"Still nothing?" Jack asked, trying to keep a few steps behind Dr. Frasier's shoulder so it didn't seem like he was hovering even when he was coming dangerously close to looming.
They'd spent the past few hours in the infirmary ever since Daniel was found at the foot of the bed in the VIP room with Shifu sitting cross-legged on the edge of the bed watching over him. A medical team hurried the unresponsive archeologist into the infirmary and the boy was currently sitting in a cell under guard, refusing to say anything other than dreams teach and he was teaching him.
Janet was at a loss. "No," she admitted. "There's nothing physically wrong with him. Or at least anything I can find." It grated that there might be something wrong and she was unable to see it. No matter what had come through the SGC infirmary over the years, she'd always been able to get to the bottom of it. Even a virus that turned everyone into the equivalent of cavemen.
Jack ventured, "Except for the fact that he's in a coma."
They'd been through this already and Janet knew the comment for what it was. Jack was trying to downplay the situation with dark humor. "It's not really a coma," she pointed out for the umpteenth time. "He still has rapid eye movement."
As they looked on, Daniel's silent form on the infirmary bed remained just as still as ever.
Jack frowned and turned to leave for the briefing he was already late for.
A briefing he suddenly didn't want any part of when a Tok'ra came in.
"The fact is," Aldwin announced is if nobody else had thought of it, "he may not be the Harcesis at all."
Jack slumped down and glanced over at the General. "Are you saying this could be some sort of Goa'uld trick?" Hammond asked.
Teal'c remained still, hands carefully folded in front of him. "As we have seen, General Hammond, the Goa'uld are not above using human children as weapons."
Sam frowned slightly. "Well all Shifu would say is that he is teaching Daniel."
They'd been over this before and having to cover it again, especially in the presence of a snakehead, irritated Jack. The inaction was grating on him and it didn't help that when he checked in on Daniel, his status had no changed. "So what do we do?"
Aldwin shrugged a little. "As you know the Zatarc detector's original purpose was to detect deception. We could at the very least determine whether the boy is actually Harcesis and possibly what he did to Dr. Jackson."
"Basically a lie detector test," Sam clarified.
"No harm would come to him," Aldwin assured them.
Jack fought the urge to throw up his hands. "And what? Just hope that the kid doesn't explode in the meantime?" After all, the last time they took in a child that a Goa'uld had messed with, she had a bomb planted in her. Teal'c gave him a sidelong look at the reminder.
Aldwin could only offer, "Hope he really is who he says he is."
Jack gave a roll of his eyes and Hammond cut in. "And maybe help Dr. Jackson?" he offered, all eyes veering back to Jack despite the attempt at deflection. Jack just gave a wry purse of his lips. They really had no other choice.
The guards escorted the boy out of the holding cell and to the lab where the equipment had been set up. Sam carefully strapped his arms down. "It's just a precaution," she murmured to him with a smile. "I had this done to me once and I had to wear them too."
Shifu didn't look offended by the restraints. "The body may be chained but the mind is always free," he offered. Sam straightened up and glanced to the observation room where Jack and General Hammond stood watching. Here she was trying to comfort the boy and in return he was trying to comfort her.
Aldwin held out the memory disk. "This will hurt a little," he said as he placed the disk near Shifu's head. "After that I promise you that you will feel no pain. I will merely ask you some questions."
"Questions are plentiful," Shifu stated. "Answers are few."
The Tok'ra couldn't help but smile a little. "We'll try and keep it simple. Ready?"
Shifu gave a nod of his head and Aldwin moved in, placing the disk on his temple. It fired up with a whir. In the observation room, Jack winced in memory at the feeling of the disk activating and firing into his brain. It wasn't that long ago that he and Carter were each strapped into the chair with the device that Anise had created, both of them being pegged as mind-controlled Zatarcs due to their results showing that they were hiding something. Of course they were. The military frowned on ties as close as the ones that SG-1 had formed, especially when they were between a female officer and her male commanding officer. That it hadn't pinged for the relationships he had with Teal'c and Daniel were probably because neither of them fell into the traditional chain of command. No, with Carter he had more to hide and it went deeper than the attraction that they held for each other. SG-1 was more than just a unit. They were a smooth-working family that completed each other's positions in the team and they synced in a way that no other SG team came close to matching.
