What Was Lost
What Was Lost
by Lady Anne
Summary: SG-1 brings back an artifact that could destroy the SGC
Category: Action/Adventure, Drama, Hurt/Comfort
Episode Related: 114 Singularity, 207 Message in a Bottle
Holiday: Halloween
Season: any Season
Pairing: Team
Rating: FAM
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 2005-03-26
Daniel drove up to Janet's house and parked, turning off the ignition. Around him the neighborhood reflected signs of the day. There were pumpkins out with candles already flickering in the dusky October afternoon. Getting out of the car he looked around, yards were filled with gravestones and creepy critters. Already younger children were out with their parents. Capes and cloaks and wings were fluttering as they ran up the sidewalks, ringing the bells of their neighbors.
Janet's own porch was covered over with a cobwebby material with huge spiders creeping over them. A Jack-O-Lantern wearing an evil grin sat next to her door, an unlit candle inside. Before he could even knock, the door opened and the sitter greeted him in a flurry of excitement over the impending holiday.
"Gee, thanks, Doctor J," she effused, "I have really got to go. I'm going to a party tonight and it's going to take me forever to get ready." She rushed by him, practically running over him in her hurry.
Daniel sighed, shutting the door behind him, shutting the Halloween madness outside. He really didn't understand the fuss over Halloween. He never had, even as a kid. He just didn't see the thrill in wearing costumes and the whole trick-or-treating thing just escaped him. He liked chocolate as much as the next person, but going door to door and begging? He just didn't understand it. If he wanted chocolate, he would buy what he wanted himself, not take his chances on the generosity of strangers.
He wandered through the house, stopping at Cassie's door. He opened it, peeking his head through. If Cassie was asleep, he didn't want to disturb her.
"Hi, Uncle Daniel," she was sitting up in her bed, a light on beside her, listlessly thumbing through a book. The bedside table next to her was littered with discarded Kleenex, a glass of water, and a bottle of pills.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be asleep?" He asked gently. He moved from the door to sit next to her on the bed.
"I've been sleeping. I'm tired of sleeping. I want to go trick-or-treating," she pouted a little at the unfairness of life that was depriving her of her first Earth-bound holiday. "How did you get stuck taking care of me?" She looked up at him curiously, "shouldn't you be off saving the planet or something."
Cassie was probably the only child on the planet who knew of the existence of the SGC, having come from a different planet herself. When all of her people had been killed by Nirrti she had been adopted by Janet Fraiser and now lived the life of normal earth child, complete with childhood illnesses like the flu.
Daniel rubbed his chest a little ruefully, "It's been a rough day at the SGC, and Janet made me take the night off. I volunteered to come stay with you when your sitter called. It was that or spend the night in the infirmary."
The little girl perked up, "You can take me trick-or-treating." She began to throw the covers back, but Daniel stopped her.
"You're kidding right?" He smiled at her pout. "Come on downstairs, we'll have hot chocolate and watch a movie."
"Something scary?" She asked hopefully.
Daniel just rolled his eyes. Teal'c had developed a fascination with the Tau'ri holiday of Halloween. He had insisted that they research it thoroughly. Now his teammates, not wanting to discourage him, had seen every movie from the original Frankenstein through the latest Freddy movies. Daniel had never been a fan of the horror genre and now he knew why. Some of the early movies were truly scary and creepy, but most of the later movies were just about the body count. "We'll negotiate that," he told her as he gathered the things she needed.
~~~~~~
He finally gave into her determined pleading and they watched something about witches being brought back to life on the eve of Halloween. The witches had to make a potion to steal the life of children in order to live past the night. It looked fairly harmless, and so they spent the evening cuddled on the couch drinking hot chocolate watching the movie. Sometime during the movie she fell asleep, her head resting on his chest. Not wanting to disturb her, he'd watched the whole movie.
He didn't believe that anyone bought into the whole supernatural thing. He didn't believe in witches or magics, or ghosts for that matter. He was an archaeologist. He had dug in the tombs of peoples long dead, some of them cursed, and he had never seen anything to make him think that such things existed. Even after he had joined the SGC, he had seen people brought back to life, himself once or twice for that matter; but everything he had ever seen could be explained by science.
