Chapter 13

Daniel pushed Saunders's gun down so the shot hit the dirt and ricocheted off harmlessly, but he heard Evones's gun discharge as well and saw Miacuro fall and then felt another bullet from one of the Kaipo whiz by his ear. He heard Saunders curse at him and Elena call his name from the ground where she had dived with Manoel, but he took another step forward and raised his arms out to either side and started speaking rapidly in Kaipo. The Kaipo men, startled by the tall foreigner speaking their language, hesitated in their assault. "Please!" he said. "You don't want to kill each other. Rava may still be out there, hurt. We can help you look for her. I promise we won't let this go unpunished."

One of the men carrying a long knife stepped forward brandishing his weapon. "More lies!" he shouted, but Daniel stood his ground.

"Perrault," Saunders grated out in English, trying to get a shot. "What the hell are you doing? Get the hell out of the way."

"For God's sake, lower your gun, Reggie," Daniel spat back. "Let me stop this."

Another Kaipo man stepped forward to stand by the first, brandishing his knife, and Daniel, hands still raised out to his sides, stepped forward as well, so that there were little more than a few yards separating him from the men with the knives. He continued to look at the men calmly as his heart beat painfully in his ribcage. "Please let this work," he thought to himself.

"No, no, I do not lie," he continued, "and neither do the people behind me. We will all put our weapons aside." Daniel half turned toward Saunders and Evones. "Please," he said in English and then in Portuguese. Saunders swore again but lowered his gun till it hung at his side. Evones looked from Daniel to the Kaipo men, then slowly did the same, mumbling, "You better not get us killed, Perrault."

Daniel turned back to the Kaipo. "Would you fight when we can still save the child?" He gestured toward the men with the knives. "You can kill me here," he said more quietly, "and we can kill you. Men will die and women too, and more families will live in sorrow. Let us try to find Rava, please. She may be hurt somewhere waiting for us to help while we fight each other here."

Daniel watched two men help Miacuro to his feet, and Miacuro, looking straight in Daniel's eyes, whispered something to the elder. The old man, who had not moved when the guns went off, looked toward the injured young man at his side and back at Daniel. He gestured to a large man behind him, and the man stepped forward and listened to the elder's words. He too looked at Daniel, then past Daniel into the camp and back at the old man. He nodded.

"And what of the man who attacked the child?" the old man said.

Daniel hesitated and then said, "While we search for her, one of your men and one of ours will guard him. If our hopes are answered and we find Rava, she can tell us what happened to her. If tragedy strikes again and we can not find her, we will work together to decide what should be done."

"Do you speak for your people?" the old man asked.

Daniel said, without hesitation, "I do, I do in this matter."

"And those two behind you, do they not employ you?"

Daniel nodded. "Manoel, Elena," he said, quietly, not looking behind him, "I told them that one of their men and one of ours would watch Jens while the rest of us searched for Rava, and that if we didn't find her we would decide together what should be done next. They need to hear it from you."

Manoel and Elena, who had risen slowly as Daniel spoke, looked at each other. Elena nodded at her brother. Trust him, her look said. Trust Jacques.

Manoel spoke then, his voice a little unsteady. "Miacuro. I am sorry you were hurt. Please tell Elder Riapo that Jacques's words are true, that this is the course we would like to take."

Miacuro translated, and the elder turned and spoke a few words to the people around him. The men in front of Daniel nodded at him then stepped back with the rest. Daniel lowered his arms, slowly, trying to keep his hands from shaking. He took a deep breath and let it out. Jesus, he thought, that was stupid. But he couldn't have just stood and let people die, could he? And isn't that what they used to pay him the big bucks for?

Daniel felt Elena's hand on his shoulder, and he took another look toward the Kaipo before turning to her. "Jacques," she said. "Are you all right?"

He gave a little laugh and said, "No, not really. You?"

"Fine," she said, "Thanks to you."

