It was only minutes after they finished eating that Mister Regear walked in.

"Are we ready to cooperate?"

"We've been cooperating, you just don't like what we have to say," Daniel pointed out quietly.

"I'm sorry, what was that Mister Jackson?"

"He said have a nice day," Jack answered quickly.

"Day? Who said it was day? It's the middle of the night."

Jack looked at the light streaming in the window and then back at the well groomed man in front of them.

"The window says differently," Jack said.

"The window lies," Mister Regear said pulling a small black object from his pocket and pointing it at the window. He pushed a button and the light was gradually cut off, as if a shutter had slid into place.

Now the room was lit only by four wall sconce.

"The window lies, I tell the truth. You will cooperate. If you do no cooperate you will die here. I will return when you are ready."

"Ready for what?" Jack asked.

"To tell me the truth in return."

"His version of the truth really blows," Jack said to no one in particular.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Daniel said, rising to pace the confines of the cell. Jack was apprehensive too, but thought he should keep that to himself. No need to let the others know what he really felt. Everyone's spirits were low enough as it was.

"Why do they always take my freakin' glasses?" Daniel asked out of the blue.

"To make you feel vulnerable, would be my guess." Carter replied.

"To keep you from causing yourself harm," came Teal'c's answer.

"Maybe they're just assholes," Jack piped up with a giggle. Three heads turned to look at him. Jack O'Neill was not a giggly sort of person.

"Sir, are you all right?" Carter asked with doubt in her voice.

"Right as rain, Carter."

Jack didn't sound right, not at all.

"Aw man," Daniel sighed, "I think I know why I feel so..."

"Lightheaded?" Carter said.

"Yeah, I think they slipped us something again."

"I do too," Carter agreed "Teal'c, how about you. You feel okay?"

"Indeed I do."

"You think they gave us a truth serum?" Jack asked the room.

"Yeah," Daniel said.

"Yes, Sir. I think they may have."

"Great," Jack said with aggravation, "then let me apologize in advance for anything I might say."

"I think, under the circumstances, no one will hold it against you." Daniel said distractedly. His hands gripped the bars so hard his knuckles were white, and he was staring at the chains across the way. The ones he had been bound in previously.

"I'm afraid," he said suddenly.

"Afraid of what?" Jack asked.

Daniel turned to look at him and Jack was surprised to see tears in his eyes. He struggled to his feet and limped over to where Daniel stood.

"I won't tell you not to be afraid. That's impossible sometimes, but I will tell you to not let that bastard Regear see it. We're all afraid Daniel. Do you know what I'm afraid of? Of breaking. Of letting these bastards win when they don't deserve to win." Jack said softly.

"Yeah, but I'm not strong like you and Sam and Teal'c--"

"The hell you're not! You're as strong a man as any I've ever met, and we're all afraid."

"I agree with O'Neill," Teal'c said, surprising them all.

Jack used the bars to help lower himself to the floor then leaned back against them.

"Daniel, Jack is right. We're all afraid and there is no shame in that. They are using psychological well as physiological tactics on us. By keeping us cold, hungry and beaten they think they can win," Carter said.

"Very good," Said Mister Regear, having come in quietly while the team was talking. "We will win eventually, one of you will break and tell me what I want to know. Now, who wants to confess and end their torment?"

"Go to hell." Daniel said with a grim look on his face.

"Doctor Jackson, surely you are a man of reason. You can end all this for yourself and the rest of your team. All you need is one word. A name."

Daniel said nothing.

"Very well," said Mister Regear, "we will proceed."

He motioned to the guards and they removed Daniel from the cell, dragging him across the room to the chains on the wall.

Jack listened as they shackled his friend in place and debated on not turning around, but he couldn't do that. He turned around slowly to see Daniel chained naked and facing the wall. All the welts and marks on Daniel's body from the previous day had faded to pale purple bruises, but Jack had no doubt that they were still painful.

A guard entered carrying some kind of coiled whip that didn't appear to be made of leather.

"One last chance, Doctor Jackson," Mister Regear said.

Daniel ignored him, his body shaking slightly.

"Begin with fifty from the waist down, and count them out."

Jack winced with the first blow.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven," the guard said with each vicious blow.

Daniel's body arched like a bow but somehow he stayed mute. By the time the numbers were in the thirties Daniel was starting to moan.

"Hang in there, Daniel," Carter yelled to him from her cell.

Jack had a new respect for her. Here she was, naked and bruised, yelling to Daniel to be strong.

"Forty three. Forty forty. Forty five," Jack realized he was mumbling each number along with the guard's count and digging his nails into his palms. The backs of Daniel's legs were a mess. The lines that criss-crossed it weren't just welts and bruises this time. Even from where he sat Jack could see that they were bleeding freely.

Daniel hung limply from the chains now, making no sounds at all and Jack wondered if he had passed out.

"Forty seven. Forty eight. Forty nine. Fif--"

Daniel suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs.

The sound brought Jack to his feet and he gripped the bars as if to tear them apart.

"What are you going to do, Mister O'Neill, bend the bars and kill me with your bare hands?" Mister Regear asked in a mocking tone.

"Why don't you come over here and find out?" Jack invited.

Mister Regear chuckled, "Your turn is coming. For now though we'll put Doctor Jackson in his cell and wait for him to awaken so we can start again."

Daniel was dragged over and thrown into his cell, then with the guard following him, Mister Regear left the room.