Great Expectations


PART 3
Present; eighteen months later


They'd been waiting a week. Against SG1's wishes the banners were now coming down. Time, it seemed, was not constant throughout the universes. And Daniel had stood them up.

Jack watched silently through the briefing room window, Carter and Teal'c somewhere behind him, as technicians balanced on their ladders trying to grasp the huge signs. Welcome home, Daniel.

What's a year and a half between galaxies?

He'd gotten used to having a friend missing from his team. Allowed himself to get used to it, out of self-preservation and the knowledge that this wasn't permanent, that Daniel would one day be coming home. Deep in the back of his mind he'd always feared Daniel might change his mind.

But something had happened, Jack was certain. Daniel wouldn't have used his new allies to further his own needs, no matter what the politicians were saying about him. Daniel would never do that, never forget his family here at the base.

Couldn't the guy be caught up in some wonderful explorations and be finishing up, right now?

Sure.

Couldn't they have had mechanical problems on board the ship, and have been delayed getting back?

Sure.

Couldn't they have been attacked out there somewhere in space?

Yasureyabetcha, damn it.

And they had no idea where Daniel was.

_____

The last time had been right before that Asgard mission. He hadn't taken this out for over seventeen months. Hadn't allowed himself the luxury, hadn't given in when times had been rough and he'd needed a friend. He hadn't done this again because it did absolutely no good and just prolonged the misery.

But now with broken plans and promises and hopes he needed too much to see Daniel again, one way or another. He needed to see his friend's face, hear his voice, maybe yell at him; so here he was, accessing the safe where the holographic remote had been kept for so long. Out of sight but not totally out of mind, like chocolate cake to a dieter. This afternoon he was breaking his abstinence.

He couldn't take it to Daniel's office; the room was in use.

Pocketing the device, Jack locked up the safe once more and headed for his own office.

_____

Shutting the door, he paused. This idea was nuts. This would do nothing but make him grumpy, open old wounds.

Placing the device inside his desk drawer, he hesitated, then closed the drawer and sat down. If he needed a friend, he'd seek out someone who was actually here for him.

He'd go find Teal'c.

_____

Two hours of CNN had lingered and dragged, until Jack was forced to remove himself from his teammate's presence. How could Teal'c keep himself so engrossed for so long, anyway? That man had patience O'Neill couldn't comprehend. Certainly the hours in heavy armour, standing guard at the doorway of a palace room occupied by a vain, egotistical parasite calling itself a god had imposed such a necessity upon the former First Prime, but still...

Jack could go home to an empty house, but a general meeting of SG COs had been called for 1530 hours, just four hours from now. No point in leaving the base.

Sitting once again in his office, the temptation was too much. He would activate the thing just one last time, and use it to say good-bye. Jack sat with the remote in his hand, flipping it upside down. He pressed the panel.

It had been a year and a half, and Jack found himself taken aback once again at the wondrous technology practically bringing his friend's charismatic form to life. "Take care of yourself, Jack. I expect a big welcome home party when I get back. This will all prove worthwhile, you'll see."

"Yeah, well, Daniel, about that party…see, you didn't sho…" Jack's oncoming tirade stopped abruptly as his friend's hushed voice cut him off.

"Jack?…… Jack, can you hear me? …… Jack? Please please please come into the room."

Jack froze. Daniel?

"Look, Jack, this speaker probably doesn't record and I don't even know if it works both ways, but the Daisnis have been listening in on you. You know… when you talk to me, um, my hologram? This has been one giant set-up, Jack, right from the start, and we walked right into it. The Daisnis aren't going home to some other galaxy; they steal information wherever they can get it. The ticket people - the Signatians - send them trespassers to do with as they please. I misjudged them, Jack; I'm sorry. They're nothing but space pirates. They just want you to tell them about the Tok'ra, the Asgard, and who knows what else. I'm in trouble, Jack. They intend to put me to sleep and then use or trade me as a source of information."

