you were screwing with her or really were as dumb as you looked.  Without the mind behind those eyes, she was nothing but a shell. 

Feeling tears pricking at his eyes and voice breaking, he said, "Don't ya think the mud would've waited for you?"

Couldn't we just've gone on leave, Carter?  Couldn't you have taken Cass away a day early?  Couldn't you just've... not been you for a day?  Cos now I might've lost...

Emotions growing too intense to dam up much longer, he breathed deeply and closed his eyes.  Pulling the chair around, he looked at Teal'c: his kindred spirit in some ways and certainly the one who implicitly understood him the best.  Though he had probably opened up to Daniel the most over the years that was because the archaeologist had an unnerving ability to carefully pry apart any mental guard Jack could form to keep the darker areas of his life hidden.  With Teal'c, though, there was no need for questions; they just understood each other.  They had since that first meeting on Chulak when he'd yelled, ‘I can save these people!  Help me!'  He'd had a pretty shrewd idea that the warrior was intrigued by them and wasn't all that happy about his current job but, still, that cry for help had been little more than a shot in the dark.  But then... but then he'd locked eyes with the warrior and, suddenly, he'd understood him.  He'd quietly repeated ‘Help me' and known he would before the first shot was fired.  He'd never doubted the Jaffa from that moment.  That instant type of bond was rare and precious.  Both Daniel and Carter, to his shame, had had to fight for his respect but Teal'c had won it in an instant.

And now he lay there.  There were getting to be too many times when Teal'c lay in the infirmary bed.  Tretonin did its job but it was not a perfect substitute for Junior when it came to shielding Teal'c from things that harmed the rest of them.  It wasn't that he was any worse off than the rest of them... it was just that he'd come to expect the stoic Jaffa to be the steadying voice when the others lay before him.  Teal'c was his strength, just as Carter was his intellect and Daniel his voice.  What was he without them?

They knew the gate was somewhere up ahead but racing through the storm with crosswinds pushing them in all directions and rain viciously slashing into them was disorienting even Teal'c.  At points, the rain and wind pushed so hard against them that they may as well have been running on a treadmill.  This planet had a serious grudge against them for some reason.

Cursing herself for ever requesting to come here, she fought onward.  Though she was by no means weak, she was a whole lot lighter than the other two who had already had to anchor her more than once to prevent her being blown off her feet.  A sudden gust slammed unexpectedly into her and nearly pulled her off of the ground altogether.

Grabbing her, Teal'c shouted, "It is of no use, Major Carter!  We must seek shelter!"

"No, we have to keep going!"

Helping keep her on the ground, Daniel yelled, "Sam, the storm is up ahead of us!  And the gate's gonna attract it!"

Teal'c repeated, "We must seek shelter!"

Daniel shouted, "Over there!  Looks like a cave!"

She was undecided until the sheet lightning flashed all around her and the thunder cracked almost instaneously.  The storm was on top of them. 

"All right!  Go!"

The Jaffa's hand remained firmly clamped onto her shoulder as the three of them hurried into the cave.  Once inside, Daniel shook himself off and glanced back out at the storm.  Feeling guilty already for having stopped, Sam comforted herself slightly with the knowledge that the most vicious storms were often the quickest to die out.  There really was no choice.  They couldn't fight against that storm.  They were going to have to wait it out. 

As her friend coughed chestily, Sam winced.  He'd only recently been put back on active duty after a recent mission had led to a case of pneumonia.  Dragging him out into another storm had been a bad call on her part.  She should have let him stay back in the building that housed the pedestal.  It'd be her fault if he got sick again.  It'd been her damn fault the first time no matter who said it wasn't. 

Okay, so she hadn't actually done anything to her friend but she'd backed Felger when he wanted to bring the Avenger virus to the General.  The General trusted Felger exactly as far as he could throw him but he'd unwisely trusted her judgement of him.  Okay, so Baal might have been the one who really knocked out the entire gate system but he could never have done it if they hadn't given him the virus to do it.  And with the gate system knocked out, Daniel, who'd been co-ordinating a planetary evacuation on P3L 997, had suddenly become trapped on a rapidly flooding planet in the middle of tearing itself apart.  He and the people of the planet had only been able to escape because Daniel's faith in his friends had sent him back down the treacherous path from the relative safety of the high ground to try the gate again before it was submerged.  If they hadn't been able to fix it when they did...

As it had been, he'd gotten off pretty lightly and was already back on active duty; having succumbed mostly to the effects of the cold wetness of the rain and the icy floodwater (up to their waists by the time they'd actually got the last of the refugees through - given the force of the water, they'd had to end up diverting so the gate-room didn't end up underwater) but also sporting a few fine scars along his arms and a sprained ankle from the desperate rush to get all the refugees through the gate before it was submerged after his final attempt to dial out had proved successful.  The others might have blamed Felger but she knew it was as much her fault as it was his.

And now, she'd dragged him through another storm when his lungs were only just clearing.  She'd been so wrapped up in worrying about the effects the energy might have had on him that she hadn't even stopped to consider that maybe she was going to do more harm than good forcing him to travel in these conditions.  Maybe, she thought more angrily, she should have thought of that yesterday when she got the General to approve the mission.  More than any of them, Daniel had needed his leave and she'd selfishly snatched it away from him; dragged him here through the rain and the pollen; exposed him to god knows what in that building and now dragged him back through a storm to shelter in a damp cavern.  And it sucked even worse because he'd never blame her for any of it.

There was no telling how long this storm might keep up.  She dreaded to think that waiting it out like this might mean it'd be too late to save the Colonel.  She shuddered slightly at the thought that they were already too late.  She was trying to keep the thought from her mind but she knew that there was a distinct possibility that the energy pulse had killed him.  No, she couldn't think like that.  He was alive.  She just had to keep thinking that.  That was she could still function.  Still lead the others.  The other way?  It didn't bear thinking about.

Huddling down, she desolately looked out the entrance as her unshed tears seemed to fall from the sky.  She breathed quietly, "We'll find you, sir..."

Physically feeling a little better at the moment, Jack was still in the depths of mental anguish as he sat in the briefing room looking round at the empty spaces where his friends should have been. 

"Anything else you can remember?"

Having already recited everything he could remember three times over, he looked down.

"No, sir.  That's it.  I don't remember anything else."

"All right, Jack.  Why don't you go to your quarters and get some rest.  You're still wearing off the effects of that energy."

"Yes, sir..."

But he didn't go to his quarters.  Instead, he walked to that room; that room where his friends lay.  Nodding to the SF on duty, he walked in.  Inside, an orderly was sorting through medical supplies. 

Leaning on the end of Daniel's bed, he stared intensely down at his friend as if he could make him awaken by sheer force of will.  He stood like that for maybe five minutes before he felt a hand on his shoulder.  Flinching away, he looked round to see the male orderly looking at him. 

"Are you all right?"

Irritably, he replied, "I'm fine.  Just leave me."

"All right... but make sure you are ready."

Glancing round, he asked, "For what?"

"It will be soon."

With that, the orderly turned and left.  Confused, Jack stumbled round and made his way to the door.

"Hey, wait a minute, what...?"

He trailed off as he saw the SF looking in the door at him.  Reaching the door-frame, he looked up and down the visible stretch of corridor.  There was no sign of the orderly.

"Airman, which way did he go?"

"Sir?"

"The orderly."

"Orderly, sir?"

The obvious confusion on the SF's face made Jack reply, "You did see an orderly walk out of this room a few seconds ago, didn't you?"

"No, sir.  You've been the only person to go in or out of that room since Doctor Fraiser left ten minutes ago."

"What?  You sure?"

"Positive, sir.  Are you all right, sir?"

"Apparently not..."

Sitting in the cave, Daniel tried not to drip on the camera as he started the playback on the screen.

Busily sorting through their packs, Sam asked, "Anything?"

Wiping his steamy glasses off of his sleeve, he placed them back on his face.

"It's blank... the energy blast must have wiped it."

He shut his eyes as if trying to watch the lost footage within his mind.  After a pause, he said, "I have to go back there."

Handing him a space blanket from out of his pack, she replied, "Here.  Look, I understand but if the Colonel's not at the base then we'll all be going back there."

She glanced back at entrance to the cave where Teal'c was sitting watching the ferocious storm and added, "Besides, I don't think we're going anywhere anytime soon."

Jack sat with his head in his hands waiting for Fraiser.  As she walked in, he could read her expression.  It wasn't good news. 

"Sir, how are you feeling?"

He ignored the question.

"What's wrong with me?"

"I don't know, sir... the fMRI showed sporadic bursts of high activation in your motor and somatosensory..."

His eyes closed, he held up a hand to halt her.

"Even on a good day, I wouldn't understand what you're saying.  Think we can safely say this is a bad day."

Taking that as a request for an explanation in English, Janet paused for a moment then continued, "The areas of your brain dedicated to directly controlling your movements and allowing you to perceive the world around you through touch... they're hyperactive for some reason.  What's even odder is that you weren't moving during the scan."

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea what to make of it, sir, but I do think it's what's causing your mobility problems and these odd sensations you keep describing."

Not very willing to figure it out for himself, he replied, "How?"

"Well, sir, in basic terms, the signals your brain sends to initiate and control movement are being all but drowned out by a flood of irrelevant signals.  What puzzles me is that those signals don't appear to be causing irrelevant movements.  As far as sensation is concerned... well, your brain is trying to interpret the irrelevant signals and I think that's what's causing the sensations you've been experiencing."

"So what's the worse news?"

"Well, judging by your deterioration, the strength or duration of the irrelevant signals must be increasing and I have no idea how to stop it."

"Worst case scenario, Doc?"

"Well, so far, the ‘hyperactivation' seems to be restricted almost solely to the postfrontal and prefrontal gyri... if we assume it remains there then... well, the signals, sir, could drown you out completely..."

"What does that mean?"

The Doc's eyes brushed the ground before she replied, "It would leave you effectively paralysed, sir."

As he absorbed the news, she hurriedly added, "But nothing's certain yet, sir.  And there's no saying it will get worse... or that it's permanent."

Getting clumsily off the bed, he asked, "Can I go now?"

"I'd advise you to stay here, sir."

"From what you're saying, I'm not going to have a choice in that soon.  But while I can still move..."

She nodded slowly.

"Stay on base, sir.

"Thanks."

Balancing against the wall, he set out into the corridor.  As he walked along, he stumbled unsteadily but managed to make it to the elevator without falling.  Making it inside, he leant against the back and tried to get his head around this latest revelation.  He barely noticed the technician enter the elevator as his head continued to spin. 

"They're still coming... and you're still not ready."

Jack turned to look at the technician.

"What?"

Then memory kicked in.

"Hey, I know you... you're that orderly from before..."

As the doors slid open, the technician smiled at him and headed out.  Chasing after him, he shouted, "Hey, wait...!"

But he'd already turned the corner and was out of sight.  Hurrying along as best he could, he reached the corner... but the man was long gone.  Sighing, Jack beckoned to one of the SFs standing in the corridor.

"Colonel, are you all right, sir?"

"Did someone walk down this corridor?"

"When, sir?"

"Just now."

"Who, sir?"

"Anyone."

Sharing a confused glance with his fellow SF, the man replied, "No, sir."

"Yeah, that's what I thought you were going to say."

"Sir?"

"Never mind..."

Turning back, he ignored the puzzled gazes following him, and headed to the elevator.  Great, on top of everything else, he was now going nuts...

As the doors slid open, he made his slow way to his friend's office.  Reaching the door, he walked in.  Funny, he felt closer to his friend standing in this room than he did standing by the foot of the bed on which he lay.  But that was because this room was so full of the essence of Daniel that was so echoingly absent from the shell that lay in that bed.  Before Jonas had set up home in the office, he'd come here to feel close to his newly-ascended friend.  As much as it had hurt him to let his friend go at the time, it wasn't until he'd first sat in this room that he realised he'd actually lost him long before he ascended.  Back in the first years of the SGC, he used to hang about here so much that Daniel had started conspiring with Carter to have him called away on whatever flimsy pretence she could come up with.  The reason he'd never left him alone for long wasn't, as had once been suggested, because he was part of a conspiracy to stop the archaeologist uncovering the meaning of existence but because his friend's way of coping with the hurts he faced in his life was to cope with them alone; to bury them deep within himself and to let the guilt seep in until it consumed him.  He'd sworn to himself that he wasn't going to let his friend do that.  That he'd never let him hide himself away from the rest of them.

He glanced around again.  He'd been here so seldom over the last couple of years before Daniel died.  Despite everything he'd sworn, he'd let him shut himself off from him; let him hide away in here, burying the hurt ever deeper and carrying his burden alone.  He lost Daniel long before Oma gave him the chance to ascend.  He hadn't had the right to ask him not to go.

His heart felt heavy as he thought back over the months since Daniel had descended again.  Once both of them were past the guilt and self-recrimination, he and Daniel had finally found each other again; remembered why this unlikely friendship was the one dearest to both of their hearts.  He didn't think SG-1 had ever been stronger than they had been these past few months.  And now, he'd lost Daniel again.  Lost Teal'c.  Lost Carter.  Carter... he remembered once confessing that he'd rather die himself than lose her... but the truth was that, whilst a little more complicated in her case, the sentiment was as true for Teal'c and Daniel.  The thought of having to continue on without them was unbearable...

Sitting down on the chair, as the wave of dizziness hit him, he let his head sink into his hands.  Consequently, it took a few moments before he realised there was someone reshelving books.  For a split-second, he thought it was Daniel before common sense kicked in and told him it couldn't possibly be his friend.  So who was it then?

Raising his head up fully, he saw the back of a man dressed in blue fatigues.

"Hey, what're you doing in here?"

"You should be preparing."

Yeah, now he knew what was familiar about that back.  It was the disappearing orderly/technician. 

He demanded, "All right, who exactly are you?"

Continuing to shelve the books, the man replied, "They come for you even now.  And you are not preparing."

"Who's coming for me?  What amn't I preparing for?"

"You need to be ready for them."

"For who?"

"The ones who come to challenge you."

"To challenge me?  All right, what the hell are you?  Am I asleep?  Is this a dream?  Are you real?  Is this real?"

"You waste time asking questions."

"That's fine by me so long as you waste some time answering them."

But the man seemed in no mood to co-operate and hurried out of the room.  He considered following him but figured he'd be long gone before he'd even gotten up from the chair. 

What the hell was going on?  Was he still on the planet?  Was this all just in his head?  Maybe this was some sort of simulation... or a sort of dream...  So where were the others, really? 

Pulling himself up, he tried to clear his head of all the fuzziness.  Okay, assume, for now, that this was reality... where did that leave him?  With his friends seemingly dead, his body rapidly failing and some random man that no-one else could see wandering around the base telling him to be ready?  No, this had to be something else, surely?  Or he could just be losing his mind, of course...

But before he could think of anything else, a sharp pain echoed through his head and he slumped down onto the desk, unconscious.

"Sam..."

Curled against Daniel's side, she wearily squinted up to see him looking down at her.

"What...?"  She trailed off as, belatedly, she became aware of the absence of noise outside.

Replying to her partial question, he said, "Storm seems to be dying down.  Could just be a false calm but it might give us some time."

Nodding, she went to get up.

"All right, let's head to the gate."

Climbing to his feet, he cut in.

"Let me go back.  I can figure out what it is and what it did to Jack."

"Daniel, we've been over this already..."

"Jack wouldn't have left us behind."

"We were all unconscious.  He couldn't have gotten us back on his own.  He would've had to have gone for help."

"We were only out for five minutes."

"Only according to our watches.  Daniel, like you said this could just be a false calm.  If you head back, you could end up being trapped there for who knows how long."

"But I..."

Then suddenly, he grasped at his head and fell to his knees.

"Daniel!"

Fuzzily, Jack opened his eyes to see Janet smiling kindly down at him with that concern in her eyes that belied the brightness of the smile. 

"Glad you've chosen to join us back in the waking world, sir."

"How long was I out?"

"I'm not entirely sure, sir.  They found you about a half hour ago.  How're you feeling?"

Experimentally flexing his fingers, he said, "Well, can still move... I mean, still feel like I've got about forty fingers but..."

The Doc abruptly breaking eye contact was never a reassuring sight.

Determinedly locking eyes with her again, he said, "Not a good sign then?"

"Well, sir, when you were found unconscious, we took you for another series of fMRI scans and it does appear that the anomalous activity in the pre- and post-central gyri has levelled off.  Those phantom signals are still there but, for now, they don't appear to be increasing."

"That's good... so what was the look about?"

"We've also seen evidence of spread."

"Spread to where?"

"Well, it still appears relatively minor but there was evidence of sporadic spikes of activity in all four lobes of both cerebral hemispheres."

He'd had to stare at enough photos of his brain over the years to know what that meant.

"In other words, it's everywhere."

"Well, not exactly, sir... so far the limbic system, brain stem and prefrontal cortex seem wholly unaffected."

Jack simply replied, "So any ideas what the effects are gonna be once the phantom menace really starts to kick in?"

"Judging by what we've seen so far, sir, I wouldn't predict the catastrophic failure of any system.  But I have no idea how the interference will manifest itself in those systems.  We'll be keeping you under constant observation in here but I really don't want to medicate you so we can get a clearer picture of exactly what's going on in your head."

He just nodded slowly in reply.

"Colonel, I want you to understand that if any symptom becomes too much for you, I do not want you to even hesitate in asking me to relieve it... even if that means temporarily sedating you."

"Thanks, Doc."

Janet smiled weakly again and, after a quick glance at his monitors, turned and headed through to her office. 

As he glanced over to the empty chair beside his bed, his whole chest tightened as the pain swelled within him.  Seeing that chair just brought home the fact that his friends were... absent.  When one of them was in a bad way in the infirmary, there was hardly a moment where the chair beside it wasn't occupied by one of the others.  Lying back down, Jack glanced over at that achingly empty chair again then shut his eyes. 

He would open them again and Teal'c would be patiently sitting there.  Once he saw that he was awake, he'd raise an eyebrow and the traces of a smile would appear on his lips as his beaming eyes tugged them upwards.  There'd be no words... just a gaze so steadying it would hold him fast and reassure him that everything was going to be fine.  Yeah, that's what would be there when he opened his eyes... 

He couldn't quite stop the tinge of disappointment as he opened his eyes to see only that empty chair.  Had he seriously been expecting Teal'c to be there?  The image had just felt so right to him... so much righter than the way things really were.  Teal'c should be there... or Carter, her face too pale and the rings around her eyes too dark, babbling inanely about anything and everything to try and distract them both from his situation by sheer force of words.  And that bright brittle smile upon her face that looked so fragile that you just knew it would crack with the slightest nudge... and you'd find yourself keeping it together if only to aid her in her bid not to fall apart. 

The emptiness of the chair echoed back at him accusingly and he defensively turned away.  Closing his eyes, he could imagine glancing sideways to see Daniel sitting beside him with his glasses perched up on his head, flicking through one of his weighty tomes slightly too quickly to actually be reading it.  And he'd close his eyes again and wait for him to say or do something he could make a witty remark about.  But the irritating civilian would inevitably refuse to say anything for long enough for his, admittedly rather limited, patience to run out so he'd be forced to glance out of the corner of his eye again to see what was going on... and, of course, Daniel would catch him looking and say...

"Waiting for me to say nice things about you, Jack?  Sorry, not today..."

Jack blinked slightly as he realised that he was more than picturing this.  Daniel was sitting there with an expression of concerned relief on his face that was only slightly masked by a lazy smile. 

Carefully, he said, "Daniel, you're looking... better."

Relief morphed smoothly to confusion as his friend pulled his glasses down onto his face.

"What?"

"You know, up, moving, not being brain-dead... I'm just saying they're all positive steps for you."

"Jack, what are you talking about?"

"Never mind... Just wishing this was real, that's all."

Daniel appeared to give up trying to understand him.

"You've been out for nearly two weeks, Jack.  Scared the hell out of us all, I might add.  You remember what happened?"

Shaking his head, he said, "No, this isn't real... you're not really here.  You're all... missing."

"Missing?  Jack, no-one's missing.  I think you're a little confused."

"And I think you're a little imaginary so what say we leave it at that and you can just vanish away again."

"Jack, we were offworld, remember?  And we found a pedestal device.  Sam accidentally triggered an energy pulse that engulfed the room.  We all got caught up in it but it cut out after a couple of seconds.  You seemed to be the only one it had time to do anything to."

"So back in Kansas and it was all just a dream?  No, not buying it.  You were the ones the energy took down; not me."

"Jack, I understand you must be unbelievably disoriented right now but whatever you believe happened... it didn't, okay?  We're all just fine.  It's you that you have to worry about.  We still don't know exactly what that energy did to you but I've spent most of the last week and a half in that place trying to find out.  Sam and Teal'c are still there.  Don't think Sam's slept more than three hours in the last thirteen days.  She's been blaming herself for what happened."

He closed his eyes for a second.

"I want this to be true, Daniel.  I so want this to be real.  That's what makes it hard to believe it is."

"Jack, that device knocked us down like tenpins... and probably in front of your eyes because it let us go first.  So you imagined it killed us... or whatever... that's all it is, Jack.  We are not dead.  We are not gone.  It's all in your head.  All of it.  Everything."

Closing the book and laying it down next to the bed, Daniel said, "I'm gonna go get Doctor Fraiser..."

As he lay the book down, on the bedside table, Jack glanced across at it.  Its title was ‘Myths of the Chimera'.  Glancing back up, he saw Daniel was gone and, turning back, saw the book had vanished too.

He murmured, "Knew it was too good to be true..."

What the hell had just happened?  Was this the phantom signals screwing his head up?  And if it wasn't then what the hell had it been?  Just a dream... or something else?  His head was beginning to spin like crazy.  How could he even be sure he was really here?  For all he knew, he could still be on the planet.

Janet's voice appeared, "Colonel, are you back with me here?"

Jack opened his eyes to see Janet looking down at him again.

"If this is real, then, yeah."

"Sir, I think you're beginning to hallucinate... I was worried that this might be how your visual and auditory areas would be affected."

"I saw Daniel... said all this was just in my head."

"I'm afraid it's the other way round, sir."

Glancing over at that empty chair, Jack bitterly said, "Yeah, I can see that."

Sam shared a concerned look with Teal'c as she stroked her hand through the hair of the unconscious archaeologist.  She wondered if this was some delayed reaction to the energy or they'd all underestimated just how hard he'd hit his head earlier.  After all, that bruise looked nasty and, for all they knew, he might've even blacked out for a few moments.

She was about to ask Teal'c to carry him when he finally began to rouse.  Blinking uncertainly, he looked up into their faces.

"J'ck?"

"Daniel?  Daniel, are you okay?"

Allowing himself to be helped to a sitting position by Teal'c, he seemed to come to more fully.

"Yeah, I think so..."

"What happened there?"

"Don't know... I feel... drained.  Just all of a sudden there."

"Let's hope this isn't some delayed reaction to the energy.  Well, that's the debate over, anyway.  You need checked out as soon as possible.  You gonna be okay to walk?"

Pulling himself to his feet, Daniel tested his balance before replying, "Yeah, I'll be okay."

"All right, let's go..."

But, as she spoke, the thunder crashed outside. 

Teal'c, who'd turned back to the entrance, said, "The storm is upon us again, Major Carter."

Reaching the entrance, she saw the vicious wind was already picking up speed again and, as the heavens opened, she sighed and sank to the ground.  Glancing round at the others, she saw they were both waiting for her to tell them if they were going to stay or go.  Like it was her choice or something.  Well, yeah, technically it was but the storm and Daniel's recent collapse were making a pretty persuasive argument for staying put.  Even her desire to see the Colonel alive and well couldn't override her common sense right now.  If they went out into the madness outside...  No, they had to stay put.

"All right," she said, "guess we're gonna have to wait this out a little longer."

As they settled down again, Sam looked over at Daniel.  He still looked more than a little spaced. 

"You okay?"

He nodded slowly, "Yeah, think so."

"What did you mean by ‘drained'?"

"Just... I don't know... like I used up all my energy trying to reach out for something really hard to reach.  And don't ask me to explain what I mean by that... that's just... what it felt like."

As he dipped his head, she looked out at the storm.  She couldn't help but feel that the storm was vindictively trying to keep them away from the gate.  What were they going to do if it kept up like this much longer?  Surely, it couldn't... eventually, either the storm would move on or run out of energy and die out.  Their cave was relatively sheltered so they would be safe enough here until the storm died.  If it died, that was.  She couldn't quite rid herself of a new fear that there was something about this planet's environmental conditions that the original survey hadn't picked up and that increased the viciousness and longevity of storms like this one.  Truth was they could be stuck here for a very, very long time. 

"Moose, it's an animal with antlers."

Fraiser nodded and held up another card.

He rolled his eyes.

"House, you live in it."

As Fraiser nodded again and held up another card, he wearily asked, "Doc, do we have to keep doing this?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but these tests help determine..."

Suddenly, though, he jerked his head upwards.

"What the hell...?"

For, right behind Janet, he saw Doctor Orderly/Technician standing tapping at his watch.

Dropping the cards to the floor, Janet jumped up.

"Sir, what's wrong?"

He ignored her.

"You, whatever you are, tell me what's going on!"

"Sir?  Sir, can you hear me?"

Still ignoring her, he said, "You seem to want me to be ready for something so why don't you tell me what and maybe I can be ready for it."

Doctor Orderly/Technician replied, "They all possess power.  You have some advantage but you must prepare or they will destroy you."

Jack was aware Janet was still talking to him but it was as if someone had pressed the ‘mute' button.  Her mouth still moved but no sound was coming from it.

He asked the mystery figure.

"Who will destroy me?"

"Any of them could in your current state.  Why do you refuse to prepare?"

"Why do you refuse to tell me anything of the slightest use?  Look, I don't even know if I believe I'm really here anymore but I do believe you're real, kind of.  I just... I just can't see me dreaming up anyone quite so frustrating.  And I also think you know what's going on.  So tell me, what happened to me on that planet?"

But, turning, Doctor Orderly/Technician walked out of sight without answering. 

Tuning back into Fraiser, he heard her saying, "... you hear me?  Sir?  Who are you talking to?"

Looking towards the empty doorway, he replied, "Wish I knew."

Major Carter shivered uncomfortably as she shifted slightly in her sleep.  Looking upon her for a moment more, Teal'c glanced back at the storm.  It had grown truly frightening outside.  The winds were destroying everything in their path as the rain thundered down.  Daniel Jackson was sitting beside Major Carter.  His complexion was still pale.

"Are you sure you are well, Daniel Jackson?"

Looking up, his friend tugged the space blanket tighter around himself and smiled.

"Well, to be honest, no, not really... but not much I can do about that here."

"You still do not know what occurred?"

"I just... it must have been something to do with the energy pulse.  Just don't understand why it hit me all of a sudden like that."

Teal'c went to say something else when he heard the almighty crashing outside.  Looking out of the entrance, he saw an entire hillside sliding down into the river.  And then, all of a sudden, the rushing water was approaching. 

Sam had awoken as the thunderous collapse began.  She saw Daniel getting to his feet as Teal'c turned towards them.  They both saw the look on his face as he said, "We must leave, now!"

But it was too late and, Teal'c only just managing to leap out of its path, the water came cascading in.  It was all her friend could do to drag her up from the ground before it crashed into them.  Both of them caught in the thundering torrent, they were dragged further into the cave.  Teal'c's cry for them was only just discernable above the roaring water.  Desperately trying to right herself, she failed and toppled into the water.  Submerged beneath it, she fought to reach the surface when a strong hand gripped her by the shoulder and heaved.  As she emerged from the torrent, she saw Daniel had attached himself to a shelf of rock.  Gripping tightly, he yanked her towards him and, climbing onto the outcrop, the two of them huddled away from the crashing water. 

Her brief submersion obviously preying on his mind, Daniel brushed her soaking bangs out of her eyes.

"You okay?"

Nodding slowly, Sam pulled herself further onto the ledge.  They'd just lost all their equipment, their weapons were most likely waterlogged and their clothes were soaked through.  The only thing that was left were the GDOs still strapped to their forearms.  Sodden, she shifted closer to Daniel.  When was this torrent going to end?  Where the hell had it come from in the first place? 

Then they heard their friend's voice.

"Major Carter!  Daniel Jackson!"

Turning, Daniel bellowed, "Teal'c!  Stay out there!  We're safe for now!"

Their Jaffa friend didn't sound all that relieved.

"Can you reach the entrance, Daniel Jackson?!"

Looking at the water, cascading down into the tunnel sprouting from the cave, her drenched friend replied, "No, we're going to have to stay put until the water's gone."

"Then we may have a problem."

"Teal'c, what is it?!"

"The river itself has been diverted, Daniel Jackson.  This water will not soon subside."

She and Daniel looked at each other in alarm.  Even with the tunnel sprouting backwards, this place was going to fill up with water.  It'd be like turning both faucets on full blast in the bath.  There was more water flowing in than draining out.  Even if you left the drain open, it was only a matter of time until the bath would overflow.  And when the water reached their ledge, the two of them were going to get caught up in the turbulence and go right on down the drain.  And it wasn't going to take long for that to happen; the water was already rising steadily.

Daniel replied quietly, "Yeah, okay, that could be a problem..."

The rushing water now filled half of the cave-mouth.  A flashlight beam cut through the darkness from the remaining gap.

Sam had been thinking.

"Teal'c, find a vine!  You can use it as a rope!"

"They are too thin.  They will not be strong enough!"

"Yes, they will!  Trust me, Teal'c!"

After a brief waver of the flashlight, Teal'c replied, "I will return soon!"

As they nervously waited, she saw the water rising still further.  They didn't have much time left. 

"Do you really think they'll be strong enough?  I mean, I read the report but..."

"I know I was only hypothesising... but we don't exactly have many options right now, do we?"

As the water rose still further, Daniel pulled her closer to him in an attempt to keep them nearer to the wall.  The water began to lap at the edges of their ledge.  Climbing carefully to their feet, both having to stoop due to the cave's curvature, they waited for that flashlight to reappear.  The curving alcove would offer a little protection against the current... but not for very long.  The water at their feet was cold and murky.  It was filled with mud and debris.  Oh, where was Teal'c?

As if called by her silent question, the flashlight appeared again.

"Daniel Jackson?!"

"We're still here, Teal'c!  Hurry!"

"Be ready!"

Shifting so that she had the space closer to the wall, Daniel shouted, "Okay!"

The vine flew through the air.  Daniel missed the first throw.  And the second.  On the third throw, his outflung arm caught the vine but he almost lost his footing.  Desperately grabbing him by the T-shirt, Sam risked unbalancing herself but managed to claw enough grip out of the wall to regain her balance and save him plummeting into the water. 

Pausing for a moment, he tested the strength of the vine.  It split almost immediately.  Alarm in his eyes, he turned to her. 

Eyes wide at the sight of the broken vine in his hand, she helplessly breathed, "I don't understand... that shouldn't happen..."

But it was too late.  The water had reached them.  Her friend gave her a despairing look as he shouted out to Teal'c, "It broke!"

Then the water caused her to lose her balance and both she and Daniel plummeted down.  Fighting the automatic impulse to gasp as she hit the icy water, her head plunged deep below the surface.  Trying to kick her way back up, she found her outstretched hand press against rock.  Oh god, she was in the flooded tunnel with no surface to reach.  Her only conscious thought beyond her own fight for survival was the hope that Daniel'd surfaced in time to still have a chance.  Without a hope of reaching the cave against the current, all she could do was cease fighting and pray that the tunnel opened onto something larger.

Feeling herself begin to grow woozy as her lungs protested at the lack of oxygen, she was buffeted roughly against the tunnel's walls.  One particularly harsh collision against her side caused her to inhale sharply and fill her lungs with the dark water.  Now flailing, she felt something catch her by the legs.  For one instant she hoped it was one of her friends but then she realised it felt more like a tentacle.  Hopeless, she felt her limbs grow limp as she was dragged downwards into the cold, never-ending blackness... 

Jack wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to convince Doctor Fraiser that a half-paralysed and entirely crazy man should be allowed out of the infirmary but now he was clawing his way along the corridor on the way to Hammond's office.  The walls seemed to shrink and contract... or maybe that was just because his limbs felt like they were constantly changing size.  Maybe it wasn't getting worse exactly but it was getting more constant. 

As he neared Hammond's office, the General saw him coming through the window and, leaping to his feet, hurried out and helped him into the office.

"Jack, what in hell's name are you doing out of the infirmary?"

"I... needed to speak to you..."

"I would've come up to see you."

Shrugging, Jack replied flippantly, "Ah, needed the exercise."

"So what did you want to speak to me about?"

"Did... uh... the team that went back to the planet find anything?"

"Actually, Jack, I'm afraid the weather deteriorated to the point the Major Castleman determined it was unsafe to remain there before they were able to reach the building again."

"Why wasn't I told, sir?"

"You were unconscious when they returned, Jack... and, frankly, I was waiting to be able to tell you something a little more positive.  How are you feeling?"

"My body and I haven't quite settled our disagreement yet."

"Doctor Fraiser told me she had seen indications that this... disagreement was spreading.  She also mentioned that she thought it was causing you to become slightly irrational."

"Oh, I got past irrational a long time ago.  Now I'm completely delusional... although, to be honest, I haven't quite decided which bits are the delusional ones."

"What do you mean, Jack?"

He was way past caring if he looked crazy.

"Well, I'm not sure if you're real but I'm sure that the vanishing guy is sort of real and that makes it a hell of a lot less likely that this is.  And then there's the other place where I'm in the infirmary and the others are all okay but I tend to think that one's a little too good to be true.  But I know it all can't be real... in fact, maybe none of it is.  Including you... which, with all due respect, would make this conversation a little pointless, sir."

Maybe-Hammond looked a little taken aback at the rambling statement and, reaching for the phone, asked, "Are you sure you should be out of the Infirmary, Jack?"

"Hey, for all I know, I'm still there.  Or maybe still on the planet.  Or maybe I was never there in the first place either.  God, this stuff gets confusing!"

Lifting the receiver from its cradle, his CO asked, "Does Doctor Fraiser know you're here, Jack?"

"Yeah, course she..."

But, trailing off, Jack realised that he couldn't actually remember having a conversation of any sort with Janet about getting out of the infirmary.  In fact, hadn't he been supposed to be under close observation or something?

Correcting himself uncertainly, he said, "At least, I think I..."

But the General had already linked up with the infirmary.

"Doctor... yes, he's here... no, just a little confused, I think.  Okay, we'll be waiting."

Placing down the phone, he said, "That was Doctor Fraiser who was apparently just about to call me to find out if I had any idea of your whereabouts."

Eyes on the phone, he replied, "Sir, I don't... I mean, I wouldn't..."

"It's okay, Jack, but, as of now, you're restricted to the infirmary."

Still looking at the phone, he began, "Think I already was..."  Turning back, he continued, "...but you mean with guards posted at the door, don't you?"

"For your own good, as much as anyone else's, Jack.  I think you'll agree that you're not exactly safe to let wander around just now."

"You think I'm dangerous, sir?"

"You just admitted you're suffering from delusions... and you wandered out of the infirmary without any awareness of doing so...  Your condition is obviously having an impact on your mind."

"Yes, sir..."

A couple of medical orderlies appeared in view of the office window.  Signalling them in, the General said, "As soon as the storm blows over, Castleman and his team will head back to study the pedestal device and determine what it did.  We will find out what it did to you and we will fix it.  It's just going to take some time, Jack.  I'm sorry."

Even if he'd been sure that he was really here speaking to Hammond, the pledge to find a cure for his condition wouldn't have been particularly reassuring.  He'd seen Fraiser speaking on the phone with enough experts to know that no-one even had a clue where to start... and, much as he knew he was more than a little biased on the topic, the two people he viewed as most likely to be able to understand that pedestal were both lying in the infirmary because of it.  He thought of that other place... the place where Daniel and the others were still okay...  If he could only believe that that place was the real one...

"I'll keep you up-to-date, Jack.  If anything's been discovered, you'll be the first to know.  Just try and get some..."

Suddenly, he felt like someone had switched the language setting on the world.  As Hammond continued, he found that he could hear him speaking but didn't understand the words. 

As he was led from the room, the orderlies' deep voices spoke but there were no words.  Opening his mouth to speak, he heard his own voice was making as little sense as the others.  Strangely, none of this concerned him particularly much. 

His head beginning to droop, he let his feet be guided by the hands upon his arms.  As he looked up again, he saw a man standing in front of him.  No, not just a man; the same man that seemed determined to constantly plague him with cryptic messages.  Well his messages were definitely cryptic now because he was making as little sense as everyone else. 

Almost glad about his new condition, he happily watched as the man spoke at him in that same garbled language that even the very thoughts in his head were currently spoken in.  He couldn't even feel worried about the others anymore.  Worries required words. 

The man wandered off again and the orderlies continued their trek towards the infirmary.  Leading him in, they allowed him to make his own way across to the bed.  Feeling very tired all of a sudden, Jack tried to understand what Doctor Fraiser was saying to him but he couldn't understand and, when he tried to reply to her, his own words made no sense to him and, judging by her expression, no sense to her either.  It was all too much effort.  He just wanted to sleep.  Needed to sleep.  Passively allowing some checks to be performed, he waited for them to leave.  He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep. 

Finally, they all went away again.  Laying his head down on the pillow, Jack closed his eyes. 

Opening them again, he looked over to see Daniel was sitting at his bedside again.  Feeling oddly awake all of a sudden, he said, "Daniel?"

His friend looked up at him and smiled warmly.

"Hey, Jack... you were getting me worried again there."

Surprised at the fact he'd understood that, he said, "I'm here again, then?"

Forehead creasing, his friend set down the book in his hand.

"Still don't think this is real, huh?"

"Let's just say I'm having problems believing it."

"So, just out of interest, where do you think you are, really?"

"Hell, I'm so confused, I'm not even sure anymore."

The concern evident in Daniel's tone, he replied, "I think the energy did something to you.  Something that hasn't shown up in your tests."

"That made me crazy?  No argument there."

"You've been drifting in and out of consciousness for almost a day, Jack."

Daniel's eyes darted away but he caught the look of worry he was trying to conceal.

Carefully continuing, his friend said, "We don't know what it is the energy's done to you.  We called Sam and the others but they've made no progress.  They still don't know what the pedestal is or what it was designed to do..."

Something in Daniel's gaze as he locked eyes with him struck him as so genuine that, for the first time, he really seriously considered that this might be reality.  After all, here everything was less hazy and he could still understand his native language.  And Daniel's explanation about what had happened did make sense.  The rest of it... it could just be the effects of the energy. 

Obviously seeing the realisation in his eyes, his friend smiled.

"You're looking a little less like you're talking to a dream now."

"Still not a 100% convinced I'm not."

"I'll settle for 50 for now."

Jack nodded amenably, "Fair enough..."

"Okay, so you wanna tell me what's going on in your head?"

Sitting up, he said, "I don't even know anymore... I... in the other place... you're all... the energy killed you all... well, as good as..."

He was aware he was rambling slightly but the civilian's expression remained unchanged.  If this situation was reversed, he would definitely be looking oddly at him by now.  Jack vowed that, if this was reality, he was going to make more allowances for Daniel's eccentricities in the future. 

After a pause, he added, "And I think I'm dying..."

Daniel's expression finally changed.  Brow furrowing in concern, he said, "Dying?"

"Yeah, I think so.  And then there's this man.  I don't know who he is... he keeps telling me to be ready... but no-one else can see him.  Crazy, I know."

Considering something, Daniel said, "Maybe not so crazy... maybe it's more than just a dream.  Could be your subconscious is trying to tell you something."

"Something like what?"

"I don't know.  It's your subconscious; what d'you think it means?"

Jack paused and thought about it.  If it really was something that his subconscious was telling him then he was damned if he knew what.   

Daniel, who'd pulled his glasses off and was currently cleaning the lenses, didn't seem like he was going to fill the silence his non-response had created.  Turning, Jack noticed that it was the same book lying on the table beside him as had been there last time.

Restarting the conversation, Jack said, "You seem to like this one."

Pushing his glasses back onto his face, Daniel blinked owlishly before focusing on the book.

"Oh, yeah... well, it's something I came across when I was researching the pedestal..."

Indicating the book, he asked, "You think the answers are in there?"

Daniel shook his head gently.

"I think the answers are back on the planet... but maybe this will help us figure out what the questions should be."

As Jack looked back down at the book again, he felt an odd sensation.  A bright light in his eyes.  Scrunching his eyes up in protest, he said, "Daniel?"

His friend didn't reply but the light went away again and Janet's voice appeared, "Colonel?  Colonel, can you hear me?"

As Janet shifted the penlight out of his line of sight, he realised he was back in what he'd been assuming was reality.  But now... well, at least he seemed to be able to understand what people were saying again, anyway.

He replied, "Yeah..."  Sighing, he pushed himself up and continued, "How long have I been out this time?"

"Just a few minutes, sir...  Do you know what happened?  You weren't making any sense when they brought you back down here."

"I... couldn't understand what anyone was saying...not even me."

"It must be affecting your language centres now."

Jack sighed heavily.  He was so tired.  It didn't seem to matter where he was... he was always awake.  How could he possibly get his head straight when he was completely exhausted?  He felt like he'd been stretched so thin that he was beginning to tear apart. 

Grabbing Janet by the arm, he locked eyes with her.

"Doc, I'm sorry... it's too much... Make it stop.  Please."

Slowly nodding, she disappeared for a moment.  When she returned, she was carrying a syringe.  Over her shoulder, he saw Doctor Orderly-Technician. 

"This is a strong sedative, sir.  But I feel I should warn you that, given what happened last time you passed out, there's a very good possibility this will increase the rate of spread.  Are you sure...?"

The mysterious disappearing man said, "This is foolishness.  Do not."

Defiantly, he replied, "I'm sure, Doc.  Do it."

As Janet pressed the needle into his arm, she said, "Just lay back, sir... it'll take effect pretty quickly."

Nodding, he lay back.  He wondered idly if this really was his subconscious and what getting sedated in his subconscious meant in reality.  Maybe giving up?  But he didn't care.  He just wanted it all to stop.  He didn't want to have to think.  He wanted to sleep.  

The enigmatic man looked down at him.

"You are a fool.  I am glad they will destroy you."

Ignoring him, he locked sleepy eyes with Janet who pressed gently down on his arm.

"Just rest, sir.  Just close your eyes."

Unheeding of the storm, a desperate Teal'c strode out into the open and raced over to the point where the river had been blocked from its intended route.  Levelling his staff at the blockage, he sent blast after blast into the natural dam of debris.  To begin with, he barely made an impact but, as the dent increased, the river began to creep back onto its original course and the rushing water aided him in his task.  A few minutes later, the river was roaring down its intended path again. 

The lightning forking around him, Teal'c sprinted back towards the cave.  The rush of water was slowing and the water level was dropping.  It was now low enough for him to safely wade through it.  Using his staff to anchor himself, he rushed into the cavern.  His friends were nowhere to be seen.

Desperately, he yelled, "Major Carter!  Daniel Jackson!"

There was still no reply.  Fearful, he followed the stream of water down the tunnel behind it.  He hoped that he would find his friends safe at the end but their continued silence did not bode well.

"Daniel Jackson!  Major Carter!"

Reaching the end of the narrow tunnel, he found himself in a larger cavern which was almost completely drained of water through holes in the ground and small tunnels sprouting from the walls.  Swinging his flashlight around, he breathed sharply inwards.  Mud was thick on the ground in the areas where the water had drained away and in it laid the immobile forms of his friends.  Grabbing onto Major Carter's arm, he went to pull her from the mud but found, oddly, he could not. 

Kneeling in the mud, he reached down into the thick brown sludge and pulled out... it seemed to be organic in nature but he had little time to wonder about it at this point.  For now, it sufficed to know that several loops of it appeared to encircle his friend.  With his knife, he reached down and severed the first one.  He tried not to think about the fact he had not seen her chest rise and fall since he had first found her... for now, his task was simply to free her.  Cutting as quickly as he could, he found the strange material broke apart easily enough.  Heaving, he pulled her out onto the only half-solid ground currently accessible.  For a moment, he thought he was going to have to begin CPR but then she began to cough up water. 

"Major Carter?"

As soon as her eyes opened and linked with his, he had to abandon her and plough back into the mud to reach Daniel Jackson.  He was half-slumped against the wall but, as Teal'c shone the flashlight on him, he realised he was being held up by more of those odd organic loops.  Checking for a pulse, he found a weak but steady one.  Reaching down to cut through the ‘vines', he felt a sudden shock and pulled his hand back as if he'd just been stung.  Examining the ‘vines' more closely, Teal'c saw that they were whitish but there was a faint blue glow emanating from them.  It might just be the flashlight beam, but Daniel Jackson looked several degrees paler than he had when he'd first found them. 

A weak voice from behind him.

"Teal'c, what's going on?"

Turning, he saw Major Carter had awakened fully.  She was almost unrecognisable under the thick layer of mud which now coated every inch of her and had flattened her hair down against her head.  Pushing herself up, she tried to see what was going on.

Turning back to Daniel Jackson, he replied, "I do not know, Major Carter."

As she carefully dragged herself to her feet, she clumsily made her way over to where Teal'c knelt and Daniel sat, slumped.  She gasped as she saw the vines.

As she went to touch them, however, he warned, "Do not."

Still, Teal'c knew he had to find some way to free his friend from his organic prison.  Pulling off his jacket, he wrapped it around his hand and tried to touch the vine again.  It still stung at him.  His mud-covered companion came forward and examined the vine more closely. 

"When I found you, you were similarly bound, Major Carter.  But your bindings did not possess this power to them."

Checking round, she said, "They seem to be coming out of the walls... like some sort of organic cable."

"How are we to free Daniel Jackson?"

Looking around, she picked up a handful of mud and pressed it onto the vine.  Reaching down, she did the same again.  Then, taking the knife from him, she held it by the blade and dipped the handle into the thick mud. 

Teal'c understood, "You believe the insulating properties of the soil on this world will allow you to safely sever the cable."

"Hope this works.  My other theory didn't work out so good."

Carefully reaching forward, she pressed her hand against the mud-covered vine.  It didn't shock her.  Then, cautiously, reaching forward with the knife, she held the vine with one hand and pierced through it.  As it split open, a pulse of blue flashed across Daniel Jackson before the glow died all together.  Their friend gasped in pain before his eyes flickered open and he said weakly, "Teal'c..."

The vines pulled away easily now that the power had gone from them.  Teal'c shouldered the weight as Daniel Jackson fell forward.  Carter cut a chunk of the ‘cable' off and then watched, fascinated as the rest of it receded into the wall. 

By the time she reached her friends, Teal'c had set Daniel up against the wall and was checking him over.  She knew she and her friend were both suffering the after-effects of a near drowning but it didn't look like that was all that was wrong with him.  His eyes looked unfocused and, under the mud, he was so pale as to be nearly translucent.

Coughing, she said, "Is he okay?"

"He does not appear able to focus upon me... Daniel Jackson?"

Slowly, their friend blinked.  Finally, recognition entered his gaze and his eyes focused upon them.  Weakly, he said, "Hey guys... uh, what just happened?"

Teal'c shouldering Daniel's weight, the three team-mates headed back up out of the cavern before the river got ideas and diverted itself again.  As they walked, Sam was examining the vine.  When Daniel had caught up with events, he'd described a feeling like being torn in several directions at once.  She still had no idea what this was or how either of them had survived their submersion in the water.  By Teal'c's reckoning, it had been more than five minutes before he had even managed to slow the flow of water.  Perhaps these... plants had helped keep them alive.  With the minerals in the soil ... well, anything was possible.  It'd definitely be something to look at once they'd got this terrible mess sorted out. 

Vocalising as she continued, she said, "I still don't understand why the vine broke."

"There were few available, Major Carter.  And none of any great thickness."

"Yeah, but that shouldn't have mattered here."

"For what reason?"

"Some of the research I was doing on the samples SG-3 brought back indicated that the minerals in the soil have significant strengthening properties on the plant-life.  Vines with the sort of tensile strengths we only find in things like steel."

"Then perhaps I selected an especially poor specimen, Major Carter?"

"Maybe... or maybe our indications were wrong, after all.  But these... cables might turn out to be an even more valuable discovery.  Just wish we didn't have to almost die to find them."

"Though I am most thankful for it, I still do not comprehend how it is that either of you was able to survive."

"Me neither, Teal'c..."

Lifting the chunk of ‘cable' up, she said, "...but maybe this had..."

Then she trailed off as she realised something.

"Hey, listen."

Listening, he said, "I do not hear..."

Then, catching on to her meaning, he locked eyes with her and both of them raced towards the entrance.  Still not quite with them, Daniel allowed Teal'c to guide his feet onwards.  As they neared the entrance, she and Teal'c were both struck by the brightness flooding through the door.  Wading through the puddles, they reached the entrance.

She felt herself gasp.

"Wow..."

This was no false calm, this time.  The sky was a brilliant blue and the sun was beating down upon the verdant jungle of vegetation.  There was still damage from the storm but, otherwise, no evidence of the fact that, only minutes earlier, there had been a raging tempest out there. 

She went to say something when, suddenly, Daniel sneezed so hard that he stumbled away from Teal'c and collapsed to the ground.  Forgetting the weather, she rushed to his aid.

Sprawling, he clawed at his chest and doubled up sneezing again.  For a moment, she didn't understand what he was doing but then she realised.  Scraping past the mud to get at Daniel's equipment vest, she opened the appropriate compartment and pulled out the strip of tablets. 

Pressing one out, she said, "Here.  You'll have to swallow it dry."

Sneezing again, he nodded so she handed the pill to him.  Swallowing it, he allowed Teal'c to shift him back into the cave slightly. 

Kneeling down in front of him, she asked, "Hey, are you okay?"

Blinking, he managed to bring his gaze round to focus upon her. 

"Allergies... I guess."

"You sound confused."

Rubbing his eyes, he replied, "I am... I know the pollen count's really high here but it shouldn't have had time to build back up again after the storm... not this quickly."

Sharing a puzzled look with him, she said, "You going to be able to move?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute..."

She knew she should give him some time to rest... well, both of them, really.  She was still recovering herself, truth to tell.  This planet, however, was seriously beginning to freak her out.  There was something slightly off about everything here.  Almost as if some malevolent force was all around them; something invisible that you could only sense by the ripples it caused.  They needed to get away from here.  It almost wasn't about the Colonel anymore... it was just a fervent desire to put as many billion miles as possible between her and this planet as soon as possible.  Looking at her friend, she wondered if his persistent pleas to be allowed to return to study the pedestal meant that he didn't share her sense of boding about this planet.  Or maybe it was just that his desperation to find answers about what had happened to the Colonel overrode the trepidation.

Getting to her feet, she walked over to where Teal'c was standing.  He was looking oddly out of the entrance.  She'd seen the same look on his face during the storm... as if he was looking at something outside of conventional space and time.

As she had last time, she said, "Teal'c, what is it?"

Shaking himself awake, he replied, "There is something about this place which unsettles me, Major Carter.  It is wrong, in some way."

Assuming he was experiencing a feeling similar to her own she nodded.  Hugging herself as a chill ran through her, she said, "I know what you mean..."

Turning to her, he asked, "Are you well, Major Carter?"

"Feel better when I get into some dry clothes."

"Then we should proceed to the gate.  I will assist Daniel Jackson."

Hurrying through the mud, Sam found herself being dragged down into it.  She knew they weren't too far from the gate.  Teal'c had offered that she could race on ahead and he would remain behind with Daniel who was still extremely weak and was slowed further by the occasional sneezing fit.  However, she couldn't bring herself to leave them behind.  This planet worried her and she couldn't help thinking that if she made it through the gate without them they would disappear just like the Colonel had.  In the end, she'd decided keeping them all together was more important. 

As the gate came into sight up ahead, her spirit soared.  She needed away from this planet... she couldn't think straight here.  When they got back and found out whether the Colonel had made it back or not... then she'd figure out what to do. 

Heading forward quickly, she reached the DHD before the others.  Checking it over carefully, she couldn't see any evidence of storm damage.  Hope rising, she began pressing chevrons down.  Sure enough, the gate began to spin.  The others reached the foot of the gate as she pressed down the sixth symbol. 

She caught Daniel looking back in the vague direction of the building that housed the pedestal.  There was no question of him heading back right now, of course, but she could see the desire to return there in his eyes. 

With as reassuring a tone as she could muster right now, she said, "We'll be back, Daniel.  We'll find him."

As the final chevron locked, the event horizon exploded into existence.  Teal'c did the honours with the GDO as both hers and Daniel's were rather mud-coated right now. 

Sam took one look back at the planet behind her before stepping into the rippling blue curtain. 

When he'd awoken, Jack had felt oddly at peace.  To start with, he'd thought it was just from the fact that the sedatives hadn't fully worn off yet but even when the fuzzy haze had gone, the pragmatic calm had remained. 

Funny, really, seeing as since he'd woken up, he'd not even been able to walk, could hardly talk and understanding people was a hit or a miss type thing.  When he thought about it, he decided it was because he just couldn't care less anymore. 

Fraiser was feeling guilty as hell about the sedative.  She said it had caused his condition to progress even more severely than it had when he'd passed out before.  There were still areas of his brain untouched but most of it had gone completely nuts.  In one of his moments where he could both speak and understand what he was saying, he'd told her it had been his call.  She'd played the old ‘I outrank you on medical turf' card but he'd just locked eyes with her and said, "You did what I asked you to do, Janet.  Thank-you."  He hoped his eyes had managed to convey just how grateful he'd been for that blissful unawareness, even for a short time.

