Chapter Twenty-six

"This is a bad idea."

"Come on, Daniel, I used a hand device once." Sam said as she fixed her disk in place. "I don't recall it being that difficult."

"Yeah, but you were using it as weapon." Daniel countered. "It's like saying you know how to use a scalpel because you stabbed somebody with one."

'A little confidence on your part would be helpful, Daniel.' Gabriel sighed. 'Despite the brave words she's as nervous as you are, and I'm sure your little analogy didn't help.'

"Sorry." Daniel apologized to them both.

Wearing the Niacine hand device felt odd. He had expected the metal to be cold against his skin, however it seemed to radiate a slight heat. He rubbed the disk at his temple compulsively. It made him nervous to have it there, but Gabriel assured him that it was set only to receive what they were going to try to get from Sam.

'Don't touch it.' Gabriel warned. 'The last thing we need is you accidentally activating the disk.'

"I can't do this." Daniel repeated for the tenth time.

'Yes you can.' Gabriel assured. 'I taught you how once before.'

"You taught 'Gabriel'." Daniel protested.

'Same difference, I'm sure you'll catch on quicker this time.'

"How long did it take last time?"

'That's...um...not important.'

"How long?" Daniel demanded.

'Just under half a century.'

"You've got to be kidding." Daniel snarled. "This is insane."

"Daniel?" Sam asked nervously.

"I'm sorry, Sam. Gabriel and I were...discussing this." Daniel replied. "I don't think I can do it. I'm too afraid that I'm going to hurt you."

"I'll let you know if you're hurting me and you can just stop. Right?"

Daniel nodded, but still didn't look too confident. Sam smiled sadly and reached out to brush the back of her hand against his cheek. Gabriel must have warned him this time that she was about to touch him because he didn't jerk away.

"All in a days work, Daniel."

"We need new jobs, Sam."

"Help me save the Galaxy one last time and I'll talk to the General about getting you a nice desk job, you can sit around, translate stuff, and watch your fish."

"I can't translate blind," Daniel mutter morosely "and my fish are probably all dead by now."

"They're fine, we hired an aquarium service to take care of them while you were away."

"You're kidding?" Daniel managed to smile.

"No, but we are paying them by the day, so the sooner..."

"Sam, you really want to do this?" Daniel asked seriously.

"It's our best option, Daniel." Sam repeated. "Millions are dying, billions will follow."

"Alright, no more stalling then."

"That's the sprit."

'Close your eyes.' Gabriel instructed.

"Does it really matter?"

'It matters to me.' Gabriel growled impatiently. 'Now are you going to pay attention or not?'

Rather than answer Daniel simply did as he was told and closed his eyes. He listened intently to Gabriel's detailed instructions. Gabriel had him test his control of the device without placing it near Sam first. As much as he hated to admit it the device was not as difficult to control as he thought it would be. Sensing Daniel's new found confidence Gabriel gave him a few last instructions.

"Sam, Gabriel wants me to put my free hand on your neck so that he can monitor your pulse, is that alright?"

"That's fine."

Daniel held up his hand, Sam took it and guided him so that his finger tips rested against her carotid artery. She wished that her heart wasn't pounding so hard against Daniel's hand. She decided that it was probably best that she follow his lead and close her eyes as well.

Sam gasped sharply as Daniel activated the stone in his hand. It didn't feel like a Gou'ald hand device. Although not painful it certainly wasn't pleasant either. Sam decided to risk opening her eyes and instantly regretted it.

"No..." Sam whispered in horror.

Sam reached out and touched the wall in front of her. It felt real. She looked around the tiny doorless room. The entire prison was constructed of small interconnecting block. The unmistakable blocks of a replicator ship.

"Daniel! Gabriel!" Sam cried desperately. "Stop! Please, get me out of here! I...I can't go through this again!"

Adrenaline started to wash through her system as she felt herself losing touch with the fact that this was only a memory. With every breath the fear became more tangible and the nightmare became more of a reality.

