Chapter 21
Sam and Mitchell bolted down the hallway, charging toward the ring room. Teal'c and Daniel, supporting an injured Jack, trailed behind them. As Daniel helped to stabilize Jack, he flicked his wrist and glanced down at his watch, alarmed that they only had two minutes left.
God, two minutes. There was no way they could make it to the ring room in time.
"We're not going to make it!" Sam shouted back to them.
"Keep running!" Jack yelled. He grunted and dug his hand into Daniel's shoulders as he hobbled along. "Don't worry about us. Just go!"
"We won't leave you!" she cried.
"Yeah, what about all the teamwork and never leaving a man behind stuff?" Mitchell said as he ran.
"Screw it. Doesn't apply to me." Jack hissed with pain as Daniel knocked into him. "Watch it, Daniel."
Daniel ignored Jack's whiny protests and kept dragging him forward. Teal'c did the same, pushing and pushing and pushing.
The ring room loomed ahead.
One minute.
"Go!" Daniel cried. "Get it working!"
Sam sprinted to the ring room, Mitchell hot on her heels. From his vantage point, Daniel could see Sam working furiously to get the rings to work so they could get off the station in time.
Thirty seconds.
Daniel and Teal'c exchanged a quick, furtive look and knew what they had to do. Without a second thought, they heaved Jack up, despite his shouts, curses and protests, and made a mad dash toward the ring room. Despite all the times he'd worked out, Daniel felt the strain of trying to run and carry Jack at the same time. His lungs burned. His legs burned. Everything was burning.
Twenty seconds.
"It's not working!" Sam shoved the crystals out of their side compartment, flipping through each and every one as quickly and efficiently as she could.
"What the hell is the problem!" Mitchell yelled.
"Oh my God. They sabotaged the crystals," Sam said, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "It's over."
Jack and Teal'c reached the ring room just in time to hear her devastating words. Daniel let go of Jack, shocked as he stared at the destroyed control panel. Everything went silent. He felt cold and dead, but warm and surprisingly light. There was nothing left to do. They had no ship. They had no allies waiting to help them.
And this time, no Odyssey could beam them out.
This was it.
Ten seconds.
"Get out, Daniel!" Jack yelled, suddenly, giving him a shove. "You can still ascend. Get your glowy ass out of here!"
The others nodded, pleading with him to leave. But he didn't hear them. Swallowing hard, Daniel stepped back, moving away from them as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.
Five seconds.
He let go. Let go of all the pain and the anger, the sadness and the fear. He released the blockage in his mind and rushed past the burning. He dove deeper and held onto that little speck of purity he'd discovered earlier.
He fed it and let it blossom.
The burning stopped.
It stopped.
Everything stopped.
And he let it free.