"Don't worry, Jack, we'll find them." Jacob promised bowing his head.

When he raised his head again it was Selmac who spoke. "Jacob and I have been here long enough to learn the lay out of the ship quite well. It is this way."

Together the three moved silently down the hallway; each one alone with their own disquieting thoughts about the fates of Sam and Daniel.


As Jack crept along behind Jacob and Teal'c, he began mentally cataloging the layout of the ship. He did this automatically. It came second nature to him now, ever since his black ops days. Although many years had passed since his first covert mission, the intense special training stuck and had been useful, especially in their fight against the Goa'uld.

This made him think about his most recent undercover mission. He'd so easily slipped back into his old behavior, it scared him. But, in the end he had done his job well and a commendation was noted in his file from the President.

The trouble was, he'd done so good of a job that he'd managed to alienate his entire team and half of the SGC. Even though he apologized to his teammates, it was a long while before he sensed Carter and Teal'c's complete trust in him again.

His relationship with Daniel, however, had never fully recovered. Sure, Daniel said he understood and congratulated Jack on the success of the mission. But, things weren't the same and they drifted apart. Then Daniel had died and Jack regretted never taking advantage of the time he had to straighten things out and to let Daniel know how much his friendship meant to him.

After Daniel returned, things were different, better. Jack had made sure of that. Daniel still hadn't regained all of his memories, but Jack had gotten to the point where he could tell from the expression on Daniel's face when he was remembering something.

Sometimes the look was pleasant. Sometime it wasn't. For Daniel, he wasn't simply remembering an event, he was re-living it. Occasionally, he would black out when this happened, which Frasier said might happen. Still, the first time he did it he gave them all quite a scare.

They had just returned from P98-244, New Ardenia. They put in a tough week helping SG's-8 and 9 resettle the people of Talthus on their new found homeworld. Daniel, in particular, worked very hard to help the people preserve their historical records during the relocation and it was showing.

Dark shadows colored the skin just below his eyes and Jack knew he was exhausted, but this was important to him. So he let him keep at it. Now that they were back home, he intended to make sure Daniel got at least one good night's sleep.

Later before the debriefing with Hammond, Daniel was standing at the projector getting ready for his presentation to the general, his back to the door. Jack and Teal'c had walked in already discussing the new guidelines for using the planet's stargate initiated by Teal'c . He had ruffled not a few of the monarch's feathers when he told them they would have to limit gate travel to the few planets known by the SGC at Goa'uld free.

"You did the right thing, Teal'c. Don't beat yourself up over it." Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Jack saw Daniel's back stiffen and a few seconds later he fell head first into the media equipment.

That had been downright heart-stopping. The conversation between himself and Teal'c triggered a memory for Daniel. He had been jolted by the memory of Sha're's death. Even though he'd known she was dead, up to that point he hadn't recalled any of the exact details. Jack hoped he never would. So much for wishful thinking.

Daniel didn't regain consciousness for nearly a day. And when he awoke he was very disoriented and quickly fell back into a deep slumber. Frasier said there was no concussion from the fall, but they were dealing with something completely out of the realm of anything she had ever had to deal with before.

Daniel's memory had been erased by the Ancients. But clearly Oma Desala wanted him to regain all of it back except, of course, the time he spent as an ascended being. There was no way they could predict if, when, or to what degree those memories would return. They also could not predict how Daniel would react to the shock of some of those memories.

The doctor kept him for three days of observation just in case there were further blackouts. Once he was released, he would not be allowed to drive or be alone for long periods of time until she was satisfied that he had recovered.

On the day of Daniel's release, Jack was preparing to spend a few nights at Daniel's when SG-8 dialed in needing further assistance with the Talthian situation to settle a new dispute between the monarchs and the common people. Since Daniel wasn't cleared for gate travel yet, Jack went and Janet insisted Daniel stay on base.

When Jack returned four days later, Daniel was better. He had suffered two subsequent blackouts, one in his office and another in the infirmary while Janet was conducting a follow up exam. But each was significantly shorter in duration than the first one, lasting less than an hour.

A couple of weeks later, when no further blackouts occurred, he was cleared for gate travel and things were back to normal. Daniel had even regained a good portion of his memory as a result. If he was having any trouble coping, he hadn't said anything to Jack.

Jack pondered that thought for a few moments. Come to think of it, they hadn't been spending a lot of time together lately. He would be sure to remedy that as soon as they got back home.


Sam couldn't believe what she'd just seen Daniel do. He'd yanked off the control panel to the door mechanism like it was cardboard. When he'd slammed his fist into the crystals, the resulting electrical discharge should have killed him. But he barely reacted.

Sam knew where he was heading, but she had no idea where the sarcophagus was kept on this ship. She had been unconscious when she was initially placed inside it, and apparently also when she was removed because she didn't recall a thing until she woke up in their prison cell.