Now, sitting in his wheelchair, Jack squinted unfocusedly around him.  It must be beginning to affect his eyes now.  Soon, it'd all be over and he'd be as blissfully unaware as his friends.  That had been Fraiser's most recent idea.  She'd said something about the areas that were totally unaffected being almost identical to those parts still active in his friends' brains and that his condition might be the same that had affected them only slowed down in his case.  It was strangely reassuring.  If they found a way to save the others then it would save them all.  And, if not... well, he wouldn't be left behind.   

He could hear Hammond and Fraiser talking about him but couldn't take part in the conversation.  Obviously, it'd taken out his speech centre again.  Maybe, this time, for good.  Probably wouldn't be too long until it took out comprehension and then he wouldn't even know what was going on.  For now, though, he could listen.

"I have never seen anything like this before, sir.  Nobody has.  I mean, there are degenerative conditions which cause gradual shutdown but even the fastest ones are nothing like this.  And I can't find any neurological reason for the total degeneration.  Everything appears intact on the MRI, sir."

"Do you believe he'll end up like the others?"

"I guess so, sir.  He was exposed to the same energy they were.  Its effects must have been delayed in him for some reason."

"Isn't there anything we can do?"

"I don't even know where to start, sir..."

And, just like that, the language setting switched again.  He knew they were still talking but he didn't know what they were saying.  After a while, Janet came across and checked him over.  His heart broke at the look in her eyes when she realised he was one step from joining his team-mates.  There were no words to say it wasn't her fault anymore.  But his eyes gave their best attempt at conveying that. 

As she turned away, she breathed unsteadily before pulling herself together and continuing with her explanation to the General.  As she did, Jack became aware of an odd sound in his head - almost like the echoes of the gate's chevrons locking and the whoosh of the event horizon. 

"...I'll keep you posted, sir..."

As Janet's voice morphed back into something understandable, Jack blinked and, suddenly, realised that he felt normal; totally, absolutely, 100% normal.  As the General walked out, he gingerly reached for the arms of his wheelchair and found he was able to easily raise himself to his feet.  The Doc, who'd watched the General leave, hadn't even looked around yet. 

"Uh... Doc?"

At the sound of his voice, Fraiser spun around to see him standing up.

She gasped.

"Colonel?"

"Yeah..."

"Are you... okay, sir?"

Extremely confused, Jack replied, "Um... apparently..."

Then, suddenly, a thought occurred to him.

"Hey, if I'm okay... what about the others?"

She followed his reasoning but wasn't quick enough to catch him before he was out of the room and off down the corridor.  Savouring his newly-working limbs, he raced towards the room where his friends lay.  He knew that if he walked into that room and they were still the same, it would destroy him but, right now, he just felt like they'd all be sitting up as he walked in. 

Barking loudly at the SF to get out of the way, he opened the door...

Janet had lost the Colonel almost immediately after he'd headed out the door.  The guards had been dispensed with when it had become apparent that the Colonel was no longer going to be able to wander off even if he was so inclined.  Still, it was of little concern.  She knew where to find him. 

Reaching the room, she saw the SF was standing outside the door with a blank but dutiful expression which screamed to Janet of a man who'd just been yelled at by a vastly superior officer.  No prizes for guessing the officer involved. 

Moving past him, she carefully opened the door.  In the beds, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c still lay.  The Colonel stood, frozen, before them.

Carefully reaching out, she said, "Sir..."

He just ignored her altogether.  Walking around him, she caught the look in his eyes. 

"Sir..."

"I just thought... I was so sure..."

After a pause, he turned to her.

"I'm sorry... shouldn't have run off like that."

"I wish I could promise you they were going to be all right, sir, but we both know I can't do that.  The best thing we can do for them right now is to try and understand what's happened to you."

Nodding slowly, he replied, "Yeah."

But, as she turned, he froze again.  This time he gasped.  Spinning round again, she saw a disorientated O'Neill looking wildly around the room. 

"Colonel?"

The eyes didn't lock with hers so she rushed back over to him and grabbed him by the arms.

"Colonel, can you hear me?"

This time, the eyes did lock but looking past her, he collapsed heavily to his knees and looked down at his hands.

"Oh god..."

"Colonel?  Sir, what is it?"

Looking up, he said oddly, "No, Janet... Janet... it's me... it's Sam."

What the hell had just happened?  One second, she'd stepped into the event horizon and, next thing she knew, she was in the middle of one of the infirmary rooms with Janet looking concernedly at her.  That had just been disorientating, though.  What had literally floored her was when she'd caught sight of the face behind her friend.  For a second she'd thought it was the Colonel through the window from them but then had come the dizzying realisation that it was a mirror...

"Colonel?  Sir, what is it?"

Looking up into her friend's face, she said, "No, Janet... Janet... it's me... it's Sam."

Expression growing confused, her friend replied, "Sir?"

Going to reiterate that she was Sam and not the Colonel, she paused when she happened to glance to the side and saw Daniel lying in the bed she had fallen next to.  Pulling herself to her feet, she saw it wasn't just Daniel lying in a bed.  Teal'c lay in the far bed and in the near one... she lay.  It was unsettling enough looking down at yourself, but a glance up at the monitors told her that she was looking down at something close to a corpse. 

She felt rather than saw Janet appear at her side again. 

"Colonel, I think we need to get you back to your room.  You're disorientated again."

Barely paying attention, Sam looked down at herself.

"How did this happen?  I don't understand..."

She became aware that the petite doctor was backing towards the door. Turning, she pleaded, "Janet, listen... it's me.  It really is."

God, it felt weird to hear the Colonel's voice coming from her mouth.  Sounded different inside his head. 

"Colonel..."

Moving towards her, she tried to think of some way to prove she was really who she said she was.  Inspiration hitting, she said, "I'm supposed to be taking Cass to Toronto this week but, before we went on the mission, I said I'd keep an eye on her for a couple of extra days whilst you're away."

"Sam agreed to that whilst you were there, Colonel."

"But!  But when the Colonel asked where you were going you told him that you were going to see your mother... and when the Colonel and Teal'c left, I said that I never knew your mother's name was Steve.  He's booked the two of you into a hotel in Denver for the weekend.  You've sworn me and Daniel to secrecy over him for now.  You've gotta know we wouldn't tell the Colonel that."

A kind of realisation dawning, Janet said, "Sam...?"

Janet looked disbelievingly at the Colonel but found herself beginning to believe in what she had moments before assumed to be him having some form of breakdown.  And, given past experience, it wasn't exactly beyond the realms of possibility but even so...

Eagerly responding to the hint of belief in her eyes, ‘Sam' replied, "Yeah, it's me... Janet, please, what is going on?"

"I... I don't know..."

After a pause, she explained, "We... um... we think the pedestal was responsible but we're not quite sure what it did."

"The pedestal did this?  I don't understand..."

"You all... collapsed after the pedestal's energy hit you."

"Well, yeah, but then... we were okay... it was just that we couldn't find the Colonel."

"What?"

"When Daniel woke me up... the Colonel was gone."

"When Daniel...?  Sam, ‘you' have been like that since the energy blast.  You never woke up."

"But I...  I don't understand."

Sinking down onto the edge of Daniel's bed, she repeated, "I don't understand...how did I end up in the Colonel's body?  And where is he if I'm here?"

"Well, I think... the Colonel... he's still in there as well.  I was talking to him just a minute ago."

The Colonel's mouth formed an ‘o' shape before ‘Sam' said, "So we're both in here?  So that's why ‘I' have no signal... but then Teal'c and Daniel?  Are they in here?"

Janet just shrugged in a helplessly confused fashion as she watched ‘Sam' close the Colonel's eyes as if to search inside the head for her missing team-mates when, suddenly, his head dropped down and face become solemn.  This one Janet recognised better.  When Machello's body-switching device had mixed everyone up, the Colonel's body had become home to...

"Teal'c?"

Head tilting up, eyes snapped open and expression grew uncertain.

"What has occu..."

Obviously hearing the wrong voice coming from his lips, ‘Teal'c' glanced down at his hands. 

With a fragile calm, the Jaffa in the human body said, "It would appear that I am in the body of O'Neill, Doctor Fraiser."

"Yeah, it seems that way..."

"How did this occur?"

"The energy from the pedestal is my best guess, for now."

Looking round at where ‘he' and his friends lay, ‘Teal'c' said, "My last memory is of stepping into the event horizon on our return to the SGC.  We were searching for O'Neill.  I believe my current condition presumes that we indeed found him.  After that, I recall nothing that occurred."

Now getting really confused, she said, "Teal'c, you all collapsed next to the pedestal.  You didn't get up again.  You never came back through the gate.  Now, at least you and Major Carter appear to be sharing a body with the Colonel.  Possibly Daniel's in there as well."

"I do not understand."

"Neither do I, I'm afraid..."

‘Teal'c' glanced at the beds again and said, more to himself than to her, "From what you tell me, this reality conflicts with that which I previously believed to be such.  Can I be certain that this reality is the true one?"

Then a thought appeared to strike him and, looking down at Daniel, he continued, "Perhaps it is possible that both are false."

Confused, Janet asked, "Teal'c?"

But as the Colonel turned back around, his eyebrows were arched and, blinking confusedly, he said, "Janet?"

Then, on hearing his own voice, he glanced at his hands and, with more of an edge to his voice this time, he repeated, "Janet?!"

The eyes looked up and locked with hers and she recognised the final member of SG-1 looking out at her.

"Daniel?"

After a few moments of utter panic he managed to choke out, "How... I don't...don't remember..."

"Daniel, listen to me... I don't know what's going on but I need you to stay with me here, okay?"

After a brief pause, he slowly nodded, "Okay."

"Tell me the last thing you remember, Daniel."

"Stepping into... um... the event horizon..."

"That's what Sam and Teal'c remember too..."

He looked confused for a moment.

"Sam?  Teal'c?  You mean they're..."

As ‘Daniel' gestured at the Colonel's head, Janet slowly nodded.  The others had looked disorientated and confused by the news.  He looked scared.  Of course, it was he who had, only a couple of months ago, been kept prisoner in his own head by the invasion of a dozen other consciousnesses.  Until now, she hadn't had time to think about the parallel with that previous incident.  But now Daniel's appearance had brought it up, she remembered a discussion she'd had with one of the personalities called Tryon.  Using a glass of water to represent the consciousness of an individual, he'd shown that when you pour the water into a jug then you can never separate it out the way you had before.  And that it worked the same for consciousnesses.  The only way Daniel's mind had been able to survive the incident intact was that it seemed to have protected itself by lying dormant.  She didn't want to think about the possibility this situation was equivalent. 

By the time she had arisen from her morose contemplation, Daniel had gotten it together enough to have become aware of his surroundings and, turning, saw Sam, Teal'c and himself lying in the beds. 

His wry sense of humour beginning to emerge from beneath the panic, he said, "Okay, that answers my next question."  He turned back to her.

 "I don't get it... What happened once we got back here?  I mean, obviously, we found Jack but..."

Janet wondered if she'd ever get to talk to one person long enough to try and get this story straight.

 "Daniel, you didn't... you didn't get back here.  You all collapsed after the energy pulse from the pedestal hit you."

His head fell into his hands.

"I don't get it... how...?"

"Daniel, I'm sorry, I know this is a lot to take in but I need to try and understand what's happened to you all so that I can try and fix it."

Looking up again, he snarled, "Fix it?!  How are you going to fix this?"

Seeing her actively recoil from the outburst, he quickly said, "Sorry... um... I don't know what I can tell you."

"Tell me what you think happened after the energy pulse."

"I... passed out.  I woke up and woke up Sam.  Teal'c was already awake.  Jack was gone..."

Then a light came on in the Colonel's eyes as he continued, "No, he wasn't gone... we were gone."

"What?"

"I get it now... that's why everything was so weird... and Teal'c said he couldn't understand how we'd survived... but if we were never really drowning then..."

He trailed off at that point so, after a pause, she asked, "Daniel, what are you talking about?"

His face screwing up slightly, he replied, "Daniel?  Doc?"

"Sir, is that you?"

"Of course it's me.  Thought I was the one with the delusions."

She was obviously looking rather shell-shocked because he continued more timidly, "Hey, what is it?"

"Your... um... condition, sir... has had a slightly, um, unusual development, sir."

Sarcastically, he replied, "Yeah, more unusual than the rest of it."

She just looked at him so he stripped the sarcasm from the sentence and added a little upward intonation at the end.

"More unusual than the rest of it?"

"Yes, sir."

As his eyes widened, she explained, "Sir, the others... I don't understand how exactly it happened... but they are all sharing a mind - and body - with you somehow."

"What?"

"Your team aren't dead; they're in your head."

"Like with Daniel and the...?"

"Possibly, sir."

He didn't seem sure how to react.

"But this is good news, right?  I mean, if they're in there then they're not dead, right?"

She knew the Colonel was aware of the ‘good news; bad news' nature of the latest development so she didn't remind him of the fact that, as far as she knew, there was no way to reverse what had been done.

But positively, she replied, "Yes, sir.  We're still in periodic contact with the refugees from the Stromos.  They've got a better understanding of this type of thing than we do.  Perhaps they can help us get this situation sorted out, sir."

He nodded slowly.

"Doc...?  If I'm sharing a head with them then why can't I hear them or feel them?  Thought when the survivors were in Daniel's head they could hear each other?"

"I don't think that happened right away, sir.  It seemed to happen over time.  But, I think you can in a way, sir...  You remember you were describing fuzziness in your head...?"

Jack glanced over at the inert bodies of his friends.  So he'd got his wish.  They weren't dead and they weren't gone.  Perhaps, though, he should have been a little more specific in his wishing as when he'd wished they were somewhere he could bring them back from he hadn't actually meant his own head.   

Knowing that this situation was probably not going to be much fun, he nevertheless savoured the moment of knowing his friends were still somewhere they could be saved from.  And now they were here there maybe was a chance that they could save themselves. 

Trying to keep his tone light despite the upsurge of emotion within him, he said, "Well, this is confusing.  All right, I guess you should tell Carter and Daniel to figure out how to get the three of them out of my head and back into their bodies.  Oh, and tell Teal'c I said hi and that he is not to shave my head.  He has a habit of trying to do that when his mind's in my body."

Despite the situation, the Doc couldn't help but smile slightly at the comment.

"Yes, sir."

As she rushed off to notify the General before she started running tests, he looked round at the bodies of his friends.  It was weird.  Right now, despite the fact they were apparently sharing a head, he had as little connection with them as he would have had if they really had been dead but just knowing that they still existed in some sense was enough to change that depression to hope.  As a combined force, SG-1 didn't know the meaning of impossible.  Maybe it was still going to be a long time until he saw Carter grin, Teal'c raise an eyebrow or Daniel roll his eyes but, right now, he didn't doubt that that time would come again. 

He wished he could tell them all how empty inside he'd been feeling since they'd been gone.  He wished he could tell them all how happy he was to have them back even if they'd all decided to set up temporary accommodations in his head.  Problem was, of course, that he couldn't talk to them.  Unless...

Picking up the blank chart at the end of the bed next to his, he picked up the pen and scrawled across the top ‘Good Morning Campers.  We hope you enjoy your stay at Camp O'Neill.'  Smiling in satisfaction at his handiwork, he laid it down on the bed beside him.  Said it all, really. 

It was only a couple of minutes before Sam emerged again.  Woozily, she focused on the chart beside her and noted the scrawl of the Colonel's handwriting upon it.  She couldn't help but smile slightly at the short note.  Up until a few moments ago, from her perspective, she'd been beginning to fear that he was dead.  It was good to know he wasn't even if she still couldn't talk to him. 

Taking a few moments to acclimatise to what was hopefully a temporary situation, she brought the Colonel's hands up close to her face.  It felt so odd looking through the Colonel's eyes.  Glancing down the rest of the length of her... him, she had to admit that wasn't the only thing that felt a little odd right now.  What was that remark she'd once made to the Colonel about reproductive organs again? 

Mentally shaking herself, she turned her focus to trying to figure out what had happened.  According to Janet, her memories seemed to be faulty.  She'd said they'd never even woken up after the pulse from the device hit them.  That had been when the Colonel had disappeared.  So nothing after that had been real?  Had she just dreamt it all?  But it had seemed so real.  Until now, she hadn't doubted it was reality for an instant. 

So if it was possible that none of that was real then wasn't equally possible that it was actually this that wasn't real?  Neither reality made much sense.  If fact, right now, she was inclined to doubt this reality more than the other.  It'd only been a couple of months ago that there'd been the incident with the Stromos when Daniel had all the consciousnesses downloaded into his brain.  Still fresh in her mind, it could easily have caused this delusion.  Satisfied with that theory, she grimaced and winced as the face pulling the expression felt alien to her.  Question still remained what had happened after they stepped through the event horizon.

Then, wincing again at the voice, she breathed, "What if we drowned...?"

Her heart... the Colonel's heart... began to pound at the latest train of thought.  Everything had made sense until she and Daniel had been caught in the flow of the diverted river.  After that, nothing had made much sense at all.  Teal'c not being able to explain how they seemed to have survived impossibly long after first being submerged, those weird organic cables no-one could explain, the storm seemingly vanishing, the impossibly quick build-up of pollen in the air; that malevolent feeling that neither she nor Teal'c could explain.  All things that had happened after Teal'c had ‘saved' them.

But what if their rescue never happened?  What if she and Daniel had drowned after all and this was all some strange vision or...?

Trying to steady her... the Colonel's breathing, she wished that her latest theory wasn't the one which made the most intuitive sense to her right now and explained the most facts. 

She thought back wistfully to the night before what might have proved to be their final mission.  She and Daniel had sat on the couch, at his new place, chatting whilst sampling a coffee blend that she'd been recommended.  Inevitably, it had required a lot of sampling and now neither could sleep so had been sitting up chatting half the night.  It'd been a tough couple of months for Daniel even if, for once, he didn't have many scars to show for it.  What with a dozen other people setting up home in his head; having to play United Nations in a seemingly irresolvable dispute between their people and what had proved to be a hell of a lot of Unas; and finding himself trapped on a flooding world whilst coordinating a planetary evacuation, he'd been getting a little worn out.  Last situation entirely her fault, of course.  After all that, it was good to be able to just be there for her friend.

Though they'd already had a long talk after the Stromos incident, it'd actually been the first time she'd really heard the story of what had happened on that Unas world or exactly what he'd been through as the water had risen higher during the stalled evacuation.  She'd apologised for her involvement but he wouldn't even accept there was anything for her to apologise for and had, instead, thanked her for her involvement in his rescue and demanded a proper account of her recent and extremely eventful space race with his most impish grin on his face.  She loved the ease that had developed between them again since Daniel had descended.  She knew they hadn't been as close the last couple of years before his ascension and she was determined that was never going to happen again. 

He glanced down at his watch.

"I'd say it was getting late but it's a little late for that, isn't it?"

"Briefing's not until noon."  Dropping her voice to an exaggerated whisper, she added, "He'll never know."

Her friend grinned back at a shared joke from earlier about the Colonel finding out about the secret coffee sessions.

Mention of the briefing turned her thoughts to tomorrow's mission.

"I can't wait to see the mineral's properties for myself."

"Definitely sounded good in the report.  Oh, but what I wouldn't have given for a camera at the meeting today when the General told Jack what he'd be doing for his first day of leave."

Remembering the tempest that had been the Colonel's expression after he heard the news, she defended, "Shouldn't take too long to reach the sample site so we're talking early evening at the latest to get back.  It's not like it's gonna cut far into our downtime or anything."

With a more knowing smile on his face, he asked, "So there was no particular reason you brought the suggestion we make this little trip to the General rather than Jack?"

Conspiratorially, she replied, "Well, if I'd brought him the proposal he'd have had to actually read the report, wouldn't he?  Seemed best he just got the short version from the General."

Daniel grinned before looking up in mock seriousness.

"By short version you mean ‘SG-1, you have a go'?"

Sam shrugged non-committedly with just the trace of a guilty smirk on his face as she couldn't quite help remembering the Colonel's confused "Uh, sir... by ‘a go' you mean to leave, right?"  

Chuckling for a moment, the civilian then turned more serious.

"You do know you've just made your life a living hell, don't you?  Blindsiding Jack like that's hazardous to your health, to say the least."

"Says a man speaking from experience.  You do it all the time."

"Oh, come on, not all the time; just when necessary."

"This was necessary, I had to see this mineral's effects for myself."

Gesturing placatingly, Daniel replied, "Hey, if you wanna spend some quality time in Jack's doghouse, be my guest.  It'll give me a break from it.  Just hope you're really prepared to deal with the consequences."

Rousing herself from the memory, she winced more heavily.  She wasn't prepared for these consequences.  No matter whether she accepted any or none of the present realities, she couldn't get around the fact that this whole situation was her fault.  They were supposed to be on leave.  If she hadn't been so damn eager to get to the mineral deposits they might never have come or, at least, might have arrived in better weather and been able to keep a better eye on the allergy-ridden Daniel who might never have walked into the side of the building in the first place, depriving her of the opportunity to screw things up by activating the device.  There'd have been no storm, so no need to take shelter in a cave that was about to become the temporary route for a river and she and Daniel wouldn't have...

Had they drowned?  Was that it?  Were they dead?  Or had something happened after they went through the gate and now she was in a coma?  Or was this actually real?  How could she possibly be inside the Colonel's body?  Janet said they never woke up in the pedestal room.  Did that mean that the Colonel had?  Or had the SGC sent people through and found them all lying on the floor beside the pedestal?  This was all too confusing...

Picking up the chart, below the Colonel's greeting, she wrote, ‘Colonel, I'm not sure if this is real, sir, but I'm sorry for all of this'

Teal'c blinked a couple of times as the pen in his hand halted.  Though the handwriting was too unsteady to be familiar, the use of ‘Colonel' suggested Major Carter had been writing a message when his awakening had led to her submersion. 

He had been aware of no passage of time since his conversation with Doctor Fraiser and yet the fact that she was gone and messages had been written upon the chart he had not been holding led him to surmise that it had been at least minutes since that conversation if not far longer. 

His eyes drifted upwards to the message of morning greetings to campers.  From experience, he knew this was often O'Neill's form of greeting to them so presumed the message came from him.  The next sentence confirmed the supposition that it was a message from their host... their host.  The word echoed accusingly at him.  O'Neill was their host; his mind suppressed and his body usurped by others...  He, Teal'c, was a parasitic consciousness in the body of his friend. 

When Daniel Jackson had recently been the host of the dozen consciousnesses from the Stromos, Teal'c had felt like his friend had been invaded by a swarm of Goa'ulds.  That impression had not been aided by the fact that one of the most dominant consciousnesses was that of the ‘sovereign' Martisse who, in the most apt words of O'Neill ‘could've given a few system lords lessons in how to be a selfish arrogant jackass'.  He had watched the body of his friend overtaken by the will of others and seethed at his own ineffectuality.  And now...

And now he had, however unknowingly, assumed the role of Martisse.  By his message, O'Neill might be described as a willing host but he was a host nonetheless.  And he knew his friend well enough to know that not being in control of his own actions was not something he could easily deal with.  O'Neill had never been comfortable with the idea of the ‘blending' the Tok'ra claimed to be so fulfilling and that impression had been set in stone after his own ‘blending' with Kanaan.  However desperate he might have been, that ‘Tok'ra' had used his friend as a Goa'uld would have and had left him to endure the torment of relentless death and resurrection at the hands of Baal.  After such an incident, he could not believe that this was a situation to which he would adapt easily.

Of course, this would not be a situation to which any of them would easily acclimatise.  In fact, having once resided in the body of O'Neill for a brief time, he perhaps had the advantage over the others.  Residing within this body was much as he remembered it except, no longer possessing it, he did not keenly feel his symbiote's absence.  He could also feel a sharp ache in the shoulder which he presumed came from the recent mission where an unas had attacked O'Neill during their mistaken assault upon Iron Shirt's tribe.  His friend had not mentioned the pain of his injury since his return to active duty but it seemed apparent that it must still somewhat hinder some movements.  The body carried other scars and aches that had somewhat surprised him the last time he had resided within this body.  Of course, he had been injured many times but his symbiote, and now Tretonin, ensured that he carried little evidence of older injuries.  O'Neill, on the contrary, carried so many that it was a wonder to Teal'c that he appeared in perfect health normally.

As his thoughts turned back to the conflict between this reality and that which he had previously considered such, Teal'c turned back down the path he had been headed before his submersion.  His experience with the ascended Daniel Jackson; after the ambush of the Jaffa rebels which had led to the loss of his symbiote; had taught him that merely because one reality proved false, it did not entail another reality was real.  And it had not yet been proven to his satisfaction that that which he had previously considered reality was false. 

Teal'c wondered if perhaps this was a dream.  He had been studying them since Tretonin's use had led to his requiring sleep rather than Kel'noreem to revitalise him.  He knew from those studies that dreams could be more vivid and harder to distinguish from reality than those he had so far experienced.  Experimentally, he pinched his skin as he had, on occasion, witnessed O'Neill do when the oddness of their reality had led him to suspect he was asleep.  The action resulted in nothing but a sharp flash of pain.  He still remained in the body of his friend. 

Coming to a decision, Teal'c decided that if he were to treat a dream as reality it would do no harm whereas acting to the contrary could result in serious consequences.  For now, then, he would consider this to be real. 

Doctor Fraiser had still not reappeared nor was anyone else present aside from the bodies of he and his two friends.  Looking down to the chart, he glanced at the messages again and decided that he should add his own so he wrote, ‘I too am unsure of the reality of these events but if they are real I am glad that you are still with us, O'Neill'.  Then, a thought occurred to Teal'c and he added, ‘Daniel Jackson, if you are also present, please announce your presence to us'. 

Satisfied that that would do for now, Teal'c moved to sit down beside the body of Daniel Jackson.  His friend had seemed to grow ill on the planet.  If the planet had not been entirely real then he was unsure what it had represented but, still, he would not be reassured until he had read his words and assured himself that Daniel Jackson was indeed with them. 

If this was indeed real, Teal'c did not doubt that they would find a way to return them to their bodies.  His knowledge of Tau'ri medicine assured him that the bodies were being closely monitored but were not being kept alive with the aid of mechanical intervention.  It seemed logical that any procedure which kept their bodies intact was intended to be reversed or, at least, allowed for the possibility of reversal. 
Taking Daniel Jackson's hand within O'Neill's, Teal'c remembered that, last time he had resided within O'Neill's body, he had, at one time, sat beside a body that was not Daniel Jackson's and yet harboured his mind.  A body, old and failing, that had nearly led to the death of that mind before it could be returned to its rightful place.  This time, he sat by the body of Daniel Jackson but his mind was elsewhere. 

Quietly, he asked, "Are you with us, Daniel Jackson?"

Blinking owlishly, Daniel found himself looking down at his body which he appeared to be holding the hand of.  Dropping it, he wondered why he seemed to have blacked out again.  Janet seemed to be gone.

He didn't know why exactly but, instinctively, he believed that this was reality and, real as the time on the planet had seemed, it was not.  Stranger than that, was the fact it couldn't have been entirely a product of his imagination or subconscious because Janet had said Sam and Teal'c were telling the same story.  Just somehow he knew... a feeling in Jack's gut... that it might have been something he really experienced but definitely not in the physical sense. 

It really was a pity he was so sure this was real.  Denial would have left him with less of a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.  With so little time having elapsed since the Stromos passengers had been siphoned out of his head, he wasn't inclined to see this situation as a temporary setback.

For the others' sake, he'd tirelessly maintained that he remembered close to nothing from that incident.  Even Jack and Sam, who had both tormented him endlessly to try and dredge a confession from him, had only been told that he could remember hearing some voices and that bit where he'd surfaced long enough to speak to Janet.  Even they didn't know the full truth.  The truth where he remembered hearing almost every word that had been spoken and, worse, words that hadn't been.  A dozen voices all crying and shrieking and trying to shout louder than each other in order to be heard.  No wonder his own consciousness had hidden away in the corner.  It'd drifted closer to the surface a few times but, always, seemed pulled back into the darkness of some deep point within his mind. 

The worst memory was when he'd surfaced that one time to the point he was aware enough to speak to Janet.  Though he'd been able to hear the voices in a detached way as he drifted in his coma, mixed up with the thoughts and silent screaming, nothing had been coherent enough to let him make sense of the situation.  Then, finally, the voices seemed to subside for a moment and he found himself surging forward into awareness.  And he'd woken to see the isolation room; to feel the restraints on his arms; to see Janet looking at him like she didn't recognise him and orderlies ready to jump on him if he shifted the wrong way.  And, all at once, he'd thought he understood what was happening.  It'd seemed so simple and so terrifying at the same moment.  He'd really gone crazy this time.  He had schizophrenia or multiple personalities or something.  Maybe he'd hurt someone... maybe one of his friends... or else why wouldn't they be there? 

But before he could do anything but ask what was going on, he'd heard the other voices growing in volume and then felt like he was being torn a dozen different directions at once.  But, before the voices could pull him apart, a stronger pull on him hurled him back into the darkness... 

Surfacing from the memory with a start, Daniel tried to focus on the current situation.  Okay, so it wasn't exactly like that incident.  Jack, Sam and Teal'c weren't a bunch of strangers; they were his best friends.  And, so far, he wasn't hearing voices.  Trying to calm himself down, he got up from the chair beside his almost-corpse and walked over to the empty bed.  He paused as he saw the chart lying on it and, slowly, picked it up. 

As he quickly scanned the writing, he realised there were notes from all three of his friends.  He found himself smiling slightly at Jack's and definitely sharing the sentiment of Sam's.  As Teal'c's was the final one and ended with a query as to his own presence, Daniel deduced it'd been Teal'c that had been holding the hand of his empty shell just before he'd surfaced.  Funny, he'd have guessed it'd been Sam or Jack. 

Finding the pen, Daniel found himself unsure of what he should write.  Uncertain he'd remain aware until he'd thought of something, he quickly scrawled, ‘Yeah, I'm in here too, Teal'c' so that the others didn't panic at his lack of response.  Then, his attention was distracted by the entrance of Janet.  He caught that same look in her eyes that he'd seen that day when he'd surfaced for that brief moment.  Mentally steeling himself before the flashback caused him to panic again, he said, "It's Daniel, Janet."

Appreciatively, Janet smiled.

"All right, Daniel, we're going to have to run some tests..."

Jack lowered his head into his hands as the General and the Doc discussed him like he wasn't there.  Well, of course, he hadn't been there until a moment ago.  He'd been over the other side of the infirmary getting tests, Janet hadn't had her hair pinned back and the General hadn't even been here.  Before that, he'd been in an MRI machine.  And he had absolutely no recollection how he'd got from there to there to here; nor any idea how long Janet and Hammond had been standing there talking about him. 

Currently, the General was saying, "Do you have any idea how to reverse it?"

"To be honest, sir, I don't even know where to start."

"Surely the data you collected during the incident with Doctor Jackson..."

"Means I believe this is possible, sir, but I don't think it's going to be much more help than that.  They still haven't worked out how to separate out the consciousnesses once they become mixed.  Daniel only survived as an individual because he seemed to place himself in a comatose state within his mind.  That's not the case this time.  All four have surfaced at least three times now and the EEG shows no evidence of coma."

Changing topics, Hammond asked, "Have the scans shown anything?"
Janet shrugged and took him over to see them, "The functional MRI shows abnormal activity in regions in all four lobes of both cerebral hemispheres."

Ah, the MRI... Jack had oh so fond memories of the MRI.  Normally, he didn't get bothered by the machine.  What with the perpetual strangeness around here, a week that went by without your head being run through every brain scanner at the Doc's disposal was a week you weren't here.  And, even then, it was a treat for you as soon as you got back.  But there was something very unnerving about suddenly finding yourself trapped inside the MRI machine when, a moment earlier, you'd been sitting on a bed in the middle of the infirmary. 

Focusing back on the conversation, he heard the General saying, "What functions do those regions have?"

"Various regions in the brain can perform multiple functions, sir, and our understanding of the functional division of the brain is still imperfect but, in basic terms..."

Pointing out various areas of the scans as she talked, she continued, "...this one is associated with vision; these are the somatosensory and motor cortices - sensation and movement; there's speech production, there; understanding of speech is..."

Probably wishing he hadn't asked, Hammond said, "Are these regions four times as active as normal?"

"In the region of four times, yes, sir.  However, the pre-frontal cortex is normal."

"You find that odd?"

"That's the area associated with higher cerebral functions.  I would have expected it to be as active as the other areas.  However, I think that that may explain why only one of them appears to be conscious at any one time."

Okay, now he'd had enough of being talked about like he wasn't there.  Time to subtly indicating his desire to be included in the conversation...

"Well, at this one time, I'm conscious.  Care to clue me in?"

Janet turned.

"Colonel?"

"So are Castleman and his gang on the planet yet, sir?  Assuming we actually had the conversation I think we did when I was a little out of it."

"We did, Colonel, but I'm afraid there's more bad news on that front."

"Storm?"

Nodding, Hammond continued, "I'm afraid it's still too dangerous, Jack.  We're dialling in every couple of hours but the storm is still vicious."  Glancing down at his watch, he said, "We'll be dialling again in a few minutes.  Hopefully, this time, the MALP will send back the right pictures.  Keep me appraised, Doctor."

"Yes, sir."

"And Colonel...?"

"Yeah, sir?"

"I'm sorry about all this."

With that, he turned and left.  Now, Jack thought to himself, what did the General have to feel sorry about?  After all, it wasn't like they'd all been supposedly on leave when they stepped foot through that gate.  It wasn't like he'd overruled him when he'd lodged a legitimate protest to being made to run errands through the gate when supposedly on downtime.  It wasn't like that ‘errand' had led to the impossible situation they now found themselves in...

He shook himself mentally.  Okay, so it was true that if they hadn't set foot on the planet then none of this would have ever happened but the General hadn't sent them there knowing this would happen and, if the anger was just about being sent there when he should've been on leave, then he knew the blame rested more with his second-in-command than it did with his CO.  And, having just got her back from the dead, Jack wasn't really in the mood to bawl out Carter over anything yet even if such a thing had been possible.

He didn't realise he'd gotten lost in his own thoughts until he looked up to see Fraiser reappearing with a laptop when he hadn't noticed her leaving the room in the first place.  He was roughly 70% confident that it was a case of getting caught up in his own thoughts and not another blackout but the laptop's appearance still made no sense to him.

As she laid it down on the table that could swing over his bed, Jack asked, "What's that for?"

"It's Sam's suggestion, sir.  You gave her the idea that you can all communicate when you wrote the message on the chart for them.  She thought this would be more efficient."

As she booted up the computer, he said, "Doc, do you know what's going to happen to us?"

Glancing round with doleful eyes, she replied, "No, sir... my indications are that even the incident with the Stromos is only vaguely analogous to this.  Until we can learn more about the device, we're just going to be playing guessing games."

Even though he could've done with some false hope right about now, he did appreciate the Doc's honesty.  He'd seen how hard the Stromos incident had been on her.  When he'd sat above her and ‘Daniel' watching through the glass and on the monitor, he'd often wished that she'd drop the stupid isolation rule and let him in there.  After all, they'd only put him in there in the first place because when Daniel had opened his mouth and not been Daniel, ‘he's a Goa'uld' had obviously been the first thought to jump to the forefront of everyone's mind.  Still, despite how much he wanted to be there for his friend, he wasn't sure he could have resisted doing actual bodily harm to Martisse and, since that was Daniel's body, it wasn't something he wanted to happen.  From up on his perch, he'd watched Janet clash with Martisse, co-operate with Tryon and empathise with the poor kid, Keenan, when Daniel could jump from one personality to another so quickly he'd find himself flinching reactively back from the monitor.  And, in all that time, she never lost sight of the goal that was getting Daniel's mind back to its rightful place as sole consciousness of his own body.

As the monitor flickered onto the desktop screen, Jack focused back on the present.  Now he was finally back on his own bed, he glanced about for the chart that had been functioning as an impromptu memo board and found three messages beneath his own.  Carter and Teal'c both seemed to be questioning the reality of their current situation.  He could hardly blame them for that and wasn't exactly fully convinced himself that this reality wasn't a grief-stricken delusion of his.  After all, though he doubted he'd wish his friends back like this, it was still better than the alternative if the alternative was them no longer existing.  Carter's message also bore an apology and, again, he tried to swallow down the anger he felt towards her for her part in this whole situation.  It wasn't productive and it wasn't particularly fair either.  Teal'c had added a request to Daniel to identify himself which Daniel appeared to have briefly done. 

It didn't make Jack feel better to see the brief, casual response from Daniel.  Of all of them, waking up like this had to have hit him the hardest.  Even though it would have annoyed him beyond words, he'd have felt a hell of a lot more comforted if the reply had been a page and a half long and full of words he didn't understand as he explained just how fascinating this all was. 

He laid down the chart as Fraiser swung the computer around towards him.

"Here you go, sir."

"Thanks, Doc."

As he pressed down on the ‘J' key, Jack wondered what the hell he should write.  Funny, if his team were really lying around him rather than being in his head, then he'd never be short of things to say... but it wasn't the same when you wrote a message to someone else.  Especially when it was one that you might not get a reply to for a long time.  He and Daniel, especially, got through almost every conversation by a sort of linguistic ricochet effect.  It felt strange to just shoot your sentences off into infinity with no idea when or if they'd be bounced back. 

Closing his eyes, he concentrated.  If he focused, he could imagine his friends sitting around him.  Could imagine their voices.  He hovered his fingers over the keyboard. 

J: Hey campers.

‘Hey, Jack'

‘Sir'

‘O'Neill'

J: Guess I'm not the only one who's a little freaked out right now, huh? 

‘You could say that, Jack.'

‘I'm sorry, sir, this is all my fault'

Jack couldn't quite bring himself to type the words ‘not your fault' to the Major who he knew was blaming herself.  Instead he wrote...

J: Carter, blaming yourself isn't going to do us much good right now.  Figure out how to get everyone back where they belong and, believe me, all is forgiven.

As Janet performed checks on the bodies of Sam, Daniel and Teal'c, she glanced across at the laptop screen which was currently being ignored by ‘Daniel' in favour of his notepad.  Though the conversation between the four personalities had originally been stilted and hovered mostly around the joint topics of not-blaming Sam and making sure Daniel was all right, as the hours progressed, the flow had become more seamless and the conversation had turned to their respective experiences since the pedestal room and discussions about reality versus dreams.  Currently, the conversation was still hovering around those topics with the Colonel adding ever more exclamation marks to the end of his sentences as the others kept circumnavigating the whole ‘drowning' thing. 

From what she'd seen of the current conversation, Daniel and Sam were still embroiled in a debate about the meaning behind certain inconsistencies on the planet, the Colonel was getting ever more frustrated that no-one would explain exactly what had ‘happened' and Teal'c seemed mostly concerned with the validity of his current reality.

Finishing her checks, she came over and looked at Daniel's notepad.  It was covered in an elaborate series of doodles. 

Realisation hit her.

"Sir?"

Offhandedly, he replied, "Yeah, Doc?"

"You do know that's Daniel's notebook you're doodling all over, don't you?"

He slowly shifted back a page to see Daniel's handwriting.

"Oh." 

Setting it down, he said, "Doc, have they... did any of them tell you what happened?"

"Sir, I know as much about as you do.  You have to remember that this is as disorienting for them as it is for you.  It's going to take you all some time to fully process what's happened."

"But some of this stuff they've written... it sounds like they think that I somehow made that storm they were in."

Janet, who'd read a fair proportion of it, corrected him.

"Sam was hypothesising it might be representative of some innate defensive mechanism by your own consciousness.  Daniel thinks their journey to the Stargate was some sort of analogy for their consciousnesses gaining a foothold and that your subconscious was just trying to protect you."

Obviously not getting her point, his head dropped so she tried to elaborate.

"It wasn't something you could consciously control, sir.  In fact, you probably saved them and gave them their window to surface when you asked me to sedate you."

Still directing the gaze down at the sheet, he said, "Teal'c said Carter and Daniel nearly drowned in that storm.  If they'd died there...they'd have died out here, wouldn't they?"

As he looked up, eyes demanding an answer, she said, "There's no way to know that, sir."

Unfortunately, her instinctive guess was that death on the ‘planet' probably would have meant cessation of their consciousnesses and that was obviously clear in her eyes because, reading them, his gaze dropped again.

"I could've killed them and never even known about it." 

Hammond stood outside the Infirmary and tried to gather himself.  He told himself, as hard he might find it to deal with this whole situation, SG-1 had to be finding it a hundred times harder.  He owed it to all of them to be as calm and positive as possible about everything. 

Breathing deeply, he walked through the door and looked over at the bed where his second-in-command sat.  Stepping forward, he saw Jack look up at him. 

"General?"

Aside from being fairly certain it wasn't Teal'c, Hammond found he couldn't distinguish which member of SG-1 was looking at him.

"Who am I speaking to?"

"Major Carter, sir."

"How do you feel, Major?"

Jack's face contorted as the Major looked for an appropriate way to describe how she felt.

Giving up, she replied, "Odd, sir."

"That's understandable."

"I'm sorry.  What's understandable, sir?"

"Feeling odd."

"Sorry, sir.  Think I've come in halfway through this conversation."

Hammond looked lost so Jack helpfully said, "This is Daniel you're talking to, by the way."

"Oh, sorry, Doctor Jackson.  This is going to take some getting used to."

"Try it from this side.  I black out and come to again with no idea what's been going on in the meantime."

"It must be very frustrating."

"To be honest, it's more disorientating than anything else.  So what's the latest?"

"Our last dial-in showed that the storm has totally ceased on the planet.  The temperature is already building and there's no indication of any lingering traces of the storm.  Castleman's team are gearing up as we speak.  Now, you think the answers are in those engravings?"

"I can't be sure, sir... I'd barely begun translating them before the device activated... but they do seem to relate to the pedestal that did this to us.  Unfortunately, Janet says my camera's completely blank."

"I'll have Castleman's team collect more footage whilst they're studying the device."

He looked down.

"Yes, sir..."

The tone made him ask, "Doctor?"

Looking up again, Doctor Jackson's expression was clear on Jack's face.

"I just wish we... I...SG-1 could go back.  I've a pretty good grasp on the language so I'd have a better idea what I was looking for than SG-5 will have."

"Sorry, Doctor.  That's just not an option at the moment.  Without knowing more about the device, we have no idea what else will happen to... the four of you."

Deflated, he replied, "I know that, sir."

Doctor Fraiser piped up.

"Sir?"

"Doctor?"

"Even with the most up-to-date neurological, neuropsychological and neuroscientific theories, I can't even begin to understand - let alone explain - what's happened to SG-1.  Sir, as much as I wish I could, I can't help them.  Keeping him... them here... well, I can observe what happens to them but I can't help them in any way."

"Are you telling me I should let them go through to the planet?"

Eyes clearly saying ‘yes', she simply replied, "That's your call, sir."

"You think they're fit for duty when all four of them are suffering from blackouts?"

"Sir, I'm simply saying that sending them through with SG-5 isn't going to put them in any worse a position that they're already in.  Obviously, I would go through with them in order to monitor their condition."

Levelly, he said, "Doctor?"

Equally levelly, she replied, "Sir."

There was a delicate moment before he relented.

"All right, Doctor.  You get together any medical supplies you feel you need.  I'll send...SG-1 through with SG-5."

As if trying to reassure him, she added, "I'll monitor them carefully, sir.  If they collapse or there's any serious deterioration in their condition I'll have them brought back here immediately."

"Very well, Doctor..."

Jack's voice drifted over.

"Sir, what the hell's going on?  Medical supplies?  SG-5?  Collapsing?"

Recognising the tone easily, the General swiftly said, "I have to go delay SG-5's departure.  I'll let the Doctor explain, Colonel."

As Hammond made a hasty exit, he heard Jack say, "Well?"

"Uh, Daniel wanted to go back to the planet with SG-5 to see if the answers he needs are there."

"And Hammond agreed?"

"If I come along, yes, sir."

"Anyone think to let me in on the decision?"

The last thing he heard before the distance between him and the Infirmary got too great to make out the conversation was the Doctor replying, "Sorry, sir."

Jack was being run by Jack as they stepped through the gate.  Two of the members of SG-5 went ahead of him and the other two went behind.  Janet was beside him.  The weather had certainly improved a hell of a lot.  Now it was bright and sunny and the scent of flowers was heavy in the air.  Breathing in deeply, he smiled.  This was more like...

He felt odd.  His eyes began to itch.  His whole head felt like it was inflating.

"Something's wrong.  I don't feel so..."

Sneezing so dramatically that he doubled over, Jack righted himself in time to see a smiling Janet press a couple of pills into his hand and hand him a water canteen.  Downing the pills, he asked, "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing that Daniel and I don't put up with every day of our lives."

"Huh?"

"It's your allergies, sir."

"What?  Doc, you know as well as I do that I don't have allergies."

"You're having an allergic reaction to the pollen in the air, sir."

"Wha..."

After sneezing four times in a row, Jack said, "Doc?"

"Look, sir, I highly doubt you'd have spontaneously developed this severity of allergy.  Basically, I think it's Daniel."

"Daniel?  How?"

"Well, sir, the brain is heavily involved in everything the body does.  Including the release of histamine.  Now, we've never dealt with a situation like this before but my guess is that Daniel's presence is causing this."

He sneezed several more times.

"Well, tell him to quit it."

"It's not a conscious thing, sir.  If Daniel could consciously control it then he wouldn't need anti-histamines."

After sneezing dramatically, he replied, "Which I dow deed... oh, add I soudd like Da-duel.  This just gets better add better."

With the unsympathetic face of someone who lived with allergies every day of her life, the Doc said, "These aren't ones that I'd normally recommend in the field but you're not on active duty and the pollen count here is off-the-chart.  Give them time to kick in and you should be fine, sir."

"Hey, you've got allergies too, so how cobe you're dot sdeezing?"

"I took mine before we left."

"If you dew this was goidg to hap-ped thed why dot give be sobe before we left base?"

"Couldn't be sure, sir."

"Dod't give be that.  You just thidk that this is fuddy."

"Sir, you know I'm trying to avoid pre-emptive medication to get a clearer picture of your condition."

Perhaps a logical answer but the glimmer in her eye suggested that, yes, she also thought it was pretty funny.  Well, he probably deserved it.  Had ribbed Daniel about his allergies in her hearing once too often, obviously. 

Wiping his red eyes, the Colonel started walking again.  Janet fell into step beside him.  After a pause, where his blew his nose and wiped his eyes again, he said, "Doc?"

"Colonel?"

"Since I'm not exactly gonna be around when Daniel's translating... be so kind as to remind him that we're looking for a way to reverse this; not a history lesson."

"Sir, Daniel's in the same situation as you.  He knows how urgent this is."

"Oh, I know that... it's just Danny can have the tiniest difficulty prioritizing sometimes.  Doesn't always see the distinction between fascinating and relevant."

"Sir, I'm sure his only concern right now is finding a way out of this situation for you all."

"I'm completely sure of that.  Remind him anyway."

"Sir..."

"Don't make me make it an order, Doc."

She smiled slightly at the ground.

"All right, I'll remind him."

"Thanks."

There was another sneezing fit before he looked up accusingly at her.

"Doc?"

"They do take a little time to work, sir."

Rolling his puffy eyes at her, he stayed silent as they continued to walk along.  After a couple of minutes, she said, "Sir, I think it's only fair to warn you of one of my other concerns..."

As he sneezed again, he sourly replied, "Dod't wadt it to be a surprise?"

"I'm afraid this is a lot more serious than Daniel's allergies, sir...  Teal'c is chemically dependent on Tretonin.  He has no immune system without it."

"I dow that, Doc... what about it?"

"Well, sir, I didn't want to bring it up but the fact Daniel's allergies are affecting you makes it more possible."

"Bakes what bore possible?"

"Hopefully nothing, sir, but we have to at least consider the possibility that his presence could adversely affect your own immune system."

"I dod't udderstadd.  How could it do that?"

"I'm hoping it won't, sir, but as it appears that at least some more automatic processes are being affected by the presence of the others it is a possibility."

Jack screwed his face up at the prospect.  Well, she thought he did but, actually, it turned out that it was the precursor to another sneezing fit.  Or, maybe, a bit of both.

When he looked up again, he blinked uncertainly.

"Jadet?"  Then, sneezing again, he sighed, "Great, I get hijacked iddo adother body add take by allergies with be?"

Assuming she must be speaking to Daniel, she felt a twinge of guilt.

"Sorry, I had thought this might happen.  I should've given him the anti-histamines earlier."

"Hey, dot like I'b dot used to it already, right?  Hey, wait, you bean everyode's got allergies dow?"

Janet nodded.

"Your presence seems to have given it to everyone.  Or, at least, to you and Colonel O'Neill."

Daniel looked guilty for a second before blowing his nose. 

"Great, Jack's gonna kill me... although, right now, that'd literally be suicide."

Janet smiled sympathetically.

"He knows it isn't your fault, Daniel.  And the anti-histamines should have kicked in by the time he takes over again."

The civilian didn't look very comforted by her reassurances but wiped his eyes and continued to walk forward.  After a pause, she dutifully said, "He said I should remind you to focus on the text directly related to the device rather than its context."

Pulling up short, he replied, "I doubt that's exactly Jack's phrasing of it."

"Well..."

Sam rubbed irritably at Jack's eyes as she sniffed in a congested fashion.  Apparently, according to an increasingly guilty Janet, she'd been spared the worst of the sneezing fit and was just experiencing lingering symptoms that might persist until no longer exposed to the allergen.  She'd still experienced enough of the sneezing to know that she felt even worse for having dragged a post-pneumonic Daniel onto this allergen-infested world in the first place. 

As they neared the building, she began to contemplate how unlikely it actually was that they were going to be able to make any progress on the device when they all kept blacking out.  As well as the time constraints it put on you, it was near impossible to keep a train of thought going between one surfacing and the next despite the fact that, from your point of view, no time seemed to have passed between them.  Plus, with her understanding of the device being contingent on being able to understand what it was meant to do, not sharing a body with Daniel would definitely have expedited matters.  If she could even just have talked to him, rather than some sort of clumsy relay via SG-5, it would have been an improvement. 

They were right up next to the building now.  The vegetation did cloak the vast proportion of it but, without the blinding rain, it was easy to see the building must extend further than that single room. 

She stood impatiently as she was babysat by SG-5's lieutenant and Janet whilst the other three performed a quick sweep of the perimeter of the building.  Feeling thoroughly useless, she moodily kicked at the ground whilst they waited for their return.  As they did so, the brief shake of the head from each indicated that nothing had been found. 

Castleman said, "Clear, far as we can see, but there's not a lot of building left back there.  Looks almost like the vines have been punching through the walls.  We think we may've found another opening but it's totally covered in vines way bigger than the ones at the front here.  I tried hacking one of the big ones out the way but it was almost like..."

"Like steel?"

"Yes, sir."

Couldn't help but wince at the ‘sir' but Sam recovered to say, "That corroborates some of my research from my report on the properties of..."

Suddenly something hit her.  The Colonel hadn't read her report so he'd never known about the strengthening effect the soil seemed to have on the plant life here.  That was why the vine had snapped in the version of this planet inside his head.

Just as she went to suggest they head in, she felt an odd paralysis come over her; despite the fact the Colonel's body was still moving.  Her... the Colonel's arms, head and legs all seemed to move of their own accord.  Then the lips opened and she heard herself say, "Great, we're here."

Reaching the Colonel's side, Castleman said, "Who...?"

Still feeling paralysed, Sam watched herself nearing the entrance as she heard the Colonel say, "It's Doctor Jackson.  Listen, if I do submerge for any great length of time then I might not have a chance to look at everything so I just need to be clear...  The engravings are probably going to contextualise the pedestal device but exact instructions are more likely to be in some other form so we'll be looking for... records... probably electronic records but possibly written.  We're looking for something to tell us more about specifically how the machine works."

Suddenly, Sam felt the expression change on the Colonel's face, and the tone alter, as he said, "The instruction manual would be nice."

Then, she felt the face contort again, as ‘Daniel' replied, "Jack?  How come I can hear you all of a sudden?"

"Beats me.  I'm not blacking out anymore when you take control."

Speaking up, she said, "It's happening to me too, sir."

"I also remain conscious, O'Neill."

"Carter, you got any idea what's going on?"

No, really, she didn't but the Colonel would just never accept the words ‘I don't know' from her.  Shrugging, she replied, "Well, sir, I guess this is what's supposed to happen.  I mean, it would have been difficult for us to operate long-term if we kept blacking out."

"As opposed to this which is so straightforward."

"Sir, you've got to admit that this is an improvement."

"Actually, Carter, I think I was better off being blissfully ignorant about what you three have been doing to my body."

His face changed slightly as Daniel said, "Guys, I just thought of something.  Does whoever's in control of the voice control the body as well?"

The Colonel said, "Let's see.  T, you stretch your hand out in front.  Daniel, count to 100 or something..."

"One, two, three, four, five..."

Sure enough, the hand raised.

"...six, seve... look, it works."

Before anymore impromptu tests, of who could control what, were carried out, Janet interrupted them.

"Are you all feeling all right?  Maybe we should take you back to the base?  I promised the General if there was a change in your condition..."

Their hand came up to halt her and, what could only be their CO, said, "Ah!  Your words, if I remember, were that you'd bring us back if there was deterioration...  This is just a development."

Feeling he was being a little less than honest, she added, "This is going to take some getting used to, sir."

