Chapter 10

Shepherd stared out of the viewport at the Furling ship as it drifted silently through the emptiness of space, and then back in the cabin at Daniel, whose jaw had very nearly hit the floor.

'You know these guys?' He asked, and it took the archaeologist a few moments to register the question.

'Not personally, no.' He replied, still staring in disbelief at the ship. 'But they were the fourth race of the intergalactic alliance with the Ancients, Nox and Asgard. All we've ever actually seen of them was some writings down on the planet, we just figured they'd died out over the millennia.'

'Not dead.' Mitchell commented, he still sounded in awe at the impressive force the Furlings had shown against the Ori.

'So, what do we do?' McKay asked, 'They seem to think we're Ancients, which would assume they don't know that they all ascended - but what about when they find out we're just human?'

'Just human? I resent that.' Shepherd responded, shooting McKay a look of disapproval.

'You know what I mean.' McKay replied sharply.

Truth be told, Shepherd did know what he meant. He tried to imagine how he would react if he contacted a ship like the Apollo and found it inhabited by a bunch of aliens he'd never encountered before. It would be likely there would be guns involved somewhere along the line.

'We look like them, don't we?' Vala put forward, 'Maybe they won't even notice the differences.'

'Not likely,' McKay answered, turning to the young woman, 'for all we know a civilisation that advanced could easily scan life signs and detect the differences in race within seconds, we know the Ancient's had started working with that sort of technology.'

'But wouldn't they have done that by now?' Vala retorted, and when Shepherd saw that look on McKay's face he always got when he was being challenged, he hid a smirk. Beside him, Mitchell was doing the same.

'Well - probably,' McKay relented with a shrug 'but maybe they have something that can only scan on board.'

Shepherd considered the point, and found it to be moot. 'Either way,' he explained, 'we're no match for that ship in this little Jumper. If they're not a threat, fine - if they are, we probably stand a better chance in a ground battle.'

'If it comes to that.' Daniel added, making it clear that a battle was the last thing he wanted.

'It always does.' Ronon said from the back, still sitting lazily on the bench.

'Why don't we just make a run for the Gate?' Vala suggested.

'No, we'd never make it if they moved against us.' Shepherd replied, the same idea had been on his mind, but he'd seen how their ship moved and he knew the capabilities of the Jumper - they were completely out-manoeuvred.

'In any case,' Daniel said, 'they might hold pivotal information on the Beast that we don't have, and after the beating the Ori gave the library, I'm not sure we'll be able to get back there.'

Shepherd had to admit that Daniel had a point, and the other four races that he knew of - the Ancients and the Asgard - were civilised people and had allied themselves with the human race. He didn't know a great deal about the Nox, but he'd read a report that had described them as peaceful to a fault.

'Yeah, we have another problem.' McKay stated with a grimace after looking down at his laptop, 'I've just run a diagnostic on the Jumper's systems, the onboard DHD has been damaged and we're leaking atmosphere. I can fix it, but it'll take more time than we can last out here.'

'Well, that settles it.' Shepherd concluded, and the comm. buzzed again.

'Alteran ship, please respond, this is…'

'So, who's going to speak to them?' McKay asked as the voice repeated its previous message.

Mitchell sighed, then leaned forwards and activated the comm. 'Furling ship, this is the Alteran ship…' he looked at the group and shrugged. Shepherd saw McKay mouth a suggestion and rolled his eyes, but Mitchell when with it anyway.

'Enterprise,' Mitchell continued with a grimace, 'thank you for the assistance, our ship was badly damaged in the fight and any help you can provide would be welcome.'

'Certainly,' Seria replied 'we are opening the hanger bay doors, and you have clearance to land.'

'Well folks,' Shepherd said as he eased on the thrusters, 'let's not keep them waiting.'

The Jumper landed smoothly on the hanger deck, and Daniel's excitement at meeting the Furlings after all of this time was hampered by a shooting pain that flared through his arm. It had begun during the battle with the Ori ship, but he couldn't recall hitting his arm during the fight.

