Author's Notes: Strong spoilers for Meridian, plus minor ones for
There But for the Grace of God, Within the Serpents Grasp, Serpents
Lair, Need, Full Circle, Fallen, Ascension, Solitudes, and Politics.
My thanks and deep appreciation to my three betas - Aloysius,
Gategrrl, and Steph. If I have any pride in this story it is because
you helped me fine-tune it until it was something that was close to
perfection.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. - (Hebrews 11:1 - NASB)

"Hellooo," said Jack, cautiously eyeing their surroundings as the wormhole quickly disengaged behind them.

"This location does not appear to reflect the images transmitted by the MALP," remarked Teal'c as the Jaffa slowly walked over to the DHD.

Indeed, what Teal'c said was true. The MALP had transmitted images of an ornately decorated room with several glass display cases containing various types of artifacts and gadgets. Daniel had surmised that the place was probably a museum of some sort, and had expressed an interest in meeting the inhabitants. Jack's main interest in coming to the planet was to find out if any of the artifacts in the museum were in fact big honking weapons they could use against the Goa'uld. What they found when they walked through the gate, however, was a completely empty white room, save for the DHD and the Stargate. A room with no doors, windows, or markings of any kind on the walls, ceiling or floor.

"Yeah, and speaking of the MALP," said Jack, "has anyone else noticed it's not here?"

"You're right, sir," remarked Carter as she looked around the room.

"Do you think we could've gated to the wrong place?" asked Daniel as he stood in the middle of the room quizzically looking around.

"I don't think so, Daniel," said Carter, taking out a hand-held surveillance device.

"You can put that away, Carter, we're not staying." Jack walked towards Teal'c and the DHD. "Teal'c, start dialing." Jack couldn't explain it, but the place gave him a very uneasy feeling and the sooner they got out, the better he would feel.

"Why?"

The cry of protest came from behind him. He swung around to see Daniel wearing his `I'm not budging from this spot until you give me a logical explanation' face. Sometimes it was so easy to give in to that face because, more often than not, Daniel's way ended up being the right way. But this time, this time Jack had a hunch that he was right and they needed to get out of the place pronto.

"Why?" Jack repeated Daniel's question as he walked towards him. "Because this place gives me the creeps and because I'm the colonel and I give the orders." There, he'd said it. It wasn't rational. It wasn't logical, but it was how he felt.

"Don't you think we should at least explore this place a little bit?" Daniel continued his argument.

"Explore what, Daniel, the whiteness of it all? There's nothing here and nobody's home."

"Maybe ... maybe they're out. Maybe they're waiting ..." Daniel cuffed his hands to his mouth and shouted to the ceiling, "Hello, we're peaceful explorers from the planet Earth." After a brief moment, with an embarrassed look on his face, Daniel slowly lowered his hands as his `let's be friends' greeting was met with silence.

"Daniel, why is it so difficult for you to admit, that sometimes, occasionally, I'm right?" Jack turned and started walking towards the gate. "Teal'c, get us out of here."

As Teal'c began pressing the glyphs to send them home, Jack heard a thud come from behind him. Certain that Daniel had tossed down his gear and was preparing to take a stand, Jack decided to give him a piece of his mind.

"Daniel!" he shouted angrily as he began to turn around. His gaze was immediately directed downward to see the stubborn archeologist now lying in an unconscious heap on the floor.

"Daniel?" he cried. His anger now mixed with concern, as he rushed over to the fallen archeologist.

Carter was slightly faster than Jack and was already taking his pulse by the time he got to him. "What happened?" he asked as he knelt down beside Daniel.

"I don't know, but his pulse is weak. We need to get him back, now."

"Dammit, Daniel," he muttered under his breath as he started to pick up Daniel's gear. "Teal'c, grab Daniel. Carter, dial us home."

In the blackness surrounding him, Daniel could see a pinpoint of white light far off in the distance. "Daniel ... Daniel." An angelic voice from beyond the light beckoned.

The point of light and the surrounding blackness slowly transformed into the infirmary. He blinked and Janet came into focus. "Hello, welcome back to the land of the living," she said with a smile as she placed her penlight back in her pocket.

"Ahh, thanks." The cloud of disorientation that shrouded his mind began to dissipate. Finding himself flat on his back in the infirmary was nothing new for Daniel. However, having no recollection of being injured or falling ill, and knowing that his last conscious memory was of being upright and healthy, waking up in this position was more than a little disconcerting. "How'd I get here?" he asked rubbing his head.

"Teal'c carried you," said Jack matter-of-factly as he played with the cuff of the blood pressure instrument. Janet took the instrument from Jack's hand and placed it back in its basket on the wall while giving him a reprimanding look.

"Thanks, Teal'c," Daniel said, looking over at the Jaffa who was standing at the foot of his bed.

"You are welcome, DanielJackson," Teal'c responded with a diplomatic nod of his head

"So, what happened?" asked Jack.

"When?"

"When we were on P4J 078?"

Daniel closed his eyes to see if he could remember anything that way. He shook his head.

"The last thing I remember is arguing with you."

"How do you feel now?" asked Janet as she finished taking his pulse.

Daniel gave himself a two-second mental check-up. "I'm fine. I feel ... fine."

"So, doc, any chance of our boy getting out of this place?" asked Jack.

A nurse handed Janet a chart. "Here are Dr. Jackson's tests results," she said.

"Thank you." Janet opened the chart and began reading. She pursed her lips and frowned. "Daniel," she asked, looking up at him, "when was the last time you ate?"

"Umm, I had coffee this morning," came a guilty reply.

"I'm talking about food."

"A power bar last night?" His response came out more as an inquiry than a statement because he was sure Janet would not consider a power bar to be proper food, no matter how many vitamins and nutrients they tried to cram into the thing.

Janet frowned. "Well, aside from a slightly low blood sugar level, you are perfectly fine."

"So, he needs food?" remarked Jack.

"That would be my recommendation," nodded Janet.

"I'm right on it," said Jack, clapping his hands. "Teal'c, get Carter, tell her we're all going out for steaks, my treat." Jack started to walk out of the door, but then turned towards Daniel. "Umm, Daniel, don't forget your shoes. "You know what they say, `no shoes, no shirt' ..."

Daniel was happy to get a reprieve and had quickly jumped off the gurney. A move he soon regretted. The room became exceedingly brilliantly white. It was a blinding white that seemed to overpower everything in the room. He could still make out the faint outline of objects in the room, but even those were beginning to blur and melt into one another. Daniel's world was disappearing. The only thing that seemed to remain constant was Jack. Daniel tried to keep him in focus. Jack's lips were moving, but the white was washing away even the sound of his voice. Daniel concentrated all his efforts on hearing what he was saying. It was something about steaks and shoes. No ... wait ... something about being right ...

"Daniel, why is it so difficult for you to admit, that sometimes, occasionally, I'm right about things?" Jack turned and started walking away towards the gate. "Teal'c, get us out of here."

Daniel couldn't shake the feeling that he had been here before. That he had heard Jack say these very same words in this very same place, but that couldn't be true. This was the first time they had ever gated to this place and they had been there less than an hour. Maybe the creeps were contagious because suddenly, everything felt terribly, terribly wrong.

Then he saw it.

Teal'c had just begun pressing the glyphs on the DHD when a tendril of black smoke began to grow from the base of the Stargate. He wanted to shout out and warn the others, but found himself unable to do so. Sam, Teal'c and Jack seemed to be in a state of suspended animation. Teal'c's hand hovered over the next glyph; Sam was half-way bent over getting ready to pick up her pack; and Jack was in mid-stride walking towards the gate. Daniel watched the thin wraith-like creature float swiftly along the floor towards the DHD and wind its way up Teal'c's body like a snake coiling up a tree. It then shot across the room and flew over Major Carter's back and shoulders. Next, it made a beeline for Jack, quickly flew past his left ear and raced towards Daniel. He had little time to react. No time really. The entity pierced through him like a bullet to his head.

Jack would describe what he saw as a "freakin' pee-in-my-pants-what's-the-matter-with-Daniel" moment. The look in his friend's eyes said it all. It was a look of absolute horror. It was a look that screamed, "Jack, help me!"

It was not for lack of want that Jack found himself unable to answer Daniel's unspoken cry for help. In fact, Jack saw himself right there grabbing Daniel from whatever hell it was that he was being sucked into. ... "I got ya, space monkey."... "Thanks Jack." ... But Jack stood where he was and Daniel stood where he was, getting lost in his nightmare. And no amount of thinking about it was going to bring Jack any closer to Daniel. What finally snapped him out of his stupor was the blood-curdling scream that burst forth from Daniel as he grabbed his head and then ...

"Oh Christ!" yelled Jack when he finally found his legs and managed to race over just as Daniel fell to the ground trembling convulsively.

A scream ripped through him, burning his chest and throat. He fell to the ground clutching his head in his hands. It felt like the rays of a thousand ribbon devices bombarding his body. Daniel shut his eyes tight against the pain. His hands cradled his head and his knees were drawn up to his chest as he lay on the floor waiting for the waves of nausea and convulsive shivering to subside.