After the movie ended, he picked her up and carried her up the stairs to her bed. She stirred when he laid her down, drawing the covers up over her. "Tell me a story?"
"Shouldn't you go to sleep? You're mom's going to be home soon. She'll have my hide if you get sicker." He laid a hand across her forehead, it was cool to his touch.
"Oh, come on, just one little story," she begged. "Then I'll go to sleep," she promised.
"One story?"
"Just one," she settled in the bed. He sat beside her thinking. "What kind of story do you want to hear."
"Duh..., it's Halloween. I want something spooky and scary."
He made a great show of thinking about it and then settled down next to her. She snuggled in close to him. "Once upon a time...," he began.
"Daniel," she interrupted him.
"Yes?"
"It's a ghost story, they always start on a wild and stormy night."
"Oh, okay.' He wrapped his arms around her, and began his story, "It was a wild and stormy night outside, but it wasn't earth where the intrepid explorers found themselves."
"Is it SG-1?" She whispered.
"Are you going to keep interrupting?" He asked her, "cause I can let you tell the story."
"No, I'm sorry," she said repentant. "I won't interrupt again," she promised.
"See that you don't," his smile and hug belied the stern words. And he began his story again.
~~~~~
P4Y 299 was a wild and stormy planet. The wind whipped at the team, threatening to tear their packs from the backs, sending dirt and detritus flying around them, tugging at them and pulling them along in turns.
"Well, campers," the Colonel had to yell to be heard above the wind, "do we see anything at all of interest here?"
Carter didn't bother to answer she just pointed in the direction of the line of caves she had found. The little group gathered around her and they trudged in the direction she had indicated. Talking was no use. The wind just whipped their words away from them.
The planet was an eerie place of half-light. Carter had explained back on earth about the planet's rotational axis and it's position in relation to the sun, but it didn't make the half-light any more reassuring as they walked through it. The trees were bare, and leaves that might have been clinging to them had long since been ripped away in the wind. Overhead the clouds swirled and dropped the occasional fat raindrop. Around them the lightening flashed. It never seemed to hit anything on the ground, but they were still careful to not pause under any of the tall trees.
Daniel put his hand on his boonie, trying to hold it on his head. It really wasn't any use in the wind, it kept getting blown off his head, finally he just let it hang down his back. He tucked his head down and kept walking into the wind, trying to just keep his teammates in sight as they struggled to make their way to the caves.
He was surprised when the wind abruptly stopped and he ran into a solid back.
"Sorry, Teal'c," he muttered. It took a minute to get his bearings.
"Wow," he heard Sam say. Stepping around Teal'c into the cave, he stopped beside his friend. Wow seemed so inadequate to what they had found.
The cave stretched out before them going as far as they could see. And on every ledge, outcropping, even on the floor were round objects that were glowing with a life of their own.
Even the Colonel stopped in astonishment at the ethereal glow spread out in front of them.
"What are they?" He asked finally. "Glowy light things?"
Carter had pulled out a couple of instruments and was busy fiddling with dials and buttons. "I don't know, sir. But each one of those objects are giving off a small amount of energy."
"We've found it!" the Colonel exclaimed. All eyes turned to him, " the birthplace of the energizer bunnies. I always knew those bunnies were from some other planet. They're just so pink."
Carter rolled her eyes and went back to her readings. Daniel moved in to get a closer look at the objects.
"Ah, ah," Jack cautioned him, touching him on the shoulder as he knelt down to get a closer look. "Look, but don't touch."
Daniel didn't even bother to answer. He just held his hands up in a 'hands off' gesture. Satisfied that the archeologist wasn't going to get into trouble, he moved over to check on the Captain. Teal'c stayed with Daniel, quietly standing behind him. Jack nodded approvingly. If he couldn't be there to keep Daniel out of trouble, the Jaffa would be the person he'd choose for the job.