She felt the expression change again as the Colonel replied, "Yeah, well, hopefully we won't have enough time like this to get used to it cos you and Daniel are gonna figure out how to get you lot back into your own bodies before we get the chance, right?"

Sam couldn't even decide if it was her or Daniel who actually uttered the ‘but...' that was quickly silenced by the Colonel's more insistent, "Right?"

He seemed to take the lack of reply as a ‘yes' and continued, "So can we hold off on taking us back for now?  Doc?"

Janet nodded with reluctance.

Turning to her for a second, he asked, "Can... uh... we have a second here, Doc?"

Looking puzzled for a second, realisation dawned and, nodding slowly, Janet backed off a bit.

Moving away from the scrutiny of SG-5, Sam felt herself moving as the Colonel shifted to stand slightly round the side of the building.  Even from here, she could see some of the damage the plant life had caused to the building's exterior.  There were parts which would probably collapse if the vines were removed from them.

Once sufficiently away from the others, the Colonel asked, "So we're all here?  All okay?"

What she guessed, from the tone, was Daniel replied, "If we're calling this okay... then, yeah, I guess I am."

Feeling the expression fall from the face, she heard what had to be Teal'c.

"Indeed I feel no ill effects from this alteration in our condition.  It is pleasant to hear your voice again, O'Neill."

What somehow felt like Daniel's expression took over again and qualified Teal'c's statement with a dry, "Yeah, well, in a manner of speaking, of course."

It wasn't until the Colonel's tone reappeared and a concerned, ‘Major, you okay?' had left his lips that she realised the guys were going to wonder why she hadn't spoken up.

She grabbed control of the vocal chords.

"Sorry, sir.  Yeah, this is weird but I don't feel any harmful effects at the moment.  Like I was saying, it's probably part of the natural progression of whatever's happening to us."

Feeling someone pinch the bridge of the Colonel's nose, she couldn't actually swear to whether it was Daniel or the Colonel who said, "That'd sure be more reassuring if we knew what this was all naturally progressing to."

Then she decided it had to be Daniel because the Colonel replied, "See, that's something we don't need to know because you and Carter are getting us back into our bodies ASAP, aren't you, Danny?"

Not really wanting to rain on the Colonel's positivity parade, she, nevertheless, felt duty-bound to say, "Sir, I think we have to at least consider for a moment that this may not be reversible."

But obviously the Colonel wasn't in the mood for anymore rain because he replied, "No, Carter, we don't... because if this isn't reversible there's no way we're not going to end up going nuts and if I consider that for a moment then I am going to end up going nuts ahead of schedule."

She tried to think of good reply but, she had to admit, the Colonel had a point.  There was just no way all four of them could co-exist in the same body for long.  Best friends and team-mates they might be but the reason SG-1 worked as well as it did was that it was made up of four very individual individuals.  If two of them had been alike, one would have been surplus to requirements.  And, yes, they were the closest knit of the close-knit teams but there was still plenty of time spent apart and that time was needed because... well, first and foremost, so that Daniel and the Colonel didn't kill each other.

Their relationship was one that had had to survive the rockiest of rocky roads.  And, whilst she knew both of them would hit her for even thinking it, she really couldn't help but think of them as a married couple.  Not that she thought either was in love with the other, or attracted to the other... or any other man, for that matter.  It was just that their relationship could really only be described in terms of chemistry.  The classic opposites attract seemed to hold true... you just couldn't hope to meet two such different guys with such a strong bond between them.  Thing was, strong as their bond was, that whole ‘hate-love dichotomy was so true for them.  And stick those two together for too long and well... it wasn't pretty. 

Not that that relationship was going to be the only one this situation put a strain on. For instance, Teal'c and the Colonel were, as she'd glibly put it to Daniel during one of their recent coffee ‘sampling' nights, engaged in the world's longest pissing contest.  Of course, as a female, they weren't something she had much personal experience of, but basic training onwards, there'd been enough of them going on for her to know one when she saw it; even one as subtle, friendly and refined as that between the Colonel and Teal'c.  Cue her fellow coffee-drinker who, always the anthropologist, replied it was simply an inevitable result of having two alpha males in the same group.  If that gentle game of one-upmanship was the result of them being in the same group what would be the result now that they were trapped in the same body?

Not that she was under any delusion that she was going to be dealing with the situation any better than the guys were, because she was well aware that she wasn't.  Daniel and she were close; she was closer to him than she was to her own brother.  In fact, the Colonel often viewed them as two halves of a whole.  But they were still two very different people with two very different approaches to a problem and were both far too driven and focused on their own areas of expertise to survive long in a situation where they had to compromise all the time.  And she and the Colonel... how was that going to work?  Did you still have to follow military protocol when you were sharing the same body?  Salute yourself?  Ask yourself for permission to speak freely all the time?  Even at the best of times, there were occasions when the smart retort was only stopped by biting her tongue... but, when there was no occasion where she could let off steam out of earshot?  She couldn't keep it up full-time... it just wasn't possible.  And that wasn't even going into the more complex side of their relationship... which she simply wasn't going into... at all. 

However, that thought, even cut short, couldn't help but bring her back to the thought that she currently resided within the body of a man.  Full of hormones her mind wasn't wired up to deal with and missing the ones she was used to.  That was another reason she doubted she'd cope with this situation long-term.  For now, she guessed, perhaps they'd all be better off adopting the Colonel's attitude to the situation.  Make this all a temporary problem that would soon be solved and you didn't have to ask yourself questions that included the words ‘rest of my life'. 
She was roused from her contemplation as, turning to the building, the Colonel added, "Now, come on, kids, let's do what we came here to do."

Janet looked sidelong at Major Castleman to reassure herself that she wasn't the only one seriously weirded out by watching Colonel O'Neill's body twitch from one personality to another.  His carefully neutral expression assured her that she wasn't.  Satisfied, she looked around the room they now stood in.  The walls were heavily engraved and, in almost the centre of the room, stood the pedestal device that was responsible for SG-1's current... condition.  Despite being curious, she was slightly wary of approaching the device even though the power was dead.  At least one of the SG-1 members appeared to share the feeling because the Colonel had carefully circumnavigated it but not yet approached it.   

As the Colonel neared one of the walls, what she assumed to be Daniel said, "Is it okay if I grab control of the body for the moment?  It'll make it easier...  Otherwise it's going to be like giving directions."

His face contorting slightly, Colonel O'Neill replied, "All yours, Danny."

As ‘Daniel' began to search around the room again, the Colonel's face contorted again as he said, "This is way, way, way too weird.... You can say that again, sir... Indeed."

Daniel's pleading tones evident, the Colonel continued, "Guys, could do with a little less audience participation here."

"Point taken, Daniel.  Shutting up... Sorry, Daniel... Very well, Daniel Jackson."

Looking round at Castleman, ‘Daniel' said, "All right, from the outside it's pretty obvious that this building's bigger than this room so there must be others.  I don't see anything here that could indicate a passage into them from this room, though.  Given that the pedestal's energy seems to envelop the room, it's probably shielded off from the rest of the building in some way.  My guess is there's at least one other exterior entrance."

Castleman replied, "We did a sweep around whilst you were... someone else.  Think we found one but it's behind some serious vegetation.  You think we need in there?"

"Don't think we're going to find many solid answers in the wall markings."

"Okay, we'll see what we can do."

As the Major headed out, Daniel settled down to his work.  Occasionally scribbling something down, he worked his way along the wall. 

He murmured, "Yeah, I get it now.  What I thought referred to competition must mean combination instead.  Yeah, it's called the Ha'ran... think that's how it's pronounced, anyway... well, anyway, it seems to be their term for what happened to us."

Face contorting, it was presumably the Colonel that said, "Question from the ‘audience': are you saying that this was what that thing was actually meant to do?"

‘Daniel' replied, "I can only tell you what they wrote on the walls, Jack.  But, yeah, it was designed to take people and... well, combine them."

"Yeah, but why?"

"I'm not sure."

"Why, would someone wanna do this?"

Snapping slightly, Daniel replied, "Actually haven't found the ‘FAQ' section, yet, Jack."

Colonel O'Neill's face contorted to look sulky for a moment before Daniel's expression returned and, satisfied, he continued to work.  Leaning back against one of the engraved walls, Janet figured she'd better get comfortable.  If the Colonel's rants were even 50% accurate then, when Daniel was doing this sort of thing, it took a fair amount of time. 

There was no sound, for the next age, save the scratching of pen against paper.  It remained like that until, eventually, footsteps approached and Major Castleman reappeared.    

"Major?"

Janet smiled slightly as she saw the Major salute uncertainly.  There certainly wasn't anything in any manual of military protocol that told you how to address civilians sharing a body with a superior officer and the Major appeared to be playing it safe. 

Bringing the hand down quickly, he said, "Doctor, we managed to shift enough of the vines out the way to get in the other entrance and there's something that might interest you."

"Another room?"

"Yes, sir... looks like some sort of office, really.  But it's what we found in it that might interest you..."

The room itself was decidedly unimpressive.  Three blanks walls with a fourth broken and warped by the snaking vines and a floor covered in moss and leafy creepers.  It housed nothing but tables sprawled with damaged books and something vaguely reminiscent of recycled paper except for the silvery glaze that seemed to cover each sheet.  But SG-1's gaze was drawn to the silver disc, about six inches in diameter, two inches thick and covered in symbols, which was sitting in the middle of what seemed to be the main desk.  From the top of it, a yellow glow appeared as they walked into the room. 

Jack turned to Castleman.

"You thought Daniel'd be interested you found a desk-lamp?"

Responding with the traditional rolling of the eyes used by all people who knew him at all well, Castleman added, "Just move closer, sir."

As ‘they' did, they saw that the glow grew stronger.  Jack was about to make an additional ‘lamp' quip when, suddenly, a projection of a figure began to appear.  To begin with, only the basic form could be seen but, as they moved closer, it began to be fleshed out.

Presumably Carter said, "Seems to be detecting our proximity.  Possibly motion detectors or..."

But she was cut off as the figure became detailed enough to not only make out it was a middle-age man but also which middle-age man it was.

Before he could stop himself, he yelled, "Hey, I know that guy!  That's Doctor Orderly-technician!"

It was a very odd contortion which occurred as three people sharing the same face all tried to look funny at the fourth guy.  Janet and Castleman threw in funny looks of their own.

He explained himself.

"Before, when I thought you guys were dead... I kept seeing this guy that no-one else could see and he kept telling me to be ready for something... or someone who was coming to destroy me.  He seemed to know what was happening to me even though I could never get a straight answer out of the guy.   Assumed I was going nuts."

Before Carter or Daniel could offer any theories, the figure began to speak but the language was unfamiliar.  There was a short pause before the figure spoke again.  Even he could tell he was just repeating the same phrase.

As he went to begin speaking for the third time, going to adjust the glasses that weren't there, Daniel focused, "Um... same language as the walls but... okay... um...something about information storage... and um... the mind... linking... um... inquiries... okay..."

Jack felt his lips uttering words he didn't understand.  The small figure appeared to pause and what he said altered.

Pausing to listen, Daniel said, "Okay, Grelmin seems to be his name... and he says he's the inventor of the process of Har'an..."

"This is the guy responsible for what's happened to us?"

It seemed to be Teal'c, making a brief appearance, who asked, "What is the nature of this device, Daniel Jackson?  Surely we are not communicating directly with this Grelmin?"

Jack felt his head shake slightly before Daniel appeared to remember the others couldn't see him and vocalised.

"Don't think so..."

There was another flurry of unknown words from his lips and another response from the little flashing man.  This one went on for nearly four minutes.  Jack bit back the temptation to ask what he was saying mid-conversation.  Daniel was currently their best chance of getting everyone back to their own bodies and the best thing any of the rest of them could do was let him do his job. 

Eventually, Grelmin cut off and, slowly, Jack felt his lips begin to move again.

"Actually, Teal'c... I may have been wrong about that.  In a way, we sort of are... apparently, faced with his own death, Grelmin used his technology to... er... I guess it'd translate as siphon... as much of his mind as possible into this device.  It seems that at least a part of Grelmin is actually inside this device."

Probably-Carter asked, "What about his body?"

"He doesn't go into details about it."

Jack felt his knees bend as one of his passengers dropped them into a crouch on the mossy floor.  He wondered why until he realised what he was looking down at.  It was covered in moss but it was undeniably a skeletal hand. 

Finding the rest of him under the table, he said, "Well, that answers that question anyway."

The Doc came to crouch next to him and began examining the remains.

As he straightened up again, he continued, "What else did he tell you?"

  I'm a little unclear about what he's saying but it seems like what I'm talking to now isn't actually Grelmin.  It's some sort of pre-recorded interface.  He says that if we want any more information than what is stored in the recordings, it would involve a direct neural link to the device."

Jack cut him off before he could make a case for that being a good idea.

"But I think we'll stall on that for now.  Danny, ask Gizmo there how he could be in the gizmo when he also seems to be floating about in my head."

"Gizmo, Jack?"

"Well, he's called Gremlin, isn't he?"

"Grelmin."

"That's what I said."

His face totally straightened.

"Your reference is inaccurate, O'Neill.  Gizmo was not a Gremlin but a Mogwai.  Though those Mogwai spawned from him may have evolved to become Gremlins, he himself did not."

Rolling his eyes which he knew, from experience, they'd all felt him do; Jack threw his hands up in defeat.

"All right, fine, then he's called Gizmo cos he's in a gizmo."  Pointing at himself accusingly, he continued, "And you watch way too many movies, T.  Daniel, ask him the question."

Jack felt the slight smirk tug at his mouth but couldn't decide whether to pin the blame for it on Daniel, Teal'c, or the silent Carter who was, nevertheless, doubtlessly enjoying the show.  He gave up trying to decide as Daniel asked Gizmo the question. 

After the reply, Daniel said, "Our Mogwai friend says you're a Ha'ranas which translates loosely as ‘one who had been combined'.  He says that the ‘him' that's in your head is a... I guess a sort of organic recording.  It's there to communicate with the... he calls it the awareness which I guess is like the conscious part of your mind...  He says the idea is to ease the process of Har'an."

Jack made a face as he snatched back the voice.

"Yeah, tell him he did a great job of that."

Carter seemed to come alive finally with a slight trace of amusement to her tone that made him think that he should blame her for the smirking.

"Daniel, why don't you ask him how the process works?"

Feeling himself nod, Jack heard another flurry of those unfamiliar words.  Another pause then Daniel said, "He's says such questions require the link.  I think we're starting to run out of pre-recorded answers here."

"Daniel, what exactly..."

As Carter began to speak, the left hand raised up to about shoulder height, then the fingers and thumb came together to form a mouth which seemed to synchronise with her speech as she continued, "...did he say about the neural link.  How would we activate it?"

"I think we..."

As Daniel replied, the other hand raised and became another mouth, this time synching with Daniel's words, "...just have to press a couple of the buttons on the device to activate it.  He says it would connect us to his awareness directly."

The other hand began to ‘speak' again as Carter asked, "And then we'd be communicating with the actual creator of the technology?

"According to the message, yeah... Jack, seriously, what are you doing?"

The ‘Daniel' hand turned towards him and shook its head as Daniel continued, "This is serious, Jack... and I know it's you doing it so don't bother playing innocent."

The hands quickly dropped back to his sides as he replied, "Hey, just a little visual aid to keep up with who's speaking.  You know, cos you two have that annoying habit of finishing each other's sentences and everything.  But, seriously, are you two suggesting we actually consider linking to the guy that created that wacko machine in the first place?"

He had to fight the urge to raise the ‘Carter' hand again as she replied, "Sir, this technology is like nothing I've ever seen.  It's completely alien even from what they used to separate the consciousness of the passengers of the Stromos from their bodies.  Grelmin may be the only chance of us ever getting out of your head and back into our bodies."

What appeared to be Daniel added, "You got any better ideas?"

After a long, long pause, Jack sighed and, turning to Castleman, said, "All right, you'd better wait outside.  Don't want anyone else vacating their body cos I've officially got the ‘no vacancies' sign up in the window now."

As the Major nodded and headed outside, Jack looked down, "You too, Doc."

She looked up from the remains.

"I should stay to monitor..."

"Doc, seriously, I'm all for getting in touch with my feminine side but one woman in my head is enough."

Reluctantly, she got up and left.

Once she was gone, ‘they' said, "Ready, sir?....  As I'll ever be, Major.  Daniel, link us up."

His hand pressed down on some of the buttons and, suddenly, a full-size version of Gizmo was standing next to him.  Blinking uncertainly, Jack looked around to see that his three friends were standing around him.  For a second hope swelled within him.  Had it been reversed?  No, that wouldn't make sense with all their bodies still being on earth.  Besides, he saw the slight yellow shimmer round the outline of each of them.  They were just projections... like Gizmo.   The three of them looked just as confused by events as he did.

Grelmin looked around at them and nodded, "Greetings, Ha'ranas."

Daniel, looking like it'd taken him a moment to remember that he didn't have to wait his turn to speak, said, "So you do speak our language?"

The figure shook its head.

"No, the neural interface is using your knowledge of mine as a point of reference to allow translation, awareness.  Your language is not one I have encountered.  How fortunate it is that you have encountered one so similar to mine."

Jack had got it together enough to say, "All right, Gizmo, how do we undo this ‘Hairiness' thing?"

Blinking, Grelmin opened his mouth to speak when, suddenly, the image flickered and vanished altogether; along with the images of his friends. 

After a stunned moment, he asked, "Uh, what just happened?"

He could feel Teal'c take over his expression before he'd even begun to speak.

"It would appear that the neural link was somehow severed."

Finding himself bending towards the device and beginning to scrutinize it carefully, he assumed one of his kids had just taken over.  Carter, judging from the fact it was the device rather than the symbols upon it that he found himself focusing upon. 

Confirming his theory, he found himself saying, "I think it's out of power, sir.  I'd guess that's why it cut out.  We could take it back to the base and I should hopefully be able to find a way to power it up again."

Nodding to himself, Jack replied, "All right, Carter, pack it up, Gizmo's got a lot of questions to answer; Daniel, gather up any of this other stuff you think might be of any use.  Teal'c and I..."

He was cut off by what had to be Carter.

"Um, with all due respect, sir, exactly how many pairs of hands do you think we've got?"

Blinking, Jack realised that whilst his team were all able to talk to one another again, it wasn't exactly going to be business as usual.  Maybe they could think in four directions at one but they could only really move in one.

He corrected himself.

"Okay, figure out how to detach Gizmo first, Carter.  Castleman!"

Carter replied, "Yes, sir."

The Major appeared in the doorway.

"Sir?"

"Have your men gather up all this paperwork.  And if the Doc thinks it'll tell her anything useful, use one of the stretchers to take what's left of this guy back to base with us."

"Yes, sir."

Jack found himself again bending over the disc.  This whole experience was very unnerving.  Not that he'd wish them out of his head for a second.  Not until it was out of his head and back into their bodies.  He hadn't yet allowed himself to contemplate, though, what this would be like if it really was irreversible.  Could all four of them really survive within the same head for the rest of his life?  Daniel, King of the Workaholics trapped eternally with a man with the attention span of a gnat and Carter, Queen of the Eggheads stuck in the same male head as a man who she'd had to explain the concept of wormholes to so many times that last time she'd actually ended up agreeing they were made by giant space worms.  Not that the king and queen were going to fare much better being stuck with each other than they were being stuck with him.  True, they probably wouldn't annoy each other as much and sometimes seemed to be nearly telepathically linked anyway.  But, after all, there were only 24 hours in a day so not a chance in hell the royal pair would ever have enough time to put all the time they wanted to into their respective kingdoms.  Teal'c, Sultan of the Recalcitrant Tongue and Raised Eyebrow, would be restricted to communicating via mirror.  And, he, Emperor and Lord of the Mental Guard, would be forced to share every single moment with three other people.  Okay, so his team were the people who knew him best in the whole world and were his best friends as well as his colleagues... but even so... 

He was roused from his contemplation as his lips began to move.

"It appears this device used the same type of purple crystalline substance that the pedestal device uses as a power source.  If I am able to rig up something to power it then I should, theoretically, be able to activate the pedestal again."

Pulling back control, he hopefully asked, "Slam it into reverse, you mean?"

He knew from the way his face scrunched up that his hopes were unfounded before he heard himself reply, "I doubt it would be that simple, sir.  I'm just saying that if information from Grelmin or from our own investigation reveals a way to reconfigure the pedestal that we may be able to get it active again."

He'd known Carter for seven years.  But, in all that time, he didn't think he'd ever really watched her work.  Oh, he'd often been in the same room for some of the time.  Sometimes, he'd even held things open for her or attached this doohickey to that weird alien plant thing.  But he'd never really sat and watched her.  In situations like this, Carter tended to disappear into her lab and reappear several minutes/hours/days later with the finished product.  He never saw the equations being scrawled across her board and the testing and retesting with the devices that he didn't understand the readings of.  Or all the attempts that didn't come off as planned and the re-evaluations that followed with absent-minded muttering that she probably wasn't even aware of. 

They'd returned from the planet after finding Gizmo's gizmo as both Daniel and Carter were agreed that getting that working again was probably the most likely way they were going to make progress on this problem.  Added to that incentive to return, Janet had been rather keen to give them another battery of tests now that their condition had altered.  So SG-5 had escorted them back to the base, picked up a few of what Jack couldn't help but think of as Carter's underlings and headed back to the planet to start intensive study of the actual device.     

As Carter got into the more practical part of the current exercise, it took all his restraint to relinquish his limbs to her completely.  The deft movements required were made hard enough by the fact she was using hands that weren't hers without the added problem of random movements caused by three other people using the hands.  He busied himself with trying to remember the capitals of all fifty states and other such trivia.  Daniel had suggested using such distraction techniques last time he'd complained that he simply couldn't sit, for all intents and purposes, completely still for this amount of time.  They worked okay but occasional erratic movements of the hands appeared to show that none of them could resist the odd movement.  Not a good idea when those hands you were moving erratically were currently soldering. 

The voice that was his but not, yelped, "Argh, goddamnit!  Damn!  Ow!"

Sucking at his finger, Jack said, "Maybe it isn't the best idea for us to do this, Carter."

As his voice disconnected from him again, he heard himself say, "Sorry, sir, I'll be more careful."

Jack sighed deeply as he looked down at his bandaged hand.  It'd taken a mere seventeen separate incidents with the soldering iron to convince Carter that maybe someone else would be better doing the more practical part of the exercise. 

Not that that meant Jack was now off the hook of having to stay still.  No, because if Carter wasn't going to need the body then it obviously had to be turned immediately over to Daniel because he and Teal'c had both acknowledged, albeit reluctantly in his case, that it was going to be those two that would bear the burden of getting them all back to their own bodies.  That meant that, apart from the odd rest break like this, Daniel had full control of the body for now and was deeply entrenched in translations. 

As the blessed rest break came to a close, Jack steeled himself for another half hour of sitting perfectly still.  As Daniel took over everything, Jack felt the hands and arms begin to move of their own accord and the head shift from side to side in an unnerving manner.  But, Jack had to admit, as disconcerting as it was to have no control over the way your limbs or head moved, it was nothing compared to the unsettling feeling of having no control over your own eye movements half the time.  Whilst it was becoming relatively easy to relinquish control of the hands, feet and mouth to whomsoever currently had the greatest need, he'd still find himself stealing back the eyes every few minutes almost beyond his control.  Daniel's cunning plan to stop this was to allow him to borrow the left hand when he didn't need it urgently.  Probably wasn't too keen on him using it to tap annoyingly repetitive rhythms on the desk but didn't actively stop him from doing it.  It actually worked for a little while but then he'd steal the eyes back again.  He wasn't the only one guilty of it though.  It just seemed that eye movements were especially complicated to relinquish consciously.  He would have thought, optimistically, that it would become easier over time except that would, rather less optimistically, suggest that they were going to be stuck like this long-term. 

As Daniel turned the page in what he assumed were Gizmo's notes, Jack found himself focusing on the page of squiggles.  He silently willed Daniel to search for solutions not historical contexts.  Silently, because Daniel was still sulking from the last time he'd said it out loud. 

Sometimes the linguist would verbally keep them up-to-date with what he'd found out but, on other occasions, they had to make their own sense of what he wrote down.  That was easier said than done because, as he'd explained earlier, the easiest way for him to translate this was from the alien language into the similar one on earth.  But because he was fairly fluent in... what was it he'd called it?  He couldn't remember... oh, well, because he was fluent in... language B, Daniel tended not to rewrite into English for the benefit of those that needed subtitles.  Hence why, despite the fact he'd been staring at this stuff for half the day, Jack really didn't know if they were making any progress.

As far as Daniel had explained things, the main device had something to do with a famine that had presumably led to the eventual wiping out of the entire population.  These people, paraphrasing from the inevitable lecture on the subject, seemed to share the Ancient Egyptian/Goa'uld penchant for using every inch of available wall space in official buildings for propaganda about their campaigns and triumphs and, in this case, the general wonderfulness of the device that would save them.  When he'd rather insistently inquired how exactly it could have saved them all when they were all dead, Daniel and Carter had come together with some shrugged explanation about how putting multiple consciousnesses into the same body would ease the burden of rationing but, obviously, in the end it hadn't been enough to stop their annihilation. 

Now that Daniel had finished with what they'd written on the walls, he'd moved onto the stuff they'd found with Gizmo's gizmo.  Jack wondered how the man could find hour upon hour upon hour of this stuff so fascinating that he'd do without nourishment, sleep or human contact just to keep doing hour upon hour upon hour more of this stuff.  Having sat here for what seemed like forever, Jack could think of a million things he'd rather be doing; including his own paperwork.  Yep, he was that bored of this. 

Daniel broke into his chain of thought, "That's odd..."

After giving him a generous gap to actually finish the sentence, Jack seized control of the mouth.

"What's odd?"

"I've just been scanning through these pages, so maybe I've missed it, but I can't see anything about the famine anywhere in here."

"So what does that matter?  I think the walls told us enough, don't you?"

"Sure... it's not essential.... just odd."

About to yell at... himself about the difference between ‘essential' and ‘odd' being the same as that between ‘relevant' and ‘fascinating', and about how he should concentrate on the former in both cases, Jack was halted by the appearance of one of Carter's underlings at the door.

It really should've been easier for the civilian scientists to address... them seeing as they didn't have the question of how military protocol applied to a situation where two officers of different rank, a civilian and a Jaffa were all sharing the same body. 

That was obviously a mistaken assumption because, excited, the man said, "Major!... uh, I mean, Colonel!... no, I mean, ma'am... uh, sir... uh... um... you...?  No, sorry, I mean..."

Before the scientist could trip any more awkwardly over his own tongue, Jack lethargically straightened up.

"SG-1'll do, Doc... now, what is it?"

"Um... SG-1, I need to talk to Major Carter."

"We can all hear you, Doc... just say whatever you need to say."

"Um... oh... okay... uh, Major?  Uh, we've connected the device to the naquadha reactor like you asked."

Jack felt himself move back slightly from control of the face as Carter's expression took over, "Good.  You haven't tried to activate it, have you?"

"No... uh... Major.  Okay, well I'll just be... uh..."

Seeming to have no idea what to say next, the underling just turned and disappeared back out the door without another word.

After a moment, what was presumably Carter said, "Daniel, is it okay if we...?"

He felt an odd twitch as Daniel took control and cut her off.

"Hey, I'm as eager as you are to get that thing running again.  I'm sure Grelmin can tell us more than any of this can."

With that, SG-1 headed out the door and after the retreating scientist. 

Watching O'Neill's hands skilfully manipulate the naquadha reactor and the sensors surrounding him, Teal'c decided that independent movement must be growing easier.  He had not had much opportunity to determine this fact for himself but he did not resent his companions for this.  If a solution was to be found then they must allow Daniel Jackson and Major Carter to work with as few interruptions as was possible. 

Inside his head, Teal'c was practising an odd variety of Kel'noreem.  He could not allow himself to close O'Neill's eyes; nor could he cause O'Neill's body to still.  Instead, he had to retreat within the mind and focus on the centre of it.  It allowed him to remain calmer and negated his desire to move.  When he grew deep enough into his trance, he felt almost as if the tendrils connecting him to this body were loosening. 

In the past, he had instructed O'Neill and, more recently, Daniel Jackson in the ways of Kel'noreem.  In O'Neill's case, it had been to save his friend and maintain his own body when his friend and he had been transferred into each other's bodies.  In Daniel Jackson's case, it had merely served as a deep type of meditation with which to centre a soul still adrift after its descent from the ascended plane.  Whilst O'Neill was trying to remain still by conscious thought, despite his suggestion that meditating was less difficult, Daniel Jackson had agreed with him and was also trying to Kel'noreem whilst Major Carter made the final preparations.

One by one, the tendrils connecting him to the body seemed to be falling away and he felt his concentration increase with each connection that faded.  He could no longer feel the hands he shared moving; nor could he see through eyes that were still open.  The lack of sensation allowed him to fall still deeper into the trance...

Then, all of a sudden, the eyes could see again... but the scene had changed most dramatically.  Stumbling backwards, he fell heavily to the ground and felt the mud squish unpleasantly beneath him.  Ducking his head, he climbed back to his feet and looked around disbelievingly.  How had he returned to this place? 

That was when he realised that he was, indeed, him again.  Unconsciously reaching up to trace across the brand on his forehead and down to where his symbiote pouch had once been, he raised an eyebrow.  This development made no sense.  How could he be back on this planet and in his rightful body?

It was then that he noted the form lying, face-down, in the mud.  The form that wore fatigues like those he wore and was, unmistakably...

"Daniel Jackson!"

Reaching down, he grabbed his friend and pulled him from the mud.  The mud seemed to object and tried to suck him back down but he redoubled his efforts and the mud gave up its prize.  Kneeling, he turned the civilian over to assess his condition.  His friend was covered in mud which, as he brushed it away, appeared to hide ghostly white skin.  As he went to shake him, however, Daniel Jackson's eyes shot open and he looked around wildly. 

Focusing up at him, his eyes mirrored the confusion Teal'c currently felt within himself.  Then his friend's gaze drifted over his shoulder and the confusion in those eyes turned to shock.  Swiftly following his gaze, Teal'c's expression suddenly matched that of his friend.  That is, the friend that was in his arms.

That point required clarification because Daniel Jackson also stood behind him wearing fatigues unsoiled by mud and an expression of gentle knowingness as he looked around at the scenery.  He could feel the Daniel Jackson in his arms groan in pain but kept his eyes fixed on the one standing a few metres away from them both. 

Before he could approach him or ask him anything, however, the upright Daniel Jackson appeared to notice them for the first time.  He frowned at the figures before him and took a step closer to see his double in Teal'c's arms struggling for breath.  Upright Daniel Jackson opened his mouth to speak then, appearing to think better of it, looked away again. 

The version of his friend that lay in his arms took priority again as he groaned more deeply.  His breathing was growing progressively shallower and the white tinge of his skin was beginning to grey.  The pulse beneath his fingers was fluttery and uncertain.  Teal'c glared back round at the other Daniel Jackson, silently demanding an explanation. 

Speaking this time, the doppelganger said, "I know what you want, Teal'c... but it'd kill him if I tried to give it."

He felt his friend arch up in agony and turned back to face him.  The lips were going blue as the breath almost stilled.  Teal'c desperately looked around again to look at the other Daniel Jackson.

That one appeared to be considering something then, locking eyes with him, said, "Stay away..."

About to assure him he would not approach, he was silenced as Daniel Jackson raised his hand and swung it in a vicious arc towards his own face.  The palm connected resoundingly with his opposite cheek...

And, suddenly, Teal'c felt pain blossoming in his own cheek as if Daniel Jackson had struck him rather than himself.  The unexpected force caused him to lose his balance and crash inelegantly forward into what should have been mud but what, in fact, turned out to be concrete floor.

That was when he felt his mouth move and O'Neill's voice say, "Arrgh!  Goddamnit!"

Teal'c opened his eyes to see himself back in the laboratory he had been in before.  Grasping at the air which had previously held the dying form of his friend, he grabbed unthinking control of the voice in the middle of O'Neill's angry cursing.

"Daniel Jackson?  Daniel Jackson?"

O'Neill's hand, which had been rubbing pointedly at his bruised jaw, froze at the desperation in his voice.

"T, what's going on?"

Uncaring if he sounded harsh, Teal'c snapped, "Be silent!"

He could feel from his own expression that O'Neill did not appreciate his words but the statement had the desired effect in that it silenced his friend. Major Carter seemed wise enough not to add her own voice to the equation.  And yet there was still silence from his friend. 

"Daniel Jackson?!"

Again he was greeted by silence.  He was about to shout again when, suddenly, his lungs overfilled with air as O'Neill took an unnecessarily long inward breath.  No, not O'Neill...

This time quieter but more hopeful, he said, "Daniel Jackson?"

Brokenly, his friend replied, "Teal'c...?  Oh... a dream..."

O'Neill, with venom in his voice, pulled them all to their feet.

"All right, T, now can we explain the slapping me and telling me to shut up or are we going to continue acting like a freak with no explanation at all?"

Reassured even by that hesitant response, Teal'c, without a hint of apology, explained, "I was ascertaining that Daniel Jackson was still with us, O'Neill."

Feeling his expression twist again, he heard O'Neill say, "So you slapped me?"

"I did not.  Daniel Jackson slapped us."

There was a confused pause before the shaky tones of Daniel Jackson offered the question on everyone's mind, "I... I did?  Um... why did I... uh... do that?"

Forgetting how odd this was going to sound to at least two occupants of this body, Teal'c replied, "I do not know.  Your double did not explain why he did such a thing.  He told me there was no time for explanations."

Obviously the statement silenced any questions from O'Neill or Major Carter because there was a long pause then his friend said, "Oh... him.  Teal'c... what just happened there?"

"Of that I am unsure, Daniel Jackson... it appeared to me that we had returned to the planet and you were...unwell once more."  He did not say ‘dying' for the sake of the others who would only be disturbed by the revelation.

Daniel Jackson seemed to appreciate his understatement because he did not correct him.

"So it wasn't just me?"

"It was not."

"And you saw that other me as well?"

"I did.  His presence appeared to have a negative effect on your condition."

There was only so long O'Neill could be silenced and they appeared to have reached the limit because a familiar expression gripped the face.

"Okay, could someone explain what you two are talking about?"

Deciding it was likely that he retained a more perfect memory of events than Daniel Jackson did, Teal'c replied, "I was attempting to meditate, O'Neill, when I found myself back on the planet where this occurred to us.  Daniel Jackson was there also.  He was... unwell.  There was also another Daniel Jackson present.  He told me he could not explain his presence.  It was he who slapped us, O'Neill."

That seemed to have silenced O'Neill again because the tone suggested it was Major Carter who replied, "Back on the planet again?  Like it was when we left it?  And there was another Daniel there?"

"Indeed there was, Major Carter."

"Well, we already thought that our original experience there was some sort of shared dream or hallucination.  Maybe your meditation put you back into that dream state."

"What of the other Daniel Jackson?  He was not present before."

"I don't know.  Maybe it means something but experiences in dreams don't always have to be meaningful."

What had to be O'Neill asked, "Bottom line: everyone okay for now?"

Almost unable to feel the shifting control, Teal'c joined the seamless reply, "Fine, indeed, I guess so, sir."

So seamless, indeed, that O'Neill seemed compelled to ask, "Okay, was that everyone answering at once or do we have an extra crazy person along for the ride?"

Teal'c held back to allow one of the others to reply.  However, they appeared to be doing the same and, eventually, O'Neill said, "Never mind.  Okay, everyone's all right for now.  So let's just get this thing up and running and let's leave the dream interpretation for when we're all back in our own bodies."

Going to incline his head in acquiescence, Teal'c remembered his situation and, instead, replied, "Very well.  I will speak of it no more."

He felt his hands spread out as O'Neill said, "All right, Carter.  I'm all yours."

It was an odd feeling as his expression twitched.  An occupant of the body appeared to have winced at his statement and yet another appeared to have restrained themselves from chuckling and, yet, Teal'c could see no reason for either reaction. 

After a longer pause than seemed necessary, Major Carter said, "All right, here goes nothing..."

As she activated the naquadha reactor, the collective SG-1 held O'Neill's breath.  For several seconds, nothing appeared to happen but, then, the glowing beam shot up from the centre of the silver device and quickly formed into the figure of Grelmin.  Then, just as suddenly, he disappeared. 

Looking across at O'Neill, Teal'c realised that he was, yet again, in the simulation of his own body.  However, this time, his image appeared more stable.  As he looked down at his yellow-tinted hands, they seemed almost solid.  Daniel Jackson and Major Carter had also reappeared. 

As O'Neill noticed their reappearance, he asked, "What happened to Gizmo?"

Then, suddenly, he felt a presence beside him.  Turning quickly, he came across the sight of Grelmin.  He was now life-sized and seemed so solid and real that only the odd yellowish tint that occasionally washed across him betrayed that he was not.  Oddly, he was wearing fatigues with the SG-1 insignia on them.

He looked elated, "Greetings to you once more, my most wonderful Ha'ranas."

Daniel Jackson said, "Grelmin, please, tell us how to reverse this."

Ignoring him entirely, the man continued, "You must make progress, Ha'ranas."

O'Neill reached out, experimentally, towards Grelmin.  He appeared to contact a solid surface because he twisted the material of Grelmin's T-shirt and, threateningly, snarled, "You must fix us, Gizmo."

Stuttering, the scientist said, "There is no need for violence, Ha'ranas."

"Yeah, think I'll be the judge of that."

Daniel Jackson tried to come in between and separate them but found himself unable to as he was still incorporeal. 

He appeared to settle for saying, "I don't think this is helping matters, Jack.  Besides, I doubt you can actually inflict pain on a figment of your imagination."

Defiantly holding on for a few more seconds, O'Neill eventually let go and stalked away from Grelmin. 
Grelmin tried to smooth out his fatigues.

"I do not understand why you have not made progress in some direction, Ha'ranas."

Daniel Jackson placated, "Well, maybe you could help us make some progress.  Tell us more about the process.  How it works."

Grelmin looked uncertainly at them all for a moment before, defiantly, he replied to O'Neill, "No, I cannot discuss such things with you at this time.  When you have made some progress... then return and we shall talk.  My awareness will remain inactive until that time."

With that, he disappeared.  The device, however, remained on and he, Daniel Jackson and Major Carter remained in their independent, though insubstantial, forms. 

After a pause, O'Neill said, "Well, that did us a whole lot of good."

Stepping forward, Major Carter's hand brushed through the device.  Stepping back, she said, "Sir..."

"What?"

"Sir, if we can remain like this then it might actually be useful.  You get at least the illusion of having your body back to yourself and Daniel and I can research independently.  Obviously we'll require some assistance but..."

Daniel Jackson said, "Good idea.  I get the feeling we're really not getting to learn anymore from Grelmin until we make some ‘progress'.  Am I the only one who didn't like the way he said that?"

Reaching for the next page of the notes he was reading, Daniel belatedly recalled his current state as the hand passed through the paper. 

Turning to where Jack was crouched, he said, "Little help?"

With a heavy sigh, his friend pulled himself back to his feet.  Coming over, he shoved the next page to the top of the pile and, with a put-upon air, headed back to continue searching through the latest pile of books that had been brought down from Daniel's office. This method of page-turning had slowed him down considerably...but with the small room already containing a naquadha reactor; Jack; Teal'c; a pile of books; a chalkboard and the three guys already in the room helping Sam... well, it was a little cramped for him to have his own designated page turner. 

It was also pretty hard to concentrate on the translations given the conditions.  After all, he couldn't take notes aside from on the Dictaphone which he needed Jack to operate.  Also, he didn't normally have to bend over the translations because he couldn't actually make contact with the chair; nor contend with the fact Sam was having loud discussions with her helpers about five feet away from him... something about them not getting what she wanted them to write on the chalkboard.  Plus, it was quite hard to concentrate when your friend, finding it amusing you weren't actually solid, kept throwing paper balls through you just because you kept asking him to find journals and turn pages for you every other minute.  At least an over-attentive Teal'c was trying to give him a hand but, with the fact he was in the same state as himself and that they only had a single Jack O'Neill as a helper, it wasn't really speeding things up at all.

After reading halfway down the current page, Daniel was again interrupted; this time by Jack making a curious noise of discovery. 

"No way... this can't actually exist."

Curiosity peaked, he looked up.

"What can't?"

Brandishing his find, Daniel saw it was one of his old purchases.  A book he'd almost forgotten he owned until the name had been given a strange resonance by the Stromas incident.

Dismissively, he said, "Myths of the Chimera?  That shouldn't be up here.  It must have got mixed up after I was looking at it a few weeks ago."

With a strange energy to him, his friend asked, "What's this book about?"

"Well, of course you know about the Chimera..."

Looking at the blank expression on his friend's face, he said, "Okay, let's pretend you don't...  It's from Greek mythology; a fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, a she-goat's body and a dragon's tail."

As if he'd known that all the time, Jack said, "Oh, that Chimera.  So what's the book about?"

"Well the book looks more generally at creatures said to be composed of parts or aspects of various creatures.  It looks at myths through the ages of monsters or mythical beasts that could be considered chimeric.  Like Pegusus... or the Minotaur."

Teal'c, who'd been listening to the dialogue, intoned, "In our current condition, could we not be considered to be chimeric, Daniel Jackson?  One creature made of many?"

"Yeah, it was after the Stromas incident that I was looking at that book and thinking about the parallels.  Actually, if I had to give a one-word translation of Ha'ranas... Chimera'd probably be the closest match."

Jack was staring, dumbstruck, at the book.  Daniel didn't think his friend would be one to care about how their situation had parallels with mythical beasts nor what the direct translation of Ha'ranas would be so he had no idea why it was provoking such an extreme reaction from him. 

Looking up, his friend said, "Daniel, this is important, okay?  Have I ever seen this book before?  I mean, have you ever told me about it or been reading it when I'm there?"

For once, he could be pretty definite in his response, "No, it's been in storage for years.  I only flicked through it once and you weren't there.  Suppose it could've been lying in my bookcase and you saw it, though."

"Daniel, you're not gonna believe this... but I saw you reading this book before... and you told me that it'd tell me what the questions should be."

Okay, now he was confused.  It felt like he and Jack had swapped their usual roles as, straightening up to look at his friend properly, he said, "What?"

Obviously Jack's brain was working too fast for common sense to kick in and tell him how nuts he sounded because he quickly said, "About what was wrong with me.  You said the answers weren't in here but it might tell us what the questions should be."

Still feeling like the conversation had been surreally reversed somehow, Daniel demanded, "What?  When was this?"

"When..."

Common sense finally seemed to have over-ridden his friend's excitement.  His outburst had attracted the attention of Sam and her minions as well so, as he trailed off, there was a deathly silence in the room.

Clearly reading how uncomfortable the situation had just become for him, Sam gestured for her helpers to head out of the room.  As they scurried obediently out, Daniel stepped closer to their friend and, softly, said, "Something you want to share with us, Jack?"

Awkwardly, his friend said, "Okay, but you're gonna think I'm nuts."

Disbelievingly, Daniel chuckled, "If we were gonna think that I think we'd have passed the point of no return a while ago, Jack."

As his friend looked up to catch the grin on his face, his mood lightened slightly and he said, "All right... when you were missing I... saw you a couple of times in the Infirmary."

"You saw us, sir?"

"No, not all of you... just Daniel."

Daniel arched his eyebrows.

"You saw me?"

"Yeah... see, you told me that none of you got affected by the energy and you were trying to figure out what was wrong with me.  You said this place was just my subconscious trying to tell me something.  You said it was all in my head."

Glancing at Sam for a moment, he saw the same spark of realisation in her eyes as he indicated the book in his hands.

"And I was reading that book?"

"Yeah... this exact book..."

"That's fascinating, sir.  It must mean that, at some level you were already aware of that fact we'd been transferred into your head.  Daniel must've been some sort of manifestation of your subconscious or something.  You must've seen the book on Daniel's bookshelf and made the subconscious connection.  You were trying to tell yourself what was going on."

Going to nod in agreement, a thought struck him.

"Wait, hold on... Jack, you really didn't know what a Chimera was until I just told you?  You weren't just playing dumb?"

"No, Daniel, surprising as it might be, afraid I skipped class the day they were talking about fire-breathing things with manes and scales and insatiable appetites for tin cans; so sue me."

Locking eyes with Sam, who the point of the comment had actually been directed to, he explained, "No, I mean, even if you did know what had happened to you on some subconscious level, how could you have drawn a parallel to a Chimera?...  Even if you'd seen the book before... how could you make that connection without knowing what it was?"

"Perhaps because it was not of O'Neill's mind... but of your own, Daniel Jackson."

Both he and Jack turned to look at the Jaffa and, with one voice, said, "What?"

"You will remember, Daniel Jackson, that when you first grew unwell on the planet, you described the sensation to us."

Getting his point, he nodded, "Like I was reaching out for something out of reach.  I think you might be right, Teal'c."

"Wait, what did we just figure out?"

Sam, who obviously agreed with their theory, said, "I think we just figured out that the connections between us go deeper than we were thinking they did.  I mean, you were either directly tapping into Daniel's knowledge or his subconscious was somehow communicating directly with you.  Sir, I think it's possible that when Grelmin said we hadn't made enough progress yet... he meant that we aren't actually as connected yet as we have the potential to be."

Obviously not liking the sound of that, their friend said, "Actually, I think we're already far too connected.  And should be less connected"

As Sam glanced over at him, he said, "Don't think anyone's disagreeing with you on that one, Jack... but I think Sam's right.  I mean, is it just me or are those markings on the chalkboard making more sense than before?"

He saw Jack turn towards them dismissively.

"Of course not, they..."

Trailing off, he said, "I mean, obviously a few of the equations are pretty standard but I sure as hell don't know the first thing about capacitors."

"Sir, none of those equations are exactly standard... and how do you know they have anything to do with capacitors?  I haven't said anything about that."

"Because it's obvious when you look at the ratios that you're dealing with amplification and, given that you're...."  As he obviously saw looks on his friends' faces, he said, "Hey, you don't know I couldn't know that already."

Daniel nodded in acknowledgement.

"No, I guess you could have known that before... but did you?"

"Um, well, obviously I did because otherwise I wouldn't have said it."

Experimentally, Daniel muttered something in Goa'uld to Teal'c who lips imperceptibly twitched upwards at the comment. 

"Hey, I am not!"

He and Teal'c shared a look.

"You heard what I just said?"

"Course I did; I'm not deaf..."

Pointedly, he added, "To Teal'c?  In Goa'uld?"

There was a flash of alarm in his friend's eyes before, rallying, he said, "Of course not.  Doesn't take a genius to know that you were muttering something about me."

"Jack, there's no point in pretending.  Something else is starting to happen to us."

Carter added, "Mostly to the Colonel, though.  I mean, I felt like I should know what you were saying to Teal'c but I didn't..."

Nodding in agreement, he replied, "I didn't actually know about the capacitors either.  We must just be getting vague echoes but Jack..."

Jack put up his hands defensively.

"Hey, whatever you may think, I'm not smarter than the average bear, okay?"

Daniel turned his gaze on him.

"But you do know what's on that chalkboard... and you do know what I said to Teal'c, don't you?"

Sagging in defeat slightly, his friend replied, "Okay, yeah, apparently I know a few things I shouldn't.  Now, please, can we stop focusing on fascinating aspects of having our minds linked up together and concentrate on unlinking them?"

Sam settled down onto the bed and tried to blank her mind.  Well, she tried to think that she had settled down onto the bed but it was more a case of being manoeuvred onto the bed by various other occupants of this body she shared. 

Getting ready for bed had involved stripping certain shared bodies down to their T-shirts and boxers which, given her rather uncomfortable proximity, was not something a certain other occupant of the body was entirely happy doing.  Therefore, in order to try and make it a little less uncomfortable for him, she'd tried to remain silent during the getting ready for bed stage.  Certain occupants of the body had also elected to pull a pair of grey jogging pants on as well before getting into the bed.    

Glancing up at the camera on the wall, she sighed and pulled on the skull cap that connected to the EEG scanner.  Janet had given them leave to sleep in the Colonel's quarters rather than the infirmary on the understanding that they were under constant observation and had the scanner on to monitor their unique brain patterns whilst sleeping. 

They hadn't actually slept since waking up in the Colonel's body so there was no telling what the experience would be like.  Actually, she wondered if it was even possible for them to reach a state anything like natural sleep given that the Colonel's brain was overactive and sleep normally entailed brain activity dropping significantly. 

She idly wondered if they would all fall asleep together or if individual consciousnesses could fall asleep whilst others were awake so long as the conscious ones didn't do anything to wake them up.  She'd have to remember to ask Daniel in the morning providing they got to sleep at all. Janet was more than slightly hesitant about giving them any type of sedation to help them along.

Staring at the ceiling, she was aware of being incredibly tired.  Since awakening in the Colonel's body, they'd been to the planet and back then done hours of various research and experimentation.  Even so, it'd taken the Colonel physically pulling the plug on the neural link to stop her and Daniel from working on even later. 

Feeling the Colonel's eyelids beginning to grow heavy, she couldn't quite believe everything that had happened since she had finally fallen asleep on Daniel's couch after the coffee had worn off.  It was the last time she'd actually slept - unconsciousness, blackouts and imaginary sleep on an imaginary planet didn't really count.  When she'd closed her eyes then, she'd visualised her next day as a simple mission on a beautiful planet followed by an all-nighter looking in more depth at the mineral samples then catching a few hours sleep and collecting Cass before heading on their week's vacation up to Toronto - where Cass was supposedly from but had never yet visited.  But instead of taking Cass up to the sky pod of the CN tower, here she was trapped inside the Colonel's body with no sign yet of any way out of this situation.  And, hell, if anyone was to blame for it; it was most definitely her. 

As the eyes shut and left her staring at the inside of the Colonel's eyelids, she swore inwardly that she would find a way to fix this.  She only hoped that she could do that before, as prophesied, they started to go completely nuts.  Then again, she wasn't exactly at her most useful right now... 

Daniel stood with translucent arms wrapped across translucent torso and tried to tell himself that he was entirely solid and this felt in no way unnerving.  He spared a glance to where Grelmin's device sat atop a trolley before casting his gaze around the rest of the briefing room.  Like him, Sam and Teal'c stood behind their chairs through necessity... well, okay, they could've sat down but only in that they could've walked through the chairs then crouched and given the illusion they were sitting which didn't really seem worth the effort.  The reason for this briefing was something of a mystery to him given that in practical terms they'd made zero progress today.  Even with the neural link keeping their conscious minds separate, the ethereal nature of these forms put severe restrictions on how productive any research could be. 

As the only physically solid member of their group, Jack was sitting on the chair to the General's right.  Aside from their habitual seats - which they weren't using but no-one seemed to feel right occupying in their place - the other seats were occupied by the various guys - aside from Doctor Lee, he didn't know their names - Sam had been using, without success, to try and translate her ideas into the physical world which she couldn't interact with except through the Colonel.

Breaking from his contemplation, he heard Doctor Lee saying, "So anyway, we ran the numbers three times and we got the same result."

When no actual result was forthcoming, Hammond gently probed, "Doctor?"

"Oh...sorry.  Yes, the result showed that to supply power to the pedestal device it will require running the naquadha reactor at 130% of the safe levels.  That is, if the device runs on the same or similar principle as the pedestal device which obviously we're only guessing until the technical team arrives back from the planet."

"Oh please, you don't have to guess.  It's blindingly obvious that it works on the same principle."

The voice, which had come from the doorway, seemed strangely familiar to him.  In the few moments it took him to turn in that direction, he caught a look of resignation on Sam's face.  As the face came into view the memory hit him at the same time as Jack said...

"McKay?  What the...?  Who the hell called you?"

Taking a bite of the half-eaten candy bar in his hand, and heading towards the table, the civilian scientist distractedly gestured towards the blonde Major and replied, "She did."

The last memory Daniel had of Rodney McKay was the man's look of dread as they'd packed him off to Russia to help them with their naquadha reactors.  And at the time, he was pretty sure that Sam's feelings towards him were along the contempt and loathing lines.  He guessed that he'd missed a chapter of the story somewhere during his time ascended.  That said, Jack and Teal'c also looked rather taken aback by the revelation so maybe not. 

Jack turned his full disbelieving gaze upon Sam's flickering image.

"You did?"

All she could do in response was shrug in a semi-apologetic manner.

Mouth full of candy, McKay gestured at the General.

"Well, technically he did but that was because she couldn't pick up the phone."

Smiling with acidic sweetness, Sam spoke through gritted teeth.

"Siddown, McKay."

Pulling the rest of the candy bar out of its wrapper, he slid into Teal'c's customary seat.  Daniel tried not to notice the way the Jaffa's back momentarily stiffened before he attempted to appear unaffected by the move. 

Hammond was not looking all that pleased with being offhandedly referred to as  ‘he' in his presence - hell, he was a civilian who'd been with the program seven years; who'd been at barbeques at the General's place and he still called him ‘sir' - nor with the total lack of due deference McKay was giving him and the briefing in general.  Daniel idly wondered if he'd seemed that ignorant to Hammond back when he used to constantly turn up late to briefings with piles of books under his arm, slurping down on the hastily-snatched coffee, glasses shoved up in his long, unkempt hair and ill-fitting uniform hanging off him like a kid in his father's clothes.

Keeping his tone civil, however, the General said, "I believe you were making a point, Doctor."

"I was?  Oh, yes, I was..."

Chewing on the last chunk of the candy bar, he said, "My point is we're not simply guessing these devices operate in similar ways.  They do."