It was cold. Bone-chilling cold. He slowly opened his eyes. Clouds of his warm breath mingled with the frigid air as he exhaled deeply. "Jack? Sam, Teal'c?" he whispered. No one was there. He was alone. Panting desperately, his eyes frantically tried to grab onto something recognizable. He saw white, nothing but white. He was still on P4J 078, but the place was different. The room sparkled and twinkled like a winter wonderland. Everything ... floors, walls, and ceiling was covered in snow and ice, even The DHD and the Stargate, which looked like two fantastical snow sculptures in the middle of the room. The only thing that wasn't white was the blue event horizon which continued to shimmer invitingly in the gate.

Janet couldn't decide which was more hellish, the seizures themselves or those rare moments when Daniel wasn't in the middle of a full-blown seizure, because it was painfully obvious that he was aware that something horrible was happening to him, something which he had no control over. Between seizures, Janet would do her best to quickly explain to Daniel what was happening to him and what they were trying to do to help. He would look as though he understood her. At least Janet wanted to believe he understood. She desperately wanted to believe that Daniel understood they were doing everything they humanly could to help him. There had even been a few times during the evening when Janet was sure Daniel had tried to speak. In fact, at one point, she swore she had heard him say, `S'kay J'n', which she took to mean `It's okay, Janet'. Those words had ripped right through her heart because it meant that Daniel had been more concerned with how this was affecting her, than what it was doing to him.

As the evening progressed and the likelihood of the seizures coming to an end became less and less likely, Daniel, physically drained and stripped raw of any emotion, could only manage a defeated, hopeless look at Janet before another seizure would grab hold of him and drag him down into another hellish nightmare. It was a look that begged, `please, Janet, make it stop.'

Janet glanced down at her watch briefly before returning her attention to her now comatose patient. It had been a twelve minutes since Daniel's last seizure, a new record as far as she was concerned. She placed her hand on Daniel's fevered brow and whispered a silent prayer.

"Hang in there Daniel."

Was that last one twenty-four or twenty-five? Janet looked over at Nurse Carlson who had been dutifully recording each seizure, noting its severity and length. Almost as though she was afraid that any noise or sudden movement would set off another attack, speaking softly, Janet asked, "Carlson, what was that last one?"

Replying in kind, Nurse Carlson looked at Daniel's medical chart and replied, "Twenty-five, ma'am."

Twenty-five. Twenty-five times this scenario had played out. Twenty-five times the seizures had started. Twenty-five times the seizures had stopped. Twenty-five times they had all crossed their fingers and held their breath. Twenty-five times they had prayed to God that maybe this time they had found the right combination of drugs to keep them in check. Twenty-five times Janet died a little. Twenty-five, was that the magic number?

Dr. Frasier looked over at her medical team; they all had the same anticipatory, "ready to jump into action" look on their faces as they watched Daniel, waiting for him to start seizing again. Janet noted the time on her watch again. It had been fifteen minutes now and still no movement from Daniel. She was starting to think they were finally out of the woods.

"Why don't you get some rest," she told her team. "I'll stay here with Daniel."

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Carlson asked.

She nodded her head wearily. "I'll be fine."

As her team slowly filed out of the room, Janet sank into a chair. Dark thoughts clouded her mind, but she was too weary to chase them away. Daniel's painful cries, his anguished looks, fear of permanent brain damage caused the seizures; fear of damage caused the medication. ...`did I give too much, not enough, the wrong kind'? Completely exhausted, Janet closed her eyes and allowed herself to cry a little.

The pain in his head was starting to subside; though it may very well have been that the overwhelming pain of the icy air which felt like it was clawing through his skin and shredding his bones was masking the pain in his head. It was cold, much too cold, and it was getting colder by the minute. He continued to shiver and shake. The cold wrapped tightly around his chest like a vice, making it difficult to breathe. He was certain he would freeze to death if he stayed much longer, but his greatest concern was what had happened to the others.

Had they left him behind? No, Jack wouldn't do that. He'd never leave anyone behind. Something must've happened to them, he surmised. His next thought was that he needed to go through the stargate. He needed to get back home and find out what had happened to the rest of the team. He cried out when his foot sunk into the ice encrusted snow. For the first time, Daniel noticed that his feet were bare. He also realized the only thing protecting him from the cold was a pair of white, light-weight cotton pajamas.

Janet had no idea how she was going to get through this meeting. She had gotten very little sleep - none really. She had allowed herself a good cry after everyone had left, then two minutes of silence to compose herself before she set her mind to the task of finding out what the hell was happening to Daniel. Fortunately, her stubborn determination had paid off.

Unfortunately though, this was going to be one of those good news, bad news meetings. Even though she knew why this was happening to Daniel, she had no idea how to fix it. And even if she could, she had no way of knowing if any permanent damage had been done.

All eyes fell upon Janet as she turned on the slide projector, which cast an image on the screen behind her. Displayed on the screen were two slides filled with rows of fuzzy black dots and squiggly lines. Sam looked fascinated. Hammond looked perplex. Teal'c looked ... Teal'c looked like Teal'c. Colonel O'Neill cocked his head to the left, squinted and closed his right eye.

"What are we looking at, Dr. Frasier?" asked General Hammond.

"This is Daniel's DNA."

"Ah yes, the resemblance is uncanny," Jack replied sarcastically.

Janet knew that sarcasm was a defense mechanism Jack used to keep himself from dealing with issues he didn't want to confront. The idea of Daniel lying in the infirmary, possibly with permanent brain damage, possibly dying, was definitely a place Jack did not want to go.

Respectfully, Janet ignored Jack's comment. "On the left," she pointed to the image on the left side of the screen, "is Daniel's DNA before P4J 078. And on the right is a sample of his DNA we just took."

"Could you tell us what we're supposed to be looking at, Dr. Frasier?" asked General Hammond. "The two slides look the same to me."

"They are, except for this one very small abnormality, here." Janet pointed to an area on the right slide. She continued, "Now, when we look at this abnormality through a high resolution electron microscope," Janet clicked a button on the remote revealing a new slide, "we find this."

"What is that?" asked Sam.

"As far as I can tell, this is a highly advanced molecular based computer chip," remarked Dr. Frasier.

"How did such a device get inside DanielJackson?" asked Teal'c.

"Well, we know he didn't touch anything on 078, and I was ready to rule out any airborne toxins, since none of you were displaying any symptoms, but then I remembered an article I had read on gene therapy to treat certain genetic disorders. One of the things they are experimenting with is using highly advanced molecular computers that will attach themselves to a gene and then rewrite its code. The chip is delivered via an air-borne virus that attaches itself to a specific gene. So, chances are Daniel breathed this thing in."

"Okay, we were all there and we were all breathing the same air, so how come none of us were affected?" asked Jack.

"Well, it's possible that it was purely accidental and Daniel was the only one unfortunate enough to have the gene this virus was attracted to. Another possibility is that whoever designed this thing, knew exactly what they were doing and specifically engineered it so that it would only attach itself to Daniel's DNA."

"So, we could be looking at someone who's out for Daniel?" remarked Jack.

"It's possible," continued Janet. "Although, I don't want to jump to any conclusions just yet." Janet paused and prepared herself for the `more bad news' part of her lecture. "Aside from the seizures, I have no idea what else this device might be doing to Daniel. His EEG and other test results are all over the place. Now, this could be a result of the seizures, the drugs or the device itself."

"You can remove it, right?"

Janet looked over at Jack and regretted the fact that she was about to give him more bad news. She had an uneasy feeling that things were only going to get worse for the Colonel.

"It's not that easy. Even if we could remove the device, it's acting like a poison, a virus that's rewriting Daniel's DNA."

Sam spoke up, "So, what you're saying is we need to come up with an antidote that can reverse the damage this device has already done?"

Janet nodded. Sam directed her attention to General Hammond. "Sir, with your permission, I'd like to help Janet with this."

Hammond nodded his approval. "In the meantime, Jack, I'd like you and Teal'c to take SG-9 with you back to P4J 078. Perhaps a hazmat team might be able to discover something that can help us find out who's behind this."

"If you don't mind, sir," said Jack. "I'd like to stay here with Daniel in case he wakes up. I mean, when he wakes up."

Hammond nodded his approval. "Very well."

Keeping his arms wrapped tightly around himself, Daniel continued to shiver and shake as he concentrated all his effort on getting to the gate. Just placing one foot in front of the other was turning into a monumental task. The floor was covered with a layer of icy snow that was about three inches deep and the floor beneath it was solid ice which felt even colder. Each time his feet sank into the snow it felt like a frozen bolt of electricity was shooting up his legs and through his body. Each step he took was more painful than the one before. The icy floor was freezing the skin on the soles of his feet and he could feel the numbness creeping over his feet like a thousand pins and needles. Each step was unsteadier than the one before.

He wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him or if the frigid air was making it difficult for him to think straight, but he was certain that no matter how many steps he took towards the stargate, he wasn't getting any closer. The device was no more than ten feet away, but it might as well have been ten miles.

Daniel could no longer feel his feet. It was a strange sensation. It was a painful sensation. He felt as though he were now walking on the jagged edge of his bones. He dared not look down; instead he kept his eyes on the stargate - his way home. He clenched his teeth against the pain. His body felt like ice. His eyes stung as he tried to blink away tears that quickly turned into ice crystals. His heavy, labored breath came out in deep chattering, wheezing mists.

Daniel's body screamed out for him to stop. Lie down. Give up. But he would not. He had to reach the Stargate.

A searing bolt of pain raced through his leg. Daniel cried out and fell.

Jack stretched, yawned and took a quick glance at his watch before going back to his self-imposed Daniel watch. Still no change. Not a twitch, not a murmur, not a sneeze. Well, this is progress, Jack thought sarcastically.