Carter had moved into the cavern, still taking measurements and whatever it was that she did when she was in 'science' mode. "This is so amazing," she said to her commanding officer. I mean this could be a valuable find. A new power source just laying around."
He looked at her doubtfully, "Is it really ever that easy for us?"
"But, sir...," she protested.
He never got to hear what she was going to say, because Daniel called out, "Hey, guys, look at this."
They hurried over to where he was on the floor, studying the objects as close as he could without actually touching one. He was literally lying on the ground, nearly nose to nose with the object, so to speak.
"Daniel, what are you doing?" Jack thought he exorcised great restraint where the civilian scientist was concerned. He didn't drag him up by his collar away from the dangerous object; in fact he kept his tone moderated to a low rumble.
"Jack, you have to see this." The young man didn't even look up. "I think that there's writing on this." Daniel put out a hand as if he was going to touch the object and Jack couldn't stand it anymore.
He reached down and pulled the other man up by his collar.
"Jack, I wasn't going to touch it." Daniel favored his friend with one of his patented 'you just don't give me enough credit.' looks. "Geeze. It could tell us what's inside, it could tell us what happened to the people on this planet. It could tell us almost anything." He was talking fast, the way he did when the ideas where whizzing through his brain faster than he could express them.
"Sir," Carter broke in, "We need to take one of these back to the SGC and study it."
"Carter, that's a fine idea. Are you sure this one's not going to attack us and try to take out the SGC like the last thing we just had to take back and study?" The Colonel asked her levelly. His shoulder still ached when it rained.
She just blinked at him.
"Just be careful," he told her as she pulled on her gloves and began to carefully put one of the glowing objects into her pack, "that's all I'm saying."
~~~~~
Daniel had to admit, that the object *was* interesting. Its surface was covered in a feathery script. Daniel couldn't decide if they were naturally occurring markings or if it was some sort of writing.
After the mission debriefing, Daniel had headed to his office to try and decipher the markings on the roundish object. Although the outer layer seemed tough, Daniel used care when he handled it. He worked for hours comparing the markings to every known and forgotten language he could think of. All he'd gotten for his troubles was a massive headache.
He leaned back in his chair, massaging his temple with one hand. He hefted the object with the other. He had wanted to translate the writing before he turned it over to Sam to open and find out what was contained inside. What if there was some deadly poison inside, or it was some sort of weapon? He had thought the writing might tell him, but he was afraid he was going to have to admit defeat on this one. That was something that he hated doing.
"Hey, Daniel," Sam's voice behind him caused him to jump, the object in his hand bouncing. He made a grab for it, but he was too late. It plummeted to the floor, smashing into powdery shards.
There was a flash of light that blinded them both. Throwing their hands up to shield their eyes, they could still see the light through their closed eyelids. With a ghostly howl the entire SGC was plunged into blackness. The light around them bled into the walls and was gone leaving them also in the pitch black.
"Uhm..., Daniel," he heard Sam's voice from behind him. "If this is a bad time, I can come back later."
~~~~~~
The conference room was bathed in a red glow from the emergency lights. It gave the General a definitely demonic appearance as he glowered down at his subordinates seated at the table around him. "What in Sam Hill is going on here, people?" He demanded. "Do we know what's caused this blackout?"
Never one to avoid the issue, Sergeant Siler spoke up, "We know that there was an overload in the systems in the vicinity of Dr. Jackson's office. It spread nearly instantaneously to all the systems in the mountain. Even NORAD is out, Sir."
"Daniel's office? Why am I not surprised?" Came the sarcastic comment from the Colonel. Everyone at the table looked at the archaeologist.
"It's not my fault," he protested vehemently. "I mean, I didn't even want to bring the thing back, whatever it is. It was Sam who had wanted to study it."
His tactic was successful as all eyes turned to Sam who glared back at them, "How did we lose all the systems? Aren't there supposed to be redundant systems to keep just this sort of thing from happening?"
