Sorry it has taken me so unbelievably long to update. Major case of writer's block. I have three short chapters to add today. Hope you like.
Jack watched Carter across the briefing table as she picked at his nails. She had avoided him for a full day after the shower incident. Which while he would never say this out loud, he found hysterical. But he preferred to have his body returned to him with all parts still intact, so yeah, so not letting her know he thought it was funny.
After that twenty-four hours had passed, where he had actually witnessed Sam ducking into a closet to avoid him, Jack had been thoroughly bored and practically cornered her in her lab, demanding she go have cake with him.
She had audibly sighed with relief that he wasn't going to bring anything up and agreed to go. Life returned to normal. Or as normal as it ever gets at the SGC. Just this morning, Jack had seen someone walking down the hall with a tail! Now that was weird! He didn't even want to know how that one happened. On the plus side, him and Carter were no longer the talks of the base.
So, here they were. Daniel had finished the translation and had called a briefing together for 1100. Jack looked at his watch. 1109. Everyone was present, except Daniel. Typical.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Daniel rushed into the briefing room, carrying a ginormous coffee mug (Seriously, it was huge!) and several file folders that had evidently slipped somewhere on the way here because several of them were hanging precariously, threatening to fall from his grasp and spread out all over the floor.
"Glad to see you decided to join us, Danny boy."
"Sorry, Jack. I got caught up and I forgot this paper so I had to go back and…."
That was very un-Daniel like. Apologizing for tardiness. No smart-ass remark. He must be exhausted. Looking more closely at his archaeologist, Jack noticed how pale he was and could even see the dark circles behind his glasses.
"Daniel, when was the last time that you slept?"
Daniel seemed to think that blinking several times was a sufficient answer as he ignored Jack and turned to the General.
"I've figured out what happened."
Jack rolled his eyes.
"I think it's pretty obvious what happened."
Daniel clenched his teeth, looked up at the ceiling, and Jack could swear he could mentally see him counting to ten.
Good. Daniel wasn't so far gone that he couldn't still get pissed. But Jack would still have a talk with him after the briefing.
"As I was saying, I know what happened and I'm pretty sure I know how to fix it."
Sitting down, Daniel opened one of the files he brought with him while the General told him to proceed.
"These people called themselves the Venhayins which I believe might have some cultural reference to a group of ancient tribal…"
"Daniel, please. Can we not have the cultural significance version right now? You say you have a way for me and Carter to be ourselves again. We're really interested in that part and I assure you I will be all ears for that part of your speech."
Daniel frowned but must have decided to take pity on Jack as he skipped ahead.
"The Venhayin's had several prominent laws. One of which was 'To not judge'. They held this as one of their most sacred laws. The device that Sam and Jack touched appears to be some sort of penalty given to two people who refused to meet eye to eye, who judged each other unfairly in some way. They were forced to live as the other without anyone else being aware that they had switched places until they learned the error of their thoughts."
"Walking a mile in another person's shoes…", Sam piped in for the first time in the conversation.
Jack laid his head on the table and groaned. "I hate cliches."
"And what if they had no such revelation, Daniel Jackson?"
"Well, they were forced to remain permanently in their new bodies."
"What?!"
"Quit panicking, Jack. I know how to switch you. Or at least I'm pretty sure. The device says that the two were to remain in their new form for the equivalent of one week. Then, once the elders deemed that they had truly learned their lesson, they would be allowed to return to their bodies. Here it gets a little vague because obviously they knew how to work their own machine but I still think I get it. Basically, you have to twist the sphere to where the top and lower halves are facing opposite directions while you are both touching it."
"Good, let's go do that now."
"You can't."
"And why not?"
"Because it has to be done exactly seven days later. Otherwise, it won't work. If you tried it now, you could ruin your chances of it working when it was supposed to and then you'd be stuck this way forever."
That sat Jack back down in his chair.
"Okay, so it's been four days. Three more to go."
The General closed the file in front of him. "Alright people. Colonel, Major, you are both still confined to the base for the remainder of this…problem. And I want that device locked away until the time it is needed, with no one touching it. Dismissed."
Jack and Sam stood with the General, Teal'c following at a more sedate pace, while Daniel tried to organize his things.
"And Daniel is going home."
Daniel jerked his head up to Jack. "What?"
"You heard me. You're going home. And you're going to sleep the entire time you're there."
"But I've got…"
"No buts, Daniel. I'll have you escorted there if I have to. You look like crap."
Daniel frowned. "Thanks."
"Don't get me wrong. I love that you figured out the Death Star thingy, just next time, sleep somewhere in the figuring time."
Instead of answering, Daniel muttered something unintelligible and quite possibly in another language, and walked out the door.
Jack yelled after him. "You have twenty minutes, Daniel. Then I'm sending an airmen after you."
Jack heard a chuckle and turned to see Carter staring at him.
"What's so funny?"
"Just thinking about how much this must be messing with everybody's heads. Daniel's not exactly used to me threatening him to leave his office by force."
"You should try it some time. It's quite fun."
Sam grinned and shook her head, leaving the briefing room herself.