Jack's entire state of being had gone numb, horrible visions cascading across his thoughts, and he heard the final words. "I miss you too, Jack. All of you. You have no idea."

Oh crap, oh damn, oh shit Daniel.

They'd heard him talking? Daniel had heard him talking?

Daniel had left him this message, way back when he used to talk to this thing?

Oh damn oh damn oh…

Daniel had left an eighteen-month-old SOS and no one had been around to hear it.

Damn him for putting Daniel in storage.

_____

"General!" Jack was out of breath, and he didn't give a damn that he'd knocked and not waited for an answer or invitation to enter. "Daniel's in trouble."

Or had been.

_____

Those in the briefing room were silent, listening to the message for the seventh time. Jack was still hugely embarrassed at having his world know he'd been talking to a machine. A machine that looked like his closest friend, but still…

…still, if he hadn't, they may never have received this warning, this SOS, at all. And had he continued, it wouldn't have come eighteen months too late.

"What exactly had you given them, Colonel?" Hammond's eyes were deep and penetrating.

"Oh crap, who remembers…. oh, sorry, sir. I think I talked about some missions just after we left him. I'd have to look them up, General. And maybe the one to P8X 023. I never took the device out of the safe after that one."

"You gave them intel on our mission to an Asgard protected world?" Hammond was incredulous.

"It's not like I was actually talking to anyone, sir." Jack tried to un-incriminate himself.

"You were being bugged, Colonel."

"How was I to know that? It's not like we keep secrets between ourselves around here. And I have a feeling I gave them the wrong coordinates; I mean, you know me sir. Actually, I don't think I gave them the coordinates at all, it's not like they can use our computer's planet designations."

Hammond glared. "Never mind, Colonel. It's just lucky that nothing seems to have come of that; we don't know what they had intended for us."

"Or for Daniel Jackson," Teal'c added solemnly.

The general continued. "Are you saying that they didn't want all of you, Colonel, because they could get more information about Earth's activities from you alone?"

Feeling somewhat foolish, Jack nodded. "Yes sir. If they had taken all of us, the only new information they could have gotten would've been up until our time of capture. This way," Jack looked sheepishly down at his hands, "they would have received ongoing information for at least eighteen months. Or so they thought."

"After which time period they could have gained access to this compound using whatever information they had received from Daniel Jackson himself," Teal'c commented, "if they had so wished."

"Then why have they not already done so?"

"Well… I guess when things didn't pan out and their plan backfired, they gave up on us."

"Or used Daniel in other ways." Carter's voice was subdued.

"Well it's a damn good thing, Colonel, that you put that device safely away where it belonged."

"Except that we would have received this message long ago, General, if I hadn't." Guilt brandished its hold on Jack's psyche, curbing and replacing his last traces of embarrassment.

"Perhaps this has not turned out well for Dr.Jackson, Colonel, but it has been in the best interests of this base as well as this planet."

Jack couldn't bring himself to agree.

"So what now, sir?" Carter looked up, needing to get on with the most important matter.

"Major?"

"We have to try to help Daniel, sir."

"Major, may I remind you that we have no idea as to Dr. Jackson's whereabouts, nor do we know what they have done to him in the intervening time period. For all we know Dr. Jackson may be dead and they may know everything about Earth and the SGC." Hammond's sympathetic but intense gaze was penetrating, disturbing. He knew what Daniel meant to these people, and such openly harsh words, however realistic, were bound to sting. But the sooner they faced the truth, the better. Daniel Jackson had already been gone far too long; sorry now for having authorized this mission in the first place, he, too, knew that things did not always turn out the way one hoped.

The dread within Jack was rising. "Then don't you think we should try to find out, General?" Jack's stare was intense.

"How do you propose to do that, Colonel?"

There was silence in the room.

"Would it not be wise to set a trap, as they did for Daniel Jackson and O'Neill?" Teal'c suggested.

"Catch them at their own game, Teal'c?" Jack was picking up the scenario.

"What sort of a trap do you have in mind, gentlemen?" Hammond queried.

