Author's note: Sorry for the delay folks, my beta has horrible RL probs. So, instead of waiting any longer, this will be going up with all its mistakes firmly intact. Please ignore any errant comma's etc g I'll post again when it's back. And I will put up the final part in a couple of days.



Chapter 7

"Doctor Jackson, you need to rest. Try to sleep," Vicky pleaded with him. But he would not release Chak's arm.

"You have to tell me what is wrong with me!" Long ago he had given up worrying about his physical safety, though never to the detriment of those around him, but this sudden descent into total meltdown scared him more than he wanted to admit, even to himself. While the nightmares had been uncomfortable to his inner self, what was happening now hurt both mind and body. His chest ached from the last bout and a sensation of pins and needles tingled in his hands.

Chak sighed, removed Daniel's hand from his sleeve and stood. "I will bring refreshments for us all, and then you will have your explanation. Your mind reveals many things."

Daniel forced himself upright again, taking slow breaths to ease the band of pain that wrapped around his chest. Vicky's pale face watched him anxiously. He'd brought her in to this without thought to her safety. That first incident with the stones should have been warning enough to get out, to call in a team from the SGC; his overwhelming curiosity had brought her to this. And how the hell did he explain Chak, this ship? Damn the rules, she had to know who he was, what he did if she had any chance of understanding this whole fiasco. If he didn't make it through this… he pushed the thought aside, he was a realist yes, but he didn't want to think about failure yet.

"Vicky, we need to talk; about Chak, about a lot of things. And I know some of this is going to sound a little unbelievable, but it's not, I assure you. I may be losing it here, but what I am about to tell you is not one of my nightmares." He scooted along the bed a little way, making room for her. "You might want to sit down for this."

She settled a few inches away from him, anxious eyes on his drawn face.

"Right, where to begin. Ah, you remember that talk I gave back in Washington, aliens building the pyramids, the fact that we had been visited before?"

Her slow nod told him he was about to lose her before he had even begun. He hurried on.

"Well I was right, only not quite the way I thought. Millennia ago a race built a network of transportation devices, which we call Stargates. I managed to decipher the code on one of them and, long story short, the people I work for travel through these gates to different worlds, all over the galaxy."

"Doctor Jackson, look you should really rest, I know this probably seems real to you right now but…"

"Damn it, Vicky." His breath caught painfully in his chest as he inhaled too deeply. "I know it sounds insane, but it's not. Chak isn't from around here that's for sure. Have you ever seen anything like this place? The glyphs we found in the temple, the reason they had never been seen before was because they do not belong here on Earth."

"A lost language, it's happened before!"

She didn't want to believe, he knew that; no one who had not seen, nor stepped through, the gate wanted to believe. Okay there were a few out there who did, but boy did they not know the half of it, and would be scared witless if they knew the truth.

"Your companion speaks truly. There are many peoples outside this place, we have travelled far and met many, but this world has long been abandoned by all. Too primitive."

Chak had returned so quietly that neither Daniel nor Vicky had heard his approach. Vicky looked at him with disbelief.

Daniel grinned ruefully. "We are too young according to the Nox, and the Asgard for that matter. Maybe they are right, still it's too late now, we are out there among the stars making mischief, though we try not to."

"Human's were ever curious." Chak nodded in agreement.

Vicky looked from one to the other. "You are joking with me aren't you? This isn't real, you are not an alien, right?"

"I am Furling as you are Human."

Daniel's head snapped up. "One of the four? But that's incredible. The Asgard wouldn't tell us anything about you, the Nox the same, the whole 'too young' thing I suppose, but..."

Pain lanced through his head sending him nose-diving for the floor, unable to resist or repel the force of gravity.

The Unas before him accepted the zat gun with delight, and he watched the creature head with speed toward the town, knowing the destruction and loss of life that was about to occur lay totally at his door. Jack's amazed gaze rested on him, but he didn't feel the need to justify his actions. In his head he could hear the screams as the humans ran for their lives; he could smell the blood in the air, feel the hatred. Accusing faces thrust into his nightmare, children, women, all pointing at him, accusing him.