Daniel shook his head at that but didn't say anything.

She smiled at him and put her hand to his cheek for a moment, before heading off toward the Kaipo, all business now, saying, "Miacuro, please, let me look at your arm. And tell us how we can help with the search."

Daniel started to follow her, to help with any translating, when he felt another hand on his shoulder, this one far less gentle. He turned to face Saunders's glare. "Perrault," the angry man whispered, "if you ever grab my gun again, I'll shoot you myself." Daniel returned the stare calmly, having faced down scarier, angrier Air Force officers and Marines in similar situations a dozen times.

"Fair enough, Reggie," he said.

"Saunders!" Manoel's voice broke in then. "I need you with Jens!" Saunders turned his head toward his boss and said, "Why not Evones?"

"Evones says the miners have search dogs. He's going to see about that now. Get moving, please, before this whole thing falls apart again."

Saunders nodded. "I'm coming," he said, then turned back to Daniel.

"Who the hell are you really, Perrault?" he asked gruffly, letting Daniel know, straight out, that he was no longer even pretending to buy the harmless playboy act.

"Nobody," Daniel answered as truthfully as he could. "I'm nobody." Then, not waiting for Saunders's response, Daniel turned and walked toward the Elena and the Kaipo, ready to help.

*********

Daniel sat in the kitchen looking blearily in front of him, as people bustled about the camp, coming in from one search party, joining another. Barely more than an hour and a half had passed since he had stood in front of the guns and knives, but he was already so tired, it was all he could do to keep his head from falling to the table. Even in his exhaustion he recognized the symptoms of an adrenaline crash. Earlier he had started shaking so badly that he had had to excuse himself and duck into his tent for a few minutes before he'd been able to continue helping to organize the search—which mostly meant letting the Kaipo tell them where to go—calm frayed nerves, translate conflicting orders. . . .

Charles, carrying two mugs of coffee appeared in Daniel's line of vision, and sat down, setting one of the mugs in front of Daniel. Daniel blinked at him dully, as if trying to remember who he was.

"Still with us, Jacques?" Charles said.

Daniel shook his head to clear it. "Charles," he said finally, "any word yet?"

Charles sighed. "No, we didn't find any sign, and no one else has either. But Evones's man has only been out a few minutes with his search dogs. If there's anything to be found, I'd think. . . ." He let his words drift off.

Daniel nodded tiredly and put his hands around the warm mug. He wasn't sure they were steady enough yet for him to lift it to his lips, so he settled for the moment for just the proximity, as if the caffeine could reach him by osmosis. He glanced back up to see Charles looking at him curiously.

"So," Charles said, after a little hesitation. "Your language tapes must have been much more comprehensive than mine."

Daniel tried to focus, to think of the consequences of any answer he could give, but he couldn't even begin to think of a credible lie—while mourning his parents' death and floundering about, he happened to take a crash course in Kaipo?—so he decided to go for what was, essentially, the truth.

"I've always been good with languages," he said.

Charles stared at him, doubt evident on his face, and Daniel tried to ignore the sudden vision he had of his whole cover unraveling like the string of a kite caught in a hurricane. If good-natured, straightforward Charles was suspicious, what would Saunders say, or Manoel . . . or Elena? He wondered how much she would despise him when she realized how much of their life together was a lie.

"Good at languages and good at talking down angry mobs. Handy talents to have, I would think," Charles said.

Daniel just looked at him tiredly.

"Well," Charles said when Daniel didn't say anything, "however you developed your unique talents, they saved our lives today. My wife and children will want to thank you personally someday.

Daniel found the energy to smile, and raised his cup to Charles, relieved to find only the smallest tremor in his hand. "I'd love to meet them someday, thank you, Charles," he said sincerely, although he knew it would never happen, that one way or another he would disappear from the lives of the people here never to be heard from again. But he appreciated Charles's underlying message that, despite his doubts about Daniel's background, he still trusted him.