He was still trying to figure out why he was here and not with Teal'c on 078 or some other off-world location tracking down the dog who did this to Daniel. After all, he was military - Special Ops. He should be leading this search and destroy mission, not on base playing nursemaid. Replaying the events in the briefing room, he could still see himself saying "Yes sir, we're ready to go, just dial the gate and we're there," when General Hammond had suggested he and Teal'c go back to 078, but somehow the words, "I'd like to stay here with Daniel." came out instead.

Why?

Could it have been because in that whisper of a moment before he spoke, fragments of Daniel's life flashed before his eyes?

Flash.

Leaving the museum room of P3R 233. "Daniel, I don't want to hear it. Let's go." Jack turns his back. Daniel comes close to losing his life in an alternate reality.

Flash.

Saving the planet while trapped on Kor'el's ship. "Let's go! Daniel, watch our backs." Jack turns his back. Daniel is mortally wounded by a staff weapon.

Flash.

Escaping from Shyla's naquada mines. "Let's go Daniel!" Jack turns his back. Daniel is seriously injured when he's buried under a pile of rocks.

Flash.

Standing in the middle of a completely empty white room. "Daniel, why is it so difficult for you to admit, that sometimes, occasionally, I'm right?" Jack turns his back ...

Jack absent-mindedly rubbed his hand over his closely cropped hair as though trying to rub away the guilt and fear before it could take hold.

"Sir?"

He looked up to see Sam standing in the doorway.

"How's Daniel?" she asked as she made her way over to his bedside. Her eyes were filled with sadness and concern as she watched him.

He wanted to say he's fine. He wanted to say he won't shut up, he's been annoying the heck out of me, but Jack merely looked down at Daniel and quietly said, "You know I kinda like him this way. He's a lot quieter, a lot more agreeable. Don't you think?" He glanced up to see a slight smile on Sam's face. She nodded as if to say she understood.

"Colonel, I was wondering, why didn't you go with Teal'c to 078?"

"Oh, you know me Carter, SG-9 would be playing with all their science toys and I'd just be getting in the way."

`Good one, O'Neill,' he thought to himself. In hindsight he decided this was the real reason he didn't go. It was a much better reason than ... Jack cleared his throat as the muscles began to tighten.

"So, Carter, come to tell me some good news?"

"That depends, sir."

"That depends?"

"Janet and I haven't had much success in finding an antidote."

"That's not good news."

"No sir, but I did speak with my father." She hesitated. "He said there's a symbiote ..."

"No!"

The force of Jack's voice made her jump. They both instinctively looked over at Daniel to see if Jack's sudden outburst had caused a reaction in him. There was none.

"Nobody is putting a snake in Daniel's head." Jack hissed through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry sir, it's just that ..."

Maybe it was sheer exhaustion that had done it, but the shivering had finally stopped. Daniel was trying to remember if this was a good thing or not. Probably not, he thought to himself. He lay on the ground; the icy cold crept up through the snow and ice and into his bones. He kept his eyes closed. He did not want to see the room. He did not want to see the white. He did not want to see the snow and ice. He wanted to sleep.

`Sleep. Just let me rest. Let me sleep. Let me sleep, just for a little while. Just a little while and then I'll be fine. I'll be fine. I'll just wait right here and they'll come for me. They'll come and rescue me. If not, I'll die. Either way, it's a simple solution to my problem. Trying to make it to the stargate! What was I thinking? This is much easier.'

The cold encircled him like a greedy predator as Daniel felt himself drifting away. He would sleep. Just for a little while ...

Daniel groaned.

Jack quickly shot a look over at Daniel.

"Daniel?" he said, apprehension tightening his voice. He took Daniel's hand in his and let his thumb rub reassuringly across the back of his friend's hand.

Daniel's eyelids fluttered and slowly began to rise to half-mast. His eyes were glassy and unfocused.

"Hey," said Jack with a quiet smile.

Daniel slowly blinked his eyes and swallowed, which Jack took to mean, `hey, how are you Jack? Nice to see you.'

Sam had run off to find Dr. Frasier, and now both of them were standing over Daniel's bed looking concerned.

"We need to assess his level of consciousness. Ask him if he can squeeze your hand." said Janet.

"Can you squeeze my hand?" asked Jack, his eyes holding fast to Daniel. Daniel's eyes remained glassy and unfocused and Jack wasn't even sure if Daniel could hear him, so he was relieved when he felt a slight squeeze from his hand.

"Okay," said Jack with a smile. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.

Daniel's expression began to change. He started to frown, tightening his face as though he was trying to concentrate. His eyes were filled with desperation and fear. Jack wouldn't let go. His breath became rapid and shallow. His eyes began to water. Jack wouldn't let go. He whimpered. His face contorted. Jack wouldn't let go. He tried to speak, "J ... J... J ..." His eyes rolled up into the back of his head. Jack wouldn't let go. His body went rigid. Jack wouldn't let go. His body began to convulse. Jack wouldn't ...

Suddenly Jack felt himself being pulled off and the next thing he knew he was watching Dr. Frasier and her medical team hard at work on Daniel.

"He said my name," he mumbled to himself as he looked down at his hand. An image of Daniel's fingers imprinted on the back of his hand began to fade.

Daniel's eyes shot open. He quickly looked over at his right hand. It was milky white with frostbite, but he'd swear he saw the impression of someone's hand quickly fading from his. He tried to move, but the cold weighed down upon him making even the thought of movement seem like a painfully monumental task.

Someone had been here. Someone had ... Daniel's eyes became heavy again. He felt a darkness fall over him. Dark and cold, like black ice.

"Do you know who I am?" he heard someone say.

"Jack," he whispered.

Daniel was deteriorating quickly. Janet was trying to avoid using words like permanent or hopeless, to describe his condition, but Jack could see it in her eyes.

Teal'c and SG-9 had come back empty handed. Still no clue as to whom or what had done this to Daniel. Janet and Sam were working around the clock trying to come up with a solution. Janet had even sent off a few emails to experts in the field, but because of the need-to-know criteria, her inquiries were rather vague. They had tested every conceivable idea, even some of the more outlandish ones, but came up empty handed every time.

Jack wouldn't give up though. He would stay by Daniel's bedside for as long as it took. He shifted in his chair. He had decided the chairs in the infirmary were not meant for sitting. At least not meant for sitting for long periods of time while watching over a sick and dying ... no, not dying, a sick archeologist. Hard plastic chairs be damned, he was going to stay with his friend.

Daniel's chest slowly rose and fell with each breath. Watching Daniel lying there brought Jack back to the times he used to sneak into Charlie's room and watch him sleep. Now, there was something McKenzie would have a field day with. Yes, in his own private world Jack would reluctantly admit that occasionally Daniel reminded him of Charlie. OK, maybe not the geek part, but they both had that same enthusiastic love of life and adventure, that same unending faith in the goodness of people, and a never-ending, always challenging, constant stream of questions that would challenge the patience of a saint. So, Daniel reminded Jack of Charlie. He could live with that.

As Jack's drowsy eyelids became heavy and began to close, he thought back over the time they had spent together, Jack realized that in their early years together he had treated Daniel more like a child than the man he was. But, damned, if the guy didn't need someone watching over him. He was constantly getting lost, getting broken, breaking things, putting his foot in it, falling down, running into brick walls and generally contributing to the graying of Jack's hair.

"You must help him."

"Yeah, I'd like to," Jack mumbled to himself.

"You must help him now."

Realizing that the voice was coming from inside the room and not inside his head, Jack opened his eyes.

"Kasuf?"

Kasuf said nothing, but looked intently at Jack as though he was expecting the man to jump up and do whatever it was that needed to be done. Jack would've loved to do just that, but he didn't have the foggiest idea what it was he was supposed to be doing.

"So, how's the ascended life?" Jack tried to sound casual as though he had expected to see Kasuf here at this very moment. He also gave his own arm a quick pinch to make sure he was awake. The fact that his arm responded with pain didn't surprise him all that much.

"It is intolerable," came a hurried, nervous response. "They have so many rules I am almost afraid to put one foot in front of the other for fear that I am breaking one. In fact ..."

Jack held up his hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're not even supposed to be here, but ..."

"But, my good son is in danger."

Jack eyed Kasuf wearily. "Do you know something about what's happening with Daniel?"

Kasuf nodded his head.

"Do you mind sharing?" he asked.

"Anubis has placed something inside my good son's head."

"Your friend is not here." The concern that Daniel had first heard was replaced by an icy arrogance. Daniel's eyes shot open the moment he realized who the voice belonged to.

"Anubis," he gasped.

"Yes, it is I, Dr. Jackson. It seems you are in need of some assistance." Anubis walked slowly around Daniel as he lay on the ground. Daniel could feel the cold hard ground crackle and crunch threateningly with each step of the Goa'uld. The air surrounding Anubis felt even colder and more painful as he passed by. A flick of his cloak created a frosty breeze that swept over Daniel, causing a painful shiver to escape from his body.

"No, no, that's okay. I think I can manage on my own. Thanks for asking though," said Daniel as he tried to inch his way along the icy floor away from Anubis. He was unable to stand now, so he was reduced to pulling himself along the floor with his arms. The pain was unrelenting. His right leg was completely useless, but he still had some feeling in his left thigh. The sensation of a thousand tiny ice needles raced through his hands and up his arms every time he dug them into the frozen surface to move his body forward - one inch, two inches.