"Oh, give them what they want - a nice juicy helping of holographic Asgard," Jack decided for the group. "On a quiet little undeveloped planet like P7X 521."

"What if we can't contact the Asgard, sir, or they're too far away?"

"So we'll do it without them. We're getting good at bluffing."

General Hammond interrupted the plans. "SG1, the Daisnis, if that's what they're really called, have more than likely given up listening to whatever devices were connected to the holographic remote. More than likely Dr. Jackson has been deposited elsewhere and the Daisnis have moved on."

"Doesn't matter sir, I have another idea." Jack revised his own previous thoughts. "We may not know where Daniel is but we do know how he got to where he was. Why don't we just board the ship that took him in the first place?"

"I'm not sure I follow you, Colonel."

"We were sent to the ship when we weren't allowed access to Signatia. So let's go back to Signatia and try to not be allowed there again."

The general stared at Jack, as did the owners of two other pairs of eyes.

"Colonel, you want to be captured aboard a ship of hostile aliens who could possibly trade you to their allies for information?"

"Well, I wouldn't say I exactly want it to happen that way, but … yes. We can pretend to have no idea we're onto them, General, and just want to check on Daniel. If he's not there, Carter can try to sneak a peek at their files, maybe find a gate address, before we peacefully leave."

"That's if they have any intention of allowing you to leave, peacefully or otherwise, which I doubt, Jack."

Jack squinted. "I was thinking we could grab their weapons."

"As was I, O'Neill."

Jack focussed intently on the general. "We can do this, sir."

"I'll have to give this some thought, SG1."

"Gener…"

"I'll have to give this some thought. Dismissed."

_____

Damn it to hell.

Jack sat at his desk, leaning back in his chair, eyes closed. Daniel was out there somewhere, with who knows what happening to him. You misjudged them, Daniel? We all did. Only difference was I didn't want you to go with them in the first place. No matter where he was or who he was with, the linguist would have long ago given up on his team, given up on being rescued. Daniel knew well over a year ago that his SOS attempt had failed. Jack tried to close his mind to the despair and terror his teammate must have been going through, must be going through still. Would they be able to find him? Would he forgive them? Was he still alive?

Didn't matter. They had to try something, anything, to find him. And if it came to that, Colonel Jack O'Neill was willing to die trying.

_____

Pleading, promises, bribes, jokes, more pleading, yet all his best angles were wasted on the general, for in the end it was plain logic that won Jack's battle. Daniel could still be alive, healthy, and in need of help. And at the SGC, no one alive was ever knowingly left behind. At least, not once the presence of danger had been established.

"Sam. Teal'c. You know we may end up being captured," Jack had warned. "I'm willing to do this alone."

"I am not willing to allow you to do this alone, O'Neill. I will indeed come with."

"So will I, sir."

Jack had known that's how it would go down, but he also knew he had had to allow the decision to be voluntary.

"Carter, when the Signatians send us away, you remember the first two coordinates. Teal'c, you remember the third and fourth. We all pay attention to the seventh."

"Sir," Carter whispered hesitantly, "what if they send us elsewhere this time? I mean, we don't know that the same ship or aliens still or ever did make the same runs."

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it, Major." Jack stared at her. "You don't have to come."

"Yes I do. This is about Daniel, sir."

They stepped into the wormhole.

_____

They were again spit out into the now familiar varnished wooden room, while guards remained at the foot of the mahogany rail, as if in serene waiting. No one moved to join nor greet them, and no one seemed to recognize them. Visitors must come fairly regularly, Jack surmised, for them to post continual watch at their gate. Of course, the SGC posted constant watch as well, although visitors to Earth were highly infrequent.

The men looked at them in curiosity. "Baellisk?"

Jack shook his head, and attempted to pass. Hands grabbed him, as Carter and Teal'c were pulled out of the way.

"Na Baellisk, na vana libnara!" And their weapons were removed. Jack hated that part, but otherwise he had to admit that the plan was working. This might be an insane plan, however, and end up with his whole team in captivity. But it had been a chance they'd all been willing to take.