"Come back Doctor Jackson." Chak's voice was loud in his mind. He had heard it before calling him away from the darkness. Try as he might he could not open his eyes, could not stop the torment. Over and over Chak called his name, until Daniel felt something pulling at his mind. With a gasp he bolted upright, heart racing, pain lancing down his arms and across his torso.

"The human body is too frail for this trial. It was not meant to be." Chak's concern made Daniel shiver. This being was one of the four races, with technology way beyond their own, and a store of knowledge far surpassing anything Earth could claim. If he thought that this was life threatening then he was in big trouble.

"Tell me how, why, anything to help me understand this," Daniel gasped between shuddering breaths.

"Very well. I will tell you what I can. Save your breath and listen to me, ask questions if you must when I am finished."

Chak waited for Daniel's nod before continuing. "My race are, as you may have gathered, telepathic. Many cycles ago we took on the burden of justice among the lesser races. We were judge jury and sometimes executioner. With the rise of the Goa'uld we built the temples. It is not something I am proud of, but my ancestors did what they thought was right. No one was put to death, but made to face the ultimate trial. They were made to face their worst nightmares with no hope of remission. To live in perpetual fear. The trial was for the Goa'uld, not the host, but they suffered too. Long years have passed since we set out to destroy every last temple."

"If it was aimed at the Goa'uld and not the host why am I infected? And how?"

"Who are the Goa'uld? Look, I know you two believe all of this but I don't… I can't."

It was Chak who answered her question with one of his own. "I can show you who they are if you will permit me?"

"You mean telepathically? I don't know. I…"

Daniel touched her arm gently. "Let him show you. Believe him. The Furlings are one of the oldest races in the galaxy. But then you probably don't believe that either. God, I'm not sure I know what I believe any more."

Hazel eyes studied him for a long moment, and he kept his eyes on hers, trying to give her the assurance she sought. Slowly she nodded and turned to Chak.

"Okay. I'll go along with this - for now. I don't promise to be convinced though."

"Sit down and try to relax." Chak's long slender fingers touched her temples lightly. "Contact with the subject makes the images more tangible. Do not be afraid, they will not harm you in any way."

Daniel watched curiously as Vicky visibly relaxed under the Furling's touch, her eyes drifted shut after a moment and he gave himself over to the luxury of studying her classic profile. Even with her hair damp from her recent illness, her face still pale, there was no denying the temptation of high cheekbones and almond shaped eyes that glowed with intelligence.

He watched her flinch as some image burned into her mind. Sliding along the bed, he took her hand in his. Daniel did not doubt her courage, but the Goa'uld were unpleasant on a good day, who knew what effect they would have on her susceptible intelligence.

As their fingers made contact, Daniel found he could vaguely pick up on the images being sent to Vicky. Some of the Goa'uld he was familiar with; there was Hathor, not one of his favourites, and Horus, Seth and Apophis, Osiris and on and on. Chak named each one and their deeds, their lineage. Of those he had yet to meet, Daniel took particular note. Mentally reminding himself to let the SGC know about them. The thought took a while to filter into his traumatised brain, but it seemed he had decided, somewhere along the way, that whatever happened he would return. Providing he survived, he thought ruefully.

This time the attack hit without warning. Plunged into absolute darkness, Daniel felt around him for some sort of contact. It didn't matter what, a wall, a door anything. With one foot carefully extended, he inched forward. Under his boots he could feel the cold hardness of concrete or metal. With every sense extended he could hear nothing, could smell nothing, could see nothing, only the feel of his foot moving over the ground allowed him to know he was alive. And then his boot came into contact with something soft. Dropping to his knees, he felt forward, hands coming into contact with warm skin, a face. The soft sigh of a breath touched his fingers as they skirted over the unseen features, female features he realised with a jolt. Lights suddenly snapped on all around him, blinding him for an instant. When his vision cleared he looked down. Vicky lay dead at his feet, her chest ripped open exposing a gaping wound, opposite him Apophis grinned, eyes blazing gold fire.

"No!"

