Chapter 4

Jack yelled for a medic the instant his boots hit the ramp on the other side of the wormhole.

"Already on the way, Colonel," the 'Gate tech announced over the microphone.

Of course. They were late and hadn't reported in. Standard operating procedure to call in a medical team. It made him feel slightly better to yell anyway.

Daniel was turning back to face the 'Gate, a distant expression on his face, so Jack quickly stepped over to him and touched him on the shoulder. "You okay?" Geez, he was getting sick of asking that question.

"I can still hear them. Through the 'Gate." He turned to look at Jack, his eyes sparking with excitement. "Jack, I can still hear them." Then the event horizon disintegrated, and Daniel's head snapped back. His hand flew up to his temple. "Oh. Ow. That didn't feel very good." Jack was barely able to break his fall as Daniel collapsed onto the ramp, face up. His body was rigid and his eyes were only half-open.

"Where's that medic?" This time, it didn't make him feel any better to yell. He knelt down by Daniel and gently shook him, repeating his name quietly and insistently. No response. "Hang in there, Daniel. Help's on the way." No sooner had he said it than Daniel's eyes rolled backwards and closed completely, his entire body beginning to jerk in short, sharp spasms.

Shit. Shit shit shit. Okay. All right. Calm down. You can deal with this, O'Neill. "He's having a seizure. Teal'c, help me roll him onto his side. Gently. Okay, now back off. Give him some room. He's safe enough right there."

Jack shucked off his backpack and flak jacket, letting them tumble to the ramp, then whipped off his jacket and wound it up into a ball. He gently wedged the wad of fabric under Daniel's head. Like the poor kid hadn't had enough abuse for one day. A slightly hysterical thought popped into his head that he should've made Daniel wear his helmet back through the 'Gate.

As he stood up, helpless to do anything more now than wait, Fraiser hustled into the embarkation room, two orderlies with a stretcher behind her. She was up the ramp to Daniel's side and checking him over before she asked, "What happened?"

How to answer that one. Direct and to the point was the only way he could think of to tackle it. "Well, there was this alien that sort of… stuck its fingers… into Daniel's head." Fraiser looked up at him, one of her hands resting lightly on Daniel's still-twitching shoulder. She blinked. He shrugged. "It was trying to communicate with him. Succeeded, too. He was picking up all kinds of… images and stuff. Like telepathy." She didn't say a word, just looked back down and ran her hands across the side of Daniel's head, her fingers gently probing.

"There's four keloid scars here in a row."

"Yeah, it had four fingers on each hand." It all sounded so absurd. It was. This shouldn't be happening. He wanted to kick something, to hit something, maybe starting with that damn alien. He didn't care if it was a girl.

With one final shudder, Daniel's body stilled and sagged into a rumpled heap. Fraiser waved the orderlies in to roll him onto the stretcher, but she ran her hand down the other side of his head before they picked up the stretcher. "Four scars on the other side, too. Okay, I want the rest of you down in the infirmary to be checked out immediately. I need to know exactly–"

"Doctor, he's seizing again." The orderlies were setting the stretcher down on the floor and rolling Daniel back onto his side. Jack squeezed his eyes shut. He really didn't want to stand by and watch that again. He felt the cool stirring of air as Fraiser whisked away from his side, heard her ordering an injection of Ativan. Someone touched his arm, and he jerked away as his eyes snapped back open. Carter. She looked worried. Of course she was worried. They all were.

"He'll be all right, Sir."

Jack stood there and watched while the injection took effect and Daniel's body stilled once more. Fraiser wasted no time in getting the orderlies to pick the stretcher up and herding them out of the embarkation room. He didn't respond to Carter's attempt at reassurance. He didn't feel like he could honestly agree with her, but he didn't want to tell her she was wrong, either.

This wasn't a conference room. It was another goddamned waiting room. Jack threw his pencil down and got up to walk over to the window overlooking the 'Gate. Carter, Teal'c and Hammond were all staring at him, Teal'c with one eyebrow raised, Carter with a concerned frown on her face and Hammond looking like he was about to order him to sit down and stop pacing.

He couldn't help it. He'd spent an hour being poked, prodded and questioned by Doctor Warner, then another three hours in the infirmary waiting room with no news on Daniel's condition apart from "we don't know yet" from every passing medical staffer he'd managed to waylay. He'd seen neither hide nor hair of Fraiser. Still no sign of her, even though she was supposed to be here for the briefing.

No sign of SG-5, either, although he supposed no news just might be good news in that case. Five had been saddled with a linguist fluent in Goa'uld and sent back to P453T9 to try and make contact with the aliens through "non-tactile" means. At least they hadn't been booted back through the wormhole. Yet.

"Sorry I'm late." Jack whipped around from the window at Fraiser's arrival. She looked frazzled, her lab coat rumpled and her hair slightly mussed. The earpieces of her stethoscope were still hooked around her neck, and she was clutching a stack of jumbled paperwork to her chest. Oh, not good. Not good at all. He briefly considered remaining standing by the window, but Hammond was nodding towards his vacant seat. Maybe it would be better to take this sitting down after all.

As he sank down into the chair and laced his fingers together, elbows resting on the table, Fraiser made an attempt to straighten the stack of papers, but quickly gave up. She folded her hands and took a deep breath. "We've managed to stabilize him… for the moment. Since returning from P453T9, Doctor Jackson has experienced multiple seizures, regaining consciousness briefly between episodes, but he's only been marginally lucid. Medication has been largely ineffective, either not working at all or only alleviating the seizures temporarily. We're continuing to try different combinations of medication in varying dosages, and we'll continue to do so until we've exhausted all non-surgical options."