Jack said, "How could you possibly know that?  You just walked in."

From her position behind her chair, Sam replied on his behalf.

"I had the General e-mail our findings so far..."

McKay cut in.

"Yeah, interesting in-flight reading; ‘specially the part where you don't seem to have put two and two together."

Every eye in the room was fixed questioningly on McKay who, after a quick glance around the table, swiftly swiped Doctor Lee's cinnamon ring doughnut to an indignant cry of ‘Hey...!'

Seeming unaware of the protest, he gestured over to where Grelmin's device sat.

"Look, you've got two devices: you've got a little device..."

Gesturing at the hole in the doughnut in his hand, he continued, "And you've got a big device with an indentation in the centre with nothing in it."

Taking a bite of his demonstration aid (to another ineffectual ‘Hey!'), he said, "Seriously, doesn't take that big a leap to think that maybe one used to fit inside the other."

Breaking the remainder of the doughnut in half then rejoining the two halves, he continued, "They don't just work in the same way; they work together..."

Taking another bite, he finished with his mouth full, "...Interface.  Perfectly obvious."

As he shoved the rest of the doughnut in his mouth, Sam reluctantly said, "Actually, sir, that's a good point."

Still munching, McKay said, "I know but you shouldn't feel too bad about it.  I mean we both know you're not exactly functioning at 100% right now.  Also, see-through yellow?  Not a great look for..."

Cutting him off, Sam urgently said, "Sir, I'm going to need to bring Doctor McKay properly up-to-speed with this situation so, with all due respect, now might be a good time to..."

Overtaking her line of thought, the General fervently replied, "Agreed, Major.  Dismissed."

With that, he got to his feet and headed out through to his office.  The other various scientists dispersed leaving just Doctor Lee, McKay and the four of them. 

Hurt in his tone, Lee said, "You ate my doughnut."

Innocent, McKay brushed powdered cinnamon off his lips and replied, "I was making a point.  Plus I'm prone to hypoglycaemia and they didn't even provide a meal on the flight here."

Consolingly, Sam replied, "Bill, just make sure it's one filled with lemon custard next time and you'll be fine.  Also, we're gonna need to head back upstairs so could you put the reactor back to minimum and cut the link for now?  Thanks."

He looked like he was going to demand retribution for a moment but, instead, the wronged scientist reluctantly nodded and went to do as instructed.

Meanwhile, his translucent friend turned to lock eyes with McKay, who was still licking sugar off of his fingers.

"Hello, Rodney."

As their eyes connected, Daniel saw some of the offhand arrogance disappear from McKay's expression to be replaced by a boyish eagerness.

"Hey, Sam.  Here to help.  First plane; I was on it."

Getting to his feet, Jack said, "Yeah, we heard; the one where they didn't feed you.  Carter, why is he here?"

Sparing a sideways glance to McKay, she replied, "Sir, I'm really not much use right now.  When the link's on, I can't touch anything or go anywhere else; when it's off, I can't really seem to follow a train of thought and Daniel and I have to negotiate over you like some sort of timeshare."

"You've got underlings; you've got Lee there.  Good people..."

Doctor Lee, looking up from his task, didn't quite seem sure whether he'd just received a compliment or not but seemed hopeful he had.  The hopeful look disappeared as Jack continued, "Marginally more bearable people."

Sam sighed and shook her head, "We need McKay, sir."

At the words, the scientist positively glowed with pride. 

Suddenly, Daniel felt the world around him blink out altogether for a moment before appearing before him at an altered perspective.  As he realised the link was cut and he was now seeing through Jack's eyes again, he heard the voice from the mouth say, "Yeah, thanks Bill but a little warning would be good."

Doctor Lee looked up.

"What?  Oh, yeah, sorry, Major."

When Jack's head turned back to face McKay, Daniel saw some of the self-assurance had vanished from his gaze along with Sam's image.  Rather lost, he turned towards them. 

He felt Jack's mouth smile weakly as Sam said, "Hello, Rodney."

"Now that," McKay breathed, "really isn't a good look for you."

He felt Jack's glower settle upon the features before Sam pulled back control.

"Come on, I'd better show you where we're at.  This way."

As they headed down the corridor, with Bill and the trolley in tow, Daniel studied McKay.  Despite his tour de force in the briefing, this didn't seem to be quite the same unbearably arrogant jerk whom they'd packed off to Russia.  There were definitely a few twists in the tale he'd missed out on during his time on the ‘glowy' plane. 

Having recovered from the initial shock of seeing Sam disappear and reappear in Jack's body, McKay fell into step with them.

"By the way, lemon custard?  Funny, really."

He could feel the Colonel's face grinning stupidly as Sam replied, "I thought so."

Then the face straightened and what had to be Jack said, "Hey, Lee.  You okay showing McKay where he's going?"

Doctor Lee took a moment to absorb the unexpected question before saying, "Uh, yeah sure, I guess."

McKay went to protest but Daniel got the feeling that the expression on the face he shared brooked no argument.  With another backwards glance at them, the scientist trailed away after Lee and the trolley.  

Once they were safely out of earshot, Sam asked, "Sir?"

"McKay?  Seriously, it had to be McKay?"

"I'm not exactly his biggest fan either, sir, but when you get down to it he's not such a bad guy."

"Just incredibly annoying."

"And condescending.  And arrogant.  Yes, sir, he is."

Since Sam hadn't argued his point, Jack didn't seem quite sure how to counter her response so he, himself, said, "But you need someone with expertise in the right fields that can think on your level.  And that's him."

Daniel didn't know what had happened since he'd last met Rodney McKay to convince Sam that the ‘arrogant jackass' that if she never met again it'd be too soon wasn't such a bad guy.  However, he knew that back then, for all her dislike of the man himself, she'd considered McKay's intellect one that was, at least, worthy of her attention.  Otherwise he wouldn't have gotten to her so much. 

The over-exaggerated sigh was likely Jack's and he followed it with a reluctant, "Oh, all right.  But I take no responsibility if at any point ‘we're' forced to strangle him with ‘our' bare hands."

"Sir..."

Daniel cut in.

"Hey guys, speaking of strangling McKay with bare hands, don't think we should leave him alone with Doctor Lee too long.  I mean, he ate his doughnut..."

The smile that crept across Jack's face felt almost collective before the body's owner replied, "Point taken.  All right, let's go."

Teal'c was not certain of the character of the man called Rodney McKay.  He himself had spent little time with him and so his judgements must be based mainly on the reactions of Major Carter.  On their first encounter, she had clearly held him in contempt but this appeared to lessen after their second encounter.  He could not decide if she liked Doctor McKay but it was obvious, even upon their first meeting, that she had respected his intellect, albeit begrudgingly.  That respect, he decided, he should also bestow upon him as the one man had replaced the many originally assisting Major Carter and yet they seemed to be making progress where none had been made previously.

The yellow-tinted Major said, "So if we run that backwards then..."
The scientist's hand moved in a blur across the chalkboard as he replied, "Yeah, yeah, I see..."

"Wait, no, look... right back there... see, you've changed the coefficient."

"Corrected it.  Yours was wrong."

"No, it... oh."

As he continued his scrawling chalk marks across the board, she said, more to herself than to him, "How did I not notice that?"

Then, her incredulous look growing even more so, she added, "More to the point, why didn't you feel like pointing it out?"

Half-shrugging, the scientist replied, "You've got a lot on your mind."

For a moment, Teal'c caught a look of genuine affection for the scientist on Major Carter's face but she appeared to catch herself and by the time Doctor McKay had looked around, her expression was one of tolerance, at best.

He turned his attention to the man by his side.

"Daniel Jackson?"

Seemingly focused on the corner of the room, it took several seconds before the linguist absorbed and analysed the question enough to recognise it was directed at him. 

Blinking as he looked up, he said, "Teal'c?"

"There is something I wish to discuss with you.  It may wait if you are too busy."

Shooting a look of affectionate irritation at O'Neill, who sat in the corner, the linguist replied, "It's all right.  I may as well take a break seeing as Jack's on strike."

Looking over to O'Neill, he saw their friend was reading a magazine which appeared to be dedicated to the discussion of the favourite pastime of O'Neill: fishing.

"So," his friend concluded, "shoot."

"This morning when we awoke," he began, "we discussed what we dreamt of."

It had been an odd conversation.  O'Neill had described a scenario in which he had been tied to a chair with matchsticks used in such a manner as to force him to keep his eyes open.  He was then made to watch a computer screen through which all the knowledge of earth was forcibly downloaded into him.  Major Carter, on the other hand, had dreamt that she was in her own body but that it still lay, immobile, in that infirmary room.  Both seemed at great unease upon their simultaneous awakening.  He, himself, had added his tale of imagining himself to be a Goa'uld symbiote but, for the sake of his friend, had failed to mention that he had been burrowing into the neck of O'Neill.  But, before telling them of his dream, Daniel Jackson had subtly shifted the conversation onto their shared experience of the act of falling asleep.  He doubted the others had even noticed but he had.  Given that the general consensus was dreams of a less than pleasant nature, he assumed his friend's dream ran along a similar vein.  The fact that he had not felt he could share his dream worried him however.

Daniel Jackson's expression grew unsettled for a moment.

"I... dreamt... I'm not sure what I dreamt of."

The answer was obviously a lie but his friend's expression remained defiant for several seconds before he caved under his scrutiny and, lowering his voice, replied, "Okay, but don't tell the others."

After a pause, he continued, "I dreamt I was dying of radiation sickness again... but when I ascended... it was like only a part of me did and the rest got left behind on that bed and I was lying there watching this part of me disappear but I hadn't died; I was still just... there.  And... it didn't stop."

Now Teal'c knew well the reason his friend had been reluctant to share the dream with the others.  The fact he had ascended did not alter the fact that Daniel Jackson had not only died but endured a most prolonged and agonising death.  The uncomfortable way his friend now rubbed his hands along his arms informed him that the dream had felt to Daniel Jackson as real as had his dream of burrowing into the neck of O'Neill. 

His friend's eyes flicked up to meet his and, voice still low, he said, "In your dream.  Jack was your host, wasn't he?"

It had not been an aspect of his dream he had wished to share but Daniel Jackson's honesty convinced him to bow his head in assent. 

There was a brief, tight, smile upon his friend's face before he replied, "Can't say I'm in a big hurry to fall asleep again."

Sharing the sentiment, he inclined his head slightly, "Have you made any progress, Daniel Jackson?"

Eyes haunted by twisted memories took on a grateful sheen at the welcome change of topic.

"Actually, yeah, there's some stuff I wanna talk over with Sam when she's finished what she's doing."

A voice behind him volunteered, "That'd be now."

Stepping past him, the flickering yellow form of Major Carter stood next to them.

"What is it, Daniel?"

"Sam?  Aren't you..."

An uneasy expression on her face, she replied, "Hate to say it but, right now, McKay can manage without me.  In fact, I'm sort of slowing him down.  I can't concentrate right.  I know what I want to do but I can't see the strings of equations in my head like I normally can and I'm getting calculations wrong that I could do in my sleep."

A look of deep empathy passed between his two friends.  He knew both were finding the severe restrictions on their ability to think almost unbearable. 

"So," she pushed the conversation on, "what did you want to talk over?"

"Well, I've been reading through Grelmin's notes and there're some files..."

Going to rifle back through the papers, Daniel Jackson appeared to remember his ethereal state and, after a defeated glance in the direction of O'Neill, he sighed, "...somewhere in that lot...which seems to be a series of reports on the early human trials."

"Great, do they go into the methods used in detail?"

"Some, yes.  I'll translate it all properly onto the Dictaphone and get it transcribed for you to see if there's anything that'll help you out."

"That'd be great, Daniel.  The more data we have on the actual procedure; the more likely it is we can find a way to reverse it."

As he nodded in agreement, however, she asked, "Daniel, these trials... did they include outcomes?"

With an expression similar to that he had worn when asked to confess his dream, Daniel Jackson said, "The first several attempts, the machine failed altogether.  Then... it started to work... sort of."

"Sort of?"

"It's hard to dissect it all.  These reports seem to have been written for the benefit of whoever funded his research so they put a positive spin on everything but... from what I can make out..."

Sparing a glance towards O'Neill, he turned back and lowered his voice, "Of the ones I've read over, the outcome was death in almost half the cases... and they seem to be the lucky ones."

"What?"

"The process sometimes malfunctioned midway and the subjects remained as individuals but with what sounds to me like severe brain damage.  Aspects of their personality were disrupted, memories almost completely wiped.  In some cases, they were left in a near vegetative state."

Shaking her head, the physicist said, "Why would they keep pursuing a process with such negative outcomes in the trials?"

"Actually, I'm not so sure they did.  Like I said, the trials all seem written to please financial backers for the project.  But the final one I've found has some sort of official stamp on it which says the recommendation is for immediate termination of the project.  And after that, all the official reports I can find seem to be work on some sort of advanced fertilizer."

"So he stopped working on it?"

"That's what I can't work out.  I mean, it's not easy when I can't touch anything but I did a little cross-referencing with what seems to be one of his personal lab books that has dated entries.  I found a description of what sounds very like the trial in the final report and there's a big gap after it but he definitely restarts human trials again."

"Any idea why?"

"I'm working on it.  Slowly."    

His two friends shared another empathetic look before the linguist asked, "So you been making any progress?"

Shrugging slightly, she replied, "Well, looks like McKay's right.  Looking at the data collected by the tech team, it seems pretty much a given that they were originally designed to work in unison with his device acting as some sort of memory buffer.  It seems Grelmin cannibalized his own technology to create a place to store his consciousness."

"Any idea why?"

Shaking her head, she replied, "That's a question we can ask him if he ever decides to appear again.  Meantime, we're working from what information the tech team managed to bring back."

"Well, if I find anything else in amongst this that I think could help then..."

"Thanks, could use all the help I can get.  If this thing was Ancient or Goa'uld I might have a chance to understand it but we're speaking about a whole different breed of technology; one that I only have two examples of and one of them I can't even activate until I figure more about how it works.  And the whole sharing a head thing really isn't helping."

Daniel Jackson shook his head and looked to the ground.

"If this really is reversible... we're not getting back into our own heads anytime soon, are we?"

It was most clearly a statement of fact in the guise of a question but Major Carter chose to shake her head by way of reply.

"We're not even close to understanding how to make that thing run forward yet.  I mean we could be talking... I don't even know what sort of timescale we're looking at here yet."

All three of them shared a look then turned to where O'Neill sat reading his fishing magazine. 

Voicing their shared thought, Daniel Jackson said, "How 'bout we don't tell Jack that?"

Setting down his tray and collapsing ungracefully down into the commissary chair, Jack felt exhausted.  The last few days had been... well, draining to say the least with little reprieve except when, for about half a day, it'd amused him no end to go up to anybody who wasn't aware of his current condition and bet them he could answer any question.  With Daniel and Carter in his head, it was always a pretty unfair wager and ended with him humming contentedly as he counted through his growing wad of green whilst enjoying the stunned face of the baffled mark.  The base had a lot of staff so he'd probably have got some more mileage out of it if his cohabitants hadn't started facetiously answering questions wrong after he'd complained they weren't very convincing in their portrayal of him. 

That, however, had been a very small ray of sunshine breaking through an otherwise stormy cloud.  Firstly, once they finally managed to drift off into some equivalent of sleep at night, he had weird recurring dreams about someone tying him in front of a computer, propping his eyes open with matchsticks then downloading the entire knowledge of earth into him at high speed.  So, when he woke up in the mornings, he felt almost more exhausted than he did when he closed his eyes. 

This was compounded by the unsettling way they neither fell asleep nor woke up with perfect synchrony.  This had led to some odd moments, like the time Carter had awoken first, got out of bed still half-asleep and made it as far as the mirror before yelping in shock at the unexpected face.  This, in turn, had shocked the rest of them awake so they'd all been treated to a few moments looking like something out of Thunderbirds with hands and arms flying in all directions before totally losing balance and collapsing in an ungainly heap on the floor.  This performance was made no more bearable by the fact they were still under constant observation.

Usually in an appropriately ghastly mood, therefore, he was then forced to endure a day hooked up to the neural link working as a glorified page-turner without the luxury of even being able to leave the room.  Then, even in the brief breaks when they weren't hooked up, he couldn't have a break from the other three people living in his body and, god, Daniel and Carter just never even stopped for him to catch his breath sometimes.  On the tenuous upside, McKay had disappeared offworld with SG-5 to go run some simulations using the actual pedestal device yesterday so at least he didn't have him to deal with as well.        

People like the Doc and Hammond, who were around ‘them' for any long period of time, had become more proficient at reading his body language.  Now, the Doc didn't even miss a beat when Daniel suddenly changed into Carter.  And when he and Daniel had gotten into a heated debate, Hammond had walked in halfway through and still been able to cut him off, mid-flow, with, "Colonel, can we focus here?"

Food and hygiene were all still issues, however.  For one thing, he had just about learned to live with the idea of Daniel, Teal'c and himself taking a rather more communal shower than normal since circumstances demanded it but with Carter in the body as well... and there were also other bodily...well, like he'd said... still issues that needed resolving. 

Like keeping this body in shape.  It'd seemed easy enough to let everyone take part in his gym routine right up until the point his wrist had had to be strapped up by Janet.  This was due to the unfortunate episode where Teal'c had automatically reached for one of his usual starter dumbbells and left a dent in the concrete floor whilst trying to dislocate his hand from his arm and pull his shoulder out its socket. 

And eating, god, eating was a damn nightmare.  Take this breakfast in front of him, for example.  All he'd wanted was a white coffee and a plate of oatmeal.  Simple, right?  Wrong.  First, Carter wanted some fruit but had been too polite to say so for about a minute and, in the meantime, he'd just been aware of an odd twitching of his right hand and sporadic twitches of his eyes in the vague direction of the fruit.  After she'd eventually verbalised her desire and he'd obligingly picked up a bowl of fruit, he'd gone to get the coffee and found his hand halting as he went to pour the milk in.  It'd oddly been Teal'c whose only explanation was something about preferring not to consume bovine lactose.  Used to having it black anyway, he'd obliged and then placed the cup on the tray.  He tried to ignore the fact that it hadn't been him who had gestured for the commissary worker to ladle about double the quantity of oatmeal into the bowl than he wanted.  Personally, he suspected that was also his ‘Jaffa' houseguest who'd never gotten his head around the fact that he wasn't eating for two anymore.    

Turning to find a table, he'd felt the world spin as everyone tried to focus on a different point in the room from everyone else.  Finally fixing on their usual table, he'd found balancing the tray, as usual, an inordinately difficult task.  Setting it down with only a slight amount of oatmeal out of the bowl had been a minor miracle. 

Looking reflectively down at the bowl of oatmeal, he shuddered at the stares he was about to get.  Everyone in the body got involved in the whole eating process and, well, that wasn't a very pretty sight.  Funny, certainly... but only on the outside looking in. 

He felt so tired and so bereft of hope.  If there'd been any indication... any indication that they were making some real progress then maybe... then maybe he'd be able to shrug off these minor inconveniences but all he could see in front of him right now was an eternity stuck like this... and just how truly insufferable it would be. 

Trying to pull himself out of his black mood, he sipped at the coffee and willed the caffeine to inhibit the enzyme that broke adenosine down to give at least the illusion he was more awake.  He winced to himself as he realised that contemplation involving physiological terms was not exactly something he was given to.  That was that damn ‘connectedness' that Daniel and Carter loved to go on about that was so fascinating.  Fascinating?  Didn't they see what it meant?  It meant that the ‘him' that he was sure of... the ‘him' in his head... it wasn't even really ‘him' anymore.  There were other things in there too... other thoughts and knowledge that wasn't him.  Maybe eventually there'd been other voices.  Other voices like Daniel had heard in his head when the Stromos passengers had been in there.  And then he wouldn't even be alone in his thoughts.  He wouldn't... he couldn't stand that... and they'd all go nuts... 

With very little appetite and a ridiculously large bowl of oatmeal to get through, he picked up the spoon and, unenthusiastically, began to eat.  He got through a couple of mouthfuls uneventfully before Daniel obviously had a moment of inspiration and started speaking about something to do with the famine too suddenly for him to halt the progression of the spoon to his mouth.  Consequently, half the oatmeal ended up on the lips of the unprepared mouth and the other half, along with the spoon, almost ended up down his windpipe.  Choking, he wiped at his mouth and tried to ignore the fact that the conversations around him had halted or dipped in volume.  Setting his head down, he continued to eat.

After a couple more mouthfuls, what had to be Carter said, "You know, I think I'm starting to get to grips with the way the crystalline webbing in the memory buffer stores information.  I think there may even be a biological component."

Okay, sounded fascinating but it was too early for technobabble so he groaned in reply, "Can we leave the discussion until after oatmeal, please, Major?"

She acquiesced and the meal continued in silence for a couple of minutes before Daniel and Carter seemed to forget he'd even said anything.

"So anyway, Daniel, I was thinking about that work he did.  You know, the stuff he was working on after the official reports stopped but before he restarted human trials?  It was something about better fertilisation of crops, wasn't it?"

A slight twitch of his face then Daniel replied, "Yeah, I think so.  I sort of skipped past that stuff.  Why?"

He stole himself a mouthful of oatmeal before his female guest managed to explain, "Could you have a quick look back over those reports for me?  It might be nothing but..."

Cutting her off, Daniel replied, "Hey, whatever, I can pretty much just read it now so if you're not bothered with full translations it'll only take a couple of hours..."

Daniel, as he was wont to do, was gesturing to make his point but without considering that the hand he was using to do so was also holding a spoon of oatmeal.  It was an oversight that soon hit them right between the eyes. 

Oatmeal dripping down his face, Jack could feel the red mist descending.  He'd gotten them fruit and no milk and two helpings.  He'd turned page after page after page.  And all he'd asked in return... all he'd asked in return was a few moments of silence in which to enjoy his oatmeal.  Instead, they'd tried to choke him, technobabbled at him and coated him in oatmeal. 
As he wiped it off his face, he heard his voice offer, "Ooh, sorry, Jack... but, anyway, Sam, are we going to have the link to work through today or are you running more diagnostics on the device?"

"We're going to do some more imaging of the internal workings so think we'll have to work like this today..."

As their conversation continued, Jack felt the rage bubbling over.  He tried counting to ten but it just wasn't going to work this time. 

"All right!  That's it!"

Even if his outburst hadn't automatically cut off their conversation, it would have instantly silenced them anyway. 

Clutching at his head like it was about to explode, he said, "I can't do this anymore!  I can't even think!"

A concerned Carter asked, "Sir, are you all right?"

"No!"

Looking around with his hands still pressed against his head, Jack realised that every eye in the commissary was focused right on him.  As if made of lead, his hands dropped and, slowly getting up from the table, he headed out of the door. 

Once out of earshot of the commissary, he continued more quietly, "No, I damn well am not all right!  I am tired and not hungry and fed up of people staring.  I can't take this.  I just want to be me again."

Carter, sounding offended, replied, "Sir, what do you think it is we're trying to do?"

He snapped back, "Not entirely sure, Major.  Something along the lines of trying to drive me completely nuts?"
Daniel, sounding calm but annoyed, added, "Jack, we know this has been hard on you but we're working on it.  You have to bear with us."

"Actually, I think I've done just about all the bearing with you that I can cope with right now.  So how about you all just give me a few hours here?"

"Sir?"

Rage fading slightly, he replied, "Just let me at least pretend this thing belongs to me for a while.  Give me today."

Annoyed more than calm now, Daniel demanded, "And just what are we supposed to do in the meantime, Jack?"

He could imagine the rest of his friend's silent protest.  Do you think it's been easy for us, Jack?  Do you seriously think we've been revelling in all this?  Are we just supposed to sit here quietly then save your ass and ours whenever it becomes convenient for you?  You think you've got it bad?  Do you forget that I already did all this before and had a few much less pleasant houseguests than you have?  Do you know just how much of a selfish ass you're being right now?    

Despite that, he was too tired to care.

"Okay, it's not fair, Daniel, but can I please just be selfish here for a little while?  I need some time out, okay?"

There was an undeniable chill in Daniel's words.

"All right, Jack."

Quietly, Carter said, "Yes, sir."

What was obviously Teal'c added neutrally, "I shall give you this day, O'Neill."

With that, his final friend fell silent.

It'd been a blessedly uneventful day.  He'd spent many hours blowing up buildings on his games console and watching some classic ice hockey re-runs in his quarters then done two hours in the gym and, now, he was on his way to have himself some well-earned sustenance in the commissary.  And, in all that time, not a word from the others.  He was almost feeling like himself again.  He winced slightly at the way he'd treated the others this morning.  Felt pretty guilty about it, actually.  Oh well, he reasoned, he'd make it up to them after he'd polished off the mountain of food he'd just laid onto his tray.  This time, he was actually hungry. 

Jack carefully picked up the fork and, gingerly, scooped up a forkful.  He managed to get it to his mouth without incident.  So far; so good.  As he went for his second, he found that forkful also was consumed uneventfully.  He was almost managing to avoid stares from those people not aware of his current condition.  Hey, they might even be able to make this work.  Not long-term obviously... but maybe they could just find it in themselves to get through this without going completely insane.  If they just kept it together, that was.  Ha, kept it together?  Hard to do anything else in their current condition.

He'd made it to dessert without anyone saying anything or limbs moving that he hadn't told to do so.  Small victory but he'd take it for now.  Tray emptied, he got up from the table and headed back towards his quarters.  It was ludicrously early but he was so exhausted all he wanted to do was lie out on his bed and watch some more of the re-runs.  Expectantly, he waited for one of his geniuses to protest that the day was still young and they had lots of work to do if he was quite finished hogging the body now.  Neither of them made any protest.  Probably, he winced, still sulking.  Making it into his quarters, he got through the necessary stuff and got into bed.  Once he was lying down, he waited for someone to talk. No-one did.

After a while, he said, "Guys?"

No-one replied.

Now unnerved, he said, "All right.  Seriously, you guys can talk again."

Of course it wasn't possible for no-one to reply more loudly but, as the silence continued, it felt more oppressive.  Looking back at the conversation of the morning, he realised that he may have caused more than a little friction between him and his team-mates.  Actually, he'd basically told them all to shut up because they were driving him nuts, hadn't he? 

Wincing more deeply, he continued, "Okay, I know I've been being an ass today... but I'm sorry, okay?  And this isn't funny."

As the lack of reply continued, Jack was beginning to feel increasingly unnerved by it.  Closing his eyes, he tried to reach inside his mind to look for them. 

Proving fruitless, he said, "Carter, I order you to talk."

He waited expectantly for a weary ‘yes, sir' from his female passenger which would be followed by a remark from the understandably pissed Daniel about why this showed it wasn't so clever to make them all shut up just so he felt less like a freak show walking about the base.  Teal'c might wade in as well with an ‘indeed' that spoke volumes. 

His heart sank further when his lips stayed silent.  Where were they?  What the hell had he done?  It wasn't possible for him to do something to them, was it?  Oh god, please no...

"Carter?  Daniel?  Teal'c?"

His sinking heart began to race as the silence continued.  Unable to contain his panic any longer, he pulled back on his discarded fatigues and raced down to Carter's lab where Gizmo's gizmo was currently situated. 

As he ran, he said, "Guys, seriously, if this is a lesson to me, I swear I've learned it already!" 

There was no reply.  Bolting into the lab, he activated the device as he had seen Carter do; although he surprised himself that he had copied the procedure so automatically.  Forgetting that, he slammed down the neural link button.  He closed his eyes, not daring to see if his friends' images had appeared. 

"Awareness, what are you doing?" 

He opened his eyes to see Gizmo standing beside him but no trace of any of his friends.  He was back in his doctor's coat again. 

Looking rather pleased, he said, "Ah, finally, you are making progress, Awareness."

Ignoring him, Jack said, "Look, Gizmo, something's happened to my friends."

"Yes, they no longer speak."

He scowled at the pleased look in the scientist's eyes.

"I don't view this as a good thing."

"Oh, but it is.  You are making progress, Awareness."

Grabbing him by the lapels of his white coat, Jack slammed the ‘figment' up against the wall.

"I also don't view this as ‘progress'.  Now, I think we've endured enough of the cryptic unhelpfulness so unless you want me to smash your little home into a million pieces I would start giving me some incredibly straight answers.  In fact, just give me one straight answer.  How do I get everyone out of my head and back into their bodies?"

Struggling slightly, Gizmo replied, "I... you... wish the Ha'ran to be reversed?"

"I very much wish it."

"But... it is an honour to become Ha'ranas."

"Maybe it was on your screwed-up world.  Maybe that's why they're all dead!"

"The famine killed my people."

"Then why didn't you make a device to grow food instead?  That would've been a hell of a lot more useful to your people than that thing!"

"The device was already in existence before the famine came."

Jack's anger was momentarily diverted by his curiosity.

"Hold on.  Daniel said the writing on the walls round the device said it had been created because of the famine.  Now you're telling me the famine had nothing to do with it?"

"It proved useful during the famine but, no, its original function was not to save resources."

"Then why?"

"Even with your crippling lack of intelligence, surely you can see that to be Ha'ranas is to be better than a mere human.  The knowledge, the skills... the minds of many... all brought together to make something so much more than the sum of their parts.  All flaws removed.  Weaknesses disposed of, strengths amplified.  One Ha'ranas can do in a day what its component parts could not have done in a lifetime."

"Parts?!  We're not parts; we're people."

"Obviously, I was misguided to explain these things to you before the process is complete.  It has only served to confuse your simple Awareness.  I will explain at a later time."

"Oh no, you don't!  You'll explain right now or you won't be here at a ‘later time', got it?"

Grelmin sighed, "As you wish, Awareness.  Continue with your questions."

"All right, if it wasn't about the famine then why make Ha'ranasses at all?"

"Originally, the intention when designing the process of Ha'ran was to create a superior class of warrior."

"What?"

"We fought against a rival planet with whom we were equally matched in terms of the size of our starship fleets.  Our military leaders believed that our dominance might be achieved if we invaded via what you call the Stargate but the nature of the ring system made it impossible to fight in any great number.  Superior numbers could not win us this war... but superior warriors?"

"How exactly does shoving four people into the same head make a superior warrior?  Battle's all about being quick and decisive.  Not exactly gonna happen if you have to have a committee decision on everything."

"That is why there must be a supreme awareness.  As you have just become."

"What?!"

"Your awareness is the strongest.  You have dominated all other awarenesses and now shall take your place as sole Awareness of this body."

"If you're talking about my friends... I'm their leader: they follow me by choice; I don't dominate them."

"If you had not done so; it would one of them that I would be talking to."

Releasing Grelmin, Jack thought back to his actions earlier today.  He'd bullied them all into silence.  And they'd submitted.  Had that been it?  Had he really dominated them all in the name of an uninterrupted few hours?

Unheeding of his misery, Grelmin continued, "As leader, the concept of Ha'ran should be familiar to you.  Those under your command have skills and knowledge but it is you who must exploit those skills to their best advantage.  The only alteration is that now it is you, yourself, who possesses the skill and knowledge."

"Yeah, but what you don't seem to get is that I look at my team and I don't see three exploitable sources of skill and knowledge.  They're people.  I don't need their knowledge or their skills.  I need them."

"Individuals have autonomy and the ability to disobey.  Now that you are Ha'ranas, you shall never have to worry about their loyalty to you."

"Hey, their loyalty was just fine."

"Through your time spent linked to this device, I have witnessed your impatience with the Occupiers.  You often fought with the one called Daniel and the one called Samantha questioned your orders."

"Look, much as I'd maybe like it sometimes, a real team doesn't work unless there's an opportunity to disagree with each other."

"Inefficient."

"Yeah, sometimes it is... but sometimes I act like an idiot and don't realise.  Sometimes I need a ‘with all due respect, sir' or a ‘Jack, don't be an ass' or a ‘this does not seem wise, O'Neill' to make me stop and take a look at myself.  I need them."

"You need not worry about that.  When I enhance your awareness you will never be an ‘idiot' again."

"IQ points've got nothing to do with being an idiot.  Hell, Daniel's been an idiot plenty of times.  I've met whole races of super-intelligent idiots.  And I get the feeling I'm talking to a member of another one!"

"I do not understand why you react so negatively to your enhancement, awareness."

"I react so negatively because I don't want enhancement.  What I want is you to bring back my friends."

"That would be quite impossible... but, if you wish, I could expedite matters." 

Jack didn't like the sound of that. 

Miserably, he hung his head.

"It was my fault, wasn't it?  If I hadn't made them give me control for so long, you'd never have been able to do this."

"It was best that you ended the conflict quickly.  If such conflict continues for too long the mind itself becomes damaged from the exertion.  If you had used your advantage earlier, the transfer would have been smooth.  Now, it shall take time.  You are only lucky the other occupiers did not attempt to dominate you whilst they had the chance.  All had power and could have usurped you had they attempted it."

Another nasty piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"That was who you were telling me to prepare for?  My friends?  That was why you didn't want me sedated?  Because it let them surface?"

"Now, you must not be upset, my Ha'ranas.  You have succeeded despite your errors in judgement.  You have dominated and we shall soon see you reap the rewards."

Not willing to listen to another word of that, he raced back to the device and slammed it off.  Gizmo disappeared.  Rushing out of the room, Jack collapsed against the wall in the corridor and tried to hold back the feeling of panic that threatened to overwhelm him.  The others... oh god, there had to be a way to get them back... there had to be some way to get them back... 

Sliding down to the floor, he brought his trembling hands up to his temples.  He'd never thought it would feel so sickening to feel in total control of his own body.  He willed his eyes or hands or anything to move without his say so.  A flicker of his eye or a twitch of a finger to tell him they were still there somewhere.  But there was nothing...

Unsteadily pulling himself back to his feet, he made his way toward the Infirmary.  He'd destroyed them... oh god, he'd destroyed his friends...

The world began to spin uncontrollably and, careering heavily into the wall, Jack looked down to the ground to try to focus.  He wasn't quite sure how long he stood watching the ground grow and contract as it seemed to shift below him... but, as the world began to slow again, he became aware that the floor below him seemed to be rushing up to meet him.  Then, suddenly, the whole world turned black.

Aware distantly of the sound of an event horizon blinking out of existence, Teal'c felt cold moisture dripping onto his face and pooling slowly in rings around his sealed eyelids.  Lying on his back, he was aware that the material below him was soft and yielding.  However, the sucking noise which accompanied it assured him that regaining both full consciousness and immediate verticality would prove most wise at this moment. 

Almost forcing himself awake, he felt the ground below him resist momentarily before releasing him.  As the water drained away from his eyelids, they slowly parted.  A blurry world came into view as the moisture that had peppered his face now dripped onto his scalp instead.  After a few moments, he ascertained that the blurry nature of his vision was only partially due to his newly-conscious state; it was also due to the thick layer of raindrops that flew down from the sky above and created a curtain across the world behind it.  

His current position seemed to be under an alcove of some description which at least afforded him some protection from the downpour.  Shifting himself back against the rockface, he carefully pulled himself fully-upright; balancing against the wall as the abrupt postural change nearly caused him to land on the muddy ground again. 

There were some things a Jaffa did not like to admit: weakness of any sort, for example.  However, he had found that human males often showed the same reticence to admit to certain... inadequacies; specifically, uncertainty over one's present location.  However, to a human male, it was merely a matter of pride; to a skilled Jaffa tracker it was tantamount to the greatest dishonour.

However, right now, he had to at least admit a degree of uncertainty concerning his present location.  The weather and general environment suggested clearly that he was again on the planet but his current location was one with which he was not familiar.  He wondered if, this time, he was the only one to travel here.  None of his friends appeared to be anywhere in close proximity to him. 

He had known that something had gone wrong before he had woken up here.  Earlier, keeping to his pledge of silence, he had been a passive observer throughout O'Neill's ‘day off'.  As O'Neill ran on the treadmill, his own thoughts had remained with his silent friends and he had wondered what their reaction was to O'Neill's rejection.  As he had accurately predicted, O'Neill was not dealing well with his role as host.  Perhaps it was that prediction that made it easier to accept that the rejection was not intended to be personal.  He had doubted Daniel Jackson and Major Carter had seen it as anything but a most personal attack upon them.  However, as he had contemplated this, something had occurred which he had not expected.  Slowly, almost without his realisation, his connection to the body had begun to weaken.  As he had finally realised this, he had fought to regain his portion of control but found that he had realised too late. 

That was when he had awoken here to the sound of a wormhole ceasing - although, to his knowledge, this place was not in close proximity to the Stargate of this world. 

Teal'c tried to think.  To some extent, at least, he understood Daniel Jackson and Major Carter's belief that this place was merely a representation of their earlier battle to emerge.  Why then had he travelled back to this place?  The other time he had appeared to travel here, he and Daniel Jackson had strayed too far into Kel'noreem.  He had been most careful not to enter anything approaching a meditative state since.  Perhaps, he considered, simply relinquishing all control of the body for such an extended period was sufficient to create the same effect. 

At the thought, his instant fear was for Daniel Jackson and Major Carter.  They had been silent for as long a time as he and could also have been transported back here as a result.  Experimentally, he called their names but there was no reply.  If they were indeed present, they were, at least, not in the immediate vicinity. 

Remembering the last time he had found himself on the planet, Teal'c braced himself for a moment before sending his hand slicing viciously into his cheekbone.  The pain blossoming quickly, he rubbed at his self-inflicted injury.  Unfortunately, the pain was apparently the only result of his attempt to awaken himself.  He still remained in this place. 

He would, he decided, attempt to locate the Stargate once more.  Though he did not fully comprehend how, he was aware that his first journey through it had led to his presence in O'Neill's head. 

Aware that his current location was uncertain, he knew he would have to elect to travel in a direction he was unsure of.  Selecting the one to his right, he set off.

As he travelled, he saw a red dot up ahead.  Intrigued, he moved closer to it.  It appeared to be a campfire and, yet, the rain above him made that seem almost impossible.  At the very least, the fire ought to be dying if not already extinguished and, yet, it appeared to be healthily flickering away as if there was a clear sky above. 

Tramping closer, Teal'c found the muddy ground becoming more solid beneath his feet and, slowly, he became aware that the rain falling upon him was lessening.  As he walked closer still, he could make out another figure approaching the impossible flames from a different direction. Though he could not be certain through this downpour, it appeared to be Daniel Jackson.  However, upon calling the name of his friend, his attention was distracted by another fact. 

The rain no longer fell upon him.  This would not have been so curious but for the fact that the rain still appeared to be falling all around him.  Looking round, he saw that, for a radius of around six feet from that campfire, the rain appeared to have ceased to fall.  He also, realising this fact belatedly, was completely dry.

He turned to where his friend should now be standing to inquire if he knew how such a thing could be possible when he realised that the figure had now disappeared.  However, he had little time to ponder this fact as he noticed a figure in green dappled with brown rapidly moving towards his location.  The wall of rain prevented accurate identification but he could believe with some certainty that it was Major Carter.

That belief was proved accurate when she came within feet of the wall of rain.  Slowing, she moved forward with trepidation as if unsure what would occur when she neared the impossible campfire.  As she crossed the border of the drops, Teal'c found it almost like watching an individual emerge from the event horizon.

Wearing a look of puzzlement no doubt similar to his own, she said, "Teal'c, what the...?  What is this?"

"If I was aware I would most assuredly inform you, Major Carter."  

Presumably reading his request to explain how such a thing as this was possible, she slowly contemplated their situation.

"Okay... well, obviously we've returned to the planet somehow... but I'm assuming the one inside the Colonel's head.  This fire... I'm not sure exactly what it could represent but it seems like some sort of safe haven."

Then, her contemplation ending, she focused on more urgent matters.

"So are we the only ones here?"

"I am uncertain, Major Carter.  I had believed that I saw Daniel Jackson moving towards this place but he was not here when I approached it."

"That's weird.  I'd thought I saw him moving towards here too.  From over there."

As she pointed, Teal'c realised that that was, in fact, the opposite direction from the way he had come.  It could not be the same figure that he had seen.  However, as he went to voice that puzzle, he realised, in the direction she had pointed, he could make out a blob of green lying in the mud.

Abandoning their haven without a word of explanation to Major Carter, he strode purposefully towards what he could now determine was a prostrate figure.  Swooping down towards it, he pulled the figure up into his arms.  As he had guessed it was, indeed, Daniel Jackson.  Almost sprinting back towards the campfire, he ran straight into a confused Major Carter who had also left the haven after his inexplicable departure from it.  Seeing the burden he carried, her expression fell to one of concern and she quickly shifted to let him back into the campfire's strange aura. 

Setting Daniel Jackson down, he crouched by his side and, wiping the suddenly-dry mud from his face, saw that he was incredibly pale again.  Glancing up to see Major Carter hovering beside him, he shifted to allow her to examine Daniel Jackson.  As he straightened up, though, Teal'c swore that he could see Daniel Jackson staring at him from beyond the curtain of rain.  Aware that Major Carter would not abandon the pale Daniel Jackson even if he disappeared without explanation again, he quickly dived out into the torrent to try and apprehend this strange doppelganger. 

The rain lashed down upon him as he followed the figure.  It was odd as the figure himself seemed able almost to dance between the individual drops and appeared to still be completely dry.  Eventually catching him, he grabbed him by the arm, "Daniel Jackson."

Almost inaudible above the tempest, Daniel Jackson said, "The shadows are coming."  Turning with repentant eyes, he added, "Stay with them.  It's all I can do."

Then, suddenly, all he appeared to be holding was air.  He had not been aware of Daniel Jackson vanishing before his eyes as such; only of a reality where Daniel Jackson stood before him one moment and a reality where he had never been there the next. 

After a few moments of contemplation, he headed back towards the fire and his friends. 

Daniel's eyes flickered uncertainly open but, instead of the customary ‘where am I', he felt compelled to say, "Shadows." 

Then, taking in his friends' confused expressions, he added, "We should stay away from them, right?  The shadows are dangerous."

Then, taking in his friends' even more confused expressions, he asked, "Do you know what I'm talking about?"

 As Sam shook her head, he continued, "Funny, cos neither do I.  How come we're back on the planet again?"  Taking in their current surroundings, he added, "...and, apparently, sitting round a magic campfire?"

The two of them shared a look.  Obviously things had been discussed before he'd woken up to which he was not privy. 

Sam merely said, "We don't know.  We're guessing we somehow lost our share of control of the Colonel's body by giving it up for so long.  Your guess is as good as ours about the magic campfire, though.  I mean, I could go on about how it's not physically possible but... well, this place doesn't exactly need to obey the rules."  Pressing the back of her hand to his cheek, she said, "You're starting to feel a bit warmer now.  Your colour's improved too."

"Was it bad before?"

"Daniel, you were borderline cyanotic for a moment or two.  Then you suddenly seemed to improve again.  What happened?"

"I don't know... I mean, I found myself back here and it was like all my strength just disappeared."

He felt so... tired.  Like some parasite was leeching the strength from him.  Now, it was barely noticeable but, when he'd first arrived here, it'd felt like having his insides sucked out. 

After a pause, he defeatedly said, "Seems like Jack gets his wish after all."

Reactively, Sam replied, "Daniel, don't.  You know he didn't mean..."

No, he didn't.  Of course, he didn't.  Jack had never meant for this to happen anymore than Sam had meant to get them into this situation but he couldn't help feeling the sting of Jack's rejection.   

After all these years, he and Jack had finally reached an understanding about a lot of their ‘issues'.  Okay, sometimes, he still felt like he was fighting an uphill battle when it came to their relationship... but at least he wasn't fighting an uphill battle on a treadmill anymore... 

Like for example, he remembered a meeting there'd been during the recent Unas debacle.  There'd been the military-types (and their ‘shoot what we don't understand' attitude) on one side and him, as always, pretty much alone on the other.  A soldier was dead; an extremely promising naquadha mine was in jeopardy and the people Daniel was trying to protect... well, they weren't exactly ‘people', were they?  Guessing every military mind's view on this was going to be ‘shoot them', he'd been prepared to do what he'd done a thousand times before - go it alone. 

Facing a trinium wall of opposition to his attempts to persuade them of his viewpoint, he'd turned to where Jack sat amongst them.  He'd known that his friend knew more about the Unas than the others did but, as he'd quietly requested his assistance, a sudden fear had hit him like he was back at school and the soldiers were bullies and Jack was his friend but, wanting to be in the bullies' gang, was going to disown him. 

Then, so offhand its deep significance was lost on all but him, Jack had said, that he was ‘usually right about this stuff'.  Not only had his back-up made him feel like he was fighting a battle he could win there but the choice of words had reminded him of one of the conversations he and Jack had had recently that they should have had long before he ascended.  Hurtful words Jack had carelessly thrown about on Euronda had haunted their relationship for a long time and one phrase had been that ‘...there's always gotta be something with you!  It's always the same damn thing...'  And, in their discussion, the phrase had come up. 

Wincing slightly at the memory, Jack shrugged with affected nonchalance and, taking a sip of his beer, replied, "What can I say?  You've gotta admit I was right on that one.  Cos, well, there does... and it is..."

The wounds from Euronda weren't raw anymore (barely a scar left, really) so he'd merely chuckled at the reply until Jack had broken eye contact with him and looked firmly past the porch and out to the horizon - always a sure sign he was about to get deep and make himself uncomfortable in the process. 

"Thing is... I might have been forgetting that, well, you're usually right about that stuff..."

He was about as good at taking a compliment as his friend was at expressing feelings so his eyes, too, got mysteriously locked on some distant point as Jack, squirming slightly, continued, "Daniel, I've gotta admit that there was a long time there where I was keeping score..."

Talking to his distant point, he said, "I know."

 "...and damnit if you weren't winning."

There was a long pause before Jack finally told the horizon, "Took me too long to realise that you'd never won once... because you were in my team.  And when you were right and I was wrong for the thousandth time... we'd still succeeded..."

Needing this to come back up from the deep before his friend suffered terminal emotional overload, Daniel lightly quipped, "Where's a Dictaphone when you need one?  I could have Jack O'Neill on tape saying..."

Acknowledging the attempt with a quick sideward glance, he retorted, "Never gonna happen, Danny-boy."

After that meeting on the Unas world, he'd wondered if even Jack knew the significance of what he'd said.  Eventually, he'd decided it didn't matter.  What mattered was the display of trust...believing in him. 

Anyway, it'd taken a lot longer than it should but, recently, he'd finally learned that Jack might not always understand him, or relate to his viewpoint, but that didn't mean he valued him as a team-mate, or friend, any less.

And then they'd been shoved into his head... an experience that had been giving him, personally, nightmarish flashbacks to the Stromos incident... and really had tried their best to get back to their own bodies.  Okay so maybe they hadn't been the perfect guests but it wasn't like they'd been there by choice and they were tired and just trying to cope the best they could.  And then Jack had done what he'd promised never to do him again.  He'd shut him up.

Teal'c broke the silence.

"I do not believe O'Neill's actions were driven purely by inconsequential irritation.  I believe, in part, he feared us."

Sam and he both replied, "What?"

"We took his control from him... and our knowledge began to alter him into something he was not."

Sam nodded.

"Remember that stuff about him not being sure of the ‘him' in his head?"

"Major Carter, to be blended with a Tok'ra who then seizes control of you..."

An experience both Jack and she had been through.  After a pause, she said, "I guess on an instinctive level, this has a similar feel; a sort of constant sensation of an encroaching consciousness.  It'd be worse from the Colonel's point of view, though; his is the mind all the connections have been made through."

"And that gave him the excuse to evict us when we had nowhere else to go?"

But Daniel's retort was devoid of anger.  More than anyone, he knew what blending with Kanaan had cost Jack.  In Baal's fortress, he'd had to look into the eyes of a Jack O'Neill who had lost all hope for anything but a way to die and escape the torture of endless resurrection.  Mentally, that had to have left scars... and this had, no doubt, torn them open again. 

Neither of the others responded to his reply.  Instead, they just shared a look with each other and then looked out beyond the wall of water.

His eyelids were feeling heavy now but he resisted the urge to close them.  Noticing, Sam said, "We're gonna have to stay here a while whilst we figure this out, Daniel.  You should get some rest and try and get your strength back."

Nodding slowly, he felt the tug of his heavy eyelids again and, this time, he allowed them to close.  He wondered if Jack had yet realised that they weren't there anymore...  Not that it was Jack's fault, exactly...  All he'd wanted was a little time for himself... he wasn't to know that his mind was going to try protect itself from the invading forces by pushing them back down to this place.  He wished he knew why it was this place made him so weak and useless.  It seemed to have something to do with the connection to Jack but why was it only him that it seemed to affect when, clearly, Jack had been gleaning information from the others as well?  The warmth of the fire licked across his cheek and he was aware of Sam and Teal'c's voices fading into the distance.

He wasn't aware of actually losing consciousness but, slowly opening his eyes, he saw that the sky was beginning to grow lighter.  Sam and Teal'c sat on the other side of the waning campfire in deep conversation. 

Tuning in, he heard Teal'c saying, "...and when last we gained consciousness in the outer world... it followed immediately from our entry to the Stargate of this world."

Nodding, Sam replied, "Yeah, makes sense.  The Colonel would naturally identify the Stargate with escape.  So we need to make our way back to it again."

Announcing his consciousness, Daniel raised a half-hearted hand.

"Slight problem.  Anyone have any idea where the Stargate is from here?"

After a pause, where both Teal'c and Sam snapped their heads round to look at him, Sam shook her head briefly and a slightly shamefaced Teal'c said, "I fear I do not."

"We're all agreed that this planet isn't real, though?"

"Yeah, it's in the Colonel's head."

"Which means that it doesn't have to stay the same.  If this storm is some natural defence to keep us from taking Jack over then how do we know his mind hasn't plugged the leak since we escaped last time?  I mean, we don't know for sure that the Stargate is here anymore... or that it still works."

Meaningfully, Sam said, "Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Teal'c inclined his head in agreement and both he and Sam turned towards him.

Coughing as he sat up fully, he wearily said, "Okay, just to be clear, you do realise we are now talking about doing a recon mission inside Jack's head?"

Sam locked eyes with him.

"I know... but do you have a better plan?"

A part of him insisted that they should stay here where they were safe but he knew they couldn't huddle round the dying embers of the fire forever so he replied, "No, just wanted to be clear."

Teal'c said, "I believe we should attempt Major Carter's plan."

Daniel shrugged, "Might as well, I guess."

As he, unsteadily, got to his feet, Sam amended, "If you're feeling up to it, Daniel..."

"I'm all right."

Pressing her hand on his forearm, she looked into his eyes.

"I wish I knew why it is this place affects you so badly."

"I'll be okay.  I'm feeling better again now.  Let's just get out of here, okay?"

Nodding slowly, Sam turned to look out past the campfire's perimeter.  After a few moments, she said, "Okay, well, I think I can make out a river over there.  If it's the same one that got diverted into the cave then we must be a fair distance upstream of the gate.  We'll follow it and see where it takes us.  All right?"

Her eyes locked meaningfully with his again so he nodded to assure her he was up to this. 

Paraphrasing his earlier words, she said, "Recon mission in the Colonel's head...  Let's move out."

Jack stared down morosely at the inactive device.  Gizmo's words had been echoing through his head since he'd awoken in the infirmary.

You have dominated and soon we shall soon see you reap the rewards. 

Rewards?  This was a punishment.  A punishment for trying to shut his friends out.  They were the only ones who could fix this and he'd shut them out just because even they weren't allowed to get that far inside his head.  And now, thanks to him, they were all gone.  He kicked the ground aimlessly.  All he'd had to do was share his head with them for a little longer and they would have solved this thing.  Instead, he'd banished them to... somewhere... or nowhere... or everywhere...  He hung his head lower.  He hadn't the first idea what had happened to the consciousnesses of his friends.  But, from the sounds of Grelmin, wherever they were, they were as good as dead. 

Fury growing, at both himself and Grelmin, he got to his feet and stepped towards the device.  Activating it, he flicked on the neural link and shut his eyes again.  His friends weren't going to be there when he opened his eyes, of course, but there was always a chance that...

He opened his eyes to see nothing but the curious scientist peering at him.  Feeling his whole body sag, he said, "There must be a way.  You must be able to bring them back."

"I have told you.  Such a thing is not possible, my Ha'ranas."

Equal measures of inspiration and desperation grabbed him as he said, "Then swap me!  Give my body to Carter!  You already said I lack intelligence.  Well, Carter's got IQ coming out of her ears!"

She was their best bet and he knew it.  Daniel would be useful too but if it could only be one of them then it had to be her.  She could figure out the pedestal and bring the rest of them back.

But Grelmin's shaking head told him that his last-ditch attempt to save his team wasn't going to work. 

"Assignment of dominance is entirely beyond my control.  You do not understand.  But you shall... and then you shall appreciate the gift you have been given...

The screens showing the output of the naquadha reactor started flashing.  Turning to look at them, he saw the energy level was spiking.  Before he could do anything about it, a pulse of white energy shot from Grelmin's device and into him.  Crumpling to the ground, he said, "What have you...?"

But Grelmin's device was dark and he was nowhere to be seen.

Sam strode confidently along the river's edge as if she actually believed she was going the right way.  In all honesty, she hadn't the first idea if she was headed the right way or was so far off course she'd have to circle the whole planet to reach the Stargate again. 

She glanced over her shoulder to where Teal'c was assisting Daniel.  Her pale friend didn't appear to be bouncing back from whatever this planet had done to him this time.  More than once he had stumbled in the deep mud and had to be dragged back to his feet.  He was trying to carry on despite this weakness but it was obviously hard-going.  The dubious bright side was that he didn't appear to be growing worse, at least. 