Daniel came to with a jolt, the pain intense, vision blurred, pulse racing. He was still sitting on the bed, Vicky's hand still in his, though his grip had tightened until her fingers had turned white with the pressure.

He sat gasping for breath for a long moment, then raised his head slowly locking eyes with the Furling. "I'm not sure what's going to go first, my heart or my brain… finish telling me how this happened, while I still have some of my faculties working."

"Very well. When I was first in your mind I searched for any hint that you were Goa'uld, for only they should have had access to the temples, only they had the summoning stones, we had retrieved all others. But you were not a host, nor had you ever been one. However I saw that you have, on many occasions, spent time in one of their regenerative devices. The alteration to you systems was subtle yet damaging."

"I know, believe me, I know. That's another thing I have nightmares about." Daniel's mouth tilted into a tight smile that vanished in a second.

"I believe this abuse of your body and mind has left your system open to the power within the temple altars. You have touched one before."

"No, I don't think I have… I think I would remember coming across something like your temple."

Chak's touch was feather light and yet in that gentle caress Daniel saw once again the huge structure, heard Russell tell him to be careful, and then he had climbed up to the top, his hands resting on the symbol carved into the huge block.

"The residue within the stone caused you to black out and wipe the memory from your conscious mind. It was another reason to destroy the temples, and now I know where this one is, it too will perish."

"And that touch set off this whole nightmare thing?"

"You were susceptible, you already held too many memories in dark places, the altar acted as a catalyst. If you had been Goa'uld the effect would have been instantaneous."

Silence held them. Vicky, understanding a little of what Daniel had spent the last years fighting, watched him anxiously. Chak, calm and serene, waited for the next question.

"Why has it become so much more advanced? Why now? And can we stop this?"

"You sent the signal that requested a judge. Somehow one of the stones was in your possession. Once triggered the temple becomes a place of great power. The devices within the structure are aimed at certain key places within the Goa'uld brain. Whatever fears you held on walking within the barriers would be heightened greatly. It is for the judge to decide how sentence should be carried out and for how long."

"Then you can stop this? You came, you are the judge - release him!" Vicky grabbed Chak's arm, trying to enforce her desperate request.

"I can not. Humans were not meant for this trial. I can limit the damage, I can perhaps bring Daniel Jackson back from the depths of his nightmares, but his body is weak." Deep black eyes rested on Daniel's panicked blue. "Only you can stop them."

"God, if I knew how don't you think I'd have done it by now!"

"Perhaps," Chak said slowly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daniel could feel his anger growing; did they really think he wanted this?

"The seeds of destruction are within every being, Goa'uld, Human and Furling alike. It is the belief we have in ourselves that holds back despair; that keeps us sane and whole. If you no longer believe in yourself, Daniel Jackson, you will be beyond help."

It was so hard to keep his thoughts together, so difficult to hold back the utter exhaustion that wanted to take him. Daniel's head dropped slowly.

"Damn you, Daniel, fight this thing!" Vicky's voice, loud and abrasive, acted like a douse of cold water on him.

"With what? You think I don't understand that my fears are going to kill me? Well better me than someone else. Do you have any idea what it's like going out, mission after mission, knowing that I could bring disaster at any time? That my attention might wander at the wrong moment, that Jack and the others have to have one eye on the job and one on me, because I don't think the way they do?"

"Are you telling me that you've never been there for them, that you are some, some millstone around their neck? Crap! If that were the case they'd have tossed you out long ago. I don't know these people you work with, but if they are military then they won't endanger any unit unnecessarily. And don't tell me they couldn't find someone else to do your job." She pre- empted his rebuttal, one finger stabbing hard into his chest. "They could bring you out if they needed you, or take someone else; you're not the only linguist with your …whatever you are."

"You don't understand," Daniel replied wearily. "Jack looks on me as his pet project. A pain the ass, but his pain in the ass. I'm part of SG1, and that makes me his responsibility. So he puts up with my distractions, he makes allowances for my moral stands, except when they go against his ideas. He thinks he understands me."

Vicky turned her exasperated gaze to the Furling standing impassively at their side.

"Can't you help him see he's not some albatross around his friend's neck?"