She'd already worked out that something was terribly wrong with the device. It only partially healed the colonel and herself. Yet, as she crept softly after Daniel down the dark corridor, she could think of no way to stop him from using it.


As Ba'al sauntered down the passageway toward the sarcophagus smiling to himself as he thought of how easy it had been to destroy the Serpent Sun God. And soon, he would have all of SG-1.

Even now he knew that O'Neill and the sholva would be close by if not already, on board the ship. The Tau'ri were so predictable. They would try to rescue their teammates but they would be unsuccessful. He frowned slightly at the thought of the two members of SG-1 which he held prisoner.

The woman, Major Carter, appeared normal. But there was something not right about Daniel Jackson. He'd been unresponsive while Ba'al questioned them, even when threatened by the pain-stick and the ribbon-device. He saw some fear but mostly defiance in the woman's eyes, but Jackson remained impassive and Ba'al questioned whether he was truly aware of his surroundings or anyone else.

It didn't matter. They were simply bait. Soon he would have O'Neill back in his grasp and he did so enjoy tormenting O'Neill. His wicked smile back in place, Ba'al turned down the next corridor toward the sarcophagus.


Sam was running out of time. Any minute now Daniel would find the sarcophagus and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

Slowly peering around the corner, Sam watched Daniel stop in front of a room that was evidently locked. She watched as he again ripped through the door panel with little effort. In no way would he have been able to do that if he was – himself. But instead of going through the doorway he simply stared inside for a long moment, as if he was pondering his next move.

Sam stared at him from her hiding place. Were his hands shaking? A closer look revealed that not only were they shaking, they were bleeding. And he appeared to be in some pain. This may be the only chance she had to reach him.

Taking advantage of the opportunity and throwing caution to the wind, Sam stepped forward, hands spread out so that Daniel could see she was carrying no weapon.

"Daniel?"

He jumped, apparently unaware that she had been following him.

Daniel stared at her with an odd expression, but otherwise did not move either toward her or closer to the doorway.

"Daniel, I know you're going for the sarcophagus. Believe me, you don't know what that thing will do to you, what it has done to you. Listen to me, they put me and the Colonel in the sarcophagus. It didn't work. It healed the majority of our injuries but our own bodies had to complete the healing process on their own."

Daniel blinked at Sam. For a moment, he looked like the old Daniel. Could he be coming to his senses now, realizing what was happening? Pressing her advantage Sam continued.

"Something about this device is different from other Goa'uld technology we've encountered. There could be a flaw in the power source. Whatever it is, it's dangerous. Please, don't do this. Let us help you back at the SGC."

Within Daniel's mind an inner battle was taking place. On the one hand, he was horrified at the lengths to which he had gone to get a fix from the sarcophagus. In a way he felt detached, like he was watching a stranger do these things from some far away place.

He had put Sam in danger by bringing her here as his hostage. Something he never should have, no, never would have considered doing in his right mind. Which meant that he wasn't really in his right mind, was he? But he knew that already, he just hadn't admitted it to himself until now.

On the other hand, he desperately needed it. It was a terrible, hungering obsession that he wasn't strong enough to resist. By now the need was as basic as his need for air to breathe. He knew that the only way to overcome it and stop the pain, was to give in to it. He was so tired of the pain. For a while, after he had been freed from the sarcophagus in Huantar's medical lab, the pain had stopped.

He was free for the first time in a long while of the nightmares and disturbing thoughts that had begun plaguing him when he first started regaining his memories after his return to human form. They had started when he remembered Sha're's death and had become increasingly more frequent as he recalled more events from his past.

If he didn't keep himself busy working on his translations and participating in off-world missions, he found that his mind would often transport him back to the many times in his life when he'd miserably failed someone he cared about. He often thought about his inability to help first his parents and then later Sha're, and Sarah. Added to that was his dismal failure to save Skaara, Kasuf and the entire population of Abydos from Anubis. He had thought he could do more as an ascended being. He had been wrong.

He hadn't shared these dark feelings with any of his teammates. How he had ever been able to cope with all that pain before he ascended, he didn't know. Perhaps that was the reason he chose ascension, to finally end his own deep personal suffering.

"The Daniel I know is still in there somewhere." Sam continued. "Come back to us, please. We can help you. You won't be alone, Daniel. You can get through this."

At her words, unbidden images flashed through Daniel's mind taking him back to another time and another sarcophagus. During that time he had failed his team miserably and Jack had almost died by Daniel's own hand.

Daniel closed his eyes tight against the painful memories that had been dredged up by Sam's words.

He never saw Ba'al emerge at the end of the long corridor behind Sam. And he never saw Ba'al's first prime raise his staff weapon and point it at Sam's back.