"Non-surgical?" Jack felt the tendons in his hands tensing until he swore he could feel bone rubbing together.

Hammond looked briefly at Jack, then turned towards Fraiser. "Is there a surgical option, Doctor?"

"Under normal circumstances, there might be. Seizures are caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain, either widespread or localized. In some cases, when the abnormalities are localized and medication is ineffective, surgical removal of the affected tissue has been known to control the seizures."

"Removal of–" Jack's voice caught in his throat. "You're talking about brain surgery."

"Yes. But in Doctor Jackson's case, the affected areas are too widespread, across both hemispheres of the cerebrum. Removal of that much tissue isn't feasible. He probably wouldn't make it off the operating table, and even if he did, he'd most likely end up in a vegetative state."

Christ almighty. Words completely deserted him. All he could do was lean back in his chair, staring at Fraiser as she gazed steadily back at him.

Carter picked up the ball. "And what if the seizures continue?" Jack wanted to curse her and thank her for asking the question. He really didn't want to hear the answer, but hiding from the truth wouldn't change it.

"We're looking at brain damage," Fraiser said softly, "and eventually, death."

No. That couldn't be right. No options? He refused to believe that.

The announcement of incoming travelers made Jack physically flinch. SG-5? Had to be. There was no one else offworld right now. He felt a sudden surge of hope even as his stomach twisted with nausea. It was too soon for them to be back. There'd been hardly enough time for them to hike to where the aliens were and back to the 'Gate.

He was out the door and clattering down the stairs without so much as a single glance at Hammond for permission to leave. As he hit the first landing, he heard more footsteps behind him – must be the others, following. Of course. They'd want to know right away too.

The faces of SG-5 as they filed down the ramp answered the question without Jack having to ask. Failure. Five's leader confirmed it with a slight shake of his head. "They refused to listen to us, Colonel. Pushed us right back to the 'Gate. No injuries, but damn they're strong."

Damn was right. Damn it all to hell.

The other members of SG-5 were avoiding Jack's eyes, but their linguist walked up to him and saluted. Jack just nodded in return. "Lieutenant?"

"Sirs," he included his CO in his nod, "there's one other thing you should know. Just as we were leaving, one of the aliens approached me and wrote something in the dirt in Goa'uld."

Jack felt a jolt of impatience mixed with expectation flaring through him. "And?"

"And nothing, sir. It wrote the message, then backed away with its head bowed. The message said, 'Bring him back to me.'"

The expectation turned to anger, but he shoved it aside. "Thank you, Lieutenant. We'll take that under advisement." As soon as SG-5 had filed out of the room, he muttered, "Oh yeah, right. Like we're just going to hand him back over to that – thing."

"Sir…" Carter was standing next to him, her calm and patient expression in direct contrast to the frustration churning in his gut.

He cut off whatever she was about to say. "Those samples you took from the wall turned out to be blood, right?"

"Yes, there's hemoglobin present," she admitted reluctantly, "but it's not human blood, and it's not Goa'uld either."

"Yeah, but maybe those aliens aren't picky. Who's to say that they wouldn't be more than happy to use Daniel for their next paint job?" It was a big leap to an unfounded conclusion, but he didn't feel much like being logical right now.

"Colonel." Now it was Fraiser's turn. Must be "gang up on Jack" day. "We're running out of options." Her voice gentled. "This may be Daniel's only chance."

Hammond and Teal'c didn't say anything, but he didn't need any aliens messing with his head to know what they were thinking. Damn. He didn't like it, not one bit, but they'd been backed so far into a corner there was no other way out. This might be a dead end too, but they had to try.

/The wall. The blood. Rebirth./

/Sunlight. Shining through spires of crystal. Showers of rainbow reflections. Lines of glittering light winding out through the night, touching mind after mind, binding them together, uniting them in a glorious whole. A city of consciousness, spread across the dark hills, sparkling with life./

Light. There was light. Soft, white. Not warm. Artificial.

/Breath, the winds through the grass. Heartbeat, the warmth of the earth. Blood, the suns in the sky./

Breathing. He was breathing. And his heart was beating. He could move, for the first time in all of the dreams. Blinking. Eyes – his eyes. He could open his eyes.

"Daniel?" There was that voice again. What voice? Whose voice? A face, coming into focus.

"Sam?"

"Yes, Daniel, it's me. Jack and Teal'c are here, too."

"Oh." There was something he was supposed to remember, something he had to tell her. Oh, that's right. "Happy Birthday, Sam."

She frowned at him, puzzled. "It's not my birthday, Daniel. Not for two more months."

"Oh. But it's someone's birthday somewhere, right?"

"Yes. I suppose so."

Another face came into view, another voice. Jack. "It's okay, Daniel. The doc told us you'd probably be pretty much out of it. You've been through a lot."

"Mmm. Tired."

"Yeah, I guess you would be."

His eyes slid shut, but Sam's voice refused to let him rest. "Daniel, before you go back to sleep, we need to tell you something. We're taking you back to P453T9. It's okay, though. You're going to be all right."

"P4…" What was it? That wasn't its name anyway. It didn't have a name. It simply was.

"P453T9. The planet where the alien made contact with you."

Oh, right. Her. She'd been sorry to see him go. He'd like to see her again, before the end. "Okay. That's good." He drifted off, back to the dreams.