"Check out the chevrons, people!"

_____

Was this the same ship?

Looked like it… sort of.

The lights were there, but this time nothing was flashing to express their uninvited presence. The room was so dimly lit they could just make out the doors bearing what appeared to be danger signs, and the steel bars covering the shiny walls. There was a chill to the room, and a silence so eerie it seemed to cause the mingling of hyper-alertness and dread.

"Abandoned?" Jack's eyes darted to his astrophysicist.

"Or docked?" Carter suggested.

"Is it my imagination, or are we on a tilt?" Jack had been having a bit of trouble with his balance, a disconcerting sensation.

"O'Neill." Teal'c was gazing out one of the barred windows. "I believe this vessel has met an unfortunate end."

"What?" Jack and Sam were at his side in a moment.

The sight before them was horrific, fascinating, intriguing, devastating, beautiful. For the ship was indeed on the surface of a planet, but this planet definitely didn't look like home for any aliens. The atmosphere cast an eerie orange glow, and the ground was riddled with steaming vents and fumaroles. Far into the distance, clouds of water vapour and gases rose and swirled, fading and rising, geysers blasting their spray up into the air. Gushing mud and liquid bubbled to the surface of mudpots surrounding them and near enough to see. Electrical currents streaked through the atmosphere.

"Everyone must have gone through the gate when they crashed, sir." The disappointment in Carter's voice could not be contained.

And now we have no idea how to reach Daniel.

"Why would the Signatians send us here?"

"This must've been the last known planet the Daisnis had been orbiting to collect their trespassers, sir."

"Perhaps they are unaware of what has occurred, O'Neill. All those who are forced to arrive here would most likely free themselves through the stargate."

"Which we'll do after we have a look around. Maybe we can dig up some files or intel." Jack turned, leading the way towards the door.

He tried pushing, with little luck. "This thing is jammed. Help me, Teal'c."

As the door slid three or four inches and a blast of cold air hit him, Jack jumped back, coughing. "Shit! The air's bad in there!" The sulfuric odor penetrated the narrow opening, seeping into the gateroom. Gripping the door heavily, he managed to slide it closed. "And it's cold."

"Life support must have been cut off in the rest of the ship, sir. They must keep auxiliary power on in this room in order to keep the DHD and gate constantly charged."

"Whatever. There's no way we can search the ship."

The three teammates looked at each other, at a loss for an alternate option.

"Then we must retreat through the stargate to the SGC," Teal'c remarked.

"And get oxygen," Jack finished. "We'll come back. I want to know where these people went." I want to know where Daniel is.

_____

Returning hadn't been a problem, the threat of danger seemingly negligible. It had been deemed that space suits would only be needed if gravity was found to be lacking and the air too frigid, so they had returned with lined field jackets covered in full hazmat protection. On that point, Hammond and Fraiser had not been willing to take any chances. Gripping the door once more and forcing it open, they found themselves in solid, enveloping blackness. Flashlights immediately illuminated a contoured hallway, familiar from their original visit.

"Oh!" Carter had rounded a corner, her beam of light now aimed at two badly decomposed bodies clothed in silver.

"Looks like they didn't all make it to the gate."

"Why would they have left anyone here, sir?"

"No life support, Carter. I suppose no one had time to stop for them. Maybe no one gave a damn."

"How long ago do you suppose this to have occurred, Major Carter?"

"It's hard to say, Teal'c. The bodies are almost completely decomposed but the cold temperatures and lack of oxygen probably slowed down their decay."

"What's with your voice, Carter?" Jack asked, aware that his own sounded strange as well. Deeper, slower, distorted.

"It's being affected by the atmosphere, sir. My instruments indicate there is some oxygen here, but there's a disproportionately high concentration of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia. You should hear yourself, Colonel."

As if following them into the control room, the blackness continued. None of the projectors were running.

"Crap." Didn't look like they'd be able to access any files at all. What they did find, however, were six more rotted bodies.