As the device became active, Sam gently touched Shifu's arm in support. He showed no sign of discomfort even though she knew the sharp momentary pain that went along with the implant linking up to his brainwaves. Harcesis or not, genetically modified for maturity or not, he was still just a young boy and she felt her heart slightly go out to him.
She trailed along after Aldwin as he moved to the control device. Tok'ra or not, the device still had the tell-tale design of Goa'uld technology, culminating in a large base with a sweeping curved arm that held a crystal at the top. "Direct your vision here," Aldwin told the boy as he motioned to the crystal.
Shifu looked at the crystal as directed. He felt the disk warming against his skin, filtering in to scan and measure the waves of his brain for analysis. It had hurt, but only for a brief moment. Still, being in a human body was unusual to him. He had spent so long as a being of pure energy that having any sort of sense of feeling was unusual and he easily ignored the quick jolt of pain.
The screens on the device glowed into life. The crystal focused on the child's eye and took the initial measurements to act as the control.
"First question," Aldwin continued. "What is your name?"
"Shifu," he answered.
"Are you Harsesis?"
For a brief moment, Shifu pondered the question. "I am many things," he responded, since Harcesis was not the culmination of his being.
Aldwin tried another tactic. "Do you possess the genetic knowledge passed on to you by Apophis?"
"Yes," Shifu responded, for he did. He simply could not, would not, access it. But he still had it within him.
Sam jumped in, taking over the questioning. "What did you do to Daniel?" she asked, concerned.
This question again. "Dreams sometimes teach," he stated yet again. "I am teaching him."
"Teaching him what?" she insisted.
"That the true nature of a man is determined in the battle between his conscious mind and his subconscious, and that the evil in my subconscious is too strong to resist," Shifu stated before going still. His head turned toward the doorway where a recently awakened Daniel slid into view.
"The only way to win is to deny it battle," Daniel said quietly as he stepped into the room, finally understanding the full brunt of what Shifu had meant all along.
Shifu gave a slight smile and a nod of his head. "As Oma teaches."'
Dr. Frasier stepped into the observation room alongside Jack and General Hammond. "He woke up a few minutes ago," she mentioned as she looked down on Daniel and Shifu. She had tried to keep him in the bed, but he insisted he was fine and she had no medical reason to keep him there, so she allowed him to go find the boy.
Daniel pushed his glasses up as he moved closer to the chair where Shifu was restrained. "One of these days I'm going to figure out she's worth listening to."
Even though Sam was overjoyed to see Daniel up and about and seeming fine, she still wasn't convinced there was no danger. "What happened?" she asked.
"I was having a dream," Daniel stated. It was an understatement. He could still feel himself shaking off the aftermath of the dream. While it now seemed wispy in the manner of dreams, it was still substantial enough to cause his conflicting feelings to linger. He understood now how easy it was to turn to the darkness within and become focused on one thing so intently that the rest of the world fell away. It wasn't like his usual way of focusing on his work, this was consuming in a way nothing else had ever been.
Sam's voice pulled him back from his introspection. "About what?"
"That's not really important," Daniel replied softly. He couldn't look straight at Sam as he spoke. When he glanced at her, he saw an overlay of her face filled with betrayal, anger and sadness as he had his security team pull her away and trump up false charges to keep her in jail and out of his hair. That he could be so callous to his friend, so cruel, disgusted him. He didn't want to talk about it. Not yet. Maybe not ever. "The important thing," he continued, "is that it's time I chose a new path."
"And it is time for me to continue on mine," Shifu said. He could tell that Daniel now understood what was in his mind and heart. He could come to terms with why Shifu needed to remain with the Ascended and hopefully find a sense of peace in it.
The Tok'ra frowned and raised a hand to motion to the boy. "Wait a minute. If he really is Harcesis-"
"He is," Daniel interrupted, eyes never leaving Shifu's face. Part of him wanted to memorize the boy's features and he found himself seeking out the reminders of Sha're that lingered there. Once more his heart clenched at the thought that the boy was the closest thing he would ever have to a child with his now dead wife. The bond of family was there even if the bloodline was not. Suddenly the thought of returning to Abydos again didn't fill him with sadness as it had before. He still had family, there and on SG-1. Daniel was done being alone.
