Stargate SG1: What Dreams May Come (16/21)
All disclaimers, notes, warnings and summary are in the Master post: What Dreams May Come
Chapter Sixteen
Once it had become obvious to everyone that Daniel didn't have fifteen minutes to waste, the medical team gathered around Daniel's and Jack's beds to prepare them for the return trip through the stargate.
Preparing Jack was relatively simple. His body was still breathing on its own, which Janet attributed to the fact that he had left his willingly, whereas Daniel had been given no choice in the matter. Because of that, he required nothing more than a simple ride on a gurney to the gate room. Preparing Daniel was a bit trickier though, and Janet had chosen that time to send Teal'c and Sam from the isolation room to get themselves ready for the mission.
The first step in moving Daniel was the least difficult-transferring his life support from the heavy infirmary machines to the smaller, portable units that could go through the gate with him. Even though they were portable, those machines would warrant a stretcher of their own, and the two airmen who would be carrying it would have to be extra careful to match the pace of the ones carrying Daniel's body. If the two groups got too far apart and the ET tube or pacemaker became dislodged ... Janet shook her head. She'd picked the best people in the mountain for this mission; there could be no careless mistakes made, not with Daniel's life hanging in the balance.
The second step was one that occurred to Janet almost as an afterthought. Daniel would be going through to 759 as a dead body, and would feel nothing. If they were successful however, and Janet had to believe they would be, he would be returning as a living, breathing person again, and wormholes were cold. Realizing that it would be easier to dress him in the comfort and security of the base than in a temple on a distant planet, she instructed her nurses to remove his ripped hospital gown and replace it with a pair of fatigue pants, socks, and combat boots. His shirt and jacket would go through with them, but would remain off until Janet determined that the deep gashes on his chest weren't going to cause him any serious problems.
The third, and most difficult, step in preparing Daniel's body was planning for the secondary injuries that would almost inevitably accompany his return to his body. The most obvious potential complication were the gashes that had appeared on his chest and face. They hadn't bled at all, which had confused Janet, to say the least. But she had a suspicion that the second his consciousness returned to his body, they would start-and they had the potential to be fatal. She had measured the deepest of the wounds, a long diagonal gash that ran from his left shoulder to his right hip, and at its worst, it was over an inch deep.
On top of the gashes, the two bullet wounds from the day before were still there and could present her with any number of difficulties, even though they had been treated. The least life-threatening injuries, but by no means not worrisome, were the ones that had resulted from the colonel's CPR. Daniel had three broken ribs and a hairline fracture in his sternum. Whether Jack had broken them initially or she herself had broken them later, she had no way of knowing, but there was no denying that they would be immensely painful. They would impede any attempts he made to breathe on his own.
Janet wished, not for the first time, that she had more tangible facts-to say nothing of a tangible patient-to build her treatment plan around. But at this point, she knew it was wasted energy. The events of the past two days being what they were, the best she could hope for was that one or two of the theories she was clinging to would turn out to be right.
"All right," she finally said to her assembled staff. "Let's get him transferred to the stretcher now. I want to be in the gate room in three minutes."
Jack had moved Daniel away from the beds and into the corner of the room after a second trauma nurse had walked through them. He stood protectively over Daniel, watching Janet's preparations with a keen interest and a growing sense of dread. Daniel's open eyes were still unseeing, and he hadn't spoken since his perplexing words earlier. And just what, exactly, was "I'm not me" supposed to mean? He'd said there was another-another what? The twelfth what?
Jack sighed as he knelt on his left knee at Daniel's side. He rested his elbows on his bent right leg and leaned forward. "Ya know, Daniel," he began softly, "you're gonna have to wake up pretty soon here. We're going back-Doc says we'll be ready to go in about three minutes. You don't want to sleep through the party, do you? What with you being the guest of honor and all ..."
Sam and Teal'c entered the room at a jog; each of them carried one backpack strapped to their back, and another held over their shoulder.
"Extra packs, Captain?" Jack asked.