Before Daniel had woken up, Teal'c had told her about the other Daniel that he'd chased out into the rain.  He believed it was the same Daniel that he and ‘their' Daniel had encountered when they strayed back here for that brief time.  His considered opinion was that that Daniel Jackson was trying to help them but, as to his true nature, he could offer no opinion beyond his concerned observation that his presence seemed to hurt and weaken ‘their' one. 

Sam sighed.  To be honest, all this representational stuff was making whatever was currently passing for her head ache.  All she knew for sure was they had to make it to that gate and get back into the world outside the Colonel's head.  They couldn't figure out a way to get back to their own bodies whilst trapped in here.

Suddenly, she was aware of a blindingly bright light and, instantly, the storm clouds split apart and the world around them was again the beautiful garden world she had looked upon when she'd first stared wistfully at that MALP image and tried to work out how to ensure she got a first-hand look at the mineral deposits there.  She also appeared to have had a whirl through an invisible Laundromat because she was completely dry and free from mud again.  

Then, arising from her reverie, she saw a figure walking towards them.  It was instantly recognisable and she heard the two men behind her say, "Grelmin."

He looked a bit different here.  In the same outlandish outfit he wore in the pint-size projection, he looked somewhat grander than he did in the various other guises he had adopted.  He also seemed a little taller here - although that was maybe just the way he was carrying himself. 

Upon reaching them, Grelmin looked upon them.

"I have come to assist you all."

Obviously doubting that, Daniel said, "You have?"

"But of course.  You are obviously finding it difficult to make progress.  I have come to explain so that we all may help the Awareness."

After a short pause, he explained, "You all failed to become the Awareness.  You are defeated.  You must now terminate your existence so that the Awareness may increase his mental capacity."

The three of them looked at each other for a moment before Daniel said, "You want us to kill ourselves?"

Grelmin's face lit up, "Yes!  You understand!"

"I understand what you meant but I don't understand why you think we'll willingly kill ourselves."

"You were defeated."

"No, we weren't."

"The original awareness prevailed."

"Original aware... you mean, Jack?"

"That is what you refer to him as."

"Jack defeated us?"

"Yes, he was able to reclaim full control of his mind and become the Awareness."

"You don't understand.  We let him take control.  We didn't even know there was a competition."

"Your ignorance is no excuse for this continued obstinance."

Darkly, Teal'c rumbled, "We shall not accede to your request, Grelmin.  We desire only to be restored to our own bodies.  We wish no part in this process of Ha'ran."

Annoyed, Grelmin said, "But that is not a choice available to you... and it will be so much less pleasant this way.  If you would only permit me to assist you..."

Sam had been making use of Grelmin's magic stormbreaking powers to look to the horizon in every direction.  She knew where the gate was now.  They needed only to adjust their course a little to the right and they'd be there within quarter of an hour or so. 

Catching the eyes of the others, she began to walk in the right direction.  Grelmin shuffled alongside them with a look of disappointment on his face.

"I understand that, like me, you are perhaps displeased to find that the one with the least mental capacity has come to dominate but that is something decided by the process; not by me.  It remains only that we all make the best of this situation.  And you should not be disheartened.  I believe that if all present obstacles can be overcome, you shall make the finest Ha'ranas I have ever created.  So little of what you are composed of shall prove redundant.  You shall be lateral and logical in thought and deed; intuitive and wise; the knowledge..."

Teal'c cut him off, "We shall not submit to you.  O'Neill has no desire to be a being such as that you describe."

Looking even more exasperated, Grelmin threw his hands in the air.

"But this shall take so much longer if you do not."

Sam halted where she was and turned to him.  Even holding his head high, he was barely taller than her.  Staring right into his eyes, she growled, "We are going to get out of here and back into our own bodies.  You're not going to stop us."

But even as the words left her lips, an odd shadow shifted past her and she heard Teal'c cry, "Daniel Jackson!"

Her first thought was that her friend had stumbled again but, as she turned, she saw a white shoot of that organic ‘cable', from the cavern, had sprouted beside them and was quickly curling itself up around his leg.  Teal'c released his grip on Daniel to reach for his knife.  But Sam saw the faint blue glow around the pale white vines, "Teal'c, don..."

Teal'c was thrown back several feet by the shock this time.  Unbalanced by the vine tightly wrapped around his leg, Daniel's arms wheeled frantically to try and keep him upright.  As she rushed back to help them, she saw that another shoot had begun climbing up his other leg. 

 "Daniel!"

Looking even paler than before, he turned frantic eyes towards her.

"Sam, I can't...!"

As the vines began to wrap around his torso, she saw, to her horror, the ground beneath him had turned to mud again and, slowly but inexorably, he was being sucked down into it.  Reaching to grab a hold of him, she tugged fiercely but could feel that the pull from the vines was powerful. 

Turning to Grelmin, she screamed, "Stop this!  Stop it!"

Unperturbed by the sight, he merely replied, "I cannot..."

With that, he turned and began to walk away.  As he did so, the storm reappeared in all its ferocity.  As the rain battered down from the sky, Sam felt her now-slick grip lessening until, suddenly, it was joined by a far stronger one.  Looking round, she saw Teal'c had recovered his footing and was now endeavouring to help her keep Daniel from sinking into the mud.  The cables seemed to have grown as far around him as they were going to and they began winching him further and further down into the bog beneath his feet.  Daniel didn't appear to be conscious anymore but hung lifelessly between their desperate grips.  She and Teal'c exchanged frantic glances above his head.  They both knew they were fighting the inevitable here but they had to keep on fighting. 

Then, suddenly, something odd happened.  The rain that battered them ceased to touch their unconscious friend.  And, eyes snapping open, he looked up at them.  His voice seemed to echo from everywhere around them.

"It's too late.  The other shadows are coming.  You have to go!"

Tightening her grip in defiance, she found herself pushed backwards onto the ground.  Teal'c appeared to have succumbed likewise to the invisible force.  They looked up to see that they were both in a small pocket of impossibility again where the rain about them failed to reach.  They both looked out to see Daniel's still, white form dragged down until only his head, arms and torso was still visible above the ground.  The visible cables crackled with blue energy around him.  God, her friend looked dead.

"Daniel, no... Daniel!"

She rushed forward to leave the bubble and help her friend when Teal'c grabbed her.

"Do not!"

She turned with venomous eyes towards her captor and snarled, "Let me go!   Daniel..."

"We cannot help him."

As her eyes locked with his, she saw the deep loss and hurt in those eyes.  And, suddenly, she knew that standing here doing nothing was costing him as dearly as it was her.  Then, tightening his grip on her arm, he said, "We must make haste to the Stargate."

Yanking herself free, she said, "We can't just leave him here!"

"We must.  We must reach the surface.  If this is truly the mind of O'Neill then only he can assist Daniel Jackson now."

Fixing his eyes upon her, he continued, "Reach the Stargate at all costs, Major Carter.  Hesitate for no reason or all shall be lost.  One of us must reach O'Neill."

She turned to look at her fallen friend again.  She half reached a hand out towards him.

"Daniel..." 

She could feel the tears building behind her eyes.  The way his head lolled looked so... so final.  But how could she leave him behind?

Then, pushing all her emotion down as far as it would go, she turned to Teal'c and nodded slowly.  With a final backwards glance at Daniel, she turned and sprinted from their small island of safety. 

The pull of the wind was worse than before and, without her friends to anchor her, she was swiftly blown off-course.  Teal'c had already vanished.  Despite the bitter loneliness that hit her, though, she hoped, for all their sakes, he was somewhere ahead of her and striding forward on the right track. 

A strange darkness passed across her and, instantly white shoots sprang from the ground before her and she was forced to leap and roll forward to avoid them.  Racing in what she hoped was the right direction, she saw something up ahead that made her heart stop altogether. 

She breathed, "Teal'c, no..."

Sprinting forward, she saw that it was indeed her friend that was quickly sinking into the mud with vines all about him. 

Obviously, he'd spotted her and groaned, "At... all... costs..."

It took everything... everything she had not to halt in her sprint to try and help him but she didn't.  Continuing on, she was almost sure she heard Daniel's voice echoing through the landscape again.

"Sam..."

Then, almost like the parting of the seas, the curtain of rain ahead of her parted to reveal a narrow passage of undisturbed air.  Diving down it, she barrelled toward the gate.  Her lungs protested at the continuing pace but she ignored it and sprinted on.  At all costs, Teal'c had said.  She had to reach the gate.  She had to reach the Colonel...

As the passage ended, she burst back out into the rain.  She could see the DHD stood just feet before her and she was right on top of it before she could even brake.  Barrelling into the mushroom device, she began slamming down chevrons before she'd even gotten her bearings back. 

Somehow, in the middle of a storm that blocked out the sun, a shadow fell across her again.  Ignoring it, she pressed down the final chevron and slammed the orange centre of the DHD. 

She turned to head towards it when she realised that something had caught her ankle.  Turning, hopelessly, she saw that the white cables had found their third victim. 

Just then, her radio began to crackle static and a faraway voice said, "What... doing... Gizmo...?  Tell... doing..."

She'd know that voice anywhere.  Kicking desperately in an attempt to free her snared ankle, she pressed down the button on her radio and screamed, "Colonel!  Colonel!"

There was an unbearably long pause before the Colonel's voice reappeared, "C... Carter?"

Her leg was well and truly snared now and a white shoot caught round her other ankle.  She screamed down the radio, "Colonel!  We're still in here!  Help us!  Help us!"

Then she had to abandon pressing the radio to grab the DHD as the vines began to pull her down the way they had her friends.  She felt herself weakening but kept her obstinately firm grip upon the sides of the DHD.  It was idiotic but the Stargate was their connection to home.  Somehow, keeping herself attached to the DHD felt like keeping their lifeline open. 

The last thing she heard before the lights went out was the Colonel calling her name.  But, then, right on the point of utter blackness, she heard the ghost of Daniel's voice on the wind that brushed over her.

"I'll keep... safe, Sam... but... have ...trust me..."

"...Help us!"

"Carter?  Carter?"

Shaking himself back awake, Jack realised he was sprawled on the floor of the lab.  He looked up to see Grelmin's image was glowing atop the device.  The image looked rather pleased which was, in itself, not a good sign. 

He had a bitter taste in his mouth and, as he rose, he shivered at the memory of his nightmare... the terrified voice of Carter screaming for help.  Steadying himself against the desk, he approached Grelmin's device cautiously.

He halted as his hand hovered above the controls.  Something was wrong.  He'd never cut the neural link, had he?  So, if he hadn't, why was pint-size Gizmo there rather than the one that could walk about?  And, come to think about it, why did the image look pleased with itself?  In the time since they'd first found the device, the image had never displayed any emotion until it started to move. 

Suspicious now, he said, "Gizmo?"

The image turned to look at him.

"Apologies, Ha'ranas.  I cannot resume full-form until such time as power levels rise again."

Power levels rise again?  The guy was hooked up to a naquadha reactor.  What could have made his power drop so much he...?

Carter screaming for him to help from somewhere so near and yet so far away.

"You son of a bitch!  What did you do?!"

"I went into your mind in search of the other Occupiers.  Unexpected anomalies are causing drainage to my systems.  I shall not be able to reattempt for some time.  It shall slow us down quite considerably"

Carter's terrified voice echoing desperately from somewhere he couldn't reach.

He doubted Grelmin would tell him what he'd been up to but his statement had given Jack an idea.

"Can you put me in there?  Can you put me into my own head to find the others?"

Grelmin looked like he was going to say no but, then, slowly, he looked up at him and replied, "A most excellent idea, Ha'ranas.  However, you would have to increase the power flow."

Unconsciously reaching for the laptop attached to the naquadha reactor, he tapped several buttons before he realised that he had no idea how to increase the power flow.  Obviously, his hand knew more than he did though, because the percentage on the screen increased.  Before he could contemplate that, however, another bolt of energy from the device hit him and he crumpled, lifelessly, to the floor.

Severely disorientated, Jack raised his head.  Where the hell was he?  Huh?  But this was... 

Climbing to his feet, he tried to shake himself awake.  He couldn't really be here, could he?  Had he managed to come the whole way here without realising it?  No way, he was restricted to base... they'd never have let him just wander out.  Something else had to be happening.

Looking around in the half-light of this place, Jack wondered why it was so quiet.  This arcade always used to be buzzing with kids.  When he was nine, Charlie had taken a liking to coming here with his friends after school.  Countless days, he'd been sent down here by Sara to drag their son home to get his dinner only to spend the next hour playing the games as well.  They'd been playing games here just the week before... and, well, after Charlie had... this place had become a hideous place in his mind for a long time; a place that filled a kid's mind with ideas about how great it was to play with guns.  Later, though, when he'd forgiven the world for its part in Charlie's death, it'd become a sacred place; a place where Charlie had staked those first claims to independence and where they'd spent some precious hours just playing together.  It still looked the same as it had all those years ago... aside from the emptiness.  The arcade machines stood eerily silent. 

However, gradually, Jack became aware of music playing in the distance.  Still unsure what was going on, he walked deeper into the arcade.  As he walked, the music grew louder.  It was one of those tinny little tunes that you got on the archaic arcade games.  Sounded vaguely Egyptian. 

Turning the corner, he saw an adult figure standing in front of one of the arcade machines.  From here, Jack couldn't see which game it was.  Curious, but cautious, Jack edged nearer.  It was definitely where the Egyptian tune was coming from.  The screen had become slightly visible.  The graphics weren't any more impressive than the music.  There was a desert in the background with pyramids dotted around at random intervals.  It appeared to be an Egypt-themed platform game.  No, wait, weren't those Jaffa?  That... that wasn't Egypt...  It was Abydos.  What in the hell was going on? 

Suddenly, he realised that the figure was Daniel.  He hadn't originally recognised him because he was wearing a baseball cap and shirt. 

"Daniel..."

"I made it to level three!"

"Daniel, what's going on?"

There were three figures on the screen.  Jack thought that the figure on the far right of the screen looked vaguely reminiscent of Daniel in his fatigues.  As the figure took a staff blast to the chest, he fell to the ground and the continue option appeared upon the screen.  Looking vaguely unwell, his friend delved down into his pocket and pulled out a quarter.  Dropping it into the slot, the game came alive again.  Looking revitalised, he got back to playing.

"Daniel, tell me what is going on here."

His friend whined, "Dad, I'm on level three.  I'll come home later."

Jack was stunned for a second.

"D...dad?"

"Come on, come on, come on..."

"Why did you call me ‘Dad'?"

"I said I'd be home later, Dad."

"Daniel, something really weird is going on here..."

This time, another of the characters went down and the continue screen flashed up.  Quickly inserting another quarter, his friend snapped childishly, "You're getting me killed."

Flicking his attention to the screen, Jack saw that ‘Daniel' and his eerily familiar companion figures were again under attack by Jaffa. 

"Daniel..."

Suddenly, he felt something move past him and Daniel looked round for a moment. 

"Dad, go home!  You're getting me killed!"

Jack went to say something when movement caught his eye.  Following it further along the corridor, he found that the smell of hotdogs was gradually being overcome by a mustier odour.  Looking around, he realised that this corridor was lined with books now.  The lighting was gradually changing from the neon glare of the arcade to the dust-filled shade of a darkened library.  Heading through the plaster arch on his left, he saw a figure hunched over a desk with a lamp providing the only light.  Walking over, Jack saw that the figure was reading two books at once whilst also typing on two separate computers.  How he was able to do that was puzzling Jack as he could only see one pair of hands.  The figure was also muttering to itself.

"Hello?"

Near enough to make out the muttering now, Jack heard the figure say, "...busy... always too busy... gotta get this done... gotta get this done..."

"Daniel?!"

Finally, the figure turned round and looked at him and Jack saw that it was, indeed, Daniel.  That made no sense.  Hadn't he just left Daniel?"

Jack asked, "How the hell did you get here so fast?"

When Daniel's mind was racing, he spoke at a sprint.

"Get here?  How could I get here?  I've been working flat-out for days trying to get the translations done for the artefact from P2Q86534689649450704022894595966959484494954...."

His friend's face seemed to be moving unnaturally fast as he cut him off.

"Daniel, what are you talking about?"

"Can't talk, Jack, gotta get this done; always so busy."

He found himself backing out of the room.  It looked like he was going to get even less sense out of Daniel than he'd got out of him in the arcade.  Deciding to see what else there was round here; he headed back into the corridor.  He didn't see the shadow that passed across the archway. 

There weren't books in the corridor anymore.  Now, it looked be the corridor of a hotel.  Jack vaguely recognised it.  He was pretty sure this was that place he'd stayed with Sara on their first vacation together.  There hadn't been all these white balloons and ribbons everywhere, though.  He was just about to head onwards down the corridor when he heard a woman crying.  He realised it was coming through the same archway he just come back through only now it was made of white marble and was covered over by a glass door.  Concernedly looking through the glass, he saw a veiled bride sobbing bitterly.  Heading in, he saw that there was a multi-tiered wedding cake sitting on the table.  It was a beautiful thing but Jack noticed that only the figurine of the bride was on top of the cake.  He made it over to her and, gently, said, "Uh, hi...  You okay?"

Wiping her eyes beneath her veil, the bride nodded.  Idly, she played with something held in her hand. 

Kneeling down, he said, "What's wrong?"
In response, she opened her hand.  Looking down, he realised it was the missing groom from the cake... and he appeared to be missing his head. 

Reaching under her veil, the woman pushed it upwards.  Jack shifted back in surprise.

"Carter?"

He barely recognised her with mascara dripping down her face as the tears flowed freely. 

Tearfully, she demanded, "Why do they always break?"

Sitting down next to her, Jack waved a hand in front of her face.

"Carter?  Carter, you in there?"

Ignoring him, the despondent bride-not-to-be threw the headless figure into a box.  Following its path, Jack peered into the small plastic box to see several similarly headless grooms already in there. 

He wasn't quite sure how long he sat staring at the decapitated grooms but, eventually, he snapped himself from his contemplation and looked back at the black tear-tracked face of the jilted Carter.  She began sobbing bitterly into her hands.

Suddenly, he became aware of a scritching noise from somewhere nearby.  Looking up, he saw a figure standing by a chalkboard busily scribbling scrawling formulae across it.  Straightening back up, he started to tread across towards the person.  Despite the white coat and the general impossibility of it, he had a feeling he knew who it was that stood before him. 

Nevertheless, he was still shocked when he tapped the figure on the shoulder and she span round. 

"Carter?"

Brightly, she replied, "Hi, sir!"

Hope rising at the fact she'd actually appeared to recognise him, he said, "Carter, is that you?"

"Of course it's me, sir.  Who else am I going to be?"

"I only ask because you also appear to be over there."

As he gestured toward the sobbing bride, Carter looked over his shoulder and, eyes brightening, she replied excitedly, "Great!"

Demandingly, he growled, "Focus, Carter.  Tell me how this is possible."

But then, momentarily, his attention was distracted as something shifted behind him and, suddenly, the sound of sobbing ceased.  Looking behind him, he saw the bride and the wedding cake had gone.

He turned back to ‘Doctor' Carter.

"Carter, what just happened?"

"Well, the laws of quantum dictate that I can be in two places at the same as long as I don't observe myself because then the waves all break down and... ooh, that's good.  I should put that in here somewhere."

She made some more nonsensical marks on the board.

"I just need a few more factors and I'll have it figured."

"Carter?  Have what figured?"

Turning to look at him with those bright blue eyes for a moment, she smiled before replying simply, "Everything."

Jack sighed.  Seemed this Carter was as wacko as the recently vanished one.  Now she'd got into her scritching again, she seemed to have forgotten he was even there.  Movement just behind him caught his eye and he turned quickly to see something... odd... it was like a shadow but with no obvious object casting the shade.  Slowly, it was making its way across the room to where the two of them stood.  Turning, he tried to make out some possible source of the shadow but nothing was apparent.  Then, as it reached Doctor Carter, something very strange happened.  As it passed across her, it turned darker and, suddenly, she vanished along with the chalkboard. 

In shock, he stood frozen and watched the shadow slowly slide back towards the door.  Shaking himself out of his comatose, he headed back out of the hotel room and after the shadow.  He followed it down several corridors; now giving no heed as they twisted and morphed into various guises.  At one moment, he was in the corridors deep in the base and, the next, he was walking through the grand corridors of the Pentagon.  One time, he was sure he'd glimpsed Teal'c in his full First Prime regalia but, stubbornly, he'd carried on.  Ignoring noises coming from various doors, he determinedly headed after the shadow.  Somehow, he knew that he should be afraid of that shadow but the rage that had descended on him now was keeping any apprehension at bay.  However, he slowed as he realised what this corridor was now becoming...

No longer a corridor but the wall of a pit; no longer a journey but an end.  This was Baal's gravity-defying fortress where he'd been tortured and killed only to be brought to life again more times than he cared to recall.  The harsh memories that instantly assaulted him, however, were swiftly swept aside as he slid down to the floor and a more powerful wave of terror hit him.  Maybe this wasn't just another dream place.  Maybe the reason there'd been so little sense to all this was because none of it had been real and he was only now beginning to notice.  What if they'd never even gone on that last mission?  Or the one before that?  What if Teal'c had never lost Junior?  What if they'd never gotten Daniel back?  What if Daniel was still ascended and... and he was still... here.

He pressed his hand against what had recently been the floor and tried to will it to dissolve away but it felt horrifyingly real beneath his clammy palm.  He closed his eyes and tried to suppress the rising panic.  This couldn't be real...

But what if it was?  What if everything after here had just been a delusion?  Or a dream that his still-ascended friend had pushed him into to take him out of this place mentally even if he couldn't help him physically leave?  God, say that wasn't true.  Say this was a bad dream, please....

Pinching himself as hard as he could, he tried to will himself awake and, for a moment, the walls around him seemed to twist and fade before becoming horrifyingly solid again.  Needing out of this place more desperately than he had ever needed anything before, he closed his eyes and ran full pelt into the wall and...

Snapping awake, Jack blinked uncertainly for a moment at the bright whiteness around him.  Belatedly, he realised he was lying on a bed in the Infirmary with Janet buzzing about in a concerned manner.  It took several moments for the panic of his recent nightmare to recede enough for him to get his breathing back under control.  Then, pulling himself upright, he said, "Doc?"

Doctor Fraiser looked round.

"Colonel!  You're awake again."

"Yeah, what happened?"

"I'm not sure, sir.  You collapsed in the middle of the lab and were brought down here but I've no idea what caused it."

Jack growled, "Yeah, well I've got my suspicions.  Janet?"

"Sir?"

"I need back down to the lab."

Hesitating for a moment, she nodded and replied, "Let me get a wheelchair and I'll take you down myself."

As she went to get one, he said, "Doc?"

"Sir?"

"No protest about me staying in the infirmary?"

Sadly, she shook her head.

"Sir, you and I both know that medical knowledge isn't going to give us an answer to all this."

Then she headed out through the door.  Sitting back, Jack knew that he complained more vocally than anyone when kept longer than he wanted in the Infirmary... but, somehow, the fact that the Doctor wasn't suggesting he remain here made this whole situation even more unsettling. 

Sitting in the wheelchair, Jack activated Grelmin's device.  Janet was waiting outside for him as he still wasn't a hundred percent sure what would happen if someone else was in proximity when the neural link was originally activated.

As it activated fully, Grelmin appeared.  However, looking down to where he sat, his eyes widened and, in a panicked voice, he said, "Has something happened to the legs of your body?"

Sighing, Jack pulled himself up out of the chair.

"No, my legs are just fine.  What I'd like to talk about is what happened last time we were linked up."

Looking relieved, Grelmin replied, "I was attempting to help you when you threw yourself into full unconsciousness and broke the link between us."

"Before that.  I'm talking about the weird place I was in."

"You were merely in a dream state.  You had requested to navigate your mind in some manner."

"No, that wasn't just a dream.  Tell me what the hell those freaks were that were masquerading as my friends."

"These... freaks, as you call them, are not the Occupiers."

"All right, what are they?"

"Aspects."

"What?"

"When you underwent Ha'ran, you absorbed all the Aspects of the Occupiers."

"Quit calling them that!"

"What else should I call them?"

"They're my team."

"Very well, you absorbed all Aspects of your team."

"And?"

"This initial absorption is indiscriminate.  It takes no account of whether an Aspect will be beneficial, surplus to requirements or, indeed, detrimental."

"Huh?"

Looking frustrated, he replied, "I cannot imagine how you came to dominate the other Occupiers.  All had a mental capacity far exceeding yours."

"Right, I've now officially had it with you!  Answer my question: if those freaks aren't them then where the hell are my friends?"

"The other Occu... your team have been sorted into Aspects which can then be either absorbed or discarded."

"What the...?!  Are you saying you took them to pieces?" 

"It is a crude way to explain it but basically correct.  It is a usual part of the process.  You seem somewhat displeased by the prospect."

"Displeased?!  You shredded up my friends' minds and you think I should be happy about it?!"

"I do not understand this hostility towards your improvement.  As Awareness, you receive all the benefits of being Ha'ranas.  The knowledge of all occupiers shall soon be yours to command.  Or is it merely your inferior mental capacity which does not allow you to grasp the concept?  Do not worry.  As I have promised before, I shall instruct you on how to use the mental capacity of your Occupiers to increase your own to a more acceptable level."

"Look, I'll explain this to you one more time.  I don't want to be ‘Haraned'.  I don't care about ‘benefits'.  What I want is for you to get my friends back!"

"I do not understand."

"All right, let me make it complicated for you: I want you to bring back the ‘Awarenesses' of all the other ‘Occupiers'.  I want you to find all the ‘Aspects' you ‘discarded' and ‘absorbed' and put the ‘Occupiers' back together.  I want you to put all the ‘Occupiers' back into their own bodies.  Unclear enough for you?"

"But... but you are Ha'ranas..."

Defeatedly, Jack slammed the device off.  Carter's scream for help still echoed around his skull but he had no idea how to answer that call.  How could he save her without her here to help him figure out how to save her? 

Glancing up at the chalkboard set beyond the device, though, he stumbled backwards.  After a few moments of utter shock, however, he cautiously stepped towards it.  He looked round to where Grelmin's notes sat on the table then back towards that board again.    

George Hammond was watching a presentation with growing annoyance.  One of the science team, Doctor Felger, had come to him to say that he had a viable way of reversing what had happened to SG-1.  Foolishly, it now seemed, he'd immediately called a briefing and eagerly awaited the findings.  However, the more he listened, the less hopeful he felt.  After a stilted initial presentation that made little sense, Felger then appeared incapable of answering a single query about his plan, mostly thrown at him by the newly-returned McKay, without referring to the papers in front of him and, even then, not particularly satisfactorily.  Sitting to his left, Jack was looking understandably annoyed at the random mumblings of the scientist and seemed to be growing more frustrated with every moment that passed.

Trying to summarize what little he'd actually understood of Felger's explanation, he said, "Okay, Doctor.  So you're saying that, with these alterations, if you connect the device inhabited by Grelmin into the pedestal device with an appropriate power source attached then..."

Looking as flustered as he had since he'd first stood in front of them, Felger said, "It'll reverse the process."

McKay, flicking backwards through the report, asked, without looking up, "And how would that work, exactly?"

"Well, I mean obviously..."

As he began to flick through the pages again, Hammond turned to see Jack's head was in his hands.  He wished he hadn't called him down for this but the scientist had just sounded so confident about this when he'd come bursting into his office. 

He turned back to Felger.

"Doctor?"

"I... if you could bear with me for just one moment..."

Shutting the report up, McKay looked up.

"Okay, who came up with this?"

Hammond turned to where the sceptical scientist sat.

"Doctor?"

Opening the report and pointing to a random section by way of demonstration, he replied, "Seriously, this is genius.  I mean, I could've written this.  Now, I'm sure this guy's pretty clever in his own field of whatever it is he does but this isn't it."

Felger blinked uncertainly.

"But I..."

McKay turned back to him and pointedly repeated his earlier question.

"So, how would that work, exactly?"

Looking blank, Felger flicked through his report, "Well, I mean, obviously it... I... um..."

As he continued flicking manically through the pages, Hammond heard a voice behind him growl, "Aw, for cryin' out loud, Felger!  I told you this bit like a thousand times!"

Hammond turned, astonished, to see Jack on his feet glaring angrily at the now cowering scientist.  Slamming his hands down on the table, the Colonel continued, "It's simple!  It's not a case of reversing it as such.  The device works in an oscillating pattern and everything's centred on the polarisation between these points.  Grelmin's device will function as a conduit to replace and control..."

Only one member of SG-1 talked like and it certainly wasn't Jack O'Neill.

"Major Carter?"

Freezing in his rant, Jack looked round at him and slowly shook his head before grumbling at the cowed scientist.

"I ask you to do one little thing for me..."

Shifting away from the table, he went to gaze out onto the gateroom. 

Hammond wanted some sort of explanation to what just happened and Jack didn't appear to be forthcoming with such an answer so he turned to the shell-shocked Felger.

"Doctor, what's going on here?"

Helplessly, Felger stuttered, "I... I... there may have been a small... I mean, it wasn't my idea but... and I did my best and..."

Then, quietly, from over next to the window, Jack's voice cut in.

"What he's trying and failing to say is that this was my idea, sir."

Dismissing the other occupants of the room quickly, including Felger and a protesting McKay, Hammond walked over to where Jack stood.

"Colonel, what's going on?"

Jack shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I just would've rather you thought one of the eggheads had thought it up.  But, god they're so slow compared to..."

"Jack, I don't understand."

Sighing, the Colonel walked over to the table and, sitting back down, picked up one of the folders.

"This proposal is mine.  It was me that came up with it.  I told Felger to tell you it was his idea...but..."

"It's your idea, Jack?  Have the others resurfaced?  Is this Major...?"

He shook his head wearily again.

"No, it's just me, sir."

"But, how could you...?"

"I'm not smart, sir, if that's what you're asking..."

He said it with such bitterness that the General couldn't quite decide how to respond.  Eventually, he continued, "Look, it's part of this whole damn Hairyness thing.  I just know what they know, sir, that's all.  I think about a problem and I know the solution... but it's not my solution... it's theirs."

"If you're saying that this idea is the result of knowledge possessed by the rest of your team then why wouldn't they have suggested this before they submerged?"

Almost spitting the words, like they were poison in his mouth, Jack replied, "Oh, that's just the ‘wonder of Ha'ran' at work.  Carter couldn't read the language; Daniel didn't know the scientific significance of the information he'd read...  It's just what they'd have come up with if they'd had more time.  If I'd given them more time."

Sliding back into his seat and trying to get back to the matter in hand, Hammond said, "So, if this is your plan, then maybe you can answer this for me...  If Grelmin's device is used as a ‘conduit', does the plan depend on his co-operation?"

Jack had obviously read the additional query in his tone because he nodded.

"Yes, sir, and, believe me I don't like that fact anymore than you do but the time it would take to reverse engineer the vital facets of his device..."

Shaking his head, he continued, "...I don't think the others've got that sort of time."

"Jack, I want the rest of SG-1 back as much as you do but I can't just willingly let you sacrifice yourself in a hopeless attempt to retrieve them."

"Sir, I swear, that's not what this is.  I admit that it's a bit of an insane plan but would you even have thought twice about it if it'd really had been Carter or Daniel or one of the eggheads who came up with it?"

Hammond paused uncertainly so Jack encouragingly stated, "Sir, the uncertainty involved in the recalibration of the device shouldn't be a problem given that it was originally an integral part of it.  Power is the major factor here but the design of the capacitors should be enough to cope with any fluctuation in..."

Then, wincing, he looked up, "Besides, think SG-1's already lost its fourth.  I mean, does any of this sound like me?"

"I think it could work."

They both turned to where McKay stood, report under his arm, in the doorway.

"Doctor, you were dismissed."

Ignoring the pointed comment, he stepped back into the room and, gesturing as he spoke, said, "I won't say the equations are at their most elegant and it's not without some serious basic flaws but I don't think it'd take that much to fix that.  Well, actually it'll take a genius to make it work but luckily for you..."

Hammond held up a hand to cut him off.

"All right.  Convince me that this is viable and you have a go."

Soldering the connection back into place, Jack stood back.

"All right, test each connection individually.  We can't afford to accidentally trip the device."

The technician he'd directed the instruction at just looked at him until he growled, "Preferably, in this lifetime."

As the technician actually did what he'd asked, he slunk over to the other side of the room and, sitting on a box of equipment, lowered his head into his hands.  He knew that there was something unnatural and parasitical about all of this.  Jack O'Neill had no idea how to get everyone back into their bodies.  These snatches of knowledge came with no background.  Although slightly more consciously aware this time, it felt almost like when he'd had the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into him... if there was a problem then he could somehow solve it but how he did it was a mystery; even to him.  He felt like some sort of knowledge vampire... sucking the soul out of his friends.  This was what Grelmin wanted to do to people?  This was his ideal?

He looked up to see McKay poring over the output readings from the naquadha reactor.  Certainly not a person he would ever have envisioned as the guy who backed him up.  Perhaps, if this plan worked like he hoped, he might see his way to recommending McKay for a better position.  Preferably, however, one a long, long way away from him - he might not be the worst guy in the universe but he certainly ranked amongst the most annoying. 

Presumably sensing he was being watched, the scientist glanced up briefly before turning back to the reactor. 

"What's it like?"

It took a moment to realise the question was directed at him and, even then, he wasn't quite sure what McKay was asking.

"What's what like?"

"Y'know," McKay tapped gently on his right temple as he continued, "knowing things you never learned."

He didn't really want to get into a conversation with the scientist about this.

"Weird.  It's weird and unsettling so I'd like it if we could just get this over with and I can go back to only being renowned for my knowledge of The Simpsons.  Sorry if you wanted me to say how fascinating and cool it is."

"I didn't," he replied.  "If it was me I'd hate it."

"You would?  Thought you'd be all for technology that could give you loads of knowledge."

McKay turned back to his task.

"If there was a technology out there that could make me smarter than I already am, then that might be cool but, seriously, I've spent my whole life learning all this stuff and I understand it inside out and upside down.  There's experience and trial and error and lessons learned.  There's a lot more to knowing something than just knowing it."

Jack found himself a little taken aback by the comment from the scientist.  Maybe there was a depth to this guy that he'd never seen.

"Plus," McKay continued, "having other people's knowledge in your head would be like someone hanging over your shoulder when you were doing a crossword telling you letters and giving you clues."

Getting a little more insight on McKay's viewpoint, Jack clarified, "Y'mean if you were sharing a head then you couldn't really get all the credit especially if you were sharing with someone smarter than you."

The look of distaste that crossed the scientist's face confirmed his suspicion but before he could continue the conversation, Major Castleman stepped in through the door at the head of a stretcher.  As he shifted further into the room, the body of Teal'c came into view.  His not-corpse was swiftly followed by those of his other friends.  He prayed fervently that this was really going to work.  He knew Grelmin had only agreed to this under threat of his device being smashed into a million pieces if he didn't comply and wasn't sure that that was going to motivate him to try his hardest to make this work 

The bodies of his friends now laid out around the device was an unnerving sight; especially as he could feel the echoes of them in his own mind.  He could still hear Carter's wail for help... it was never loud but never seemed to fade away either.

As the technician nodded to him to confirm all the connections were working, Jack gestured for everyone to leave and looked over at McKay.  The scientist's gaze rested on Major Carter for a moment before he looked up.

"It's ready, I think."

"You think?"

"Well, there's a high probability that this won't work and about a thousand different scenarios that end in very unpretty pictures."

"Aw, come on, that's just the optimist in you talking.  Look, just switch it on and get out of here.  You end up in my head and I swear you won't get back out alive."

Nodding, the scientist initiated the activation sequence and beat a hasty retreat down the narrow passage to outside.  As the lights came on around Grelmin's device, Jack saw his pint-sized version flicker into life. 

"Okay, let's go over this again, shall we?  What's going to happen?"

"We are going to sort all the Occupiers back into their bodies using the plan you conceived with you rising intellect."

"And?"

"We shall ensure nothing goes wrong."

"And if it does?"

"You will use your ability as a Ha'ranas to discover a way in which it is possible for you insert this corporeal device into an orifice of my non-corporeal body.  The orifice shall be of your choosing."

His earlier threat sounded odd paraphrased like that so he replied, "Um... yeah... okay, so we're clear on the no screwing this up to try and keep me as a Ha'ranas?"

"We are clear on all points, Awareness."

He set the naquadha reactor to maximum output.

"Then let's get this show on the road."

He glanced round at the scanners attached to each of his friends.  He could see the EEG readings which showed nothing but the minimal activity of the autonomic systems and those other scanners which showed that their bodies were alive even if their minds were absent. 

As the energy built in the pedestal device, he heard a high whine go out and a beam shot up from Grelmin's device to the ceiling.  This one was white rather than purple which was because of the difference in the power source this time around.  Then, he was caught in the first wave of energy that flew out from the device. 

Now frozen in place, his gaze was fixed on Carter's monitors.  They flickered and hissed for a moment but, as McKay had promised, the shielding meant the energy pulse failed to knock them out altogether.  He watched for something on that EEG.  Some sign of life...

A second pulse flew out from the device and, this time, he felt like lightning had cleaved his skull in two.  Unable to scream, he could only endure the agony.  Then, the agony was forgotten in the wave of euphoria as Carter's EEG began blipping like crazy.  It was working! 

The euphoria only lasted moments, however, before the other monitors began to show the wrong pictures.  Carter's whole body arched up before the EKG flatlined completely.  He could hear the resonance from the other two EKGs.  Their hearts... no... it'd been working!  They couldn't... they couldn't...

He had no more time to contemplate anything, however, because he could feel something pulling at him.  Pulling him down and down and down into nothingness.  Down and down and down...

They're all dead... all dead... I screwed up... I...

"Hey, looks like he's coming round..."

I... Daniel? 

Waking up slowly, Jack gradually became aware that he was in the infirmary again.  Looking up, he saw Daniel sitting beside his bed but, before that fact could make him worry he was in that ‘other' place again, he saw Teal'c and Carter out of the corner of his eye. 

"Hey, Jack..."

"You're... you're okay?"

Carter came to sit on the bottom edge of his bed.

"We're fine, sir.  Just been cleared to leave the infirmary a couple of hours ago."

Teal'c added, "We appear to suffer no ill effects from the transfer."

Daniel waded in.

"Janet's been a bit worried about you though.  Apparently, all the extra activity had completely exhausted your brain.  It shut you down almost completely.  You were in a comatose state when they carried you back through the gate then your patterns altered to a deep sleeping state.  You've been asleep for nearly three days now."

Three days?  It seemed like mere moments ago he'd been watching with horror as all their monitors had flat-lined.  And, yet, here they were looking as if none of it had ever happened.

He still couldn't quite believe his eyes.

"So you're really all okay?"

"We're fine, sir.  Although I've got to admit we were a little stiff to start with... some of our muscles had barely twitched for days and days. 

Daniel added, "But we're getting there..."

Now that he was more awake, Jack could feel the awkwardness that was setting in.  Up until now, his condition had obviously been of concern to them but now he seemed to be okay, recent events were obviously coming back to the forefronts of their minds. 

Not quite sure where to start trying to fix things, he began to say, "Look, I'm sorry about what I..."

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees almost instaneously. No-one could play at this all being fine anymore.  He trailed off as his team looked at each other for a moment before Daniel appeared to win or lose whatever silent debate was going on and nodded.

"I'll meet you up at my office."

They nodded back and, smiling at him slightly stiltedly, headed out. 

Daniel awkwardly continued, "Jack... we need some time."  Trying to lighten it up, he added, "See, we just spent our downtime stuck in your head... so I hope you'll understand if we feel like steering clear of you for a couple of days.  For everyone's sanity."

Jack knew there were some serious issues to work out with his team.  What they'd been through was... a unique experience.  Thanks to him and his need to be alone, his friends had had their minds hacked to bits and he'd raked through the tatters of their knowledge like some unnatural scavenging beast.  None of them were going to be okay with this for a while to come. 

Nevertheless, Jack decided to follow Daniel's lead and try and keep it light.

"No, won't exactly be cut up about it.  Clear off."

Daniel smiled and, pressed down on his arm.

"You got us out of there, Jack.  We'll be okay."

In the new silence, Jack lay back happily with the echoes of Daniel's last words promising that any fractures with his team were fixable.  Now, finally, he was truly alone for the first time in what seemed like forever.  Limbs that all felt the right size again.  No more damn anti-histamines or being literally forced to listen silently to full-length Danielcarterathons.  Bliss.

Stretching his normal-feeling arms behind the head that was fully his, he sighed happily.  Back to normal.  Picking up a magazine beside his infirmary bed, he flicked through it for a while before his eyes grew heavy.  The magazine slipped from his grasp as his eyes closed and he slipped peacefully into dreams of his own. 

Upon being released from the Infirmary the next day, Jack had resisted the impulse to seek out his friends.  He had to admit that he was a little anxious to ensure that they'd forgive him for everything but... well, Daniel had told him what they needed... and that was time to deal.  Hell, he probably needed some of that himself.  And, besides, since absence made the heart grow fonder, it might be advisable to let their hearts grow a little fonder before he sought them out for any heart-to-heart talks. 

Therefore, instead, he'd headed to the gym.  His mind might have been exhausted but his body was protesting at its recent inactivity so he thought it only fair to take it down the gym for a workout.  He hoped, though, that eventually he'd stop thinking about his body as something entirely separate from his mind again. 

Then, suddenly, he wasn't looking at the control bar of the treadmill anymore.  Instead, he was standing in the pouring rain with thunder cracking in the distance.  Then, disoriented, he became aware of echoes of voices coming from all angles.  Voices that he recognised all too well...

"Jack, Jack..."

"Colonel, Colonel, Colonel..."

"O'Neill, O'Neill..."

A different voice, stronger than the rest said, "Colonel?"

Snapping awake, he looked up to find Major Reynolds looking down concernedly at him. 

"Sir, are you all right?"

Severely disoriented, he asked, "What?  What just happened?"

"You just took a tumble off of the treadmill, that's all."

Looking up, Jack realised he was back in the gym again.  There was no thunder, no rain and no voices.  Major Reynolds had the beginnings of a smile on his lips but seemed to be forestalling actually mocking him falling off the treadmill when it was set to slow jogging pace due to just how freaked out he must currently look.

Brushing him off with a few mutterings about being fine and feeling a little dizzy, Jack slowly got to his feet and walked deliberately out of the gym trying to ignore the eyes that followed him.  Once he was sure he was beyond their gaze, however, he picked up speed and sprinted back to the lab where Grelmin's device had been returned to allow McKay to study it.  Hooking it back up to the power generator as quickly as he could, he activated it.

Grelmin flickered to life.

"How may I assist?"

At least the automated responses were in English now.

Jack growled, "How may you assist?  You may assist by telling me what the hell's happening to me."

"Apologies, the question you asked does not appear to be answerable by my database.  If you wish additional information; resume interface."

"No way, I am not letting you back in my head."

"Apologies..."

As it shut off again, Jack groaned inwardly then, shutting his eyes, he pressed the button and felt the zip of energy.  As he opened his eyes, he saw a scientist bent over the workbench. 

"Grelmin."

Looking up, the scientist said, "Ah, Colonel O'Neill."

Jack rushed over and grabbed him. 

"You've done something to me, you son of a bitch!"

"I have done nothing.  I reassembled your occupiers as you requested... It is not my fault if you now miss the benefits of being Ha'ranas."

"Ha'ranas?  Listen, I don't give Ha-rat's-ass about that.  What I care about is freaky visions and voices bouncing around in my head."

"Then you should allow me to purge your system.  Stray echoes of the occupiers may be causing this sensation."

"Purge my system?"

"Reset your mind in the manner that I did with the other occupiers."

He backed up towards the device.

"You mean when you made their hearts stop?"

"That is correct."

"Yeah, well, no way that's happening."

Reaching blindly back, Jack pressed the buttons and Grelmin disappeared again.  Weird mood swings or not, he was giving permission to Grelmin to mess with his head, not to mention his heart, about the same time as hell froze over. 

Sighing, he thought for a moment.  Surely, he was just overreacting here.  After what he'd been through... why wouldn't he feel a little out of sorts?  All he needed was a little serenity.  That was it... he just needed to get out of here for a while.  He just needed to be somewhere that wasn't here for a bit to get to know who he was again.  Purging his system be damned; beer and fishing sounded more his style.

Jack decided that it'd be a good idea to get away from the base awhile.  Maybe go fishing up at the cabin for a couple of days.  After all the ‘quality time' he and the others had just spent together, he could really do with a little alone time. 

A short while later, he knocked on the General's door. 

"Come in."

Opening the door, he said, "Sir."

"Jack, how you feeling?"

"Like myself again.  Just myself, I mean."

Hammond chuckled slightly.

"What can I do for you, Jack?"

"I was wondering if you'd mind me taking off for a couple of days, sir.  You know, just to clear my head... well, clear it more."

"Didn't the others tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"I already granted you all a week's leave.  I believe they already left."

"Oh... oh well, sir, I guess I'll see you in a week."

"Have a good time, Jack.  But do take a phone this time, please."

Doctor Fraiser had insisted on giving him another check-up before he could leave the mountain and, consequently, it was getting pretty damn dusky by the time he made it to the cabin.  After he'd unloaded his gear and got the fire going, he wasn't really in the mood to do much but sit back and watch the flames crackling.  Rifling in his cool-box, he dragged out a beer and, smacking it open off of the arm of his chair, drank deeply from it.  He didn't think he'd ever, in his entire life, stopped to marvel just how great it was to have a hand that moved only when you told it to.  Heck, two of ‘em seemed like an obscene luxury.  And legs that only took you where you wanted to go... or, in his case, that just lay there happily and didn't make you get up when you didn't want to.  And the eyes!  Oh, how had he gone all that time without realising what a truly amazing gift it was to have eyes that followed your every whim so effortlessly you almost forgot you controlled them at all.  Yeah, most people just didn't know how good they had it. 

As the flames licked around the thick log in the centre of the kindling, Jack sighed happily to himself.  It was nice to finally have himself back to himself.  And, even if things were gonna be awkward between them for a while, he'd gotten his friends back. Vaguely, he wondered where the others had all gone.  Seemed like they'd gone off somewhere together which seemed odd considering they'd spent as much time with each other as they had with him.  Well, maybe they'd gone their separate ways as well... or maybe it wasn't the time together but the being torn apart that they were finding hard to reconcile with...

He almost missed having them in his head.  It felt odd to hear your voice echoing around in there without any reply.  A nice sort of odd, though... and he certainly wasn't about to start wishing they were in his head again.  Normality was just going to take some getting used to, that was all. 

Getting up from the chair, he took a look around the cabin.  Place was in need of some TLC so since he was up here for a few days, he was going to get around to getting the maintenance work done that he'd been putting off for the last few months.  The roof, especially, was in need of some repair before the colder weather set in.  Of course, that would prove a whole lot easier with a second pair of hands but he doubted Daniel was still planning to make the trip up here to help like they'd originally arranged.  Well, in any case, that would be a job for tomorrow. 

After finishing unpacking, Jack settled down on the chair before the fire again.  Picking up his half-finished beer, he was beginning to feel drowsy.  A couple more swigs and he found his head dipping and his eyes beginning to close.  Shaking himself awake again, he shifted from his position on the chair and lazily threw a couple more thin logs onto the fire.  Setting the bottle down on the table beside him as he sat down again, he leaned back to watch the pictures in the fire. 

He could still remember the one and only time he'd brought Charlie up here.  Kneeling before the fire and showing him how to stack the kindling for maximum effectiveness.  They'd sat before it as it crackled and spat and Jack had told him ridiculous stories about the dance of the Irish fire sprites. 

Now, watching the fire, Jack could pick out faces and dancing men.  He watched the dance for a while.  Pulling the blanket up and over himself, he began to doubt he'd make it as far as the bed before he conked out.

There was a sudden rustling of kindling and then crackling as the fire gained intensity.  That in itself wasn't unusual... until you considered that you hadn't moved from the chair to poke at the fire.

Becoming fully-alert again, he realised there was a figure crouching by the fire wearing slack jeans and a checked brown shirt who was jostling the embers sporadically.

"Who the...?"

Trailing off, he realised he was looking at the back of...

"Daniel?"

Straightening up and turning round, his friend smiled at him.

"Jack, finally, you're awake."

He didn't even remember falling asleep but guessed nodding off explained the suddenness of Daniel's appearance.  Now that the initial surprise at seeing his friend had passed, it was replaced by shock as he realised, after everything that had happened, his friend had still come to the cabin.  Maybe he was gonna get a chance to start fixing things sooner than he'd thought. 

"You drove all the way up here?  How did you even know I'd...?"

It was Daniel's turn to look confused as he cut him off.

"Jack, of course I drove up here; I drove you up here.  Remember?"

"What?  No you didn't.  You left the base with the others."

"What are you talking about?  You know I never left the base the whole time you were..."

Trailing off, an unpleasant look of realisation entered Daniel's gaze.  Setting the poker down, the civilian turned slowly to look at him properly, with a carefully neutral expression, before, with affected nonchalance, he picked a beer up out of the cool box and brought one of the others chairs round to sit next to his. 

Sitting down on it, he adjusted it until he was looking at Jack and, carefully trying not to sound panicked, said, "So how's it going in the other reality then?"

The realisation hit Jack like a staff blast to the chest.  Oh god...

Pointing his beer bottle slightly accusatorily at him, Jack said, "You're the other Daniel; the one in the infirmary."

To himself rather than Jack, Daniel muttered, "I tried to tell them you weren't better yet."

Carefully again, he continued, "Jack..."

His head falling into his hands, Jack, half to himself and half to Daniel, said, "I'm dreaming, right?  I've fallen asleep in front of the fire and this is just a dream.  A scary as hell nightmare of a dream but just a dream, right?"

Looking up again, Jack was relieved to see that Daniel had vanished again.  Slapping himself on the chin a couple of times, he satisfied himself that he was awake now. 

He'd fallen asleep, hadn't he?  Not exactly beyond the realm of possibility when wrapped in a blanket before a warm fire, in a quiet cabin, miles from anywhere and exceptionally likely when you considered you'd been two-thirds exhausted before the long drive up here. 

Despite his self-reassurance, his heart rate was taking its time to get back to normal and the adrenaline sloshing through his veins wasn't going to quickly subside.  Now he was anything but relaxed.  Besides, after his recent experiences, ‘just a dream' wasn't all that reassuring a phrase.  He still remembered those corridors inhabited by the caricatures of his friends... and that ever-present shadow that haunted him even now. 

Reaching into his bag for his cell, Jack rotated it around in a contemplative manner.  He could phone real Daniel and reassure himself of what was real.  Or he could phone the base and double-check that the world was as he thought it was.  No, both options were liable to result in someone racing up here to drag him back to the infirmary for more damn tests.  He was fine... just a little edgy and paranoid after everything that had happened, that was all.  That; and he had the beginnings of a truly blinding headache on his hands. 

Washing down a couple of heavy-duty painkillers, Jack stumbled into his cot and stretched out along the length of it.  His head was pounding like a hundred silent voices were shrieking in his head at the same time that two men were battering it with alternate blows from their sledgehammers.  Okay, so maybe coming up fishing, on your own, wasn't the smartest move when you'd suffered major brain trauma only a couple of days before but it'd been isolation he'd been after and there was nowhere better to get that than up here at the cabin.  After days of constant voices, a little silence was just what the doctor ordered... along with the pain pills. 

Jack woke to find his head still ached and washed down a couple more pills.  Yeah, he'd been going to do a little maintenance on the roof of the cabin today but with the thumping of his head still continuing, it didn't seem like the wisest idea to add hammers and heights to the mix.  Instead, he dragged his deckchair down to the lake and cast his line out.  Yep, no better way to clear your mind than to sit, with your line cast, and wait for fish to bite when you knew, for a fact, that there wasn't a single fish in the lake.  Teal'c had never gotten the meaning of fishing and seemed to be labouring under the delusion that actually catching a fish should feature in some way in the whole endeavour.  Now, where would the fun in that be?  You'd just have to reel it in and land it and who needed that sort of hassle?  No, this would be the perfect antidote to the last, few, insane days... weeks.  Combined with a fistful of pain pills, it might even shift this headache. 

Time ticked by with the non-existent fish always just losing interest in the bait at the last second.  He felt the stress from the last few days beginning to ebb away into the ground beneath him.  The headache would fade, the dreams would lessen and, hopefully, his friends and he could get back to the madness that was their normality.  

Pulling his cap down over his eyes, he sighed happily.  His fishing rod slipped from his grasp and his eyes closed themselves. 

"Jack?"

Eyes snapping open, he ripped the cap off of his head saying, "Daniel, what're you...?"

He trailed off to see Daniel, still in the same outfit, sitting next to him with his fishing rod fixed beside him but a book in his hands that would prevent him actually catching anything if it snagged on his line.  The fact that the only thing he was likely to catch in the lake was the hook of Jack's line was a moot point.  It was such a familiar image that it took Jack a moment to remember that he wasn't actually supposed to be there. 

Rolling his eyes, he said, "And you're back."

Daniel quickly became edgy at the comment but, masking it with mock hurt, he replied, "You know, I'm pretty thick-skinned but I could start to get insulted by the fact, when you think this is some weird fantasy of yours, you're never pleased to see me."

"Oh come on, if I were really drifting in and out of reality then I would never have been allowed out the base.  You and the others are fine now... and so am I."