A nauseating wave of pain dropped Sam to her knees and removed all thoughts of rescue by Daniel and Gabriel from her mind. When the pain slowly ebbed away Sam looked up at her tormentor. The human replicator Fifth lorded over her with an expression of cold rage etched into his ivory features.

"Stop!" Sam cried. "Please!"

"Why should I?" Fifth snarled icily.

"You can't change what happened. Is...is this making you feel better?!" Sam spat defiantly. "I never meant to abandon you!"

"But you did. You gained my trust, used me, and then left me behind."

"It wasn't my decision." Sam whimpered.

"You could have come back for me."

"There was no time."

"Time?!" Fifth roared. "Thanks to what you did I had plenty of time...to think about what a fool I was!"

"I'm sorry." Sam whispered as tears streaked down her face. "I'm sorry for what we did to you."

"Yes," Fifth growled darkly as he knelt down beside her "you are now."

"Part of being human is having compassion...learning to forgive."

"Yes, I'm not quite there yet." Fifth hissed. "I need more...time."

Sam broke into tears again, hoping it would satisfy Fifth's lust for revenge. When he reached out to touch her she reflexively jerked away. Fifth ran his cold fingers through Sam's hair with a suddenly gentle caress. He slipped his hand under her jaw and guided her to look up at him.

Fifth's expression had changed to one of indecision. Praying that she had finally started to get through to the replicator Sam forced a smile. It was not the right decision. Fifth could see the lie in her eyes and it only served to renew his almost child-like rage.

With terrifying strength Fifth dragged Sam to her feet and pushed her up against the metallic wall. He pinned her against the blocks of his 'brethren' with his own liquid metal body. Sam fought to push him away, however her fingers simply sank into his flesh and became imprisoned there.

"Fifth, plea..."

Sam was cut off as Fifth clawed vengefully into her mind. Not even attempting to hide her pain she wailed in anguish. It was like he had poured molten silver down her spine. However it wasn't the physical pain that tore at her sanity, it was the overwhelming emotion of grief that he forced into her heart. Sam cried out for mercy, but received none. It wasn't until she was on the verge of blacking out that he released her.

Lacking the strength to remain standing Sam collapsed heavily to the floor. Shaking uncontrollably she pulled her knees up to her chest in a deliberate attempt to show Fifth what he was doing to her. It still felt as though he has hand wrapped around her heart, crushing it with the power of pure emotion.

"Do you understand yet how much pain your betrayal caused me?!" Fifth spat.

"Y...you're just a machine..." Sam panted "you know no more of pain than you do love."

"That's where you are wrong..." Fifth whispered. He knelt down and once again ran his fingers into her hair with a compassionate touch. "I loved something once."

"Did you destroy it?" Sam hissed fearlessly. "Because destruction seems to be all replicators understand."

"Humans are no better."

Sam weld her eyes shut and braced herself against Fifth's inevitable retaliation. Something told her this was wrong, that this wasn't happening. There was another voice, she could hear it, but she couldn't understand the words.

"Sam...Sam I'm so sorry, I was trying to stop..."

"Stay away from me!" Sam cried hysterically. "It wasn't my fault! Please, Fifth, stop!"

Trembling almost as violently as Sam Daniel reached up and ripped the disk away from his temple. He shook the hand device off, unwilling to touch it with his other hand. He reached out blindly to try and help Sam take her disk off as well. However he recoiled when she split the still Gateroom air with a heart rendering cry.

"No! Fifth, don't do this to me!"

"Gabriel! Help me, what do I do?"

'You need to get that disk off of her and fast. It's warping her perception of reality. I'm sorry, this is my fault, I had no idea she had such a powerfully violent memory.'

"Sam, it's Daniel, please, give me your hand...I want to help you."

'It's not working, Daniel. She's terrified, she thinks you're Fifth.' Gabriel informed sadly. 'She's backing away from you, you're going to have to grab her.'