"Dr. Jackson, are you afraid of me?" asked Anubis.

Afraid of Anubis? No, Daniel could honestly say he was not afraid of Anubis. He despised him as he did all Goa'uld, but fear was not an emotion that was conjured up in him when he thought of Anubis.

"No, not really," came the exhausted reply. "I'm just really, really cold, and I think it would be a good idea if I went home. And, you know, put on some warmer clothes."

Daniel's arms shook violently as he tried to pull himself along. Suddenly, his body was wracked with a great spasm of pain and he cried out in anguish and collapsed.

"Ah, pity the poor human body. It has so many disadvantages. Always susceptible to the weather. Always falling apart and breaking," remarked Anubis.

"Daniel Jackson, it does not have to be this way." His voice almost sounded sympathetic. Anubis reached down and in a strangely, protective way, let his cloak cover Daniel as he whispered in his ear. "There is a much better, much quicker way."

As the cloak fell upon his body, Daniel suddenly felt warm. The warmth of the cloak was inviting and comforting. He had been so cold for so long, that he wanted nothing more than to hide in the folds of that cloak and get lost in its warmth. To let it envelop him and surround him. To let it take him away from the cold.

"Release your burdens."

Jack was dumbfounded. "What does that intergalactic grease-ball want with Daniel?"

"He believes that Dan'yel's mind still contains all the knowledge he had while ascended."

"Doesn't he know, they kind of whitewashed Daniel's memory before they dropped him off?"

Kasuf shook his head. "He believes the memories are still there, hidden somewhere inside of Dan'yel."

Kasuf continued with a quick hurried voice, "Anubis wants Dan'yel to join him. He believes if he can force my good son to join with him, to become like he is, he will have access to all those secrets."

"But, that won't happen though, right? Those guys up there won't let that happen. Right, Kasuf?"

Kasuf slowly shook his head. Then, with a heavy sigh he said, "For whatever reason, it seems they believe it would be better for them to let Daniel suffer this intolerable hell, than to prevent it from happening. If I did not know any better, I would say they want Daniel to become like Anubis. For what reason, I do not know."

Jack couldn't seem to find the right emotion to latch on to. Anger, fear, frustration, indignation. The idea of Daniel in the same living hell as Anubis turned Jack's stomach. The idea of those others, those bastards just standing by and doing nothing to help Daniel, enraged him.

Trying to remain calm, Jack stepped over to Daniel's bed and began to gently stroke his friend's arm. Then in a very soft voice he began to say, "Okay, Daniel. It's time to wake up now, Daniel. Come on, Daniel. It's okay. You have to wake up now. ..."

Jack felt someone's hand on his shoulder. "Colonel O'Neill?" a voice asked.

Before he knew it, Jack had swung around and sent a poor defenseless aide sprawling to the floor. He then heard himself say through clenched teeth, "He's going to wake up now."

Jack turned his attention back to Daniel. He just wanted him to wake up, that's all. He continued to speak to him, his voice tensing in anxiety. "Wake up, Daniel, please. You have to wake up."

Jack heard another voice. It was a very calm voice. "Colonel O'Neill?"

Jack tried to get rid of the intruders by swinging around again. This time however, his arm was grabbed and pulled back behind him. Another set of arms was on his other side. He felt a sharp jab in his shoulder.

"No!" he screamed.

Jack finally looked up to see who the voice had belonged to. He didn't know how it happened, but someone must've pressed the alarm, because two MPs had suddenly materialized in the room. They were holding Jack down and Dr. Frasier was standing in front of him holding a hypodermic needle. Oh, and there's Teal'c and Carter. Why's Carter crying? And oh, there's General Hammond. He's looking rather concerned. `Well, begging the General's pardon sir, but I think I'm going to collapse right about now.'

Jack felt his knees buckle as he crumbled to the floor.

"No," he gasped as he dragged himself away from Anubis. As much as he desired shelter from the cold, Daniel felt disgusted with himself for even considering finding that shelter in Anubis's cloak.

Anubis laughed.

"I fail to see the humor in this," Daniel managed to say between chattering teeth. Once again, he had begun to shiver violently. Every muscle, every joint, every bone ached, but his eyes remained fixed upon the Stargate. Once again he reached out and began to pull himself along the icy surface.

"Oh, how could you not?' Anubis spoke in a grandiose voice, spreading his arms wide for emphasis. "Daniel Jackson, once ascended, once capable of floating through the universe as a beam of light, has now been reduced to crawling along the floor like an insect." Anubis bent down and whispered in his ear. "It would be so easy to squash you like a bug right now."

Daniel clenched his teeth and tried to stifle a grunt as Anubis aimed his ribbon device at his head. Then, as though he were having second thoughts, he stopped abruptly.

"But, I'm feeling benevolent today. Today, I am here on a ... a mission of mercy. I am here to help you Daniel Jackson."

"Thanks for the offer," panted Daniel as he held his head. "But, I think I'll take my chances on ..." He stopped. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. The pain was too much.

"You'll take your chances on what? On this?" said Anubis as he strolled effortlessly over to the stargate.

Daniel said nothing, but once again started on his quest. He tried to ignore Anubis. Tried to ignore the fact that the slimy Goa'uld was blocking his path. His hands now felt like two useless rocks attached to weak and trembling twigs.

"What do you think will happen if you even succeed in making it this far?"

"Home. I'll go home," he panted.

"Home, to what? To whom?" bellowed Anubis. "Look around you Dr. Jackson, they've all abandoned you. Surely, if there was anyone who cared about you they would have stayed, but as you can see there is no one here for you, but me." He strolled over to the DHD as he continued to speak. "They've all run off without you. They've left you behind. They've deserted you, Dr. Jackson."

"No they didn't." Anger and pain mixed in Daniel's voice as he continued to inch his way towards the gate.

"Oh, my dear Dr. Jackson, why do you always set yourself up for failure?"

Anubis raised his hand and aimed his ribbon device at the stargate. A great bolt came forth from the device and struck the center of the event horizon. Then, like a stone dropped in a pool of water, alternating circles of golden light from the ribbon device and the blue waves of the event horizon quickly chased each other from the center out. When the last circle had made its way to the edge, from each glowing chevron ice crystals crackled and grew, and raced towards the center until the event horizon became a solid sheet of rippled blue ice.

`They must've made some improvements in these chairs,' Jack thought to himself as he felt his body sink into the softness. Soft ...cushiony ... hard plastic ...

Jack's eye's shot open, but shut immediately as the brightness of the room delivered a bolt of pain to his head. He began again, this time opening his eyes more slowly. The room was not as bright as his eyes had first led him to believe. In fact it was quite dim. The next thing he noticed was that he was lying down. Glancing around, he could see Daniel lying on the bed to his right, General Hammond stood at the foot of his bed, and Dr. Frasier was at his left ready to burn his corneas with that infernal penlight of hers.

"Aack, get that thing away from me," he said as he swatted the light away from his eyes. "I'm fine," he protested, giving her his own expert opinion on his condition.

All sixty-one inches of her glared at him making even General Hammond seem diminutives in comparison, "With all due respect, sir, you are not fine. You're completely exhausted. You've barely slept or eaten in the past 48 hours. I'm recommending ... no, make that, I'm ordering complete bed rest."

Jack looked over at General Hammond. "Sir, you outrank this power-monger, can't you do anything about this?"

General Hammond shook his head. "Sorry, son, but in all medical matters Dr. Frasier is the final word. She even outranks me."

"Well, speaking of bed rest," said Jack re-evaluating his present state, "I don't particularly recall hopping into bed here."

Janet shook her head. "No, it seems you were having a nightmare. I had to sedate you."

"No, it wasn't a nightmare. I was awake." Jack sat up in bed and looked around.

"Kasuf? Where's Kasuf?"

"Kasuf?" said Janet.

The look that came back from Janet and General Hammond's face was a look that said `poor guy, he's lost it; the strain was just too much for him'. Jack was beginning to understand how Daniel felt when he had Ma'chello's goa'uld killing device inside of him and no one believed him. 'If only I had a few five syllable words to throw around like Carter, maybe then they'd listen to me,' he thought.

"He was here. He was telling me what was happening to Daniel. It was Anubis. We have to go after him and kick his slimy butt."

Janet shook her head. "I'm sorry sir, but there was no one in the room with you when we arrived. You were behaving like someone in the middle of a night terror. You were screaming; you were violent. You had already decked one of the orderlies. I had to sedate you before you hurt anyone else."

"No, it wasn't a dream." Jack continued his argument.

"How do you know it wasn't?" countered Janet.

Jack struggled to keep his mind clear. Okay, so maybe there was a chance that it was a dream. He was sort of falling asleep when ... No. Nope. It wasn't a dream. It was real. He really did speak to Kasuf, and now, somehow, Jack had to make them believe that what he had said was true. Of course, it would be nice if Kasuf would drop by and corroborate his story, but since he didn't have any way of getting in touch with him, that didn't seem likely.

"Because it wasn't." Okay, yeah, that sounded convincing

"Well, what did Kasuf tell you?" asked Hammond. Jack hoped he was asking because Hammond believed he was telling the truth and was not just being patronizing.

"He said Anubis had put something in Daniel's head and we had to help him."

"Help him? How?"

"I don't know. He didn't say."

General Hammond shook his head in frustrated. "Son, it's not that we don't believe you. Kasuf could very well have visited you, but you've given us very little to work with here."