"It does not appear that any of these crew members were successful in reaching the stargate, O'Neill."

"They must have lost life support suddenly, sir. Maybe that's even what caused the accident."

"So… either they let Daniel off before they crashed, in which case we have no idea where to look for him, or he's still on this ship."

In which case he's dead.

"Let's keep looking."

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't catch that."

"I said let's keep looking."

The search continued, turning up no working modules or consoles, and only a single skeleton more. No corpse in BDUs, although Daniel would likely have changed into "local" attire if he'd been here for some time; it wasn't as though he'd taken along an entire wardrobe. This accident could have occurred many months after SG1 had left Daniel behind.

"It does not appear that Daniel Jackson remained aboard this vessel at the time of its demise." Teal'c had finally said the dreaded words aloud. Concern had been growing; they all knew that if they were to return empty handed, their quest for Daniel would be starting from zero, and there was no where else to turn. Since he hadn't contacted them, he was most likely imprisoned... and being used how? for what?

But not finding him meant that there was still hope that he was alive, somewhere. They really did not want to find Daniel's decomposing body.

"We're not done here yet, Teal'c," Jack responded with a bit more vigour than he'd intended. There had to be some clue, somewhere. Could Daniel have left another message?

"Sir!' Carter pointed.

They'd entered what looked like a den or comfort area, and there on the floor was a deep green military pack.

Jack's subdued voice echoed, sounding louder in the stark shadowed chamber. "So he's still here, somewhere." He didn't want to picture what they would find. "Or they kept his stuff." Jack's eyes scoured the room, convincing himself that no traces of a body were camouflaged, although there weren't many places here in which to hide. His vision roamed back to Teal'c, settling on the object dangling almost gingerly from the Jaffa's fingers.

"Daniel's glasses," Jack whispered to no one. If Daniel had been delivered into enemy hands, he would be needing those desperately.

But more likely he no longer needed them at all.

Carter was already flipping through the journal that had been packed away so carefully. "There's not a lot in here, sir. I don't think he'd discovered much before this happened." She paused. "Everything that may have been about the SGC has been scratched up or ripped out, Colonel." Carter looked up. "He didn't want them reading this."

"Daniel Jackson was concerned about his fate, as his message warned us. O'Neill, do you think perhaps Daniel Jackson remains in the stasis chambers even now?"

Jack stared at Teal'c for only a moment, before the realization dawned possible and plausible. "Oh yes, I think Daniel remains… might still be in the stasis chambers!" Jack spat roughly. "Damn right I do! So… where do you think those are?"

The increasingly hesitant search resumed, for now that they knew what to look for, they feared what they would find. Finally, the team members opened the door to another black room, different only from the rest of the ship in that a very dim glow radiated from a nearby alcove. It wasn't their flashlights that informed them that the luminescence emanated from a lost comrade, or rather, from the bindings that held him upright, and not from a rotting body. That was definitely Daniel, bundled up in the corset-like harness with a metallic band across his forehead. Strands of rubbery fibres led from Daniel to the power source above him. Last time they'd seen this confinement, the victims had been at the SGC, strung up from the ceiling.

"Crap." Who were these people, or their allies? The aliens who had once tried to infiltrate the SGC? Was there someone out there pretending to be Daniel, right now, or had they been about to try before the ship had crashed? Jack realized with a shock what those tickets on Signatia really were; those guards had wanted them to remove and deposit their mimic devices… to reveal their true identities. Anyone not complying was subject to investigation and capture. That "decontamination" spray aboard this ship had probably revealed that they were not imposters.

His flashlight aimed at his friend, Jack slowly made his way towards Daniel. Sam was already checking for a pulse. "Oh god, he's alive. His pulse is so slow, sir, but he's alive!"

He's alive.

After a year and a half?

Like the Gamekeeper's people, being kept alive and in good health for millennia.

They stared, for a moment not knowing what to do.

Carter found her voice. "This machine must have its own generator."

"Are we able to remove Daniel Jackson from this mechanism without injuring him, O'Neill?"