Chak studied the weary archaeologist with clinical detachment, as though thinking through a puzzle to be solved.

"It might be done. I could try to bring out different memories, initiate different thought processes. It might be painful, and it would be intrusive."

Daniel snorted softly, "What don't you know about me by now? You've been in there often enough."

"I have only seen what you have allowed me to see, after my initial scan. If you resisted, I could do permanent harm to you."

"You mean more harm than my brain exploding with these damn images I can't get out of my head? Right now I think I'll take my chances."

Chak moved away from the bed and Daniel's tense figure. Slowly he circled the room; eyes half closed as he thought through his decision, aware that two pairs of anxious eyes watched his every move.

"Very well. It is in part my fault that this has happened to you, I will do what I can to remedy the situation. Though I give no guarantee of success. Do you agree?"

Panic gripped Daniel. He was about to lay out his whole self to an alien who may or may not understand the judgements he had made. Letting a stranger into his innermost thoughts, fears and treasured memories. Chak would have access to those moments between himself and Sha're that had kept him sane when the task of finding her had become seemingly impossible. Could he let anyone see the side of him that walked in darkness? Reveal the petty jealousies that had been his world long before the SGC? Did he have a choice?

"You have a choice, Daniel Jackson," Chak spoke directly into his mind. "You alone can turn from the path of self destruction. I can show you what you need to know about yourself…if you wish to be turned?"

"Do it. Do it before another nightmare hits me and I don't get the chance to make a choice again."

"Then lay down, relax as much as you can and let me walk freely through your thoughts. Do not worry that what I see will make me judge you, it will not."

Vicky slid off the bed and gave Daniel room to lay down once more. Chak came to stand at his head, his long fingers embracing the wide forehead under his touch.

Bright blue eyes locked onto the ceiling, noting for the first time that the lights had dimmed once again, and were casting shadows across the undecorated metalwork.

The living nightmare took him, swamping him in sensations. A zat rested lightly in his hand, around him lay the remnants of Amaunet's guard. The glowing eyes of his wife's symbiot glared at him. The zat blasted through Sha're sending her tumbling to the ground. Grief took him in its welcoming embrace as he screamed his loss.

But this wasn't what happened, this isn't how it ended!

A voice, distant yet compelling, seemed to call to him, and the images faded leaving him at once glad and yet bereft.

For a moment nothing seemed to be happening and then, like the feel of tiny insects crawling inside his skull, Daniel felt the Furling's mind enter his.

Chak's voice echoed within his skull as his life appeared before his mind's eye in bursts of light and sound. Emotions flashed through him as each image stopped briefly for Chak's perusal. Terror, love, laughter, passion, anger, the whole gamut ran within him, cycling over and over. Daniel could feel himself losing control, trying to pull back even though the memory of Chak's warning rang loudly in his head.

Daniel's hands clenched into the soft bedding as his body arched in pain. The conflict between his conscious and unconscious mind sending waves of agony through his already tortured body.

Vicky had taken up a position on the other side of the bed and his hand was now clasped between the two of hers as she watched Furling and Human joining - though he was unaware of the fact.

"You are tenacious, Daniel Jackson, that is good. You fight hard for your beliefs and your friends." Like a commentary Chak's soft tones talked over the images now formed in Daniel's mind. Teal'c sat in the centre of the judgement room, facing Cora Ai. Determined to accept his punishment even as Daniel advocated that he was not the same man who had committed the act of murder so many years before. He had pleaded well, made a case for leniency that should have swayed any courtroom.

"But I didn't save him." Daniel found that he had a voice within his own mind. "All that I tried to do that day was for nothing. If the Goa'uld hadn't attacked Teal'c would be dead now. He saved himself by his selfless actions. By being who he is now. I did nothing."

"I see you do not value yourself at all. What of your advocacy of Skaara? Did you not sway the decision for his dominance?" Chak brought forth the image of the Tollan world. Lord Zapatna and his Goa'uld guards sat opposite Jack and himself. Behind them he knew Lya listened attentively to all that was said. His anxiety for his wife's brother had made that trial an ordeal that he never wanted to face again. He had lost Sha're, he knew how much the young man meant to Jack and he was family. And once again he had battened down his emotions, left himself cold inside so that he could function.

