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.