An odd echo to his voice for a moment, Daniel replied, "No you're not, Jack."

More normally, he continued, "I mean, think about it... you can choose not to believe me but it doesn't change the fact that you are either imagining this or that or both.  I don't call that okay, do you?  I know I agreed to give you another day here but that was only if you didn't have another relapse.  We can't stay here; we need to go back.  We need to fix this."

"All right, who are you?  Some bit of Gizmo in my head trying to make me stick everyone in my head again?"

Perplexed, Daniel asked, "Some bit of what?"

But Jack was on his feet now.

"No, I'm not dealing with you like this anymore so either get lost or stop pretending to be Daniel!"

Viciously wrenching at his top, Jack felt it gather and fold in his hand.  Then, suddenly, there was no weight to the figure he was holding and the clothes melted away to reveal... Daniel...

What sat before him was Daniel in his fatigues.  What was unnerving about that was the fact that the fatigues were tinged white and he was surrounded by an unsettlingly ethereal glow. 

"All right, Jack, have it your way.  Let's talk."

Carefully, he said, "Daniel... what's going on... you're a... a..."

As he tried to get his mind around the idea his friend could be ascended again and, therefore, appeared to have died somehow, the civilian finished his sentence for him.

"A remnant."

"What?  You mean you're not... Daniel?"

"No, I'm a remnant."

"Okay... you're a remnant of...?"

"Of what you were becoming."

"A leftover bit of Daniel inside my head?"

He smiled slightly.

"Yeah, something like that."

"You're what Grelmin was talking about when he said I'd have to purge my system."

Sobering, Daniel's eyebrows knotted.

"Yeah, although I'd like to see him try."

"You seem a lot more talkative than the other... bits..."

"I'm not like those... things you talked to before.  They were just aspects of the three of us with no independent awareness.  All the life they have, they're given by you.  I'm not like that."

"So, what, you're Daniel's ascended side, is that it?"

"In a manner of speaking... yeah, I guess you could call me that.  See, what you like to call ‘Daniel'... he's more like the tip of an iceberg.  The latent knowledge he possesses isn't something he can consciously access; not even I can do that... but his unconscious mind... well, it's not exactly your everyday subconscious these days.  When Grelmin's procedure couldn't handle the processing required to process his subconscious; it somehow managed to split at least a portion of the conscious and subconscious from each other...which allowed me to surface independently.  I still can't access that knowledge consciously, but it's like a layer of mist has been stripped away.  I somehow knew how to navigate through your mind; somehow always understood about what had happened to us; somehow retained an independent awareness."

"So why keep pretending to be Daniel?  Why not just tell me all this before?"

Hesitating for a moment, he explained, "Being split from me; my conscious awareness...'Daniel', was far too weak to stand against the assault of your awareness.  As long as I remained dormant, he could feed from me and he was strong enough to withstand it... but the symbiosis worked both ways... and if I'd surfaced for too long then I would have sucked too much out of him and there wouldn't have been enough of him left.  Unfortunately, unless I surfaced fully like this, I could only translate an idea through your dream state... and pretty much everything but the gist got lost in translation.  I'm putting aspects of ‘me' at risk just speaking to you now."

"So why are you?"

"I was getting desperate.  I have to try to save my life and the lives of the others."

"You mean other remnants?"

"I mean my life.  Daniel's life.  And Sam's.  And Teal'c's.  They don't have much time left."

"What?  What do you mean?"

"I mean Grelmin didn't do what he promised."

"But... they're all fine."

"No, they're not..."

After a pause, he said, "Jack, you have to listen to me.  I'm the only one that can talk to you... and what aspects of Daniel are left in here are fragile so soon I'll not be able to risk talking to you at all."

After a pause, he said, "When you've been neurally linked to Grelmin... I've managed to make the connection go both ways... I've seen into his mind... into the memory matrix... and I don't think Grelmin's evil, exactly... but he killed off the population of his world."

"Thought that was the famine?"

"It was.  Grelmin's famine."

"What?"

"Grelmin came up with this way to make these super-human beings that he thought would be the new pinnacle of evolution... only he couldn't get enough funding or volunteers to prove it worked - even with the desperation of wartime on his side."

"I can certainly understand that!"

"No, I mean, until the famine, he'd had to stop human trials all together."

"Yeah, he said it was nearly complete when the famine came."

"Yes, but do you think that was a coincidence, Jack?"

"What?"

"Don't you see, Jack?  Grelmin caused the famine.  He needed people to get desperate enough.  The guy is completely obsessed with the Ha'ran.  He really thinks that way is better and he'd tried every other way to convince everyone else of it."

"What?"

"I don't think the mineral Sam was so desperate to study in the soil is naturally occurring.  It stimulates incredible rates of plant growth and strengthens them... but it strengthens them to the point that trying to eat the plant-life becomes impossible.  And with completely inedible plant-life, it was only a matter of time until the herbivores all died out... and with them gone..."

The whole food chain collapses."

"Exactly."

"You think Gizmo put that stuff in the soil?"

"No, I think he tricked the people into doing that themselves.  The rate of growth of the plants would be desirable.  Probably marketed the stuff as some super-fertilizer.  Remember, there were official reports of him working on developing something like that."

"And then the rationing would have started."

"Grelmin told you about the war with the neighbouring world.  It'd been going on for years by the time of the famine.  Both fleets were depleted and the Stargate had been put out of commission by their enemy.  Given time, the people were probably advanced enough to come up with farming techniques that would have resulted in a new sustainable food source... but that was something Grelmin didn't give them.  They had to go onto emergency rationing... but there just wasn't enough to go around."

"And then Gizmo brings the whole Hairyness thing back to the table, I bet."

"Probably a very safe bet.  And, this time, I doubt he met with much resistance.  Ha'ran offered more than a way to ease the burden on the depleting rations without simply waiting for the bulk of the population to die of starvation... they were theoretically so smart that they'd come up with a solution to the famine in time to save the population... and, of course, Grelmin had always suggested they'd make fantastic warriors..."  

Holding up a hand to halt Daniel, Jack said, "Wait, if you're saying you're all still in my head then who exactly is meant to be walking around?  Grelmin?"

Beginning to look rather pale, Daniel sat down.

"No, it's the three of us, all right... only, we're not."

"What?"

He really was beginning to look pale now.  The glow around him appeared again and tendrils of light licked around him.  He looked up uncertainly and went to speak before wincing deeply.

Fading even further, he said, "Go back... you have to..."

"Why?  Daniel, what's...?"

But the glowing light had faded and he was alone again with no evidence that Daniel had ever even been there.  Going back to the cabin, he retrieved his cell-phone and went back to sit by the lake again.  What was going on?  Had that all been ‘real' or was he now going well and truly nuts? 

He felt his head sag down again.  He was so goddamned tired of this whole thing.  He'd thought he'd have nothing better to do than just do a repair job on himself and then a patch-up job on rather dented team dynamics but now all this? 

He sighed and shook his head.  No, this was all just in his head, surely?  Maybe Daniel was exactly what he'd said he was to begin with... just a remnant of this whole experience.  His friends had been angry with him when he left but they'd still been them.  There'd been nothing missing from those eyes but the trust he would have to win back.  Besides, with the pills he'd taken, if he got behind the wheel of his car, he'd risk losing a lot more than his commission.

No, that decided it, he was going to stay here and he was going to fish for non-existent fish until his head stopped hurting.  Setting the cap back down over his eyes, he got back down to the important business of the day; leaning back and waiting for the fish to bite.

"O'Neill?"

Jack, headache miraculously gone, looked up to see Teal'c gazing inquiringly down at him.  What was Teal'c doing at the cabin?  Then, suddenly, it hit him that he wasn't at the cabin.  Instead, Teal'c seemed to be standing on unknown rocky terrain.

He stood up and looked around.

"Where the hell are we?"

Raising an eyebrow, Teal'c said, "O'Neill, you are already aware of that information"

"Indulge me."

Hesitating for a moment, the Jaffa inclined his head in acceptance of another display of randomness from his CO.

"The designation is P56 622 although Daniel Jackson believes that the inhabitants once called it Myrae.  Are you feeling well, O'Neill?"

At the reply, his mind cleared.  Of course, all that insanity at his cabin had been days ago - he'd just been dreaming about it again, that was all.  He remembered how, when he'd finally made it back to the base, he'd found, as he'd suspected, there was nothing at all wrong with his friends other than the fact none were that happy with him.  A little grovelling later, they'd all kissed and made up and then he'd slept off his headache for about a week and finally been declared fit for active duty.  This was their first mission since it'd all happened.  Okay, they were back to it when they were supposed to be on leave anyway but he'd wanted a mission to ensure that the healing bonds between the team were given a chance to solidify and to prove to himself that he was totally back to normal.  Unfortunately, it was a rather tedious Daniel-centred mission to investigate some temple carved out of the base of a deep quarry - hence the sleeping and subsequent dreams on his part.

Fully awake now, he felt less disoriented and replied, "Don't worry big fella... I was just checking.  Come on, let's go see how Daniel and Carter are getting on."

Teal'c assessed him for a moment longer before nodding in acquiescence and falling into step with him.  They headed onwards to where Daniel and Carter were standing looking down at the temple.

Carter was saying, "...so what are you thinking?"

"Well, given the engravings I can make out from up here, I'm wondering if the similarity between this planet's name and the Moerae is entirely coincidental or not."

Jack decided to wade in.

"Oh yes, but isn't that what we're all thinking?"

Daniel shot a look at him which warned him that this friendship was too recently healed to withstand many cheap shots.  So, caving quicker than he normally would have, he asked seriously, "Okay, okay, what's the Moerae?"

His friend appeared to be assessing him for a moment to see if he was asking out of civility or was actually interested so he tried to look at least vaguely like he actually wanted to know.

Either convinced or uncaring, Daniel replied, "The Moerae, or the Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos are from ancient Greek mythology.  They were supposed to spin, measure and cut the thread of life.  They also were supposed to give each person their share of good and evil."

Having focused his attention mostly on appearing to look interested, Jack had only caught the gist of what Daniel had said so tried to change the subject before he cottoned on.

"All right, well we're in for a long walk down to see the temple so how's about we get going?"

As everyone nodded, they started on their way down to the temple.  Jack fell into step with Teal'c again as they began to head round the long spiral that would eventually bring them to the base of the quarry.  Up ahead, Daniel and Carter were keeping pace with each other when, suddenly, Daniel broke off and headed over to get a better vantage on the temple below.  He paused a few paces from the edge but then, slowly, began to edge forward until he stood only inches from the edge.  His eyes appeared locked on the ground below. 

Unaware of whether that edge was stable or not, Jack halted where he was and carefully said, "Daniel?"

When Daniel didn't look round, Jack began to worry that he'd stepped closer to look at the temple without considering the effect it would have on him considering his general dislike for heights of any sort. 

So, slowly, he said, "Daniel, you feeling okay?"

This time, Daniel smiled slightly round at him.

"I feel great, Jack."

Partially relieved but still a little wary of anyone being that close to the edge, Jack replied, "That's great.  How about feeling great a little further back from the edge?"

Without looking away from the drop, Daniel just smiled again.

"It's far deeper at this point.  Just look how far down this goes..."

Jack shivered.  His friend's fixated gaze angled down at the lethal drop was giving him very unpleasant flashbacks to when he'd found him standing on the outside of his apartment's balcony with nothing between him and the ground but eight storeys of air. 

Trying to keep it light and probably failing, Jack said, "Glad to see you seem to have resolved you problem with heights, Daniel, but you can get too much of a good thing, you know."

Then he realised Carter was also up at the edge. 

"Wow, it really is a long way down, isn't it?"

As well as being slightly anxious about it, Jack was getting annoyed now.

"All right, everyone away from the edge.  It's an order this time."

Carter rolled her eyes and walked away from the edge but Daniel said, "Why?  You scared, Jack?"

"Would just prefer to get through this mission without having to scrape anyone off the bedrock."

Daniel looked down at the depth again.

"My insides should be twisting up even looking down here... but they're not..."

Then he smiled.

"Weird, huh?"

"I'm sure it's fascinating.  Now will you please get away from the edge?"

"The depth is indeed impressive."

To his utter exasperation, Jack realised that Teal'c had now walked over to look down to the depths.  And, as he looked back round, he saw Carter was back next to Daniel again.  Okay, so his whole team were ignoring him, which was fair enough after what they'd been through, but he'd have thought at least Teal'c would have the sense not to stand so close to the edge. 

"Okay, so you're ignoring me and it's very funny and everything but you don't know how stable this path is."

Teal'c turned to look at him.

"Why are you afraid, O'Neill?"

"I'm not afraid; I'm justifiably cautious of crumbling paths round ancient quarries over large drops and tend not to stand on the edge of them."

Daniel chuckled at the reply and Jack snapped, "And why the hell d'you appear to have forgotten you hate heights?"

He shrugged and, balancing his way along the edge from Sam to Teal'c as if it was a tightrope, replied, "Don't know.  Guess I'm cured."

"Either that or you've all been out in the sun too long.  Now would you...!"

As he stepped forward, however, there was a hideous noise.  A definite cracking noise.  And, suddenly, the whole path before him split from the wall of rock.  His friends, in their precarious positions, could do nothing to prevent the inevitable.  He leapt forward to try and help but there was no way he could reach all three of them in time...

Then, suddenly, they froze, mid-fall.

As he blinked, utterly bemused, he heard an angry voice say, "This is where we are, Jack."

Turning, he saw glowing Daniel standing beside him again.  He walked forward and stepped off the edge and onto the thin air beyond it. 

His progress towards the frozen trio appearing unhindered by the fact there was no longer any ground below his feet, he continued, "You can just wait, Jack, and hope that I'm not real and what I'm telling you is wrong.  But we're on that edge right now, Jack.  You wait too long and we'll be out of your reach."

Suddenly, Jack snapped awake and realised that, once again, he was at the cabin.  In fact, he realised belatedly, he'd never really left it, had he?  His heart still racing at a mile a minute, he found that the headache had returned with renewed ferocity.  Clutching at his head, a hideously loud ringing and accompanying vibration rippled through his skull.  No... um... actually... that would be the cell he was holding... 

Head still aching, he answered his phone with a groaning, "O'Neill."

"Jack?"

He sat up straighter.

"Sir?"

"It's... there's been an incident, Jack... Major Carter..."

Frozen eyes locked upon him; frozen fingers already out of reach.   

Jack shivered at the memory.

"Sir, what is it?  What's happened?"

"She called the base to tell me that she's been arrested for assaulting a highway patrol officer who pulled her over for speeding."

Relief that there were no cliffs involved in the statement flooded through him so violently that it took a few moments for the actual statement to sink in. 

When it did, he exclaimed, "What?!  What the hell...?  Sir, you know as well as I do..."

"I've had words with the civilian authorities and she's on her way back to the mountain as we speak but, Jack..."

"Sir?"

"She hasn't denied committing the offence."

A part of him very nearly yelled down the phone at Hammond not to be so goddamned stupid.  After all, why should Carter feel she should need to deny such a ludicrous claim?  But another part still had glowing Daniel's words echoing in his ear and couldn't help but wonder...

He knew one thing right now.  He needed to get back to the base.

Hammond obviously thought so too.

"How soon could you be back at the base, Colonel?"

"I... took some of those pills Fraiser gave me.  Can't drive until they're outta my system."

Concern in his tone, Hammond continued, "I'll have them send someone from the nearest airbase up to collect you, Jack."

There'd been two other frozen figures hovering beyond his reach and, last he'd seen them in reality, they'd been with Carter.

"What about Teal'c?  Daniel?"

"We've tried to contact both of them but, so far, there's been no word."

It was several hours later that Jack flashed his pass to the guard and began the long descent into the depths of Cheyenne Mountain.  The journey down, which took two elevators, was always long but, today, seemed torturously slow.  He knew when he got down to the bottom he was going to come face-to-face with Carter and she was going to explain how this had all been a big misunderstanding or a set-up or something... and the storm cloud of anxiety and doubt that was following him about would instantly dissipate.  And the missing Daniel and Teal'c would turn up at the base soon with Teal'c in full-on guardian mode and Daniel all indignant and worried on Carter's behalf.  Between them, they'd sort out this confusion/kick the collective asses of the conspirators who'd set her up.  Everything would be well with SG-1 again and he could get that damn cliff and those frozen faces out of his head.  But for any of that to happen, the damn doors on the elevator had to eventually open.

Finally making it to level 28, Jack made a beeline for Hammond's office.  Upon reaching it, he saw that Carter was in there but there was no sign of Hammond. 

He ducked in.

"Carter?"

She glanced up at him and, presumably, guessed that he wanted an explanation for the General's absence.

"Hi, sir, the General'll be back in a couple of minutes.  He just got a call and said he had to deal with it first."

Pushing the doubts as far back as he could, he asked, "Carter, what the hell happened?  I mean, you didn't...?"

"I hardly even touched him, sir.  Can't see what he got so worked up about.  I mean, his nose wasn't even that nice a nose to start off with."

She'd said it so off-handedly that it took him a moment to realise that she'd actually admitted to assaulting the officer in question.  Okay, so the first pillar of hope had crumbled but there were others.   

Wanting to hear how obviously justified the attack had been, he sat down on the edge of the desk.

"Tell me what happened, Major.  From the start."

"I was going stir crazy at my place so I went for a ride on my bike.  I just went a little too fast for the guy's liking... and I'll even admit I maybe was a little over even though I could write a dozen papers on how inaccurate those speed guns can be...  So, anyway, he pulls me over and checks my licence and then, well, he tried to check out the rest of my credentials, if you get my meaning."

He did and the surge of anger he felt was tempered by relief.  Damn civvy officer should've looked at the licence a little closer.  Maybe he'd have realised who he was dealing with and backed off without needing a broken nose as an incentive.

But, as both emotions receded again, he tried to get some clarification on just how tight his hands should press if he ever got his hands round the throat of the officer in question.

"So, he behaved... inappropriately?"

She smiled and, leaning back in the chair slightly, said, "No... but he wanted to..."

"So he said...?"

"Wasn't what he said, sir.  It was the way he was looking at me."

Okay, so not really sounding as justified as he'd first thought but maybe she'd seen the flash of rage in his eyes and was trying to downplay what had happened to keep him from flying off the handle. 

But she didn't look that concerned about him flying off the handle as she smiled and added, "Sort of the way you look at me sometimes when you think I'm not looking."

His eyes widened at the statement so she amended herself.

"Oh, don't worry, I would never break your nose, sir.  I like when you do it.  Don't behave half as inappropriately to me as I'd like, actually.  Know you think about it though."

"What?  Carter, I..."

She smiled seductively and tapped at her right temple.

"You forgetting where I just took a vacation?"

Jack turned to look out the window to try to avoid letting the utter panic show on his face.  He could've taken just about any explanation for her actions and found some way to justify it but nothing could erase the painful truth that the woman sitting at that desk was not his Major Carter.  Their relationship had long been something indefinable and they were so so careful to try and keep it that way.  Even if she'd tired of treading that invisible line, this was never the way she'd cross it in a million years.    

Before he could look round, though, and confront the Major Carter that sat there, he noticed an extremely sober General Hammond heading towards them. 

He came into the office, "Major, MacKenzie's ready for you now."

Nodding acceptingly, she smiled at the Colonel again and sashayed out of the office in a manner designed to make the male eye follow her progress.  That, in itself, was distinctly unCarterlike...

Shaking himself awake, he turned to the General.

"Sir, something's not right with..."

Then, catching the ultra-serious look on the General's face, he trailed off and, instead asked, "Sir, what is it?"

"Jack, Teal'c just arrived at the main gate with Doctor Jackson... Apparently, the Doctor is unconscious."

Racing up to the infirmary, Jack found that Teal'c had discovered some sneaky turbo elevator because no way could he have taken that same elevator that he'd taken down and arrived here before him. 

Nearly running straight into the back of him, he said, "T?"

The Jaffa turned towards him.

"O'Neill."

"What happened?!"

After a pause, his friend said, "Daniel Jackson grew unwell a few hours ago and agreed that we should return here to have his condition assessed by Doctor Fraiser.  He lost consciousness as we approached the base.  I do not know the cause of this illness."

Past Teal'c, Jack could make out figures buzzing around an infirmary bed but couldn't see past them as yet. 

"Unwell?  What d'you mean, exactly?"

"When we left the base, we travelled to Major Carter's home and remained there for some time.  Later, Daniel Jackson requested that I join him on an expedition he planned to take the following day and offered that I might stay at ‘his place'.  However, as we travelled, he began to grow confused.  He appeared to be attempting to drive us to the apartment he occupied prior to his ascension.  I directed him to his true abode but it seemed almost unfamiliar to him."

After another pause, Teal'c said, "He insisted that he was merely tired and had no need to return here.  It now appears unwise that I agreed with his assessment at that time.  Today, though, he grew more disorientated and confused.  He appeared unable to maintain a conversation and had difficulty in successfully completing everyday tasks.  It was then that I insisted we return to the base."

Jack, focused on what could be seen of Daniel's still form, asked, "Then he just...?"

"He has been in this condition for only the last half hour, O'Neill."

So now he had Carter flirting with superior officers and breaking civvy officer's noses and Daniel forgetting where he lived and passing out for no reason.  Could he just pretend these things were unrelated to each other?  Pretend they weren't related to what that pedestal device had done to them? 

Knowing there had been three figures falling from that cliff, he asked, "T, you okay?"

Inclining his head, Teal'c replied to the concerned gaze, "Indeed, O'Neill."

Jack assessed him quickly but could see no evidence of anything other than his ever-stoic comrade. 

Slowly, he said, "Teal'c, I think we've got a problem here..."

Storming down the corridor, Jack could feel the rage building with every step.  With access to the minds of two geniuses, and the wisest guy he knew, how could he have been so stupid as to think that Grelmin would actually put them all back together right?  Now Carter was all messed up and Daniel's mind appeared to be unravelling as quickly as it had been put together.  He was comforted, somewhat, by the fact that Teal'c had come out of it unscathed but still...

Diving into the laboratory, Jack thumped down the buttons on the device and, without a second thought, opened the neural link.  Grelmin was nowhere to be seen. 

Storming across the room, he shouted, "Grelmin!  I know you're here, you pathetic excuse for a figment!  Get your sorry ass out here now!"

Rather flustered, Grelmin appeared, "Have you returned to have your system purged?  We should begin immediately."

Jack launched himself at Grelmin and smashed him heavily into the wall.

"Don't you even think about it."

Still looking flustered and uncomfortable, he said, "Then why are you here?"

"I'm here because one of my friends is getting psych evaluations right now and another one is lying in an infirmary bed because of you, you son of a..."

But Jack had to halt in his rant and release his captive as Grelmin's expression grew utterly bemused for a few moments before, suddenly, his face morphed and changed until standing before him was...

Disbelieving, Jack said, "Daniel?"

Experimentally reaching out, he saw that, as with Grelmin, Daniel appeared solid beneath his hand.  He looked tired but healthier than his counterpart in the infirmary. 

Looking around, he said, "I made it..."

His gaze alighting on Jack, his expression darkened.

"So... you believe me now?"

"What happened to Grelmin?"

"I've pushed him back into the memory matrix of the device.  He won't stay there long but at least this way I'm only sapping the reactor's energy."

"You're the Daniel that was at the cabin?"

As he nodded, Jack thought back to where his doppelganger lay in the infirmary.

"You... the real you... he's..."

"Dying."

Jack locked wide eyes with him as he continued, "I got that part wrong, Jack; thought maybe I'd just be like the others but...he literally can't survive without me for long.  Too big a part of him has been ripped out...too many connections are missing." 

Thinking of Carter, he replied, "You said you thought you'd be ‘like the others'.  What about the others?"

Daniel looked uncertain about replying for a minute before saying, "Look, Grelmin sees certain traits of people as imperfections that led to his initial trials being unsuccessful.  He theorised that anything that causes conflict within our own mind decreases the ability for minds to successfully blend..."

"Traits like what?"

"Like fear, self-consciousness, guilt...  So, as he ‘refined' the process of Ha'ran, he found methods to filter out all these bugs to his program.  Can you guess what happened next?"

Heart sinking as his mind bounded ahead and didn't like the implications it foresaw, Jack replied soberly, "The psychopaths he created all killed each other?"

Daniel nodded morosely, "And those were the more successful creations; those who hadn't simply died in the process or gone completely mad."

"What are you saying?"

"When Grelmin's pedestal device first hit us, Jack, the power source was so depleted it couldn't complete the entire process.  We shouldn't have gained consciousness until he'd filtered our minds in and out of our bodies and into yours several times to ‘purify the essence of knowledge' that you were receiving.  The crystal broke before even the first pass could be completed."

Continuing, he said, "When you figured out how to reverse the process, Grelmin realised he had an opportunity to finish what he started so he did what you asked.  He put them back in their own bodies.  Only he had no intention of leaving them there permanently.  He was going to purge your system of the remnants of them left in your mind then pull their ‘purified essences' right back in.  I tried to find some way to use the neural link to stop him but I couldn't... all I could do was what I'd managed to do with my mind when the Stromos passengers were ‘visiting'... I put you into a comatose state just long enough for the neural link to be severed." 

Jack didn't even know what to say.  He already aching head was spinning at the revelations. 

Daniel, seeming to increase pace, continued, "It wasn't Grelmin's plan to leave parts of them in your head.  Those parts you saw before in your dream... they're parts he was trying to wipe from your mind individually before you gave him the opportunity to try the real filtering process but I hid them in areas of your mind which you consciously block off to make it harder from Grelmin to find them.  I had to hide even deeper than the rest of them so he couldn't sense me."

His friend looked slightly ashamed for a moment.

"I had to hide myself in amongst your memories of Charlie...  I'm sorry but there was no other way...  Then, when he couldn't find us on his own, he tried using you to find us all... but I pushed you into the memory of Baal's fortress because... well, I knew you'd want out of there so badly you'd wake yourself up before he could do anymore harm in there."

Eyes looking a little glazed-over, Daniel said, "I don't think I can keep control of this much longer, Jack."

"You're saying that Carter and Teal'c are walking around without a conscience between them?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying.  They'll have echoes of those parts of them in their head... but it's only a matter of time until those fade and then..."

"Then what?"

Now he was more glowing yellow than solid flesh.

"I can't stay, Jack.  I don't know how much I'll be able to help but... I'll try..."

"Daniel, wait, Daniel..."

But his glowing friend was gone.  He waited a few moments but it didn't appear that Grelmin was going to reappear anytime soon either.  Jack thought about what his ‘friend' had said.  He prayed to god he wasn't right.

Jack tapped uneasily at the table with the pencil as he looked across at Doctor Fraiser.  Pale and shaken, the woman did not look like she was about to give him good news.  In his mind's eye, he hovered beside Teal'c and watched over Daniel.  The Jaffa had been protective of Daniel since SG-1 began and was currently beating himself up for not having gone with his gut instinct to bring Daniel back to the base the previous evening.  Teal'c, at least, appeared to have avoided glowy Daniel's nightmare predictions.  His other friends on the other hand...

Looking down at the file before her, Fraiser said, "Sir, MacKenzie thinks it's possible that Major Carter is suffering from a personality disorder caused by alterations that occurred during the recent incident."

"Doc?"

Pale and shaken looking, she said, "Sir, personality disorders by their very definition are usually relatively stable over a lifetime.  You don't just spontaneously develop one from nowhere but... this technology was capable of affecting the basic make-up of her mind and..."

"And what?"

"Sir, she's been demonstrating an emotional detachment."

Remembering her come-on in the interrogation room, he said, "She didn't seem very detached when I talked to her.  Out-of-character... but very much attached."

"Those behaviours are due to a lack of inhibition.  She can also display emotions and behaviours she considers appropriate or which will lead to personal gain for her.  In fact, in all overt scales, she scored normally.  But in the more covert measures she scored extremely low for anxiety and, it appears, she has difficulty feeling empathy for other people.  Sir, given her radically low scores... if this were a normal situation with a patient who had displayed these scores consistently over their lifetime, Doctor MacKenzie would have very few doubts about a diagnosis of..."

"Of what, Doc?"

Jack watched the emotional turmoil in Janet's eyes before a wall of professionalism slammed down in front of it.

Of sociopathic personality disorder."

He didn't know what to reply.  He couldn't reply.  He felt light-headed and was scared to move in case it proved too much and he blacked out altogether.  He wanted to throw the file back in MacKenzie's face and call him a moron but that sickening feeling in his gut wouldn't let him forget the fact that glowy Daniel had told him as much only a few hours ago. 

His voice not co-operating very much, he croaked, "Sir, I have to go."

Probably noting the look on his face, Hammond nodded.

"Dismissed, Colonel."

Unsteadily getting to his feet, he headed out into the corridor.  The world spun and the walls distorted so extremely that he could have easily pretended he was back in that dream place again.  God, if only this were a dream...     

"O'Neill?"

Jack turned to see Teal'c standing behind him.  Still reeling from the recent revelation, he tried to shake himself out his dizzy trance.

He half-turned towards his friend.

"Daniel any better?"

"Indeed.  He has awoken but he is most confused and requests your presence, O'Neill."

Nodding emphatically, Jack hurried after his friend.  After a few corridors, he realised they were heading towards the infirmary overflow rather than the main infirmary. 

"Teal'c, where are we going?"

"Daniel Jackson has been moved, O'Neill."

Accepting the comment, he headed after his Jaffa friend.  As they finally reached the rooms, he headed through the doorway after Teal'c.  Moving past him, he looked around to see all the beds were deserted. 

"Teal'c, what's...?"

Then he caught the reflection in the side of a metal trolley and, thought gone, simply reacted.  His reflexes saved his life as the hunting knife grazed his arm rather than anywhere more vital.  They weren't quick enough, though, to avoid the fist sweeping from the other direction.  Flying back, he painfully rolled out of harm's way and sprang awkwardly back to his feet to face his assailant. 

Winded from the force of the blow, he gasped, "Teal'c, what the hell...?"

But, as he felt warm blood start to seep down his arm, he could see it there in Teal'c's eyes.  Or, rather, he couldn't.  There was something... missing from his gaze.  And, suddenly, he knew that glowy Daniel and MacKenzie were both right about all of this; and that his need to believe otherwise was about to be the death of him. 

Glancing round for something he could use to defend himself, he happened to notice that the security cameras were offline.  Help wasn't on the way, apparently. 

"Teal'c, why are you doing this?"

The unmistakeable glint of murder in his eyes, Teal'c said, "You tried to destroy us all, O'Neill.  It is because of you that Daniel Jackson has suffered."

Okay, his arm was maybe a little more than grazed.  Pressing down on the wound with his other hand, he backed away more.

"I didn't mean to, Teal'c, you've gotta know that."

"I do not, O'Neill.  Perhaps you secretly wished to become a Ha'ranas creature and steal our knowledge for your own gain.  You are no friend to us.  You betrayed us all.  Daniel Jackson shall be avenged."

Jack considered the odds of him surviving this encounter.  He was trapped, injured, unarmed and up against a sociopathic Jaffa.  Not great, he concluded. 

Trying to get through to anything that might remain of the friend he knew, he pleaded, "Teal'c, Grelmin's messed your head up.  Daniel and Carter's too.  You're not thinking straight."

"I believe you are in error, O'Neill.  It was my previous thinking that was misguided.  Now, you shall never harm Daniel Jackson again."

Then, suddenly, there was a swift zipping noise and Teal'c's free hand flew to his neck.  As he pulled out the tranquiliser dart, he locked clouded eyes with him.

"I have... protected Daniel Jackson from you.  You shall... no longer harm him."

As the sedative finally kicked in, Teal'c folded bonelessly to the floor.  Stepping fully in the doorway, one of the SFs said, "Are you all right, sir?"

Still clutching his arm, Jack nevertheless nodded and half-waved the man away.  Before he could ask how they'd even known anything was going on, they grabbed up Teal'c and dragged him off to be properly restrained before the sedative wore off.  Mentally exhausted and physically drained, Jack slid down the wall and tried to resist the impulse to throw up.  The Jaffa's last words sat uneasily in his mind.  It seemed strange, if Teal'c was now displaying sociopathic tendencies; he would be worried about protecting Daniel from anybody. 

However, as he pressed his hand more tightly to his arm, Jack realised that the sense of duty etched into Teal'c's very being would probably take its time to fully dissolve away and the Jaffa had been Daniel's unspoken guardian since SG-1 first began so would still contrive to protect him even if the emotional attachment was no longer present.

But, Jack considered slowly, what if you took all that duty to protect and took away all emotion?  You'd look back over the last seven years and see that Daniel seemed impossible for you to keep safe.  And what if you were a Jaffa who thought there was lots of honour in dying but no longer felt any fear, guilt or loss?  Well, then... then your answer was simple, wasn't it?  Your duty was to protect him so the only way to ensure nothing harmed him again was to...

Suddenly, horribly, he knew why the SFs had been on the alert for Teal'c.  Shakily pulling himself to his feet, he headed towards the main infirmary and prayed that he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion.  Just before he reached it, he saw a shaken Dr Fraiser heading out of the doorway.  Seeing the state of him, she froze.

"Colonel, what...?"

Not even the slightest bit concerned about himself right now, he cut her off.

"Doc, Daniel, is he...?"

It was her turn to cut him off.

"No, he's alive, sir."

The relief flooded through him but the fact she'd thought to inform of that didn't bode well. 

Looking at his arm, she ventured, "Teal'c?"

As he nodded, she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip slightly before opening watery eyes and saying, "I'm so sorry, sir.  I should've noticed earlier..."

"Noticed what?  What did he do to Daniel?"

"Teal'c got his hands on a vial of morphine, sir.  He injected Daniel with it..."

Ignoring the sensation of blood dripping down his hand from his blood-drenched sleeve, he replied, "What?  How is he?  Is he okay?"

"We administered Narcan to counteract the effects of the morphine.  He's still unresponsive but I don't think he's in any worse of a situation than he was before Teal'c... I really should see to that arm, sir."

Feeling rather lightheaded, Jack nodded in agreement and followed her into the infirmary. 

Glancing down at the neat row of stitches in his arm, a pale Jack wondered at the fact that the actual injury hardly even smarted but the knowledge that his friend had put it there was agonising. 

Teal'c's accusing words echoed through his head as he looked at Daniel's still form.  He wasn't thinking straight, true, but he was right about one thing.  This was his fault.  If he had just let his friends share his head...

He looked down at his pale friend.

"So what do I do now, Danny?"

His mind wandered to his other friends trapped in their respective cells.  All three of his friends were in trouble, one way or another, and he might know why but certainly not how to fix it. 

Did I wait too long?  Is there no way to catch you all before you fall?

"No," Daniel replied, "there is a way."

Eyes snapping to his friend's face, he saw he'd remained just as motionless. 

"Daniel?"

Looking up, he saw that Daniel had a visitor sitting on the other side of his bed.  This one, though, had tendrils of light flickering around him and looked uncannily like the man he was visiting. 

Desperately, Jack said, "What do I do?"

Levelly, the doppelganger replied, "There's only one possible chance of fixing this.  The connections between you and the remnants need to be severed so they can be filtered back into the others."

"But I can't..."

"No, you can't... but I can."

"How?"

"It would mean getting everyone back to the pedestal device and letting the Ha'ran process continue."

"What?  But that's what Grelmin wants."

"Yes, it is.  But if I can steal manual control from him..."

"Can you?  Thought you said he was too powerful?"

"I was still too connected to... Daniel last time.  It made it a lot harder to try and control the device at the same time."

"Daniel, look... I'm pretty sure you exist and you're not just me going nuts or anything... but how in the hell do I convince Hammond or Fraiser to believe in you?"

"You don't have to, Jack.  We'll do what you tried to do with Felger...convince them that you came up with this theory rather than me."

"How, exactly?"

"Well," Daniel said slowly, "given that we're on a tight schedule, it may involve me borrowing your voice for a little while..."

Jack looked down the narrow passageway off the main room of Grelmin's structure onto the green vista beyond and sighed heavily.  Earlier, he'd trudged through the verdant vegetation without any sign of an allergic reaction.  He just wished that was something he could feel happy about. 

Thinking back to the first time they'd set foot on this fateful planet, he wondered if Carter would've been so excited about seeing the fancy mud here if she'd known it'd been basically designed to poison a planet by a man who used it to commit genocide against his own people in the name of scientific progress.

Thinking of Carter, however, brought his thoughts back to the present.  The other members of his team would be arriving here soon.  He, McKay and SG-5 had arrived earlier with some of the tech-guys to reattach the naquadha reactor and Grelmin's device to the pedestal before the others arrived.  This time, however, he'd had to leave overseeing the actual connection to McKay as he no longer had any of Carter's technical expertise to rely upon.  He wasn't entirely convinced that he'd done it right but he guessed time would tell. 

"Jack..."

Turning, Jack saw Daniel standing, arms folded, against the outer wall of the building.  Glancing to ensure that none of the others were watching, he slipped fully out of the doorway and stood beside him.  Though he wasn't glowing, the fact that Daniel was slipping into an ever deeper comatose suggested that this was ‘glowy' Daniel.

"I thought I oughta warn you, Jack, this isn't going to be easy.  This doesn't fix us.  All it's going to do is take us back to square one again.  You could still come out of this a Ha'ranas... and not necessarily with you as awareness."

"Thought you said you could handle Grelmin."

"And I hope I'm right but first you're gonna have to sever all connections between you and the others if I'm even gonna be able to attempt it.  I just want you to understand the risk involved in this."

Before Jack could ask how he was supposed to do the sever all connections thing, a distant sound made him turn to see his team approaching: Daniel, once again, carried on a stretcher, his second-in-command cuffed and guarded by two marines and Teal'c, secured likewise; four guards with him...Jack wasn't sure that was really enough to restrain the Jaffa securely. 

Not taking his eyes off of the scene, he said to glowy Daniel, "Think I'm just gonna have to take that risk..."

Disoriented, Jack felt water dripping down his face as he ploughed forward through the storm.  He could somehow sense the event horizon rippling behind him despite the fact he was too distant to actually feel its effects.  The wind cut into him viciously and left him with no sense of direction other than the fact he must be moving further from the gate.  He was confused why he was trying so hard to shift away from the gate.  Surely, he wanted to get to the gate and escape from this planet?  As he turned back, he saw the event horizon still rippled away and went to head back towards it but something stopped him. 

There was something wrong with this whole picture.  The wind was driving right towards the gate so heading back would be so much easier and he could almost feel the gate itself sucking him back towards it.  But there was a reason he was here even if he couldn't remember it... and there was a reason that going through the Stargate was exactly the thing he didn't want to do right now. 

Trusting the unsettling feeling in his gut, Jack abandoned plans to head back through the gate.  However, just as he went to turn back into the wind, he became aware that the DHD was oddly-shaped.  Moving back closer to it, he felt the pull of the gate grow ever more irresistible.  As the rippling pond threw a blue glow across the landscape, he saw that the DHD was perfectly normal but had some lumpy plant growing upon it. 

Nearing it, though, he gasped.  This odd plant had slender arms that were pinned to the side of the DHD.  Stooping closer, barely believing the evidence of his own eyes, he saw the faint blue energy crackling softly just above the porcelain-white flesh of what might once have been Samantha Carter. 

White vines, so similar in colour to her skin, obscured all but her head, neck and arms.  They seemed so merged to her that it was hard to judge if they were her bonds or she had truly put down roots.  As he, tentatively, bent down to touch that porcelain cheek, he found only ice.  His questing fingers shifting to her neck, he could find no fluttering within to forestall his only conclusion.  She was dead.  Lost to him forever. 

Angrily, he reached down to wrench her free of the vines encircling her when, oddly, they shrank back from his fingers.  Retracting his hand, he watched as they grew up again.  Experimentally, he reached to wrap his arms around Carter. 

"Wait..."

Jack froze.  Had it been the wind?  No, surely, that was Daniel's voice.  Yet it seemed to have come from everywhere and nowhere at once.  Then, suddenly, he was aware of an overpowering glow in the periphery of his vision.  Snapping his gaze across, he saw the form of his ascended friend wearing a white robe. 

He couldn't get his head around this.  He was on this weird planet for some reason he couldn't remember and now his friend appeared to be one of the glowing ones again.  How the hell..?

With an oddly fixated gaze, Daniel said, "You know why you're here, Jack.  Grelmin's trying to make you forget; make you leave again.  You've got to remember; got to fight it."

A tendril of light flicked softly against his skin with a sensation like electrified cotton wool and, suddenly, it all came rushing back.    

McKay announcing the device was operational again, Carter and Teal'c struggling against their bonds as they were dragged into the building, their venomous cries that becoming a Ha'ranas had been his plan all along, Fraiser's pained expression as she forcibly sedated them both, all three of his friends unconscious on the ground, the cables connected to him as he lay down amongst his friends, the energy building in the device before...

Stunned, for a moment, he rallied quickly.

"Yeah, I know why I'm here.  I'm here to sort this damn mess out..."

The moment of bravado was short-lived, however, as he turned far enough for the still, white form of Carter to come back into view.  He continued, deflated, "If that's even possible."

Daniel walked towards his, by-all-appearances, dead friend.  With pure admiration in his tone, he breathed, "She kept the connection open..."

Indicating some vines that seemed to trail from the DHD to the gate, he continued, "...if she hadn't, we wouldn't even have had this chance and you'd be a Ha'ranas by now."

Jack asked the question he didn't want to know the answer to.

"I... couldn't find a pulse.  Is she...?"

Knowing what he needed to know, Daniel replied shortly, "She's... not alive but not dead either.  She's on a type of symbiotic life support.  Once she's free of it..."

That was all the information he needed right now.  Leaping forward, he went to wrench her from her organic prison. 

"Jack, wait..."

Halting, he turned to Daniel who said, seriously, "Look, if you free her, the gate will shut off and we'll all be trapped in here unless we can reverse the process.  This is the point of no return, Jack."

Yeah, like he was gonna turn tail and run.  The pull of the gate all but forgotten, he wrapped his arms tightly around Carter and felt an odd pulse run through him before he watched the vines vanish into the ground.  Laying her against the DHD, he checked her over again.  This time, he felt the faintest of flutterings beneath his fingers.  Sighing with relief, he pulled her up into his arms. 

"Now what?"

Looking around as if hearing something Jack couldn't, Daniel replied, "You have to get her to the pedestal room.  And I have to go."

With that, Daniel glowed brightly for a moment then was gone leaving Jack staring at empty air.  Gaze falling to the form in his arms, he shifted her over his shoulder, dipped his head down and walked through the driving rain towards the building.  Walking along with his head bowed, he nearly fell right over something.

Disturbed beyond words, he said, "T?"

His Jaffa friend was buried up to his waist in the mud with those white vines obscuring everything.  They were even bound around his neck as if having choked him.  Even with his naturally darker skin, he looked as pale as death. 

Torn, he glanced up at his laden shoulder; no way could he carry both of them.  Gingerly crouching, he took a moment to steady his balance before placing his free hand on the vines.  As they shrank back from Teal'c's neck, he pressed his fingers down on the carotid; couldn't feel a pulse but, then, he hadn't felt one on Carter until she was free of the vines.  However, whether dead or alive, Jack already knew what he had to do.

Straightening up, he muttered, "I'll be back, T.  Hang in there, big guy."

Mentally mapping this point for fear he would never find it again, he reluctantly headed onwards. 

After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the exterior of the building.  Finding the door again, he headed inside. 

When he'd last seen this room in the real world, Grelmin's device had sat atop the pedestal and the naquadha reactor had hummed gently in the corner.  This, however, looked exactly as the room had looked when he'd first awoken to find his friends in a ‘trance'.  Including, his heart falling, a broken crystal where the power source should be

Jack could hardly dare to breathe.

"It's broken..."

Walking into view as if he'd been a pace behind him the whole way, glowing Daniel explained, "No, Jack, it isn't... because this isn't real, okay?  This place is just the best representation you have of the neural link between the four of us.  If you believe that it'll work then it'll work.  This is the only way to take the aspects of everyone and reconnect them with their bodies.  I'm not sure I can explain it to you any better than that."

Long past the point of incredulity, Jack merely shrugged before carefully laying Carter down.  Still crouched, he turned to see Daniel had vanished again.  Letting his hand brush across the icy cheek of his snow-white second-in-command, he reached down for her hand and gently squeezed it before getting up again and turning, with steely resolve, back towards the entranceway.    

As Jack pushed out through the storm again, he tried to make his way back to the point where he'd left Teal'c caught in the mud.  However, the wind had picked up and kept blowing him off-course.  Pushing forward anyway, he narrowly avoided tumbling into the river as he failed to notice approaching its bank.  Steadying himself, he turned to head back toward Teal'c when a horrible realisation struck him.  The thing he'd steadied himself against... was the shoulder of his final friend. 

The entangled Daniel looked even paler than Carter had.  His skin was so white as to be translucent and that blue glow seemed to crackle beneath it as well as above.  Dropping to his knees, he felt the mud squish unpleasantly beneath him as he looked over what little of Daniel was not obscured by vines or entombed in mud.  Unlike Teal'c, his arms were free and they hung awkwardly at his sides like some ghoulish scarecrow.  As before, he tried to make the vines shrink back to check for a pulse but these ones stayed stubbornly fixed in place.  Going to manually wrench them aside, his plan was rather rudely interrupted by an unexpected trip to meet the ground as he was zapped by the lightning wrapped around the vines.  Dazed, he became aware that the world around him had become brighter.  Half-turning, he saw the fabric of a white robe before a healthier and more animated, if rather glowy, Daniel came into view.  Until now, he'd seemed almost self-assured when he'd appeared but his expression was both lost and helpless as he looked upon his own, lifeless, form.  The expression lasted only a moment, however, before a wall of steel came down behind the eyes. 

Even the noise of the storm couldn't wholly disguise the shakiness of his voice.

"Sam kept the connection open and it slowed the whole process down.  She's not connected anymore.  You have to get to Teal'c before it's too late."

Gesturing at the vines, he said, "How come these ones aren't coming loose and how come when I tried to touch them I got zapped?"

There was another brief waver of composure before, Daniel turned to him.

"I'm not gonna make it, Jack."

Jack halted.

"What?"

His friend closed his eyes and, after a moment, a bubble of clear air appeared around them.  The sounds of the storm overhead seemed suddenly distant.

Opening his eyes again, he said more quietly, "I'm not gonna make it out of here."

His brain not quite ready to process Daniel's statement yet, he gestured at their pocket of clear air.

"How did you...?"

Seeming to understand that he wasn't ready to deal with what he'd just said, Daniel obligingly replied, "I understand this place better than you do.  This isn't just a carbon copy of reality.  It was created based on your perceptions and your understanding.  The laws of physics don't really apply here.  I can see past this representation and it lets me affect things in ways that would be physically impossible."

His brain just wasn't able to process that statement.

"Huh?"

A trace of a lazy smile, Daniel replied, "We're in the Matrix; I'm Neo."

Great, Jack thought, like I didn't get confused enough just watching those films.

After a pause, he continued, "Grelmin's device doesn't have the capacity to process me so if I extend my aura then anything within it becomes almost impossible to process as well."

Jack decided that the conversation was too confusing so he turned back to try and pull the vines from the pale Daniel. 

Daniel turned back to the avoided topic.

"They're connections to you, Jack.  For now, all the facets of their minds are still connected together but, as their awarenesses diminish, they'll begin to fully merge with you.  I extended my aura around her to help you free Sam.  That's why the vines came loose."

Not understanding why the man who looked like his friend was saying these things, he replied, "So do that here."

"I'm dead either way.  Look, ‘Daniel' has been unravelling since he was split from me.  Combined with the morphine overdose, it's...  The only way for me to survive now would be to merge myself back into him."

"So do that."
There was a tinge of anger to the impatient retort.

"But if I do that, Jack, then I'll be ‘him' again and the ascended knowledge will be buried too deeply to even access unconsciously.  That means I won't be able to break the rules of this place anymore.  I won't know anymore than you do about how to get us out of here.  And we'll end up stuck in the same situation all over again.  Only they'll be no way out for any of you either."

"Daniel, leaving you in here is not an option."

"I have to be able to stop Grelmin interfering, Jack.  I won't be able to do that if I'm him again."

"So we'll find a way anyway.  Work with me here."

Daniel shook his head obstinately.  Turning to the pale version of his friend, he pressed down on his shoulder and closed his eyes for a moment.  Addressing that version, he said, "I won't leave here without you.  There has to be another way out of this."

"I'm telling you, Jack, there isn't."

Tersely, but heavily laced with emotion, he snapped, "I wasn't talking to you!  I will not let my friend die here.  So why don't you just go away and let me and him figure a way out?"

He knew that the glowy guy had as much right to be called real Daniel as the half-buried scarecrow did; hell, probably more...but...

More softly, sounding slightly stung, the glowy one said, "All right."

Surprised at the response, Jack turned to lock eyes with him.  His glowing robes had vanished and had been replaced with a set of fatigues and his expression was one of anxious uncertainty. 

Sitting down and crossing his legs, he shut his eyes.  In their bubble, silence reigned for almost a minute before Jack finally grew impatient.

"Well?"

Daniel half-opened an eye.

"There's one way this could work.  But it'll be dangerous.  You'd be better off leaving me here."

"Already told you that's not an option."

In the manner of Teal'c, Daniel inclined his head slightly in acceptance and closed his eyes again.  After several more minutes of silence, he raised his hand out in front of him, fingers outstretched.  As he waved it slowly, a campfire sprang up out of nowhere. 

Opening his eyes to look upon it, he said, "This will protect you from Grelmin until the embers die out so long as you don't leave the circle."

After a slight pause, he continued, "You need my knowledge to get out of here.  If I bring back Daniel then that knowledge becomes too deeply...."

"Haven't we been over this part already?"

"Yes, but I... I can keep the essential knowledge close enough to the surface that it'll affect ‘Daniel's' actions.  Instinct; odd impulses; a funny feeling... that's as much as I can give him but it might just be enough."

"Okay, let's do it."

"Thing is, Jack, at this point without going completely dormant, I'm still going to be a drain on him.  That's why I need to bind him to you."

Utterly confused now, Jack replied, "Isn't that Gizmo's idea?"

"No, but it's even more dangerous.  I bind him to you and he can survive but it's gonna cost you, Jack.  It could be the death of us all."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean that you are the only intact awareness we've got.  If you get compromised then there's nothing to stop Grelmin making us into his monster.  Keeping me going could all but lose you your advantage.  You'll be totally at the mercy of Sam and Teal'c."

Remembering the gazes of the two sociopaths glaring at him before the sedative kicked in, he shivered inwardly.  Without much hope, he said, "But they'll play along soon as we pull them back in here, right?  Cos they won't be all messed up anymore?"

"Afraid not, Jack.  The parts in here will take time to reconnect even if we can keep Grelmin out of the way long enough.  Plenty of time for either one of them to seize control and, if either does, that's it.  We'll be a Ha'ranas and you already know what that means."

"So what do I do?"

"Keep the fire going until he wakes up.  Get Teal'c to the chamber.  After that..."

Climbing to his knees, he continued, "Well, after that Daniel should know what to do."

"Shouldn't you just tell me?  You know, in case ‘he' doesn't?"

"Not much point in that."

"Why?"

"Cos if he doesn't know what to do then what I'm about to try didn't work and you're already screwed."

Flatly, Jack replied, "Oh.  Okay then."

Turning to the scarecrow that might once have been Daniel, his doppelganger reached out a hand and then dropped it down again.

"If he's... too far gone then this could all be too late... Are you sure you...?"

Jack nodded almost imperceptibly and yet with total conviction.

Bowing his head slightly in reply, his friend closed his eyes.  Slowly, an aura of light began to build around him whilst at the same time his mass diminished until he was nothing but a glowing ball of light again.  The glowing tendrils reached out towards the half-buried scarecrow and licked around him until it was impossible to discern the tendrils from the vines.  Then, for a moment, the tendrils became wrapped with blue electricity before - with an unnatural noise - the glowing form of Daniel seemed to be sucked into the vines. 

In this bubble of impossibility, little of the sound of the storm could be heard and Jack was achingly aware of the otherwise deathly silence.  The ghoulish scarecrow, only just recognisable as his friend, still hung, lifeless and still with crackling blue energy all but engulfing it.  As the seconds became minutes, he began to wonder if something had gone wrong.  He'd lost his would-be guide and didn't appear to be getting the compensation of getting his friend back.  Maybe he'd just thrown away his only chance of any of them making it out of here in one piece.     

Absentmindedly feeding stray twigs into the fire, he stopped to wonder about the fact that neither he, nor his silent companion, was even slightly wet.  Something to do with the not-really-physics of this place, he guessed. 

Shifting away from the fire and back to his friend, he brushed his hand through Daniel's short hair and tried not to wince at the icy chill of the skin beneath it.  He looked so goddamned dead but he knew, if he tried to find a reassuring pulse, he was likely to be disappointed.  If Daniel didn't wake up then he was as good as a Ha'ranas right now...

Gingerly, he tried to shift the vines from around his friend again but it ended the same way it had the last two times he'd tried it... 

"Goddamnit!"

As he sprawled backwards on the ground clutching at his stinging hand, he cursed several times before something distracted him even from the pain. 

There was a bright blue flash and, suddenly, the buzzing energy around his scarecrow friend seemed to vanish.  Nothing else seemed to happen for a moment but then, freakishly, the eyes opened whilst the rest remained motionless.  Climbing back to his knees to stare into those eyes, he saw the same tortured gaze that he'd seen when, during the Stromos incident, Daniel had arisen from his coma to find himself host to a dozen voices.  Then, all he had wanted was to be able to grab a hold of his friend to reassure him with his presence.  Now, he unconsciously went to do the same.  His hand pressing against one of his pale shoulders, he said, "Daniel?"