"Sir, couldn't we at least contact the Tok'ra and see if any of their operatives have anything on Anubis? You know me and the Tok'ra, sir. I wouldn't be suggesting this unless I thought it was true."

Everyone knew Jack O'Neill was not too fond of the Tok'ra. Good snake-head or bad snake-head, as far as he was concerned a snake-head is a snake-head is a snake-head. Jack felt there had been too many times where they had gotten burned because of the Tok'ra's arrogance or their decision to withhold valuable information. So, he was hoping that his suggestion of using the Tok'ra to gather information would convince the General that he meant business. Jack felt his body tense in anticipation, and then finally relax when he saw the general start to nod.

"Very well, I'll contact Jacob and see if any of their operatives can find anything out. But, in the meantime, I want you to follow doctor's orders and get some rest."

A momentary sense of failure passed over Daniel. He was barely able to hold his head up now. He had seen it happen. He had seen with his own eyes how the blast from the ribbon device had caused the event horizon to freeze into an impenetrable sheet of blue ice, but even this did not deter Daniel.

Yes, he could see the solid sheet of blue ice, but Daniel was like a Doubting Thomas, he needed to touch it with his own hands. He slowly reached forward and dug his frozen and bloodied fingers into the snow and pulled himself forward toward the stargate again.

Anubis once again strolled casually over to the stargate and stood in front of the circle of blue ice. "Dr. Jackson, do you still think you can get home this way?"

"Yes," gasped Daniel as he continued to painstakingly inch his way towards the device. He would reach out with his right hand, the only part of his body that still seemed to have life in it, dig his fingers into the ice and pull himself an inch, two inches forward.

"I am your salvation, Dr. Jackson," said Anubis as he walked quickly towards Daniel. "Do you not trust me when I tell you I am here to help?"

Daniel stopped. He was exhausted. His body broke out in rhythmic convulsion shivers. His breath fell from him in a faint mist. "You know, you don't have a really good track record of being trustworthy," he panted out in a weak voice.

"Why are you so obstinate?" yelled Anubis. "I'm tired of this game!" Anubis raised his ribbon device and aimed it at Daniel.

... "Jack! Help me!"

Jack's legs had turned to lead. He stood there unable to move, watching in horror as Daniel was engulfed in flames.

He wanted to move. He wanted to run ... to reach him ... to grab ...

"Daniel!"

Flames be damned, he was going to pull Daniel out, but he couldn't. He couldn't move.

"Colonel?"

"Daniel!"

Jack sat up with a start. As the jagged edges of his nightmare ran into the shadows, Dr. Frasier came into focus. The first thought that came to his mind when he saw her was `She doesn't look so warmongerish ... she looks ... she looks tired.'

"You were having another nightmare," she said softly.

"It wasn't another nightmare," he said, objecting to the implication.

Jack rubbed his face, trying to scrub away the painful images. Reliving Nem's false memory of Daniel's death was something Jack did often; it was something he wanted to forget. What frightened him most was not watching Daniel die, it was watching himself stand there and do nothing.

Jack glanced over at Daniel. At least Janet had been kind enough to allow him to remain in the next bed. Although, he had been ready to put up a big stink if she hadn't. He watched as she took hold of Daniel's wrist and took his pulse. She lingered for a moment continuing to hold his hand and gently massaging it. She looked so sad.

"How's he doing?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head.

The blast from the ribbon device had sent Daniel crashing into the far wall. He had been fairly certain that every single one of his frozen bones had shattered when he had hit. His greatest fear was that his neck had been broken as his useless body slid down the wall and crumbled to the floor. Oddly enough, he then began to think of the advantages of having a broken neck. Perhaps in this situation, Daniel tried to tell himself, a broken neck would be a good thing. For one thing, he wouldn't feel any more pain. Also, he would be unable to move, and that he told himself, as he drifted into unconsciousness, would be a fairly decent excuse not to continue trying to reach the stargate.

Janet gently placed Daniel's arm across his chest and looked over at Jack. He didn't look any better than before. For two seconds she had considered putting the Colonel in a separate room to rest, but she realized that never would've worked. He needed to be with Daniel.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

"About what?" Jack's response was non-committal.

"About your dreams, about Daniel, about Anubis?"

"About hockey?" Jack gave a weak smile. Janet responded in kind.

The two were silent for a moment. The hissing and clicking of the machines connected to Daniel was the only sound to break the silence. Janet found both comfort and despair in those sounds. She found comfort because each click, each hiss meant that Daniel was still alive. Hopefully still fighting. She found despair in them because each hiss and click meant that Daniel was still trapped. The machines were a blessing and a curse. They gave Daniel life, but took away his freedom.

"Have we heard back from the Tok'ra?" Jack asked, interrupting the rhythm of the silence.

Janet shook her head. She could see how difficult this was for Jack. There was a part of her that believed Kasuf had visited Jack. Just as she was sure, there was a part of General Hammond that also believed. It was just that ...

Janet's thought was interrupted by a voice.

"You must help him."

Daniel lay perfectly still on his side trying to decide if it hurt less when he inhaled or exhaled. When he inhaled the frigid air filled his lungs, causing a sharp piercing pain to radiate through his chest which then caused the muscles in his back to contract violently and spasm, sending waves of nausea through out his body. When he exhaled, he exhaled through chattering teeth, with jaw clenched tight, making his neck and head throb. The moist air from his lungs irritated his cracked and bleeding lips. He shivered more violently when he exhaled, making him all the more acutely aware of how utterly exhausted he was.

She didn't recognize the voice. It wasn't Kasuf. She and Jack both turned slowly in the direction of the voice. Standing in the middle of the room they saw a blonde-haired man wearing a grey jacket. He had a rather melancholy face.

"Or...lin?" Jack said hesitantly as he got out of bed.

"Yes."

Janet wanted to tell Jack to get back into bed, but at the moment she had to deal with this stranger who appeared out of nowhere in her infirmary. She looked from Jack to the stranger and then back to Jack again. This was one of those "tip of the tongue" moments. She knew she should know who he was. Janet was usually pretty good with matching names to faces, but nothing was clicking.

"Orlin?" she said as she looked towards Jack.

"Dr. Frasier?" Orlin responded.

Janet looked at the young man. She was still as confused as ever.

"Jack?" she said looking to the colonel once again.

"Sam," said Jack gesturing towards Orlin with a cock of his head as though that one word hint should clear everything up for her. It didn't.

"Sam?" Janet asked still as perplexed as ever.

"Velona?" said Jack continuing to dole out the clues one word at a time.

It finally hit her.

"Orlin!" Janet exclaimed.

The young man nodded.

"Yes."

Now that all the introductions were completed Jack continued, "So, Orlin, do you mind telling us why you're here?"

"To help."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because, why?" Jack's frustration indicated that the one word volley game was over.

"Because there are some of us who do not agree with what they plan to do with Daniel."

Jack didn't see the expression on Orlin's face when he turned towards Daniel. Janet thought he looked even sadder when he looked at Daniel lying on the bed. It frightened her.

"Excuse me," said Jack a tone of disbelief shaded his words, "what they plan to do? Why do I get this feeling you're not talking about that grease-monkey Anubis?"

Orlin turned back to look at Jack.

"There is a committee of Ancients who set up the laws that govern the Ascended and their word is considered irrefutable. When Daniel was ascended, at first he tried to work within the confines of the laws they had set up, but he was never content with the way things were. He started to question things, everything. He would challenge them and try to push the envelope."

"Sounds like Daniel," remarked Jack.

Orlin continued, "Because of Daniel, there were those among us who also started to question the merits of the rules that had been imposed on us. There was talk of an uprising with Daniel as our leader. Daniel's involvement with trying to save the people of Abydos from Anubis was the first part of the uprising. When the Committee found out what he was doing, they decided to condemn Daniel to the same fate as Anubis. Fortunately, Oma was able to rescue him before it was too late. She erased his memory and placed him on Vis Uban, where she had hoped Daniel would live out the rest of his life in peace and quiet. It was never her intention for you to find him."

The look of surprise and disbelief on Jack's face grew as Orlin's tale of Daniel's ascended life unfolded.

"Let me get this straight," he finally said. "Daniel was the leader of an insurrection against a committee of Ancients?"

"Yes, and now that they know he is back here on Earth, they have decided to carry out their punishment. They are the ones who truly want to see Daniel become like Anubis. They've tricked Anubis into believing he can unlock Daniel's memories by forcing Daniel to become like he is."

Orlin paused and looked intently at Jack. "You must go to Daniel. You must stop him yourself before it is too late."

Jack looked completely perplexed. "Go to him? How?"

"She will help you." Orlin said softly as he looked over at Dr. Frasier.

"I will?" Janet was surprised to discover that she had suddenly been pulled into this plan.

"She will?"

"Yes."

Orlin walked over to Janet. He stood inches from her face. She noticed a scent of an afternoon rain that surrounded him. Although it wasn't really a scent, it was more of a sensation. The air around him felt like the first minutes after a healthy rain shower, when the air feels freshly scrubbed.

"I can sense that you are afraid."

"Yeah, a bit," she said, her voice shook slightly.

"I promise nothing will happen to you."

"Listen Orlin, it's not that we don't appreciate the help, but didn't they destroy a whole planet the last time you broke one of their rules?" asked Jack.