"Yours and Daniel's, sir," Sam answered without hesitation. "We just thought that ..."
"You will not always be as you are now," Teal'c said. "Once you and Daniel Jackson have regained possession of your physical bodies, you will require your equipment."
Jack smiled at the implications of such a seemingly simple gesture. Teal'c and Sam had brought his and Daniel's packs, thought that they would need them when the mission was over, believed that they could win.
No, his team knew that they would win.
Jack's smile widened and he nodded in agreement. "Damn right we will."
"Colonel O'Neill," Janet interrupted from across the room. "Now that Captain Carter and Teal'c are here, we're ready to go whenever you are, sir."
Jack looked from Sam to Teal'c before turning his attention to Daniel. "Okay, big guy," he said as he knelt down and grabbed Daniel's arms. "Let's get this over with."
Less than a minute later, after Janet and her medical team had exited the isolation room with both Daniel's and Jack's bodies on their gurneys, Jack stood slowly, with Daniel draped across his shoulders. He allowed himself a few seconds to adjust to the additional weight, and then let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Even non-corporeal, he's still heavier than he looks."
"They're waiting for us, sir," Sam said softly.
Jack nodded, but none of them moved toward the door.
They knew it was a huge risk, taking Daniel's body back to 759. It was the last place in the universe that they should have been going, and they knew it. They were taking a chance that Belos might be able to steal a body-and they were taking two of them with them, not just one-and escape from the planet that had been his prison for more than four thousand years. But as dangerous as it was, not just for them but for the galaxy, it was the only chance they had to get Daniel back.
Jack knew, as they all did, that it was a risk they had to take.
He nodded again, shifted Daniel's weight slightly across his shoulders, and started toward the door.
"Come on, kids," he said as he exited into the corridor. "Back over the rainbow we go."
The atmosphere in the gate room was one of barely controlled chaos. Jack's and Daniel's bodies rested on gurneys at the foot of the ramp. The medical team hovered around them, checking the wires and tubes connected to Daniel and making certain that the colonel was still breathing.
Jack led the rest of SG-1 through the doors and into the room, shaking his head when he caught a glimpse of himself by the gate.
"Is it a bad sign that I'm getting used to this?" he asked.
"Used to what, sir?" Sam said.
"This," Jack answered, jerking his chin toward his gurney. "Standing here, looking at my body over there."
Sam smiled. "Don't worry, sir," she said. "It'll all be over soon."
"Not soon enough, if ya ask me," Jack muttered.
Teal'c looked around at the assembled team with a critical eye. He raised one eyebrow and looked around again. "I am displeased with the personnel chosen for this mission," he announced.
Sam glanced over at Janet, who looked more than slightly insulted, then turned to Teal'c and said, "Teal'c, there are no better medical personnel on this base."
"Of this I have no doubt, Captain Carter," Teal'c returned. "However, they are medical personnel, and there are only five of them. Two will be required to carry O'Neill. You and I will carry Daniel Jackson. And two others will be required to carry Daniel Jackson's support machines." Teal'c looked around the room once more and then directly at Jack. "Are we to go with no protection?"
"That's what we're here for, Teal'c," a familiar voice answered from behind him.
Jack turned his head and smiled. Lou Ferretti and SG-2 stood in the gate room door, and directly behind them were Robert Makepeace and SG-3.
It had been Ferretti's voice they had heard, and he was smiling at them. "General Hammond said he needed volunteers for a rather ... unique search and rescue," he said. He moved into the room and motioned for his men to follow.
"Hope you don't mind," Makepeace said with a smile as he led his team to the foot of the ramp. "Guess the flyboy got you guys in over your heads this time, huh? Figured we could help you out."
Jack gritted his teeth. "Arrogant jarhead," he murmured.
Sam plastered a smile on her face and turned to Makepeace. "The colonel is thrilled," she lied.
Teal'c raised his eyebrow again.
Makepeace laughed. "Yeah, I bet he is."