"I did nothing. Skaara spoke well, Lya took note of his arguments not mine."

"Perhaps I should add stubborn to curious? The Nox judge all without prejudice. Believe me, Lya listened to you, and judged your words. Let us move on then, perhaps to your team leader. You believe that you have no influence on him, that he has to 'look out for you' on every mission? And yet you have saved his life more than once. Without you he would not be alive, is that not so?"

Daniel moved uneasily on the bed not sure what image Chak had found. And then he was standing in the observation room, four in the morning, unable to sleep. Behind him a faint hum, in front of him a glass of water that suddenly began to shudder and the realisation that somewhere on Earth his two friends were trying desperately to get home.

"Do you know how long it took me to figure that out? God, they almost died because my brain couldn't get around the concept more quickly! Jack was in the infirmary for over a week, Sam nearly lost some of her toes from frostbite. If I had only got…"

"Daniel Jackson!" Chak's thoughts overrode those of the archaeologist. "Is it not a fact that had you not been there, if you had not given up your rest in order to think about your friend's predicament, then they would now be dead?"

"I guess," Daniel agreed with reluctance.

The Furling began skipping through memories again, and Daniel could not find a rhythm to his choices. His body fought back, trying to deny Chak access to the darkest corners of his mind as he probed ever deeper. Pain lanced across his chest and down his arms, his fingers almost crushing Vicky's hand as he battled against the intrusion though he was unaware of her at that moment, just the pain in his body and mind. Back and forth his life jumped from memory to memory, some good, some that he would rather have not seen again. Finally Chak settled on the Enkara.

Jack was standing in front of him, angry, desperate. 'Give me another option, Daniel.' And he had tried. Lotan had been one of his biggest challenges. He had talked a machine into going against its programming. Had used his skills as a mediator, as someone who had studied and understood different cultures to save not just the Enkaran, but the Gadmir too.

"Two civilisations owe you their very existence. Is that not worth living for? Would it not be a betrayal of both races to let your fears take you away from those who might need you? Would any other member of your team have done as you have done? Could any other member of your SGC have brought about such an outcome? "

"I don't know…" Daniel murmured. "Jack didn't want to blow up the ship, not in his heart… I think." His uncertainty tried to rule his knowledge that he had made a difference, that he had done what was right and had rescued the Enkaran from certain destruction.

"But if you had not been there then both races might have died." The positive tone began to make an impression on him and for the first time he felt some slight relaxation in his body. The pain across his chest seemed to lessen a fraction, allowing him to breathe more easily.

Chak pressed home his advantage. "And you have compassion for the one as well as the many, do you not? Even to your enemy."

Apophis lay restrained against the hospital bed. Leather straps held him at wrist and ankle and neck. And yet it was not Apophis who spoke now but the terrified host who had been enslaved hundreds of years before. Daniel watched again as the poor wretch struggled to understand what had happened to him. He had spoken to him, trying to ease his passing the best he knew how. Promising to perform the rites of passage, to see that his body was laid to rest in Egypt. Promises that he knew he could not keep. But he had fulfilled his final promise, to send the statue that held the dying man's last breath to his home, to be buried with honour in the hot sands. He had performed the act himself, taking the clay statue up into the foothills in the heat of the midday sun, when no one would be around to see what he did. He had spoken the words required by the ancient man's religion and had put the host's last breath deep into the sand. Hammond had not wanted to let him go, Jack had looked at him as though he were nuts, but he had made a promise, many promises, this one he could honour, and he had.

This was one good thing that he could accept. Listening to the reasonable tones of his conscious mind Daniel knew that he had to believe, that he had to acknowledge that yes, he had done good things in his life, that there were some things that no one, least of all Daniel Jackson, could affect. If he could not accept that then this was going to be the end. Daniel forced himself to relax, releasing his deadly grip on his mind, allowing the gentle probe of Chak's mind free reign.

