"Numbers"
Chapter Four
- Who Are You? -
A/N: I don't own squat, except what I write.
Special thanks to Nedy Rahn for pointing things out to me that have greatly enhanced this story.
For the record, this is set in the year 2012; three years after Atlantis left the screen; one year after Universe. So, Atlantis is in the Sol System, and the Destiny has been set to sleep to get past those drones.
I don't read the comics or the books, so not everything will match up with that. Sorry.
It was nearly an hour later when Daniel reached his limit. Wasn't past it yet, but Dr. Lam was quite literally on his last nerve. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to be polite. "Dr. Lam… Carolyn… Have you found any sort of imbalance pertaining to anything concerning my medical status?"
"Oh, no you don't, Daniel," Lam scowled. "You do not patronize the CMO."
He laid out another heavy sigh. "I'm not patronizing you, doctor. And, you haven't answered my question."
"That's completely besides the point!" she argued with wide eyes. "You had a seizure; we all saw you in excruciating pain; and it took four people, a Zat gun, and one hundred millilitres of pentobarbital just to knock you out!"
"And all of which I'm deeply grateful for, doctor, because that completely sucked," Daniel said in his most diplomatic tone. "Listen. Let's compromise…"
She shook her head. "No compromises in my infirmary, Doctor Jackson. You know this."
"I have to give a briefing on what…" he trailed off, thinking about it. "Tell you what. If you can get your nurses and other doctors without clearance out of the infirmary while we have the meeting here, that's fine," he paused, noting her reaction. "Or, you can accompany me to the briefing room to make sure I don't trip and bust my head open, or whatever else you may be thinking might explode on my person."
Dr. Lam just looked at him, completely inscrutable. Blinking once, she pointed at something with a look at the head nurse – who rolled the wheelchair over. "Fine," she said at last.
When the door opened to the briefing room, Daniel saw General Landry, who had a few weeks left in his tour here before Carter took over; SG-1 minus Teal'c, (he hoped he was all right); and Major Satterfield, leader of SG-3. They all turned their eyes towards him as he was wheeled in by Dr. Lam.
"Damn, Jackson. I thought you said you were all right?" Mitchell complained with a bit of a smirk.
Daniel just thumbed over his shoulder. "Mother bear. What ya gonna do?" he said with a shrug and a sheepish grin. Pushed into a newly vacated space, he grinned at the Major – who was giving him the eyebrow.
There was a moment of settling in, and Landry spoke up in his usual candour. "Doctor Jackson, as they say, this is your party."
"Before we begin, I request that we be placed in electronic lockdown," Daniel said quietly, startling everyone.
There was a look of concern on the General's face, but he nodded. As he got up to activate the lockdown, the others looked at Daniel as if he suddenly grew a second head. There was a click from the General's office, and the blast door to the gate room lowered. In addition to that, steel doors slid over the wooden ones to both the conference room and the external one to General's office. Lastly, a plate slid over the steps to the lower section. There was a pop as forcefields came into existence over those areas, as well as the ventilation shafts.
Once the General was seated again, he looked over at Jackson. "I do hope this is worth the suspense."
"Trust me, General. This is a game changer," Daniel replied, before looking to Sam. "Got the printouts?" She nodded and slid a manilla folder over to him. Opening it, he found the two translations and the two originals.
Taking a deep breath, he looked over to the Major. "Before we begin, I need the Major to look this over." Handing her the untranslated text, he waited. Seeing a slight widening of her eyes, she looked up at him.
"Don't say anything now, Valerie. I know you understand it, and believe me when I say that you are safe." He couldn't hold back his grin at the end of that, and this time she looked shocked. He simply nodded his head a bit with his grin, and was disappointed to see fear crawl over her face.
"As my grey hair overtakes the rest of my scalp, Doctor Jackson," the General said with a sigh.
"Sorry sir," he apologized. "Now, as you all know, the Asgard are a race of clones, who have cloned themselves over and over for thousands of years and ended up ending their own lives before they succumbed to their genetic spiral." Taking a breath, he continued. "There is another race of beings that I've recently become aware of that have a similar reproductive cycle."
Fed up with the chair, he stood and started pacing. Even though he knew this would infuriate the Doctor, he simply couldn't sit still while he lectured. Usually this involved explaining a theory to convince the General to commit to a mission. This was different in that he needed to convince him of the truth before it bit them all in the ass. So, not that much different, really.