"Oh yeah. Did it to myself, last time."

"We can't, sir. There's very little oxygen in this room. He could probably stand the cold until we reach the gate, but not the fumes and lack of breathable air."

"Teal'c, go back to the base. Get oxygen for Daniel."

"I will do so at once, O'Neill."

Sam had stepped back from Daniel, but neither she nor Jack could take their eyes off their previously missing teammate. Perfectly preserved, after all this time. Not even a beard had begun to grow. The contraption must not only be supplying nutrients and liquids to his body, but also be regulating his body functions and temperature, keeping him in hibernation. Like the Gamekeeper's people.

And if they hadn't been able to find Daniel, the guy might've been here for the next thousand years. Surely he would have begun to deteriorate by then?

Not necessarily, but certainly someone else might have found him, someone else sent by the Signatians?

No, they wouldn't have survived past the gateroom. All newcomers would have made a quick retreat through the stargate, and Daniel would have spent centuries or forever locked away in this cold hostile darkness, or at least until the ship was finally sucked into the steaming, rebelling, acidic land precariously supporting its damaged structure. Or would this life support system have continued to keep Daniel alive even then, underground, buried... the flashing thought appalled Jack, causing a shiver to run through him. Hopefully his friend would never have woken up.

They would have taken your life, Daniel, to get information from me. Jack couldn't take his eyes off his friend, strapped to the wall like that, head lowered. How uncomfortable that looked. You lost eighteen months that you could have been spending with us. The anger and fury imploding within the colonel mixed with horror and fear for his friend's physical and psychological safety. Staring at the unconscious, seemingly lifeless body of his teammate, Jack wanted only to grab his friend out of that alcove and run like hell to the safe and comforting security of home.

There were tears under her hazmat mask and Sam couldn't do a damn thing to brush them away. We left you like this for eighteen months, Daniel. Dear God, I'm so sorry. She touched his hand, wanting to feel life.

Who were these aliens, and what had they wanted? How long had those SGC infiltrators intended to keep their victims alive at Cheyenne Mountain, that time? Come to think of it, why hadn't they just killed them all before stealing their identities? What had they planned to do with all of them? Were these people, these Daisnis, stealing for them, or were they all one and the same? Jack hated what they had stumbled into, what they had left Daniel to be used for.

Startled by the sound of movement, both teammates jumped as Teal'c made his way back into the chamber, oxygen connection and hazmat in hand.

"Okay kids… how do we do this? We need to wake him up."

"I believe you do so by disconnecting the headband from the main harness, O'Neill."

"But when we lift Daniel's head to do that, he'll disconnect from his oxygen support."

"Daniel Jackson may also struggle upon awakening."

"So, we should get that mask on him first."

"We have about twenty minutes of oxygen left, sir."

"I'm aware of that, Major. Let's wake him up."

As Teal'c carefully readied the hazmat mask, pulling it over the alien band, Jack lifted Daniel's head, disconnecting the equipment. Daniel jerked his head up, eyes flying open, struggling against the oxygen mask and filter being pulled down over his nose.

"Hey, hey, calm down, Daniel, it's us. It's me, Jack. Carter and Teal'c are here. This is oxygen. Breathe."

Daniel tried to focus on his surroundings, the artificial light rays casting shadows around the otherwise black room. So he was still here. How long had it been? He breathed into the mask placed over his nose by an entity in what looked like hazmat gear, speaking his friend's name. The voice was muffled, unusual, and the faces were hidden in semi-darkness. What would his teammates be doing here, anyway? Wasn't this ship still somewhere out in the galaxy? He himself was still harnessed to alien equipment; he had no reason to trust these people.

Daniel stared, flexing his incredibly stiff neck muscles, trying to see through the reflecting glares and into the covered faces. "How do I know it's you?" His voice, too, was thick and low, once he was able to get it to work.

"What?"

"I didn't see the Daisnis using those duplicating devices, but I know they have them on Signatia. How do I know you're not aliens trying to infiltrate the SGC?"