There was a sudden yelling from the direction of the forest, and both Charles and Daniel looked in that direction. Elena and the Argentine student Ana appeared at the treeline, followed by Evones and the man from the mining camp with the dogs.

Both Daniel and Charles rose, coffee forgotten, and started to walk quickly in that direction. They walked past Jens's tent, where Saunders and Riaolha were watching the seemingly distraught student. "What's happening?" they heard Jens ask. "Did they find her?"

"We're going to find out, Jens. We'll let you know," Charles responded.

As they came closer, Elena shouted out, "She's alive!"

"Oh," Charles said, "That's wonderful news. Brilliant."

Daniel nodded, relieved beyond measure that the little girl was alive but fearful that her injuries, physical and psychic, would still threaten her young life. He knew better than to believe in simple, happy endings.

As they reached the rescue party, Charles and Daniel turned to walk with them back to camp. "How is she?" Daniel asked Elena as he walked by her side.

"I didn't really have time to check her out," Elena said, quietly. "Her father wanted her home and wanted the shaman to look at her; it's for the best. He's pretty wise about their medicine and ours. But as far as I could see, she has what looked like knife wounds on her chest and legs where I think someone . . . some bastard," she whispered, "cut off her clothes. The wounds are not too deep, but it looked as if one might be infected. She has bruises on her arms and legs—My God, Jacques, you can see the fingerprints!—but I don't know if, if he. . . ." Elena stopped speaking again to compose herself, and Daniel reached out gently to hold her arm. "I don't know how she got away," Elena went on. "She'd climbed a tree and passed out, poor little thing."

"Has she said anything?" Charles, who'd been walking at their side, asked.

"No," Elena said. "When we left the Kaipo, she hadn't said a word."

They looked toward Jens's tent and saw both Riaolha and Saunders watching them. Elena sighed. "I'll talk to Jens," she said. "This nightmare still isn't over for him, I'm afraid."

"You're assuming that he didn't. . . ." Charles started to say and then stopped himself.

"Of course he didn't touch that girl!" Elena said. "I'd stake my life on it!" She looked toward Daniel for his agreement, but he just shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know, Elena," he said tiredly. "Everything I know about him, and I've spent as much time with him as anyone, everything I know says you're right, but people aren't always who they seem."

Elena stopped then and turned to look at him. Daniel and Charles stopped as well. A look he couldn't identify flitted across her face. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Jacques?" she said quietly.

Daniel flinched a little and let the hand that still held Elena's arm fall to his side. "Elena. . . ." he said, but nothing more. What was there to say, after all?

The look fell from Elena's face to be replaced by a neutral one, the one that said she was in charge and had things to do. "Charles," she said, turning to him, "I see Manoel over there already trying to decide if it would be in poor taste to ask everyone to get back to work. Tell him I said he should let everyone decide for himself and that I'll be there in a few minutes. Jacques, " she said, then again "Jacques. . . ." and she looked at him more closely; her voice softened a little in spite of herself. "You look as if you can barely stand. Go get some sleep." And then she spun around and walked toward Jens's tent.

"I second that," Charles said. "Get some rest, Jacques."

Daniel didn't say anything as he watched Elena walk away. She ducked into Jens's tent and Saunders, as he went to follow her, looked back and caught Daniel's eye. Daniel wasn't sure what he saw there, but it was no longer the humorous, sardonic look he was used to. Daniel looked back steadily until Saunders disappeared into Jens's tent, then he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Jacques?" Charles said.

Daniel looked at the easygoing man at his side. "Yes, right," he finally said. "I think I'll do that. I'll just go lie down for a little while."

Daniel walked slowly to his tent, carefully putting one foot in front of the other to avoid stumbling. He pushed through the flap and then did stumble, catching himself on the edge of his cot. He looked down at his work boots but couldn't be bothered even trying to kick them off. He crawled onto the cot and let himself fall face forward, and he was asleep.