Needless to say, he was nervous. The Major wasn't much better, but kept her outward appearance cool. Regardless, he was stuck on what to say next. Even though he didn't see her, he felt Vanessa's hand on his shoulder as she whispered in his ear. "You're doing good. Go with the flow and relax. These are your friends. Ease them into it with what they already know."
Nodding at the encouragement, he turned back to the table. "Doing math backwards through time, we all know about when the Goa'uld took humans from this world and seeded the galaxy with their acquired slaves. In a similar vein, the Asgard did the same when they thought that the Earth was going to undergo an extinction level event. And, we know that several of these colonies do not in fact have Stargates.
"Somewhere in between six to seven thousand years ago, a great number of people were taken from Earth by the Asgard to a planet known today as Kobol." It was an educated guess, but it seemed logical to him. "It's not in the SGC database of addresses, because it doesn't have a Stargate. Over time, these people grew in number and in technology. Even up to the development of A.I., otherwise known as artificial intelligence.
"These intelligences were known collectively as the Cylons, a subservient caste of sentience at the whims of the people who created them. While it wasn't slavery as such, when pertaining to living organisms, it was still slavery due to the fact that they were using a sentient and self aware intellect as their workforce and army. For a while this worked out fine, but over time the treatment of their robotic slaves became petulant and neglectful. Why worry about a CPU, when you can buy another one? All it takes is a few tweaks, and it'll be the same as the first one you lost."
He paused to looked them over. "You can see where I'm going with this," he stated.
Sam was the most disturbed, as she revelled in science. Not to mention the robot duplicates of themselves who went on missions long enough to bite it in the end. They were them in all but DNA, and they ended their lives to protect humans.
Mitchell had a thoughtful expression on his face, and Daniel assumed that he might be thinking about Teal'c.
Vala looked mortified. Having had her time in the thrall of a Goa'uld as a host, she knew full well what it was like.
Both the General and the Doctor were harder to read, but the Major was looking right at him with a pleading look on her face. He gave her a reassuring smile, and patted her shoulder before continuing.
"After a certain amount of time, the companies in charge of the Cylons discovered mnemonic memory transfer," Sam's head popped up at that. "This meant that for any body that was destroyed, the intelligence of the Cylon was transmitted back to a hub to be redistributed or inserted into a new body.
"After a century of war between the nations on the planet, the Cylons had enough and turned their guns on their own human commanders. Little surprise, but we have hindsight on this." Not to mention a bit of experience, he thought. "Much like the Jaffa rebellion, the Cylon rebellion threw the planet into chaos."
"Daniel," Sam started, but he held up his hand to stop whatever she was going to ask.
"Please hold all questions till I'm through. This is going to take a while." Pausing for breath, he poured himself a glass of water and drank half of it. Turning back to the table, he was off again. "Eventually, enough lives were lost and the use of WMD's of various types very nearly turned the planet into a cinder. An armistice of non aggression between the humans and cylons was signed, and they turned to what they could possibly do next.
"Back then, and in that region of space, the humans on Kobol did not have faster than light travel. That said, the Cylons built what we would call a generational ship. This ship utilized the technology of the time, up to and including both the resurrection apparatus, as well as a chemical database of DNA from fallen humans in the war.
"Over a course of a couple of hundred years in flight, the Cylons perfected what they wanted most: the ability to breathe, taste, touch, and anything else you can think of that humans take for granted. While they didn't utilize this technology themselves until they found a planet to colonize, they were able to put several thousand cloned bodies into cold storage for use to download into once they arrived at a habitable planet.
"Now, while this was all going on. The twelve major powers of Kobol did the same exact thing. They built generational ships of their own, and left Kobol en-masse, heading towards the interior of the Galaxy, and coincidentally deeper into Asgard protected space. History differs at this point as to whether or not humans or cylons reached their planet first, but I'm sure it's in the Asgard database three flights down.
"For the Cylons, they found a relatively small system with one planet that was habitable. Naming it Terra, they downloaded themselves into the cloned bodies they had stored, after building their first settlement out of the parts and hull of their ship.
"For the Humans, they had it a bit better. They were able to find a relative gold mine of a land grab. A star system that was a double binary. Initially called the Helios system, the double pair orbited each other, as they orbited the central gravity well between the four stars. Multiple planets were habitable, and over time each of the original major powers of Kobol got their own planet to colonize."
"Sounds like a good deal," Cam commented. "Like having the United States and Canada having their own planet, right?"