The distinctive sound of the gate spinning into position echoed through the room, and everyone turned to face it.
"SG-1, SG-2, SG-3, and special medical team, you have a go for P2A-759." Hammond's voice floated through the speakers from the control room above. The gate continued spinning as the chevrons locked into place, one by one. "Your mission-search and rescue for Dr. Daniel Jackson. Bring him home." There was a slight pause, as though Hammond were considering whether or not to continue. He made his decision quickly.
"In one piece this time, if you please."
Jack smiled in spite of himself and nodded. "Will do, sir," he said even though he knew Hammond couldn't hear him.
Sam and Teal'c placed the extra packs they carried on the stretchers that bore their owners, and then took positions at either end of Daniel's gurney. Ferretti motioned for two members of SG-2 to take up similar positions around Jack, and two members of SG-3 lifted the stretcher containing the life support machines.
The unstable vortex of the forming wormhole exploded into the room. Jack tightened his grip on Daniel and started up the ramp, anxious to get Daniel fixed and back home, safe, alive, and in one piece again. Just before he stepped through the stargate, he heard Hammond's voice behind him, one last time.
"Good luck and Godspeed."
The second Jack exited the wormhole on P2A-759, he knew that something about Daniel had changed. His feeling was confirmed when, a few seconds later, he heard a soft, "Jack?"
"Just a sec," he answered. He made his way down the steps quickly as the rest of the procession exited the gate behind him. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he knelt down and slid Daniel to the ground.
"Hey," Jack said brightly. "You're back!"
"What, I went somewhere?" Daniel's words were meant in jest, Jack knew, but the weakness in his voice kept his joke from being funny.
"Colonel?"
Jack looked up to see Sam and Teal'c, and the rest of the rescue team, standing beside him.
"We should go, sir," Sam said softly. She looked down at Daniel and gave him a quick smile. "It's going to be dark soon."
Jack nodded and turned back to Daniel. "Okay, buddy, up you go." He reached for Daniel's arms, to pull him back across his shoulders, but Daniel pulled against him.
"Jack, I ... I'm getting stronger. I think I can probably walk now."
Jack gave him a look of pure skepticism. "Daniel, two minutes ago you were catatonic. Now you can walk by yourself?"
Daniel shrugged and flashed a slight grin. "I didn't say by myself. If you could help ... ?"
Jack sighed, an exaggerated, long-suffering sigh. "Oh, all right." He wrapped his hand around the inside of Daniel's forearm and pulled him to his feet. A few seconds later they stood, side by side, with Daniel's arm across Jack's shoulders, and Jack's arm around Daniel's lower back.
"Carter!" Jack called out. "Tell Makepeace to leave three men to guard the gate and set the C4. We're not taking any chances with this."
Sam nodded and turned toward Makepeace. "Colonel Makepeace, Colonel O'Neill says to ..."
"He doesn't think I'm going to take orders from him while he's unconscious, does he?" Makepeace interrupted. "I don't care if you're the ranking officer, Jack," he added, with a glance back toward the gate and Jack's general location. "I don't have to take orders from you if I can't see you, which means I'm in charge."
"Damn it, Makepeace!" Jack growled.
"Jack," Daniel said quietly. "Can we just go? Please?"
Jack was about to say more but the look of exhaustion in Daniel's eyes, combined with the fact that Makepeace did order three men to stay at the gate and lay C4, diffused his anger. He turned toward the rest of the rescue party to find that they had already started moving away toward the temple.
Jack tightened his grip on Daniel's wrist. "You ready for this?"
Daniel nodded silently.
"No witty comeback? No sarcastic reply?"
"Jack, can we please just go?"
Jack nodded curtly and stepped away from the dais, pretending not to notice that he was bearing most of Daniel's weight.
"Sure," he answered with as much levity as he could muster. "Let's just go."
The trip from the stargate to the temple took less time than it had the day before, despite the necessity of carrying two people on stretchers and the fact that one of them was connected to every type of portable medical machinery known to man.