*********

Sometime later, Daniel stirred when he heard the flap of his tent lift again.

"I'm sorry," a voice whispered, "I didn't mean to wake you."

Elena. Daniel turned his head and saw her standing there, but he couldn't see her expression in the dim light.

"Has something happened?" Daniel asked, sitting up.

"That's not why I'm here, but yes, Rava told them what happened. It wasn't Jens. It was a man she'd never seen before. They think he must be one of the men from the mining or logging camp. Evones's friend is reluctant to use his dogs to try to find one of his own people, but I think he's coming around."

"And Rava?" Daniel asked.

"He didn't rape her," Elena said. "According to Miacuro, the man let go of her for a moment after he cut off her clothes, and she ran."

"Brave little girl," he said.

"Yes," Elena said.

"But that's not why you came?"

"No," Elena said. "I wanted to sit with you for a while."

"While I slept?"

"Yes, I don't often get to watch you sleep."

Daniel smiled at her. "No, I guess not." Had she forgiven him? Then his smile faltered a little. Or was this her way of saying goodbye?

"Jacques," she said then. "About what I said before."

Daniel waited.

"It doesn't matter," Elena said. When Daniel gave her a questioning look, she went on. "I don't care who you were before or who you think you are pretending to be now. Miacuro said something to me today, while I was trying to sort all this out in my head, wondering what lies you'd told us—no, don't say anything. I asked him what he said to the elder after he'd been wounded, and he said he told the man to trust you. I asked him why, and he said that the rest of us at the camp treat the Kaipo as equals, that some of us work very hard to treat them as equals, but that to you, they just are, we all just are—the Kaipo, the students, the men who deliver supplies—equal."

Daniel shifted uncomfortably. "Well," he said, trying to make a joke of the praise and remembering something Jack had said once, "that's very Kumbaya of him."

"No, Jacques, no," Elena stopped him. "What you just said, that's the man you pretend to be. I know who you are. You care, Jacques, you care about the people around you, you care about the world around you, and I know without a doubt that you care about me. Walking in front of bullets for us, paying enough attention when you were working with the Kaipo men to learn the language, that's who you are. How you learned to do what you did today—and it's obvious to all of us that you've done it before—how you could pick up a language with next to nothing in common with any you say you speak. . . . It doesn't matter to me.

"I just want you to stay. I know you think you should leave. I can see it in your eyes. And I know you've always told me you wouldn't be here forever, but. . . ."

Elena stopped then. "God," she said, putting her hand over her eyes. "I've just made an idiot of myself, haven't I?"

Daniel cleared his throat. "Am I allowed to speak yet?" he said.

Elena couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, Jacques, yes, you can speak now, but only if you can say something that will make me feel like less of an idiot, and only if you promise to stay."

Daniel smiled. "Whatever else you do or say, Elena, you could never be an idiot. If you're an idiot, the rest of us are slugs." Then his face grew more serious. "Elena, if I could, I would stay forever. But. . . ."

"How long?" Elena asked.

"As long as I can," Daniel answered. "I promise I'll stay for as long as I can."

*******

Ida Galaxy, aboard The Daniel Jackson

Thor looked at the schematics for the prototype weapon the Asgard scientists had developed, and he knew for certain what he had suspected for some time, ever since General Hammond had transmitted the questions for Captain Tyr, the questions Thor assumed had been formulated by Dr. Jackson. Tyr had said he would get the answers to those questions as soon as "they had a moment free from battle," but of course the battle with the replicators had raged on. The data before Thor now truly represented the last hope of the Asgard race, but even as he entered the information in the ships computers to create the weapon, the survival of his people foremost in his mind, he couldn't help but see the obvious.

While the science and the knowledge behind the weapon were undoubtedly Ancient, the design was, to Thor's practiced eye, undoubtedly human.

Tyr and the others had lied. Major Carter and Teal'c had not perished in the black hole. They were alive.