His friend's terrified eyes swivelled round to lock with his but not even a muscle twitched otherwise.  He hung, frozen and terrified, with vines still encircling him.  Now there was no energy buzzing around, Jack went to pull the vines apart but found they were unnaturally tough.  As those eyes pleaded with him to do something, Jack's own eyes scanned desperately around for something he could use on the vines.  There was nothing within the circumference of the campfire and he had no idea what would happen to either of them if he dared to venture past the curtain of raindrops.  He was about to despair when he realised that there was one thing he'd discounted... 

Reaching over to the fire itself, he jostled the sticks and pulled a lit one from the fire.  He had no idea if this would even work but it was his best shot right now. 

The reaction of the vines was... unexpected.  He'd visualised that they might flinch away from the flames, as they'd originally flinched away from his touch, or that they might scorch more conventionally and weaken to the point they were breakable.  Instead, to his horror, the flame seemed to jump from the stick to the vine then, instantaneously, all the vines were ablaze.  As unbearable heat washed over him, Jack reactively shifted backwards and could only watch in stunned disbelief as his friend was engulfed in flames. 

"Daniel!"

God, what had he done?  He had to do something!  Leaping to his feet, he pulled off his jacket and went to throw it around Daniel to try to beat down the flames.

As Daniel opened his eyes, he found he could think of nothing beyond the utter terror of discovering he was completely paralysed.  It took several seconds for thought to become coherent enough to realise that there was a figure sprawled on the ground in front of him and several more seconds to realise that that figure was Jack O'Neill. 

His friend's presence caused the panic to recede enough that he could begin to take stock of his situation.  He appeared to be restrained by vines which Jack was trying, and failing to rip apart.  Unable to aid in his own rescue, he turned his consideration to how he'd got to this situation.  The last thing he could recall was a feeling of constriction and Sam and Teal'c calling his name... no, hadn't it been talking to Jack...?

Then his contemplation was interrupted as he caught sight of the flaming stick in Jack's hand.  Gingerly, his friend reached forward and...

It happened so quickly that he'd hardly figured out what happened before his nerves began screaming with pain.  Still paralysed, Daniel found that he couldn't even cry out as the flames licked around him.  Then the world grew dark around him as thick fabric was draped quickly across his head and torso.

Suddenly, all the heat and the pain vanished and he was left in a cocoon of fabric.  He could feel hands beating against him through the cocoon and flinched away from the force.  Belatedly, realising that he'd moved, he tried out his voice.

"Jack?"

The hands froze for a moment before the jacket swiftly shifted out of the way to reveal his friend's face.  The expression was one of frozen disbelief and, after several moments, a tentative hand reached forward to pat at his miraculously uncharred flesh. 

Jack breathed, "I'll never get used to this place."

After taking a few more moments, seemingly to reassure himself that he really wasn't looking at a charred corpse, his friend reached forward to try and free him again. 

He began to ask, "Jack, where..."

Trailing off, he watched as the vines around him all retracted back into the ground aside from the one wrapped round his arm; the one Jack had just laid his hand against.  The buried end of that one sprang up like a serpent and, without warning, snared itself around his friend's wrist.  Reactively pulling away from it, Jack stumbled and awkwardly fell on his face. 

"Jack!"

Eventually, there came a somewhat muffled, "Right; meant it literally.  Fine."

Belatedly becoming aware of the fact that he was half-buried in mud, Daniel used his free arm to try and drag himself up out of it.  It proved easier than he had imagined as the mud appeared to be more like moist soil and released him without much opposition.  Eventually free, he turned to look down at the remaining vine that was now strung between his wrist and Jack's like some organic shackle. 

"Jack, what's going on?"

There were several moments of silence before, pulling himself up again, his friend replied, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I... I'm not sure... I've kind of got conflicting... I don't know."

He was becoming irritated at the fact his mind seemed to be working so slowly that you could hear the individual cogs turning.  He decided it was unlikely he was gonna catch up with the grand scheme of things anytime soon so it'd probably be wiser to focus on more current events.

Examining their odd tether, he asked, "Shouldn't we try and get ourselves free from this thing?"

There was no mistaking the alarm in his friend's eyes but he levelly replied, "No, we shouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because you said...  Because we just shouldn't."

Ah, okay, so the man wasn't in the mood for fielding questions from the audience.  However, he really wanted some answers so he persisted.

"What just happened?  With the fire?"

He almost felt sorry for asking the question because Jack visibly blanched at it before shakily replying, "Sorry.  Didn't know it would do that..."

His friend's eyes darted in the other direction before focusing determinedly on the vine wrapped around his wrist.  As Daniel glanced the other way, he realised that his first question should probably have related to the fact that he appeared to be in the most precise and stable eye of a storm that had ever existed.  Since it hadn't been the first thing to occur to him, it made him think he'd already seen something like it before...

As the memories flooded back at overwhelming pace, he winced slightly and looked at Jack.  His friend obviously caught his expression because, shifting closer, he said, "Daniel?"

"I remember now."

"Remember what?"

"The last thing."

"The last... oh, what is it?"

"Grelmin came in here looking for us.  He asked us to... well, to give up our individuality by... terminating our awarenesses.  His version of doing things the easy way."

His friend visibly shivered at the comment.

"And then what?"

"Then we politely declined and he... well, forced the issue... I hadn't been feeling well... Think I was the easiest target.  The vines came out of the ground and grabbed me and then..."

He half-heartedly mimed the act of getting sucked down into the earth and finished, "After that it's a blank."

Then, a suddenly flash of realisation led to a desperate rush of words.

"Sam!  Teal'c!  Did he...?  Are they...?"

Obviously knowing exactly how up to speed on the situation he was now, Jack simply replied, "Both ended up like you.  Carter made it to the gate before they got her and Teal'c wasn't all that far behind but..."

He seemed to shake himself from whatever he'd started thinking about and continued, "Carter's free but still out of it.  We... I took her back to the pedestal room.  The one in here I mean... Well, in real life she's there too but..."

Too confused to think beyond the here and now, he cut him off.

"And now what?"

"Now we have to get Teal'c.  Once you're good to go, that is."

Trying to pull himself to his feet, he began, "Then let's go n..."

Staggering, he fell heavily into Jack who supported him back to the ground.

"Yeah, not so fast, big fella.  Don't think you're all back in one piece just yet."

There was no mistaking the sensation of all the blood draining from your head.

"I think you could be right about that."

The sensation of Jack's arms supporting him reminded him of recent events when he'd been... and there'd been a car... and Teal'c was...  Wait that made no sense.  Cos the last thing he remembered was here... but it was such a clear memory of the feeling of cold glass against his cheek as he slumped against the window of the car door...

He vocalised his puzzled thoughts.

"Jack, what happened after I got sucked into the mud here?"

His friend seemed hesitant to answer so Daniel prompted him with the only clear image from the inexplicable memory.

"Teal'c helping me into a car?"

He'd half-expected the only response to be arched eyebrows over bemused eyes but, instead, came a disbelieving, "You mean you remember being you?"

"What?"

Grimacing slightly, Jack said, "It's a long story... a long confusing story.  And, like you already know, it starts with me being a total ass..."

There was a pause before he continued, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Letting this whole thing get to me the way I did?  Being a less than gracious host and making you all shut up?  Getting you stuck back inside my head?  Take your pick, really."

Daniel could remember his dark thoughts when he'd sat round a similar impossible campfire with Sam and Teal'c; the anger he'd felt at his friend's harsh words towards them; the sense of rejection and betrayal that those words had invoked within him. 

But, remembering Teal'c's words, he found it in him to say, "It's okay, Jack.  We all knew it hadn't been easy for you."

At hearing his own words, Daniel felt almost ashamed of his earlier reaction.  He, more than anyone, should've known exactly what it had cost Jack to share his head like that. 

Apparently unwilling to accept the excusal, his friend retorted, "Yeah, like it was easy on you."

After a pause, he looked to the sky.

"I screwed up... big time.  And I'm sorry..."  Turning to look him straight in the eyes, he finished, "And I have to fix it.  But I'm gonna need your help to do that."

Feeling any residual resentment fade away, Daniel smiled weakly.

"Guess I'd better hear that long confusing story then."

Daniel's mind was reeling.  Jack'd told him all about ‘Gizmo' and his twisted view on his life's work which he thought he'd pretty much grasped but, as for what had been going on in the real world... well, it'd been a little hectic, to say the least.  Okay, so as far as he understood it, his mind had been shredded to pieces along with that of Sam and Teal'c... then Jack had apparently gone subconsciously super-genius and figured out how to reverse the process.  But Grelmin had sort of double-crossed him and shoved all the bits he deemed ‘good' back into their bodies and the other bits he'd left in Jack's head.

Right, and they'd all woken up and Jack'd thought they were all right but there was something wrong with them all.  Okay, but then he'd collapsed because too much of his mind was left inside Jack's for some reason his friend said he'd get to.  Anyway, the others hadn't collapsed... but had literally gone psycho because they were both apparently missing a soul.  Then there'd been a rather mind-spinning aside in which Sam had decked a highway patrol officer before he'd reached the latest dizzying revelation that Teal'c had tried to kill him with a morphine overdose in a rather stalker-like act of protectiveness.

"He... what?"

Jack shrugged with affected nonchalance.

"Said he'd protected you from me so I couldn't hurt you anymore.  Tried to kill me for what I let happen to you all."

"Teal'c didn't blame you, Jack.  Real Teal'c, I mean."

Obviously unconvinced, his friend retorted, "Part of him obviously did.  Part of you does too..."

Daniel wondered what he'd said or done, whilst half of him had been back in the real world, to make his friend think that. 

Trying to bring him back to the problem at hand, he said, "Jack, if you want me to be honest about it then, yes, you were an ass..."

...and, yes, I was pissed at you for taking out your frustration on us when we were all in the same damn boat and every bit as frustrated as you...

"...but you couldn't've known what'd happen after that; and you can't go back change it now.  So let's just do whatever you came here to do and get us the hell out of your head.  All right?"

As Jack turned to look at him again, he struggled to his feet and, found he could stay upright this time.

"So where's Teal'c?"

Jack spared a glance to the vine that now acted as a tether between him and Daniel.  It was rather useful, really, given that the rapidly deteriorating weather was making it impossible to keep track of him at the same time as trying to determine which way they should be heading.  Even so, it'd taken longer than he would've liked to relocate Teal'c but, now the Jaffa's half-buried form had finally appeared on the horizon.

Satisfied, he announced, "There he is."

It wasn't until he heard the strangled cry of horror that he remember that the Daniel beside him hadn't actually seen anyone caught in these vine things before. 

Quickly, he reassured, "He's not dead.  We just need to get him out of those vines."

Not sounding all that reassured, the dripping civilian asked, "How?  Do we have to set them on fire?"

"No!  I... anyway we've got nothing to start a fire with."

He hadn't meant to yell but the image of Daniel engulfed in flames was too fresh in his mind.  Damnit, twice in his life now he'd watched Daniel Jackson seemingly burn to death and to his mind that was at least two times too many. 

Refocusing, he replied, "No, we have to find another way."

Jack assessed the situation.  The crackling blue energy had vanished - possibly at the same moment it had died away from Daniel - but the vines were still unnaturally strong.  Experimentally, he pulled to see if they'd just fall away or even bind Teal'c to him like had happened with Daniel.  Speaking of his friend, he wished he'd thought to ask the glowy version a couple more specifics on ‘get Teal'c'. 

He looked up to see if the non-glowy version had any more conventionally bright ideas when he realised his friend was staring past him with a look of dread. 

Scared what he might see, he slowly turned round to face...

He heard Daniel's voice, quiet and calm but edged with apprehension.

"Grelmin."

Unconsciously shielding both Teal'c and Daniel from him, he felt his heart beating faster as he faced off against the wacko scientist.

"You can just get the hell out of here right now."

"I cannot.  I must assist you."

All-too-aware of what ‘help' Grelmin had already tried to give, Jack snapped, "If it's all the same to you; think we'll be better off on our own.  I'm getting them the hell out of here.  I'm not gonna let you finish what you started.  So you can just go to hell."

He glared at him with his most unrelenting expression but then, suddenly, heard Daniel yelp, "Teal'c?  Jack!"

Spinning around as he felt the pull on the tether, he saw Daniel had launched himself at Teal'c and wrapped his arms around his torso.  The reason became obvious an instant later when he saw Teal'c inch downwards into the mud. 

He breathed, "Crap."

Launching himself forward as well, he wrapped his arms around his trapped friend and, together, he and Daniel tried to haul Teal'c's torso back out of the mud.  The vines pulled back with equal ferocity leading to a sum total of no progress.  Jack locked eyes with Daniel before both turned to Grelmin.

"Let him go, Gizmo!"

"I cannot allow you to continue on this foolish course."

"Don't you get it yet?"

Gritting his teeth as he tried to keep Teal'c from being sucked down, Daniel continued for him, "We're not gonna continue your work, Grelmin; we're not gonna fight your war."

Not even missing a beat, Jack added, "Your people are all dead.  The other side won already."

"Why can you not understand the importance of my work?  Why can you not understand that the Ha'ranas are more important that any war.  It is about evolution.  The dawn of a new breed of humans."

Muscles straining, his friend snapped, "This isn't evolution.  That takes time.  This is just a science experiment."

"One that went really really wrong."

"No."

Pulling at Teal'c again, Daniel said, "They wouldn't fund your research so you poisoned your planet.  You did the enemy's work for them..."

"And now you're going to let us die too.  And for what?  For something that's never going to work."

"But it does work."  

They were already starting to tire.  If they didn't stop the vines from pulling, there was no way they were gonna be able to keep Teal'c above ground much longer. 

Jack growled, "How many Ha'ranas are there even left?  In the whole galaxy?  And not including the dazzling success that is me?"

Slightly flustered, Grelmin replied, "There are none."

"Why?"

"Imperfections in the transfer, the introduction of flawed minds and problems with incompatability.  But once it is perfected..."

"It'll never be perfected, you idiot.  Know why?  Because people aren't perfect.  Sometimes we're not even compatible with ourselves."

Trying to brace himself better to stop Teal'c's inexorable descent, his friend added, "And you can't just filter bits out of people.  Like fear; it sometimes makes you hold back but it also makes you careful.  If you use it right, fear is a good thing.  Someone with no fear's a danger to everyone.  We need to be imperfect.  And we need to be individual.  It's never gonna work."

Ignoring his friend and, instead, turning to him, the idiot implored, "But it does.  Do you not see?  With you, the components were flawed but the whole was becoming a being beyond mere perfection.  Surely, you could taste the potential?  You could still become that being.  The other occupiers can never be restored to what they were but we could still resto...."

Another thought appeared to have occurred to Daniel who cut Gizmo off mid-word.

"Why are you in that device, Grelmin?  Did they figure out what you were?  What you'd made them into?  Our Doctor told us her best guess of cause of death was a stab wound to the abdomen.  Did the monsters come to lynch their Doctor Frankenstein?"

His expression suggested his friend was right on the money but Gizmo merely replied, "I had to ensure that my work would live on.  I believed our enemy would eventually come to claim our planet for their own and I would be able to continue my work."

Incredulously, Jack said, "For the enemy?"

Obviously with more understanding, his friend replied, "Science never mixes well with politics, does it?"

Grelmin actually responded to him this time.

"My breakthrough was something beyond their petty disagreement; something that shall benefit all people."

Dripping with rain and buffeted by wind, Jack was finding it increasingly difficult to stay anchored.

"Maybe you haven't noticed but so far your breakthrough doesn't seem to be benefiting all that many people.  Mostly cos you keep killing them, you idiot!"

He and Daniel shared a look over the top of Teal'c.  They both knew that unless they could get those vines to release him, the Jaffa would soon be lost beneath the surface.  He couldn't say he was a hundred percent sure of what would actually happen to Teal'c if he went under but he guessed it wouldn't exactly be a positive step.  Gritting his teeth, he heaved. 

Then, suddenly, he was bearing all the weight as Daniel released his hold on the Jaffa.  Their friend sank several inches before Jack was able to arrest his descent again.  He looked up desperately for some sort of explanation from Daniel who was looking almost surprised at his own actions.

Shaking himself from his trance, he quietly said, "Grelmin's right, Jack, we can't stop this.  Let him go."

In his peripheral vision, he could see Gizmo's eyes light up at the comment before he growled, "We can't just give up!"

But then he looked up at Daniel and saw no surrender in his eyes.  Instead, he saw that look he'd seen a thousand times before: the look Daniel gave him when he wanted him to believe the impossible; to trust him above his own common sense; to believe in him with an almost blind faith.  Thing was, he sorta did. 

Guess you really weren't joking about having broken me in, huh?

Letting go of Teal'c without another word of protest, he locked eyes with Daniel and tried to reassure himself that this leap of faith wasn't more a case of following a blind man off a cliff.  He couldn't say his friend's expression was all that reassuring. 

He tried not to watch as the Jaffa sank slowly into the ground.  Instead, responding to Daniel's pointed look, he turned his smouldering glare onto the delighted Gizmo.

"Get the hell out of here."

Looking offended that his assistance wasn't appreciated, Gizmo nevertheless bowed his head before turning and walking away.  Obviously now they were back on ‘schedule' he wasn't overly concerned about interfering. 

When he had disappeared, Jack saw that only Teal'c's head and shoulders were visible above the ground. 

"Hope you know what you're doing."

Daniel turned away from him slightly and nodded.

"Yeah, so do I...."

Before Jack could even wonder at his friend's expression, the curled fist snapped into his face and he felt himself falling backwards with head spinning.  His descent turned into an awkward twirl as he reached the end of the tether's reach.  He must've at least greyed out for a moment because the next he knew, he heard Daniel saying, "Jack?  You okay?"

Shaking his head to clear it, he growled, "Of course I'm not, you hit..."

Then he realised that Teal'c's torso was above the surface again only, this time, without the vines around him. 

Shocked enough to temporarily push aside the fact Daniel had tried to rearrange his face, he said, "How...?"

Apologetically, his friend and assailant replied, "I'll explain but help me get him out of the mud before you've totally come to again."

Not even sure how to respond to that, Jack simply got to his feet and helped his friend haul the Jaffa out of the mud. 

As they did so, he said, "Well?"

"Well, we're in your head, right?  And we know all these storms and mud and vines and things represent your mind fighting against us.  I wasn't sure you being unconscious in here would do the same as in the real world but..."

Okay, so Jack got it now.  With him out of it, this imaginary world hadn't been able to keep its hold on Teal'c.  Didn't stop his imaginary jaw aching but did lessen his not-so-imaginary urge to smack imaginary Daniel across the back of his imaginary head. 

Trailing off in his explanation, his friend just put on his ‘very regretful puppy' expression and then smiled weakly.

"Sorry."

Damnit, he never could resist that look.  Knowing that his friend had only done what was necessary and that he'd been an ass earlier, he sighed, "Hell, kinda deserved it anyway."

With that, arranging themselves with regards to the tether, each took one tree-trunk arm over their shoulder and they headed off.

As they neared the building which housed the pedestal device, Daniel glanced over past Teal'c at where Jack was rubbing at his jaw.  He winced slightly and prayed, when this was all over, he wasn't partnered with Jack for hand-to-hand for at least the next few weeks.  He wasn't quite sure where the whole idea had flashed from but he'd felt rather compelled to follow it through.  And, he had to admit, it had been a little more satisfying than it ought to have been.

At least, he reassured himself, his shot in the dark had worked.  Decking Jack and not freeing Teal'c as a result would probably have proved hazardous to his health.  Not that their friend was looking all that much better now he'd been released.  Jack, though, had reassured him that they just had to get him to the pedestal room then all would be well. 

Walking down the narrow passageway into the pedestal room, he and Jack were forced to walk sideways with Teal'c between them as they would've got stuck just walking straight forwards.  As it opened out into the main chamber, Daniel found himself halting as he was confronted with the vision of what looked like Sam's corpse.  Shaking himself back into action, he assisted Jack in laying Teal'c down on the opposite side of the pedestal to Sam. 

There was a distinct look of relief on Jack's face as he straightened up.

"All right, Daniel, this is your show.  What do we do now?"

"What?  Why would you think I'd know what to do?  It was you who brought me here."

A look of dread settled on his friend's face.

"You mean you don't know?"

"Should I?"

"He said if it'd worked, you'd know."

He was feeling utterly bemused now; especially as he appeared to be letting Jack down somehow.

"Know what?  Who said?  If what worked?

As he locked pleading gazes with his friend, Jack leaned back against the wall and gestured for them both to sit down against it.  Doing so, Daniel turned plaintive eyes on him again. 

Irritably scrubbing at his wet hair, Jack paused for a moment before saying, "D'you remember back when I told you I'd been having sorta visions where I talked to you?"

It seemed like about a hundred years had passed since then but, yeah, he did remember.

"Where I had the Chimera book?"

Jack nodded.

"Well, after you were all... well, I thought back to normal... you turned up again...  He told me he was like some part of you that got split off by Grelmin.  Sort of your... um, ascended side, I guess?"

That sure got his attention.

"You mean he knew...?"

Jack simply shrugged.

"Dunno.  Actually, don't think he knew much more about bein' glowy than you do but he did know what was happening to us and how to fix it."

"So how?"

"There's the snag in the plan.  See, to get you back, he had to go back under.  So we can't talk to him anymore."

"To get me back?  Jack, ya think you maybe left out a few subplots in that long story of yours?"

As his friend nodded slightly, he indicated their odd tether.

"Like this thing?"

Jack looked off to the other wall for a moment before saying, "All right...look, the reason I'm in here is because the glowy you told me there was a way to save you all.  He helped me get Carter here but when we found you..."

His friend halted for a moment then, looking down at his hands, continued, "He told me that I could have his help or I could get you back.  Not both."

Not knowing quite what to reply, he waited until Jack continued, "He sort of went back... into you... which was very weird... and..."

Daniel quipped, "And that's where I came in and got set on fire?"

He instantly regretted the mention of the fire because his friend visibly shivered.

"Yeah."

Diverting him from the image obviously now distressing him, he asked, "And the vine thing we just shouldn't try and take off?"

Placing his hand on top of the vine that encircled his wrist, Jack looked down at it.

"Don't really understand it myself... but it keeps you alive so I'm all for not removing it."

Eyes widening at the revelation, Daniel went to say something but he wasn't sure what the hell there was to say to that.  A line between him and Jack that kept him alive seemed to suggest that it was Jack who was somehow keeping him alive and who knew at what detriment to himself.   

But before he could ask any questions along those lines, Jack locked eyes with him.

"Look, he said he'd leave you enough knowledge so you'd know what to do.  Daniel, have a look around.  Maybe something will jog your memory.  Try, please..."

Agreeing more because of the pleading look in Jack's eyes than because he thought he had any chance of knowing what to do next, Daniel got back to his feet and looked around the room.  Well, there wasn't a naquadha reactor which would seem to be a stumbling block so far as doing anything with the pedestal device.  Nevertheless, he continued to look around with Jack following behind him.

He couldn't quite get his head around the fact that there was some part of him, below his conscious awareness. which had been acting independently; like he was just a fragile shell over some deeper, darker and vastly more knowledgeable persona.  It was an unnerving thought. 

Looking around, he told himself that Jack appeared to have sacrificed a sure way out for three of them for a dubious gamble to save them all so he had to repay him by making that bet pay off.  It was just that he didn't have the slightest idea how to do that.  After all, he didn't have even the sensation of any latent knowledge supposedly left by ‘glowy' him.

Or did he?  What about when Grelmin had been sucking Teal'c down into the ground?  That flash of inspiration had appeared to come from nowhere but... had it really?  What if that had been something like what Jack was talking about? 

Slowing at the thought, he looked around with a renewed determination.  Allowing himself to be guided by impulse, he walked over to the writings on the wall.  The words on the wall did seem to come far more easily to his mind than seemed explicable even by his work on the translations back on earth. 

Tracing his hands over the engravings on the wall, he knew that any knowledge gathered there would be of little use but it had made him realise that there was definitely latent knowledge in his mind that there shouldn't have been. 

Turning, he gave Jack an apologetic shrug for pulling him around like a dog before stepping over towards the pedestal device.  This one looked exactly like the real thing but without power...

Not turning towards his friend, he asked, "This other me...did I...he...tell you anything about this thing?"

"Something about if I think it'll work then it'll work but don't know what in the hell that's supposed to mean."

The beginnings of an idea were forming.

"In the real world we're all linked up through this thing, right?"

"Yeah."

"So are minds are all connected up right now.  We don't need this device to do that... we need it to push the process forward."

Jack sounded understandably dubious of the suggestion.

"Uh, we do?"

"Jack, remember this thing when it activated the first time."

"Course I do."

"No, Jack, remember this thing when it activated the first time."

Finally realising it was a request rather than a question, he said, "Um... Carter touched the crystal and..."

Daniel sighed and tried again.

"No, don't tell me about it.  Remember it.  Close your eyes.  Concentrate on the image."

Confused, his friend did as instructed.  Daniel wondered if this idea was inspired or just complete lunacy.  He was almost about to tell Jack to forget it when he saw a weak purple glow amongst the ring of broken crystal.

Fascinated, he went to step towards it without remembering about the leash.  As Jack stumbled from the unexpected movement, the glow faded. 

Opening his eyes, the Colonel said, "What?"

Cursing himself for wrecking it, Daniel replied, "It was working.  Try again, Jack."

Jack acceded to his strange request a second time without any further protest.  Mindful of the leash this time, Daniel watched as the glow reappeared in the crystals.  It grew in intensity before suddenly shooting up to the ceiling.  As the ripple shot out from it, he lost consciousness.

In reality, Grelmin's device glowed white as the energy spiked.

There was a moment... just a moment... when Jack didn't just know what the others knew but understood it all as well as they did.  For that moment, the entire universe opened up before him and, through the eyes of an astrophysicist, he could view the galaxies in all their grandeur.  Simultaneously, through the eyes of an archaeologist and anthropologist he saw the civilisations scattered amongst the stars and how, despite their relative inconsequentiality in both time and space, they were no less glorious to behold.  Through the eyes of a century-old Jaffa, he could see the wonders of freedom juxtaposed with the cruelty of slavery and how, in a cold, unfair universe, there was still a place for honour. 

Then, for the slightest, slightest, instant, through the eyes of a former ascended being, he could see past infinity...

The brightness around him became overwhelming and he pulled his hand up to shield his eyes. 

As he pulled it down, however, he slowly became aware that he was no longer able to see anything in universal terms and, belatedly, that he was no longer in the pedestal room.  Instead, he was standing on a plush carpet in the lobby of what looked to him like the hotel and casino in Vegas where he'd lost rather a sizeable chunk of his pay a couple of years before he'd met Sara.  Though Vegas hotels never closed up for the night, this one appeared rather deserted.  He became aware that he could make out the sound of distant conversation.  

As he went to walk towards it, however, he realised that Daniel was nowhere to be seen.  Looking down at where the vine should have been wrapped around his wrist, he found it was bare.  Feeling his heart beat faster at the revelation, he tried to suppress the desire to panic.  That vine somehow kept his friend going so its disappearance couldn't be good.   

Telling himself his friend had to be okay, he followed the sound of conversation towards a door where it seemed to grow louder.  With a last glance back, in the hope Daniel would suddenly have appeared, he shifted through it.

He was greeted by a familiar voice booming, "Hey, if it isn't my favourite Irish cat!  O'Neill, get your ass over here!"

Looking round, Jack saw an equally familiar figure sitting at one of the semicircles of green felt. 

Disbelieving, he said, "T?"

With a watermelon grin and a slick suit, Teal'c was almost unrecognisable.

"Grab a chair, cat.  This table's smokin'."

Sitting down on the stool, uneasily, Jack felt rather out of place sitting in his fatigues when this place was most certainly black tie...

Shaking his head free of such a ludicrous thought, he focused on the rest of the table.  Past Teal'c, sat a woman with long blonde hair pinned in delicate curls.  His gaze trailed further down to where the pale flesh met the sleek curve of the black halterneck dress.  Following the elegant line of the arm to the perfectly manicured hand, Jack practically fell off his seat, as she said, "Split those."

As the dealer did so, Jack incredulously said, "Carter?!"

Turning towards him, he saw the flawless complexion and succulent lips on what was undeniably the face of his second-in-command. 

Smiling knowingly, she said, "Well, if it isn't the Colonel himself...  Are you joining us?"

Though the first comment was undoubtedly addressed to him, the question, oddly, was addressed to his shoulder. 

Before he could answer, a voice behind him said, "Sure."

As she smiled briefly, Jack span round to see...

"Dan...iel?"

His relieved outburst trailed into a question as his friend came into view.  Though it was undeniably Daniel, he looked disquietingly like a certain fictional agent of the British MI6. 

As he slid into the seat to his right and began setting a small stack of chips down onto the felt, Jack asked, "You okay?  The..."

Gesturing to where the leash should be strung between them, he looked up to see Daniel didn't look that concerned by its absence. 

After a pause, he replied, "It's still there, Jack... can't you feel it?"

Arching his eyebrows, he nevertheless found, if he concentrated, he could still feel the shadow of the vine wrapped around his wrist.

As he looked up in surprise, Daniel murmured, "We're still in your mind.  This is just a different representation of it."

"My mind's a casino?"

Smiling slightly, his friend shrugged, "Apparently so."

"So, Irish," Teal'c interrupted, "you putting some chips on the table or what?"

Just as he went to say that he didn't have any money, a large stack of chips appeared in front of him.  Looking round to see the back of a croupier's head as he wandered off, he said, "Huh? But..."

"House credit, cat.  They know you're good for it."

It'd take him a minute to actually tally the chips before him but a quick glance assured him that, even with the accumulation of his rather generous wage, he'd be paying them back with vital organs if he lost all that.

Sending a questioning look at Daniel, he saw his friend shrug before saying, "Since I came complete with chips and yours were just provided, I'm thinking we're supposed to play."

As the cards were shuffled, he pushed a couple of chips in.  Hardly even flicking his eyes in the direction of the chips, the dealer stated, "This is a high stakes table, sir."

This was stupid.  How were they fixing anything playing blackjack?  Getting up from the table, he turned around.

"Leaving so soon, sir?"

"Yeah, I'm..."

Then the dizziness hit.  Falling to his knees, he felt as if the walls were covered in magnets and he was made of metal and being pulled in every direction at the same time.   He could hear thunder cracking all around him as the rain pelted down.  Turning back towards where the table had been, he grabbed blindly for the stool and tried to pull himself back and...

And he was kneeling on the carpet in the casino holding onto the back of the stool as if it were a lifeline.  Feeling self-conscious, he got up and sat on it again. 

The croupier dryly inquired, "Not leaving us then, sir?"

Shakily, Jack replied, "No... um..."

Reluctantly pushing forward a larger stack of chips, Jack glanced round at his friends.  What was this place? 

Daniel was looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Jack, what the hell just...?"

"I dunno.  But don't think they want us leaving the table."

As the first cards were dealt, he looked around and tried desperately to grasp the point of this place.  He looked down to see the jack of spades lying on the felt before him and glanced round to see that Carter had queen of diamonds, Teal'c had the ace of clubs and Daniel had the two of hearts.  He wondered if there was a message there but all he could see was that Daniel hadn't got off to the best of starts.  Dealer had an ace.  

With the skill of a consummate croupier, the second cards had been dealt by the time Jack'd noted the first ones.  He now an ace, meaning he had blackjack so his stake was safe at worst.  Now able to sit back and take in the rest of the game, he looked around.  Carter had another queen, this time of spades.  Teal'c had a ten.  Daniel, meanwhile, was looking at the king of hearts. 

He looked up at the croupier and, with a sideways glance at him, gestured for another card.  As it fell, Jack saw it was another of his namesakes.  Daniel'd lost.  Carter, meanwhile, smugly shoved another pile of chips forward and, signalling, said, "Double down, sweetie."

The card was set down in front of her, face down.  Common sense said that she'd just lost double what she needed to but experience told him that she'd likely just doubled her winnings because that card was going to be an ace.

The dealer turned over his facedown card to reveal the eight of hearts.  Carter's card was flipped to reveal the ace of diamonds and she smiled in a way that suggested she'd known that all along whilst Teal'c just grinned and chuckled slightly as the chips were pushed towards him.  His large pile was also augmented but Daniel...

He turned to his friend and muttered, "What're we supposed to do?"

Shifting through his stack of chips, he replied, "Win, I guess.  I mean, that's the point of this game in real life, right?  This could represent a competition for dominance of you.  Although... well, I mean, this is your representation... what do you think it means?"

Jack just stared blankly at his friend until he clarified, "I mean, what does this place represent to you?"

"This place?  Uh, well last time I was here I kinda got a little stuck at this table and lost.  A lot.  Then tried to win it back and lost a lot more.  This isn't the type of game where you can win the pot.  Doesn't matter how good you are.  Unless you can walk away, house is always gonna win."

Daniel frowned as he absorbed his point and absentmindedly set his new stake down on the table.

"Okay, so maybe it's not about winning.  Maybe it's about still being in the game when the time runs out."

"When what time runs out?"

"You told me that we all got torn into pieces and the only way to put all the pieces together is to let the process continue.  But once they're all back together then someone could claim dominance and we'd be a Ha'ranas again, right?"

"Sort of... yeah, I guess."

"Well I guess that's what we're fighting for."

"Colonel," the overly-sultry voice of Carter interrupted, "some of us have money to make."

As he looked round in confusion, she gestured to the empty felt where he had thus far failed to place his stake. 

Obliging her, he muttered, "And what's with those two anyhow?"

"Asking the wrong guy.  I thought you said they'd turned sociopathic but they don't seem very..."

"This isn't what they were like out there."

"Well, they're pretty context-appropriate.  Even I came in costume.  Guess it could be your head twisting us to fit the setting."

As they played on, he asked his friend, "So it was your idea we came here.  Any bright ideas beyond playing cards?"

"Jack, I know you say there's some part of me that knows what it's doing but I've gotta tell you it's not giving a hell of a lot away to me.  Maybe you would have been better off just letting me..."

Gruffly, he replied, "No, I wouldn't've."

"But now maybe none of us will..."

"Maybe not but if there was a chance we could all get out I had to take it.  And I'm not sorry I did, Daniel.  That said this'd be a hell of a lot easier if we knew what the plan was."

Nodding in agreement, his friend replied, "Yeah..."

From his position at the end of the curved table, Daniel could look across at the other three with nothing obscuring his view.  Jack, aside from an unnaturally careworn expression, looked like himself.  The others, however, looked different - and that was much more than just the costume change he'd had.  When he'd managed to catch Sam's eye... there'd been so little depth behind that gaze that he'd had to look away.  It reminded him of when he'd first looked into Sha're's eyes after she'd been possessed by Amonet.  Outwardly, nothing had fundamentally changed but the eyes had been a window that revealed the missing soul.  When he'd looked into Sam's eyes, the only thing he'd seen was his own reflection.  His friend's image might be here but she was clearly elsewhere. 

As he yet again lost his stake, he saw Jack cast a worried gaze across his rapidly dwindling pile of chips.  He couldn't say he wasn't a little concerned himself because he'd had less chips than the others to begin with and he was yet to even win his stake back never mind actually win something.  Sam's pile was rapidly growing but, then again, she had abilities that let her beat the odds in this game.  Jack was winning more than losing and, besides, would need to lose seriously to make a dent in his pile.  Finally, Teal'c hadn't really advanced in either direction since the game began as he kept winning back what he'd lost.  He freely admitted that his own game was chess, not cards, but even by utter chance he should at least break even a couple of times.  Losing constantly like this was almost as unlikely as a streak of wins. 

Looking up into a triumphant Teal'c's gaze, it was hard to see past the unusually ebullient expression; to look past the grin like the Cheshire Cat and see the man beneath.  However, as he finally locked eyes with him, he found himself again looking into two depthless pools.  It was no more his friend than the woman that looked like Sam was. 

As the cards proved to be against him once again, he looked around at his friends before glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the casino.  Aside from this table, the rest of the place was actually rather hazy and ill-defined.  He wondered if Jack looked round would that bring it into focus?  In here, Jack really was the centre of the universe...  Squinting, however, he thought that he could see someone standing in the distance watching them play.  Nudging Jack, his friend turned to him questioningly and, catching his gaze, he gestured for him to turn to face behind him. 

As predicted, as his friend's gaze swept the room, the casino floor behind them came into sharp focus but, where the figure had stood moments before, there was no-one to be seen. 

Seeing nothing, his friend asked, "What is it?"

"I... must've been seeing things."

Just then, the girl came around getting drinks orders.  As not-Sam and not-Teal'c ordered theirs, Jack kept his questioning expression on him but then the waitress reached him and he was distracted.  Looking back over his shoulder, he thought he could make out the fuzzy image of the figure again but, this time, he went to get up from the table. 

"Hey!  What're you...?"

He looked down to see his friend's hand now tightly grasped his arm.

"Didn't you hear me?  They don't want us leaving the table."

"Sorry," he replied, "wasn't thinking."

Sitting down again, he glanced up once more to where the figure might've stood before the girl came to his side.

"Something I can get you, sir?"

He was about to wave her away when, quickly, Jack replied on his behalf.

"He'll have a Vodka Martini.  Shaken; not stirred."

He went to roll his eyes at Jack when he saw his friend's concerned gaze had fallen upon him.  Once the girl had gone, he said, "You can't get up from the table, okay?  Trust me on that one."

Responding to the concern, he nodded slowly before looking back round at what seemed to almost certainly be a figure in the distance.  Feeling down to where he could still sense the now-invisible bond between him and Jack, he looked down at the chips, across at the others then back at the figure again. 

Watching Daniel's movements warily, Jack distractedly set his stake down in front of him.  Looking down at his rapidly shrinking pile of chips, his friend shook his head.

"I don't think I can win here, Jack."

Then, suddenly, he scooped up his chips and, before he could respond, shoved them down before himself. 

"Daniel, what're you..."

The first card had flicked down in front of him.  He watched, frozen, as the rest of the cards were dealt and Daniel's second fell down.  He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the two jacks.  Of course, there was still a risk but...

"Hit me."

In utter disbelief, he felt his head snap round to see his friend's determined expression.

"Daniel...?"

But before he could ask him what he thought he was playing at, he saw the king of hearts land on the felt.  His own heart felt like it might heave out of his chest and land beside it as the implications sank in.

Voice heavy with dread, he breathed, "You're outta the game..."

As the croupier waited impatiently for him to deal with his own cards, he turned to Daniel.

"Take some chips, quickly, before it's time to bet again."

His friend shook his head.

"It'd just be stalling again." 

Helplessly, he said, "That's the plan, isn't it?  Come on, y'can't just give up."

Impatiently, the croupier demanded, "Sir..."

Ignoring him, he pressed his hand on the felt before his friend and silently demanded a response.

His friend turned and locked eyes with him.

"I'm not.  Keep playing."

"What?"

"You said I needed to do something, Jack.  This is it."

"You know what you're doing?"

Daniel's eyes darted away so he amended himself.

"No, you don't."

But those eyes came back to lock with his.

"I know that this isn't a game we can win.  So I think I have to lose.  Play."

Glancing down at his cards, he saw he had the ten and queen of clubs.  Teal'c, Carter and the croupier were all looking at him but if he made a decision then he couldn't stall the game anymore.  And Daniel'd already lost.

He turned to argue with his friend but he just replied, "Trust me, Jack."

Not breaking gazes with his doomed companion, he said, "I'll stand."

He was only vaguely aware of the game progressing as he kept his helpless gaze fixed on his friend.  Those blue eyes were filled with determination but, equally, with anxious uncertainty. 

As the croupier's second card flipped over, it was revealed to be a nine.  He'd won; Daniel had...

As his chips were lifted from the felt, Daniel rose from his seat and said lightly, "Well, I'm out."

"See you round, cat."

Jack's hand snapped out and again wrapped round Daniel's arm to halt his progress.

"You can't..."

"Find some way to keep everyone in the game as long as you can."

"But..."

"Please, Jack.  Just keep this going."

"You've no idea what'll happen to you when you..."

He trailed off as he saw that his friend was all too well aware of the chance he was taking walking away from the table.  Reluctantly, he lessened the grip on his friend's arm.

With false lightness, the civilian tugged lightly on the tux.

"Hey, the name's Jackson, Daniel Jackson."

For a moment, they shared a dopey grin before Daniel slipped from his grip and stepped out from the table.    

"Hey, wait..."

His friend didn't vanish before his eyes.  There was just a reality with Daniel in it one moment and a reality where he'd never been there the next. 

Grasping helplessly at the air, he breathed, "Damn it..."

Shutting his eyes, he felt the sensation of the tether had faded even more and now felt like gossamer web around his wrist.  But it was still there.  He was still there.  He just wasn't here anymore. 

Turning back to the table, Jack sat back down again.  He had a job to do.

Blinking rapidly, a disorientated Daniel took in his surroundings.  Huh?  Where was this?  He'd expected to end up back in the pedestal room or possibly in another construct imagined up by Jack but this didn't look like either of those.  Instead, he seemed to be in an official building which could've been mistaken for one on earth but for the odd architectural flourishes and the fact the signs were written in the language of Grelmin's planet.  He appeared to be the only person here. 

Brushing his hand along the cool smoothness of a marbled desk, he marvelled at the sheer solidness of his surroundings.  As he did so, he caught sight of his sleeve and realised his tux had changed to something similar to the outfit Grelmin had been wearing when he'd told them all to go terminate themselves.  Starting to get a sort of idea about where he might be now, he wrapped his arms across his chest and tried not to shiver. 

Each footfall echoing too loudly in the eerie silence of this marble Marie Celeste, he made his way forward through the cavernous room wishing he had the first clue what he was doing here. 

"Hello?"

The only reply was his own voice echoed back to him.  As the echo reached him, his mind wandered onto the Greek mythology and lonely little mountain nymph Echo pining for vain Narcissus until she faded away to nothing but a disembodied voice.  Of course, that wasn't even really a myth just a Grecian fairytale but he couldn't help but wonder if his choice to leave that table meant he was soon destined for a similar, and all too real, fate as a mere echo of consciousness within Jack's mind.  In coming here, had he followed the wrong instinct?

Swallowing down the doubt, he began to search with more purpose.  Calling out for the figure watching them in the casino, he raised his voice, "Grelmin?  Grelmin, are you here?"

Sweeping his gaze around, he caught his reflection on the sheer marble desk and... it wasn't him. 

"No way..."

For the bemused face staring back at him was that of the scientist he was looking for.

"I...am him?"

He looked down at his actual hands then reached up quickly to his face. Contrary to the reflection he cast, both face and hands were definitely his. 

Then, finally, it struck him; he must be inside Grelmin's personal memory matrix.  Jack'd told him that his glowy version had been able to access the matrix to some extent which explained why this place seemed eerily familiar to him.  What he was doing here was something more of a mystery.  Surely, without whatever latent knowledge had helped him access the matrix previously, his only way in here would be by invitation... 

"Occupier."

Spinning around, he came face to face with the real Grelmin currently wearing SG-1 fatigues.  The scientist smiled at him.

"Welcome, Occupier."

"What am I doing here?"

"My thanks for removing yourself from the process.  Assessment has revealed your matrix contains too many anomalies; I believe these would have led to instabilities in the Awareness.  It is a pity; you possess many favourable aspects which would have enhanced the whole but I cannot risk compromising the Ha'ranas."

Leaning against the desk, Daniel sighed.  Perhaps nothing Grelmin had done had been done with malevolent intent but calling a man that'd committed virtual genocide against his own people ‘misguided' seemed rather an understatement.  He got the impression there wasn't a hell of a lot he could say that would convince the man that this whole Ha'ranas thing was not all that good an idea.    

Instead, he glanced around again.

"So where is this?  Or, should I say: where was this?"

Looking around, the scientist replied, "You have stood in this place before, Occupier.  This is where what you call the Stargate still stands.  This is how it looked before it was destroyed by an attack through the Stargate by our enemy."

Sure enough, as Daniel followed Grelmin's gesture down the corridor, he saw that at the other end of the massive hallway there was a door through which he could just make out the sweeping arc of the great circle of naquadha.  He wondered for a moment how he could've missed the signs of a ruin on the ground, even with rain and allergies getting in the way, but then remembered the unusual properties of the plants would've meant that they would've destroyed and covered the remains in a lot less time than normal.  Only the height of the Stargate from the ground had saved it from a similar fate. 

"This is why your people couldn't get through the gate to find other sources of food."

"It took many months to uncover the Stargate from beneath the remains and erect it above them."

Not really talking to Grelmin, he said, "And by then, you'd already happened to them."

Earnestly turning to the scientist in a fervent bid to understand the man, he pleaded, "Why did you do it, Grelmin?  How could you knowingly starve your own people to death?"

"That was not my intention.  They refused to seek my assistance for longer than anticipated."

"But you destroyed the planet's ecosystem.  You knew that was going to kill people.  Maybe more died than you intended but you'd already justified the death of some of them.  You killed men, women, children... you killed all the animals, the insects even... without them to pollinate them even most of the plants should be dead except your mineral seems to have kept the originals alive all these years."

"My discovery was worth more than even this planet.  Besides, they would only have destroyed themselves in the war."

Becoming aware that there was probably no way he would ever understand what had driven the scientist to the point of self-justified genocide, he said, "You know, you're not the first person I've ever encountered who's trying to create a more advanced human; you're not even the first who's tried shoving a load of consciousness in the same head; but, even if humans are slowly evolving into something more advanced, it's not something science can just speed up without consequences.  And if your process won't work without removing so much humanity that there's none left then the product isn't an advanced human; it's something else altogether."

The blank expression was all he needed to know the point had been utterly lost on Grelmin.  He sighed again and tried to ignore the swallowed doubts pressing down on whatever it was passed for his heart in here. 

Trying again, no matter how pointless it might be, he continued, "Once, we met a girl who'd been created rather than born.  Her ‘father'' was a genius who had probably considered her his greatest creation but people wouldn't accept her so she made herself ‘toys' for company which she ended up destroying her father's world with in a fit of temper; they got out of her control and, in the end, they nearly destroyed two galaxies.  She didn't mean to hurt anyone and her father hadn't either but..."

His own leaden heart growing heavier still at his mention of Reece and her creation of the Replicators, he recalled looking into her eyes in those final moments before Jack shot her.  Even though she'd just broken his wrist, he couldn't bring himself to hate her; he'd been so sure that she was listening to him; that she was going to make her ‘toys' stop and ‘go to sleep'.  When his friend made it through the door and fired upon her, he'd been so angry at him.  But, he'd seen later, his friend had been right, neither of them could've known that for sure and, given the possible consequences, it was a chance they just couldn't take.  It still didn't make looking her in the eyes as she ‘died' any easier.

Bringing himself back to his point, he continued, "She wasn't evil; but when he made her he'd missed things out.  She was an amazing creation and, in a lot of ways, she was better than a human but he made her wrong.  When you started splitting people into pieces and filtering out the incompatible bits, you changed what they were.  You can believe that the creation of the Ha'ranas is a wonder of science and maybe you're right but you missed things out too; you made them wrong."

When it became clear Grelmin's mind simply refused to acknowledge his words had any merit at all, he grew frustrated and, stepping away from the marble desk, turned back towards it.  Then, with a sharp intake of breath, he asked, "What're you...?"

Because, when he'd turned to where he'd previously cast the reflection of Grelmin, he'd seen his own reflection... only his reflection hadn't turned with him because it wasn't mirroring him...

He straightened up and turned back sharply.

"What're you doing, Grelmin?"

"Four conscious minds are required; the process cannot function with less.  Yours has proved unsuitable therefore I shall have to include my own."

"What?!"

"It is not an ideal situation as I will be unable to coordinate but the compromise is necessary to continue."

"Wait, no, you can't do that...  How will you finish the process if you're a part of it?"

"The awareness has always had the ability to complete the process; I simply must better explain to him what is involved."

"Yeah, like Jack'll listen to..."

As his gaze drifted over their reflections again, he finished lamely, "...me."

Snapping his head back round, he continued, "You're going to pretend to be me."

"Despite all I have done to assist, the awareness seldom heeds my advice.  However, I have observed that he follows the advice you give even when he does not fully believe you or understand your intent.  Overlaying your image onto my matrix may prove useful."

The doubts surrounding his heart compressed around it until it stopped beating altogether. 

Leaving the table was the worst move you could've made.

"As I no longer require this memory matrix, its original function can be restored to allow rapid completion of the process.  That shall unfortunately require your eviction from this occupancy; your erasure from the device."      

With that, the clean marble around them was replaced with rubble. 

Still not caught up with the turn of events, waiting for his heart to beat again, Daniel heard the scientist say, "As I withdraw from the device, the layers of the memory matrix deteriorate.  This is as the planet was in the last months of my former corporeal existence."

He bowed slightly to him before stepping out of the scene like stepping from one page of a book to another.  Grasping helplessly after him, Daniel looked around at the ruins.  Any plans he'd had for trying the gate to see if he could escape this place were rapidly quashed when he saw that it had yet to be uncovered from the rubble of the enemy attack. 

Trying to feel for the connection to Jack, it felt fainter than when he'd arrived here but it was still there.  Pressing his hand where it should be, he closed his eyes, "Sorry, Jack.  Bad plan; really, really bad plan." 

Jack looked around the table at his opponents.  His own betting, he could handle and keeping himself in the game for a reasonable time shouldn't be too tricky given the huge line of credit the house had given him.  As Carter and Teal'c's piles had been roughly equivalent to each other, his own massive line of credit was presumably the advantage that Gizmo liked to rave on about.  God, his head ached just trying to think beyond this representation... but, anyway, they had a problem... because Teal'c was betting big and his pile was definitely beginning to shrink. 

And that wasn't his only problem for, as quickly as the slick Jaffa's pile could disappear, Carter's pile could grow.  With his team, there were a few rules he'd learned when it came to games.  One, never play chess with Daniel unless you were in the mood to walk into checkmate; two, never play poker with Teal'c because, new to the game as he was, you were dealing with a guy who'd had a century to perfect his poker face and, three, no matter how innocent she looked, never ever trust Carter when it came to blackjack... mostly because, mathematical genius that she was, she'd turned out to be rather proficient at the counting of cards.  The problem with that was that Jack had a rather strong suspicion that if she ended up with more chips than him that might just hand the control over to her.  And Carter wasn't exactly herself right now. 

As if all that wasn't enough of a headache, there was another issue.  With gambling, you had to know when to quit but, here, quitting wasn't an option.  With the possible exception of Carter, if they stayed at the table too long they would eventually lose their stake and anything they'd won.  Bottom line, even if he could stall the game, he couldn't keep it going indefinitely and, even in the short-term, keeping the game going might prove far more impossible than it sounded. 

He breathed, "Hope you know what you're doing, Danny."

Not having a clue what he was doing, Daniel was making his way towards the pedestal device.  His journey was made more difficult by the fact that, every so often, another layer of the memory matrix seemed to be stripped away and he'd find himself lurched forward in time by what seemed to be weeks, although the plants were supposed to grow fast so could've been less.  He didn't know what good getting to the pedestal would do but it was the only place he knew on this planet so he guessed it was his best bet. 

At least he was feeling at full health for the first time in ages but, since the part of him that had at least had a plan was the part that had been draining him, he guessed it'd finally given up and gone fully dormant.  That wasn't really a good thing.  However, it did mean he made good time reaching the area near the building (not counting the fact that time kept skipping, of course).  The time lurches seemed to have abated for the moment. 

Almost totally clear of vegetation at this point in time, Daniel could see the full scale of the building.  There was most certainly a lot more to the building than their first brief search had uncovered but that wasn't really something he cared all that much about right now.  What did interest him was that there was a person, the first he'd seen, standing in the open doorway of what passed for Grelmin's office. 

Slowing as he neared the figure, he saw it was a woman who was holding onto the wall with one hand and holding her head with the other. 

As he neared her, he said, "Are you all right?"

Hearing him, she looked up with eyes filled with confusion but, as her gaze alighted upon him, she swiftly darted her eyes away.

"Professor Grelmin."  After a pause, she continued, "I had to come back.  I had to thank-you for what you have given me.  Because of your gift, I finally understand what you have done for our people."

As he walked closer still, her gaze swept the ground and she reached down to pick something up from next to the wall up which thorny vines were slowly beginning to wind. 

"Look, I'm not really..."

He trailed off as the woman drew herself up imperiously before him.  And he found himself backing away from the undeniable look of murder in her eyes.  He'd looked into eyes like those before.  The eyes of a creature without conscience; the type of creature Jack, Sam and Teal'c were soon fated to become.  He was looking into the eyes of a genuine Ha'ranas; one of Grelmin's dubious ‘success' stories.

She spat, "Because of your ‘gift', I can see everything now.  I see now... you are responsible for all of it."

Suddenly, it struck him that the reason time had stopped lurching forward was because he'd reached the final layer of the memory matrix.  Meaning the last memory of Grelmin.  Meaning the reason he'd been forced to put his memory into the matrix in the first place.  But, even as it did, something else struck him -much more literally. 

Having just spent a third lot of chips on celebratory drinks, Jack wondered if the alcohol would have any effect.  At the very least, it was slowing play down slightly and his incessant distraction meant Carter had lost a sizeable number of chips for only the second time in the entire game so far.  Well, it was the only tactic he had for right now so...

"Another Black Russian, big guy?"

