Passing Time

The beam from Daniel's flashlight cut an arc through the pitch black of the cave, lighting up the muddy brown walls as he searched for any sign of a way out.

"Nothing," he mumbled under his breath as he swung the beam high to the ceiling of gnarled roots embedded in their limestone tomb. The cave entrance was gone, buried under tons of rock and debris, courtesy of dumb luck in the shape of a shallow tremor that swept through the area only a few minutes earlier. Seismic equipment packed on the MALP was only good enough for a minute by minute play of the planet's stability, and, like the other environmental readings sent back to the SGC, had given them no reason to delay the mission.

Dust swirled in the air and caught in his throat, and around him the walls groaned under protest as they tried to settle into position. Daniel wedged the flashlight good and tight between two rocks and rummaged through his pack for his first aid kit, coughing around the burning in his throat.

"Considering our situation, I'm guessing asking if you're okay is a bit of a cliché?"

Anise laid where she had fallen; one arm wrapped tightly around her chest, the other flung over her head. Sallow faced, her blond hair now stained a sickly red from a gash hidden by her hairline, she nodded around a weak smile.

"I have been worse."

"You have?" Daniel ripped open a field bandage with his teeth and tossed away the package, letting the crepe strip unfurl before gently pulling her arm down to inspect a long cut on her bicep. "I thought you were the stay-in-the-lab type of scientist, not prone to the rigors of onsite excavations. Pretty sure you told me that once."

"All Tok'ra serve where needed, Doctor Jackson."

"Daniel," he whispered, biting down sympathetically on his lip as he finished wrapping her arm and tying off the end. "I think we can dispense with the honorific, don't you?"

"Anise would disagree."

"Anise… Freya?"

"Yes." Freya nodded and held out her hand. "Please help me up."

"I don't think that's a-"

"Anise is quite an adept healer. I will be fine."

"Eventually," said Daniel as he slid his hand under her arm and helped her upright, using the wall for support. "I'm sorry about before; thought I was talking to Anise."

Freya panted softly; face ashen with pain as she leaned heavily into the wall, cradling her injured arm in her lap. "You were when the tremor struck. The level of concentration required to heal my injuries, necessitated in her ceding control to me."

"Necessitated? I thought the control you both shared was symbiotic?"

"It is, but nothing would be achieved by arguing who has dominance at every given moment of the day. We rely on our strengths. Anise is the thinker; the problem solver."

"And you?"

"Me? I entertain her, and occasionally provide her with solutions she had not considered herself."

"You think outside the box?"

"Anise prefers to call it prattling. I have a penchant for talking too much, and yet she finds the sound of my voice oddly satisfying."

Daniel laughed lightly, earning him a quizzical stare from Freya.

"You find this amusing?"

"No… well… yes. Kind of. What you've just described reminds me a little of Jack."

"Colonel O'Neill?"

Daniel took out an alcohol wipe and nodded towards the gash on Freya's forehead, in a silent request for permission to clean the wound.

"Yeah. This whole effortless problem solving without actually knowing what you're doing. He's a bit of a master at that himself."

"Might I suggest the difference being that I do know what I'm doing?"

"Sorry," Daniel said setting the bloodied wipe aside and reaching for another one, "I probably didn't word that right, did I?"

Freya smiled, and then winced as Daniel circled the outer edges of the cut, dabbing away at the blood and pushing her matted hair aside as he worked.

"Anise is a brilliant scientist, but she can be quite single-minded in her quest to find defensive applications to use against the Goa'uld. She looks for answers in the past and sometimes fails to see what is in front of her."

"And you're there to remind her, right?"

"More to prompt her when needed."

Satisfied with his work, Daniel put the soiled wipe away and rocked back on his haunches, snagging the flashlight from its rocky supports. "Can she hear us? Now?"

"No. The injury to my liver is severe and she has put herself into a meditative state to repair it."

"And this wasn't worth mentioning earlier?" he balked, mildly shocked at Freya's casual admission of her injury.

"What would you have done?"

Daniel looked up at the roof and across to where the cave entrance was buried, and shrugged. "Not much, I guess."

"Already Anise has repaired some of the damage and lessened the pain of my more serious injury."

"One of the benefits of having your own built in healer?"

"One of the benefits of being blended."

"Ah, yeah."

"I see your repulsion at the thought of blending with another still bothers you."