"They did. However, I can't see them destroying Earth over this. The only person who is in danger is Daniel, and the fact is they've pretty much made up their minds, so I don't think things could get any worse for him." Orlin turned his attention back to Janet. "Besides, you already have the answer. I'm only here to help you see what you already know. "

"And how do you plan on doing that?" asked Janet warily.

"By sharing my spirit with you. See, technically, I can't give you what you need, but I can help you unlock that part of you that already has the answers."

She was a little leery about having her own personal alien encounter. Her greatest fear of course was that if anything happened to her, she wouldn't be able to help Daniel. But, if she did nothing, she was almost too afraid to think what might happen to Daniel. They needed to do something and they were running out of time and options. If the only way to save Daniel was to have her own personal alien encounter, then so be it.

Janet breathed deeply, nodded her head, and closed her eyes.

"Okay."

Janet felt herself being enveloped by brightness. The feeling of fresh morning rain was now inside of her. Suddenly a series of images began racing towards her. They came quickly, in flashes, making it difficult to distinguish one from the other, but Dr. Janet Frasier was learning. The last image was the one that remained clearest in her mind. She saw Daniel lying perfectly still, flat on his back in the middle of a frozen expanse. His eyes were closed and his skin was ashen. Suddenly from up above she saw a thin line consumed by fire shoot down from above. As soon as the flame touched Daniel's chest, he opened his eyes.

Daniel was unsure how long it had been since he had moved any part of his body. It was difficult to measure time when there was nothing to measure it against. It could have been a few seconds; it could have been a few hours. Years could have passed since the last time he twitched a finger. Even the thought of movement caused immense pain. Any hope that Daniel had of going home through the stargate was fading fast.

Anubis walked up to Daniel and his foreboding presence overshadowed him once again. The Goa'uld stood slightly to the side, allowing Daniel a good view of the stargate.

"My deepest regret for you, Dr. Jackson," said the Goa'uld "is that you never did unlock that whole meaning of life stuff. Isn't that what your deepest desire has been, Dr. Jackson? To discover the meaning of life and then use that knowledge to save the world?" At the words `save the world' Anubis made a grand sweeping gesture.

He began to walk around the room as though he was taking a leisurely stroll in a summer garden. He walked towards the Stargate, but stopped halfway and turned around.

"But, even if your feeble mind was some how able to discover the secrets of the universe, how could you save the world if you are trapped in this frozen prison? What absolute sheer torture that would be for you Dr. Jackson, to have all that knowledge and not be able to use it."

Anubis's words jabbed into Daniel's frozen spirit like an ice pick. The physical pain he was suffering seemed almost comforting in comparison to the spiritual pain that was being inflicted upon him. What purpose did his life have anyway, if this was the end of it, he began to wonder. Had his life been nothing more some cruel cosmic joke?

"It's rather like ascension, is it not, Dr. Jackson?" The tone of his voice was like someone reminiscing about old times. The Goa'uld quickly walked up to Daniel. "What was the one thing that made your ascended life so unbearable that made it seem more like hell than heaven?"

He hardly gave Daniel time to answer the question, not that Daniel wanted to, the question was just another jab with the ice pick. Anubis quickly continued. "I'll tell you what it was. It was having all that knowledge and not being able to do a damn thing with it."

Jab.

"You have no idea the suffering people had to endure or the lives that were lost because you did nothing, even though you had the means and the power to help them."

Jab.

In a tone that almost came close to sincerity, Anubis lamented, "Dr. Jackson, it grieves me to see you like this, but it doesn't have to be this way." Then as if he was choosing his words carefully, he continued slowly, "What if I told you there is a way for you to have everything you've ever desired? What if I said, you could have all that knowledge and power, and help all those little people to your heart's desire? I will let you in on a little secret."

Anubis bent down to whisper in Daniel's ear, and once again his cloak fell on Daniel's frozen body, and once again Daniel felt himself getting lost in the protection of its warmth.

"You do not need the Ancients to help you ascend," he whispered. Standing up again, he continued, "You can do it yourself. And if you can ascend on your own, then you do not need to be tied down to any of their pesky no interference rules that you abhorred."

Once again, Anubis began to stroll casually around the room. "I am leaving you now, Dr. Jackson. When I am gone you will be completely and utterly alone. Completely and utterly alone for all eternity, trapped in this desolate, unforgiving, room of snow and ice. But remember, it does not have to be this way. There is another way. It is a way that will give you your heart's desire."

Anubis stood silently for a moment. The silence magnified Daniel's pain. Daniel closed his eyes and let all the pain and anguish and defeat and failure wash over him.

"The choice is yours, Dr. Jackson."

Janet had given her presentation to General Hammond and the rest of SG-1, and now they were waiting for the general's response. Jack knew they had to give him time to process the information they had given, but it had been a full six seconds and the man had said nothing. Six unbearable seconds and the same perplexed expression remained on his face.

Finally, he spoke. "Can you explain to me again how this is going to work?"

Sam, who had obviously understood the finer points of Janet's lecture, began a multi-syllabic scientific explanation of how the device was going to work. An explanation Jack was sure was as much over the general's head as it was his. He knew the general needed a simple easy to understand explanation.

"What it boils down to, sir, is I'll be walking around inside Daniel's head." said Jack.

Sam reluctantly nodded her approval of Jack's Readers' Digest version of her explanation.

Janet added, "Orlin showed us how to make a molecular computer chip that we can use to communicate with Daniel."

"And you're going to do that by injecting this chip into Colonel O'Neill?"

"Yes sir," she continued, "and then I'll connect Colonel O'Neill to Daniel. Basically, Colonel O'Neill's subconscious will be talking to Daniel's."

"Dr. Frasier, are you certain this device will work?"

"It's the best option we have right now, sir." Jack sensed a bit of uncertainty in her voice that he hoped the general wasn't picking up.

"Besides," interjected Jack. "I'm willing to give it a try."

"I'm sure you are, Colonel, but can this alien be trusted?"

"If what you say is true, then as an Ascended being, how do we know he is not one of those who are trying to do harm to DanielJackson?" asked Teal'c. Jack knew that Teal'c's inquiry was not meant as a deterrent to seeing this plan work. He was just being very protective of Daniel.

"I can vouch for him, sir," said Carter.

Jack was glad for Carter's recommendation, although judging by the expression on Hammond's face he didn't seem convinced. Carter must've picked up on it.

"Okay, so he was rather evasive at first," she continued. "But he did risk his life for me and SG-16."

"General Hammond, we could wait and see if the Tok'ra come up with anything on Anubis, but I don't think Daniel can wait that long. We have something now that could very well save Daniel's life. We can't walk away from this."

Jack waited for another one of those unbearably long ...

"Very well," said Hammond, much sooner than Jack had expected. "You have a go. But, Dr. Frasier, at the sign of any trouble, and I mean any trouble, I want you to pull the plug on this thing."

Daniel could almost believe that Anubis had been sincere. The truth was ascension seemed to be the only way out of this hell. The thought of being rescued or making his way through the stargate had become a hopelessly impossible quest. And, no matter how weak he became, no matter much his body was wracked with pain, no matter how much he hungered or thirsted, Daniel knew that even death would not come and rescue him.

Jack grimaced as the nurse placed another electrode pad to his temple. She then turned her attention to Daniel. He watched as she carefully checked to see that his electrodes were also properly placed. Jack had never seen Daniel look so pale.

"How are you doing, Colonel O'Neill?"

Jack looked up to see General Hammond, Teal'c and Carter all looking down at him from the medical observation room.

"Fine, sir. Just getting ready for my trip to Daniel-land."

"Godspeed, son."

"Thank you, sir. I'll send you a postcard when I get there."

Dr. Frasier walked over to Jack. "Are you ready?" she asked.

One more glance over at Daniel for luck. "Let's get this show on the road."

"I'm going to inject the chip directly into your carotid," she said as she prepared the syringe. She continued talking as she began the injection. "Now, you may feel a slight tingling sensation, but I want you ..."

Jack could tell Janet was still talking but she was so far away now. Everything was so far away and beginning to fade.

`Oh, Jeez! This is even colder than Antarctica!' Jack thought as he bent over and wrapped his arms around his chest. Jack didn't have time for this ... he didn't have time to think about how cold the damn place was or what condition Daniel might be in. Nope, didn't want to go down that path. He didn't even have time to figure out why or how he happened to be wearing his camouflage BDUs. Jack had one thing on his mind - find Daniel and bring him home. It shouldn't be too hard, he thought as his eyes skimmed over the frozen surfaces of the room. Just find Daniel and ...

Jack's heart fell into despair as he gazed upon his friend. He was too late. Daniel's eyes registered a frightened, dead stare. He lay motionless on the floor. His arms wrapped around his legs, pulled up tightly to his chest. His back was pressed up against the wall. Patches of frost dotted his ashen white skin and the thin white pajamas, now almost transparent, clung to him in a thin layer of ice.

Pressing his thumb and tips of his finger into his eyes to stave off the tears, Jack nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a thin gasp. A quick glance over at Daniel and he spied a small wisp of breath escaping from his chapped and bloodied lips. He didn't know whether to be elated that Daniel was still alive or slip further into despair at the thought of the immense pain he must be suffering.

They all felt it. A low rumbling vibration in the floor that seemed to build in intensity and sound. General Hammond looked down at Dr. Frasier. The concern he felt was reflected in her face.

"General?" she asked.