Nodding, Daniel agreed. "Yeah, with maybe Britain and Australia. In that star system, what you just described would be the planet Caprica. But, lets not get ahead of ourselves. There's a lot more.
"On Terra, the Cylons were eventually able to procreate without the use of downloading. And, what may surprise most of you, they had no war for over a thousand years. However, they did something that they really shouldn't have. Any guesses?"
"A.I." Valerie said quietly, joining the discussion for the first time.
Nodding with a smile in her direction, Daniel continued. "Yep. They ended up doing what Kobal did. The only exception was, they didn't use their mechanical Cylons for war. That came much later. As their technology expanded, the Cylons did manual labour, construction and maintenance for their infrastructure. This was all fine, up until their robot workforce started demanding civil rights."
"I see a lead balloon in the near future," Cam quipped.
"The size of a Zeppelin," Sam nodded.
"Yep. That didn't go over too well with the authorities. In little to no time, strikes turned to violence. At the same time this was going on, five scientists were trying to recreate the resurrection technology that fell out of use when they were able to have babies. Now remember, the Cylons didn't have faster than light travel. They did however, keep up with their space technology and used it to mine their two moons. Using Cylons of course."
"Of course," the General said, looking a bit disgusted.
"This is where technology separated between Terra and the Twelve Colonies. While Terra didn't have a certain element, guess what the Twelve Colonies discovered in their dead planet rocks and asteroid fields?"
"Naquadah?" Cam said, unsure of himself.
Daniel tapped his own nose. "You got it. They had a process that would distil raw naquadah ore into a liquid form."
"Oh my God," Sam said. "We've been trying to do that for a while now. The potential energy contained in a simple litre of liquid would dwarf a block of naquadah the size of a double decker bus."
"Now I see why you wanted this closed," the General said.
"Not quite, General," Daniel said with a shake of the head. "Getting there though. At Terra, the Cylon riots got exponentially worse as the biologicals started arming themselves against the tougher mechanicals. In less than ten years, the biologicals discovered how to split the atom."
"Oh God," Doctor Lam said quietly. She was so engrossed into the story, that she completely forgot that Daniel was supposed to be taking it easy.
"Yeah. Not good," Daniel said. "Fortunately for a very minor few, the resurrection technology was remastered again. Out of five billion souls, both biological and mechanical, only five survived the nuclear holocaust. Unfortunately for the mechanicals, they didn't realize that they were susceptible to the hard radiation when they launched their attack."
"Wiped themselves out at the same time?" the General asked with a bit of sorrow on his face. "Damn shame. Forgive me for saying, but I'm not liking my own race at the moment. This reminds me of Nazism."
Daniel shook his head. "It wasn't that severe on Terra. It was a labour dispute that got way out of hand."
"Still though, five billion people," Cam said. "You know, I don't care if they're flesh or steel. They could think. I mean, replicators eat everything and the humanoid models weren't that much better. I only read of one replicator that might have made it in society if General O'Niell hadn't screwed him over."
"Let's not talk about that," Sam said, annoyed at her own part in Fifth's betrayal.
"He has a point, Sam," Daniel said. "I know he had a thing for you, and he did unspeakable things while you were aboard his ship. But, I still wonder what would have happened if we actually took him with us from Orilla."
"We may never know," Sam said quietly.
The General broke the mood. "So what happened to those five scientists?"
"Well, while they didn't have FTL capability, they got darn close. Retracing their route, they returned to Kobol. While it was only a month for them, it was almost as long as it took them to reach Terra in real time. They didn't find much, as Kobol's ecosystem was still recovering, and that wasn't their destination anyway."
"What was it?" Vala asked.
"Like I said, these five were scientists and they knew that the other refugees from Kobol would delve into artificial intelligence again. Their intention was to follow their trail in order to warn them."
"I'm not liking where this is going, Jackson," Cam said. "If they were only able to go close to the speed of light without a lot of direction…" he trailed off.
"It took them two thousand actual years to find them, while it was only eight months of relative time. They were too late. The Greystone Corporation had developed their own Cylon on Caprica. Unlike the Terrans, the Colonials used them for war."
"You'd think they would've learned their lesson the first time!" Vala shouted.
Sam shook her head. "Think about the time difference. They probably forgot why they colonized those worlds to begin with."
"Doctor Colonel, you're still brilliant," Daniel grinned. "And no, Vala. It's sad to say, but it happened before, and it happened again."
That caught Sam and Cameron's attention and they both gaped at him, remembering what started his entire quest that morning.