Daniel took the comment as a statement and chose to ignore it, focusing once again on investigating what little of the cave remained after the collapse. On the far side, flush against the rock and root-embedded wall was a plaque heavily etched with Ancient script, and the object of their mission. According to Anise, a Tok'ra operative found the plaque during the year Daniel was ascended, but the dialect was too obscure for even someone with her talent for languages to decipher. And so the planet had been noted on the Tok'ra database as a possible place of interest, and left alone until someone with the ability to master the dialect came along.

He pulled out his brush from his vest and started dusting down the tablet, taking particular care in places where cracks had started to form. Words immediately reached out to him; his mind slotting them into context before he'd even reached the end of the first sentence.

Lowering the brush, he took a step back and frowned at the wall. "Why are we here?"

"Here? In this place?" asked Freya.

"Yeah."

"Because the Tok'ra High Council felt your abilities with the language of the Ancients would be of some benefit in translating the tablet. Should there be another reason?"

"It's a little odd, don't you think? I mean, you've had an operative here before, who I assume took some sort of visual record of the tablet. So why bring SG-1 all the way back to the planet when you could have just shown us what you'd found?"

"You suspect our motives are shrouded in subterfuge? I can assure you there is none."

Daniel stepped back and pinched the bridge of his nose, dislodging his glasses. Whether from the rocks that struck him during the tremor, or from remembering the Tok'ra's uncanny ability to come calling for help without laying all their cards on the table, he could definitely feel a headache building.

"Somewhere above us my team is trying to dig their way through or have, at the very least, gone for help. Now, I get that you probably weren't aware of the seismic anomalies this part of the land obviously suffers from, but I'm having trouble seeing any reason why this mission was even required. I'm pretty sure you knew that, though, didn't you?"

"That the planet was unstable?"

"No, that this mission was unnecessary. So why bring us here?"

"It wasn't Anise's intent to deceive you, Daniel. Quite the opposite. You are correct in assuming the operative who discovered this place was able to provide a visual copy of the tablet, but our own limited expertise with the language led us to the conclusion that the tablet was perhaps a doorway of some kind."

"Like a hidden passage?"

"You read the tablet?"

Daniel tipped his head from side to side, as though unsure of his answer. "I made a loose translation, yes."

"And?"

"There's no mention of a doorway."

"Anise took the word 'Ostria' to be the Ancient variant of Latin for 'Ostium', meaning doorway; and given its grammatical position in the sentence, she assumed it to be a fair translation."

"Did she consult with the linguistics department at the SGC before jumping to this wildly incorrect assumption?" Daniel retorted sarcastically.

Freya dipped her chin to her chest and sighed softly, before raising it again, her expression neutral. "I did not," she said firmly.

"Anise?"

"Yes."

"You know, I wish you guys wouldn't do that! It's very disconcerting."

"You would perhaps prefer we announce our presence in the same manner as the Goa'uld?"

"Well, no, I guess not," Daniel said, conceding the point to her. "I thought you were busy meditating, or whatever it is you do when healing someone."

"I have repaired Freya's injuries to a degree where I could sense her irritation and confusion over you insinuations."

Daniel winced at the backhanded comment. "Wouldn't an insinuation imply that I've accused you of something?"

"Your suggestion of being lured to this world under the guise of an archaeological find is incorrect, Doctor Jackson."

"So why am I here? Not that I mind getting back to basics and solving a little mystery here and there, but why bring us all this way? Surely the Tok'ra have got better things to be doing with their time."

"The Tok'ra, yes, but in this instance the time being used is my own. I am merely feeding my own curiosity."

"The High Council doesn't know you're here?"

Anise rested her eyes for a moment, and in the gloomy shadow cast by the flashlight, Daniel could already see that she wasn't nearly as pale as she was just after the cave-in.

"With the recent rise in tensions between the Jaffa and Tok'ra, and the unsuccessful mediation by the Tau'ri, The High Council would not condone this mission. Our dwindling numbers do not allow for scientific exploitation beyond our efforts to defeat the Goa'uld and maintain what few remaining outposts we have."

"So, you're what… going freelance?"

"My absence will not be noticed for some days yet."

"Right," Daniel drawled. "Which kinda brings us back to my original question."

"Why I requested your presence on this mission."

"That… and why you thought there was a mission to be had in the first place. I get the whole not being able to understand an obscure dialect here and there, but surely you must have known this tablet is written in standard Ancient."

"I did," Anise said with a nod. "And it was for this reason I did not take a visual record of the writing to the Tau'ri for confirmation."

"Because it would have negated the need for a mission."

"Yes."

"Well," Daniel stared up at the ceiling, blinking as dust continued to spill down from the still settling earth above, "I'm guessing a cave-in wasn't part of your plan."