Before he had time to respond, a platoon of Military Police in full battle gear rushed in to the room with weapons drawn. Hammond grabbed for the security phone next to the door.

"We have a code red emergency in the infirmary. I repeat. We have a code red ..."

Another platoon of MP's rushed into the observation room. Teal'c had managed to place one unfortunate MP in a choke-hold. Four other MP's immediately raised their guns and aimed them at Teal'c head. Another one reached over and took the receiver from the general's hand. "That won't be necessary, General," someone down in the operating room announced. "I'm taking charge of this operation now."

"Daniel?" Jack asked cautiously as he made to move towards his friend. He couldn't move.

He looked down at his feet. Like frozen quicksand, the ground beneath him had turned into slush and his feet sank into the ground until his boots were completely covered. The ground then quickly refroze. Jack's feet were trapped in the ice making it impossible for him to move.

"No! This is not happening, this is not happening." he cursed. Daniel was only a few feet from him. One step, one step is all it would take, and he'd be able to reach out and touch him. "Daniel!" he called out again.

General Hammond looked down into the operating room. Looking up at him was a man who was the epitome of the term spit and polish. Every crease of his uniform was in place. Every strand of his receding jet black hair was slicked back to perfection. Hammond felt his blood pressure rising as he began to speak. "Colonel Samuels, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Relax, General, I'm not here to take over your facility. I'm only interested in what's going on in this room. My sources have informed me that Dr. Jackson may be harboring information that could be vital to national security. I'm under strict orders to take Dr. Jackson here to a secure facility?"

"Harboring?" Janet protested. "The man has a computer chip in his brain and it's killing him."

"I am well aware of the situation, Dr. Frasier. I have been given the authority to access any data that may be contained in that chip before it's too late." Then looking back up at Hammond, he continued, "And to use any means necessary."

The number of armed personnel in the infirmary doubled as members of the SGC Security Force entered the room. Guns were drawn and ready on both sides. The mounting tension in the room was palpable, but Samuel's remained cool and unaffected.

"Under who's orders?" demanded Hammond from the observation room.

Samuels produced an envelope from his inside pocket. "It's all right here in this document, sir." he said holding up the envelope. He handed the document to one of his MPs who quickly delivered it to General Hammond.

Samuels looked up at General Hammond and gestured toward the SGC SF. "Is this really necessary sir. Do you really want a bloodbath in the infirmary?"

Daniel began to stir. Slowly and painfully he pushed himself up into a seated position. Jack had never seen such resignation and desperation so deeply etched in a person's face. Jack watched as he began to push his back into the wall. To his horror, he realized Daniel was trying to push himself up into a standing position. Panting and trembling, his face etched in pain, Daniel looked at Jack.

"Daniel?"

"Tell Jacob to stop."

"What?" Jack was confused. "Jacob's not ..." Looking again, he realized that Daniel's gaze stopped a few feet in front of him. He was having a conversation with some invisible, imaginary person. Jack could only hear Daniel's side of the conversation, but it was one that felt oh, so familiar to him.

Lieutenant Colonel Samuels swelled with pride as he saw how quickly and efficiently he had taken command of the situation. The last time he had been here the circumstances had not been so favorable to him. The earth was on the brink of annihilation from an aerial attack by Kor'el and Apophis. He had overseen the development of two naquada enriched Mark 12-A warheads that should have destroyed both ships. It wasn't his fault the dumb-ass scientists at Area 51 hadn't factored in the possibility of shields. Sure SG-1 had saved the day, but he had done his part.

Then while SG-1 was receiving all the praise, his life took a decidedly downward trend after that day. Upon his returned to the Pentagon he found himself reassigned to a meaningless paper-pushing job, his wife of 15 years left him, and worst of all, he found himself snubbed by Senator Kinsey. Samuel's had been around enough politicians in his life to know whose coattail he should hang on to and Kinsey was one of those. It took him three miserable years of bootlicking and ass-kissing to get back in the Senator's good graces.

But now, all that hard work was beginning to pay off. A chance interception of an email sent by Dr. Frasier had give Lt. Colonel Samuels the perfect opportunity to show Senator Kinsey just how valuable he could be. The email itself was nothing earth-shattering. A seemingly theoretical inquiry about molecular based computer chips and brainwave activity. But, Samuels knew how to read between the lines and he knew something big was happening under Cheyenne Mountain. A few well placed phone calls and he had everything he needed. Yes, things were definitely going his way, he thought as he looked up at Hammond who was reading the document the MP had handed to him. He smiled as he saw worry knit Hammond's brow.

General Hammond's voice boomed with authority. "I don't care what this document says; I'm not letting you anywhere near Dr. Jackson until I hear personally from the President."

"That might be difficult seeing as how the President is attending an economic summit in Milan." Samuels remembered how Hammond had treated him with distain the last time he had been here. But now, the tables were turned and he was the one wielding the power. Like fine wine, revenge only gets better with age, Samuels thought.

"Because I'm ready to move on."

"God, no! Daniel. No, don't!" Jack cried when he realized why this seemed so familiar. It was the very same conversation he had with Daniel right before he ascended. He reached down and started frantically digging at the frozen ground with his bare hands. Realizing he'd never be able to dig his feet out in time, his now numb and frozen fingers began to fumble uselessly at his shoelaces.

By some small miracle, Jack was able to loosen his right shoelace enough to pull his foot out of his boot. He took a large stride and planted his foot into the frozen ground. Then reaching with all his might he ... missed touching Daniel by mere inches.

"Until I hear differently, this installation is still under my command," replied Hammond.

"Do you honestly think I could come in here with all this man power if I didn't have the backing of the President? Now, tell your men to stand down or suffer the consequences General Hammond."

Hammond glanced over at Daniel and wondered why he was fighting so hard for this one archeologist. An archeologist who caused more trouble and headaches for him than any of the high risk teams he had sent through the gate. He then looked over at Jack lying on the other bed, and realized he wasn't doing this just for Daniel. It was for Jack also. Hammond knew that if they lost Daniel, they would lose Jack as well. He might remain on at SGC, but it would be just a body walking through the motions and obeying the orders. It was what had happened to Jack after Daniel had ascended. Jack's body was there on the team, but his spirit was gone. He hated to think what would happen to Jack this time.

Hammond stood his ground. He glared at the colonel as he spoke into the microphone, "Colonel Samuels, if you want me out of here, you are going to have to physically remove me from these premises."

Jack quickly reached down and began to dig furiously at his left boot as Daniel continued his conversation with the invisible Jack O'Neill.

"No. No, I'm not giving up, believe me." Despite the pain that was still clearly etched on Daniel's face, his voice had an eerily calming timbre to it.

"This is not happening. This is not happening." Jack cursed as he continued to dig.

His fingers grew more and more numb and trembled uncooperatively as he continued to claw at the ice.

"Officer, place General Hammond under arrest and put him in one of the holding cells."

The MP removed his handcuffs from his belt and sharply slapped them on to the General, cuffing his wrists behind him. Teal'c moved to block the doorway preventing the MP from escorting General Hammond out. Hammond merely shook his head and Teal'c slowly stepped aside.

"I think I can do more this way."

"No, Daniel. You can't," Jack yelled.

The ice around the lace on this boot was thicker, and the knot was tighter. Jack dug his fingers into the laces and began to pull with all his might. His fingers began to bleed as the laces cut into his skin.

"It's what I want."

"No, it's not," Jack cried defiantly. Finally, the lace snapped. Jack yanked his foot out of his boot.

Colonel Samuels watched as the MP escorted Hammond out of the observation room. Looking up at Major Carter and Teal'c he smiled as he gave them a warning. "I trust I won't have any trouble from you two."

Satisfied that that problem had been taken care of, he turned his attention to Dr. Frasier. She looked defiant.

"Colonel, these men are still under my care," she said with authority.

"Not any more," he replied as a new team of medical personnel walked into the room and began to take over.

"I have to go now."

Jack lunged at Daniel.

"I'm here," he cried as he grabbed hold of Daniel's shoulders. "I'm here, Daniel. I got you."

Daniel gasped. He blinked. Jack could see it in his eyes. Daniel was looking at him. He was really looking at him.

Daniel took hold of Jack's elbow. "Jack?"

Jack smiled. "Yeah, I got ..."

One of the medical technicians walked briskly over to Jack and snatched the electrodes off his head.

Jack screamed and grabbed his head. His brain felt like it was about to explode. As soon as he realized he had let go of Daniel he felt himself being pulled away from his friend at breakneck speed. "Daniel!" he cried as he reached out for him.

In the blink of an eye Jack found himself once again in the infirmary.

Blinded by rage, he began shouting a blue streak of expletives before he was even off the gurney.

"Dammit! What the hell happened?! I had him. I had him. He was right there!"

His rage was put in check by the sickening sound of weapons being aimed at him. This was not what he was expecting. Three MPs had their weapons trained on him. Two more were guarding Dr. Frasier, who looked like she was ready to bite the heads off of both of them. Up in the observation room, Teal'c and Major Carter likewise had MPs guarding them. In fact, all of the SGC personnel who were in the room had a gun trained on them.

"Jack?" Daniel reached out to the empty space in front of him.

For one brief moment in this icy, desolate, unforgiving existence, Daniel had held on to hope. And in that moment Daniel knew he would be going home.

Daniel closed his eyes and in blind faith he stepped out.