He tried to hide his pain as the joint Atlantis and SG1 team prepared to disembark onto the Furling ship, and he caught Ronon's arm as he raised his energy weapon to point towards the door at the back of the Jumper.

'That won't be necessary.' Daniel assured him.

'I set it to stun.' Ronon rationalised.

'Ronon, we don't want to start an incident,' Shepherd looked the warrior in the eyes 'just be ready if there is one.'

Ronon held his position for a moment then relented, holstering the weapon. 'Alright.' He said with a small shrug.

Mitchell, who stood at the front of the group with Teal'c, pressed the door release and they slid open to reveal the wide hanger. Standing a few feet away was a woman that looked quite human aside from skeletal ridges along her cheeks and forehead.

It wasn't until the entire team had left the Jumper that Daniel - and the others, judging by the look on their faces - realised just how different the Furlings were. Behind the woman's back were two white feathered wings. In their dormant position folded behind her back they were barely visible from the front, but Daniel could imagine that they would be large enough to carry her when outstretched.

'Welcome aboard the Fragarach. I'm Prime Strategos Seria.' She said with a smile.

'It's a pleasure,' Shepherd returned, 'I'm Colonel Shepherd, and these are…' As Shepherd gave introductions for the members of his group, Daniel's mind was focused on the name of the ship. He had heard the word before in the Celtic mythology of Earth, it was the name of a sword known also known as 'The Retaliator' and he wondered if the Furlings may have had some influence over that part of Earth's history.

When Shepherd had finished the introductions, Seria bowed her head to the group in greeting and ushered them forwards. 'We have arranged quarters for you all so that you may rest and recuperate, our scans show that several of you are injured, and that you are all fatigued.' Daniel caught the smug look McKay gave to Vala.

'Not that we aren't grateful,' Elizabeth said in measured tones, 'but how did you know we were under attack.'

'There is an automated distress beacon within the structure of the Library,' Seria replied, 'when it was set off, we came here as quickly as we could.'

'Quickly is right,' McKay commented, 'you must have been nearby.'

'No.' Seria answered after a pause, but didn't elaborate. Daniel thought of pressing the issue but decided against it.

They moved swiftly through the hanger to an access hatch that allowed them access to the ship proper. Daniel took in every detail as they passed through winding corridors, noting the amount of vegetation that adorned the walls.

'Just like the hallway to the embassy.' Mitchell noted, and Daniel gave him a quizzical look. 'That's right, you missed it. All these flowers covered the walls and when we got to the embassy there was this enormous glowing map of the entire universe.'

'Ah, you saw the Lines of Existence,' Seria said from the front as they turned another corridor, 'it was and still is a masterpiece created by our explorers when we created our first map of the Galactic Ley Lines.'

'Excuse me? Ley Lines?' Daniel asked, not believing what he had heard.

'There a problem?' Mitchell asked.

'Not exactly,' Daniel replied, 'but we have a Ley Line theory back on Earth. They're supposed to be lines of mythical energy than run through the planet, lines on which ancient civilisation built their most important monuments such as Stonehenge in England or the Nazca Lines in Peru.'

'Nonsense.' McKay scoffed.

'Not so.' Seria said seriously, 'After all, would you have believed your ancestor's Stargate to exist before you found it for yourselves?'

'Our ancestors?' Daniel repeated.

'We know you are not Alteran.' Seria replied, her tone did not sound threatening, 'Although the Furling people have detached from this galaxy, we were always aware of it. When the Alteran's fled and ascended, we continued to watch the life they had seeded take root and blossom.'

'Never thought to step in with the Goa'uld, hmm?' Vala said icily.

'It was not our place,' Seria responded without taking offence, 'when you let something grow, uprooting the weeds is the easiest solution but more weeds will reveal themselves in the wake of the last. If you let the flowers bloom and grow strong enough to survive the weeds without interference, they will be all the better for it.'