The Sergeant met her glare levelly, "While normally that's the case, Major, there was an electrical surge that spread through everything. It was like it was reaching out, looking for something..." He spread his hands out helplessly. He didn't like it when things didn't work the way they were supposed to. It was his job to keep the systems running smoothly at the SGC. He took the black out personally.
"Reaching out?" Daniel asked incredulous, leaning forward. The man rarely used words that weren't precise and exactly what he meant, "You mean as if it were sentient?"
Before he could answer, there was a ghostly howl and a crackle of light spread through the room. It added a blue tint to the red gloom. The light circled the room, blue light reaching out tendrils toward those seated around the table. Daniel felt an odd jolt as it touched him, like a warm current pass through his body. It paused, suddenly indecisive.
"You don't suppose this thing recognizes you as the person who released it?" Sam asked, her voice a quiet whisper, as if she were afraid of scaring the entity.
Daniel didn't move. The blue glow oozed to surround him. He couldn't sense anything but he was afraid any sudden moves might spook it. A tendril flickered out and stroked down his cheek, he worked hard not to flinch from the crackle of energy that danced across his face.
"What's it doing?" The Colonel demanded sharply.
"I don't have a clue, Sir," Carter admitted reluctantly. "Maybe it's just curious," she began.
"Or, perhaps it is testing Daniel Jackson for signs of weakness," Teal'c offered another theory, one Jack didn't like.
"You said there were hundreds of the objects this thing came out of back on that planet?" The General asked; his voice also hushed.
Daniel was a strange sight with his hair standing straight on end, a blue pallor surrounding him, swirling and crackling with energy.
"God dam it," the Colonel swore quietly.
"Sir?" Sam asked, not taking her eyes off Daniel and the 'thing' surrounding him.
"What if it was a prison, Carter? What if some sort of criminal was imprisoned in that... that... thing and we've released it."
"You could be correct, O'Neill." Teal'c agreed with him. "There were a great number of those objects, they could be very dangerous."
"Guys," Daniel's lips hardly moved, he was so afraid of suddenly frightening the creature that swirled around him. "Can we think about how to get this thing off me? Then we can discuss what it is and how to get it back to where it belongs?"
"He's right," the Colonel nodded, "Carter, any ideas?"
The sudden sound of the gate activating caused everyone in the room to jump. There was a flash of light around Daniel and a howl as the thing that had held him in its grip disappeared into the ceiling. Daniel, released at last, fell face first onto the table. The Colonel caught him as he began to slip out of his chair boneless.
Feeling for a pulse, the Colonel swore mutely. There wasn't one. "Someone get the Doc here ASAP," he yelled. Carter and Teal'c helped him move their friend onto the floor. They laid him down carefully as Jack began CPR.
The room around them was chaos as a voice called on a cell phone for the Doctor who was trapped several floors away, unable to get there with the speed they needed. The Colonel counted his compressions, backing away to allow Carter to perform mouth to mouth and then moving back in to perform the lifesaving compressions that would keep his friend's blood circulating until the Doc could get there.
'Not like this, they couldn't lose him like this.' The words whirled in Jack's head as his hands pressed on the young man's chest. 'So stupid, so wasteful, that brilliant mind gone in a second.' He moved back to allow Carter room to work.
"Where's the doc?" He shouted.
"She'll be here as soon as she can, Jack," the General answered. "She has to go through the stairwells and they have to bring all the necessary equipment. It's the gate I'm worried about."
Jack fell back to his job, "Just shut the iris." It was obvious to him what should be done.
Siler answered, "Easier said than done, Colonel. All the powers out, even the power to the iris. It was all sucked up by that thing. We're trying to shut it manually, but at this moment, Apophis could step through and there's nothing we could do about it."
"Oh." Jack went back to his compressions. The gate be damned, he had other things to worry about at the moment. His world narrowed to Daniel's lifeless body and his hands that kept pressing his chest, massaging his heart, praying that this time would be the last, that Daniel's own body would restart, "Come on, damn you, beat, that's an order," he whispered.