Teal'c and Sam carried Daniel's body between them, and Jack half-carried/half-dragged the rest of him. When they passed the two black obelisks that Daniel had been so fascinated by less than thirty-six hours earlier, Daniel began to support more of his own weight. By the time they began climbing the ramp between the entry pylons at the temple, Jack's arm around Daniel's waist was for moral support rather than physical.
"Well," Jack remarked as they passed between the massive columns in the outer hall, "you're feeling better."
Daniel nodded. "I'm drawing strength from the others now. I spent so much time with Aynad when I was here before that I didn't realize how much I needed the rest of them."
Jack noticed that Daniel was staring at something ahead of them, and he turned to see what. It was the inscription above the door to the sanctuary-the one in Latin that had seemed so out of place, that neither of them had understood. Daniel was looking at it, but his eyes were distant, as though his thoughts were a million miles away.
"I really needed him," Daniel whispered.
Jack heard the pain of loss in Daniel's voice, and knew that he was talking about Aynad, the man from his dream. Jack remembered that Daniel had mentioned something about him having been killed earlier in the day, though he still had no idea how Daniel could possibly know that. Jack wanted to say something to distract him from his thoughts, and glanced back up at the inscription again. He looked at it, and repeated in his head what Daniel had translated for him the day before.
"Hey!" he said suddenly. "That's us!"
Daniel simply smiled at him.
Sam and Teal'c, carrying Daniel's stretcher, stopped and looked up at the inscription for themselves-neither of them had noticed it before.
"Sir?" Sam asked.
"It's us, Carter. Look: 'From four bodies'-that's us-'comes one mind'-that's that thing we did yesterday, the reading each other's minds thing. 'From one mind'-us again-'come three spirits' ..." Jack paused for a second and wrinkled his forehead. "Okay, then, maybe it's not us. All four of our spirits made it back out, it's just that Daniel's wasn't where it belonged."
Sam and Teal'c stared at Jack in open astonishment. "You read Latin, sir?" Sam asked.
"What? No, Daniel told me what it says yesterday, didn't you, Daniel?"
Daniel was still staring up at the inscription with a wistful smile on his face.
"No, Jack," he said softly. "It's right-only three spirits left here."
Jack looked confused. "But you're ..."
"Here for a reason, Jack." Daniel pulled himself away from Jack and stood under his own power. "Let's get this over with."
Daniel led the way into the sanctuary, followed immediately by Jack, and Sam and Teal'c. Janet followed them, along with the two Marines who carried the life support machines. Behind them, two members of SG-2 carried Jack's body. The rest of SG-2 and all of SG-3, including Makepeace and Ferretti, followed along behind.
Janet oversaw the settling of the men's bodies in the corner of the room furthest from the overturned altar. Sam and Teal'c had already warned everyone that the beam that had imprisoned the four members of SG-1 the day before had emanated from a glyph located directly behind that altar. No one knew if any of the other glyphs could act similarly, but it seemed prudent to avoid that one as much as possible.
Jack turned to Daniel, noticing that the other man seemed to have regained all of his strength. "Okay, Daniel. We're here. Read the walls and figure out how to get back in yourself so we can get the hell out of here."
"Tell Makepeace and Ferretti to have their men set charges on the wall around the glyph, Jack," Daniel said.
"What?" Jack asked in surprise. "You want to blow up the walls of a temple?"
Daniel shook his head. "No, Jack, I want to stop Belos, once and for all. Once you're back where you belong and Da ... and the consciousness is back in my body, we need to destroy that glyph. It's his ... his interface, with the physical world. Without it, he's stuck where he is. And he'll never be able to do this to anyone else, ever again."
Jack narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "You don't sound very unsure any more, Daniel," he said.
Daniel shook his head slowly. "I'm not, Jack. I know what I have to do. I've known all along."
Daniel turned to walk back out of the sanctuary. Jack stepped forward and grabbed his arm. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
"There's only one way to end this, Jack," Daniel said with a smile that was both serene and knowing.