"'Cause we just came from there. We can get back on our own, Daniel."

"How do I know that?"

"Just trust me on this, okay? Come on, it's not safe to get you out of here until you get this gear on."

Daniel wanted nothing more than to leave here with his own people, but he couldn't put the base at risk. Jack hadn't known he was in danger… had he? Then again, if those aliens could impersonate him or anyone else they had in custody, they could have already gone back to the base. And Daniel really wanted to get out of here. "Okay. But if you want me to input the IDC I'm not going to."

Jack had to smile. As much as Daniel wanted to be rid of this place, his teammate's sense of loyalty still continued intact, putting the SGC before his own welfare. "Deal."

Daniel pulled the harness off, the chill of the air enveloping him with a shocking suddenness. Already the others were helping his legs and arms into the hazmat protection Teal'c had brought.

Daniel was helped to move, legs stiff and unsteady from disuse, but remarkably healthy. His entire body ached, but the grogginess had disappeared and adrenaline had taken over to propel him through the blackened hallways and past the human remains, and he suddenly realized what had happened here. A sense of numbness shocked his body, in the realization of what he'd kept waking up to.

The gateroom was not as he remembered it; no metallic or crystalline lights flashed, and the room was so dimly lit he could barely discern the DHD from the shadows. But in this room, Jack had already peeled off his helmet and the eyes searching into his own sure looked like his friend's. But those impersonating devices were completely flawless, and appearances could deceive. Daniel remained reserved, keeping his distance.

As the others removed their head coverings as well, Daniel followed, also finally removing the uncomfortable headband that had been left in place by Teal'c. It was so good to see those faces around him, friends from the past, even though he was unsure about trusting them.

It's us, Daniel; Jack understood his friend's uncertainty. "Dial us out, Carter,"

Daniel watched closely as the Sam person pressed Earth's chevrons, the matterstream billowing outwards in the most beautiful sight in the world to one who'd been trapped for so long in a solitary world of darkness. Watching over Jack's shoulder as the IDC was input, he realized those numbers had changed. Whoever these people were, they were definitely familiar with Earth. God, maybe his friends were here.


"I didn't know where you were." The gentle breeze on his arms was pleasant in the dusk of fall as Jack approached his friend, quietly interrupting Daniel's reverie.

Daniel remained staring out at the surrounding trees as he spoke, his voice soft. "I needed air." He'd been in that mountain for hours, what with medical check-ups and briefings, and though his relief at being home was sufficient to sustain his present sense of peacefulness and exhilaration, he'd longed to see daylight, to experience the freedom of open space around him.

Jack responded only by putting his hand on Daniel's shoulder, and together they stood, looking out at the trees but not really seeing.

"I was really there for a year and a half?"

"I'm sorry, Daniel. I didn't get your message."

"You did. Thank you for taking out the hologram."

"Yeah, about that…"

Again, there was silence, and Jack squeezed Daniel's shoulder. "If they hadn't put you in that contraption you would have died with them." Jack was still relieved they had not had to bring home Daniel's corpse. Relief couldn't even begin to describe what he was feeling. "And at least the time passed faster for you that way. Thank goodness you were unconscious."

Daniel's whispered response caught Jack off guard.

"What?" Daniel hadn't really said what Jack thought he'd said, had he?

"I said I wasn't."

"What are you talking about?" Jack's eyes narrowed as he searched his friend's face.

The jolt startled him, and he looked around. It took only seconds to realize the mistake; futilely trying to inhale in a room filled with sulfuric fumes and very little oxygen was about the worst sensation in the world. Sticking his nose back inside the harness, Daniel tried to cope with oncoming panic. He could see that the room was in darkness; only the faint lights emanating from his own constraints and from the ceiling above him allowed him any recognition of his surroundings. Realization of his predicament swiftly engulfed his thoughts.

A few more rapid and sudden movements indicated that either the ship had come to a full stop, or they were docked on land and experiencing an earthquake.