"Where is she?"

'Three feet in front of you, she's just getting to her feet...don't let her run.'

Daniel jumped to his feet and lashed out to catch her. He knew instantly that he failed to get a proper hold on her. Rather than pulling away Sam grabbed Daniel, sunk her nails into his shoulder and brought her knee up into his stomach. Knocked breathless Daniel was not able to keep his grip on her as she twisted away from him.

'Daniel! Get up, you have to catch her.'

Daniel scrambled up once again. He could sense her distance from him by the Naquadah in her blood, but it didn't give him a idea of direction or of the obstacles in his way. Getting out of the Gateroom and into the hall was the most difficult part, from there it became somewhat easier to follow Gabriel's direction.

Running in the dark was so much like a nightmare that Daniel quickly became disoriented in the unfamiliar halls of the Idlewyld temple. He didn't know how much time he had until Sam lost her sanity completely, but he feared that there wasn't enough time in the world for him to catch her like this.

'Left!' Gabriel barked. 'Left!'

Distracted by his thought's he hadn't heard Gabriel the first time. Daniel turned sharply and was instantly knocked back to the floor as he ran into the marble wall. Sitting up he shook his head, trying to clear it.

'Um...your other 'left', Daniel.'

"Ow."

'Get up, she just turned out of my sight, we'll never find her if we lose track of her.'

Daniel scrambled to his feet and ran in what he believed was the right direction. He hadn't made it very far when something caught his foot and brought him back down to the cold floor. Growling in helpless frustration he kicked himself free and got back up. Completely turned around he hesitated.

"Gabriel, which way?"

'I...I'm not really sure. Turn around.' Gabriel instructed. 'Watch out for...'

The ground seemed to fall out from under Daniel and he found himself on his hands and knees again.

'...the step.'

"Gabriel, this isn't working." Daniel growled in frustration. "If we're going to save Sam, we have to switch back."

'Da...'

"I promise on my life that I won't let them remove you forcibly. I promise!"

'I believe you...'

"What do we do?"

'The same thing as last time...fight against me and then let go. Just make sure you surrender completely.'

"If I don't?"

'There's no telling what will happen...this is new for me too Daniel.'

"Right."

It was instinctive for Daniel to strain against Gabriel when he tried once more to take control. Letting him actually do so wasn't as easy. Daniel tried to recall exactly how it had happened in the first place and suddenly everything went truly black.

"Sam!" Gabriel called.

Gabriel was not surprised when he didn't get an answer. He could sense the Naquadah in her system far more accurately than Daniel could, but it still didn't give him a sense of direction. At least he could tell that she had stopped running.

"Where would you hide?"

Feeling that he had a pretty good idea of where she would go Gabriel headed off in a run. Knowing all of the temple's short cuts he quickly came to the over grown courtyard. Diving into the tangled forest he made his way to the immense oak tree that lay at its heart.

The tree had died long ago, however the massive trunk still stood, petrified into stone long ago. He smiled sadly at the sight of Sam curled up at the base of the decayed tree shivering. Approaching quietly he knelt down and managed to remove the disk and placed it in his pocket. Sam gasped sharply and struggled to sit up. She looked around frantically until she caught sight of Gabriel.

"Daniel?"

Sam didn't wait for an answer. She threw herself into his protective embrace and wept bitterly against his chest. Gabriel smoothed out her hair and waited for her to begin to calm herself.

"It's okay, you're safe." Gabriel whispered. "We didn't mean for that to happen."

"I...I know."

"Can you stand?"

Sam didn't even try, she just shook her head. Gabriel collected her in his arms like she was a sleeping child and lifted her up. Sam didn't even notice the ease with which Gabriel navigated through the forest and back into the temple.