"Really?" Jack asked. "And what is that?"
"I have to face Belos."
Chapter Sixteen
Once it had become obvious to everyone that Daniel didn't have fifteen minutes to waste, the medical team gathered around Daniel's and Jack's beds to prepare them for the return trip through the stargate.
Preparing Jack was relatively simple. His body was still breathing on its own, which Janet attributed to the fact that he had left his willingly, whereas Daniel had been given no choice in the matter. Because of that, he required nothing more than a simple ride on a gurney to the gate room. Preparing Daniel was a bit trickier though, and Janet had chosen that time to send Teal'c and Sam from the isolation room to get themselves ready for the mission.
The first step in moving Daniel was the least difficult-transferring his life support from the heavy infirmary machines to the smaller, portable units that could go through the gate with him. Even though they were portable, those machines would warrant a stretcher of their own, and the two airmen who would be carrying it would have to be extra careful to match the pace of the ones carrying Daniel's body. If the two groups got too far apart and the ET tube or pacemaker became dislodged ... Janet shook her head. She'd picked the best people in the mountain for this mission; there could be no careless mistakes made, not with Daniel's life hanging in the balance.
The second step was one that occurred to Janet almost as an afterthought. Daniel would be going through to 759 as a dead body, and would feel nothing. If they were successful however, and Janet had to believe they would be, he would be returning as a living, breathing person again, and wormholes were cold. Realizing that it would be easier to dress him in the comfort and security of the base than in a temple on a distant planet, she instructed her nurses to remove his ripped hospital gown and replace it with a pair of fatigue pants, socks, and combat boots. His shirt and jacket would go through with them, but would remain off until Janet determined that the deep gashes on his chest weren't going to cause him any serious problems.
The third, and most difficult, step in preparing Daniel's body was planning for the secondary injuries that would almost inevitably accompany his return to his body. The most obvious potential complication were the gashes that had appeared on his chest and face. They hadn't bled at all, which had confused Janet, to say the least. But she had a suspicion that the second his consciousness returned to his body, they would start-and they had the potential to be fatal. She had measured the deepest of the wounds, a long diagonal gash that ran from his left shoulder to his right hip, and at its worst, it was over an inch deep.
On top of the gashes, the two bullet wounds from the day before were still there and could present her with any number of difficulties, even though they had been treated. The least life-threatening injuries, but by no means not worrisome, were the ones that had resulted from the colonel's CPR. Daniel had three broken ribs and a hairline fracture in his sternum. Whether Jack had broken them initially or she herself had broken them later, she had no way of knowing, but there was no denying that they would be immensely painful. They would impede any attempts he made to breathe on his own.
Janet wished, not for the first time, that she had more tangible facts-to say nothing of a tangible patient-to build her treatment plan around. But at this point, she knew it was wasted energy. The events of the past two days being what they were, the best she could hope for was that one or two of the theories she was clinging to would turn out to be right.
"All right," she finally said to her assembled staff. "Let's get him transferred to the stretcher now. I want to be in the gate room in three minutes."
Jack had moved Daniel away from the beds and into the corner of the room after a second trauma nurse had walked through them. He stood protectively over Daniel, watching Janet's preparations with a keen interest and a growing sense of dread. Daniel's open eyes were still unseeing, and he hadn't spoken since his perplexing words earlier. And just what, exactly, was "I'm not me" supposed to mean? He'd said there was another-another what? The twelfth what?
Jack sighed as he knelt on his left knee at Daniel's side. He rested his elbows on his bent right leg and leaned forward. "Ya know, Daniel," he began softly, "you're gonna have to wake up pretty soon here. We're going back-Doc says we'll be ready to go in about three minutes. You don't want to sleep through the party, do you? What with you being the guest of honor and all ..."
Sam and Teal'c entered the room at a jog; each of them carried one backpack strapped to their back, and another held over their shoulder.
"Extra packs, Captain?" Jack asked.
"Yours and Daniel's, sir," Sam answered without hesitation. "We just thought that ..."