Jack could see a flurry of activity going on behind the wall of guards surrounding Daniel. Whoever they were, they seemed to be treating him more like a lab specimen than a human. He was being disconnected and reconnected, poked, prodded and injected by personnel he had never seen before.

Knowing full well that General Hammond would never allow something like this happen under his command, Jack searched the room for any sign of him. Not finding him anywhere, he turned his attention to Dr. Frasier.

"Janet, where's Hammond?"

"Under arrest." Her voice shook with anger as she directed a fierce stare at Colonel Samuels who was standing by one of the computer consoles.

"And unless you want the same thing happening to you, I suggest you keep your anger in check," Samuels replied. His voice had the icy coolness of one coveting the power he had given to himself. "Now, as I told Dr. Frasier and General Hammond before he was escorted out, we believe the information contained in that computer chip inside Dr. Jackson is vital to national security. I intend to access that information before it's too late."

"Too late? Too late for what?" Jack watched as a series of wires were connected to Daniel's head and then to a computer console. "What the hell are you doing to Daniel?"

He had made it. He didn't know how. He could scarcely remember stepping away from the wall, but now he was here standing in front of the stargate. For what seemed like the longest time, Daniel did nothing more than stare at it. His body trembled with fear and uncertainty as he waited. He waited for the final cruel joke to be played on him. The joke where the stargate shattered into a million pieces, or the joke where he was once again tossed against the wall and then compelled to start his journey over again. His long, never-ending journey to the stargate. Daniel closed his eyes, held his breath and cautiously reached out.

"Relax, Colonel, Dr. Jackson is perfectly fine. We're just getting ready to transport him to a secure facility where he'll be well taken care of." Samuels turned his attention towards a technician seated at one of the computer consoles. "Is everything ready?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. We are ready to begin initial testing of the system before transport."

"Preliminary download of data has begun. All systems appear to be operational," said a female technician seated at another consoles.

Jack felt sick. He expected Samuels to be stupid and cold-hearted, but these other people? Were they so detached from human emotion that they saw Daniel as nothing more than part of a computer system, a repository of data that needed to be downloaded? Jack looked at the first technician and pleaded.

"Come on, you can't do this. He's not a machine. He's a human being and his name is Daniel Jackson. You can't treat him like this."

Jack had hoped for a minor miracle. A small indication from the technician that, yes, he did recognize Daniel's humanity. That he wasn't just thinking of Daniel as nothing more than data vital to national security inconveniently packaged in a human body. The only miracle he got from the man was a momentary nervous glance before he went back to his work.

"Preliminary download should be complete in ten minutes," the tech responded with crisp precision.

"Very good," said Samuels as he watched one of the monitors. "As soon as ..."

Daniel's body suddenly stiffened. A shrill, rapid, beep-beep-beep sounded on his heart monitor as the graphic display began to show an extremely rapid, irregular heartbeat.

Daniel pressed his right hand against the frozen surface of the wormhole. He felt the ice beneath his palm slowly begin to melt as his hand continued to press into the frozen surface. He watched in amazement as the wormhole began to crackle and then refreeze over his hand, trapping it in the wall of ice. Instead of trying to pull his right hand out, he took his left hand and slowly ran his palm over the surface, feeling the ripples and waves on the frozen event horizon. He pushed again, this time with his left hand. The wormhole began to melt again slightly as he felt his left hand go in. The sensation within the wormhole was one of warmth. Hot and cold blended together in Daniel's body. He closed his eyes and held his breath as he entered into a slow sensuous dance with the wormhole - he pushed, it melted, they froze together, he pushed, it melted, they froze together.

"He's going into cardiac arrest!" yelled Janet. She tried to lunge towards Daniel but was held back by her guards. "You have to let me go to him!"

"Dammit, let her go!" cried Jack.

Jack never expected the man to show any sign of compassion, so he was somewhat taken aback when he saw a genuine look of concern on the colonel's face. Unfortunately, the concern was not for Daniel.

Samuels turned towards the female technician. "What's happening with the download?" he asked worriedly.

The rapid beep, beep, beep was replaced by a steady high pitched tone as the graph turned into a thin green line.

The technician looked over at O'Neill briefly and then turned her attention to Colonel Samuels. "The subject has flat-lined, sir," she stated with cold indifference.

"But, the data, what about the download?" he asked sounding very desperate.

Jack had no idea how long he could hold in his rage before he literally started ripping people's heads off. He was very near his breaking point as it was. Daniel had flat-lined and all Samuels could think about was his precious data.

"Downloading appears to be unaffected," said the other one with the same cold indifference.

The colonel wiped his brow and breathed a sigh of relief. That was it. That was all it took. Just one little sigh and Jack snapped. He broke loose from his guards. He wanted to grab the little weasel by the neck and squeeze the life out of him, but his face was greeted by the butt end of a M90 that sent him sprawling to the ground. Pushing her way past her own guards, Janet ran to Jack and knelt down beside him. She held him. Tried to comfort him.

"Dammit! You're killing him. You're killing him!" Jack cried.

Daniel had made it completely into the frozen wormhole. Even when he had felt the melting matter stream flow through his nose and mouth and refreeze in his lungs as his face entered the frozen stream, Daniel felt compelled to continue. He tried not to think too much about what might be beyond the wormhole - life/death, light/dark, hope/despair. He chose to believe that it was the right choice. He chose to believe that this was truly the only way home. It had been an act of faith, and that act of faith now found him seemingly trapped for all eternity in a state of frozen existence.

In a twinkling of an eye all of the weapons in the room disappeared into thin air. Next, all the computer monitors went blank.

"What the hell is happening?" cried Samuels as panic filled his eyes.

As if in response to his question, all the monitors sprang to life and began showing the same rapidly scrolling series of green numbers, letters and symbols against a black background. The technicians started frantically typing in code. "I don't know, sir. We appear to be losing data," the male answered in a panic.

"Well, get it back. I don't care what you have to do!" he barked.

Suddenly, Daniel's bed was filled with a brilliant white light that seemed to swirl and dance. Janet held Jack as he reached out towards his friend. "Daniel, no! Don't! I had you, I had you."

Jack was spent. There was nothing left in him. He curled up and buried his face in Janet's lap. He closed his eyes and silently cursed the world as he let the tears fall down his cheek. He would stay like this forever with his eyes closed to the world, he decided. No need to look. No need to see the empty space where Daniel once was. He had seen it, Daniel had tried to ascend again and now his friend would be trapped in a hell of semi-existence forever.

In his darkness he heard Janet's voice. She said one word, "Daniel?"

It was the hope in her voice that gave him a reason to open his eyes. To his wonder and amazement Daniel was still lying on his bed. Jack made his way through the unarmed guards. Wiping his face, he looked down at the still, lifeless body of his friend.

Daniel refused to give up. Completely encased in the frozen wormhole, unable to move neither forward nor backwards and feeling the weight of the freezing matter stream squeeze in upon him, Daniel did the only thing he could. He thought ...

Push ...

Death was a cruel consolation prize, Jack thought.

"I'm here, Daniel." he whispered in his tear drenched voice.

Push ...

"I'm here. I got ya," Jack took hold of Daniel's cold lifeless hand.

Daniel felt someone take hold of his hand. Slowly he opened his eyes ...

... and let his gaze follow the hand up the arm until he came to a familiar and welcoming face.

"Jack?" his voice was raspy.

A big grin broke out over Jack's face. "Yeah, welcome home," he replied playfully rubbing Daniel's hair with his free hand. "Welcome home."

"Thanks," Daniel replied quietly.

Daniel smiled.

Jack looked over at his three team members standing to his right. Immediately next to him was Teal'c. A black bandana was cinched tightly over his emblem and he wore a tight fitting black and grey surfer's suit. A surfboard was tucked under his left arm. Carter was next to him. She too had a surfboard in her possession and was similarly dressed; she opted for a yellow and green outfit. Smiling at O'Neill, she commented, "So you arranged all this with General Hammond?"

"Yeah, well, I thought Daniel needed a change of scenery."

Daniel said nothing, but allowed his eyebrows to rise slightly behind his sunglasses at the sound of his name.

"So, Teal'c?" she asked squinted at the big Jaffa. "You want to give this a try?"

"The natives tell of a legend of a great wave called the Big Kahuna, that we must endeavor to conquer," he commented as they looked out at the ocean dotted with surfers.

"Well, I'm game if you are," Sam replied. With that, the two walked into the surf.

Jack stepped a little closer to the remaining member of his team. He joined Daniel in shading his eyes to the hot mid-day sun as they watched Carter and Teal'c paddle out to sea on their boards in search of the Big Kahuna. As he watched the surfers, some riding the waves with ease, some being tossed about, Jack thought back to what Orlin had told him. How Daniel was ready to lead a rebellion against the Ancients. Taking a quick glance over at his friend, he tried to imagine Daniel in full battle mode. Thinking back on all that the man standing next to him had had to endure in his life time, and knowing how exasperatingly stubborn he could be when standing by his convictions, Jack smiled slightly as he returned his gaze to the ocean. Yes, he thought to himself, I can see it.

Breaking the silence he asked, "So, not gonna join them?" He kept his eyes on the other two.

Daniel looked over at Jack. "What ... umm ... oh, no." he said shaking his head. "I, um, I think I'll just stay here on the beach and enjoy the sun."

"Good idea." Jack nodded in agreement.

The End

I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to my three beta's - Aloysius, Gategrrl, and Steph. If I have any pride in this story it is because you pushed me to strive for perfection.