"I kept waking up."

No, Daniel, that wasn't possible. It didn't happen that way. "You were in stasis when we found you." For eighteen months, Daniel. Tell me you were asleep.

"Although I didn't realize this at the time, the crash must have damaged or dislodged whatever part of the mechanism was being used to put me out. The headband, I think, kept coming loose. I kept waking up."

What happened? He was awake again, the room still bathed in blackness. How long had he been out this time? And why did he keep falling asleep?

He couldn't go on like this, waiting for someone to come for him. Something had happened, or they'd forgotten him here. He had to go through with it this time; he had no choice. He had to see what was out there.

Ripping open the harness, Daniel felt the frigid air blast his limbs. He could deal with this. All he had to do was get to the stargate room, and gate to somewhere. Or he could stop at his quarters, and get the GDO from his pack. He had no way of knowing if they'd changed SG1's IDC though.

He inhaled as deeply as he could one last time. The restraints, complete with life-giving oxygen, would no longer work once they were disconnected from the hanging fibres. He couldn't take them with.

Releasing the door and exiting into the hallway, the cold air penetrating his clothing, Daniel realized there was no life support left anywhere on this ship. Only his stasis contraption seemed to be generating any power, and there was no way he could make it all the way to the gate room. Unable to hold his breath, Daniel dashed back to the harness and shoved his nose inside the oxygen pockets, gasping deeply. Reluctantly he slipped back into the harness, its inner suction tubes making contact through his clothing, feeling some warmth seep slowly into his skin.

Was this how Machello had felt, coccooning himself in his own life support system, waiting for eternity to pass?

His friends had not received his warning. How long had he even been here? Had the Daisnis acted upon any of the information they'd received? God Jack… I don't want to be here, I don't want to be here, I don't want… you wouldn'twant me to be here, I know you wouldn't. But you don't even know that I am.

Eighteen months may end, but you'll never see me again.

He had no choices; all he could do was wait for life support to someday be restored to the ship, hopefully managing to keep his sanity intact, and try to sleep as much as possible.

"Oh shit, Daniel."

Daniel stared into the treeline, his voice barely audible. "I was terrified. When you came for me I didn't care who was taking me out of there, I just wanted to get out."

Jack had no words of consolation. How could Daniel have kept waking up for over a year, or however long it had been since the ship had crashed, knowingly confined to life support, alone in that darkness? He couldn't even begin to imagine. And what was worse, this might have gone on for years, decades, centuries. Daniel's psychological death would surely have preceded the physical. God, Daniel. At any time during these past months, his team could have taken Daniel out of there. Instead, he had done the unthinkable, and put Daniel into storage. He had literally locked his friend away.

"I shouldn't have put away the hologram."

"No guilt allowed, Jack. You knew you weren't really talking to me."

"I'd rather be talking to you."

"Same here."

Jack squeezed Daniel's shoulder once more. "Let's go inside. You're here now. I'm forbidding you to ever even think of going solitary again, ever, Daniel. Don't even try to think it. Don't even think of thinking it. Don't even think of the thought of thinking it. Don't even…"

"Jack, I think…"

"Ah! No thinking. I'm forbidding you to think or even think of thinking."

"… I think I've learned from this."

Jack paused. "So no more thinking you have to prove something to us, have to make a difference?"

"That, Jack, I will probably keep thinking."

Ah, crap. Well one out of two isn't so bad.

Turning towards the mountain's secluded exit, his hand on his friend's back, guiding him, Jack wasn't done yet. "Carter missed you, you know. And if you ever suggest doing something like that again, I'm going to give you my hologram to take with, and it's going to keep on saying some really nasty things in Jack O'Neill language. You understanding this, Daniel?"

Daniel smiled. I understand, Jack. "Right. I missed Carter too. And you don't want me to do that to her again."

"You catch on quick. Well not that quick. But better late than never. How am I doing with the clichés?"

"I didn't miss them."

"A stitch in time…"

"No place like home, Jack. Let's leave it at that."
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