He could hear the gate as it circled and locked, circled and locked and then the final whoosh as it opened. He heard Teal'c call out "O'Neill." But he couldn't look, it was his job to keep Daniel alive until the Doc got there to, dammit, do her job.
The room suddenly lit bright as day. Jack felt himself nudged, like a gentle hand on his shoulder, moving him away from Daniel, "Dammit, Carter, I told you..." He looked up irritably to find a bright glowing ball floating in front of him. He scrambled back as it seemed to encompass Daniel's body.
"Carter, what's it doing?"
"I... I don't know, Sir." She hated the unknown as much as anyone at the SGC.
There was a pulse and Daniel's body arched off the ground. With a gasp, he opened his eyes, wonderful alive, blue eyes. "Jack?" His voice was just a croak, but it was his voice.
Jack knelt down, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Right here, Daniel. Lie still. We have another one of those things from the planet visiting."
Daniel did as instructed, watching as the glowing cloud floated away from him, a mournful cry emanated from it.
"It sounds like it's looking for something," Carter said.
"A hunch, Carter?" The Colonel asked.
"No..., call it more... women's intuition."
"What?"
There was another mournful cry.
"Wait," was all Carter would say.
"Carter, this thing just tried to fry Daniel."
"No," she countered, "it was the other one, that did it when it was scared. This one saved Daniel."
One more mournful cry from the golden blob and the walls of the conference room once again crackled with blue energy. A small blue cloud formed near the ceiling. There was a glad cry like the sound of bells on a summer's day. The golden cloud reached out and encircled the smaller being. The two pulsed a moment.
Then they floated down through the conference room back towards the gate. The brightly hovering cloud hesitated a moment when it reached the gate and nothing happened. There was a flick of bright energy that raced around the gate room and disappeared into the walls.
Around them, the SGC sprang back into life, and the gate began to spin.
"Sir? Should we stop the gate?"
Hammond shook his head. If the being wanted to leave, he surely wasn't going to try to stand in its way.
His teammates helped Daniel stand, and they stood watching the gate as it opened and their latest guests disappeared into it.
The General fixed his flagship team with a steely eye, "What just happened here, people?"
It was Carter that answered, "I don't think we released a prisoner, Sir."
"Then, Carter, what was it?" The Colonel demanded as he supported Daniel on one side.
"You don't know, Jack?" Daniel asked quietly.
"And I suppose you do?"
The two team mates exchanged glances and Carter nodded her head.
"Jack, we presided over a birth."
"Now, Daniel, I know you died, but you didn't hit your head. What are you talking about?"
"That thing we brought back was an egg," Daniel explained. He collapsed into a chair gratefully.
"And that was its mother come to look for it," Carter finished for him.
"Why did it let you leave the planet in the first place if you had its child?" The General asked.
"Perhaps it did not know that we had its child. Major Carter put the 'egg' into her pack when we departed. Perhaps it did not realize until now that its child was gone," The Jaffa put a hand on Daniel's back to add his support.
"How did it know where to come to find its child though?" Daniel asked.
"You've got me on that one," Sam admitted ruefully. "We're just glad to have you back alive."
"You scared us there, buddy," Jack told him quietly.
"Thanks," Daniel smiled at them ruefully, "and not to sound ungrateful, but who sat on my chest?"
~~~~~
Cassie's head was heavy on his chest and Daniel thought she was asleep. He eased her head onto her pillow. She opened her eyes and blinked up to him sleepily, "You died?"
"What?" He chuckled as he rubbed his chest. "It was a story, Cassie. You don't think I'd actually tell you classified mission material?" He teased.
"Hey," she protested. "I am classified mission material. Really, what was it? Did you find out?"
"Really," he insisted, "It was a story, I made it up. Now go to sleep." He tucked the covers around her and kissed her on the forehead.
"Night, Uncle Daniel. Happy Halloween." She shut her eyes and was asleep before he could turn out the lights.
He stood at the door a moment watching her sleep then he turned out the light and shut the door. Rubbing his chest, he went in search of Janet's medicine cabinet for some Tylenol. His chest really did feel like Teal'c had sat on it.
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