'Look at yourselves,' she continued, 'as vile as they were, the Goa'uld created the vast network of your race across the galaxy - without that you would not be out here amongst the stars.'

'You're say they're tyranny of the galaxy was a good thing?' Daniel asked sceptically.

'I'm saying that existence sometimes has a design you may not be able to perceive right away.' Seria responded and stopped in a corridor lined with doors. 'These are your rooms, I will leave you to rest for a while, I have some business to attend to but I shall send for you in a while.' With that she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Daniel and the others staring after her at the white wings on her back.

'So, what now?' Elizabeth asked.

'Well, I'm exhausted.' McKay replied, already heading towards the nearest room, 'I hope they're planning to feed us.'

'I think some rest would be a good idea,' Mitchell agreed, and Daniel noticed the Colonel's eyes flick over in his direction. The plague he now carried had not been forgotten.

The rest of the group gave their approval and headed to the separate rooms, so Daniel did the same. The room was nothing special, and was just big enough for the cot and a chair. There was a viewport from which he could see the Library Planet, a fist sized ball of colour in the vast emptiness of space.

Now that he was alone, he tentatively rolled up the left sleeve of his combat shirt, where he was still experiencing a pain that pulsated up and down the limb. He sat heavily on the bed and examined his arm, eyes widening when he saw that from wrist to elbow a black line had emerged from his skin where a vein had been.

I'm saying that existence sometimes has a design you may not be able to perceive right away. As he laid on the bed with heavy lids, Daniel hoped that Seria's words would prove true, the Beast was an enemy that seemed unstoppable - and the plague it brought was slowly taking him over.

His thoughts grew darker as he closed his eyes and tried to block out the pain of the disease spreading from his arm. Although unsuccessful in that venture, his fatigue proved too great and he fell away into sleep.

When Daniel opened his eyes he knew instinctively that he wasn't awake. His surroundings were dark, a murky fog hanging low to the ground. Beyond that there was nothing, no buildings, no sky - only a deeply oppressive silence that chilled his bones.

He heard footsteps and looked for the source, spotting a figure cloaked in the darkness only a few feet away from him. Unlike when he had been met by Skaara, he felt apprehension from the figure and when the man came into view, he knew why.

The Beast smiled coldly, but Daniel saw surprise in his shadowy eyes as he caught sight of Daniel that disappeared as quickly as it had risen.

'You should not be here.' The Beast uttered, it was clearly a threat.

'Probably not,' Daniel agreed, his mind racing to figure out how he had gotten to this place, 'and - trust me - if I knew how to leave, I would.'

'Perhaps death will see you on your way.' The Beast suggested, but he made no move to attack, a fact that Daniel took note of with interest and relief.

'For the longest time, I thought you would be my host on the lower plane,' The Beast continued after Daniel's lack of response. 'but you have grown weaker since last we met. From what I understand you lost your Ascension for a single planet.'

Daniel remembered Skaara telling him that he had confronted the Beast before on the ascended plane, and he wished he could remember what had occurred. Any information would give them the edge and all Daniel really knew about that time was that he had come away from it infected by the plague.

When his thoughts turned to the plague, a revelation came to him. 'It's the subspace signal, that's why I'm here. It's been reversed somehow.'

The Beast clapped his hands condescendingly, 'Very clever, for the all the good it will do you.' He took a few steps towards Daniel. 'This universe will crumble and burn. It is only a matter of time.'

'I've heard that before,' Daniel scoffed, speaking with a confidence he didn't feel, 'but destruction won't bring you anything.'

'Destruction proceeds creation,' The Beast explained, moving ever closer, 'that is the one truth of the universe - a truth that no being as small and insignificant as yourself could even begin to understand.'

'Is that some kind of warped justification?' Daniel asked, a fire lighting inside of him, despite the obvious danger.

