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.