Draining his glass, Teal'c smiled, "Hey, keep ‘em comin', cat."

As if the grin and the accent weren't weird enough, seeing Teal'c drink was the icing on the weirdness cake. 

He turned to Carter.

"And for the lady?"

He'd never ever refer to the blonde Major as ‘the lady' unless they were sparring and he felt she wasn't putting her back into it - comments like that always ensured he came away with a few healthy bruises - but this Samantha Carter seemed to be more the femme fatale sort. 

She smiled and, picking up her empty glass, waved it slightly.

Nodding, he turned to the drifting waitress.

"Hey, can we get the same again.  Thanks."

Passing her a few chips, he turned back to the game when, gasping, he felt the undeniable feel of something sharp sinking deeply into his flesh and snapped his head down, fully expecting to see the blade, but there was nothing to be seen.  Clutching at his abdomen, where the injury should be, he looked around to see the others, focused back on the game, were completely ignoring him. 

The feeling didn't disappear but began to dissipate until he was able to think past it.  After the first few moments of confusion a terrible thought came upon him. 

Daniel.

Gasping as the woman wrenched the huge blood-drenched thorn from his side, Daniel's hands automatically went to grasp at the gaping wound.  No sorrow in her eyes, she said, "Your plants have killed us all; now they will kill you too..."

As his knees grew weak and he crumpled to the ground, she stepped over him and walked away without a backward glance.  Feeling the warmth of the blood coating his hands, he desperately grabbed the cloth around it and tried to press down on the wound.  But, even now, he knew it was hopeless.  After all, he already knew this was how Grelmin had met his corporeal end. 

Feeling the warmth begin to drain from him, he breathed, "Jack."

His heart pounding in his chest, Jack looked down to where the binding to Daniel should be and found he could barely even sense it at all.  Pulling himself up off of his seat, he almost went to leave the table but managed to stop then forced himself to sit down again.  He drained his glass of imaginary whisky in the hope it might rid him of the ominous feeling that now hovered over him. 

"Jack, are you all right?"

Spinning in his seat, he cried, "Daniel?"

His miraculously whole friend smiled at him.

"Surprised to see me?"

With the sensation of being stabbed still so fresh in his mind, he quickly asked, "Are you okay?  I thought something might've..."

Daniel just smiled again.

"I'm fine.  And now I know what we have to do.  Come on..."

As his friend grabbed him by the arm and went to pull him from his seat, he asked, "Can I just leave?  What about the...?"

"Jack, just trust me.  Come on."

All the earlier uncertainty and nervousness was gone from Daniel's gaze so, with blind faith, Jack followed him off the cliff. 

This time, there was no sensation of the walls trying to pull him in all directions at once.  Instead, they took three steps on the casino floor before he looked down to see stone beneath his feet. 

Looking round at Daniel, he saw they again stood in the pedestal room... but the room as it must've looked back when the device was newly-constructed.  There sat the pedestal, not only miraculously whole again but positively gleaming and Gizmo's device sat in the centre not attached by clumsy wiring but fully integrated sitting within the circle of purple crystal.  Light streamed into the room, through windows that'd opened in the walls around him.  Remembering himself, he turned to look at Daniel who was a step behind him looking round the room with an odd recognition as if having just met with an old friend. 

Noticing his gaze upon him, his friend looked down again.

"Look."

Directing Jack's gaze to an alcove which had appeared in the wall to the left of the pedestal, he saw that the still form of Carter was held upright within it by a set of sleek metal restraints.  Turning, he saw that, behind the pedestal, Teal'c's still form was similarly held. 

"Daniel, what is this?  What's going on?"

With the fascination in his tone which only Daniel could have over something that had caused them so much pain, his friend replied, "This is the device as it was all those years ago.  We never found the alcoves but they were designed to ensure optimum power distribution.  The device was able to compensate for our relative positions in the room but if we'd have been in these the first time the transfers would have probably been successful even given the missing memory buffer and failing crystal power source."
"Which would have been bad, right?"

Confused for a moment, Daniel looked at him then away at the device again.

"Right, sorry.  Yes, that would have been bad, of course.  But you have got to admit that a device capable of doing what this one does and being able to compensate for a century or so of disrepair as well as..."

Seeming to catch himself going off on a tangent, he trailed off and started again.

"The point is that we can use this device to help you reverse the process."

Okay, so he was starting to get the whole fascinating/relevant difference, Jack admitted grudgingly as he replied, "Great.  How?"

"It's actually surprisingly easy.  We just have to let the process continue.  The device in the real world can sort us all back into our rightful bodies - all you have to do is allow that to happen."

"Okay, but how do we not end up hairy?"

Daniel blinked owlishly a couple of times.

"Hairy?"

Rolling his eyes, he said, "Ha'ranas, hairyness, hairy.  It's practically self-explanatory."

His friend just looked at him for a moment before replying, "You just need to let the process continue until I tell you to stop.  Then stop it."

"How do I do that?"

"Well you are the awareness..."

Sharply, Jack retorted, "Oh don't you start calling me that too..."

"Sorry.  What I mean is you control all of this; you always have.  You just need to use the power you've been given."

His brow creasing at the odd phrasing of his friend, another thought occurred.

"Daniel?"

There was an overlong pause before his friend blinked in recognition and turned.

"Yes?"

"Aren't you forgetting the ever so small matter of Gizmo?  You know, psychotic scientist with a god complex who wants to keep us crammed inside my head for the good of all mankind."

There was a sudden flash of annoyance on the civilian's face before he pulled himself into check.

"No, I didn't forget him.  He's no longer an issue."

That pulled Jack up short.

"You what?"

"I set the memory matrix to delete itself.  We need the processing space to make this work right."

As Jack found himself looking funny at his friend yet again, he slowly said, "Uh, Daniel?"

Smiling, his friend turned to him.

"Yes?"

"When and how did you figure out how to do all this?  I mean, I know glowy you had a plan but..."

"I'll explain it all later.  What's important right now is that it'll work."

Shrugging, he replied, "All right.  So no more Gizmo?"

"Not for much longer."

Gasping for air, he held the bunched cloth of the robe tight to his abdomen but could still feel the blood oozing out past his fingers.  Stumbling forward, he slid in through the doorway of the ‘office' and collapsed down beside the desk.  Looking up, he saw Grelmin's device sat on the desk in several pieces.  He must've been making modifications when this'd happened and his modifications became a lot more extensive than he'd intended.  Daniel grudgingly admitted that the ability to convert that device from one use to another in such a short time, whilst losing blood at a worrying rate, was rather impressive.  The guy was a genius of Machello proportion all right.  It was just a pity he hadn't so much walked the line between genius and madness as used it as a diving board to plunge deep into the depths of insanity.

Tearing off the bottom of the robe to make himself a pressure bandage, and try and stem the flow, he suddenly became aware of a voice not much more than the echo of a whisper.

"All right.  So, no more Grelmin?"

"Jack?"

His friend was nowhere to be seen and he couldn't identify where the voice had come from but he froze when a very familiar voice replied, "Not for much longer."

He was currently in no state to get up and go in search of the voices but he tried yelling, "Jack!  Jack, help!"

The only result was a spasm of pain which sent him into an excruciating coughing fit.  As it subsided, he pressed his makeshift pressure bandage tighter against his side.

"So what do I have to do?"

"It's easy.  All you have to do is..."

"Jack, no... Jack, don't listen."

But, even now, he felt himself shiver from something other than the blood loss.  This situation had his friend so far out his comfort zone he must feel like he was drowning and it was clear that he was his anchor point even without the visual aid of the tether between them.  Jack had got past the point of incredulity long ago.  Ever since he'd woken up on the ‘planet', his friend had been looking to him for answers.  Why wouldn't he listen to him if he finally appeared to have some?

As the voices faded away again, he glanced out the open door at the world outside.  Even at this point in the planet's history, the vegetation was fast becoming the only thing visible from here to the horizon...

It was then he realised, with a shiver, the horizon was an awful lot closer than usual... and the sky appeared to be fading away to nothing. 

"Oh crap."

He knew he wasn't going to last long but, given the way the horizon appeared to be coming to meet him, he just might live long enough to experience being wiped from existence. 

Struggling to his feet, he steadied himself against the wall and looked out of the doorframe to see that the ‘world' around him now appeared to end about a hundred feet from his position.  Beyond that, there was nothing but white emptiness.  This office was where Grelmin had died so it had to be the central point; the final memory to be deleted.  Even so, it wasn't going to be around for much longer.  And one way, or another, neither was he.

Wiping irritably at her nose, Janet was beginning to wonder if even the increased dose of antihistamine she'd taken was really enough to keep her allergies at bay on this planet.  It certainly wasn't helping sitting in the great outdoors for hours directly next to a wall covered in flowering climbing plants but there wasn't really anything else for it.  Doctor McKay had rigged up a relay from the scanners inside the pedestal room so that they could monitor from out here instead of being completely in the dark like last time when Grelmin had tried to double-cross the Colonel.  There was a lot of interference but McKay had said that was because of the shielding effect of the material the pedestal room was constructed of.  He'd also gone off in a tangent as to how exactly he'd come up with his oh so clever idea to boost the signal but she'd just tuned him out after that. 

It'd seemed like a good idea to be able to monitor what was going on but, now, endless hours later, she wasn't so sure.  Sure, she could watch the various monitors and make educated guesses as to what was going on but, unable to go in and tend to her patients, they just reminded her how ineffectual she'd been in this whole situation.  She kept telling herself that this wasn't a medical problem and there was no reason she should be able to fix it but that's what she'd told herself during the Stromos incident and it hadn't made her feel any better then either.  Three of their hearts had stopped the last time they'd tried this.  According to the recorded EKGs, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c had all been asystolic for close on forty seconds before their hearts had spontaneously resumed a normal rhythm.  If she had to sit watching their EKGs flat-line in real-time, did she have it in her not to rush in there?     

She glanced over her shoulder at where McKay stood, laptop in his arms, as he drifted to and fro between all the various monitors before tapping at the keyboard before him.  She was starting to see why the man appeared to require an almost constant stream of food because he must burn up a lot of energy with his seeming inability to sit in one place for long. 

Making a curious sound of discovery, he said, "That's not right.  The readings are all..."

Janet replied, "Yeah, these EEG readings are...."

"Hmm, what...?  Oh, no, not the ones on your little doctor toys.  I mean my readings."

Taking a deep breath, she managed to civilly reply, "What is it?"

"This device, the little one, it's been draining power like crazy since we got here.  I'm talking like ten times the average power readings we recorded from it on earth."

"And the reactor can't cope?"

"What?  No, it's a naquadha reactor.  It'll cope fine.  In fact, funny story actually, there was this one time, in Moscow, when we managed to power..."

As Janet's eyes narrowed, he trailed off then refocused.

"What's concerning me is it's not doing it anymore."

"Not doing what?"

"Not draining power."

"What does that mean?"

"From what we learned about it on earth, the amount of energy the device needs depends on what's going on at the time but, when it's active, there's a constant baseline that, no matter how high the spikes are, the activity eventually falls back down to.  Right now, the device is functioning at less than a quarter of that."

 Aware she was repeating herself, she asked, "So what does that mean?"

"Well, first time this happened, they didn't take any readings and second time it didn't work right so we've got no baseline.  So bottom line I don't know what these readings mean and I don't like not knowing what things mean"

She just looked at him until he read the plea for a better explanation.

"Okay, look, the big device is drawing power; a lot of power.  But the little device, the memory buffer, its power rate dipped right down and now it keeps decreasing by increments.  If it keeps doing that, then its not gonna take that long until it turns off all together."

"And?"

"And like I said I don't know.  But, call me a pessimist; I don't think it's a good thing."

Jack rubbed absently at where his side still ached and tried to ignore the odd chill that was slowly seeping through him.  In front of him, Daniel was scanning across the device with a practiced eye and sporadically attending to his watch. 

As far as he got Daniel's plan, he just had to step into the alcove as a sort of symbolic surrender and the process would officially strip him from his position as head honcho and would have to put them all back where they came from in order to restart the selection of the most hairy of them.  That was when he was supposed to put the mental brakes on the whole thing.  Result: one team back in their own bodies with no homicidal tendencies or life-threatening degenerative brain conditions.  If this actually worked, he most definitely owed Daniel a drink. 

So close to a possible end to this damned nightmare, he was impatient to get started.

"Daniel, what exactly are we waiting for?"

Distractedly, his friend replied, "We can't begin until the deletion is closer to its completion.  Don't worry, he'll be permanently erased soon enough."

Crossing his arms, he found himself looking oddly at his friend.  Okay, so he wasn't gonna lose any sleep over the end of the existence of that genocidal maniac either but there had almost been amusement to his friend's tone.  He sighed; maybe it was just him living in a nostalgic world where Daniel was still the compassionate idealist. 

Glancing at his watch again, Daniel continued, "It should all be over soon.  Why don't you get into position?"

Nodding, he dropped his hands into his pockets and headed over to one of the empty alcoves.  Peering into it, he said, "Cosy."

Stripping off his jacket and stepping in, he felt the ache in his side echo through him again and shivered even though the heat in here was stifling.  Going to rub his arms in an unconscious effort to heat himself up, he noticed that the sensation of the bond around his wrist was all but gone. 

Turning to Daniel, he brandished his bare arm at him.

"This thing seems to be wearing off."

Squinting at his waving arm, Daniel's brows knitted.

"What thing?"

"Y'know, the vine thing.  I mean you're standing six feet from me and I still can't..."

Realising his friend still didn't appear to know what he was talking about, he dropped his arm back down and, carefully, said, "Daniel, the bond.  What's happened to it?"

Looking a little flustered, his friend vaguely replied, "I'll explain everything later.  Besides, it won't matter after we do this."

As Daniel gestured for him to lower his arm, he complied then found himself wincing as the manacles bound his limbs tightly to the rough stone wall and caused his head to impact against it rather unpleasantly.

More an accusation than an outburst of pain, he levelly said, "Ow."

Not sparing him more than a glance, Daniel continued, "Enough space should be freed in the memory buffer for us to move onto the next stage."

"Great.  A little warning might've been nice though."

Ignoring his petulant comment, his friend seemed to input a sequence of commands then quickly made his was to the final alcove.  Stepping inside, he placed his arms down to his sides and smiled gently as he said, "Now, finally, we'll see what this device was really capable of."

Going to roll his eyes at his friend's very misplaced enthusiasm, Jack found himself distracted by the device kicking into life.  There was a loud rumbling as the walls shifted to cover the windows leaving them in darkness save the glow from the device.  With an insidious sense of déjà vu, he watched the purple crystals light up one by one before the beam shot towards the ceiling.  Then, suddenly, it split into four and he found one coming directly towards him.  Shutting his eyes, he braced himself for...

It took several seconds to realise that not only had nothing hit him but, also, that the manacles were gone.  Opening his eyes, he found himself sitting in Vegas again. 

Rolling his eyes, he groaned, "And, we're back."

Glancing around, he saw he had the same supporting cast as before only now everyone seemed to have equivalent stacks of chips.  He looked round to see Daniel, on his right, was already eagerly laying down his stake.

Sighing, he pushed in his chips in.

"Daniel, why are we here again?"

"The process is continuing.  We just have to play along and be patient and we'll get the desired outcome."

The odd phrasing of his friend once again unsettling him, he spared a glance to where the bond should connect him to Daniel.  There was barely a ghost of a sensation of the tether around his wrist.  And yet his friend was so close he could reach out and actually touch him.  It was strange; almost as if...

His train of thought interrupted by the croupier, he tapped on the felt and another card landed beside the first two. 

Sighing, he half-turned to his friend.

"Seriously, though, why a casino?  I mean, as ways to choose the best guy for the job, a game of chance seems a pretty sucky way to do it.  Why not a fight or a sporting contest or, y'know, something with a little skill involved?"

Absent-mindedly, the civilian replied, "Yes, a fight to the death would have been more appropriate."

So used to bantering with his friend, it took a moment to realise that there had been no trace of sarcasm to his statement.  Did Daniel just say he'd rather this was a fight to the death?

His derailed thought now coming back with a vengeance, he continued, "Or, y'know, maybe something a little more lethal - like ice hockey.  Of course, then you'd win for sure cos we all know how you rule the rink."

Daniel nodded in agreement and got back to the game leaving him to try not to gape openly as his mind reeled.

Oh boy, this is not good. 

Reigning in his emotions, he pushed in his next stake and calmly, almost as if speaking to the croupier, asked, "Where's my friend, you son of a bitch?"

All innocent bewilderment, his ‘friend' replied, "Jack?  What're you...?"

He could keep that expression up all day and it wouldn't do him any good.  Because now he'd actually engaged his brain he could see that Daniel'd been acting funny ever since he'd reappeared at the table.  Only, he never really had reappeared and that explained everything because this was...

"Grelmin, you can give up the act cos I'm not buyin' it anymore."

There was a moment of indecision on Daniel's face before he replied, "Oh very well, it makes little difference now..."

With that, the figure in the tux morphed into Grelmin.  Unlike Daniel, he looked completely ridiculous in the tuxedo. 

Standing up, Jack's chips scattered as he grabbed at the black cloth of the imposter's outfit.

"What did you do with Daniel?"

Then, all of a sudden, that oddly discordant conversation about erasing Grelmin from the memory matrix came back to him with a vengeance.

"He presented too many anomalies so I had no choice but to replace him.  He is gone."

Sitting on the ground with his head resting against the frame of the door, Daniel watched blankly as the world around him continued to disintegrate.  Heaving another breath, he found it did nothing to combat the dizziness that overwhelmed him as the dots continued to dance across his greying vision.  The skin on his shivering hand looked almost white as he raised it to feel the bond to Jack was almost gone.  He closed his eyes and cursed his glowing double for not having talked his friend into getting the three of them out while he could've.  Now, in trying to save him, he'd doomed them all.

His hand thudding heavily back to the ground as the last ounce of energy left him, he opened his eyes to see nothing but white all around him.   

But before the fog of non-existence could encroach upon this last sanctuary, his other hand dropped away from the blood-drenched cloth of the robe and slipped to the ground.  The chest ceased to rise and fall with a final, strangled, exhalation and the head slipped lifelessly to the side, eyes still open but glazed and unseeing.  There were only moments more before the last memory of Grelmin was wiped from the matrix and the matrix ceased to be.

"What the...?"

Looking up from her monitors at the exclamation from the man behind her, Janet turned.

"What?"

"The device, the little device, just turned itself off."

"Didn't you think that was the way it was heading anyway?"

"Yeah but it blipped."

"What?"

"It blipped."

"Blipped?"

Distracted by his readings, he replied, "Yeah, blipped."

"I'm only a silly old medical doctor so I don't really understand all these fancy physics terms.  Blipped?"

As he spun the laptop round so she could see for herself, she saw a graphical display of readings over time which she took an educated guess to be power usage.  As McKay gestured towards it, she saw a huge spike that went off the top of the screen. 

Finally explaining, he said, "In the last few seconds before it switched off, the memory buffer was siphoning more power from the generator than the pedestal used in the last five minutes."

Confused, she said, "It overloaded itself?"

Distractedly closing the laptop and offloading it into her unprepared arms, McKay dashed over to the remote monitors.  As she grappled to keep the computer from slipping from her grasp, he bent over one of the monitors.

Shaking his head, he came back over and, using her as an impromptu stand, pushed the laptop open again.  Sighing pointedly, she wasn't surprised to find him oblivious to her annoyance as he tapped away at the keyboard. 

She leant to the side to see around the screen.

"Well?"

There was a moment where the scientist seemed to be wondering why his laptop stand had a head before he replied, "It didn't overload.  The power poured into it but went through it into the pedestal."

Without warning, the laptop was pulled back out of her hands as McKay got back to his pacing.  Sighing again, she sat down, looked over her ‘little doctor's toys' again and sniffed in a rather congested manner.  Glancing at her watch, she decided it couldn't hurt to take an extra allergy pill.  Picking up the canteen, she downed her pill then took an extra swig.

Seeing McKay's questioning gaze on her, she replied, "Allergies."

"To what?"

"Pollen amongst other things."

Sitting down next to her and setting down his laptop, McKay said, "Citrus."

Confused, she asked, "What?"

Making an odd face, he replied, "Me.  I'm allergic to citrus fruits.  Deathly allergic actually."

"Yeah, I know.  Sam told me."

Well, not so much told me as ranted at me about how she was going to cram an orange down your throat if you even thought about calling her a dumb blonde again.  Good first impression you made, McKay. 

Not able to hear the part of the conversation that had been in her head, he seemed to brighten.

"Sam talks about me?  What does she say?"

Unsure quite what to reply, she dug into her bag and pulled out a couple of granola bars.

"Here, you get low blood sugar, right?  Better have one of these."

Taking the bar from her, he paused for a moment then said, "She could die, couldn't she?  I mean, she could be dead already, couldn't she?"

Looking at him, she replied, "I don't know.  I don't know how this will end.  But I know if there's the slightest chance for them to pull through then I'd never bet against SG-1."

Daniel's not dead.  No way is he dead.  He can't...

But no matter how loudly he tried to think it, he couldn't rid himself of the almost hypothermic chill that had seeped into every part of his being nor ignore the fact that he could no longer feel the tether around his wrist. 

Calmly, almost as if expecting gratitude for his thoughtful disposal of Daniel, Grelmin said, "Now the matrix is free, we shall be able to progress at speed.  It shall not be long until dominance is determined and this process shall come to its glorious completion."

All he wanted to do right at that moment was break Grelmin's neck but he was distracted as the rather drunk Teal'c pushed all his remaining chips across the felt. 

His stomach somersaulted as he watched the cards begin to patter to the table.  What if Teal'c lost?  Then he'd be out of this game and shoved somewhere to be used as raw materials for the Ha'ranas.  If he'd lost, there was no more stalling.

Then again, this was a game, Jack thought sourly, that they were all gonna lose.  Hell, it was a game they'd already lost, he thought, as he guiltily recalled Daniel's last request to him. 

Keep everyone in the game, Jack.

But...hang on, he'd interpreted ‘the game' to mean keeping everyone at the blackjack table... but that just represented fight for control of his body, didn't it?  That was the game everyone had to stay in.  Hey, but who had decided that this had to be the way it was represented?  Him, right, because this was his head, wasn't it?  Grelmin had always talked about the advantage he had; the power.  He'd managed to think the pedestal device into activating.  Why shouldn't he be able to dictate the rules of a little ole' game?  And the forum...

Desperate, but not even slightly sure this would work; he shut his eyes and concentrated. 

"Irish?"

Opening his eyes again, he saw that nothing had happened.  Sagging, he looked back towards the point where Daniel had vanished.  He was failing him; he was failing all of them...  Why wasn't it working?

He thought back to when he'd activated the pedestal; he hadn't really believed that he could do it, had he?  No, he'd just done what Daniel asked of him because, when his friend looked at him like that, he had to take that leap of faith even if it was off the edge of a cliff.  That same look had been in his eyes when he'd asked him to keep everyone in the game...     

Shutting his eyes again, he let Cynical Jack take a backseat for a moment and focused on the part of him that would follow Daniel over that cliff every time.  He tried to ignore the noises around him and concentrate on forming the picture.  Deliberately curling his fingers around thin air, he pulled his curled hand back to his shoulder before flicking it forward and...

Opening his eyes, he saw he'd managed to cast the line perfectly into the tranquil lake.  His fingers now curled around his favourite fishing rod, he saw the chequered sleeve of his shirt and knew he was in the outfit he'd worn last time he was here.  He looked around to see his friends and Grelmin sat on deckchairs next to him with fishing rods in their hands.  Randomly, they were still in their Vegas attire - now they were the ones looking out of place.   

With a satisfied tone, he said, "New game.  First one to catch a fish wins the lot."

Watching their rather lousy attempts to cast their lines out, Jack was somewhat amused by the expressions of these twisted versions of his friends.

"Hey, Irish, did I have one too many Black Russians or what?  Where the hell is this?"

"This," Jack said, "is my place.  And what I say goes.  So go fish."

Examining the fishing rod with an expression like she'd just been handed roadkill to look at, the luscious Samantha said, "Fishing?"

He grinned at her as he realised that, fantasy or not, he'd finally managed to get Carter to the cabin.

"Fishing." 

His expression soured as he turned toward the final member of the group who was looking at the fishing rod like he wasn't sure which end was up.  The satisfaction he felt that he'd managed to stall the inevitable again dissolved as he realised that without Daniel and his plan, there really was only one way this would end. 

Don't give up, Jack.

The thought struck him so hard that he almost looked around to see who'd spoken.  It took a few moments more for him to realise that the bond wrapped around his wrist was there again...    

It was with understandable frustration that Grelmin found himself staring down the length of this strange wooden pole with a near-invisible string attached.  He did not understand this scenario and no longer had access to the translation of language and culture that Daniel Jackson had before provided.  He had understood the concept of the gambling game because the occupier had been present when that scenario had first presented itself but this one was alien to him.  This lack of knowledge vastly reduced his chances of becoming awareness.

And, yet, he felt happy to know that they were so near achieving what he had dreamed of for so long.  Something so far above a mere human that it had been worth dying for; worth the sacrifice of his own people.  The fact that he should now have to sacrifice again was of no importance.  That he would be a part of his greatest creation was reward enough for losing what little remained of his self. 

Turning to look at the former awareness, he saw him smiling to himself oddly as if there was something he found humorous.  Then he found his gaze redirected as the sky above them darkened; clouds rolled in from all directions and the lake before him began to bubble as if boiling.  Then the whole body of water became bright white before a figure began to rise up out of it. 

"What is this?"

As the figure clearly formed into Daniel Jackson, it began to walk through the water towards him still trailed by tendrils of light.  The longest of these was attached to the wrist of the former awareness who did not seem surprised by the turn of events.  Instead, he folded his arms, in a self-satisfied manner and leant back in his chair.

"Oh, you're so screwed right now."

"I do not understand."

Unfolding his arms just long enough to remove his shaded glasses from their perch on his hat and place them over his eyes, he refolded them.

"I think maybe you got him pissed what with trying to delete him and everything.  And that's really not a good idea."

"But I removed him."

By now, the glowing figure had reached the edge of the lake and stepped from the water to the shore although it did not appear to actually be touching either.  As it did so, it fully solidified into the form of Daniel Jackson with all but one tendril disappearing.  He wore the uniform of his team but of a white material.

"No," the figure corrected him, "you tried to but you made a mistake because to remove me you made me live your last few moments; you killed me before you deleted me."

Stepping forward, he smiled gently at the former awareness as he continued, "You killed me when I was connected to Jack... and I guess I've died a few too many times since I've known him because he just seems to expect I'll come back somehow."

"Well, you always do, don't you?"

Daniel Jackson smiled at the awareness's response before bending towards his ear.

"You wanna know what's funny?  I mean, I was more surprised than anyone to find this out." 

He continued with relish, "Turns out this was my plan all along.  I don't think I ever really knew how to stop you.  I just realised that all I had to do was truly convince Jack that if I was fully-ascended I'd know what to do.  Because in here, Jack really is the centre of the universe and even the laws are written by him.  I could never have stopped you without your help.  Because I'd forgotten my own plan.  It was only after you killed me that I could ascend... only this isn't real ascension.  This is Jack's perception of it..." 

Leaning in closer, he continued, "All powerful; all knowing... and capable of anything if there weren't those damn other glowy things around.  Well, you know something, there aren't any ‘others' in here.  Go figure."

Straightening up again, the anomaly stepped back so he said, "The process cannot be stopped."

"Oh but it can.  Fact is Jack already stopped it.  He's blocked you.  No-one can win; not the game you're playing.  Nice work by the way, Jack."

Acknowledging the compliment with a smile and a shrug, the awareness said, "So what happens now?"

"Now, we fix things."

The anomaly swept his arm in a wide arc that encompassed the other occupiers and, suddenly, the two were sitting in the uniforms of the team looking extremely confused. 

The woman turned to O'Neill then the anomaly.

"Sir?  Daniel?  What's...?"

Turning accusingly to the anomaly, he said, "How did you restore the occupiers, the aspects were too..."

"Well, I am an all-powerful energy being but I have to admit the space you cleared on the memory buffer and that naquadha reactor helped.  Now there's just one thing I have to deal with before I can straighten everything out... and that's you."

His expression was dark and terrible as he raised his hand.  Seemingly in synchrony with him, the clouds grew darker.  The tendrils of light creeping around him again, he locked eyes with him, "You destroyed a whole world.  You tried to destroy me and my friends.  Give me one reason why I don't finish what your people started."

Sam felt as she'd been asleep for millennia and the cogs in her brain were dusty, covered in cobwebs and in desperate need of oiling.  Turning slowly to where Teal'c sat, she saw he was looking equally bemused by their current situation.  By all appearances, they seemed to be at the Colonel's cabin in Minnesota but Grelmin was here too and Daniel seemed to have ascended again somehow.  Last she remembered she'd been being dragged down by vines... although she also had a freak memory of decking a highway patrol officer...

Confusion forcing her into observer status, she dumbly watched events unfold. 

"You are ruining my work!  You are ruining everything!  The evolution of our species...."

"It's over, Grelmin.  Now you have two choices.  You can go back into the memory buffer or you can just be gone.  It's up to you and to be honest I don't much care either way."

Distraught for a moment, the scientist appeared to pull himself together and put on his most arrogant expression.

"Then I shall return.  I shall return to my sleep until your people realise the value of what it is I offer."

The Colonel said, "Yeah, wouldn't hold my breath for that happening."

Daniel sighed and lowered his hand.

"Goodbye, Grelmin."

As her friend waved his hand in lazy dismissal, the man vanished into nothing leaving his fishing rod to clatter noisily to the ground. 

Standing up and walking towards the empty deckchair, the Colonel pulled his sunglasses off and perched them on his hat.

"Couldn't you just have zapped him a little teensy bit?  For me?  I mean you had the storm clouds and everything and you just vanished him?"

Daniel chuckled humourlessly.  She wished she knew why he appeared to be ascended again but for right now her answers were gonna have to wait because he turned to the Colonel and replied, "Sorry, Jack.  Tell you what, how about I make it up to you by getting us all out of your head?"

"Um... yeah, that sounds fair, I guess."

Sam became aware of an odd feeling spreading across her.  She looked up again to see the Colonel grabbing at his head.

"Whoa..."

Then she was aware of a sensation like a huge hand grabbing at her and pulling her backwards.  As the scene around her disappeared, she felt herself being swallowed down into nothingness. 

As the monitors in front of her started to fluctuate madly, Janet froze for a moment before saying, "McKay..."

From his vantage point behind her, he replied, "I see it.  Power drain's just doubled."

All they could do was wait right now.  Until the device cut off, that building was off-limits.  She crossed her fingers and willed her friends to keep those monitors blipping. 

With an unholy moan worthy of a mummy rising from the crypt, Sam's eyes snapped open and she slowly pulled herself upright.  Coughing as the dryness in her throat made itself known, she looked down to see the numerous cables trailing from her torso and arms.  Trying to get her bearings, she looked around and saw the Colonel lying on the ground with similar cables trailing across him.  Going to pull the suckers from her skin, though, she found that her left hand seemed determined to follow her right one around.  Confused gaze alighting on her wrists, she came across the reason.  Why were they tethered together?  Awkwardly, she eventually managed to rip herself free of the suckers and got to an ungainly crouch before kneeling at the Colonel's side.

"Sir?  Sir?"

When he made no reply, she checked him over as best she could given her current wrist restraints.  She couldn't help but notice that the Colonel wasn't wearing a set of matching bracelets.  Still unable to rouse him, she climbed to her feet to explore the room further but found herself instantly curtailed as a wave of dizziness threatened to fell her.  Grabbing, double-handed, at the nearest object, she found the pedestal device beneath her hands and finally remembered where this was.  She was too confused right now to try and work out how or why she was here, though, so for now she kept her hands on the pedestal and, awkwardly navigating a bunch of cabling, headed further around the room.  It only took a couple of paces until the stretcher came into view with her civilian friend bound to it.  Lowering herself back down, she found it inordinately difficult to undo the fairly simple bindings.  She'd have liked to think it was just a manual dexterity problem caused by her hands being tethered but truth was her brain was definitely not firing on all cylinders yet.   

As she struggled with the bonds, she said, "Daniel?  Daniel, can you hear me?"

"Major Carter?" 

Looking up, she found Teal'c looming above her.  Like her, his wrists were bound but with somewhat sturdier shackles.  Despite them, however, he managed to go fluidly from standing to kneeling without any appearance of struggling to maintain balance. 

Now with the potential of getting some answers, she asked, "Teal'c, what're we doing here?  I can't really remember anything before being at that lake."

"Long story.  Long, long, long, long, long story."

At the reply, both of them looked round to see the Colonel awkwardly shifting across the ground to make it to where they knelt. 

As he reached them, he said, "How's Daniel?"

"Breathing but unconscious.  Sir, seriously, what is...?"

"Please, Carter, I'm already gonna have to go through this whole thing at the debriefing... don't make me explain it all twice.  Right now, I'd just like to be sure everyone's here and no-one's missing anything."

Sharing a look with Teal'c over the ‘missing anything' comment, she obligingly dropped it for now.  However, there was another issue she wasn't quite so prepared to drop. 

Teal'c beat her to it.

"O'Neill, why am I restrained?"

There was hesitation on the Colonel's face but under their joint scrutiny, he broke.

"You and Carter haven't exactly been yourselves lately.  Here..."

With that, he reached out and started undoing her restraints.  As they dropped to the ground, she rubbed at her wrists.  Only now could she see the grazing on them which would only have been caused by her fighting against the restraints.  As she flexed the fingers of her right hand, she realised her knuckles had that slightly tender feeling they usually got after she punched something.  Biting her lip, she wondered how much of an understatement ‘haven't been yourselves' was. 

She was shaken from her contemplation as Teal'c's heavier manacles clanked to the ground so she got back to releasing Daniel from the tethers.  She wished she could remember what was going on but even the disjointed memories she had seemed to conflict with each other.  Slowly, she became aware of a buzz of static and a muffled voice that somehow managed to sound familiar.  Locating the source, she found to her puzzlement it seemed to be coming from the Colonel.

"Sir...?"

He looked at her inquisitively for a moment before appearing to register the sound himself.  As he reached down to his side, she finally saw the radio.  

As Jack extracted the radio from his belt, he looked down at the still form of Daniel before pressing down the button.

"I'm okay, Doc.  Can you get in here yet?"

"Device is still active, sir.  The others...?"

Well, that was the question, wasn't it?  Carter and Teal'c seemed okay but they had seemed all right last time too.  And Daniel was still to awaken. 

"Carter and Teal'c are awake.  Daniel's still out but breathing at least."

"I'm looking at his EEG right now, sir.  There's definitely activity."

Hope rising, he said, "So he's okay?"

"He's... not brain-dead."

Even though Carter was obviously yet to catch up with current events, Janet's less-than-promising evaluation was enough to spur her to prise the lids of Daniel's left eye apart with her fingers. 

"Tell Janet his pupils are responsive to light.  Daniel?"

As he conveyed the message onwards, he watched Carter's attempts to wake their friend until he was distracted by an urgent Teal'c.

"O'Neill."

Turning to the Jaffa, he was vaguely aware that he could hear McKay saying something about energy readings in the background of the Doc's reply but he forgot all about everything else as he saw what Teal'c was looking at. 

Oh crap.

In the centre of the room, the pedestal device had begun to make a disturbingly familiar sound as the controls lit up and the memory buffer began to glow white.  In the centre of the device, he could swear he saw a small figure before the glow became too extreme.

"Son of a... Gizmo," he growled. 

Daniel, why didn't you just zap him?

He turned to Carter and Teal'c.

"Get out, now!"

"But, Daniel..."

There wasn't time to get the unconscious man manoeuvred out past all the cabling before the device would activate so he just yelled, "That's an order!  Go!  Get out!"

As the other two reluctantly followed his order, he pulled himself to his feet and looked back towards his friend.  If he stayed now then he and Daniel were going to end up sharing a head again so right now the best thing he could do for his friend was to get out but damn if it didn't feel like abandoning him. 

Carter and Teal'c had made it out into the narrow corridor by the time he'd released his hold on the side of the device and headed after them.

Unfortunately, he'd been rather counting on his legs being able to follow basic instructions and now found that they hadn't come fully online yet.  Swaying wildly, he collided heavily with the wall and crumpled to his knees.  Scrambling back up, he heard a familiar whine that made him turn back towards the device in time for the glow to nearly blind him. 

I'm too late. 

Defeated, he watched the beam shoot up to the ceiling and braced himself for what was to come.  Suddenly, though, as the beam went to hit the ceiling, it faltered and seemed to be sucked back down into the pedestal.  There was an unsettling hum for a moment before white lightning began to flicker around the memory buffer.  Sounded like the whole thing was going to...

"Daniel!"

Screaming for his legs to work, he stumbled back across to where his friend lay and, wrapping his arms around his torso, began to clumsily drag him and the still-connected stretcher away from the device.  He made it halfway to the wall before the change in pitch behind him told him it was time to duck.

Throwing himself down over his friend, he tried to shield him as the device exploded.  He felt debris hit his back but not half as dramatically as he'd envisioned.  Looking round, he saw the pedestal was still relatively intact but Grelmin's memory buffer was now just a couple of pieces of charred, twisted metal.  A few seconds later, the naquadha reactor shut off and the room was left in silence.

"He really shouldn't have done that."

Head snapping round, Jack looked down to see his now-conscious friend squinting at where Gizmo's device had sat. 

"Daniel!"

Sitting back so he could lever his friend up off the ground, he heard him say, "Jack?"

Rubbing him companionably on the shoulder, he replied, "Hey, buddy.  You okay?"

Nodding slowly, he looked around.

"Is this... are we really... is this real?"

Hell if he knew for sure.  There'd been so many layers of unreality and so much strangeness in his recent reality that he didn't have the first clue how you could tell anymore. 

But, cupping his hand round the back of his friend's neck so he could lock eyes with him, he said, "Till someone tells me otherwise, yeah."

Understanding that that was the best they could do in the establishing reality stakes, his friend nodded and pressed his hand to his forehead as if in pain.

"Hey, you all right?"

"Yeah, I think so..."

"Daniel?"

His expression rather pinched and eyes closed, his friend made a vague noise to indicate he was listening.

"The device... did you do that?"

Opening his eyes again, Daniel shook his head.

"I don't have any abilities out here, Jack.  I'm just me again.  Grelmin did it to himself."

Under the questioning gaze, he continued, "I sort of rigged the device... internally."

Jack remembered back when they'd been standing by ‘his' lake and Daniel had given Gizmo the chance to go back into the device rather than wiped from existence. 

"You knew he'd try to start it up again."

"Yeah, but I still had to give him the choice."

"He zapped himself."

Jack looked at the mangled device and wondered if Carter would be saddened by the destruction of the technology despite what it had done to them.  Yeah, he decided, she probably would.  Yet, he was glad it was gone.  Gizmo had been insane and the Ha'ranas experiment had been a failure by any standard but Jack could just imagine some people on earth who really wouldn't have a problem with sacrificing four people to create a monster if that monster also happened to be smart beyond measure.

Sitting on the infirmary bed, Teal'c glanced to where his shackles now lay discarded.  The sight of the wrist tethers could not help but remind him of long ago; of his first hours in the SGC when they had considered him a potential threat.  He held no malice towards General Hammond or any other human for his treatment as they had had very little reason yet to trust him.  But what he would always remember from that time was the faith O'Neill had placed in him.   

As if responding to the thought, the curtain twitched open and his friend slid through the gap.

"Hey, Teal'c."

"O'Neill."

"How you feeling?"

"I am well."

"That's good.  Oh, Carter and Daniel are fine, by the way.  Daniel's a little tired but he seems okay."

"What of you, O'Neill?"

"Me?  Oh, bit of a headache, that's all."

His gaze drifted back to where his recent shackles lay.  As his friend's eyes followed, they darkened for a second before his expression grew deliberately lighter again.  His memories of these last weeks had already come back to him but the last few days were nothing but a series of disjointed images thus far. 

"O'Neill, why was I restrained?" 

His friend looked ready to make some remark intended to deflect his interest away from that topic but then appeared to reconsider.

"First time we tried to get everyone back into their bodies it went wrong.  Daniel nearly died and you and Carter... went a little darkside on us."

His eyes demanded elaboration and his friend quickly caved.

"You and I got into a little fight and you sort of tried to kill Daniel for his own good.  But it wasn't you, T.  Grelmin missed bits out when he put you three back in your bodies.  Bits like the bit that told you those weren't good things to do."

Teal'c found his voice had abandoned him when he tried to reply because there were new images flashing through his mind.  For a moment, he could see O'Neill sprawled against the wall with blood welling from a fresh wound in his arm and the liquid dripping from the blade of the knife he held; then he saw Daniel Jackson unconscious in an infirmary bed as his shadow fell across it.  The images brought memory with them and he knew what he had done. 

Aware he had not spoken for almost a minute now, he looked up.

"You say it was not me, O'Neill.  And yet if it was a part of me then how can it be otherwise?"

Reading the awakened memories in his eyes, his friend replied, "Cos you had no conscience; it would have been the same for any of us."

More memories were surfacing.

"It was not the same for Major Carter.  She was similarly afflicted and yet she attempted to kill nobody."

"Because we got to her in time, yeah."

 "Or perhaps because there was no part of her which could interpret such deeds as acceptable."

O'Neill's eyes darkened.  He did not have to explain to his friend what that statement had meant for the soldier understood immediately.  Teal'c had spent decades in the service of the dead false god Apophis and had spent too many years justifying to himself why he followed such horrendous orders.  Before he had had any part of him stolen by the Ha'ran technology, he had long since learned how to silence his conscience. 

"Wasn't your fault, T.  It was mine for assuming you were all right when Carter and Daniel were both messed up.  I take it too much for granted sometimes that things are less likely to affect you.  Look, you brought Daniel back to the base when something was wrong with him.  You were trying to protect him then; hell, you were still trying to protect him when you tried to kill him.  It was just your screwed-up self couldn't see the little ethical dilemma in the way of your plan."

"I did not intend to protect you, O'Neill."

Now there was true darkness in his friend's eyes as he sat down on the end of the bed and turned away.  He said nothing for a moment but then, "No that time you were after revenge... and seeing as how I nearly killed you all by being a selfish ass can't say as I'd blame you if you'd done it with your conscience intact."

His memories were almost intact now so he understood the incident to which O'Neill referred.  But O'Neill's only sin had been a small act of selfishness with consequences of unforeseen proportion; it was not comparable. 

Apparently reading in his eyes that he would not soon accept absolution for his recent sins, O'Neill sighed, "Look, Fraiser wanted me to tell you that your results are all fine so you're free to leave the infirmary but she wants all of us to stay on base for a few days to be sure there're no... delayed reactions this time."

"That seems wise, O'Neill."

His friend nodded again.

"It's good to have you back, T."

Towelling her hair dry, Sam paused momentarily to assess herself in the mirror.  Her slender legs gleamed in the light and the towel wrapped around her showed off her curves rather flatteringly when she pulled it in at her waist.  Wasn't often she could stand and look at herself in the mirror without focusing on her flaws but after all that time in the Colonel's body she had to admit that it was rather nice to be home again.  Or maybe it was just that all that time sharing a brain with three males had given her a new appreciation of the female form.  Smiling wryly, she turned away from her reflection and finished drying her hair.  She'd spent so many years, both as a scientist and as an airforce officer, trying to prove herself the equal of men that it had sometimes seemed like everything would have been so much simpler if ‘Sam' had been short for Samuel rather than Samantha.  Well, been there, tried that and no thanks.  Being a girl was much better.  

After pulling on her clothes, she headed out of the locker room and into the corridor.  Glancing down at her watch, she realised she had spent rather an indulgent length of time in the shower because she had only been released from the infirmary for a half hour after two hours of pleading with Janet and had abused her privilege by ten minutes already. 

Picking up the pace without looking where she was going she came to the next junction without noticing and slammed right into the side of the man going the other way.  As they fell to the ground in a shower of petals she found herself tangled up with...

"Rodney?"

Still clutching the remains of the bouquet, McKay pulled free of her and awkwardly made it to his feet.

"I thought you were in the infirmary..."

Brushing herself off as she got up, she replied, "Janet let me out to go get a shower...."

Trailing off as she realised she really hadn't needed to give McKay that much information never mind the accompanying mental images, she quickly changed topic.

"Those for me?"

Confused for a moment before remembering the tattered bouquet, he proffered it towards her.

"Here.  Thought they might brighten up your bedside a little.  Well, obviously there were a few more petals on them a minute ago."

Feeling a wave of affection for the scientist, she smiled.  He could be so annoying sometimes but he was a quite decent human being if you could just see past the arrogant façade.

"Thank-you, Rodney.  That's really sweet of you but you didn't have to buy me flowers."

"Oh, I didn't," McKay gestured behind him as he spoke.  "There were a bunch of them in one of the rooms down the hall."

Rolling her eyes, she smiled to herself.  He really was a decent human being deep-down.  Really deep-down; somewhere under all the annoying.

"You sure know how to make a girl feel special, McKay."

"What?  You wrecked them anyway..."

Two days later, Sam walked down the corridor alongside the rest of SG-1 and the soon-to-depart Rodney McKay.  Daniel and the Colonel, in their civvies, were the first to break off from the group as they took the elevator to the surface.  They were about to head off on their postponed trip up to the actual cabin in actual Minnesota.  Turning before they left, her CO said, "You know, you guys are welcome to come as well..."

McKay, with a sideways glance at her, put his hand half up.

"Actually I..."

As the Colonel fixed him with a look, the scientist deflated and continued, more a question than a statement, "...have plans?"

The look still on his face, he nodded once before his expression fell to one of innocent disappointment.

"Really?  Well that's just too bad, McKay.  Teal'c?  Carter?"

Shaking his head slightly, Teal'c replied, "I believe I will remain here."

There was a look shared between the three men that she understood well.  The Colonel and Daniel had absolved Teal'c of any blame for what he had done to them but their Jaffa friend was not ready to forgive himself just yet and the guys knew there was nothing they could say to change that.  Then, whilst she was still lost in contemplation, the Colonel turned to her.  Her plans to take Cass to Toronto had been postponed for a while so she was available and she knew she'd said no to him so many times when it came to the cabin but she was only just back to being a girl and nowhere near ready for a guys' trip just yet.

"I...uh, have plans too, sir."

She'd said no enough times by now for him not to bother asking twice.

"Your loss, Major."

As the elevator car arrived, Daniel stepped forward and hugged her tightly then, breaking from her, pressed a hand against Teal'c's shoulder.

"Take care of yourselves.  We'll see you when we get back."

Possibly in vengeance for her ‘plans', the Colonel added, "Provided Carter doesn't deck another civvy officer between now and then."

Rolling his eyes at his friend, the civilian turned to McKay.

"Thanks for your help."

The Colonel added, "Yeah, guess you're not so bad.  Annoying, yes but..."

Turning serious for a moment, he added, "Look, you're part of the reason we're still here and we won't forget that.  Maybe if a better post comes up for you I might see my way to putting in a good word."

As Daniel stepped into the elevator and held the doors, McKay brightened considerably.

"At the SGC?"

Eyes widening slightly, the Colonel hurriedly followed Daniel into the elevator and started pressing the button constantly as he replied, "Yeah, actually, I was thinking more like somewhere a little further afield.  Like, y'know halfway round the world?  Another planet?  Tell you what, post comes up for someone to go do astrophysics in another galaxy and you're the first guy I'll be recommending for sure.  Top of my list, without a doubt."

As the doors finally began to close, he added, "Thanks again.  Bye."

As a rather bemused Rodney stared at the closed elevator door, she and Teal'c shared a smile before he turned round again.    

When he did, Teal'c inclined his head towards him.

"You have my gratitude also, Rodney McKay."

She smiled, "Hey, Teal'c.  I'll catch you up in a minute, okay?"

Reading her request, he nodded slightly before turning to head down the corridor. 

Turning back to the waiting scientist, she went to add her own thanks but, before she could, he said, "So, after I've presented this report and coordinated the shipping of the device's remains, I've got a few hours to kill before my flight.  They get me here quick enough when they need me but then it's oh just get a commercial flight back."

"Hey, at least you'll get fed."

"Oh, please, have you seen the stuff they serve on those planes?"

"You've time to eat before you go."

As his eyes lit up, she quickly clarified, "As in the singular ‘you'; not the plural ‘we'."

He looked lost.

"But you had plans too..."

She wondered how differently everything that came out of her mouth sounded in McKay's head.

"I have plans and you have plans; this does not imply we have plans."

"Oh."

As he deflated, she sighed, "Look, McKay, I just wanna say thanks for everything you did for us.  Without you, I'm really not sure how this thing would've ended but I doubt it would've been good.  The Colonel's right, you helped save all our lives and we won't forget that."

For a moment, he smiled at her with such appreciation that she once again remembered he was actually kind of a sweet guy when you got down to it.

And then, as usual, he wrecked it.

"So you owe me, right?  Eternal gratitude?"

Sighing as she guessed where this was going, she folded her arms.

"Don't push it, McKay."

"But I was just thinking maybe you and I...?"

She fixed him with her most incredulous look until he caved.

"That's a no, right?"

"That's a never."

His eyes cast down to the ground so she said, "Although..."

As he eagerly looked back up, she continued, "...we both know there are parallel universes where every possibility is played out."

As he nodded, she stepped forward to walk past him.

Pausing just by his side, she said, "Yeah, not in any of them either."

Patting him lightly on the shoulder, she headed down the corridor. 

Only half to her, he replied, "That was cruel; unnecessarily cruel."

Smiling slightly to herself, she said, "See ya, McKay."

Standing at the base of the ladder, Jack held it firm as he breathed in a deep lungful of that pure Minnesota air.  He knew he was, by birth, from Chicago and, by heritage, from Ireland but it was somehow still Minnesotan blood that flowed through his veins.  This was where he'd grown up; the place he got homesick for.  That was why his rickety old cabin by its barren lake meant so much to him - even though he could've come up here and rented a better cabin near one of the fish-filled lakes, he would've just been a visitor.  No, he owned this place and that meant he still had a place to come home to.  And, now repairs were finally underway, he might even have a place to come home to where you didn't need an umbrella indoors when it rained. 

Steadying the ladder as Daniel began his descent, he shifted his grip so his friend wouldn't trample his fingers.

As he climbed down, the linguist was saying, "... watertight this side but, from the looks of it, far right corner's going to be a couple of hours work at least."

Alighting gently on the ground, the bare-chested civilian let the hammer drop onto the grass and rolled his shoulder as if to work out a knotted muscle.  Since he'd descended, Daniel had really amped up his workout sessions in the gym so even with the weight loss from his recent illness and loss of tone from such a long time spent lying totally inactive in the infirmary, his physique was still rather enviable.  However, his endurance had obviously suffered and he sure didn't look up to working on for another couple of hours so he said, "The tarp's over the corner for now and doubt it's gonna rain anyhow.  We can sort it tomorrow morning." 

Nodding in agreement, the civilian set about pulling down the ladder and setting it on the grass before retrieving his crumpled shirt from where it lay abandoned.  Meanwhile, after dragging the cold box over to the decking, Jack slumped down on the chair.  A few moments later, Daniel sat down next to him and, after an overlong pause, said, "This is nice."

Opening a beer, Jack took a swig before adding, "And real; don't forget real."

His friend smiled.

"And real.  We hope, at least."

"Oh, please, in our job?  The amount of fake realities we've been through and things that have messed with our heads... you start playing that game and you end up realising pretty much the last seven years could've been a dream."

Daniel looked like he was considering it for a moment then smiled.

"Nah, a dream could never be as freaky as our reality."

Remembering his dream with Daniel dressed up like Charlie and Carter as a bride with a box of headless grooms, Jack murmured, "Yeah, well, maybe not your ones..."

Daniel didn't appear to have heard him as he continued, "It's odd; even now I remember everything, it's still hard trying to understand that all my conflicting memories are true.  Especially the ‘glowy' ones; they're the oddest of them all.  I can't even really bring them into focus...they don't fade away, exactly but the more I concentrate on them the fuzzier they get."

He could hear the bitterness in his friend's voice so replied, "So still no closer to getting your ascended memories back?"

Daniel shook his head.

"No, I am closer; that's the frustrating part.  Finally, I can remember enough to know for sure that at least some of the knowledge is locked away in my head but not enough to give me the key to unlocking it."

Without Daniel's latent knowledge they would all be dead or part of a psychopathic super genius by now but his friend's time ascended was never something Jack was going to look back on with warm, cosy feelings so he changed topics.

"Did you talk to Teal'c again before we left?"

Nodding, Daniel took another swig from the bottle.

"He knows I don't blame him.  I think it's just going to take him a while to let himself get past it.  Like you."

"Me?"

"Tell me you don't still blame yourself for us getting submerged."

"And who the hell else would I blame, exactly?  I didn't mean to nearly kill you all; that doesn't make it any less my fault."

"It was an impossible situation, Jack.  We were never going to survive like that long-term.  All that matters is you didn't give up on getting us out of there."

Smiling slightly, Jack replied, "I had help."

"I seem to recall that.  Well, part of me does anyhow."

Thinking of the various different Daniels he'd interacted with during this mission, he said, "That's some mind you've got there, Jackson."

"Yours certainly made for an interesting vacation spot.  But, you know what?"

His friend looked like he had something important to say so he earnestly asked, "What?"

Then the grin spread across his face.

"I sure pity any fool that had to live there."

THE END