He brought her back to the Gateroom and placed her on the floor. She managed to sit up, but was having a hard time focusing. It wasn't until Gabriel retrieved the fallen hand device that she noticed the icy feeling crawling across her skin. He picked up the discarded disk and secured it at his temple and then slipped the hand device on with practiced grace.

"Daniel?" Sam asked confused. "What are you doing?"

"We still don't have an answer, but we are very close."

"You're not Daniel." Sam acused as she forced herself to her feet.

"No." Gabriel admitted. "I won't make the same mistake he made."

"Gabriel...no, please." Sam protested weakly. "Just, just give me a minute..."

"It will be so much easier if we do this now, if we wait too long we'll just have to go through it all over again. Such a powerful memory will be difficult to get around, it will take skill and be far easier when you're too tired to fight."

"Gabriel, please, let me talk to Daniel first."

"I'm sorry...I can't allow that."

"What?"

Sam tried to back away from Gabriel, but he was too quick. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. He was right, she was far too exhausted to fight against him. She didn't even manage to stay conscious after the quick flash of pain of Gabriel pressing the disk into her skin.

To Sam it felt like only seconds passed before she was awake again. She laid motionless on the floor not daring to open her eyes. It was the familiar sound of the Gate spinning that forced her to sit up and look around.

Gabriel hadn't noticed her wake, he was too busy with the DHD. He had the program mode open the way that Leena had and he furrowed his brow in concentration as he pressed the Symbols in rapid succession. Suddenly the whole DHD lit and then darkened.

Sam followed Gabriel's line of sight and watched the Gate with him. As before an event horizon materialized without the violence of the usual vortex. The blood red colour poured from the chevrons, staining the pool. This time instead of flowing back into the Gate the colour swirled until the horizon was clean. Without further ado the wormhole snapped shut.

Sam released a breath that she hadn't even known she was holding. Gabriel noticed the sound and turned his attention in her direction. He smiled, but did not approach.

She noticed with alarm that he had the hand device hanging from Daniel's belt. Wordlessly he turned his attention once again back to the DHD. To Sam's eye he dialed an unfamiliar, yet all too ordinary Address into it and the Gate slowly started to spin.

"Gabriel..."

"It has been an honour to work with you, Samantha Carter...and a joy to see you once more. I only wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"Gabriel," Sam said nervously "what are you doing?"

"I fixed the Cha'pa'i. All you need to do is have this Gate dial all the others to spread the program."

"And is that what you're doing now?"

"No." Gabriel admitted. "You can handle that, you've done it before."

"You're leaving..."

"I have to."

"You could have switched back at any time." Sam accused angrily. "You just didn't want to."

"No, I really did need Daniel backed into a corner."

"I think he was at that point long before any of this." Sam snarled. "You just didn't want to go back to the way things were. You're more vulnerable this way."

"You're right, you usually are. I was hoping that he'd get the answer from you, I honestly never believed that anyone could have tormented you the way the replicator did. I would have never let Daniel try if I had known."

"You lied to us."

"I did what I felt I needed to do. I have no regrets. I kept my promise and fixed the Gate, even though my Niacine children would have survived. I save both yours and Jack's life twice...not to mention the countless lives that would have fallen to your program."

"That doesn't give you any right to take Daniel."

"Then you'd better stop me."

The vortex snapped out at them and settled into a peaceful blue glow. Gabriel turned around and walked slowly towards the open Gate. Sam tried to get to her feet, but didn't have the strength. She fought momentarily with the strap that held her sidearm secure. Freeing it she flicked off the safety and cocked the weapon noisily. Gabriel paused, but he didn't turn around.

"Gabriel, don't make me do this...stop!"

"Why should I?"

Gabriel continued and stepped up to the shimmering event horizon. Sam didn't have time to simply wound him, if he took one more step she'd have to aim to kill. With a deliberate defiance Gabriel took the fatal step closer to vanishing forever.

Gritting her teeth Sam aimed for the back of his neck, weld her eyes shut, and pulled the trigger.