"You will not always be as you are now," Teal'c said. "Once you and Daniel Jackson have regained possession of your physical bodies, you will require your equipment."
Jack smiled at the implications of such a seemingly simple gesture. Teal'c and Sam had brought his and Daniel's packs, thought that they would need them when the mission was over, believed that they could win.
No, his team knew that they would win.
Jack's smile widened and he nodded in agreement. "Damn right we will."
"Colonel O'Neill," Janet interrupted from across the room. "Now that Captain Carter and Teal'c are here, we're ready to go whenever you are, sir."
Jack looked from Sam to Teal'c before turning his attention to Daniel. "Okay, big guy," he said as he knelt down and grabbed Daniel's arms. "Let's get this over with."
Less than a minute later, after Janet and her medical team had exited the isolation room with both Daniel's and Jack's bodies on their gurneys, Jack stood slowly, with Daniel draped across his shoulders. He allowed himself a few seconds to adjust to the additional weight, and then let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Even non-corporeal, he's still heavier than he looks."
"They're waiting for us, sir," Sam said softly.
Jack nodded, but none of them moved toward the door.
They knew it was a huge risk, taking Daniel's body back to 759. It was the last place in the universe that they should have been going, and they knew it. They were taking a chance that Belos might be able to steal a body-and they were taking two of them with them, not just one-and escape from the planet that had been his prison for more than four thousand years. But as dangerous as it was, not just for them but for the galaxy, it was the only chance they had to get Daniel back.
Jack knew, as they all did, that it was a risk they had to take.
He nodded again, shifted Daniel's weight slightly across his shoulders, and started toward the door.
"Come on, kids," he said as he exited into the corridor. "Back over the rainbow we go."
The atmosphere in the gate room was one of barely controlled chaos. Jack's and Daniel's bodies rested on gurneys at the foot of the ramp. The medical team hovered around them, checking the wires and tubes connected to Daniel and making certain that the colonel was still breathing.
Jack led the rest of SG-1 through the doors and into the room, shaking his head when he caught a glimpse of himself by the gate.
"Is it a bad sign that I'm getting used to this?" he asked.
"Used to what, sir?" Sam said.
"This," Jack answered, jerking his chin toward his gurney. "Standing here, looking at my body over there."
Sam smiled. "Don't worry, sir," she said. "It'll all be over soon."
"Not soon enough, if ya ask me," Jack muttered.
Teal'c looked around at the assembled team with a critical eye. He raised one eyebrow and looked around again. "I am displeased with the personnel chosen for this mission," he announced.
Sam glanced over at Janet, who looked more than slightly insulted, then turned to Teal'c and said, "Teal'c, there are no better medical personnel on this base."
"Of this I have no doubt, Captain Carter," Teal'c returned. "However, they are medical personnel, and there are only five of them. Two will be required to carry O'Neill. You and I will carry Daniel Jackson. And two others will be required to carry Daniel Jackson's support machines." Teal'c looked around the room once more and then directly at Jack. "Are we to go with no protection?"
"That's what we're here for, Teal'c," a familiar voice answered from behind him.
Jack turned his head and smiled. Lou Ferretti and SG-2 stood in the gate room door, and directly behind them were Robert Makepeace and SG-3.
It had been Ferretti's voice they had heard, and he was smiling at them. "General Hammond said he needed volunteers for a rather ... unique search and rescue," he said. He moved into the room and motioned for his men to follow.
"Hope you don't mind," Makepeace said with a smile as he led his team to the foot of the ramp. "Guess the flyboy got you guys in over your heads this time, huh? Figured we could help you out."
Jack gritted his teeth. "Arrogant jarhead," he murmured.
Sam plastered a smile on her face and turned to Makepeace. "The colonel is thrilled," she lied.
Teal'c raised his eyebrow again.
Makepeace laughed. "Yeah, I bet he is."
The distinctive sound of the gate spinning into position echoed through the room, and everyone turned to face it.