"Ah…" Chak's explorations had found the planet now known to the SGC as 'Ernest's planet'. The official designation belonging only to the files and reports buried with all the other mission logs somewhere deep in Cheyenne Mountain.

Pain lanced through his head as another wave of blackness took control.

"Fight it, Daniel Jackson. It exists only because you allow it to rule you. You are not a slave to your dark imaginings. Fight it. Return to yourself."

It seemed to Daniel that a brilliant burst of light blinded his vision, when it cleared his mind had returned once more to that fascinating room where so much knowledge had been stored. He had done that! He had stopped the destruction from overwhelming him. As the realisation sank in so the pain seeped from him, and he felt almost euphoric within the sense of liberation his own belief engendered.

All around him the writings of the ancients; above, the dancing lights that gave a new concept the whole 'meaning of life' question that had been driving humans crazy for centuries. Beside him stood the scrawny figure of Ernest Littlefield whose life had been spent in solitary contemplation of the vast library.

"So it is lost then. We had no time to salvage all that had been gathered." Chak's voice was sad, contemplative in Daniel's thoughts. "Yes, Daniel Jackson, we will talk of this later. Come back now."

Daniel's eyes opened slowly almost blinded by the subdued lighting. Every inch of him ached as though he had been in one hell of a fight. Becoming aware of Vicky's hands wrapped around his he turned to her, hoping that she had not seen his thoughts as he had seen the images Chak had sent to her mind. A slight welcoming smile hovered around her lips but her eyes were unreadable.

She dropped his hand gently back onto the bed and took a step back. "If you'll excuse me, I need to… I'll be back in a moment." Hurrying out of the room, she ignored Daniel calling her name.

"Did she see any of that?"

Chak nodded slowly. "Your thoughts were very strong, but she would have seen nothing but a shadow of your images. Enough perhaps to understand the terror you were living through. I will talk to her."

"No. No I think I had better do that." With Chak's help he prised himself up from the bed, standing with difficulty. His legs didn't want to hold him up, let alone move but he forced himself across the room and out into the corridor, one hand braced against the wall propping up his weary body. She hadn't got far, but was sitting against the wall arms wrapped around her knees staring blindly into space.

"Vicky?" He inched along the wall, treading carefully.

Vicky leaped up eyes panicked, then she moved toward him, sliding under his arm to add her support.

"What are you doing, Doctor Jackson? You should be resting."

"I thought we got past the whole 'doctor' thing?" Daniel's voice was harsher than he had intended, but he was exhausted and his grip on his emotions right now was perilously close to non-existent.

"You need to rest," she replied. Ignoring his terse comment she urged him back toward the open door where Chak stood watching their interplay with interest.

Daniel used what little strength was left to him to halt her forward movement. "Not until we talk. How much did you see?"

Her arm tightened around his waist for a brief moment, then she let her eyes meet his. "Enough to know I am way out of my depth. Enough to know that I should never have touched you and let your thoughts into mine. I'm sorry Doc… Daniel. I never meant to intrude into your personal life." Her eyes slid from him before she commented softly, "You are a very strong person."

"Yes he is, but his body and mind both need to heal before I can return you to the surface. Will you rest now?"

Daniel felt no coercion beyond the insistence of his own bone tired body.

"We'll talk later?" His fingers gripped into her shoulder, insistent until she nodded her agreement.

Gratefully he accepted their help and within moments of his head hitting the pillow he was asleep, for once not afraid of any dream that might tempt him during those hours between closing his eyes and waking once more.

Vicky's gaze rested on Daniel's pale face, watching as the tension slipped from him, easing the lines around his eyes.

"Is he okay now? Are the dreams over?"

Chak's answer did little to allay Vicky's concerns.

"For a time, perhaps. I have done all that can be done. He is resilient, though he doesn't acknowledge that fact. He will doubt himself again I am sure, then the true test will take place." The Furling nodded to himself.

Vicky's hand reached over to touch the pallid cheek with gentle fingers, not disturbing his slumber. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Be positive, keep his mind away from his terrors if you can. He is past the worst of the trial, but I fear for him should his inner strength not meet the next challenge."

Furling and Human looked on, as Daniel lay oblivious to their concerns.