"It was not. Have you tried your radio?"

Daniel patted his vest and shrugged halfheartedly. "First thing I did when I came to. Nothing. If I had to guess, I'd say there's something in the soil that's blocking the signal."

"Yet you were able to maintain contact from within the cave prior to the tremor hitting."

"Yes, but we had a cave entrance then. Not so much of one now."

Daniel scuffed away several rocks with the toe of his boot and sat down heavily on the ground, wedging the flashlight back between the two rocks. "So, you wanna tell me what we're doing here?"

"Unless your translation varies greatly from mine, then no."

"That the Ancients used this place for solitary meditation and later to shelter their unaffected children here from the plague? Though why they chose to meditate in a cave is beyond me. Perhaps the ambiance in here more suited their purposes."

Anise tilted her he to one side and regarded him through slighted eyes. "Curious. I felt certain your time spent communing with the Ancients would give you a greater insight into their culture."

Daniel leaned back on one hand and swiped off his glasses, brushing the dust-coated lenses on the sleeve of his shirt. "Now we're getting somewhere. You were looking for an excuse to talk to me about the time I spent ascended, right?"

"To satisfy my own scientific curiosity."

"Just yours? Forgive me if I find it a little hard to believe you're acting independently here, especially considering how the Tok'ra reacted when they found out I'd descended."

"I believe there were factions on your own planet who were equally as fascinated by your return as the Tok'ra were. Our interest could hardly be seen as one-sided," Anise returned coolly.

"No," Daniel agreed, probably a little too quickly. "But then those factions on my world didn't lure me to another planet on the pretense of investigating some fascinating archaeological find."

"I apologize for my deception, Doctor Jackson, but I have always believed that immersing myself in a culture affords me a greater understanding of their ways, and had hoped that such would be the same for you."

"So you thought by bringing me here, you could… what? Use this place as a prompt to open my mind up to the Ancient knowledge I used to know? I'm not exactly sure what the SGC shared with the Tok'ra after they debriefed me, but I don't remember anything about my time among the ascended. It's all gone."

"Gone or merely suppressed? There is a difference."

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily into his hand, his frustration amplified with every argument Anise presented.

"In this case the difference only exists if you totally ignore evolution and the irrefutable proof that the human brain, in its current evolution, isn't capable of holding that much knowledge. Colonel O'Neill had to get help from the Asgard to remove the Ancient knowledge when it was downloaded into his mind. He would have died otherwise."

"The knowledge of the Ancients is vast-"

"And the Ancients themselves are evolutionary superior to us little old humans. They've achieved something we're still trying for."

"I think I understand," Anise said after a moment's silence. "The human brain simply doesn't have the capacity to maintain and process so much knowledge."

"Believe me, I wish it did. No one wants more than I do to remember the knowledge I once held. I am a little confused as to why you don't know about all of this already. Doesn't it fall under the terms of the Tok'ra/SGC treaty?"

"You do not remember?"

"Remember?"

"The treaty between the Tok'ra and the SGC allows for the mutual sharing of information in regards to the Goa'uld only. Unfortunately, both parties of the treaty have become far too adept at adhering to its rules, not allowing for information sharing outside of the parameters, even when doing so might be mutually beneficial."

"Seems a little stringent, don't you think?"

"You did help broker the treaty."

"Oh?"

"I see not all your memories have returned."

"Yeah, well there are only so many mission reports you can read in a day and apparently I haven't quite made it to that one."

"And you truly remember nothing of your time ascended?"

Daniel sighed heavily. "Didn't we just clear this point up? What is it you're looking for?"

"I guess you could say I am looking for the difference between knowledge and life experience; where one is the gaining of practical information-"

"Hidden caches of really cool weapons…"

Anise afforded him the smallest of smiles. "If you insist. But more than that, I am seeking to understand the concept of ascension and how it might possibly relate to the Tok'ra. For all those practical gains, of which that information has been taken from you, would you not still retain your experiences of friendships made, places visited?"

"Obviously I don't, and I'm not sure what this has to do with the Tok'ra."

"You do not believe we are all worthy of ascension?"

"This has nothing to do with what I believe or haven't you been listening? I didn't ascend out of a conscious desire not to die; although I admit death was a hell of a motivator for living on in some fashion. I had help."

"Oma Desala."

"You've heard of her?"

"Yes," she said with a nod. "She was referenced in the report from your mission to Kheb, and again later when Selmac returned from trying to heal you after your exposure to radiation. The sharing of the mission report from Kheb fell under the terms of the alliance, but the information from Selmac was merely a statement to The High Council. I believe it was Colonel O'Neill who mentioned the presence of the being Oma Desala at the time of your ascension."