"SG-1, SG-2, SG-3, and special medical team, you have a go for P2A-759." Hammond's voice floated through the speakers from the control room above. The gate continued spinning as the chevrons locked into place, one by one. "Your mission-search and rescue for Dr. Daniel Jackson. Bring him home." There was a slight pause, as though Hammond were considering whether or not to continue. He made his decision quickly.
"In one piece this time, if you please."
Jack smiled in spite of himself and nodded. "Will do, sir," he said even though he knew Hammond couldn't hear him.
Sam and Teal'c placed the extra packs they carried on the stretchers that bore their owners, and then took positions at either end of Daniel's gurney. Ferretti motioned for two members of SG-2 to take up similar positions around Jack, and two members of SG-3 lifted the stretcher containing the life support machines.
The unstable vortex of the forming wormhole exploded into the room. Jack tightened his grip on Daniel and started up the ramp, anxious to get Daniel fixed and back home, safe, alive, and in one piece again. Just before he stepped through the stargate, he heard Hammond's voice behind him, one last time.
"Good luck and Godspeed."
The second Jack exited the wormhole on P2A-759, he knew that something about Daniel had changed. His feeling was confirmed when, a few seconds later, he heard a soft, "Jack?"
"Just a sec," he answered. He made his way down the steps quickly as the rest of the procession exited the gate behind him. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he knelt down and slid Daniel to the ground.
"Hey," Jack said brightly. "You're back!"
"What, I went somewhere?" Daniel's words were meant in jest, Jack knew, but the weakness in his voice kept his joke from being funny.
"Colonel?"
Jack looked up to see Sam and Teal'c, and the rest of the rescue team, standing beside him.
"We should go, sir," Sam said softly. She looked down at Daniel and gave him a quick smile. "It's going to be dark soon."
Jack nodded and turned back to Daniel. "Okay, buddy, up you go." He reached for Daniel's arms, to pull him back across his shoulders, but Daniel pulled against him.
"Jack, I ... I'm getting stronger. I think I can probably walk now."
Jack gave him a look of pure skepticism. "Daniel, two minutes ago you were catatonic. Now you can walk by yourself?"
Daniel shrugged and flashed a slight grin. "I didn't say by myself. If you could help ... ?"
Jack sighed, an exaggerated, long-suffering sigh. "Oh, all right." He wrapped his hand around the inside of Daniel's forearm and pulled him to his feet. A few seconds later they stood, side by side, with Daniel's arm across Jack's shoulders, and Jack's arm around Daniel's lower back.
"Carter!" Jack called out. "Tell Makepeace to leave three men to guard the gate and set the C4. We're not taking any chances with this."
Sam nodded and turned toward Makepeace. "Colonel Makepeace, Colonel O'Neill says to ..."
"He doesn't think I'm going to take orders from him while he's unconscious, does he?" Makepeace interrupted. "I don't care if you're the ranking officer, Jack," he added, with a glance back toward the gate and Jack's general location. "I don't have to take orders from you if I can't see you, which means I'm in charge."
"Damn it, Makepeace!" Jack growled.
"Jack," Daniel said quietly. "Can we just go? Please?"
Jack was about to say more but the look of exhaustion in Daniel's eyes, combined with the fact that Makepeace did order three men to stay at the gate and lay C4, diffused his anger. He turned toward the rest of the rescue party to find that they had already started moving away toward the temple.
Jack tightened his grip on Daniel's wrist. "You ready for this?"
Daniel nodded silently.
"No witty comeback? No sarcastic reply?"
"Jack, can we please just go?"
Jack nodded curtly and stepped away from the dais, pretending not to notice that he was bearing most of Daniel's weight.
"Sure," he answered with as much levity as he could muster. "Let's just go."
The trip from the stargate to the temple took less time than it had the day before, despite the necessity of carrying two people on stretchers and the fact that one of them was connected to every type of portable medical machinery known to man.