'Justification?' The Beast's smile made Daniel go cold, 'I have no need to justify myself, I have obliterated entire civilisations in the past four years, since my release from my frozen imprisonment within the Alteran girl. I have been searching for the ship that can devour this universe and now I know where it is.'

Daniel wasn't sure what he meant about the ship, but after the Atlantis team's mission to the alternate universe was proof enough that the Beast wasn't lying about destroying civilisations.

'Why?' Daniel asked quietly, more out of reflex than the desire for an answer.

'The act is reason in itself.' The Beast smirked. 'You should thank me. Without my destruction your race wouldn't even exist.'

'What?!'

The Beast was upon Daniel before he could react. His hand squeezed the archaeologist's neck with crushing force and he fixed Daniel with a steely gaze. 'When I destroyed the last universe, this one was created. The cycle must continue, and it will not halt for a simple creature like you.'

Vala was bored, and incredibly worried. It wasn't a good combination. She'd tried to sleep for an hour or so but she couldn't. She paced her small room continually, her mind fixed on trying to find a solution to Daniel's infection, but no answer came.

She cared for all of her team mates, even being part of something like that had been alien not that long ago and she held onto it dearly. But with Daniel that feeling had grown exponentially, and she considered the last time he had been in this situation, with the thoughts of Merlin imprinted on his mind.

Mitchell had told her then that the hardest part of being in SG1 wasn't risking her own life, but watching others risk theirs, and he had been dead right. Vala took one more look at the cot, considering rest, but resigned the idea as impossible and headed for the door.

She went directly to Daniel's cabin and knocked on the door. There was no reply. She knocked again and got the same result and was about to leave him to sleep when she heard a strangled cry from within.

Vala swiped the door control with haste and rushed into the room, immediately setting her eyes on Daniel, who lay writhing and choking in his cot. His eyes were closed but he was trying to speak, seemingly unable to do so with any coherence.

'Daniel!' Vala exclaimed as she sat on the bed, taking hold of his wrists to stop his movement. It was then that she noticed the black vein running across his left arm, a sign of the plagues progress.

Her heart raced as she tried to calm him, repeating his name soothingly. Her hand reached out and found his, she entwined his fingers in her own and squeezed gently.

Somehow, that simple act seemed to help and Daniel's thrashing ceased. His eyes remained closed but his breathing became more regular. Vala tentatively touched his face with her other hand to find his skin was burning up.

Her worry had reached critical mass and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes; what if this was it? What if Daniel was going die right here in front of her?

When she turned to call the others, she felt a slight pressure on her hand and realised that Daniel was squeezing back. When she looked at him his eyes were open and glassy and his face was full of fear.

'Vala. He croaked, trying to sit up. Vala was suddenly aware that she was stroking his cheek and withdrew her hand in embarrassment, when she tried to pry her hand from his, Daniel held on tighter, not letting her go.

'Are you alright?' The question sounded hollow, but she didn't know what else to say.

'I'm getting there,' He replied, and looked at her with a glimmer of something in his eyes she had never seen before, 'thanks for being here.'

'You're welcome.' Vala replied simply, holding eye contact as a warm silence enveloped the room. All she could focus on was Daniel's hand in her own, the touch of his skin reassured her that he was going to be okay.

The sound of someone clearing their throat came from behind and Vala turned to see Teal'c standing in the doorway. He had a strange smile on his lips that Vala couldn't place. It was the kind of smile, Vala thought, that showed the satisfaction of knowing something that others didn't.

She regretfully let go of Daniel's hand and turned to Teal'c. 'Vala Mal Doran,' he said, 'We have been summoned by Prime Strategos Seria.' Beside them Daniel had risen from his bed, but he still looked incredibly weak from whatever ordeal he had faced.

'Shouldn't you rest?' She asked him.

'No,' he said, and Vala noticed that whatever had been in his eyes had vanished, replaced with focus and determination, 'I have something I need to share with everyone.'