"Yeah, well I'm happy to say I don't remember anything about my ascension, and most especially not the hours before it happened."

"Probably for the best."

Daniel rolled to one side and reached for his pack, dragging it closer and pulling out a canteen of water. "Look," he said after offering her a drink and taking the canteen back when she was finished "Oma believed there were some lowers-us mere mortals-who were worthy of ascension, and she made it her responsibility to help those people when their time came. However, the ascended beings themselves are a by-product of their own advanced evolution; they sought enlightenment through meditation and eventually 'learned' to ascend. Is that something the Tok'ra could achieve? Your guess would be as good as mine. The Others messed up by allowing Anubis to ascend, but I can't believe they'd take wrong-doings of one faction of a race to be their benchmark for the rest."

"But we are not Goa'uld."

"Yeah, a point I seem to remember the Tok'ra going to pains to make sure we understood. I simply don't believe anyone would sit in judgement over and entire race because of the misdeeds of one person, do you?"

"I agree. However, if what you say is correct, then it is unlikely the Tok'ra could ever evolve to a point where we could achieve ascension. Nor could we be deemed as worthy by one with the power to grant such a rich reward."

"'Matthew 7:2 - For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be used to measure you."

"I do not understand."

Daniel smiled knowingly. "It's a quote from a religious book on our planet, and basically means let he who judges be judged. I believe Oma regarded herself in this manner; in that she was no more worthy as an Ancient to the right of ascension than any lower who didn't have the ability to ascend themselves."

"That each soul has a right to be judged in their individuality."

"Yeah, something like that. Admittedly my memory is still more than a little spotty, but I don't recall you being this moralistic before. Spiritualism wasn't exactly your area of expertise."

"No," Anise said softly, turning he gaze away from Daniel. "Selmac's retelling of the events of your ascension and my own subsequent research into the Ancients has left me with a greater appreciation of a belief system within a culture. Something I had previously dismissed, largely due to the Goa'uld influence on the humans in this galaxy."

"They aren't exactly winning in the popularity stakes there."

An attempted chuckle from Anise ended up turning into a coughing spasm, and Daniel quickly took a Kleenex from his vest pocket and held it out to her.

"You're bleeding," he said, noting a small line of blood trickling from her mouth and down her chin. "Not quite as healed as you thought?"

"There was more damage than I had first detected."

"Perhaps you should…" Daniel waved a hand towards her stomach. "What about Freya?"

"She is deeply asleep and I do not want to wake her if at all possible."

"Well, as the only other available host in the room, I can honestly tell you I would rather you concentrate on healing her than worry about keeping me company. I'll be fine until help arrives."

"If you are sure."

"I am. You do what you have to do."

"Thank you, Daniel."

"For what?"

"For indulging my curiosity, even though you have every right to be angry at my obvious deception."

Daniel twisted to look behind him at the tablet on the wall. "Well, it's not exactly the meaning of life, the universe and everything, but there was one reference in the writing that was worth coming all this way to see."

"Which was?"

"Taken in context, the word 'Ostria' actually means passageway not doorway. The sentence refers to those who survived the plague escaping down a passage of stars."

"A wormhole?"

"Yes," Daniel said quickly, "I think so. We already know Vis Uban was the last documented city of the Ancients and the place where the plague broke out. The fastest way to send a disease global on Earth is to either release it into the air-if it's an airborne contagion-or the have the carriers travel via aircraft. It's unlikely the survivors would have chosen to escape the plague by using the Stargate for much the same reason. They risked unknowingly passing the disease on or landing on an already infected world."

Anise coughed into the Kleenex again, but quickly gaining her composure, added, "Could they have escaped in a ship?"

"That would be my guess. The rest of the tablet talks about the virtues of meditation-pretty standard Ancient diatribe-and ends with the brief mention of the plague and the township's attempt at saving their children by secluding them here."

"Then this mission has not been a total loss."

"Putting the whole tremor and cave-in to one side, I'd say it's been well worth the effort."

Anise nodded and afforded him the smallest of smiles, closing her eyes and withdrawing to finish healing Freya's injuries. Cosmic timing had a wicked sense of humor when, only a few minutes later, Daniel's radio squawked.

"Daniel, come in."

"Here, Jack. What kept you guys?"

"Oh, little trouble with the 'gate and Carter needed time to set up some radio amplifier doohickey. You two okay down there?"

"We're good."

"Excellent! I'll have Teal'c put the body bags away."

The End