Teal'c and Sam carried Daniel's body between them, and Jack half-carried/half-dragged the rest of him. When they passed the two black obelisks that Daniel had been so fascinated by less than thirty-six hours earlier, Daniel began to support more of his own weight. By the time they began climbing the ramp between the entry pylons at the temple, Jack's arm around Daniel's waist was for moral support rather than physical.
"Well," Jack remarked as they passed between the massive columns in the outer hall, "you're feeling better."
Daniel nodded. "I'm drawing strength from the others now. I spent so much time with Aynad when I was here before that I didn't realize how much I needed the rest of them."
Jack noticed that Daniel was staring at something ahead of them, and he turned to see what. It was the inscription above the door to the sanctuary-the one in Latin that had seemed so out of place, that neither of them had understood. Daniel was looking at it, but his eyes were distant, as though his thoughts were a million miles away.
"I really needed him," Daniel whispered.
Jack heard the pain of loss in Daniel's voice, and knew that he was talking about Aynad, the man from his dream. Jack remembered that Daniel had mentioned something about him having been killed earlier in the day, though he still had no idea how Daniel could possibly know that. Jack wanted to say something to distract him from his thoughts, and glanced back up at the inscription again. He looked at it, and repeated in his head what Daniel had translated for him the day before.
"Hey!" he said suddenly. "That's us!"
Daniel simply smiled at him.
Sam and Teal'c, carrying Daniel's stretcher, stopped and looked up at the inscription for themselves-neither of them had noticed it before.
"Sir?" Sam asked.
"It's us, Carter. Look: 'From four bodies'-that's us-'comes one mind'-that's that thing we did yesterday, the reading each other's minds thing. 'From one mind'-us again-'come three spirits' ..." Jack paused for a second and wrinkled his forehead. "Okay, then, maybe it's not us. All four of our spirits made it back out, it's just that Daniel's wasn't where it belonged."
Sam and Teal'c stared at Jack in open astonishment. "You read Latin, sir?" Sam asked.
"What? No, Daniel told me what it says yesterday, didn't you, Daniel?"
Daniel was still staring up at the inscription with a wistful smile on his face.
"No, Jack," he said softly. "It's right-only three spirits left here."
Jack looked confused. "But you're ..."
"Here for a reason, Jack." Daniel pulled himself away from Jack and stood under his own power. "Let's get this over with."
Daniel led the way into the sanctuary, followed immediately by Jack, and Sam and Teal'c. Janet followed them, along with the two Marines who carried the life support machines. Behind them, two members of SG-2 carried Jack's body. The rest of SG-2 and all of SG-3, including Makepeace and Ferretti, followed along behind.
Janet oversaw the settling of the men's bodies in the corner of the room furthest from the overturned altar. Sam and Teal'c had already warned everyone that the beam that had imprisoned the four members of SG-1 the day before had emanated from a glyph located directly behind that altar. No one knew if any of the other glyphs could act similarly, but it seemed prudent to avoid that one as much as possible.
Jack turned to Daniel, noticing that the other man seemed to have regained all of his strength. "Okay, Daniel. We're here. Read the walls and figure out how to get back in yourself so we can get the hell out of here."
"Tell Makepeace and Ferretti to have their men set charges on the wall around the glyph, Jack," Daniel said.
"What?" Jack asked in surprise. "You want to blow up the walls of a temple?"
Daniel shook his head. "No, Jack, I want to stop Belos, once and for all. Once you're back where you belong and Da ... and the consciousness is back in my body, we need to destroy that glyph. It's his ... his interface, with the physical world. Without it, he's stuck where he is. And he'll never be able to do this to anyone else, ever again."
Jack narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "You don't sound very unsure any more, Daniel," he said.
Daniel shook his head slowly. "I'm not, Jack. I know what I have to do. I've known all along."
Daniel turned to walk back out of the sanctuary. Jack stepped forward and grabbed his arm. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
"There's only one way to end this, Jack," Daniel said with a smile that was both serene and knowing.
"Really?" Jack asked. "And what is that?"
"I have to face Belos."