"We can still extract some very valuable information from him," Aldwin protested.
Daniel shook his head. "No." It was a firm if quiet statement as he turned his head toward Aldwin and the machine. "You can't."
Jack and Hammond looked at each other.
The IOA was not going to like this development. Even though the General had full faith in dr. Jackson and knew that if he was insisting that they couldn't extract the needed information from him, there had to be a good reason for it and he would have to figure out a way to explain that to the oversight committee who had a track record of being less than understanding about such things.
"Wait," Aldwin protested, looking toward Sam for help and finding none there. He looked back to Daniel. "I don't understand."
"I know." Daniel looked over at Shifu who smiled back at him. "Thank you for telling me of my mother."
"She would have been very proud of you." Daniel knew it was the truth. Sha're would have given birth to a child who was smart and wise no matter if he the knowledge of the Goa'uld in his brain or not. He felt a moment of paternal pride and of loss.
Shifu studied Daniel's face for a moment. "Of you as well," he pointed out.
It was hard to hear, mostly because Daniel was reminded once more of how many times he had failed her. He didn't keep her safe on Abydos. He unburied the Stargate and allowed pain and danger into their lives. He didn't save her from becoming a host to a Goa'uld. He didn't even save her from the staff blast that took her life and saved his own. The least he could do is make every attempt to keep her son safe. "Will I see you again?"
"All roads eventually lead to the great path," Shifu reminded him in what Daniel could only assume was a cryptic affirmative.
"Eventually," Daniel responded with a nod as the boy smiled. "Many paths cross on the way," Shifu added.
Aldwin watched the pair look at each other in what seemed to be some sort of silent communication. Even the other members of SG-1 had the look on their faces of understanding something he was clearly missing. "What's going on?" he murmured to Sam who still stood at his side. "We're not just going to let him leave?"
"I don't think we have a choice," Sam replied as Shifu's form began to glow and his physical body fell away, melting into the ball of glowing energy as he retook his Ascended form.
Never before faced with an Ascended, Aldwin and one of the SFs guarding the room flinched back, eyes squinted against the blinding glow that hovered in the air.
Daniel stood with his hands on his hips, watching as the form that was once his stepson lifted off the chair and floated through the room and drifted out the doorway.
The klaxons started blaring throughout the base, signalling an activation of the Stargate.
Daniel ran past the SFs to follow, Sam and Teal'c hot on his tail.
"General," Jack said as he watched, "I highly recommend you order all personnel to stand down and get the heck out of the way."
"Are you sure, Colonel?"
Before the words were even out, Jack turned away from Hammond. "The alternative might not be so pretty," Jack added as he hurried out of the observation room and into the hallway.
"Well what am I supposed to say?" Hammond called after Jack.
Jack didn't answer. His long legs had him long gone already, chasing after the light and his team.
With a slight shrug, Hammond picked up the microphone and pressed the button to page the entire base. "All personnel, this is General Hammond. A glowing energy being is headed for level twenty eight. We believe it is heading for the Gate room. Lower your weapons and do not attempt to intercept it."
As the announcement blared through the halls, the guards in the hallway hesitated and dropped their guns to the side, stepping out of the way. The Stargate began to spin into action, locking each chevron of the sequence as the control room staff just stared down at their unresponsive controls. The last chevron locked in and the wormhole engaged, splashing outward with a woosh before falling back into itself and stilling into a watery pool.
Walter pulled his hands away and just watched from the control room view as SG-1 assembled behind him. "The Gate just opened, sir," he announced, voice surprisingly steady. Then again, on a scale of one to ten, this really only rated about a seven on the strangeness level when it came to the SGC.
Down in the Gate room, one of the newer SFs quickly sidestepped out of the way with a gulp before tugging off his weapon and putting it onto the ground with his hands raised slightly before sidestepping out of the room. Another SF followed suit, removing his P90 to put on the ground though he remained in place.
Daniel watched as the glowing light slid toward the open wormhole, pausing before the event horizon. The figure of Shifu's human form appeared within the light, a hand raised in farewell. Even as he watched, Daniel fought back a strange urge to plead with him to stay longer while a secret part inside of him was glad the boy was leaving.
The light was swallowed by the wormhole and the Stargate deactivated as Daniel watched, a sense of peace warring inside with his discontent.