Smiling, Daniel nodded. "You two are quick, but lets not jump to the end just yet." Changing gears, he drank the rest of his water to keep his throat wet. Feeling his eyes hurt, he pocketed his glasses and continued the briefing without them. Wasn't like he was reading anything anyway.
"Like I said, the Twelve Colonies had abundant resources of naquadah, or as they called it, 'tylium'. During the time that the five scientists traced their flightpath, scientists at the Twelve Colonies developed a style of FTL that will make all members of the military in this room drool.
"They call it the Jump Drive. Instead of shunting a ship into subspace, they actually fold space into a sort of wormhole not unlike the stargate. Instead of having to create a ring to fly through, the drive creates a bubble around the ship that literally jumps it from one point in space to another instantaneously. Not exactly sure on the range, but you could go from here to Alpha Centauri with a flick of a switch."
Sam sat back in her chair as equations ran through her mind at the implications. After a moment, she decided she would need to consult the Asgard Core, as it was giving her a headache.
In the lull, Valerie had a bit of new respect for Daniel. He'd not only explained most of their case, but had them sympathizing with them. Maybe she had a chance, still. "Daniel, what about the five scientists?"
"They entered the Helios system in the middle of a forty year long war between the humans and their own Cylons. They were able to access the Cylon communication frequencies, and arranged to meet the leaders. From what I understand, it was a hell of a get together. Over the course of two weeks, the scientists discovered that the Colonial Cylons were attempting to make their own biological models. I'm not going to go into what they discovered, because quite frankly I'd like to be able to have dinner tonight.
"What the scientists did, was demand a complete halt of all hostilities."
Cam's eyes bulged. "Just like that? What did they give them?"
Daniel grinned. "Resurrection technology, and a proper way to build biological models. The Colonial Cylons would only get that if they stopped the war and left the system." He paused and poured himself another drink.
"Don't leave us hanging, Daniel," Vala chastised. "What happened?"
"They agreed," he said simply with a grin.
"That's not the end of the story though, is it Daniel?" Sam asked with a knowing look on her face.
He nodded and sat in the chair that had been moved for the wheelchair. "The scientists immediately went to work on their biological replacements." He paused, blinking. "Their original plan was for twenty clone models, but things got away from them."
Valerie stared at him with wide eyes, and he simply nodded.
"The first one was named John. The lead scientist designed it to resemble her own father, and he was a fast learner. In less than six months, he was already helping them with the later models."
"Seems a bit quick to catch on that fast," Dr. Lam said. If these weren't bodies to be used by the mechanicals to download into, and I'm assuming they weren't from what you described…"
"They did," Daniel interrupted her. "However, with the differences in circuitry and configurations of their CPU's, only knowledge was transferred. They only realized this after the first ten John copies were uploaded. With the first being taught by simple mnemonic transfer, they had eleven John's with knowledge of war and little experience."
"Oh hell," Cam said. "Even I know it's bad to give a kid a gun, but that sounds like handing a five year old a WMD."
"What happened?" Sam said, beginning to understand the dream he told them about with what was being said now.
"Things went fine for six years," Daniel said. "At that point they had eight model bases, with several copies of the earlier models already running around. However, the original John had a problem. He had a little brother that was getting all the attention from the lead scientist."
"Are you kidding me?" Vala said. "They had a six year old, with all sorts of knowledge on how to kill. And he got jealous?" she froze in place as she remembered what Daniel said about his dream. "Oh Daniel," she whispered, putting a hand to her mouth.
Seeing the others in the room react strangely to this story, the General was confused. "I have to ask this question. Where did you get this information from Doctor Jackson? There seems to be a bit more detail in this report that you're not reading from."
"Don't send me back," Valerie pleaded in a whisper.
"I wont let them," Daniel replied just as quiet. Didn't matter though. The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. He reached over and took her hand. "Ready?"
"No," she shook her head, "but I think it's a bit late now."
Standing up, Daniel pulled Valerie up with him. "General Landry, while it only came to my attention today, I feel that it's necessary to reintroduce ourselves. While I did grow up here from the age of five, and my name is Daniel, my other name is Seven. Major?"
She looked startled and swallowed nervously. "I was sent here originally to keep track of Daniel. I didn't know why at the time, and had no idea he was a Cylon, but I've come to love my life here and I don't want to leave." She paused to wipe her eyes. "Valerie is the name I chose for myself, but my other name is Eight."
General Landry just stared at them both, completely stunned.